Exhibition Previews Hauber Collection of WWI Machine Guns and Related Objects

The Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the opening of Hung Liu : New Works on First Friday, September 3 from 7-9 pm. The Artist, who will be visiting from San Francisco, is set to unveil a new series created from the aftermath of the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008. Additionally, new work from her Za Zhong, or Bastard Painting, series will also be on display.

Please see the explanation of both series outlined below by Xiao Yi:

On the morning of July 27 1976, while on a trip to northern China to paint landscapes, Hung Liu was jolted awake in a dormitory in the industrial city of Tangshan by one of the largest earthquakes to hit the modern world. Within fifteen seconds, the 7.8 magnitude quake had killed 242,000 people. Earlier that year, Zhou Enlai had died of cancer, and later that year Mao Zedong would die as well. The ramifications of the Tangshan quake effectively ended the Cultural Revolution. The Gang of Four would soon be put on trial. In China, natural disasters are seen as harbingers of profound changes in the cosmic (and thus political) order.

On May 12 2008, as Liu arrived in Beijing for two solo exhibitions of her work, the 8.0 Sichuan Earthquake hit the mountainous regions of southern China, killing approximately 90,000 people, including thousands of school children whose shoddily constructed class rooms collapsed. In the years since, Liu has devoted herself to a series of paintings depicting people in the aftermath of the Sichuan quake. The subject of these paintings is less the disaster itself than the expressions of mythic emotion embodied in the poses of the dead and the survivors: the contortions of grief, shock, confusion, stunned silence, courage, and mourning. One sees in these painterly quick-takes of these earthquake victims postures of grief that echo down from the history of art the beholding and cradling of the dead that recalls the Pieta, the pleading of the living but soon-to-be-dead that recalls Goya.

As an artist, Liu has always been interested in mythic poses in which the human figure expresses the epic themes and historical forces that rumble through our lives sometimes ending them, or leaving us bereft. The body tells its stories, and Lius career as a painter has pivoted, ironically, on the photographic depictions of the narratives bound up or expressed in the poses of ordinary Chinese people caught up in extraordinary historical circumstances.

There is a tenderness in Lius rendering of these scenes of human suffering that belies its seeming quickness. Nothing rendered well is ever merely quick. If an artist has enough experience painting the real lives of images in this world, then empathy must be second nature. The Chinese folk toys and images Liu juxtaposes with many of her displaced country-fellows represents an attempt to offer them solace and comfort.

Though the subject matter in these paintings is tragic, its depictions, deft and unflinching, are oddly uplifting, perhaps because people are often shown coming to each others aid but also, perhaps, because in painting them, the artist confers upon their media-derived images the healing grace of oil paint and the touch of a hand that has been there before. This is the steady hand of her earthquake sketchbook.

Lius resin and mixed media pieces, called Za Zhong (or Bastard Paintings, produced by Master Printer David Salgado of Trillium Graphics), make the process that is layered into the surface of oil painting transparently visible. Beginning with a digital image of an existing painting, Liu paints into and on as many as eight additional layers of resin, each poured on top of an earlier layer. Given the resins transparency, you can look, as it were, back into the time of the painting, seeing the layers that compose it. The artists painting hand, as it skates across these surfaces, leaves brushstrokes that resemble a kind of jazz improvisation. And yet, this transparency offers a visual field that is literally deep one can look back into the painting, to its first layers, to its beginning.

POWER & LIGHT DISTRICT BOUTIQUES TO HOLD DOWNTOWN SIDEWALK SALE DURING NO-SALES TAX SHOPPING WEEKEND AUG 6^TH – 8^TH

Shop Downtown KC, Pay No-Sales Tax on Clothing Purchases

Kansas City, MO—Shoppers will find great back-to-school shopping deals this weekend at the boutiques in Downtown Kansas City’s Power & Light District. Several boutiques are participating in the first Downtown Sidewalk Sale this Friday, August 6^th thru Sunday, August 8^th, as Missouri offers shoppers no sales-tax on clothing purchases*, as part of the statewide, annual sales-tax holiday weekend.

Envolve Boutique, Zafar, The Garment District Boutique, Polished Edge Jewelers and the newly opened Lovebird, will slash prices on summer and select fall inventory. The Downtown Sidewalk Sale kicks off on Friday afternoon at 4 pm. It runs Friday, 4 – 8 pm; Saturday, 10 am – 8 pm; and Sunday, Noon – 6 pm.  Additionally, some restaurants, like Raglan Road Irish Pub, will offer shoppers Sidewalk Sale specials (with receipt from any of the Power & Light District boutiques this weekend).

