21c Museum Hotel St. Louis showcases work by Carmon Colangelo
2023-10-04 • Liam Otten
Left: Carmon Colangelo at the new 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis, with his original print-on-canvas “Occam’s Razor” (2018). Three of Colangelo’s works are now part of the 21c permanent collection. He also created editioned works, in four variations, for the hotel’s 173 guest rooms. Right: An editioned version of Colangelo’s “Cartesian Shout,” installed in a seventh-floor suite. (Photos: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
Acclaimed artist and Sam Fox School dean created prints-on-canvas for all 173 guest rooms.
“I use the same process for digital printing that I’d use for intaglio or lithography,” said Carmon Colangelo. “Print it, change it, and then print it again. Each iteration gives you something different to respond to.”
Colangelo, a celebrated printmaker as well as the Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, is discussing a new body of work commissioned by the 21c Museum Hotels.
Known for its outstanding collection of contemporary art, 21c recently debuted a new facility — its eighth — in downtown St. Louis. The 10-story Renaissance Revival building, a former YMCA, now highlights more than 70 works by a wide range of internationally celebrated artists, including three digital prints-on-canvas from Colangelo’s “Infinite Abstraction” series (2018). Other featured artists include Sam Fox School Associate Professor Chandler Ahrens and Sam Fox School alumni Quinn Antonio Briceño, MFA ’22, Yvonne Osei, MFA ’16, and Ebony Patterson, MFA ’06.
But over the last two years, Colangelo, who also serves as the Sam Fox School’s E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts, has played an additional role. Working with 21c Museum Hotels chief curator Alice Gray Stites, and with St. Louis-based printing and framing vendors, Colangelo created fresh iterations of two originals, “Cartesian Shout” and “Cartesian Twist,” for the hotel’s 173 guest rooms.
In this Q&A, Colangelo discusses the project, his artistic process and the navigation of new technologies.
The new 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis, 1528 Locust St. Pictured at center is “Viewfinder” (2023) by WashU Associate Professor Chandler Ahrens. Sitting atop a 10-foot retaining wall, this permanent, commissioned outdoor sculpture includes four stainless steel tubes, polished to a mirror finish, that frame, multiply and juxtapose views of downtown. (Photo: Chandler Ahrens/OSA)
How did this collaboration come about?
Alice saw my “Infinite Abstraction” exhibition at Bruno David Gallery and selected three pieces for the 21c permanent collection. She also was interested in having a St. Louis-based artist create work for the hotel rooms. I’d stayed at the original hotel, in Louisville, and knew it was something really special.
You often combine traditional printmaking with digital technology. How did you arrive at that process?
It’s been an evolution. But for me, there’s always been a dialogue between technology and studio practice. I started teaching in 1984 and got my first Mac Plus in 1985. I’m not deep into computers, but the Mac did make some things intuitive. You just have to be experimental and push the parameters so that the visual language isn’t dictated by the software.
The aesthetic gravity of new technologies …
Yeah. You have to work the edges and discover ways to make things feel different. So I’m really interested in notions of hybridity and combining traditions. And in printmaking, there are also deep-rooted elements of translation and improvisation. Every decision begets something else.
Colangelo at Idol Wolf, a new restaurant located within the 21c Museum Hotel. (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
How would you describe the “Infinite Abstraction” series?
It sits somewhere between geometric and gestural abstraction. Each work is based on a series of moves — going back-and-forth between printing and the digital screen — that I call my ‘faux algorithm.’ It’s not really a mathematical equation. It’s more of a playful notion about how the digital realm is built on numerical systems. Math explains the universe, science explains the universe. Maybe art can explain the universe, too.
Prints are typically editioned on paper. “Infinite Abstraction” comprises unique works printed on canvas. Can you unpack that gesture?
The idea of “printing paintings” was about locating the spaces between what’s considered a painting and what’s considered a print. Oftentimes, things on canvas are considered paintings, even when — like Warhol’s silkscreens — they’re really printed. But I also thought turning these originals into multiples, for the hotel rooms, brought the series full circle.
Carmon Colangelo, “Cartesian Shout” (left) and “Cartesian Twist,” from the series “Infinite Abstraction” (2018). Archival pigment on archival canvas, 61 x 44 ½ inches each. From the 21c permanent collection. (Photos courtesy of Bruno David Gallery)
In all, you made 173 prints for 21c St. Louis, in four variations: two sizes each of “Cartesian Shout” and “Cartesian Twist.” How long did you have to complete the work?
