SLAM Social—Fall Exhibitions

The Saint Louis Art Museum is opening its fall exhibitions with a SLAM Social on Friday, November 6. It's a public opening, so the museum's galleries are open for the new shows, and there's a cash bar and live music running throughout the evening. If you're usually a daytime museum-goer, this is a good chance to see the new work with a drink in hand and a crowd around you.

Two big names are at the center of the fall lineup: Julie Mehretu and Jasper Johns. Mehretu's work is known for its large-scale, layered abstractions that often pull from maps, architectural plans, and urban grids, building them up into dense, energetic compositions. Johns is one of the most recognized figures in American art, famous for his focus on everyday objects—flags, targets, numbers—and the way he treats them as things to be looked at as much as things to be recognized. Seeing them together in the same season gives you two very different ways of thinking about painting and scale.

Because it's a social, the night is built for lingering. You can walk through the exhibitions at your own pace, then head back to the music and the bar to talk about what you saw. It's a more relaxed way to experience a museum opening than a formal gallery walk, and it works well if you're bringing a group. The live music keeps the energy up, and the cash bar means you can grab a drink whenever you're ready for a break from the art.

It all happens at the Saint Louis Art Museum on Friday, November 6. The exhibitions are the main draw, with the music and the bar running alongside them.