Campbell has worked in media, publishing, and academia since 1999. During this time, he taught high school and college-level writing, edited various publications, worked as a freelance writer and editor, tutored students and professionals on writing techniques, and led content strategy for successful websites.
 Kehinde Wiley, Rumors of War Edition B (53 x 64 x 24) Solomon Thurman, co-founder of the 10th Street Gallery located in North St. Louis, laments, “There needs to be more black artists being used in the general public and not necessarily in a gallery setting…It [public art] should be used as part of the educational system so that kids could understand how they can express themselves and the different ways they can express themselves” (qtd. in Davis). Thurman’s clarion call reflects the dearth of public art--either by African American artists or using African American subject-matter--located throughout St. Louis’s northside. As captured in Jasmine Mahmoud’s “Touring a Divided City”: “North St. Louis is…an arts desert” (Mahmoud). Aligned with the civic spirit demanded by the comments of Thurman and Mahmoud, DOORWAYS is pleased to announce the installation of an edition of Rumors of War, the salient and timely work by Kehinde Wiley. Wiley’s Rumors of War will be placed at the entrance to the new campus of DOORWAYS, soon to open in North St. Louis. The Gateway Foundation enriches St. Louis life and culture through the acquisition and placement of sculpture for public enjoyment throughout the region. Gateway worked closely with DOORWAYS to bring this extraordinary artwork to a site and an organization that is a perfect match for its content. DOORWAYS is an interfaith non-profit organization. The organization provides housing and related supportive services to improve quality of life and health outcomes for people affected by HIV/AIDS. The new location, at 1100 N. Jefferson Avenue, will support those from within and without the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. As stated on DOORWAYS’ website,
This edition of Wiley’s sculpture--standing about four feet tall--will be placed on DOORWAYS’ new campus, just a stone’s throw from Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts Middle School, La Salle Public Charter Middle School, and Gateway MST Middle School. The sculpture will be prominently displayed before the North Jefferson entrance of the DOORWAYS campus. In a city divided by conceptions of race, poverty, access to public education, health care, transportation, and public art, the installation of Rumors of War within the boundaries of Jeff-Vander-Lou should be considered the start of a process to reverse and challenge the idea that no public art exists above Delmar in St. Louis. Visitors to the public artwork will be able to experience the edition of Wiley’s bronze statue. DOORWAYS’ decision to place Rumors of War within the boundaries of Jeff-Vander-Lou should be recognized as a first retort to Thurman’s call, espousing the quiet certitude that is St. Louis. A quiet certitude engendered by a collective will to move forward together and an ethos only born in the Show-Me State. The installation of Wiley’s Rumors of War represents the beginning of a trend that will not only work to revitalize a sense of communal belonging among St. Louisans in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, but the continuation of a thriving African American arts tradition dating back at least to the times of Scott Joplin. Perspectives of Rumors of War, from left to right: A) back view of rider; B) closeup of rider, highlighting dreadlocks; C) ripped jeans and Nike sneakers of rider; and, D) gripped reigns. Discussions of public art differ, dramatically in some cases. Still, the definition advocated in “Blue Springs Public Art Commission Program Definitions,” and explicated by Jack Becker in 2004’s Monograph, is instructive--particularly as relates St. Louis and the roles of public art. According to the Blue Springs Public Art Commission, “Public art is artwork in the public realm, regardless of whether it is situated on public or private property” (qtd. in Doss 2). This definition of public art is instructive for a number of reasons: The statement is very liminal in nature. That is, the statement is inherently binary, containing antimonies reflecting the duality that is St. Louis, dualities themselves contained within the multiplicity of artworks created by Wiley. Located within the Compromise State, St. Louis has long existed between the twin axes of unlimited freedoms and humanity for some and delimited, circumscribed citizenship and the pursuit of happiness for others. The concept of the “public realm” captures this duality: at once belonging to the public--but the fief and domain of kings and higher authorities--this understanding of public art not only acknowledges contemporary conceptions of the democratization of St. Louis’s public sphere but the medieval underpinnings of King Louis’s city and its historical approaches to the roles, purposes, and functions of public art. The “realm,” historically envisioned as “kingdom,” has also come to mean “a field or domain of activity or interest.” Interestingly, public art, then, serves as a vehicle by which to transform the kingdom into a field of play reflecting the interests of the public. The difficulty lies in how to approach such a transformation. For, as Michael Warner reminds us in “The Mass Public and the Mass Subject”: “No one really inhabits the general public…everyone brings to such a category the particularities from which one has to abstract oneself in consuming this discourse” (252). The installation of Rumors of War demonstrates how such a transformation of the public sphere can take place. Taking into