*Shoppers will pay no-sales tax on single clothing purchases under $100, as part of the statewide, annual Missouri No-Sales Tax Holiday weekend.

All of the boutiques are located on Main Street, between 13^th and 14^th Streets in the Kansas City Power & Light District. Parking is only $2 when you park at the Main Street garage, located just north of 13^th and Main Street intersection and adjacent to Cosentino’s Market Downtown. Shoppers must present their parking ticket for validation at any of the Power & Light District boutiques.

For more information, visit www.powerandlightdistrict.com or call (816) 842.1045.

Kansas City artist Grant Miller is part of a three-artist art show at the Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art. The show remains up through Aug. 14. His fellow artists are Liu Hong and Mary Ann Strandell.

Eight distinct pieces hang as part of the show. They are mixed-media works that depict layered architectural interiors and structures, mixed with Salvador Dali’s surrealist view of time and a little of Wassily Kandinsky during his time right before his Bauhaus period. Needless to say, the works are colorful with a mix of seemingly inflexible walls and corners with the sort of dripping colors one would associate with Dali. It’s a mixed bag for Miller.

In his artist statement, Miller writes, "The process of constructing the paintings mirrors the construction of history, and furthermore the natural process of editing and gathering information." Miller starts with architectural interiors, symbols, and marks. Once these marks are laid, he continues to react to the previous information. For every action there is a reaction. Often some of the earliest information is completely covered, and the viewer is left with a painting that has been continually built upon the previous action or mark thus mirroring the construction of history. Some of the works have between eight to 18 layers of imagery.

Miller received his degree in printmaking and drawing from Washington University in St. Louis. He also has some undergraduate hours from the Kansas City Art Institute. "I am happy to be in Kansas City. There is such an active grassroots art movement here. It’s a very do-it-yourself scene. Groups like the Charlotte Street Foundation aid living artists in making a living through their art. It’s not a trickle down effect. St. Louis always seemed very top down, but here there is a concern for the well being of artists." Miller even works with other emerging artists through his Creative Inc., which helps them explore treating art as business and encourages an entrepreneurial spirit.

In his studio, Miller often listens to podcasts about the history of painting and other topics. One significant set of podcasts examined the life of modern artist Francis Bacon. "As an artist, I am looking to create that contemporary dialogue and in that conversation, I am showing the bombardment and saturation of our modern world. I am trying to capture what those collections of memories might look like. I wanted to try to make sense of the information, the notion of time, construction and the elements that cause order. The paintings have a timeline that includes a series of events and personal experiences. Of course, those can change daily — thus the layers. The earliest images and influences are there, but then so are the events, the encapsulated history that I show through abstractions."

Miller hopes that viewers will walk away with their own understanding, but he hopes they may return to the images again. "You can find more parallels through the layers of accumulated information. These are works that continue to give to the viewer and allow for even more introspection. With eight pieces here, viewers can see the breadth of the work."

Miller plans to complete some more paintings for coming shows in England. He will have pieces at Leeds University and Imperial College. Companies such as JE Dunn and Progressive Auto have purchased his work. There are works in the Black & White Gallery in New York too. In the fall, he will teach drawing and printmaking at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"Any artist who says they are a success is not growing. I want to keep at it and find new venues and new experiences. I want to continue to put myself in situations where I will learn and develop," he says.

Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art
2020 Baltimore
Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
Runs through Aug. 14

Please accept ArtsKC's special invitation to visit Union Station this week and experience Kansas City's corporate "arts" challenge. You’ll be amazed at the creativity and talent of our area CEOs, bank tellers, cable splicers, and IT professionals. Can't make it? Click here to view all of the visual and literary work on-line (http://artworkkansascity.wordpress.com/ )…you can even vote for your favorite! Musical competition is this Friday, August 6th, 7 pm at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre - Copaken Stage.

Kelly Seward
Director of Business Programs
816.994.9226 direct | seward@ArtsKC.org
906 Grand Blvd. Suite 10B | Kansas City, MO 64106
www.ArtsKC.org

Opening reception August 6, 6:00-10:00 pm.
Show runs through August 27.
After August 6, viewings are by appointment only.

