Category Archives: special events

The Gateway Arch

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The Arch has been a continually reoccurring theme in my life, lately. I was commissioned to photograph interior pieces of it for CD art work. That’s one of my photos on the cover, above. I even got to sing with Joe Thebeau on the track “Eero Saarinen,” which is about the metaphorical and philosophical meanings of The Arch.

Finn’s Motel Escape Velocity releases on September 19, on Scat Records. They play their first show on August 25th, at Off Broadway, and will continue to tour all parts of the country the rest of the year. I’ll refrain from raving about how absolutely brilliant this record is because you need only listen to tracks available on-line to hear that for yourself.

Then, the other night I went to the Fox Theater for the debut screening of The Gateway Arch: A Reflection of America, a new documentary from Civil Pictures. It’s a professional and lively trek through all the important historical points of Arch conception and execution. Of great interest were current interviews with a few of the men who helped build the structure. We see footage of them inches away from death high above the riverfront, and then watch them chat about this experience as if it’s no bigger deal than buying a Big Gulp. Their presence in this documentary makes it worth the price of admission.

For an hour, I’m thoroughly engrossed in the film; the final triangle piece is inserted, and The Arch is complete and then… the movie’s over! What? How can this be? There’s much more to this story: the controversial revision to Saarinen’s plans for the grounds surrounding the Arch, the development of the museum, and how they finally got around to lighting the sucker at night. Just these 3 topics alone would make for a worthy half hour.

But I realize that when making a documentary time is money, and sticking to an hour probably makes it easier for television stations across the globe to program it. The filmmakers never claimed to be offering up a definitive documentary on The Arch, just a compelling, updated one. This they do deliver. Good job, and the field is still wide open for someone to dig deeper for the entire story…

A few hours before the documentary, I saw this man moving furniture on Lindell Boulevard:

That’s the coolest tattoo ever! If he hadn’t been so busy, I’d have chatted him up for the, er, back-story. But at that moment, I was thrilled with what I figured would be the opening act for the Arch documentary. In retrospect, the documentary was the scholarly footnote to the impassioned, inked headliner.

Cupples Station

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Out of the blue in early February 2006, an e-mail asks: Can your photos be blown up to poster-size? Specifically, the Charles Schmitt shot?

That brief message ended 2 months later with 25 of my architecture photos enlarged to 2’ x 3’ and framed to hang permanently inside the renovated Cupples Station apartment building. (Above, L-R: South Hampton, Arsenal & Northland)

On April Fool’s Day I got to see some of my prints installed in the building, which is now actively seeking renters for the spaces that remain. On this same day, Pablo Weiss opened his newest restaurant, Mercury, which occupies a bottom corner of the building (above). It’s a minimalist twist on the sports bar. The interior is simple and lively, the outdoor bar area is ultra appealing and will provide what this part of downtown needs: street life.
My photos hang opposite the elevators on all 7 floors of Cupples. While on the tour, every time the elevator doors opened, I felt an odd sensation. It’s a new experience, so I have no idea what to call the sensation. (Above, Mr. Yummy’s)

The main atrium of the building (above) keeps most of the industrial warehouse intact, both by design and because some portions of the building were built for no man to ever tear asunder. The “affordable rate” apartments carved out of this gigantic space come in various dynamic configurations, and they actually are affordable. Not affordable as in “cheap for downtown,” but as in giving people who make, say, under $30,000 annually a chance to live in attractive, spacious city apartments. Which is a welcome concept, especially since the living quarters currently brewing all around this building will be the typical uber-expensive condos and lofts that exclude the majority of folks who would like to live downtown. So, I’m proud to have my photos hanging in a handsome rehab that my friends and I could actually afford to live in.

Above is my “patron,” Ron Silverman, senior vice president of Historic Restoration, Inc. He’s a Beverly Hills, CA native (with some lively tales of the late Ambassador Hotel) who’s a genuine fan of both high- and low-culture. One of the perks of his position is picking the artwork that grace HRI rehab projects.

The day Silverman gave me the tour of Cupples under construction, he mentioned picking the paintings that hang in the Renaissance Grand. I told him that he picked some paintings from a good friend of mine.
“Really?” he said. “Which artist?”
Dominic Finocchio.
His immediate reply was citing exactly which floor those paintings hung. Now, Silverman selected over 20 artists over 3 years ago for this project, yet he still had instant recall of just one of the painters and even remembered exactly where it hangs! At that moment I knew that this man truly loves art and I was honored that he’d gone out of his way to find me.

(Above, River Roads) Silverman is only “half-committed to the Internet,” but that’s where he started when looking for art to go into Cupples. During a random search, he found an image that caught his eye, and followed the paths which lead to me. Then came his brief but momentous e-mail. He’d noticed that many of my photos were about buildings dieing or dead, and thought, for a change, I might like to be a part of a once-comatose building coming back to life. Correct assessment.

(Above, in the leasing office, Downtown St. Louis) I was already a long-time fan of HRI because The Statler (which became the Renaissance) and the Merchandise Mart (the inside of which I used to spelunk on lunch hours while it was boarded up and vacant) had always been 2 of my favorite downtown buildings. To watch them brought back to life was a joyous process, and to have it done right was a bonus.

(Above, in the leasing office, L-R: Wellston Mondrian & Charles Schmitt) I had put together a portfolio of 40 images for Silverman to pick from. His choices were all St. Louis city and county buildings, with a good chunk of them no longer in existence, or threatened with extinction. As I went through the exacting process of converting images for large format and working with the man who printed the posters, I felt this odd sense of detachment. It was like looking at someone else’s work. Then I surveyed the big box of finished posters and got the biggest kick out of seeing my memories enlarged. I’m still amused by personal adventures being thought of as art. I’ve spent years getting dirty, violating private property and meeting all kinds of interesting people because of it, and now some of those moments are hanging like casual museum pieces. Wild.

At the time of the viewing, the rest of the photos were waiting to be installed (above, Cross Keys and Natural Bridge Road). My thanks to Ron Silverman for this unique opportunity to be a part of the Cupples Station project.