Less than three weeks remain for audiences to experience the latest iteration of the Great Rivers Biennial at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.
Under the direction of co-curators Dean Daderko, Misa Jeffereis and a number of esteemed jurors, the exhibition opened September 6, 2024. It features three talented artists who demonstrate the practice of uncovering beauty in everyday objects.
Great Rivers Biennial 2024 is the eleventh installment of the exhibition, presented in part by the Gateway Foundation. The relationship between Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and the Gateway Foundation has spanned over twenty years; two decades of bringing artists from the greater St. Louis region center stage.
Three artists were selected out of ninety-six in a rigorous application process. Through their work, they have shown an ability to transform everyday objects into meaningful and profound pieces of artistic expression. From simple fabrics and basic ceramic, to old nails and dirt, these artists conveyed layered messages and meanings, beauty and storytelling through a medium that is unique to their journey. Being able to produce extraordinary art in this way shows just why these three were chosen for the Great Rivers Biennial 2024 exhibition.
Saj Issa, Ronald “Ron” Young and Basil Kincaid each started their visual art journey as painters. As their careers progressed, they found they could convey messages more profoundly using alternative mediums and materials. Cloth, yarn, wood, and ceramics are among them.
“There’s a lot that ceramics can do that painting can’t,” Issa said during a panel discussion that was part of the opening festivities for the exhibition. “Painting for me is one dimensional and doesn’t have that same depth that ceramics has for me.” Issa is a St. Louis native. She also spent time in Ramallah, Palestine, where she developed a myriad of ideas while comparing the two worlds. Her art includes themes of identity, social issues, and consumerism. This is evident in her Great Rivers Biennial 2024 exhibit.
Issa received her BFA from Webster University, and an MFA from the University California Los Angeles. Her installation captures the notion of “perfectly imperfect” and seeing the beauty of things for what they are, and not what viewers might expect (or desire) them to be. Issa’s pieces include a number of ceramic vases, some painted in jewel tones, others in earth tones, all with the same “perfectly imperfect” style. Her alternative color schemes and free flowing brush strokes show versatility and depth. The works disrupt the notion of the regal and ornate designs traditionally associated with painted ceramics.
Walking through her installation, the diversity of her pieces can easily be likened to the diversity of humans; the everyday people seen out in the world, each different shapes and sizes. With this installation, viewers gain an appreciation for humanity – and an acceptance for what is sometimes considered flawed.
“I’ve painted so long I didn’t realize that I thought like a painter,” said Young, another featured artist in Great Rivers Biennial 2024. “The challenge was learning to unlearn thinking like a painter, and learning how to think in three dimensions.” His new frame of mind comes through clearly in his installation.
Young is another St. Louis native. He received his MFA from the Sam Fox School of Art & Design at Washington University. He was also awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Japan. For his Great Rivers Biennial 2024 exhibit, he sourced discarded and dilapidated materials. Using bricks, broken doors and chains – and even nails and plain dirt – he created sculptures and scenes that can be enjoyed from any angle. These pieces were done in a mix of wood and metals. Some were charred black showing a deep heaviness, but arranged so elaborately that the work conveyed beauty.
He gains inspiration for his work from the “Nkisi” crafting culture in Africa, referring to sculptures that hold spirits. These sculptures include a number of nails, each being a vow to a higher power.
The final artist featured in Great River Biennial 2024 is Basil Kincaid, also a native of St. Louis. He received his BA in drawing and painting at Colorado College. He has gone on to receive the prestigious United States Artist Fellowship, a fellowship from the Regional Arts Commission as well as esteemed awards from arts institutions and organizations from around the globe.
“Like Issa said, painting has its limitations,” Kincaid said. “For me those limitations are emotional because with the materials I work with now, there’s this embedded sensational energy of all the experiences people have had with those materials.”
Kincaid’s installation includes various textured fabrics quilted together to create a scene or a picture, like in his piece Within this seed is the fift of a thousand forests. The bright quilt of red, purple, and blue tones is arranged in a way that mimics two people dancing on a bed of colorful fabrics, resembling the thousand forests mentioned in the title. This piece conveys so much warmth and triggers memories of joy and dancing.
Being able to produce extraordinary art in this way shows just why these three were chosen for the Great Rivers Biennial 2024 art exhibit. The exhibition will be on display for free at the Contemporary Art Museum until February 9th. Stop by and witness the transformation of the mundane into something truly remarkable.
The Great Rivers Biennial 2024, featuring the work of Saj Issa, Ronald “Ron” Young and Basil Kincaid, will be on display through February 9, 2025 at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. For hours and more information, visit https://camstl.org/.
Living It content is produced in partnership with Regional Arts Commission.
