This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 25, 2009 - “One Loses One’s Classics" at White Flag Projects is one of those shows where the title promises one thing while the works deliver another, but in this case, both are really good, so it doesn’t much matter.
The title sets us up to expect works by contemporary artists that take alternative approaches to conventional painting’s content, technique or materials. What we get is an eclectic mix of really nice works by artists the world over. (To be fair, most of them are using paint, canvas and wood — “classic” media — and a few of them appear to consciously take paintings as their subject.)
New York-based Jim Lee has two ambitious but fragile painted wood pieces that worked their way directly into my heart.
German artist Anja Schwörer has bleached four sets of orthogonal lines onto an enormous canvas, resulting in a starry perspective study of outer space.
Sao Paulo-based Brazilian artist Caetano De Almeida turns in two Suprematist redux abstractions painted in “pollution on canvas.”
And St. Louis’ Michael Byron is along for the ride with a painting-of-a-painting titled “Bellows” (2008).
All in all, a fine show. And with parameters this roomy, I could see White Flag Projects turning “One Loses One’s Classics” into a regular event.
Ivy Cooper is an artist and professor of art history at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.