Faithfully Askew at The Latent Space
Offsite Exchange Show
Faithfully Askew brings together the work of Monaco members Kalaija Mallery, Edo Rosenblith, Nick Schleicher, Emily Mueller, and Marina May. Monaco is an artist-run collective and gallery based in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Mimicking the allure of spirituality, this exhibition examines the impulse to seek comfort in making as a means to exorcise thought. As their individual practices trudge towards catharsis, the artists attempt to codify the sanctity of their work.
Mallery imprints intertwined skeletons upon a habotai silk shroud, pairing them with their resting vessels. Rosenblith displays nine phallic candles referencing the enshrined ritualization of circumcision. Schleicher’s paintings encapsulate the glow of orange celestial light in curvilinear paint-pulled columns. Mueller fills a shaped paper triptych with meticulously inscribed colored pencil gestures. May recalls the absurdity of a Sunday naked cake walk through text adhered to the surface of a life-sized mirrored game board.
The visually diverse work is unified in Faithfully Askew through the artists’ devotion to process – as their practice transforms into ritual.
For all inquiries and appointments please contact: Monaco at info@monacomonaco.us
BIO
Emily Mueller is a multimedia artist working primarily with photography and drawing. Her conceptual interests lie in the meditative practice of mark making and the investigation of intuitive form and color. Based in Saint Louis, she teaches photography, design, and fine art classes at universities around the city. Mueller has exhibited work in both online and physical publications as well as galleries in California and Missouri. She received her MFA from Washington University in Saint Louis and BA from University of San Diego.
IG: @ferris_muellerz / Website: emilymuellerart.com/
Kalaija Mallery is a creative producer and community organizer from Oregon, currently based in the Midwest. In her art/work and research, she responds to notions of collective liberation, the formation of underground religious groups + fringe-communities, and the end of the world as a cultural catalyst. Kalaija has an extensive background in DIY artist projects and gallery spaces; in 2017, she founded Third Room Project in Portland, OR, and she currently co-operates Monaco Gallery in St. Louis, MO. She has exhibited and curated works in Portland, Seattle, St. Louis, Springfield, Chicago, New York and Nanjing. Her written research and curatorial work has been featured in MARCH International, Art in America, Sixty Inches from Center, the Institute for Conceptual Studies, Journal.fyi, and Soft Surface Quarterly.
IG: @kalaija.m / Website: https://kalaija.works/
Marina May (b. 1994, St. Louis, Missouri) is a writer, gallery director, and semi-professional talker based in St. Louis, Missouri. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Art History and Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, she became the Curatorial Assistant at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. She developed a fixation with communicating contemporary art through engaging and approachable language, establishing an arts editorial platform called silver space. In 2019, she founded the podcast cool WIP alongside co-host Nick Schleicher. Now in its third season, the show appeared on the Apple’s Top 100 Arts Podcasts and has reached an international audience. She currently lives and works as the director of a private gallery in St. Louis, a freelance content writer, and a member of Monaco.
IG: @marinamae_west / @coolwip_official
Nick Schleicher (b. 1988, St. Louis, Missouri) received his BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011 where he focused on painting and sculpture. His work ranges from color field abstractions to sculptural forms inspired by domestic display. Most recently, his practice investigates the relationship between painting, object, and process. Schleicher currently lives and works in St. Louis, MO where he is a member of Monaco USA and co-host of the visual arts podcast cool WIP with Marina May the pair founded in 2019. His work can be found on the web at nickschleicher.com as well as on Instagram @nick_schleicher
Edo Rosenblith was born in Tel Aviv, Israel but has spent most of his life in the United States. Rosenblith received his BFA in painting in 2011 at the Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA in Visual Art at Washington University-St. Louis in 2017. Edo is a compulsive draftsman who works in a variety of mediums: murals, painting, drawing, printmaking, and book arts. Throughout these methods of image-making, Edo implements a cartoon vernacular as a way to reexamine both personal and historical narratives. Rosenblith lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri. He became a member of Monaco, an artist-run gallery located on Cherokee Street, in 2019.
Find him at @edorosenblith (Instagram) or edorosenblith.com
For all inquiries and appointments please contact: Monaco at info@monacomonaco.us