The Late Show Gallery

This is a gallery at the corner of 16th street and Cherry. I always liked this gallery because it is so informal... the main floor is more like other galleries, but the owner opens up his second floor which is his apartment. So you are looking at artwork hanging in his living room, bedroom, over the kitchen sink, etc. I can't remember the owners name but I remembered his photo being on the cover of The Pitch a few years ago wearing a tee-shirt saying "ART PIMP" across the front of it. He shows only local Kansas City artists and gives a lot of recent graduates shows at his gallery. When I stopped by this time he was kinda between shows. This upcoming 1st Friday he's got a group show called "Be My Valentine". Go check it out. It is just a couple blocks from Grinders.

More photos of Grinder's West

Checked out Grinder's West

My friend Chris and I went and checked out Grinder's West this weekend. I actually had already eaten when he had suggested it, so I can't say any anything about the food I just had a coke. He liked the food and it was fun checking out the tables. The owner had local artists create art pieces to put inside each of the tabletops. Here are some pics. Go check it out and support local business. The area around this restaurant is pretty interesting too. I'll be posting some more stuff about it later.

Oh by the way it is right next door to the original Grinders on 18th Street.

End of Day-Nightscape IV by Louise Nevelson

   This is Louise nevelson's End of Day-Nightscape IV in the Bloch building in the Nelson-Atkins.  I always liked this monumental piece, but honestly had never heard of the artist, so I looked her up this time around. I found out she was a monumental artist of her time having been photographed for the cover of LIFE magazine in 1958, she has also received a National Medal of Arts from President Reagan along with many other honors. There is so much art out there you can't take it all in, which is awesome. 

   Anyway here is a quote from the artist about her found object assemblages - "When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you're really bringing them to life - a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created." - Louise Nevelson

I can't figure out how I ended up with everything underlined or how to take it off. HELP!!!

Restoration Exhibit by Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison @ The Nelson-Atkins

I enjoyed this show of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison's work. It consists of about twenty prints from from there three bodies of work: The Architect's Brother, The Grey Dawn, and Counterpoint. Seeing a couple of the pieces from each of the series really made me want to see each of the series in their entirety, to see if there is even more of a story to pull from having all of them together and working together. The Architect's Brother pieces definitely feel like you are looking at a narrative, kind of a myth. There interesting to look at on the web and in books, but you should definitely take the time to see them in person, the scale and the texture of some of these pieces add a lot to there impression. I liked the sepia toned Architect's Brother pieces better when I first saw everything on the web, but at the show I ended up liking the newer color pieces better. Go check them out, the show is open until February 8th. Unfortunately, your not allowed to photograph in this exhibit, so these photos were pulled from the web. The top one is called Pollination and the second one is called Mourning Cloak.

"My photographs tell stories of loss, human struggle, and personal exploration within landscapes scarred by technology and over-use... [I] strive to metaphorically and poetically link laborius actions, idiosyncratic rituals and strangely crude machines into tales about our modern experience"   -Robert ParkeHarrison

More photos of "Industrial Sculpture" The Star's old presses

Just some more photos of the old presses.

I would consider this art in spirit of Marcel Duchamp

Here are some photos I shot of the old presses in the basement and sub-basement levels of The Kansas City Star building. These are the presses which started I believe in the 50s and ran until about 3 years ago. I think of them as sculpture now since they have disassembled them to the point that will never run again, but have been built pretty much into the foundation of the building so they will probably never be completely taken apart. I think of them as art what do you think?