Bryan Laughlin
Bryan Laughlin is an artisan with focus on decorative arts and antiques, having received his training in antique restoration and conservation from Bullock’s Refinishing and Antiques. He has most notably attributed a 1869 Herter Brothers budoir writing desk which is now part of the decorative arts collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Laughlin works with the James Scott Weaver architecture firm (New York) as a custom finisher and restoration specialist. He is a St Louis born and based entrepreneur, fine arts dealer, and proprietor of The Option B Designery.
Presentation(s):
THE HINGE – Art Gallery. Thought Salon. Creative Turning Point.
Day 2 / Apr, 13 @ 4:15 pm
Lower Level : Room C
Recent decades have witnessed a spate of commercial and cultural growth throughout St. Louis city, but elisions persist, especially those that embrace the fine arts. Predominate concerns include where emergent artists can show their work and come into contact with viable patrons, as extant venues by and large do not exist at this time. To engage these questions and launch a dialogue about how the gallery space itself can bring artists, curators, patrons, and communities together, this panel includes a wide variety of arts-passionate professionals: Lauren Pressler, visual artist and curator; Francesca Wilmott, director of Los Caminos apartment gallery and assistant registrar at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum; Eileen G’Sell, Mentor St. Louis activist, poet and lecturer at Washington University; Bryan Laughlin Jr., fine-art furniture dealer and antique restoration specialist; and Galen Gondolfi, proprietor of fort gondo.compound for the arts.
The panel will explore the relatively recent history of the apartment gallery as a space in St. Louis, the pros and cons of such developments, and the prospect of a new kind of gallery in the near future. How could such a space accommodate the emergent artist while bringing together diverse participants? How have upstart galleries already strengthened the region, and what can we learn from each other? How can this type of space serve both as cultural crossroad and nexus of distinguished artistic pursuits?
