Home / Events & Exhibitions / Art Exhibitions / Creation of Fate

Creation of Fate

July 6 to July 30

Opening reception July 6, 7 pm to 11 pm

The History of Mercenaries by Veronica Blaha

As The World Turns by Mike Calway-Fagen

New Landscapes by Amanda Wiles

Mad Art Gallery proudly presents Creation of Fate new works by Veronica Blaha, Mike Calway-Fagen, and Amanda Wiles. This exhibit runs from July 6 to July 30, 2007, with a free opening reception on Friday, July 6, 2007, from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.

Through a series of paintings, Veronica Blaha explores the generational gaps in society. Her "Generational Paintings" search for the meanings implied by the dubious naming of generations by their values, e.g., Generation Y or the Echo Boomers. Veronica shifts between mediums of painterly and sculptural content, involving light construction and finer details. Her projects include ephemera such as books and audio tracks. She looks for the object that will best suit the needs of a broken narrative or semi-structured dialogue, connecting points in history that have been skewed or scattered. Veronica lives and works in Knoxville, Tennesse and is an undergraduate student in the fine arts program at the University of Tennessee.

Without giving away too much, the work of Mike Calway-Fagen involves a bonsai tree, walkie talkies, microphones, a conch shell, motors, photographs, and other sundries. Mike Calway-Fagen lives and works in Tennessee.

The work of Amanda Wiles is comprised of a series of interconnected objects and images that look for magic, mystery, and truths in the everyday landscape. Material repetition in the sculptures and photos create revealing relationships about seemingly banal situations. Small scale sculptures made from a variety of altered, found objects and seductive materials attempt to make sense of excess, consumption, and a yearning for something real. Amanda Wiles is a recent graduate of the MFA program in sculpture at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. In her work, Amanda explores both romantically grand and utterly banal phenomena of the contemporary landscape as they allude to our tenuous relationship to the land. Her video/photo/installation works and activities examine place and perception through subtle gestures of intervention and inversion of materials and methods.

2009 Call for Art

Mad Art Gallery is an exciting alternative gallery and performance space dedicated to creating exhibitions and cultural programs that cultivate artists as well as art audiences. We are now accepting submissions for the 2009 exhibition season. We accept individual artist's submissions as well as group proposals. We also welcome proposals for one-time screenings, performances, concerts, and other events. Mad Art Gallery strives to showcase uniquely talented artistic perspectives, and to that end, we place no limitations on our mission. Mad Art Gallery's 3800 square feet of exhibition space and state of the art lighting allows us to accept work and performances that might not otherwise have a place in St. Louis. Please review our "Call for Art" (128K PDF) and submit your work.

From the RFT's Ivy Cooper, December 2004

Mad Art had a bang-up exhibition year, though you wouldn't know it from reading the local arts media... between the jazz concerts, the Art Prom, the Trachtenberg Family Slide Show and Ciné16 nights... you might wonder how the former Soulard cop shop had any room in its schedule to show the kind of art that sits still.

But there it was: Link, a show of photography with St. Louis connections; the extraordinary exhibition of Eric Nichols' large-scale ceramic creations; and the glass work of Sam Stang and David Levi, backed up by the luminous paintings of Jaime Gartelos (among other shows).

Mad Art is taking an unorthodox approach to exhibiting art -- and even if you haven't been paying attention, it's never too late to join this party. Art critics: take heed.