We had about a year to prepare, and then another year in which to make the prints. The originals had been printed in layers in my studio — they weren’t just a single file — so I had to recreate that process. We also had to decide whether I’d print them all or whether we might use a local vendor.
I tested both and decided to go with NovaColor in downtown St. Louis. They’ve done work for other artists, including Tim Portlock, so I knew the quality was really good. Over the course of several visits, we made prototypes on their equipment, which is different from what’s in my studio, using different canvases and color layers.
How distinct are the editioned versions from the originals?
It’s an interesting line. They’re based on the same two works, but if you could put them side by side with the originals, you’d notice differences. At least, I can see the differences! Partly it’s because the process was different. We changed image size, printer, the type of ink, the canvas … I was pretty picky about the color and surface. I wanted it as crisp and nuanced as possible, but it also had to be durable.
I also made slight adjustments to the color, shifting some blues and greens and keying up some red highlights. In all, we probably spent three months on the printing alone. And of course, getting everything framed was another big job.
These are multiples, but there was a lot of attention to detail. There’s personal care in every work.
The Main Gallery at 21c St. Louis featuring the inaugural exhibition “Revival: Digging into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow.” Artworks in the exhibition explore the use of historical sources in contemporary art, highlighting how looking at the past clarifies the present and reimagines the future. Pictured are (from left): Ruth Owens, “Witness” (2023); Andy Llanes Bultó, “Garden of Memory” (2022); Esiri Erheriene-Essi, “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” (2015); Kehinde Wiley, “Support the Rural Population and Serve 500 Peasants” (2007); Katrina Andry, “Black Imaginings of the 1811 Past and Future Possibilities” (2022).(Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
Gallery Two at 21c St. Louis. Pictured (from left) are: Stan Squirewell, “Scotts No More” (2021); Jeroen van Kesteren, “The Cumulus” (2021); Kelani Abass, “Stamping History, Making Time 8” (2022); Tyler Mitchell, “Time for a New Sky” (2020). “Revival: Digging into Yesterday, Planting Tomorrow.” The works will remain on view through June. (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
Ebony G. Patterson, MFA ’06, often utilizes symbols of transformation and regeneration — such as butterflies, peacocks, snakes and flowers — to explore cycles of life and death. Pictured is “…when the cuts erupt…the garden rings…and the warning is a wailing…” (2020). Glitter, glue, beads, plaster, conch shells, gold leaf, porcelain, paint, trimmings, jewelry, embellishments, fabric, jacquard tapestry and paraffin wax. Pictured at right is Myrlande Constant’s “GUEDE (Baron)” (2020). (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
“The Way Out West” by Fallen Fruit is an immersive installation, sourced in and inspired by St. Louis, spanning three floors within the property’s historic main stairwell. Visitors are able to walk amidst the various elements of the installation, including custom-designed wallcovering, carpeting, and chandeliers. “Fallen Fruit” is the artist duo of David Allen Burns and Austin Young. (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
Colangelo’s original “Cartesian Twist” (2018), installed just off the main lobby. Pictured in the foreground is one of the orange penguins which roam the 21c St. Louis. The artworks by artist collective Cracking Art Group are intended to spark conversation about the impacts of plastics and resource use on the environment. Pictured in the background is Alyson Shotz video installation “Fluid State” (2011). (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
“Breaking Seals Briser La Limit,” a series of photographic prints by Yvonne Osei, MFA ’16, depicts the artist wearing a Ghanaian public school uniform while interacting with building entrances in Paris. Embodying a variety of roles — gatekeeper, landlord, homeowner and visitor — Osei here represents the larger influence of colonialism and Western education on the West African psyche. (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
Nicaraguan-American artist Quinn Antonio Briceño, MFA ’22, combines bold patterns and subtle collage elements to embrace both the duality of his cultural identity and subjects who might otherwise be overlooked. Pictured is “Madre e Hijo” (2018). Acrylic, postal stickers, fabric, paper and bean-stained paper on canvas. (Photo: Whitney Curtis/Washington University)
Chandler Ahrens, “Viewfinder” (2023). Installation view, looking east from the 21c Museum Hotel to the Campbell House Museum, 1508 Locust St. (Photo: Chandler Ahrens/OSA)
A kaleidoscopic look through “Viewfinder.” (Photo: Chandler Ahrens/OSA)