"Circle of Life", from Circle Series 3, by St. Louis contemporary artist and painter Ted Collier. 36 in x 36 in; acrylic, gesso and resin set in a custom handmade raw wooden floating frame. Before being donated to SLOCA, this work was a part of the artists' personal collection.

Making references to minimalism and the De Stijl movement, Collier responds to the daily inundation of faux realism in the form of advertising and social media, reducing his environments to their essential forms and colors. Finding inspiration in the world around him, his paintings are influenced by abstractions of mental snapshots that have evolved over time - simplifying memories and experiences into geometric compositions that contain a universality within each piece.

Artist Statement: "One of my very earliest childhood memories is that of my family dancing to vinyl records on an old record player in our living room. With each shiny, glossy circle symbolizing more laughing - more dancing. Later becoming the inspiration behind my 'circle' series, memories like these and the environments of those experiences are paramount to my practice. With each composition being a visual abstraction of a mental snapshot, my hope is that my work provides the viewer with new meaning and perspective to familiar forms and colors."