Now, Then, and Tomorrow
A virtually curated exhibition by the Kemper Teen Arts Council using works of art from Kemper Museum’s Permanent Collection.
Now, Then, and Tomorrow explores themes of past and future in response to the year 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Curated by the Kemper Teen Arts Council, this virtual exhibition explores connections among works in Kemper Museum’s Permanent Collection that speak to our past and current realities as well as our hopes for the future.
1. Frederick James Brown (American, 1945–2012)
Conversations with Others: Marsupial Dreams, 1973
Frederick James Brown’s style ranges from figurative to Abstract Expressionism. He pulls inspiration from many things such as historical and religious subjects. The darker undertones in this piece and the expressive forms illustrate a busy and almost anxiety-inducing feeling that is similar to that felt at the start of quarantine due to COVID-19. Although there is a dark layer to this piece, the brighter more saturated colors that are spread throughout the painting add a lighthearted and hopeful feeling to the piece parallel to those felt during quarantine.
Can you relate to this piece in terms of how you felt when the pandemic first struck?
Audio & Writing by: Leyna Jurco
José Bedia is a Cuban artist who mainly focuses on spirituality through his artworks. I chose this piece for this exhibition because the past year and current has felt dark, seemingly shapeless, scary, and unknown. In our Then, before the pandemic, we looked to our community, smiles free to see, and closeness as a star. But Now, our star of the Then is Viejo Estrella (Old Star). The question now is, what or who should we put hope in? This unknown question is something we must ask ourselves. Who or what is our new star of Tomorrow?
Audio & Writing by: Ashlee Dureka
2. José Bedia (Cuban, born 1959)
"Viejo Estrella (Old Star)," 1995
3. Dean Mitchell (American, born 1957)
Release Me, 1991
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dean Mitchell is a 64-year-old American painter. Most of Mitchell’s work consists of figurative and landscape subjects, often depicted in a dreamy yet honest way. Like most of his paintings, Release Me was painted with oil, but Mitchell is known to use other mediums such as acrylic and watercolor as well. In this painting specifically, Mitchell uses duller, darker colors, as well as a looser, horizontal composition to portray feelings of despair and hopelessness. The feelings of sadness and desperation conveyed in this piece are akin to those felt by many during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. It seemed that the entire world was crying out, as the name of the painting suggests, to be released.
Audio & Writing by: Kalvin Verner
Paul Pletka is a Southern California-born artist who now resides in New Mexico. Pletka’s neo-Surrealist style of art evokes deep emotion and spirituality through his paintings. Las Muertas conjures feelings of desolation and emptiness that were common during the pandemic. I chose this painting to represent the Then of the pandemic because it roars hollowness with a sense of unity that has no direction, which I hope becomes a figment of the past.
Writing by: Sym’one Lee
4. Paul Pletka (American, born 1946)
Las Muertas (The Dead), 1980
5. Julie Blackmon (American, born 1966)
Stolen Kiss, 2005, from the series Domestic Vacations
This piece is by Julie Blackmon, who was born in 1966 in Springfield, Missouri. The piece is a pigment print that measures 24 by 24 inches. I chose this piece because it shows the feeling of lonely yet chaotic-feeling quarantine.
Writing by: Mona Ingersoll-Qureshi
Arthur Tress is an American photographer known for his staged Surrealism and display of the human body. He began his career photographing Coney Island, then went on to travel the world, working in ethnographic photography. This gradually evolved into a more personal mode of Magic Realism combining improvised elements of actual life with stage fantasy that became his hallmark style. Social Analysis was created in 1992 as part of the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter II: Buying the Package, #4. The piece is a Cibachrome print on paper (dye destruction print) and is 15 by 15 inches. It is currently a part of the permanent collection at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, as a gift from Drs. Pio and Esther Vilar. Social Analysis was added to this exhibition to represent the chaos of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The colors and layering create a hectic feel, allowing the viewer to feel the way most people felt during this time of panic.
