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Kemper
Museum of Contemporary Art
The
Big Reveal
September
23 to April 15, 2012

Petah
Coyne, Untitled #1336 (Scalapino Nu Shu), 2009–10; apple tree,
taxidermy Black Melinistic Pheasants, taxidermy Blue India Peacocks,
taxidermy Black-Shouldered Peacocks, taxidermy Spaulding Peacocks,
black sand from pig iron casting, Acrylex 234, black paint, cement,
chicken wire fencing, wood, gravel, sisal, staging rope, cotton
rope, insulated foam sealant, pipe, epoxy, threaded rod, wire, screws,
jaw-to-jaw swivels, 158 x 262 x 288 inches; Collection of the Kemper
Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum purchase with funds provided
by the W. T. Kemper Charitable Trust, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Image
© Petah Coyne, courtesy of Galerie Lelong, New York, photo:
Elizabeth Bernstein
The
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art celebrates new acquisitions to
the Museum’s permanent collection in the exhibition The Big
Reveal. It features works by 27 artists from around the world and
is on view September 23, 2011–April 15, 2012, at the Kemper
Museum. Since opening in 1994, the Museum’s permanent collection
has more than tripled, a tremendous feat for any institution. Admission
is free; however donations are welcome.
The
exhibition features paintings, photographs, drawings, and more by
more than two-dozen artists. The exhibition features more than thirty
new acquisitions to the Museum’s permanent collection. Most
have never been on view before at the Kemper Museum. The exhibitions
works are by: Jose Alvarez, Barry Anderson, Francis Bacon, David
Bates, Romare Bearden, Ed Blackburn, Jacob Collins, Petah Coyne,
Robert Farber, Barbara Grad, Red Grooms, Susan Hefuna, Ana Maria
Hernando, Liu Hong, Keith Jacobshagen, Roberto Juarez, Susanne Kühn,
Robert Kushner, Magnolia Laurie, Willem de Looper, Richard Mosse,
Michael Schultz, Hans Silvester, Esther Solondz, Yoshihiko Ueda,
William Wegman, and Betty Woodman.
The
dramatic focal point of the exhibition will be the massive acquisition
by American artist Petah Coyne. The Kemper Museum acquired Untitled
#1336 (Scalapino Nu Shu), 2009–10, a more-than-500-square-foot
sculpture installation centered around a full-size, preserved apple
tree with mounted peacocks and pheasants. For this dramatic work,
she drew inspiration from the Chinese women’s secret language,
called nu shu, and the writings of author Flannery O’Conner.
Perhaps best known for her dramatic “chandelier” sculptures
in black and white waxes, the artist created the work in tribute
to her friend, the late American poet Leslie Scalapino (1944–2010),
with whom she had a long letter-writing relationship. This is the
second work by Coyne to join the Museum’s permanent collection.
The Kemper Museum presented the exhibition Petah Coyne: Above and
Beneath the Skin in 2005.
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