Animals & Buildings,
a temporary gallery in Kansas City's West Bottoms, hosts the exhibition Conversation, Part 1 for two weeks,
opening Friday, May 13, 2011. Artists in the exhibition are Brett Chenowith, Sarabeth Dunton, Jared Flaming, Lori Raye Erickson,
and Ryan Haralson.
Most of the artists
have studios in the Hobbs Building. Animals & Buildings is on the sixth floor. The idea for the exhibition was to provide
an larger exhibition space for Hobbs Building artists above and beyond the "pop-up" opportunities they create
for themselves twice a year with Hobbs Building Open Studios.
Brett Chenoweth’s works on paper are a mythological connection to a dreamlike past.
His ruins may represent the ending of an era but, like all ruins, they endure, providing a bridge to our dreams and to another
time.
Chenoweth has shownll ocally
and nationally. His studies in literature, philosophy, and theology inform his work. He has been an art instructor in Kansas
City and on the East Coast. He lives in Kansas City with his daughter and his dog.
Sarabeth Dunton creates intricate pen and ink drawings that
mimic the growth and solidity of the home, inside and out. This series of drawings hint at Neutra-inspired planks flowing
into intricate Asian floral and mountainscapes, as East meets West.
Dunton received her BFA in painting at the University of Michigan in 2006. A recent transplant to Kansas
City, Sarabeth and her husband moved from New Orleans. She has lived in Michigan, Louisiana, Vermont, Greece, and India.
Dunton has had work shown in Kansas City,Missouri; Ann Arbor, Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Paros, Greece.
Long established as a Kansas City artist, Lori
Raye Erickson is a graduate of Kansas City Art Institute. She received a Charlotte Street Award and an Avenue of
the Arts grant. Her work is infused with bright colors, text, numbers, sideshow freaks, and humor, This particular group
of work embodies a carnival flair, without the representational imagery typical to most of her work.
Jared Flaming absorbs pop culture and its influence is prevalent.
Graffiti-type patterning fills his panels edge to edge suggesting an undeniable permanence of space. He integrates youthful
symbols and pentagrams into every piece.
Flaming
received his BFA from University of Oklahoma and is currently pursuing an MFA at University of Kansas. In 2008 he collaborated
with Icelandic artist Jon Þór Birgisson and American artists Alex Summers, Marguerite Keys and Scott Alario
to produce the limited edition book Princes of Royal Blood in Reykjavik Iceland. In 2011 he takes part in
the traveling exhibition Paper Politics organized by the Just Seeds artist co-op in Brooklyn New York.
The seriousness of Ryan Haralson’s
subjects are punctuated with elements of good humor. His subjects confront some truth about ourselves; whether it be racism,
classism or debt. Floating around these heavy truths, Haralson also inserts brightly colored hot air balloons that give
us room to breathe and observe this seriousness from a higher plateau.
Haralson is a 2007 graduate of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design with a BFA in
Industrial Design. He has shown his work in and around Kansas City.
The exhibition is co-organized by Cory Imig and Blair Schulman.
Imig is an interdisciplinary artist currently working
in Kansas City, Missouri. She received her BFA from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2008 where she studied fiber and
sculpture. After graduation Cory attended residencies at Virginia Commonwealth University and The Vermont Studio Center.
She has participated in numerous shows in the Kansas City area most notably a two-person show, Pitty Pattern, at the Kansas
City Public Library with artist Garry Noland in 2010.
Schulman is an art writer who has contributed to Art Tattler, Review, The Kansas City
Star, Fluent Collaborative, and Juxtapoz.
The exhibition is made possible by Mike Miller and West Ninth, LLC.
