[ back ]
Back on the block
(by Dickson Beall - May 18, 2009)
On May 15, Duane Reed opens his inaugural exhibition at 4729 McPherson Ave., the new home of Reed’s gallery. But this is not Reed’s first time at this McPherson address. He started in the gallery business, working for the Eliott Smith Gallery, in this same space some 15 years ago.
Reed opened his first gallery on Taylor in the Central West End, then moved to Forsyth in Clayton, and now has come full circle back to this prime CWE location, a space Carolyn Miles occupied until last year, when she moved her Atrium Gallery into smaller quarters across the street.
By giving up some of the gallery’s former office space, Reed has created considerably more display space. This expanded 4,000-foot gallery will primarily display object-oriented art, a specialty Reed has established over the years.
Although his first exhibitor is from New York, Reed also plans to continue showing widely exhibited local artists, including Mary Sprague, Nancy Rice, Brian Smith, Mary Giles, Sun Smith Foret, Dan Alexander and other artists whose work he has previously exhibited.
Reed’s interests include painting and sculpture, yet a major focus is upon texture and craft. Along with many objects, ceramics and glass, he also exhibits photography and represents Michael Eastman. Reed is also the local representative for Dale Chihuly. Reed was chiefly responsible for the successful Missouri Botanical Garden exhibition of Chihuly’s glass works in 2007 and plans an exhibition of his colorful creations at the gallery in November.
Most everything that Reed displays seems to be texture-driven, and that is surely true of the current exhibit by John McQueen. McQueen began his career as a sculptor, and then moved into basket-making. But these woven works, made from the branches of willow trees, are not typical baskets, and McQueen has intentions other than making something in which to hold pencils, magazines or fruit.
Rather than identifying himself as artist or sculptor, McQueen describes himself as a “maker” of things. He plants willow trees in his front yard and harvests the flexible whip-like reeds for lacing into his sculptures — a method that is labor-intensive and repetitive. These materials have been woven into utilitarian objects for 5,000 years, but McQueen aims to move basket-making into a conceptual and poetic art form.
Baskets, McQueen suggests, are containers, and his well-crafted objects remind us that the many twig-drawn lines describe both outer and inner space. His woven creations — animals or mythological beings of his imagination — have outer shapes that are easily identified. The inner spaces can be more intriguing.
Much of McQueen’s quixotic work evokes a smile and seems to poke fun at the art business. Responding to the way “high” art is displayed in galleries and museums, several of these works have woven-twig pedestals built into the forms that they support.
McQueen works with nature to create something of culture. Ironically, the twigs are often tied with waxed string or bound together by plastic garbage bag ties or plastic rivets. The careful work, a rhythmic bending and tying together of so many twigs, is superbly crafted.
Constructed of branches and bark, along with other natural materials, McQueen’s work is not easily categorized. Is it sculpture, craft, architecture or installation? Is the viewer seeing latticework of a gothic cathedral, the intricacy of line from a medieval illuminated manuscript or a wire armature of a modern sculpture?
The Duane Reed Gallery is a significant complement to a street that is now brimming with art. In addition to Reed’s newly renovated gallery and Miles’ smart Atrium Gallery across the street, McPherson boasts the handsome William Shearburn Gallery. Other surprisingly fine art is often presented at one of the last standing independent bookstores in St. Louis, Left Bank Books, at the corner a half block west of these galleries. On the lower level of that landmark bookstore, Barry Leibman has been showing photographs, drawings and paintings since 1977.
Reed and other gallery owners coordinate their opening exhibitions on the same evening, evoking the feel of a CWE art fair. The four gallery openings on May 15 will surely bring an enthusiastic crowd, looking for a pleasant way to spend a spring evening and welcoming Duane Reed back to the neighborhood.
• John McQueen’s woven art remains on display at Duane Reed Gallery, 4729 McPherson Ave., through June 13.
[ back ]
