Permanent Collection

4420 Warwick Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64111

Contact

Kemper Museum Policies

The Kemper Museum website uses cookies. By continuing to use the site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

Hours

Employment

Docent Portal

Policies

News

Atrium Project

Oil on Linen

Visit

Free Admission

Free Programs

Location & Directions

Free Parking

Kemper Museum is a free art museum in Kansas City, Missouri that presents global contemporary art.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Accessibility

Exhibitions

Exhibitions & Collection

Calendar

Groups & Tours

Volunteer

Public Programs

Programs

Mission

History

Architecture

Leadership

Community Partners

About

Memberships

Legacy Society

Gala

Annual Report

Support

Cafe

Museum Shop

Special Event Rentals

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art acknowledges it resides on the ancestral territory of the Osage, Kaw, and Otoe-Missouria, among other tribal nations forcibly moved to the region such as the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) nations. We recognize and support the continued vibrancy of Native communities and cultures today who continue to thrive, as well as the inherent sovereignty of tribal nations. We are compelled to serve and advocate for these communities in accordance with our public mission.

Kemper Museum acknowledges and respects the diversity of Native people connected to this land today. Many recognize the land and all beings who live within it as relatives. We acknowledge the earth we inhabit, the waters of the Blue River, the Kansas River, the Missouri River, and the plants, animals, and people supported by them. 

We acknowledge our responsibility to be good caretakers of the land we occupy. 

Click here to learn more about our land acknowledgment process.

Land Acknowledgement

Join

Celebrate

Shop

Bianca Fields

Bianca Fields (American, born 1995),Bugs in the Air,2022,
acrylic, oil and spray paint on yupo (mounted on panel), 36 x 24 inches.
Courtesy of the artist. © Bianca Fields.

Kansas City-based artist Bianca Fields (American, born 1995) began this series of paintings on yupo paper—a synthetic, smooth, non-absorbent surface—during the pandemic. Fields’s imagery has consistently been rooted in exaggerations of childhood subjects, including everyday food items and well-known cartoon characters that chronicle past and current moments. In this group of works selected for A New World—Women to Watch 2024, Fields introduces the mandrill monkey as the main subject. This figure embodies the duality of being both prominent and vulnerable: the monkeys’ bright colors, expressive eyes, and distinctive features draw interest, but they are often shy and are targets for poachers. Since 1978 they have been on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species.

The subject of the primate and Fields’s incorporation of symbols and marks, she says, reference her experiences that “have become the driving force [in] the way [she] thinks about improvisation,” particularly “the way society attempts to sculpt women of color into performative roles.” Situating the monkey within a new environment, one that is recontextualized into a space that draws closer overlap with the artist, creates a sense of mirroring and exchange of energies. The scale and portrait orientation of Fields’s canvases read as mirror-like, giving viewers a perception of reflection—of the artist, of society, of oneself. The subjects and expressive formal qualities of the work present a new space of contemplation—of the portrait, of how figure representations emerge from societal forces, and of ways in which memories evolve into temporal icons.