Catch It Before It Closes: “Scouts or Sports?” at the Saint Louis Art Museum

While checking out the St. Louis Modern exhibit at the Saint Louis Art Museum, make a detour into Gallery 250 and the Alexandria and Charleston period rooms to view Currents 111: Steven and William Ladd. Whereas the Modernism show tackles the glamorous lives of such St. Louisans as Morton D. May, this exhibit—subtitled Scouts or Sports?—tells stories that resonate with the rest of us. The brothers Ladd, who work collaboratively, now reside in New York; their work has shown at such institutions as the Museum of Arts and Design, Frieze Art Fair, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Though the two source their materials in very New York ways (acquiring inventory of deadstock web belts from a shuttered textile factory, for instance), the backstory of pretty much every piece is a shared memory from their Affton childhood. There are many references to ants: They once pulled a red LEGO box from under a bed, only to find it full of carpenter ants. The actual LEGO box, as well as tiny paper ants and giant glass ones, makes an appearance in the show. There’s also an intricate landscape made from hand-built boxes that describes the brothers’ experiences with “Dad & Lad” Boy Scout camping trips; a series of beautiful, almost mystical-looking prints describing sports injuries; and a huge red wall-hung piece titled “Cardinal Nation.” Like other artists who left the city in body but maybe not wholly in mind, the Ladds spin the St. Louis–esque into something more universal—but it’s still a delicious luxury for this city to see itself as the subject matter for art.

Through February 14. 1 Fine Arts, 314-721-0072.