Photographs of St. Louis's architectural landscape by David Johnson, Ken Konchel, Demond Meek, Alise O'Brien, Andrew Raimist and Richard Sprengeler are featured in this exhibit, along with a special showing of the Joel Meyerowitz portfolio, St. Louis and the Arch (1979-1982).
Meyerowitz's portfolio of dye-transfer photographs, taken over four extended visits to the city during different seasons in 1977-1978, defined a period of the city's history when many sought life in the suburbs.
The St. Louis Gateway Arch is also the subject of Andrew Raimist's contemporary color photographs, which show details of its surface marked by scrawls of graffiti and vandalism. David Johnson's spare color photographs made in a time of economic downturn, show empty office spaces and the traces of human presence left behind. Mid-Century Modern buildings in St. Louis are the subjects of Ken Konchel's black and white abstractions, which distill architecture into dynamic compositions of line and tone. Richard Sprengeler's photographs of concrete parking garages also investigate possibilities of form, creating elegant studies of line and tone from the dark and unwelcoming structures. Demond Meek's atmospheric color photographs of abandoned houses in St. Louis use a central focal point to render them at once iconic and jewel-like. The large-scale diptychs of Alise O'Brien pair two views of the same space, creating unique spatial experiences and an interplay of forms. Together, these photographers offer unique views of the sometimes all-too-familiar city.