August First Friday

2016

2012 Baltimore Ave.   I  Kansas City, MO 64108  I  816.474.1919   Thurs-Sat. 11 am-5 pm
 
August 5, 2016
6 pm 9 pm
outspoken soliloquy of dreams

contemporary abstraction

Rashelle Staley-Stutts

August 5 - September 30, 2016
Front Gallery



Caught Between a Strong Mind and a Fragile Heart
acrylic, oil bar, and graphite on birch panel
48" x 36"
A Current Runs Between Them
acrylic, oil bar and graphite on canvas
48" x 36"
Outspoken Soliloquy of Dreams
acrylic, oil bar and graphite on canvas
60" x 48"


Social media has become the virtual confessional for the contemporary conscience. What we cannot dump in social media, we purge within the outspoken soliloquy of our dreams. The canvas has become my outlet; the paint brush, my pillow... the paint becomes the flashing cursor upon my computer screen. I present myself timidly, but openly. All for public consumption and judgement, praise and criticism...repentance and revelations...empathy and regret...love and loss...healing and progress.

Abstraction has become my social media... my emotional reboot. Color and tonality define my social climate and cleanse my conscience. The rawness of my own ideas, experiences, desires, and observed situations are recorded on the canvas with the fluent sincerity and immediacy of a virtual status update. I'm interested in the idea that within the ambiguity of specific color relationships and abstract forms my own emotional purging can take place. Color and tonality within these suggested forms revealed within my process inspire ideas which address moral, spiritual, or social meaning. As with individual personalities, colors interact differently as they adapt to the context of their environment. I find comfort within this ambiguity that becomes interpretive and dependent upon the individual experiences of the viewer in unison with my suggested imagery. It becomes a dance..a conversation. Emotions and memories become faintly familiar to the viewer, like a song you once heard...the flirtatious glance from across a crowded room...the perfume of a lost love...the dream you awoke from in the middle of the night.

Pigments juxtaposed in complex relationships upon the canvas surreptitiously suggest my visual narratives. Just as individual personalities define each social situation, color and tonality imitates life in creating the context and defining the mood of the painting. Intensity and illumination are strong personalities which alter both color and emotion, just as lighting within a space calms the spirit. I am interested in how my approach to color on a canvas can similarly affect one's mood and trigger memories in a comforting, redemptive way. Intentional, discriminate application of color reflecting upon the canvas has become my catharsis...my muse...my news feed...my daydream.

RASHELLE STALEY-STUTTS is a contemporary abstractionist painter known for her expressive use of color and textural approach to her mixed media paintings. Layers of suggested imagery create depth and tension within her compositions enticing the viewer to reflect on their own psyche. While imagery might appear free-spirited or random, Rashelle's paintings are always a visual allegory which entice the viewer to consider a larger message; love, loss, change, and human relationships. Her use of color and tonality within abstract elements intentionally suggests the conflict or adaptation between personal relationships and the changing dynamic of individual personalities when confronted with uncontrolled cultural and societal issues. Speaking visually through metaphor, she cathartically addresses her canvas with the sincerity and authenticity that one might approach a personal journal or a letter to friend; an emotional outlet where she can purge and visually record feelings and reactions to both observed situations and experiences.
 
RASHELLE is an active member of the Kansas City Artist Coalition and Summit Art. She has served on the City of Lee's Summit's Art's Council in her hometown of Lee's Summit, Missouri. Her Post-Graduate Studies at the Kansas City Art Institute are in the concentration of Painting. Rashelle also has a BFA in Illustration and a BSE in Art Education from UCM, and MED in Information Technology from Lesley University in Boston. Rashelle is an International Baccalaureate Visual Arts Instructor and Examiner, and an Advanced Painting teacher to high school and college students. Rashelle's work is on display within multiple private and corporate collections and galleries.

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THESHAMANS, MONKS, BUDDHAS, AND BEASTS

Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art from the Collection of Charles Novak


August 5 - October 1, 2016
Opie Gallery



 
Shamanic figure by Jajarkat tribe of Western Nepal,
lost wax bronze, c. 1900, 7" x 1"
Tsakli of Buddhist devotee.  Handmade paper and natural pigment from Nepal. 19th - 20th c.  4-1/2 x 4"
Animal mask by the Druk tribe,  Nepal.  Wood and paint.
c. 1900-1950. 11" x 7" x 11"


Charles Novak is a scholar of Himalayan art who has lived periodically in Nepal and the Himalayas since the 1970s. A graduate of Naropa University and a former Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, he has exhibited and lectured on artwork from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Thailand, since the 1970s. The pieces in this exhibit are from his personal collection and are offered for sale. They include Tsaklis (Tibetan and Himalayan ritual miniature paintings), Tanka paintings, carved wooden animal and figural masks, and miniature lost-wax bronze figures of shamans, villagers and animals from Himalayan villages. All works are from the 19th - 20th centuries.