consideration the particularities from which residents of St. Louis’s northside, in general, and the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, in particular, have to abstract themselves--seemingly from positions within an arts desert--the selection of Rumors of War suggests a desire to not only revitalize the discourse taking place within public spaces but to revitalize the discourse being consumed. A gesture quite worthy of acknowledgment and celebration. Kehinde Wiley and Rumors of War  Kehinde Wiley Kehinde Wiley was born in 1977. He was raised in Los Angeles, California. His very lineage resides at the intersection of the Old World and the New World: Wiley’s father is Nigerian; his mother, African American. Best known for his 2018 portrait of President Barack Obama for the National Portrait Gallery, Wiley owes his passionate attachments and approaches to portraiture--particularly as regards painting--to a brief experience at an arts conservatory in Russia. Just the same, Wiley earned his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and his MFA from the School of Art at Yale University in 2001. His first solo show--Passing/Posing--premiered at the Hoffman Gallery in Chicago in 2005. The show
From Passing/Posing (left to right): A) Immaculate Consumption , 2003, oil on canvas mounted on panel (96 X 60 X 1.5); B) Go (ceiling painting) , 2003, oil on panel (48 X 120 X 2.5); and, C) Passing / Posing #13 , 2002 oil on fabric (60 X 40). © Kehinde Wiley In Passing/Posing, the viewing audience is introduced to some of Wiley’s first attempts at projecting a more inclusive American society and world. The placement of urban, black, male figures within high classical European settings suggests welcoming entry-points into the worlds of prestige, clout, power, wealth, and influence usually denied to representatives of the socioeconomically lower classes. Today, according to Dereck Conrad Murray in “Kehinde Wiley: Splendid Bodies,” “Wiley has emerged as the most prominent of what could be regarded as..[the avant-garde] of Post-Black artists…the prototypical exemplar of [a] new Post-Black aesthetic in his envisioning of blackness beyond abjection and racial trauma” (92). That is, Wiley’s works and subject matter function to transcend overdetermined understandings of blackness resulting from histories centered on defeat, negation, and occlusion. Wiley’s works move past inherited understandings of what it means to be black. This aesthetic approach has been captured most poignantly during Wiley’s recent tenure in St. Louis. During 2017, in the aftermath of the murder of Michael Brown and the Ferguson uprisings, Wiley visited neighborhoods in North St. Louis and Ferguson where he invited strangers he met to pose for his paintings. Wiley then created eleven original portraits inspired by carefully chosen artworks in the collection of the St. Louis Art Museum. “Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis,” an exhibition held at the St. Louis Art Museum October 19, 2018–February 10, 2019, culminated from the work conducted among citizens of the northside.
Wiley’s cross-generic approach to painting as evinced in Passing/Posing and “Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis” has also been captured in the artist’s initial series of painting artworks entitled, Rumors of War. The title for the series signifies on Matthew 24:6--“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” The series is comprised of “monumental equestrian portraits in ornate gilded frames with spermatozoa motifs that announced the portraits as blatant expressions of potency and wealth” (Russo). The catch: the riders are depicted as predominantly young, black, and male. As Wiley acknowledges, he deliberately creates “a high-priced luxury good for wealthy consumers…[appealing] to the aesthetic principles of a very elite social class…it’s an absolute celebration of decadence and empire” (qtd. in Russo). The Rumors of War series is directed to a diverse public and Wiley’s employment of historical references creates controversies and conversations that are in dialogue with existing artworks. From "Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis" (left to right): A) Colonel Platoff on His Charger, 2008, oil and enamel on canvas (108" X 108"); B) Le Roi a la Chasse II, 2007 oil and enamel on canvas (108" X 108") ; C) Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps, 2005 oil and enamel on canvas (108" X 108") ; D) Officer of the Hussars, 2007 oil and enamel on Canvas (108" X 108"). Wiley returns to the idea of monumental equestrian artwork in his first offering of public art—made specifically to be sited among, or, in place of, the confederate monuments on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. The statue is titled: Rumors of War. The original Rumors of War is a thirty-foot-tall statue of a young, black man sporting jeans, Nike high-top sneakers, and dreadlocks. The statue is an allusion to the bronze statue of the Confederate J. E. B. Stuart. A repetition with a difference, if you will. Still, while the statue of Stuart is invested with the post-Civil War nostalgia of the Lost Cause, Rumors of War signifies on the possibilities of contemporary blackness at the intersection of the everyday and informal (jeans), the capitalistic and corporate (Nike sneakers), and the self-referential and self-fashioning (dreadlocks hairstyle). Rumors of War was originally unveiled in New York’s Times Square; it now resides before the entrance to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in close juxtaposition to the J. E. B. Stuart statue. Rumors of War is Wiley’s largest public art work to date. Left: Kehinde Wiley, Rumors of War. Right: J.E.B. Stuart Confederate Monument A