St. Louis Beacon - Review: 'Screwed Again' at RAC

Inform our coverage: Where's your favorite wintertime farmers' market? | What's it like to be 65 or better in 2012?

Home

Cialis Online

Review: 'Screwed Again' at RAC

By Ivy Cooper, Special to the Beacon

Posted 5:28 am Wed., 8.25.10

For "Screwed Again," a reprise of sorts of 2008's "Screwed In" at the Gallery of the Regional Arts Commission, nine local artists spent days painting a mural that occupies three walls of the enormous main gallery.

Photo by Tom Nagel | Special to the Beacon

When: Through Oct. 3

Where: The Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar Blvd.

Information: 314-863-5811, www.art-stl.com/gallery/gallery.cfm

Christopher Burch, Daniel Burnett, Stan Chisholm, Daniel Jefferson, Kris Mosby, Chris Sabatino, Jason Spencer, Justin Tolentino and Bryan Walsh worked with RAC's front window walls open, inviting visitors and passersby to watch and interact with the artists as they generated images in a collaborative, freestyle production.

While the making of the mural was an artwork in its own right, the finished product is a spectacular piece that stands on its own aesthetic merits.

In a palette restricted to white, black and gray, the mural offers a series of vignettes, rather dark in nature, that are seamlessly connected but don't tell a straightforward story.

The path through the mural careens past cemeteries, bones, ghosts, humans, monsters, symbols and abstractions. Its visual energy propels the eye across the scene, yet it's well worthwhile to slow down and closely examine the rich details.

While an overall unity prevails, it's possible to pick out the artists' individual styles (and in the adjoining gallery, a separate work by each artist is on view, providing a kind of stylistic key to the mural's imagery).

It's a dazzling, completely successful collaboration -- a work that brings together multiple ideas and approaches and is greater than the sum of its parts.

Ivy Cooper, a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, is the Beacon art critic. To reach her, contact Beacon features and commentary editor Donna Korando.

Only registered users can comment on an article. Please login or register.

JComments

Editors' Picks

Books
- The JCC is holding its used book sale Feb. 5-9 at the Jewish Community Center Staenberg Family Complex, #2 Millstone Campus Dr. $10 for Feb. 5 (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) only. Free Feb. 6-8 (10 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Feb. 9 (10 a.m.-4 p.m.)
- "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes wins Man Booker prize: The 150-page book is a reflection of memory through the eyes of an ordinary man in his 60s. | Huffington Post
- Philip Levine will be new U.S. poet laureate: He is best known for his big-hearted, Whitmanesque poems about working-class Detroit. | New York Times
- Philip Roth awarded Man Booker International Prize for range and depth of his fiction: The decision prompted one of the three judges to resign in protest. | New York Times
Theater/Dance
- COCA Family Theatre Series presents "Twinkle Twonkle" (Tall Stories) Feb. 10-12. $14-$20. www.cocastl.org/FTS
- "One More Laugh," a comedy variety show, will be hitting the stage at Lemmons, 5800 Gravois on Tuesdays from 9-11 p.m. $1. For information, email the host, [email protected]
- "Book of Mormon" tops Tony field with 14 nominations: Another musical, "Scottsboro Boys," was nominated for 12 awards. | New York Times
- Fox's Mike Isaacson picked to head Muny: He will be only the third person to hold the executive producer position and the first to work at the Muny year-round. | STLtoday
Music
- The Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd., is hosting a "Cdelebrate the Gospel" concert at 3 p.m. Feb. 12 with the The St. Alphonsus Liguori "Rock" Catholic Church choir. Included with admission ($4-$8 - free children 12 and under). Schoenberg Theater.
- Blues singer Etta James dies at age 73: Her assertive, earthy voice lit up such hits as "The Wallflower," "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and the wedding favorite "At Last." | CNN
- Chamber Project Saint Louis presents "Very Open Rehearsal" at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 12 at the Tavern of Fine Arts, 313 Belt Ave. Free
- Rob Hinkal (guitar, vocals) and Heather Lloyd (guitar, vocals, djembe) bring ilyAIMY (i love you And I Miss You) to the Focal Point, 2720 Sutton, at 8 p.m. June 18. $10 at the door 314-781-4200

