RFT Best of 2010 list salutes Cherokee Street once again

A couple of years ago, The Riverfront Times awarded Cherokee Street with its Best Mile of St. Louis distinction.  They were right then, and Cherokee continues to earn mentions in the RFT.

The Best of St. Louis 2010 Awards have been posted for this year and once again there are more than a couple of Cherokee-related honorees.

Congratulations are in order for the following awards:

Best Place for Belly Laugh: The Improv Trick
Best Art Gallery to Die in the Past Year:  Boots Contemporary Art (sorry to see you go, Boots!)
Best Arts Organization: Sloup
Best New Band:  Sleepy Kitty
Best Local Artist:  Sarah Paulsen
Best Parade:  People's Joy Parade on Cherokee Street
Best St. Louis-Inspired Wordplay:  STL-Style
Best Junk Store: Cranky Yellow
Best New Club:  2720 Cherokee
Best Place to Slow Dance: Casa Loma Ballroom
Best Trend:  "Up with the St. Louis music scene!" is the award recipient here -- with mentions of Foam and 2720 as fab places to hear and see music.


That is quite a lot of kick-assery, Cherokee art folk!  Well done!  (Hope I didn't miss anyone -- if I did please let me know in the comments!)

Slinger 3 this Friday at Boots

Slinger 3

May 7 – June 5

Opening reception May 7 6:30 pm – 10:00 pm

Using the "Slinger" dish as a STL cultural metaphor, Slinger 3 is a group exhibition that explores the current temperature of the St. Louis visual landscape.

Performance by Larry Krone with special guest FRAN starts at 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm

            Artists

• Larry Krone
• Sandra Marchewa
• Karin Hodgin Jones
• RJ Messineo
• Josh Meyer

Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St. • St Louis, MO • 63118 • 314.269.7448
http://bootscontemp oraryartspace. org/blog/ home/

Boots opening April 2 - Pedestrian Project B.J. Vogt

Boots Contemporary Art Space presents Pedestrian Project B.J. Vogt

The Pedestrian Project is dedicated to public art in the city. Artists are asked to step outside of the white box to create an artwork for the audience that's on the go. Taking advantage of the storefront window this year's Pedestrian Project artist is B.J. Vogt. Vogt will create several durational installations that mimic naturally dynamic landforms and systems.

"And yet, while bone allowed the complexification of the animal phylum to which we, as vertebrates, belong, it never forgot its mineral origins: it is the living material which most easily petrifies, that most readily crosses the threshold back into the world of rocks. (…) human populations began mineralizing again when they developed an urban exoskeleton: bricks of sun-dried clay became the building materials for their homes, which in turn surrounded and were surrounded by stone monuments and defensive walls." - Manuel Da Landa, A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History

Please join us for an opening reception on April 2 from 6:30pm – 10:00pm

For more information about B.J. Vogt please visit- http://bjvogt. blogspot.com/

Boots Contemporary Art Space | 2307 Cherokee St. • St Louis, MO • 63118 • 314.269.7448 http://www.bootscontemporaryartspace.org/

Gallery Hours Wednesdays + Saturdays 12 - 5 pm Other times by appointment

Upcoming show at Boots - International Artist in Residence Wilhelm Neußer

Boots Contemporary Art Space is pleased to announce the 2009/2010 International Artist in Residence, Wilhelm Neußer.

BIRDHOUSEINCATTREE February 19 – March 2010

Opening Reception
February 19, 6:30pm -10:00pm

For his upcoming show at Boots, opening February 19, 2010, Neußer embarks on an unusual expedition in the wild world of domesticated animals. With the notion of "bird house in cat tree" the artist presents the animal lover as architect, thereby revealing our desire to construct nature.

about Wilhelm Neußer
Wilhelm Neußer lives and works in Cologne, Germany. He studied with sculptor Harald Klingelhöller at the Karlsruhe Academy of Fine Arts. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions and in 2007 he was awarded the prestigious ZVAB Phönix art prize for emerging artists.

Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St.
St Louis, MO  63118
(314)269-7448

Boots at the Pulitzer

Juan William Chávez of Boots Contemporary Art Space (2307 Cherokee St.) will be participating in "The City as Studio" at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday, January 28, at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.

He and other panelists will discuss how art spaces and creative interventions can stir positive change within urban communities.

A video of Juan William Chávez speaking on the art experience at Boots:

The City as Studio: Juan Chávez from The Pulitzer on Vimeo.

Boots screening season five of PBS’s Art: 21

On THURSDAY OCTOBER 15TH from 6:00 to 9:00 PM
Boots Contemporary Art Space will be screening season five of PBS’s Art: 21

Episode 3: Transformation Whether observing and satirizing society or reinventing icons of literature, art history, and popular culture, the artists featured in Transformation capture the sensibilities of our age while at times inhabiting the characters they have created. Yinka Shonibare MBE, Cindy Sherman and Paul McCarthy are featured..


Episode 4: Systems Artists invent new processes to convey the attitudes of today’s supercharged, information-based society, examining why we find comfort in some systems while rebelling against others. Systems features artists who realize complex projects through acts of appropriation or accumulation. In some instances, they create projects vast in scope, which almost elude comprehension. Julie Mehretu, John Baldessari, Kimsooja and Allan McCollum are featured.

ALL ARE WELCOME! COMPLIMENTARY POPCORN AND DRINKS!

BYO chair as seating is limited

COME AND CELEBRATE ART WITH US!

e-mail: boots at bootsart dot com
phone: 314.773.2281

Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St.
St Louis, MO
63118

Cherokee Street on RFT's 2009 "Best of" List

Last year, Cherokee Street was honored as the Best Mile of St. Louis in the Riverfront Times (hence the URL of this blog.)

I still think Cherokee is tops, but I suppose they didn't want the other miles to get their collective noses out of joint, so another mile has received the honor this year (congrats, South Grand!)

Despite not getting this specific award, Cherokee was once again well-represented on the Best of list.

• Boots Contemporary Art Space, 2307 Cherokee St., was named Best Art Gallery.

• Snowflake/City Stock, 3156 Cherokee St., hosted Here and There, which was named Best Gallery Exhibit of 2009.

• The Best New Local Art Trend? Artist-run print shops. We could have told you that! Cherokee was represented on the list by All-Along Press and Firecracker Press. As Firecracker's Eric Woods graciously noted in this blog post on the Cherokee Street News site, the list also could have included Cherokee's Porter Teleo and Sleepy Kitty.

• Okay, they're not here yet, but we're going to claim them anyway. Did you know STL Style's moving to Cherokee? Yay! They were named Best T-shirts. We think all of their goodies are good, but this will do for starters.

Congrats, one and all!

Theaster Gates at Boots

Missed the Theaster Gates opening at Boots?

All is not lost!:

The opening of the Theaster Gates exhibition, Holiness: In 3 Parts, was a night filled with 3 dynamic performances. Orron Kenyatta, started the evening off with lyrical poetry. The Zion Temple Baptist Church Choir, from St. Louis, then uplifted us with powerful gospel songs. Part three is when Theaster Gates and The Black Monks of Mississippi performed songs that told the story of Dave the slave potter. These performances were surrounded by Gate's minimal sculptures that were constructed out of objects that he found in his own backyard. Also included in the exhibit are two shoeshine chairs and a video of shining shoes accompanied by a Buddhist-like audio chant. Holiness: In 3 Parts will be on display until 10.16.2

If you missed the opening don't worry. You can view highlights from the evening on the Saint Louis Art Map Blog.


Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St. • St Louis, MO
63118 • 314.773.2281

Boots Fall Opening Exhibition this Friday

Boots Contemporary Art Space
Fall Opening Exhibition
Holiness: In 3 Parts
A solo exhibition by Theaster Gates

Opening reception: Friday, September 18, 2009 - 6:30 - 10 p.m.

