Upcoming exhibitions at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art celebrate artists with Midwest ties on national platforms
Paul Anthony Smith, Women to Watch, and The Regional
KANSAS CITY, MO—Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art has organized three special exhibitions opening in May and June that elevate the work of contemporary artists with ties to the Midwest region on national platforms through partnerships with museums around the United States.
Public programming will offer ways to engage with the exhibitions for a variety of ages and interests.
THE REGIONAL | JUNE 3–SEPTEMBER 11, 2022
The Regional is the first major multi-museum survey exhibition of contemporary artists working in the Midwest. Celebrating the artistic and cultural complexity of the region through the work of 23 artists—including locals Rashawn Griffin (born 1980, Los Angeles; lives and works in Kansas City, MO) and Jonathan Christensen Caballero (born 1988, Salt Lake City, UT; lives and works in Lawrence, KS)—the exhibition opened to national attention in Cincinnati in December 2021, and will be on view at Kemper Museum from June 3–September 11, 2022. An artist panel and exhibition opening preview will take place on the evening of Thursday, June 2. The Regional is co-organized by the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO. Learn more about The Regional.
PAUL ANTHONY SMITH: SEARCHING | MAY 6–OCTOBER 2, 2022
Paul Anthony Smith: Searching is a solo exhibition in-part celebrating ten years of picotage photographic works and including recent painted landscapes by artist and Kansas City Art Institute alumnus Paul Anthony Smith (Jamaican, born 1988). One of two local exhibitions of Smith’s work this Spring (Smith’s new body of work, Dreams Deferred, will be on view at the Crossroads Hotel from May 20–July 31), the exhibition expands the conversation and deepens the connections between Kansas City and Smith’s powerful work. Later this year, a selection of works from the exhibition will travel to the Blaffer Museum in Houston, Texas as part of the FotoFest Biennial 2022. Smith’s artist talk at Kemper Museum will be on the evening of Thursday, May 19. Learn more about Paul Anthony Smith: Searching.
WOMEN TO WATCH–A NEW WORLD: 2024 | JUNE 24–OCTOBER 16, 2022
A collaboration between the National Museum of Women Artists in Washington, D.C. (NMWA) and its national and international committees, the Women to Watch exhibition series invites self-identifying women artists from across the country to respond a theme chosen by NMWA’s curators in regional presentations that culminate in a national exhibition. This year, Kemper Museum’s presentation of Women to Watch–A New World: 2024 features five local artists, Mona Cliff/HanukGahNé (Spotted Cloud) (Aaniiih, born 1977), Bianca Fields (American, born 1995), Bev Gegen (American, born 1937), Melanie Johnson (American, born 1978), and Sun Young Park (South Korean, born 1990), juried by Kemper Museum Director of Curatorial Affairs Erin Dziedzic and presented in cooperation with the Greater Kansas City Area Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Artists accepted to participate in Kemper Museum's exhibition will have the opportunity to be selected by curators from NMWA for the national Women to Watch exhibition in 2024. An opening preview celebration will take place at Kemper Museum on the evening of Thursday, June 23. Learn more about Women to Watch–A New World: 2024.