Revitalization of Mind and Body That there is a dearth of public art in North St. Louis may be debatable in some circles. Most agree that as compared to the section of the city south of Delmar: North St. Louis is an arts desert and there is no public art above Delmar. Delmar Boulevard represents the locus of all the antimonies and binaries associated with the city of St. Louis. This mistaken approach to the demographic characteristics of St. Louis suggests that all things South are good and all things North are bad. A misconception badly in need of repair. Still, Tina Pihl of Union Communion Ministries points out that there were eighteen free concerts in St. Louis in 2016. That is, the arts events were open to the public. Two were held in North St. Louis; sixteen, in South St. Louis. The existence of public art venues has long been understood to reflect a vibrant, thriving city. Robert Duffy writes, in “Why Public Art?”, that “governments--totalitarian and democratic alike--employ works of art to establish a sense of potency in public. A good and ubiquitous example is the proliferation of equestrian monuments, where kings, warriors, and statesmen are portrayed in attitudes of triumph and power” (28). The seeming unequal distribution of public artworks, such as concerts, suggests that public life in North St. Louis, at least in 2016, inspires neither a sense of communal belonging nor potency. Moreover, if equestrian monuments are ubiquitous in the display of public attitudes towards triumph and power, then the lack of equestrian monuments located in North St. Louis suggests a powerless northern public conditioned to defeat. While this may be true of areas such as Jeff-Vander-Lou historically, the installation of Wiley’s Rumors of War represents a liminal fulcrum--a threshold, a gateway, a doorway--to revitalizing the mind, body, and artistic spirits of St. Louis’s northside citizenry. As I type, there are three equestrian monuments located in the city of St. Louis--four, if you count the winged-horses adorning Soldiers Memorial, located just west of Citygarden in the Central Business District. St. Louis’s most obvious equestrian monument, and only overshadowed by the Arch and the Old Courthouse as regards symbolizing the city, is Apotheosis of St. Louis, located in Forest Park on Art Hill. The majestic bronze statue of the city’s namesake and warrior-king Louis IX, donated to St. Louis by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company and unveiled in 1906, sits before the main entrance to the St. Louis Art Museum. Also joining the bronze sculpture of King Louis on the park’s grounds in 1906 is a bronze sculpture of General Franz Sigel of the Union Army. The general is positioned on horseback. And finally, there is Fernando Botero’s 2005 bronze sculpture, Man on Horse--also on loan from the Gateway Foundation--located in Clayton, Missouri, a west county suburb of St. Louis. While Apotheosis of St. Louis and General Franz Sigel certainly represent white, male, powerful, triumphant personalities within the consciousness of the St. Louis public, Botero’s Man on Horse reflects a sort of St. Louis Everyman. Considering St. Louis’s racial history, Wiley’s Rumors of War would add to the count of equestrian monuments in most significant ways.     Left to right: A) Winged-Horse and Soldier, Soldier's Memorial; B) Apotheosis of St. Louis; C) General Franz Sigel; and, D) Man on Horse First, Rumors of War springs from the imagination of an African American artist. When contemplating the revitalization of African American arts traditions of the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, DOORWAYS and its partners--including the Gateway Foundation--have acted thoughtfully and reflectively and responsibly regarding the installation of the first artist to have an equestrian monument placed in North St. Louis. The Gateway Foundation has been a great civic resource in bringing art to the public realm in the St. Louis region for many years. In commissioning and lending major sculptures to a wide array of neighborhoods and communities, Gateway has made important works of art available to audiences who may not have had access before. Rumors of War illustrates their mission and method—making a thoughtful match between art and public. In this case, a major work by an extraordinarily well-recognized artist will be sited in a place where its subject is relevant and meaningful to those who live, go to school, and spend time in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. Since the postbellum era, the Jeff-Vander-Lou section of North St. Louis has longed served as an African American enclave. And long vibrant--though now seemingly simmering--arts traditions have served to undergird feelings of communal belonging and incorporation into the city of St. Louis proper. For example, while its history is undoubtedly racially fraught, the fact that Fairgrounds Park sits at the northern periphery of the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood should be acknowledged, particularly concerning access to public art. With respect to feelings of triumph and power engendered by equestrian monuments, the reception of Rumors of War would generate controversies and conversations within the public sphere differently, if crafted at the hands of a white artist. As Matthew Barbee reminds us in Race and Masculinity in Southern Memory, “public art [serves] as a reflection of communal standards of citizenship” (5). The selection of a white artist, for example, would continue a long line of history that suggests African Americans are incapable of producing art reflective of communal standards of citizenship--the very history from which the selection of Wiley works to jettison us guarantees such.