The exhibition is organized by Elisabeth Kirsch.

Societal Symbolism

David Goodrich


August 5 - 27, 2016
Back Gallery


David Goodrich, Prometheus Bound, March 1998, acrylic on canvas, 55" x 37"
 

David Goodrich. One day we all woke up to discover that something had changed. A person, known by a lot, a friend & lover of many, but most importantly a PRESENCE for all; He'd moved on to another space.

David Goodrich was not someone you just knew of. He made an impression. He made a place for himself. A part of him was always passed on as a lasting memory to those of us lucky enough to make his acquaintance. A rare intellect not afraid to challenge or be challenged, he seemed to take the greatest pleasure in provoking discourse on any subject and then subtly injecting the most obscure and yet pertinent bits of data from sources far-flung yet always authoritative and balanced... And always finding humor & truth in the darkest of corners, revealing it to light.

~ Ben Raskin

Artist Statement

Artistically, I may be less interested than many in what is current in our culture so much as what's constant. Political matters and technological advances are all worthy of commentary, but too often represent temporary situations which retain little significance after a period. What I choose to concentrate on includes an interaction with the established artistic and symbolic language of our majority culture. It is my belief that the arts from culture to culture throughout history are generally interwoven with that culture's mythological inheritance, positioning that society within the context of a super-reality, or in contact with a realm of the fantastic.

We may live in a scientifically advanced society, yet I maintain that the cultural mythologies of our society are still significant to us and effect our vocabulary, thoughts, and philosophies. At the very least, they are certainly effective as regards artistic communications, the symbolic language being well established and recognizable.

Artist Bio

David Goodrich is originally from Oklahoma City, and he received a BFA in painting from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. Since 1985 he has lived in Kansas City, MO and his artistic pursuits have mainly been centered there and in Chicago. He has shown throughout the Midwest and has artwork in collections across the nation and abroad.


As we recently approached the two year mark of David's passing,
we are displaying a selection of his artwork in his honor. ~ LVAC


Societal Symbolism
 
 
Gender Treason
Exploring Queer Kansas City Through Art

Paintings and Interviews by
Ryan Wilks

July 1 - August 27, 2016
Lower Level Gallery




Eugine, oil on canvas, 48" x 56"
Avery, oil on canvas, 48" x 56"
Andy, oil on canvas, 48" x 56"


Gender Treason: The bravest act of defying culturally imposed stereotypes surrounding sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Gender Treason  is a series of large portrait paintings and includes interviews with subjects, providing a rare glimpse into the lives of queer people living in the Midwest. In an effort to transcend sensationalized media stereotypes and portray a more honest perspective into queer existence, Ryan Wilks spent a year interviewing, and then painting, queer Kansas City residents.

The series, which focuses on twelve people who span the queer spectrum of gender and sexual identity, offers a vulnerable insight into each individual's life, their common struggles, and the victories that bond them in a shared human condition. Each painting aspires to capture the complexity and truth of its subject by employing bold colors, painterly brush strokes, and hard lines. A portion of sales will be donated to local LGBTQIA organizations.



 Joe Ledford and Anne Kniggendorf
Kansas City Star Video and Article
 Joe Ledford and Anne Kniggendorf


PITCH - Cross Section by Annie Raab


Exploring Boundaries: A Layered Conversation

Contemporary Paintings by  Jenny Meyer-McCall and Suze Ford Hernandez
 
June 3 - August 27, 2016
Main Gallery


    
 
Hello My Name is: Label
mixed media on panel, 36" x 48"
The Day it Rained
oil on canvas, 60" x 72"

Two artists exploring new ways to express themselves through their art, empowered by their inner dialogues and self discovery. Growing their messages in layers and depth. They have pushed past the boundaries of their previous identities; freeing them, their voices, and their art. Embracing the evolution that occurs when an artist creates for the purpose of searching for what is possible with out anything to lose.



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