Audrey Mills/Arch Design
“Art is in [our] DNA,” says Jay Scheinman, municipal affairs lead at Block, the technology company with a focus on financial services. Scheinman is talking about the company’s storied origins, when co-founder and St. Louis native Jim McKelvey, a glass artist, couldn’t complete the sale of one of his works because he couldn’t accept credit cards. Square, a pocket-sized device that, when attached to a smartphone or iPad, can process credit cards, was born of his missed opportunity. “This struggle to give new businesses—particularly artists—access to the economy, lives in our culture,” says Scheinman.
When Square, Inc. (now called Block) purchased the former Post-Dispatch Building, 900 N. Tucker, the decision was made early on to introduce art into the workday. Block, in collaboration with Arch Design, commissioned 10 works for its 226,000-square-foot space. In the summer of 2020, the company issued a request for proposal asking St. Louis artists to interpret Block’s mission of economic empowerment. More than 100 submitted proposals; 10 were selected, chosen by a committee of community partners and Block employees.
“St. Louis has an incredibly diverse and energized, talented community of artists,” says Scheinman. “When we were talking about how to be a community partner, this was at the forefront of tapping into the region. We found an array of talent and they are all represented in our building.”
Among the artists chosen for the project was Cbabi Bayoc, whose acrylic-on-clay panels now occupy a 40-foot-long wall in a third-floor hallway. The work is divided into three sections, each with its own title, "Evolution of Exchange," "New Home," and "Wolf of Soulard". They offer an interpretation of the St. Louis economy through their depiction of the local music scene; past methods of payment, such as bartering; and visual representations of new beginnings in a post-pandemic world.
“It was an artist’s dream job,” says Bayoc. “Working with a client who gave so much artistic and creative freedom was wonderful.” Bayoc’s sketch was accepted, but the specific wall where his work would be displayed was much larger than he’d anticipated. “Other than adjusting for size, there was little back-and-forth,” he adds.
Scheinman hopes that the art—sculptures, murals, and paintings are all included in the space—will enrich the workplace and inspire the 850-plus employees who occupy the building:
“Art has a symbiotic relationship reflecting the internal and external, showing how we live in communities. We gave artists the chance to interpret economic empowerment and we want our employees to see these multiple interpretations as expressed by small businesses.”
