Nu-Art’s Jazz and Visual Art Series Brings Oliver Lake Back to St. Louis

Back in January, as part of our “My Hometown,” cover story, we spoke with jazz musician Oliver Lake about his memories of growing up in The Ville neighborhood in St. Louis. Lake now resides on the East Coast, but returns to Missouri every so often to play at Jazz at the Bistro or the Nu-Art Series at Metropolitan Gallery. Though lots of music fans are familar with his work with Lake’s own jazz ensembles, as well as his work with the legendary World Saxophone Quartet, not everyone knows he is also a poet and visual artist, and has been drawing and painting since the age of 13. Tomorrow night, Metropolitan Gallery holds an opening reception for “West Meets East: Oliver Lake and S. Scott Davis III,”from 5:30 to 9 p.m. as part of The Nu-Art Series’ Jazz and Visual Arts Series. The title refers to the home bases of the artists—Lake is in New Jersey, and Davis is in the Bay Area. Of his visual art, Lake writes:

I work with oil and acrylic paint, pencil, collage – often mixing media. I like to work with vibrant colors exploding against one another. I am a painter, usually on two-dimensional surfaces such as paper and canvas, but at times I find myself painting on three-dimensional found objects, and these paintings become sculpture. Over the years I have continued to create Talkin’ Sticks – found natural sticks painted and decorated to tell a story, break a spell, power a dream. If there are themes in the work, they come from a long collaboration with my African, Choctaw and American roots, exploring and expressing who I am, and how I see the world. In 2010 I was commissioned by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh to design a house and garden for Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh, PA. I designed the exterior as a painting, and the interior as a series of paintings and sculptures. There is a painted saxophone that is linked to the doorbell, playing several selections of music upon activation.

You can get a preview of Lake’s work on his website. Metropolitan Gallery is located at 2936 Locust (314-535-6500, thenu-artseries.org). The show runs through April 20; Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday by appointment only.