Holiness: In 3 Parts, a solo exhibition at Boots, will give Theaster an opportunity to work through ideas surrounding the psychic space of the back yard. On opening night, with help from his performance ensemble, The Black Monks of Mississippi, Gates will bring charismatic structures of the black church into brief conversation with the formalities of City Planning Policy.

Performance will begin at 7:42 and last till 8:53

Part 1: The Westside Piece (Front Space) 7:42- 7:52 (Theaster and possibly Orron Kenyatta-poet)

Part 2: The Glorious Picnic (Front of the back) 7:52- 8:40 (Black Monks of Mississippi)

Part 3: Stairwell to heaven and Other things from my backyard (Back of the back Space) 8:40-8:53 (Monastic Funk Band)

"Holiness in three parts could be thought of in the following way: Heaven, Hood and the City - using sculptural objects made from things in my backyard, we will move between these three loosely prescribed categories. With 'The City' representing hell and the hood being somewhere between paradise and the underworld, I hope to consider three different presentation formats, in three different parts of the space in what would appear to be a Joseph Beuys-styled performance that uses the black religious form to deliver thoughts on new urbanism, slave labor via the embodiment of Dave the slave potter and the history of the racialized body through performance. Holiness in three parts is literally a trinity of confusion and urban rumination. Lots of stones will be left unturned, but those turned will get a good shining"


About Theaster Gates
Sculptor and performance artist, Theaster Gates works with the sacred city found just below its forgotten and often abandoned exterior. With parts of old buildings and visions of grand rehab projects, Gates, a believer in the possibility of place, begins to release some of the resonate beauty of the city's under belly in a way that is both contemplative and frenetic

Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St. • St Louis, MO • 63118 •

Opening at Boots -- Bazuco, DrumKit, and Dead Druglords

On June 19, Boots Contemporary Art Space will be the next hot spot for the art collective Bazuco. This exhibition will include a storefront headquarters filled with t-shirts, skateboards, zines, posters and stickers from the American Flags collection, Professor Bazuco's latest book, CDs and singles by Juan-ex-Band, DrumKit, Nofuturo and Los Famosos. Plus a special release of a limited edition vinyl single by the band DrumKit, both for sale and visual delight.

Behind this storefront a continuous rotation of video projections will feature live shows by Bazuco Bands, clips from the BZC TV web show and video commercials. Opening night will feature a double shot of Bazuco live music: American band DrumKit will bring their casual pop-punk style while the Colombian Latin mash-up duo Dead Druglords will finish the party with their narcotic ensemble.

Dead Druglords is a one-night party/event involving a DJ set, Latin mash-up and live performers with a visual and interactive show. The presentation develops a narco-aesthetic language, heavily influenced by imagery of the Latin drug lords of the '80s and '90s in the USA. Visiting dead drug lords Pablo Acosta and Amado Carrillo Fuentes will dance from the dead while an airplane piñata waits to be smashed down by the St. Louis crowd. Live video projections of animated sequences and DJ sets of Salsa and Reggaeton-mashups will entertain and engage the public.

Dead Druglords video link.


About Bazuco
Bazuco started in Bogotá, Colombia in 2005, as a response to a lethargic art scene full of victimization and false folklore. Aware of a cultural trend based on the business of selling "exotic" and misery-based images by the South to the North, and realizing how this cultural tourism was only a reformulation of third world subordinates and neo-nationalism, artist Juan Obando and designers Juan Rios and Juan Ospina decided to flip the coin and present their work under the ultimate icon of first-world domination: a media company.

Deterritorialized, ubiquitous and free, Bazuco has ventured into fashion, radio, prints, music, and video production, creating a variety of live and web shows. These products speak clearly to and about a new hybrid, deterritorialized generation defined by consumption and commercialism. After being selected for Colombia's "Salon Nacional de Artistas" in 2008-2009, Bazuco now tours the US in hopes of putting its flag on the land of the free.

Opening reception: Friday, June 19 6:30 - 10pm
Boots Contemporary Art Space
2307 Cherokee St. • St Louis, MO • 63118 • 314.773.2281