Sin City

Sin City January 6-February 14, 2024

 Please join Art Saint Louis for our first exhibit of the new year, Sin City, featuring new artworks by 32 STL regional artists.

Graphic design by Emily Crull.

We are pleased to present Sin City, our first in-Gallery exhibit of the new year at Art Saint Louis. For this juried exhibit, artists were asked to submit artworks that reflect upon and examine the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Greed, Lust, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth. This new show features over 50 original artworks in a variety of media including collage, digital art, drawing, glass, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture, and textiles. Sin City is presented at Art Saint Louis from January 6 through February 14, 2024. A free public reception is held for this exhibit on Saturday, January 13 from 5-7 p.m. Complimentary beverages will be served. Art Saint Louis is free & open to the public six days a week. Gallery hours for the show (January 6-February 14) are Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Closed Sundays & holidays, including January 15 in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. AWARDS Congratulations to our Award recipients as selected by exhibition Jurors Norleen Nosri & Brian Lathan. Best of Show Award goes to Lon Brauer; Awards of Excellence go to Tim Eberhardt, Connie LaFlam, Charlie Oldani, and David M. Yates; and Honorable Mentions go to Trevor Juenger, m.sass, and Nikolaos Trikalinos. Congratulations to Charlie Oldani, Marianne Pepper, and Nikolaos Trikalinos on the sales of their works featured in the show. EXHIBITION CONTENT WARNING Visitor discretion advised. This art exhibit may not be suitable for youth visitors. The artworks in this show include imagery with mature content that could be considered inappropriate, polarizing or triggering. Children must be accompanied by an adult in the Gallery. GROUP VISITS Classes, clubs, groups, and other gatherings of 8 or more people are always welcome to the Gallery, however in order to better accommodate your visit, we respectfully request that you please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Thank you. OUR JURORS We are honored to have the opportunity to work with artists Brian Lathan and Norleen Nosri as our exhibition co-Jurors. • Norleen Nosri is a Malaysian-born St. Louis-based artist. Norleen is currently Professor, St. Louis Community College Forest Park. She holds a BFA and MFA from University of Missouri-Columbia. Concentrating in functional ceramics, Norleen’s works serve as a metaphor for social cohesion while discussing ideas of community, human contact, and individuality. Norleen’s work has been featured in numerous national group and solo exhibitions. • Brian Lathan is a St. Louis-based artist and art educator. He holds a BFA from Saint Louis University and MFS from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Brian currently is Adjunct Professor in printmaking and computer art at Saint Louis University and St. Louis Community College-Meramec. Brian’s artwork explores and questions themes of identity and authorship using printmaking as his medium of expression. CONCURRENT VIRTUAL EXHIBITION Presented concurrently with Sin City is our Virtual Gallery Exhibition Virtue. Presented exclusively online, this multi-media exhibition presents new works by 28 STL regional artists. The 39 artworks in this show examine the human virtues of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. The exhibit includes works in collage, digital art, drawing, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, and more. ARTWORK SALES Congratulations to artists Charlie Oldani and Nikolaos Trikalinos on the sales of their works from this exhibit. All artwork sales are made through Art Saint Louis—please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. directly if you are interested in purchasing a work. Sold artworks remain on view in the exhibit and Gallery through February 14. Sold artworks may be picked up by artist or buyer by appointment February 15-17, 2024. Artist is responsible for delivering or shipping sold work to buyer--all costs to ship are at the buyer's expense. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

 Jurors’ Statements
 
  “To all the artists who submitted work to this exhibition: thank you for the opportunity to view so many exciting works. To the artists selected to participate: congratulations.
  As an artist whose own work features narratives, the grandiose, and humanity’s tribulations, I was intrigued to see others’ interpretations of the idea of Sin. While sin has its roots in religion (especially the seven deadly sins) I did not focus on religion being a requirement of the selected works (though it was appreciated). I approached each artwork as if it was a visual representation/interpretation of either envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, wrath, and/or sloth.
  I ultimately chose works that embodied one of the sins in either a direct or preferably a creative way. One should be able to look at the artwork and decode one of these sins if not all. This could have been done through concept, narrative, subject matter, objects, technique, material use or other visual means. Wrathful mark-making, lustful color palettes, gluttonous material use, as well as narratives on the sins were just the beginning.
  While I wanted the theme to be evident in each work, I focused on pieces that did this cleverly rather than ones that explore the theme tritely. I also focused on works that had strong technical merit. Technique alone was not enough for me to include a piece, rather I was guided by the artist's ability to synthesize the theme in combination with their expertise.
  Ultimately, I looked for work were the artist understood the theme so well that they could approach it with nuance, play and visual poetry in order to give us an exhibition that feels like an ancient tale with all new stories.”

