This is a first in a series of posts exploring how CWE-based artists are faring during the pandemic. I wondered if the coronavirus has altered their approach or influenced their work. While some say they have not experienced a difference (creating art is usually a solitary pursuit, for instance) others have incorporated imagery or titles into their art that speak to these difficult times.
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Rice’s Covid Isolation 3, above, oil on canvas on cintra, 32″ x 32.”
Clayton resident Judith Shaw steals away to her studio in the CWE when construction behind her condo gets to be too much. Shaw turned her frustration over the sprawling Centene corporate expansion project into what she calls fault lines, “tire track art,” a print and photographic series that was recently exhibited at the St. Louis Artist’s Guild.
“Clearly Covid has stopped us all in our tracks”, Shaw said. “It has given us a chance to look at ourselves in a new way, to consider how we see things, how we do things, notice the other, learn from each other, and have empathy for others rather than anger towards them.”
“The Centene job site hummed (or should I say hammered and blasted) along during the shut down without interference from high volume car traffic…As a result, I had more interaction with the workers in what I called my “live, interactive studio.” Covid gave me the time and space to become more experimental with my process and collaborate more with the workers.”
“Some of the tire marks embed deeply, others barely skim the surface. We are all asked to consider today: what’s our imprint on earth? How lightly do we tread?”
Architect George Nikolajevich started painting 3 years ago, a year before he retired as Design Principal at Cannon Design.
Above, A Street in Sayulita
In an email Nikolajevich said: “I have always been interested in form and color. When I was practicing architecture, I would use pen and ink, and sometimes watercolor. But now I am painting in oils.”
A Street in Quebec City
Nikolajevich’s oil painting of Mahalia Jackson.
Plague doctors on Capitol Hill, oil on panel, 26″ x 26.”
Wall Street plague doctors, oil on panel, 16″ x 20.”
Plague doctors reopening, oil on panel, 24″ x 24.”
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Next up: Artists and the pandemic, Part II