Critical Mass for the Visual Arts is a nonprofit, self-formed visual arts collaborative dedicated to promoting, enhancing and initiating contemporary visual art in the St. Louis region.
Latest:
Critical Conversations – A Matter of Taste- June 14 at the Luminary
Critical Conversations is back with a panel featuring St. Louis artsfolk James McAnally, Jessica Baran, and Elizabeth Wolfson! These three brilliant humans, all critics/curators, will grapple with topics including the means by which we construct narratives and structures of taste, who signs off on them, and the validity of conventional arts hierarchies. Further questions to be considered: What is the role of the critic and the curator? What about streams of funding for the intellectual infrastructure through which art is understood? Who holds metaphorical purse strings? Should the tastes of a few wealthy benefactors determine what is shown and what is collected? Is there a better way? How can we ensure a more rigorous and fruitful arts ecosystem? What works, and what needs to change? Our new format will be more conversational and less formal, but will continue to build on the conversations Critical Mass is having with artists both on and off the record. Join us June 14 at 7 pm at The Luminary!
5 Questions Episode 15- Cameron Fuller
Join us for the newest episode of the 5 Questions podcast in which we have an enlightening sit-down with Cameron Fuller! Cameron confronts the conflicts in artistic practice, and like so many of the folks we have interviewed, conveys his real compulsion to create despite the limitations and obstacles that exist in our local artscene and beyond. Cameron’s practice extends from installation to imbuing his environment with his artistic impulses, and deliberate meditation on the meaning and function of creative work. We left this one thinking about the artist as a profound revolutionary fashioning an ideal of sorts, and weaving narratives upon narratives. Cameron lives and works in St. Louis. His installations have been shown at The Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Fort Gondo, White Flag Projects, Maps Contemporary Art Space, and Gallery 210 in St. Louis and at La Esquina in Kansas City. Since 2008 Fuller has collaborated on installations with Sarah Paulsen at Laumeier Sculpture Park and Open Lot in St. Louis and the Foundry Art Centre and St. Charles Community College in St. Charles, Missouri. He holds a BA in printmaking from San Francisco State University and an MFA from Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Art at Washington University in St. Louis.
2018 Creative Stimulus Award Exhibition
This exhibition, curated by past Creative Stimulus Award-winner Mel Watkin, presents work by the 2018 winners of the Critical Mass Creative Stimulus Award: Kahlil Robert Irving, Adrienne Outlaw and Sage Dawson. Winning artists received an award of $1,500 to use as creative operating capital, along with the opportunity to present their work in this exhibition, which is hosted by the Sheldon Art Galleries. Creative Stimulus awards unrestricted funding to support artists to pursue special projects, experiment with new techniques and deepen their understanding of their working processes. The show opens to the public Friday June 1, from 5-7 pm and closes August 12 at The Sheldon Art Galleries- 3700 Grandel Square, St. Louis, MO 63108. For hours of operation, check out the Sheldon’s website.
