Walking through the two galleries within the Saint Louis Art Museum that house “Oliver Lee Jackson” for a private breakfast and gallery talk on Friday, Feb. 11 made for a bittersweet moment. The experience reaffirmed the genius of the exhibition’s namesake – an artist with more than a half-century (and counting) of contributions to the visual arts landscape. “Oliver Lee Jackson” also celebrates a St. Louis son – one who shares lived experiences with little Black boys and girls continually devalued by society because of socio-economic circumstances that are beyond their control.
Through the exhibition, children and adults from the St. Louis region can see what is possible when proper commitment and discipline are applied to their boundless gifts.
Sadly, only a few days remain for the opportunity for local audiences to sit with and soak in Jackson’s work on such a grand scale. The exhibition closes on Feb. 20. The hope is that in the six-plus months that “Oliver Lee Jackson” was made available free of charge to guests of the Saint Louis Art Museum that lovers of art became better reacquainted with the work of a master – and that future artists within the communities that shaped him will be inspired to dive deeply into greater understanding and exploring the creative depth his work provides.
“One of the things you get from Oliver Jackson when you speak to him is that art is an experience. There is no starting point or ending point – or right or wrong.” – Hannah Klemm, associatae curator of modern and contemporary art.
“We are very excited that we were able to put together this show,” said Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art for the Saint Louis Art Museum. “In many ways it is a compliment to the exhibition at the National Gallery exhibition organized by Harry Cooper in 2019.”
During the opening remarks for that exhibit, Cooper, senior curator and head of modern art for the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., referred to Jackson as “a national treasure.”
“This show is slightly broader in terms of its chronological scope,” Kelly said as he compared “Oliver Lee Jackson” with the National Gallery’s “Oliver Lee Jackson: Recent Paintings.”
Kelly curated “Oliver Lee Jackson” along with Hannah Klemm, associate curator of modern and contemporary art with Molly Moog as research assistant.
“We have the show across two galleries,” Kelly said. “And we move from the mid-1960s right up to 2020.”
The dozen works are vastly different in materials, composition and mediums.
“We wanted to really think about Oliver’s practice from the time he was in St. Louis all the way through the present,” Klemm said.
She pointed out that he was very embedded in the St. Louis arts scene when he lived in the region in the 1960s and early 1970s. In addition to being affiliated and closely connected to the Black Artists Group, Jackson was an assistant director of The People’s Art Center –a public youth integrated art center in St. Louis. He also started a program at the Pruitt-Igoe Homes to bring art to that community.
“He cares deeply about teaching,” Klemm said. “ He taught for a lot of his career.”
Jackson also uses his art as an instructional guide to encourage individuals to think and create outside the confines of convention and imposed labels.
“One of the things you get from Oliver Jackson when you speak to him is that art is an experience,” Klemm said. “There is no starting point or ending point – or right or wrong. There is a vibration with his paintings that you almost feel in thinking about music and arts and all of these mediums crossing. There is a multi-disciplinary artistic practice and a breaking down of boundaries.”
Jackson’s intention is for the viewer to be able to trust the experience as their eyes take in the work – and give themselves space to truly immerse themselves in the art.
“We wanted to create an atmosphere where that could be possible,” Klemm said. “But where we could also showcase his aesthetic progression and showcase the different moments in his career – and the different ways he really utilized form and style to create different moments for the visitor.”
Within the exhibition, viewers rotated from corner to corner, making new discoveries of figures and shapes not seen at first glance or from a different vantage point.
“The more you look, the more you see,” Kelly said as he pointed out elements within “Painting (12.15.04)” that might have been missed by doing Jackson’s work the disservice of a casual viewing. “The more you look at his paintings, the more the figures start to emerge.”
It was something that Saint Louis Art Museum Romare Bearden fellow Shaka Myrick noticed while studying “Alchemy.”
“Standing here will be different than standing over there,” Myrick said. “You will find more gestured strokes.”
Klemm was thrilled to confess how much the docents and the visitors loved sitting with it and waiting for those figures to pop and the joy of having different moments surprisingly emerge right before their eyes.
“One of the things that is so brilliant about Oliver is that you never lose by just sitting with a painting,” Klemm said. “I think he wants everyone to read these different things through their own lens. And he doesn’t want his own reasoning for things to muddy that experiential water for everybody.”
“Oliver Lee Jackson,” will be on view in Gallery 249 and Gallery 257 of the Saint Louis Art Museum through Feb. 20, 2022. For hours and additional information, visit www.slam.org.