This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 21, 2010 - There's still time to see Jill Downen's "(dis)Mantle," a temporary site-specific installation in a former chapel at the Luminary Center for the Arts.
This is one of the finest works on view in St. Louis this year.
"(dis)Mantle" must be experienced to be understood -- indeed, it is entirely about experience, specifically the bodily experience of space, light, and architecture.
It is at once subtle and transcendent, an absolute revelation.
Ivy Cooper, a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, is the Beacon art critic.