Work from St. Louis-based artists Julia Curran, Emma Vidal and Lola Ogbara will be featured in the upcoming “Exposure 21: Three Myths” exhibition at Gallery 210. The exhibition opens on Aug. 29. (Images courtesy of Gallery 210)
Gallery 210 at the University of Missouri–St. Louis will open its fall season by highlighting work of St. Louis-based artists Julia Curran, Lola Ogbara and Emma Vidal in “Exposure 21: Three Myths,” an exhibition beginning Aug. 29.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this and all other gallery exhibitions will be presented online during the 2020-21 academic year, though the gallery will be open to the public by appointment only and will limit groups to no more than 10. Masks are required.
“Exposure 21: Three Myths” will begin with an online panel discussion featuring the three artists and moderated by Jessica Baran, the director of Curatorial and Program Development at Barrett Barrera Projects. The discussion will begin at 4 p.m. on Aug. 29.
The exhibition is the latest in Gallery 210’s series of group exhibitions designed to feature artists who live and work in the St. Louis region. It will remain on display through Dec. 5.
“In designing the exhibitions for the Exposure series, I look for bodies of work that have an aesthetic and philosophical coherence and whose overall themes are relevant to contemporary society,” Gallery 210 Director Terry Suhre said. “I have followed the work of Julia Curran, Lola Ogbara and Emma Vidal for several years, and a few days after visits to their respective studios I was thinking of the challenges to the foundational myths of American society and the role of the artist as myth-maker.”
Curran seeks to expose and deconstruct the myths we have of our society and ourselves and bring more feminine perspectives into contemporary dialogue. Ogbara’s artwork looks to the intersections of Blackness, queerness and womanhood as a way to process the circumstances of these identities throughout time. Vidal’s addresses the beginning of collective human history and the future of humankind, and it is largely influenced by myths, history and literature.
The Exposure series originated with the St. Louis Art Gallery Association in the late 1990s and was housed at Hunt Gallery on the campus of Webster University. Gallery 210 took ownership of the series in 2005 with Exposure 8. Since then, it has become one of the Gallery’s most anticipated programs.
Suhre is grateful to be able to continue that tradition despite the public health crisis altering so many aspects of everyday life.
“The arts are the concrete manifestations of the human need to connect, be heard, be seen and be understood,” Suhre said. “Although COVID-19 has made the safe possibility of being together difficult, the need for a meaningful experience is not diminished. With traditional venues for the arts unavailable for the foreseeable future, the digital platform and the creativity provide a necessary avenue to connect with the rest of the world in a deep way.”
“Exposure 21: Three Myths” is made possible by the Missouri Arts Council and the Center for the Humanities and the College of Arts and Sciences at UMSL.
For more information, visit https://gallery210.umsl.edu/ or contact Gallery 210 at 314-516-5976 or by email at gallery@umsl.edu.
Image citations
Julia Curran
The Lovers (2019)
Acrylic Painting and Mixed Media on Panel
36″ x 36″
Lola Ogbara
Devouring Binds (2019)
Stoneware, cement, jute rope
42” x 42” x 22”
Emma Vidal
The Three Lost Boys (2020)
18 karat gold luster on glazed stoneware ceramic
6” x 4.5” x 4”
