Spring 2012 Exhibitions
Christodoulos Panayiotou: One Thousand and One Days
and
Figure Studies: Recent Representational Works on Paper
And a new season of the Front Room
On View January 27–April 22, 2012
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
3750 Washington Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63108
MAIN GALLERIES
Christodoulos Panayiotou: One Thousand and One Days
Christodoulos Panayiotou’s multidimensional work addresses issues and concerns ranging from the complex contemporary understanding of what constitutes “the public,” to the construction of national identity and history. He frequently takes ceremonies, festivals, and theatrical spectacles as a point of departure from which to explore the structures and customs that inform social experience. His process also engages the archives of the press and regional and state agencies of his country, Cyprus, to reflect on how interpretations of a collective sense of identity are dependent on the manner in which images and information are arranged and presented. For his presentation at CAM St. Louis—the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States—Panayiotou will present new and preexisting works that demonstrate both the range of techniques and the socio-political concerns that define his practice. New works being created for the exhibition include a multi-part series of appropriated photographs from official Cyprus archives and a site-specific mural based on a particular historical set design that develop interrelated themes of celebration, festival, display, hegemony and symbolic domination. The title of the exhibition combines allusions to A Thousand Days, a 1965 book by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. about the Kennedy Administration (seen in one of the images sourced at the Press and Information Office Archives), and the collection of traditional Middle Eastern folk stories 1001 Nights, to underscore Panayiotou’s emphasis on building narratives about power and presentation both within and between his works.
Christodoulos Panayiotou: One Thousand and One Days is organizd by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and curated by Chief Curator Dominic Molon.
Figure Studies: Recent Representational Works on Paper
Figure Studies: Recent Representational Works on Paper brings together drawings and etchings by six artists—Ida Applebroog, John Bankston, Jennifer Bornstein, Alejandro Cardenas, Djordje Ozbolt, and Tom Reed—that demonstrate a broad range of techniques, narratives, and conceptual approaches. The exhibition reveals how artists working in the more traditional manner of depicting things in this world, or the world of imagination, are imbuing the content of their work with distinctly contemporary concerns and sensibilities. For example, Ida Applebroog‘s (American, b. 1929, lives and works in New York) works provocatively explore how gender is represented and embodied in society and culture through rigorous experimentation with the processes and materials. John Bankston (American, b. 1963, lives and works in San Francisco) creates vibrant drawings in a style reminiscent of children’s coloring books to address issues of racial and queer identity, while Los Angeles-based artist Jennifer Bornstein‘s (American, b. 1970, lives and works in Los Angeles and Berlin) small, meticulous, and slightly crude etched portraits of subjects ranging from her teenage roommate to anthropologist Margaret Mead in Samoan dress intertwine the personal, the historical, and the mundane. The elegantly spare work of Alejandro Cardenas (Chilean, b. 1978, lives and works in New York City) develops mysterious imaginary narratives through renderings of exquisite figures against stark black backgrounds. Djordje Ozbolt‘s (Serbian, b. 1967, lives and works in London) drawings are created in parallel to the production of his paintings and are often used to illustrate the announcements for his exhibitions. His drawn works, like his paintings, incorporate incongruously contemporary or foreign elements into compositions mimicking art from the Renaissance through the mid-19th Century as a form of political and social satire. St. Louis-based artist Tom Reed (American, b. 1968, lives and works in St. Louis) combines a formal approach informed by such visionary “outsider” artists as Joseph Yoakum and Henry Darger with knowing and intensely stylized depictions of natural phenomena and rustic settings and situations.
Figure Studies: Recent Representational Works on Paper is organized by the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and curated by Chief Curator Dominic Molon.
THE FRONT ROOM
Robert Breer: 1957
January 27–February 19
Jesse McLean
February 23–March 18
Brandon Anschultz
March 22–April 22
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is a non-profit tax-exempt organization. Exhibitions, programs, and general operations are member supported and privately funded through contributions from generous individuals, corporations, public funders, and foundations. Major support for CAM’s exhibitions program is provided by Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield; Whitaker Foundation; William E. Weiss Foundation; and Nancy Reynolds and Dwyer Brown. General operating support is provided by the Whitaker Foundation; Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; Missouri Cultural Trust; Regional Arts Commission; Bank of America Charitable Foundation; Wells Fargo Advisors; and Arts and Education Council.
CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST. LOUIS
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis promotes meaningful engagement with the most relevant and innovative art being made today. Founded as the Forum for Contemporary Art in 1980, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis re-opened in its current location, 3750 Washington Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63108, with a new 27,000 square foot building in 2003. As a non-collecting institution, the Contemporary focuses its efforts on featuring local, national and international, well-known and newly established artists from diverse backgrounds, working in all types of media. As St. Louis’ forum for interpreting culture through contemporary visual art, the Contemporary connects visitors to the dynamic art and ideas of our times. As a gathering place for experiencing contemporary art and culture, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis pushes the boundaries of innovation, creativity, and expression. Visit the Contemporary’s website at www.camstl.org.
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