St. Louis artist’s vibrant prints explore inner worlds in Fine Line exhibit
“Wander and Wallow: Must We Dwell” showcasing the work of St. Louis artist Brian Lathan is now on display at Fine Line Creative Arts Center’s Kavanagh Gallery.
Critics have described Lathan's work as powerful statements rendered in vibrant colors. His prints grip the viewer and challenge how they see the world.
This exhibition of Lathan’s work looks at the fragile space between escapism, indulgence, and restraint, tracing the quiet negotiations we make with ourselves in the name of self-care. It considers how presence and avoidance coexist, and how the desire for escape can gently, almost invisibly, eclipse the needs of the self we house within.
Each figure contains a smaller version of themselves, dwelling inside an exposed headspace where a ramshackle interior offers both shelter and unease. The absent crown of the larger figure reveals this inner home at a suspended moment — just before neglect becomes recognizable, before damage announces itself. Fluorescent color and halftone imagery offer brightness and patterns that soften and obscure the somber tenderness beneath.
The viewer is invited to consider what they dwell on, ourselves, our habits, and the inner spaces we all construct for care and survival. The work positions the viewer as observer, mirror, and voyeur, allowing questions of coping, presence, and care to surface without resolution.
Born and based in St. Louis, Brian Lathan is an artist and educator who explores printmaking, illustration, and sculpture. He examines the dynamics of print, print ephemera, digital illustration, and sculpture, persistently exploring these media as means of expressing personal and subjective commentary and narration.
Currently, he teaches printmaking at several universities around St. Louis. Lathan recently received a grant from the Regional Arts Commission for a large mural, which can be seen on Cherokee Street in St. Louis.
“Wander and Wallow: Must We Dwell” runs until Nov. 20. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday at Fine Line Creative Arts Center, 37W570 Bolcum Road, St. Charles.
For information, visit fineline.org or call 630-584-9443.