It is not expected that Louisville will become the next big art destination overnight. But the impetus has begun, and other developers are starting to look at downtown with a gleam in their eyes.

An aura of genteel Southern graciousness has long cast its somnolent shadow over Louisville, Ky. To those who live out of state, the city doesn’t really seem to exist other than during the week of the Kentucky Derby, when one dreams of green meadows, sleek horses, and mint juleps. However dreamily luxuriant it seems, with its wrought iron buildings and leisurely river, Louisville has certainly not been considered an art destination. That, however, is beginning to change.

If the recently opened 21C Museum Hotel fulfills the objectives of owners Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown, the old conception of Louisville will be drastically altered; the town will become as much an art mecca as Marfa, Texas.

Wilson, a philanthropist and avid art collector, and Brown, of the Brown-Forman liquor dynasty, believed that art could be a major drawing card for Louisville’s languishing downtown area. Realizing that urban revitalization needs sustained regional support as well as tourist attractions, a synthesis of museum/hotel/restaurant seemed the logical combination. When they began the transformation of five 19th century brick buildings, they brought New York architect Deborah Berke on board to create a space that harmoniously unites art and people, locals and visitors.

When Wilson and Brown opened their brainchild in early April, they cut the ribbon at the first hotel that serves as an actual art institution. Rather than merely wowing customers with the works of easily recognizable artists in hallways and guest rooms, 21C houses two public galleries with 9,000 square feet of exhibition space, complete with a full-time museum director and guest curators. For those who imagine hotel art as innocuous scenery that simply decorates the walls, viewers are in for a few surprises. Contemporary does not always equate with comfortable, and some art works, both in the exhibitions and throughout the hotel, have been politely called “provocative.” While Wilson affirms that much of the artworks come from the couple’s extensive collection, the code word is contemporary rather than blue chip. In fact, all works in the museum are by living artists—hence the “21C” in the name.

Currently showing at the 21C Museum are: Hybridity/The Evolution of Species and Spaces in 21st Century Art (in the reception area gallery), and Looking Now (in the Atrium gallery), both exhibitions running till the end of September. The former show is extensive, with close to 20 participating artists, many of whom have previously shown at MASSMoCA. Artists of particular note are Carlee Fernandez, Michael Oatman, Grant Hayunga, and Adam Stennett. Ostensibly, this is a vision of the human-world and rest-of-the-animals-world uncomfortably overlapping, as genetics, psychoses, and experimentations are stretched beyond the bounds of reality. In actuality, the number of works that include taxidermy is surprising.

Take, for example, Fernandez, who’s into taxidermy the way PETA members are into fur, only with a biting humor. Though her only work in this exhibit is Rabbit with Calla Lilies (2001), other works can be seen in the hotel proper. Fernandez is able to elicit craving, connoisseurship, and guilt over her exquisitely composed and mutated corpses. Stennett, on the other hand, prefers his subjects live, though often in perilous situations, as in the DVD projection Mouse Swimming Overhead (2004).

Perhaps the most photographed piece in the museum since its opening has been Red Penguins (2005) by the Italian group Cracking Art; it is impossible to miss. Found in the Looking Now exhibit, the standing circle of four-foot high polyethylene penguins requires a certain respect for other beings who share our space, and our world.

Granted, a single museum/hotel is not going to transform an entire downtown area, but Louisville has many quality galleries and museums worth exploring, as Wilson is quick to assert. If the 21C becomes the boon that it is intended to be, the evidence will be seen in the broader range of visitors to such cultural institutions as the Speed Art Museum, the Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts, as well as private art galleries. The hotel’s Web site highlights many nearby attractions—though, inconceivably, it fails to mention the Speed Art Museum, one of the largest art museums in the state.

Focusing largely on European and Early American art, Speed Museum also presents temporary exhibits that often address current themes, as in the two most recent shows: a Sam Gilliam retrospective, and the awkwardly titled Emotive and Ironic: 2 Mexicans, which shows until September 30. The Gilliam retrospective grants this much-overlooked African-American artist a local hero status, as he studied art in Louisville before settling in D.C. The two artists represented in the latter exhibit are Sofia Taboas and Miguel Calderon, who takes a decidedly “hands off” approach to his dark impressions. After designing tableaux, costuming characters, setting up, and photographing situations, he then hires a technically gifted painter to actually finalize the image.

Just across the street from 21C is the Kentucky Museum of Arts and Crafts. Not entirely unlike the Hybridity show, its “blockbuster” show is titled Life InSight: The Human Experience (July 7 – Nov. 4). With the work of almost 90 exhibiting artists ranging from ceramic, metalwork, fibers, furniture, jewelry, and more, the visual input is too much to experience in one day. Sponsored by the Humana Foundation, and (unsurprisingly), Wilson and Brown, the theme encompasses personal life situations as well as social, cultural, and political matters. Not as confrontational as some of 21C’s collection—such as Elena Dorfman’s photographic portraits of men with their inflatable “girlfriends”—the powerful dynamics between tactile media and subjective themes hold viewers in thrall. The art of craft is in its love and appreciation for the materials themselves.

It is not expected that Louisville will become the next big art destination overnight. But the impetus has begun, and other developers are starting to look at downtown with a gleam in their eyes. Suburbanites and road-trippers are sure to follow suit.

21C Museum Hotel
700 W. Main St. | 502-217-6300

The Speed Art Museum
2035 S. Third St. | 502-634-2700

Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
715 W. Main St. | 502-589-0102