Courtesy of Gallery 210
The postcard image for Basil Kincaid's "Gates," which runs February 24-May 15 at Gallery 210.
Basil Kincaid’s work is as urgent as it is familiar. His paintings, drawings, photographs, and found-object pieces mark out space in the world and examine it from a deeply personal and activist perspective.
This weekend, his latest solo exhibition, Basil Kincaid: Gates opens at the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ 210 Gallery.
The dimensional and site-specific installations use familiar textiles, such as quilts and clothing, as well as found and donated objects. They’re arranged into evocative objects that interrogate their settings—literal settings but also cultural and interpersonal settings.
“I’m looking at the quilts as their own beings,” Kincaid says by phone, in a van on the way to help another artist move studios. “They introduce themselves.”
They introduce themselves, and then the conversation sets off between the work and the viewer. But don’t expect much direction from the artist. Come with an open mind, and bring yourself fully to the conversation.
“Coming to an understanding around a work of art is a collaborative process,” says Kincaid. “That’s why I like leaving the interpretation fairly open. Come without an expectation, and receive it in whatever way you receive it.”
Courtesy of the artist
Basil Kincaid, "Uncle Lord" (2018). Silk,Cotton, Velvet, Wool, Corduroy, Lace and Thread. Dimensions Variable.
The gates in the title refer to passageways that we move through to understand ourselves, he says. “Materially, I’m using the quilt as a metaphor for some of these passageways, connections with the spirit realm and ancestral energies. You’ll see some symbolism with these windows—the eyes are the windows to the soul.”
Gallery 210 director Terry Suhre describes the work as warm and generous. “He looks to his past, his ancestral past, as an example that guides us all to our own path,” Suhre says. “He shows us the way to move back and really explore carefully who we are and gives us a model of how to share that with the rest of the world.”
Kincaid's latest work reflects a turning point in his life and in his practice: stepping through some gates of his own. “Over the past few years, it’s been this big journey of learning how to love myself and face all these things in my life that it was uncomfortable to face,” he says. “I have, in the past, been a lot more selfish.”
Kincaid says he’s realized that he hurt people in his life without intention. He’s been unpacking that and trying to expand his view into greater selflessness. It wasn’t a specific internal or external event that motivated him to change but rather his intrinsic interest in growth for its own sake.
Courtesy of the artist
Basil Kincaid, "Gate of Joy" (2018). Various donated fabrics, Glass, Metal and Wood. Dimensions Variable
It’s easy to hide out in ourselves, he says. “The past few years have been focused on not doing that—just looking at how my process of healing myself can inspire somebody else to embark on their own healing. And how can we also create spaces, physically and conversationally, where people can engage with their tenderness and begin to engage with each other on a deeper, more meaningful level?”
He’s been learning more about himself and his work through interactions and conversations with other artists, and that mirroring and exchange has led to greater depth, he says.
“My art is how I understand myself and where I am in relation to other people,” Kincaid says. “You can only do better when you know better.”
Basil Kincaid: Gates runs February 24–May 15. It opens with a lecture from 4–5 p.m. and a reception from 5–7 p.m. Gallery 210, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1 University, 44 Arnold Grobman.