Second, Wiley’s subject-matter speaks not only to global and national and local audiences in indirect ways; Wiley’s subject-matter speaks to audiences of the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood in direct ways, particularly as regards modes of representation. As the contemporary discussions centered on the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site evince, the histories of African American men and women residing in Jeff-Vander-Lou have long been ignored, elided, and occluded. Wiley’s placement of a young African American male on horseback reflecting feelings of pride, triumph, and power over a traditionally African American enclave not only pays homage to the histories of African Americans in Jeff-Vander-Lou, but the seeming youthfulness of the rider suggests great promise regarding the future of the young African Americans residing there in the contemporary moment. Just as the selection of Wiley, an African American artist, sparks controversies and discussions in ways different as compared to the selection of a non-black artist, the selection of a white rider or nondescript rider--as is the case with Botero’s Man on Horse--would spark controversies and discussions in manners that are different as compares the selection of a young, black, male rider. Unlike the composition of the Arthur Ashe Memorial--and its seemingly inferior juxtaposition with the might and power of Confederate equestrian monuments located on Richmond’s Monument Avenue--Wiley’s young, African American male rider holds his own when juxtaposed with Apotheosis of St. Louis. Third, the decision to place Rumors of War not only in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, but on the grounds of DOORWAYS and across the street from Gateway MST Middle School, La Salle Middle School, and Carr Lane VPA Elementary School facilitates Thurman’s call for the integration of public art into the educational system so that kids can understand how they can express themselves and the different ways they can express themselves. Moreover, DOORWAYS’ North Jefferson location invites celebration from the residents of the city of St. Louis, in general, and from African Americans residing in Jeff-Vander-Lou, specifically. African American citizens living in Jeff-Vander-Lou have historically suffered disparities in access to health care and healthcare outcomes, along with access to public art. Let us not forget that Joplin apparently died of an undiagnosed health impairment. Just the same, in today’s climate we have come to recognize that such health care and health outcome disparities are engendered, at least in part, by the low socioeconomic statuses of many of the residents of Jeff-Vander-Lou--once again, underscoring the elevated need for a multiplicity of approaches to revitalizing North St. Louis. Just as the installation of Rumors of War works to facilitate different and more productive manners of revitalizing the minds and spirits of northside citizens through facilitating access to public art, DOORWAYS is dedicated to improving the bodies of the citizens of the northside. Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War challenges us to reimage St. Louis’s historical identity--or, at least, one of its historical identities. The piece reflects the liminal qualities so inherent to St. Louis. At once medieval and contemporary, old and new, black (subject-matter) and (traditionally) white (setting), elitist and democratic, Rumors of War reflects the respective desires of DOORWAYS, and the Gateway Foundation, to not only play significant roles in the revitalization of the artistic souls and physical bodies of fellow citizens in North St. Louis and the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, but to acknowledge the historical partnership of African Americans within the Kingdom of Culture that is the city of St. Louis. And, in doing so, DOORWAYS and its partner institutions have engendered the support, trust, and buy-in from northside citizens like myself as relates their respective visions of the revitalization of North St. Louis and the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood. Their efforts represent a threshold--a liminal portal--to Rumors of War for those living above and below Delmar. Their efforts represent first steps in the creation of a more inclusive American society in the contemporary moment. Works Cited Barbee, Matthew Mace. Race and Masculinity in Southern Memory: History of Richmond, Virginia’s Monument Avenue, 1948-1996. Lexington Books, 2014. Davis, Chad. “St. Louis Exhibits Shine a Light on African American Abstract Artists.” stlpr. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/arts/2019-10-10/st-louis-exhibits-shine-a-light-on-african-american-abstract-artists. Accessed 30 May 2021. Doorways Housing. “Mission and History.” Doorways: Hope Lives Here. https://www.doorwayshousing.org/about-doorways/mission-and-history/ Doss, Erika. “Public Art Controversy: Cultural Expression and Civic Debate.” Monograph. https://artintheurbanenvironment.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/doss_public-art-controversy.pdf Accessed 29 May 2021 Duffy, Robert. “Why Public Art?”. In Please Touch: Sculpture for a City. Gateway Foundation, 2016. Ha, Paul. Foreword. In Please Touch: Sculpture for a City. Gateway Foundation, 2016. Mahmoud, Jasmine. “Touring the Divided City: How Neighborhoods United for Change Transforms St. Louis into a Journey Toward Equity.” The Common Reader: A Journal of the Essay. https://commonreader.wustl.edu/c/touring-divided-city/. Accessed 29 May 2021. Murray, Dereck Conrad. “Kehinde Wiley: Splendid Bodies.” In Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, (Number 21), 2007, pp. 90-101. Russo. Jillian. “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic.” In Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2015. Warner, Michael. “The Mass Public and the Mass Subject.” The Phantom Public Sphere, Social Text Series on Cultural Politics 5 edited by Bruce Robbins. University of Minnesota Press, 1993, pp 234–256.
0 Comments
|
Archives
November 2021
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
