Springing from the disconcerting themes of war, disaster, and fear that inform and lurk just below the surfaces of many of the young artists’ work in Phantasmania, Whistleblowers examines how artists have historically employed their tools and techniques as platforms to address the social, political, and economic injustices of their times. Drawn from the Kemper Museum’s permanent collection, works by such artists as Walker Evans and Ben Shahn function primarily as explicit social commentaries, while abstract works by Louise Nevelson and Cy Twombly, among others, furtively express their rage and disgust for society’s plights.

Above, left: Aaron Siskind, Untitled (The Most Crowded Block) from the series A Harlem Document, 1939; gelatin silver print, 11 x 14 inches; Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Gift of Drs. Antonio and Luz Racela, 1997.29.13