Past Exhibitions
Artists exhibited include Natalie Frank, Raphael Lozano-Hemmer, Dyani White Hawk, Elias Sime, Summer Wheat, Hew Locke, Polly Apfelbaum, Ken Aptekar, Christian Boltanski, Petah Coyne, Russell Crotty, Naomi Fisher, Till Freiwald, Jim Hodges, Alex Katz, Nikki S. Lee, Marco Maggi, Fairfield Porter, Lezley Saar, Shahzia Sikander, Do-Ho Suh, Robert Therrien, Wayne Thiebaud, Phoebe Washburn, Bruce Yonemoto, and many others.
Last 6 Months

For the sixth annual Atrium Project, New York-based artist Aliza Nisenbaum (born Mexico City, 1977) created large-scale portraits of individuals connected to Kansas City salsa music and dance communities.
Nisenbaum is known for her bright paintings and unique approach to portraiture. Nisenbaum has exhibited her work across the world, working with locals in each city—from Immigrant Movement International members in Queens, NY to staff of the Liverpool Alder Hey Children’s Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hung Liu (Chinese American, 1948–2021) was an artist born in China, raised under the Maoist regime, and educated in both China and the United States. A painter known for engaging and challenging narratives present within historical Chinese imagery, Liu created these seven prints based on a series of paintings inspired by historical photographs of Chinese courtesans from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kemper Museum’s Deconstructing exhibition series presents works that share themes and styles in relationship to one another, breaking down collecting histories and threads, geographical inspiration, and unexpected connections between them. Deconstructing Marleen Gold focuses on the work of artist Marleen Gold’s (American, 1946–2020) work, featuring artwork from Ron and Marleen Gold’s collection, as well as works from Kemper Museum’s Permanent Collection.

Natalie Frank: Unbound is the first survey exhibition of Brooklyn, New York-based artist Natalie Frank’s (American, born 1980) drawings inspired by some of the best-known and most controversial literary narratives.
Spanning a decade of Frank’s feminist drawing practice, Unbound will present work from the artist’s four major drawing series, each of which is the result of Frank’s rigorous research.

To mark Missouri’s Bicentennial, Kemper Museum invited an advisory group of 13 civic partners comprising curators, educators, artists, and cultural leaders to identify themes and through lines related to the state’s history and select works of art from the museum’s Permanent Collection that can illuminate these ideas.