West Meets East - Oliver Lake and S. Scott Davis III
March 16 - April 20, 2012
The Nu-Art Series proudly presents Oliver Lake and S. Scott Davis III with an opening receptionon Friday, March 16, 2012, from 5:30 to 9 p.m., as part of our ongoing Jazz and the Visual Arts Series at the Nu-Art Series' Metropolitan Gallery, 2936 Locust Street, St. Louis MO 63103. The show continues through April 20, 2012.
Oliver Lake Artist Statement
I pick up the brush because it relaxes me, it's part of my meditation.
I work with oil and acrylic paint, pencil, collage - often mixing media. I like to work with vibrant colors exploding against one another. I am a painter, usually on two-dimensional surfaces such as paper and canvas, but at times I find myself painting on three-dimensional found objects, and these paintings become sculpture. Over the years I have continued to create Talkin' Sticks - found natural sticks painted and decorated to tell a story, break a spell, power a dream. If there are themes in the work, they come from a long collaboration with my African, Choctaw and American roots, exploring and expressing who I am, and how I see the world.
In 2010 I was commissioned by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh to design a house and garden for Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh, PA. I designed the exterior as a painting, and the interior as a series of paintings and sculptures. There is a painted saxophone that is linked to the doorbell, playing several selections of music upon activation. The house has been completed and has already hosted literary artists by City of Asylum. The garden is still in development.
Born in Marianna, Arkansas in 1942, I was moved to St. Louis two years later. I began drawing at the age of thirteen, and soon after began playing cymbals and bass drum. At 17, I began to take a serious interest in jazz. After graduating from Lincoln University with a BA in music I taught music in the elementary schools of St. Louis, but my work as a founding member of the Black Artist Group (BAG) became my primary work and I left teaching to pursue performance. A book by Benjamin Looker -- Point from which Creation Begins: The Black Artists' Group of St. Louis -- documents the groundbreaking cross disciplinary work of BAG. "…BAG was fundamentally committed to a collaborative interweaving of its members' diverse artistic mediums ... in disciplines ranging from music, theater and dance to visual arts, poetry and film."
In 2006 I received the Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award at Kennedy Center and I have been honored by the the Smithsonian Institution requesting my compositions for their library. Though I have received much recognition as a saxophonist, composer and bandleader I have continued to engage in the merging of artistic disciplines. I have published two books of poetry -- Life Dance and If I Knew This -- and have toured with my one-man performance piece "Matador of 1st and 1st." During concert performances it is not unusual to hear me recite my poems. You can find my paintings and sculptures on the CD covers of music recordings. In fact you can often purchase paintings at my concerts.
S. Scott Davis III
Biography
Born 1951, Los Angeles, California. Lives in San Francisco.Solo Exhibitions
1992 Robert Else Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, Scott Davis - Works; February 10 - March 6. Brochure
1993 Porter Randall Gallery, La Jolla, CA
1995 Metra Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 San Marco Gallery, Dominican College, San Rafael, CA, S. Scott Davis III - Found Objects/Assemblages, February 5 - March 7Two-Artist Exhibitions
1997 Vaughn Cultural Center, St. Louis, MO, June - August
2012 Metropolitan Gallery, St. Louis, MO, West Meets East: Oliver Lake and S. Scott Davis III, March-AprilSelected Group Exhibitions
1991 Bomani Gallery,. San Francisco, CA
1996 Wiegand Gallery, NotreDame College, Belmont, CA, Spirit Landscape - Urban and Rural Forms, March 19 - April 27. Catalogue.
1997 Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA, A Contemporary Survey of Bay Area African-American Artists, May 15 - August 10. Catalogue.Bibliography
Burns, Khephra "Reframing Black Art." Essence, vol. 28, no. 3, July 19971 pp. 102-6. lllus.: Mother and Child, 1991.
Crumpler, Dewey; Gordon, Allan M.; Levi-Strauss, David. Scott Davis - Works. Sacramento, CA: Robert Else Gallery, California State University, 1992. Illus.: "Shoot," 1989; "Lotto;" "Interim," 1991; "Night Returns," 1991; "The Last Reins," 1991; "Respite," 1989. Koppman, Debra. "S. Scott Davis III at Dominican College." Artweek, May 1997, p. 22 Illus.: "Restraint;" 1993.
Monroe, Arthur. Spirit Landscape --Urban and Rural Forms. Belmont,.CA: Wiegand Gallery, College of Notre Dame, 1996. Illus.: "Respite," 1989.
Rivera, George; and Hillhouse, Susan. A Contemporary Survey of Bay Area African American Artists. Santa Clara, CA: Triton Museum of Art, 1997. Illus.: "Untitled," 1996.
The Nu-Art Series is a Not-for-Profit Arts Organization.
