Robert A. Crowe, the guy behind St. Louis Daily Photo blog, is a great shootist. And he doesn’t just slap images up there — he tells the story behind the picture, which I appreciate. He is also a lawyer. I don’t do copyright violation anyway, but not even gonna go there with a thumbnail without asking him first … which, unfortunately, I don’t have time to do today. So you want to see his pictures, you’ll have to click here. Go ahead, do it: you’ll be glad you did. Just a note: this photo above is not one of Mr. Crowe’s — you’ll have to keep reading to find out what it is!
Left Bank Books, stout-hearted crew that they are, want to be sure kids in the St. Louis Public Schools have access to books for Christmas, and they’re working with Teach For America to make that happen with the “Angel Tree Book Drive.” Five Teach for America teachers have picked out books they want their kids to read over the holidays; you can buy the book, and Left Bank will wrap it and make sure it’s delivered to the classroom. Call Left Bank at 314-367-6731, or you can click here to order books through Left Bank’s website.
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Finally, I want to offer up a bit of absurdity to break up all the Bing Crosby static of the season. Tomorrow and Saturday, performance artist Jimmy Kuehnle will be walking around St. Louis in his inflatable suit — that’s the mysterious pic up above. The always-marvelous Good Citizen Gallery is bringing him to town, holding a reception to celebrate. I should also mention that Mr. Kuehnle is originally from St. Louis. Here’s the skinny:
WHO: Jimmy Kuehnle
WHAT: Public Art Performance in an inflatable suit
WHERE: Starts under the Arch and heads downtown
WHEN: Friday, December 18th – 12:00 noon
“Performance artist, Jimmy Kuehnle, continues his inflatable suit performance tour through the Midwest. Kuehnle, known for wearable inflatable suits and public performances will make performance treks through the city. In order to widen the audience beyond the gallery and to continue his mission of connecting with other people, Kuehnle will have performances in Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit and St. Louis. The performances stride a thin line between spectacle and the absurd with the goal of breaking the public out of its repetitive daily cycle of thought patterns.
The performance will start under the Gateway to the West and then proceed along spontaneous routes through the city toward downtown allowing maximum access to the work by the viewing public. The suits Big Red and You Wear What I Wear are joined by new work produced at Albion College titled Hello, Bye.
The suits are powered by 12v blower motors, which free Kuehnle to cram in-between pedestrians, cars, street signs and parking meters. The performances continue his message of, ‘Stop. Talk to me. We are both people.’ Kuehnle makes art 50% for himself and 50% for the viewer. The bright colors of the inflatable suits attract the gaze of pedestrians making nonsense of common sense.
Kuehnle, a St. Louis native, received an MFA in Sculpture in 2006 from the University of Texas at San Antonio. In 2008 he researched public art and practiced sculpture as a Fulbright Graduate Research Fellow and artist in Japan. This past summer he worked in Finland as the resident artist at the Stundars open air museum. This coming summer he is a resident artist at Sculpture Space in Utica, New York and this spring he is in a group exhibition in Milan, Italy. Currently he is the Phillip C. Curtis Artist in Residence at Albion College in Albion, Michigan.
For more information please visit www.jimmykuehnle.com.”
One last thing I should mention before signing off: I’ll be headed out to the wilds of Salt Lake City next week, so this blog, with the exception of whatever generous writing contributions my awesome co-workers make, will be pretty quiet until December 29. Till then, have some peppermints and some holiday naps, and I’ll see everyone on the other side of the holiday.
