The achievements of artists Oliver Jackson (born 1935), John Rozelle (born 1944), Phillip J. Hampton (born 1922) and Michael Marshall (born 1953) demonstrate the continued relevance of abstraction and its potential for personal and subjective expression.
Oliver Jackson's fluid drawings and paintings contain figural forms. These paint figures inhabit and constitute a flowing abstract environment that, for Jackson, evokes a spiritual world with different rules than our own.
John Rozelle's abstract mixed media works communicate profound emotional content through a multiplicity of formal elements and found objects. The artist's interest in African visual culture is manifested in the qualities of accumulation and accretion, which suggest power and the enacting of ritual.
Phillip J. Hampton depicts abstracted optical effects. His understanding of reality includes the idea of contraposition, related but contradicting elements. This concept is evidenced in the artist's Imhotep #1, in which Hampton layers hard-edged grids and geometric shapes with amorphous areas of color, arrangements of calligraphic squiggles and delicate botanical elements.
The expressive pastel Rhythmic Notation by Michael Marshall demonstrates his preoccupation with gestural lines, which recorded the movement of the artist's hand as he drew. The lyricism and lush color of this piece evoke the landscape of the artist's current home in Hawaii.
Each of the artists has connections to the St. Louis area. St. Louis made a mark on the national art scene in the late 1960s with the formation of the Black Artists' Group (B.A.G.). Oliver Jackson was a leading voice during this moment, and his work has influenced both Rozelle and Marshall. Additionally all four have taught in the region, and both Marshall and Jackson exhibited work in the Museum's Currents series in 1989 and 1990 respectively. The Currents series is a laboratory for new work by emerging and mid-career artists.
Curated by Andrew Walker, assistant director for curatorial affairs and curator of American art, with the assistance of Alisa Swindell, Romare Bearden fellow, and Janeen Turk, curatorial assistant, African American Abstraction: St. Louis Connections will be on view in Gallery 337 through March 23, 2008.
The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the nation's leading comprehensive art museums with collections that include works of art of exceptional quality from virtually every culture and time period. Areas of notable depth include Oceanic art, pre-Columbian art, ancient Chinese bronzes and European and American art of the late 19th and 20th centuries, with particular strength in 20th-century German art. The Museum offers a full range of exhibitions and educational programming generated independently and in collaboration with local, national and international partners. -- www.stlouis.art.museum
