Director Thoughts

JOSEPH NEASE GALLERY What does it mean to invest in visual Art, and why should you do it? August 15, 2020Center Image Above: James Woodfill’s Kansas City studio, 2018 Let’s define visual Art as all the endeavors of an individual or a small partnership to make drawings, paintings, prints, photographs, ceramics, digital art, sculptures, installations, and films.  Artists who are fostered and whose art is made this way, allow their unique visions to be brought forth more profoundly than, say publicly funded art that may come with significant creative restrictions.  Another way to put this is as the National Endowment

JOSEPH NEASE GALLERY The Case for NO wall labels August 4, 2020Center Image Above: Peter Granados, Agora, 2017 If you are a regular museum attendee, you may have noticed the increased use of descriptive wall labels adjacent to artworks.  In addition, there are often sets of headphones that the visitor may utilize to listen to pre-recorded statements by curators about the exhibition and about specific artworks as you traverse the space.  Don’t think there is not useful information on the wall labels and curator recordings, because there is.  But … There is much merit in viewing the art by FIRST

JOSEPH NEASE GALLERY Two recent paintings by James Brinsfield August 1, 2020 This time, let’s consider two recent paintings by James (Jim) Brinsfield, Space Mob (left) from May 2020, and Hat and Beard from spring 2019. Space Mob, 78” x 64”, 2020Click image to enlarge Hat and Beard, 84” x 60”, 2019 Click image to enlarge Continuing with his ongoing series of paintings that includes Long Division from 2017, Jim typically leaves ample space within the painting rectangle for his lines, blocks, drawing, and colors to breathe.  His boldest marks do not explicitly address the edges of the canvas, and

JOSEPH NEASE GALLERY What do we see in Tara Austin’s “Boreal VIII” July 30, 2020 “Boreal VIII” was among the newest paintings completed ahead of Tara’s recent exhibition Boreal Ornament III.  So, if we were not familiar with this artist’s work, nor have we read any statements about it, what do we see, and how do we think about it? We do have a clue – “boreal” – and we look it up and find it references northern biotic areas such as cold waters and coniferous forests.  And from the exhibition title, we may infer that the artist thinks of

JOSEPH NEASE GALLERY Virtual Exibitions July 24, 2020 Why is it just as important to be thoughtful developing an online exhibition as it is to contemplate and arrange a physical exhibition? Although it may not always be apparent to a viewer, much thought goes into arranging a physical art exhibition.  We consider where a viewer enters the space and what we want them to see first.  We think about whether we want them to move in a certain direction.  And we consider what is seen from a variety of vantage points in the space  – ideally, each vantage point shows