Coupling a nostalgia for pop culture and an irreverence for the history of art, New York-based sculptor and installation artist Ryan Humphrey makes bold and energetic multisensory works that are simultaneously humorous and conceptually loaded. For his first solo museum exhibition at the Kemper Museum, Humphrey has created several new works that blend the flamboyant styles of car culture and sounds of popular music with the aesthetic concerns of high modernism. Eddie Van Halen and Public Enemy meet Rothko and Rodchenko in “customized” works made or derived from a 1970s BMW 7-series hood, the side of a 1971 Chevy C-10 van, and a 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible, among others. Ryan Humphrey was a visiting artist at the Kemper Museum.

Above, left: Ryan Humphrey, Velocity of Transparent Aspiration, 2005–06; BMW 7 Series hood, automotive paint, clear coat, carbon fiber hood emblem, 52 x 59 x 4 inches; Courtesy of the artist, photo: Kevin Ryan