Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

RubberMade: Sculpture by Chakaia Booker

June 6 – August 17

Chakaia Booker, Sugar in my Bowl, 2003;
rubber tire and steel, 95 x 110 x 57 3/4 inches;
Courtesy of the artist and Marlborough Gallery, New York

Since the early 1990s, Chakaia Booker has worked almost exclusively with recycled tires. Through a physically demanding process of twisting, slicing, and weaving found rubber tires (primarily from bikes, cars, and farm equipment), she forms dynamic, whimsical sculptures that fuse ecological concerns with questions about racial and economic differences, globalization, and existing sociopolitical power structures. Featuring more than twenty sculptures, this exhibition surveys the past seven years of production by one of today’s leading African-American artists.

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Kansas City Art Institute

Art of the Car Concours

June 28

The second annual Art of the Car Concours, featuring a wide variety of vintage, classic and special interest vehicles belonging to Kansas City and Midwest area collectors — will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 28 on the campus of the Kansas City Art Institute, 4415 Warwick Blvd. On view for the first time this year will be vintage motorcycles, race cars and fire trucks.

The cost to attend the concours is $10 per person; students pay $5; and children under 10 years old and faculty, staff and students of the Kansas City Art Institute will be admitted free. Proceeds will benefit the college’s scholarship fund. Attendees will be invited to vote for their favorite vehicles. “People's Choice” ballots will be distributed, and there will be trophies for the top five vote-getters. Corporate sponsors will also be providing trophies for special vehicles.

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Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Sparks! The William T. Kemper Collecting Initiative

May 3 – July 20
Bloch Building, Gallery L13, L14

Pat Steir, American, (b. 1938).
Double Waterfall for a Simple Afternoon, 1990.
Oil on canvas. Purchase: acquired through the generosity of
the William T. Kemper Foundation--Commerce Bank, Trustee.

This exhibition will include the 32 modern and contemporary works acquired through the generosity of the initiative since it began in 1999. Underwritten by the William T. Kemper Foundation—Commerce Bank, Trustee the initiative has allocated $1 million each year for the acquisition of contemporary art. Guided by art advisor Robert Storr, Dean of Yale's School of Art and Nelson-Atkins Sanders Sosland Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Jan Schall, the foundation has made several key purchases for the Museum.

This featured exhibition will be ticketed.

Human/Nature: Recent European Landscape Photography

June 28 – October 5
Bloch Building, Gallery L11

Bart Michiels, Verdun 1916, Le Mort Homme, 2001.
Chromogenic print. Image: 60 x 72 inches.
Gift of the Hall Family Foundation, 2007.21.20.

This exhibition features a selection of large-scale color photographs by a new generation of European artists, including Andreas Gefeller, Peter Bialobrzeski, Massimo Vitali, Olaf Otto Becker, Bart Michiels, Jem Southam, and Wout Berger, among others. These artists engage with the contemporary European landscape in varying ways.

For some, the land retains romantic associations, as a source of sublime inspiration. For others, cultural interventions such as the leisure industry and real estate development are paramount concerns. Notions of home, the physical and emotional weight of history, and the power of memory to shape perception of the land also inform these images. Together, these works explore the endlessly complex relationship between nature and the human presence, from harmonious coexistence to contentious exploitation. This exhibition provides the first opportunity to view bold, contemporary works never before seen in this region.

Free admission, no exhibition tickets required.

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