Neighborhoods
- The Missouri Botanical Garden's Orchid Show will run from Jan. 28 through March 25. $5 in addition to regular garden admission. 4344 Shaw Blvd.
- "Run for the Chocolate" will take place Feb. 12 starting at 8 a.m. in downtown St. Louis. To find out more about this 5K run, go to downtownstl.org.
- The Missouri Botanical Garden is hosting Around the World Wine dinners on the third Friday of the month (Jan. 20, Feb. 17, March 16) at 6:30 p.m. $58 a person, plus 18 percent tax and service. Reservations required: 314-577-0200.
- The Sam Fox School public lecture series presents Frank Barkow, architect, at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 24 in Steinberg Hall Auditorium.
Visual Arts
- The Pulitzer's senior curator and curatorial staff will share their ideas about the religious, artistic and historical contexts of the works displayed in the "Reflection of the Buddha" at 2 p.m. Feb. 13. Free. 3716 Washington Blvd.
- Craft Alliance in the Kranzberg Arts Center, 501 N. Grand, presents Studio Design: Contemporary Furniture Feb. 10 (reception 6-8 p.m.) through April 8.
- "Harry Bertoia, Forty Years of Drawing" will run from Jan. 26 to March 17 at Gallery 210 on UMSL's North Campus. (Reception with Bertoia's daughter willgo from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 26) Check website for regular hours.
- Balazx Kicsiny's "Killing Time" will be on exhibit at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, from Jan. 27-April 16 (opening reception 7-9 p.m. Jan. 27). Kicsiny will also speak on his work at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 in Steinberg Hall.
Movies/TV
- Billy Crystal back as host of Oscars: He will replace Eddie Murphy, who dropped out after producer Brett Ratner resigned as producer. | New York Times
- HBO leads the field with 104 Emmy nominations: Its remake of "Mildred Pierce" led all shows with 21 nominations. | LA Times
- "Gunsmoke" marshal James Arness dies at age 88: As Matt Dillon, he led the cast of the TV show that set the bar for Westerns and became one of the longest-running prime-time series in network TV history. | LA Times
- Oprah Winfrey ends 25-year run: TV host is not so much leaving a job as reinventing herself — again. | Christian Science Monitor

'The Road Show' improv

Brent Jones | St. Louis Beacon

This Saturday was the debut of a new show by The Improv Shop that will bring out of town improv teams to St. Louis to play for — and with — a local audience. The Road Show brought teams "Everybody Grok" and "Felt" from Chicago.

We talked to Eric Christensen, producer of the Road Show and member of local improv team "Ted Dangerous"; Katie Nunn, member of "Ted Dangerous" and improv coach; and Melanie Penn and Ranjan Khan, members of local teams "Melanj" and "Magic Ratio"; about the St. Louis improv scene and why it's important to welcome teams from other cities to perform here.

See a larger version of the slideshow

Topics

Survival jobs: A temporary strategy is becoming the new normal

"Survival jobs" are a thread to hold onto as the underemployed wait for the economy to recover. This story is part of a larger look at class in the region, our series Class: The Great Divide

See all featured topics stories

Voices

'Real' TV from Snooki to Mitt

M.W. Guzy fears his daughters' affection for trash TV might have been genetically inherited, as he finds himself drawn to the anybody-but-Mitt show, playing on a loop on cable "news' channels.
Letter from Honduras: Family in December

Miguel Dulick recounts a trans-Honduras tour that, again, reminded him of the power and joy of keeping siblings and parents connected.
A speech business leaders won't give

Ken Schechtman says that publicly traded business will not -- perhaps cannot -- put doing the right thing ahead of legally maximizing profits.

Beacon Roundtable

Roundtable for Feb. 2 - Missouri Primary, redistricting, a Komen controversy and fighting crime with moneyball

In this week's Beacon Roundtable, Dick Weiss, Jason Rosenbaum, Jo Mannies, Robert Joiner and Dale Singer sit down to talk about the Missouri primary and redistricting, the controversy around…
Read more...

Local advertising by PaperG

Learn more

Beacon Blog

In search of a 'social media' definition

General manager Nicole Hollway is back to the Beacon blog and she's trying to piece together what social media is and means to people.
Read more...

On chess

Women's world champion cruises in Gibraltar

Ben Finegold checks out the women's play at the Tradewise Gilbraltar Chess Congress, particularly the chess played by 17-year-old Hou Yifan of China.

Read more...