— Brian Lathan

  “As a juror for the Sin City exhibition, I am deeply moved by the diverse and expressive artistic interpretations of the seven deadly sins on display. Each artwork within the exhibition offers a distinct voice and the potential to convey the intricate complexities of pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. This encourages the viewers to contemplate their own connection to these vices and fostering moments of introspection and reflection.
  The use of color, form, texture, and composition in the paintings, prints, digital art, and mixed media effectively communicates the sense of accumulation or excess, evoking powerful emotions and presenting moral dilemmas associated with the seven deadly sins. Furthermore, the photography in the exhibition tells visual stories through staged portraits, conceptual still lifes, and documentary-style imagery, allowing viewers to delve into the multidimensional aspects of these vices.
  The variety of art mediums, styles, and techniques not only showcases the artists' talent and creativity, but also emphasizes the enduring relevance and substantial impact of these fundamental aspects of the human experience. I am confident that this exhibition will inspire profound and introspective conversations about the seven deadly sins, leaving a lasting impression on its viewers.”

— Norleen Nosri

The 32 featured artists in Sin City are:

PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS
Art Saint Louis is located at 1223 Pine Street in downtown St. Louis. There are parking METERS on Pine Street and Olive Street & other nearby streets. Parking meters run 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Fines are steep ($20), so don't let your meter expire. Visit Downtown St. Louis.org's website for additional parking suggestions. You can also download the handy Parkmobile app, whereby you can pay for and monitor parking meter via your mobile phone.

Hourly paid parking is available with limited hours in the PARK PACIFIC GARAGE on Olive just West of Tucker. The garage entrance is on the South side of Olive. Parking is at your own expense and payable by credit card upon exiting the garage. Access to the garage & hours are currently limited. Be sure to take your parking receipt/ticket with you when you exit your car to visit the Gallery or you won't be able to get back in to the garage to get to your garage. Your parking ticket is your key to get back in to the garage. Art Saint Louis cannot validate parking.
The Gallery is easily accessible by PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION with MetroLink and MetroBus with MetroBus stops nearby.
If you are uncomfortable driving downtown, you might want to consider a carpool or rideshare to our location.

Some of the featured artworks from Sin City: 

Nikolaos Trikalinos, St. Louis, MO. “Bijou3.” 2023. Acrylic on Canvas, 20”x20. $350	Mac Barnes, St. Louis, MO. “Texts I Can’t Send.” 2023. Recycled Quilt, Found Fabrics & Zippers, NFC Tag, 14”x12”x5”. $250.	gaye gambell-peterson, St. Charles, MO. “my favorite sin: wrath.” 2023. Paper Collage on Canvas Board, 22”x18”. $257.
Joshua Williams, St. Louis, MO. “Leviticus 16.” 2022. Graphite, Acrylic, Gesso, Vellum on Paper, 44”x46”. $466.	Shada Vega, Belleville, IL. “End of the road.” 2023. Graphite, Ink, Pen, Watercolor, Colored Pencil on Paper, 24”x30”. $650.	Trevor Juenger, O’Fallon, IL. “Americana.” 2023. Digital Photograph, 11”x14”. $300.
Award of Excellence recipient David M. Yates, Edwardsville, IL. “Staying Grounded.” 2020. Oil on Canvas, 48”x36”. $5,000.	Michelle Ryan, Springfield, IL. “I Made a Pig of Myself at Farrell’s.” 2022. Blown Glass, 9”x7”x7”, 5 lbs. $300.	Samantha L. Ladd, Arnold, MO. “Slot Machine.” 2023. Ink, Watercolor, Gold Leaf on Watercolor Paper, 12”x15”. $200.
Brenda Gilliam, St. Louis, MO. “The Angel of Darkness and Light.” 2023. Acrylic, Iridescent Gold on Canvas, 24.5”x36.5”. $1,200.	Stephanie Seidel, O’Fallon, MO. “Heaven and Hell.” 2023. Digital Art (Procreate), 18”x24”. NFS.	m.sass, St. Louis, MO. “Altruism.” 2023. Handcut Paper Collage on Matboard, Vintage Magazine Images, 16”x20”. $135.