This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 31, 2012 - How many kids get to hang out with the Pointer Sisters and mug for the camera with a gold-robed Liberace or beneath an inflatable King Kong’s foot?
Matt Strauss did. Growing up, he enjoyed countless celebrity encounters at the Fox Theatre, restored by his parents Leon and Mary Strauss and others of Fox Associates in the 1980s.
Now, Strauss’ own dream, his White Flag Projects not-for-profit art gallery, marks its sixth year with a fundraising gala and art auction Nov. 3.
The very existence of his Manchester Avenue gallery springs from first-hand knowledge that vision can and does become reality.
“Growing up, nothing seemed like a big deal: ‘Oh you’re going to redo that neighborhood? Oh you’re going to renovate that theater?’ That’s just what you do,” Strauss said. “I didn’t realize until much later some people don’t think, ‘Ok, that’s a good idea -- let’s do it.’”
Strauss legacy is blessing and curse
Many of Strauss’ memories during the Fox renovation are of going with his mother to Pantheon Construction where he played “office,” making copies of papers to keep in his father’s old briefcase.
The real fun began after the renovation was complete, and not just backstage. Some of Strauss’ favorite times involved prowling along a catwalk above the massive theater.
“You don’t forget that view; it’s magnificent,” Strauss said.
The older of two boys, Strauss, now 40, struggled with boredom in school. After a stint at Crossroads, he graduated from Clayton High in 1991 then cycled through three universities, ending up at Webster, where he majored in literature.
“College was a joke,” Strauss said.
Strauss’ parents supported his eventual artistic efforts. For his father, that took the form of scheduling meetings with various contacts. But the Strauss calling card was initially not much of a key to the art world, in Matt Strauss’ opinion.
“It was just one know-nothing moron after another,” Strauss said. “I never asked him to call anybody and nothing came of anything he set up.”
Ultimately, the Strauss name did open some doors. “On balance, it was a huge asset,” Strauss said.
Sculptor Ernest Trova, a family friend, guided Strauss artistically while Strauss devoured close to 1,000 books in an effort to educate himself about art history.
But the legacy has been a mixed bag.
For example, in 2006, Strauss was among the artists winning the Contemporary Art Museum’s Great Rivers Biennial with his “Dead Language” sculptures. Naysayers chalked it up to family influence.
“When you come from a background like mine, people assume you’re not very good at the things you’re doing,” Strauss said.
And then there’s the family fortune. Alternately rubbing his beard and fiddling with a mineral water can tab, Strauss laughed about his current share.
“People ask me for money and I say, ‘No, I need money -- give me money,’” Strauss said.
Where artists breathe
The yawning white space in which a spiral staircase leads to a loft library wasn’t at first meant for a gallery at all. The building in what’s now called The Grove was to be Strauss’ own studio. But it morphed, organically, into the operation it is today.
White Flag’s mission of facilitating “meaningful exhibitions by progressive international, national, and local artists” serves artists, and art, itself, Strauss said. White Flag often showcases young artists before they've achieved broad notoriety. Last fall, White Flag exhibited the work of Garth Weiser, a promising young New York painter.
Promise can bring pressure to do more -- of the same. Away from New York critics and collectors, Weiser experimented in a different direction with a full-wall mural.
“He’s gotten several commissions of similar works since then in this entirely new vein of production,” Strauss said.
These days, New York is where Strauss spends most of his own time. He’s just subleased a studio there in which to begin some paintings of his own.
But the good news for St. Louis is there’s no way he could take White Flag Projects with him.
“New York doesn’t need this; New York has this in spades,” Strauss said.
While he’s away, White Flag assistant director Sam Korman holds down the White Flag fort. On the job since May, Korman enjoys a measure of artistic freedom. Recently, Korman worried over telling Strauss he wanted to include more writing in an upcoming library exhibit -- something that’s not typically done at White Flag.
“I had prepared a whole soliloquy about it -- but I didn’t even have to deliver it,” Korman said. “Matt said, ‘Why do you want to do that?’ and I said, ‘Because I think it’s important.’ And he said, ‘Well, I want you to do it because you think it’s important.’”
Strauss puts that same faith in the artists, Korman said: “He lets them breathe.”
But most of the appreciation for White Flag comes from outside the area, according to Strauss.
“We get more hits on our website from small countries in Europe than from St. Louis,” Strauss said.
Party’s not over -- just different
In New York, major galleries frequently bring the art community together with offbeat parties. Early on, a hot tub event and an underwear bash at White Flag attracted huge crowds: “Epic parties,” Strauss noted.
Local arts consultant Susan Barrett remembers that the un-dress code at the underwear party was strictly enforced.
“You couldn’t get in unless you were in your underwear,” Barrett said. “They made people take off their clothes and put them in this cloak room before they let them in.”
“She tried to flout the rules,” Strauss said. “I think she was fully dressed with a pair of underwear on her head.”
“Matt was funny in these boxers and Gucci loafers and his socks,” Barrett said. “He was still trying to have some air of decorum and I was like, “Let’s talk about these events if you want to step it up a little bit.’”
Strauss realized that, in St. Louis, these gatherings weren't consistent with the image of a serious gallery. Plus, artists, art collectors and social groups that revolve around the art weren’t the ones packing these gatherings -- young party-goers were. So White Flag tamped down on the wild and crazy in recent years.
Saturday’s gala is first-class: cocktails, dinner and 30 art auction items (ranging in value from $1,000 to $50,000 and available online through Friday). Gala ticket prices start at $500 each. But Strauss hasn’t forgotten the party people or those on a budget. Beginning at 10 p.m., $20 gets you into an open-bar, karaoke after-party.
The gala is designed to shore up White Flag’s finances at the end of its two-year Warhol Grant. The Warhol money broadened an initial base of contributions from donors including Mary Strauss (Leon Strauss died in 1999), whose giving isn’t at the level you might think, Strauss said.
“Mary Strauss is a major patron of a lot of institutions and White Flag is one of them. But I would guess we’re not in the top three or even top five,” Strauss said.
Of course, more grants are possible in the future. White Flag is just now hitting its stride, according to Strauss, an experiment whose outcome has exceeded his expectations.
“In those first few years, I never would have begun to think it could be what it is now. But it's more than a single experiment now -- every show is an experiment, every event is an experiment.”
