Although ordinary by definition and arbitrary in meaning, “cellar door” is said to be the most phonetically beautiful combination of words in the English language. Similar to the word pairing, the works in this exhibition are unglorified objects that transcend their original mundanity once recontextualized. In the landscape of a production and consumption based society, artists have taken on the role of editor rather than creator. By selecting, documenting and ultimately placing objects in an art context, artists infuse everyday encounters with new poetic life. In the same way that products are made with a universal purpose for the anonymous individual, the repurposing of these objects provoke shared emotions of desire, longing, and nostalgia.

Cellar Door: Alex Da Corte, Trevor Reese, and Justin Visnesky is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Marie Heilich.