Plenum Space Gallery

504 E. 18th Street
Kansas City, MO 64108
August 15, 2010

Contact: Paula Rose
Cell: 816-813-4688
Email: plenumspacekc@gmail.com

"My art is largely a mystery to me. I aim for precision of emotion, vibrance of color, and if I'm lucky a bit of chaos emerges. I rarely set out with an intention to communicate to anyone but myself, but genuinely hope that if I succeed at convincing myself, others will also feel the intensity of the inspiration. I like to work with an edge of fear that what I want to do is beyond my capabilities, and that I can do better with each painting in terms of taking chances. The subject matter and levels of realism are broad, but my voice comes through with the bold colors which define my work." - Jeanette Powers

Jeanette Powers is a graduate physics student at the University of Kansas and a self-taught painter. Her expressionist paintings are imaginative and intense and have been collected for the last ten years throughout North America. She enjoys representing chaotic motion and fluid dynamics in her paint application, without losing the focus of the mind. Portraiture is the mainstay of her work thanks to her belief in the importance of friends and family. Ms. Powers currently lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her family.

Dear Friends,

I want to invite you to join me in going Passionately Pink for the Cure®! It’s a great way to fight breast cancer.

All you need to do is wear pink and have fun by attending Get Your Pink ON, on Saturday August 7th 6-10PM at Alcott Arts Center and help support the life-saving work of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® by making a donation. Together, we can help fund critical breast cancer research, as well as local education, screening and treatment programs that impact people in our community. We will go Passionately Pink by hosting an Art Show Fundraiser.

Come out and see work by many regional artists, listen to a live band, sign up for door prizes, enter a raffle for a massage package, T-Bones and Royals tickets, artwork, CD’s and more. Have a caricature artist draw your picture, or get a photo with Bobba Fett or a Storm Trooper that have also gone Pink! Listen to those tell their story and stop by the Komen booth for educational materials on early detection and risk factors. Remember, we are fighting for a cure!

If you have any questions, please let us know. And don’t forget to wear pink to Get Your Pink On! Thank you.

Sincerely,
Chuck Green - President
Alcott Arts Center

Go Passionately Pink for the Cure!

Wear pink. Have fun. Fight breast cancer.
passionatelypink.org

The Running Ribbon is a registered trademark of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
©2010 Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Blue Gallery August Exhibition:
Robert Striffolino

New Works

Opening reception, First Friday, August 6th, 2010 6-9 pm

Exhibition runs through August 31st, 2010

www.BlueGalleryOnline.com

Robert Striffolino "Waterscape VIII", oil on canvas, 60" x 44"

I was born in New York City in 1950, and raised on Long Island. In 1974 I received a degree in architecture from Ohio University. For many years I practiced architecture as well as painted before I was able to devote all of my energy towards painting.

Years ago I chose to focus on landscapes because I have always felt a tremendous affinity toward them. As a child, growing up in New York I was always trying to escape to a park. There among the trees and grass I could be alone and feel myself relax and breathe more fully. As I grew older, I came to understand this affinity as a spiritual one.

To me color is the highest and most subjective element of painting, but the real subject matter of my work is its emotional content. I try and locate an intense feeling about something, whether it is the physical dynamics of a particular location or the juxtaposition of colors or the light. Then I explore it further on canvas and journey with it, trying to understand more fully what the feeling is about, in a formal context. That is when the painting really starts.

- Robert Striffolino

“POP”.
A group exhibition.

Opening July 23 - August 20
Reception: July 23, 7-9pm

Taking inspiration from popular culture, artists use a variety of mediums to express their personal visions. This exhibit explores a range of approaches to art making, especially ideas of popular culture and its influences. The use of found objects or recycled imagery which in their original context fit into the everyday are often used by artists to create a new conversation about current and past influences on culture. The participating artists in this exhibition represent several generations, and, therefore, varying perspectives on popular culture interact in the gallery.

Artists:

• Ann Dean
• Kendra Marable
• Archie Gobber
• Dan Anderson
• Kristin Moreland
• Jamie Warren
• Alison Filley
• Jeff Eaton
• Jeremy Rockwell
• Joelle Ford

“Art Clips”

Works by Joelle Ford

Opening July 23 through August 7
Reception: July 23, 7-9pm

This show will include 50 collages comprised of vintage clippings and original drawings by Joelle Ford.

“Futilitarian”

A fibers installation
by Danielle Yakle

Opening July 23 – through August 20
Reception: July 23, 7-9pm

Danielle is a recent graduate from the University of Kansas, receiving a Master of Fine Arts in Textiles/Fibers