Audio & Writing by: Gabby Geiger
6. Arthur Tress (American, born 1940)
Social Analysis, 1992, from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter II: Buying the Package, #4
7. Arthur Tress (American, born 1940)
Paycheck to Paycheck, 1991, from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter IV: Door to Door, #2
Arthur Tress is an American artist well known for his photography influenced by street artists and Surrealist painters. Specifically, the Magic Realism genre drives his work, and he strives to showcase real world objects in a fantastical way. The whimsical vibe of Paycheck to Paycheck stays true to the mentioned genre. This piece was created in 1991 and is a Cibachrome print on paper. The balance of the piece pulls your focus from the numbers to the letters to the man. Bright colors and blurred lines create a sense of dizzy movement. Paycheck to Paycheck is a reminder of the COVID-19 quarantine, where days blurred into weeks. Numbers float uncertainly throughout the piece like the days of our countdown to freedom slipping by. In the background, a working man appears to leave home. This dreamlike image of returning to work feels all too familiar.
What were you counting down during lockdown?
Are there any other pieces that remind you of dreams you had during quarantine?
Audio & Writing by: Katie Murphy
Arthur Tress was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Night of 1000 Floppies is from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter III: Behind a Desk, #3. Tress created this piece with Cibachrome. Cibachrome is a dye destruction positive-to-positive photographic process used for the reproduction of film transparencies on photographic paper. Tress incorporates movement by introducing a glitch-like effect across the entire photo. He also includes an element of contrast by adding colorful circles against the black and white print. These two additions create visual attraction without making the photo seem too busy or overwhelming. This photo relates to the exhibition because it is a visual representation of isolation, and made me think about how many people felt alone and resorted to technology and social media as a source of comfort in times like this.
Writing by: Ella Conner
8. Arthur Tress (American, born 1940)
Night of a 1000 Floppies, 1992, from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter III: Behind a Desk, #3
9. Arthur Tress (American, born 1940)
Optimum Star Man, 1992, from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter X: The Big Merger, #10
Optimum Star Man is part of a chapter in Arthur Tress’s expansive Requiem for a Paperweight series that is timely and familiar, however vague in subject it may be. The piece is a display of solitude. One figure stands behind warped glass, violent dark strokes in every direction all pointed at the figure in question. Solitude has rapidly been integrated into almost everyone’s lives in the last year, and though there are very good reasons for this change of pace, most of us miss people. Being alone can get lonely.
Writing by: Aedan Harrup
Susanne Kühn is a German contemporary painter. She studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig between 1990 and 1995. At the time she made this piece she was living and working in Germany. If you were to see this painting in person it is much larger, at more than 78 by 90 inches. Other pieces by the artist are on similar canvas sizes and are acrylic as well. There is another piece by Kuhn with the character of Regina titled Regina Reads. Regina arbeitet depicts an artist working in a small space with lots of artwork surrounding them. This is the same fate many artists were stuck with during the pandemic.
Writing by: Aurora Nicol
10. Susanne Kühn (German, born 1969)
Regina arbeitet (Regina Working), 2009
11. Do Ho Suh (South Korean, born 1962)
Untitled, 2004
Although best known as a sculpture and installation artist, Do Ho Suh creates work across various media including drawings, film, and glass work. He received his MFA in sculpture from Yale University in 1997. In his art, he utilizes physical space to address topics like home, displacement, and memories. He is known to weave his personal life experiences into his pieces. This piece was created in 2004 out of hand-blown glass and is called Untitled. The simple curvature of the thin, clear dome leads your eyes down to the contrast of bubbly hands filling the bottom of the sphere. Untitled is a perfect analogy for the ending of the COVID-19 pandemic: a bubble releasing into the world, not as a single pop, but a gradual simmering to the surface. This shows how our lockdown bubbles are slowly dispersing, as schools, stores, and offices reopen one at a time. Open palms show us welcoming the future. Untitled symbolizes the transition period between isolation and normalcy.
Does this bubble feel more like a prison or a shelter to you?
Audio & Writing by: Katie Murphy
12. Lois Dodd (American, born 1927)
Men's Shelter, April, 1968
Lois Dodd is a modernist painter who primarily uses oil paints on various canvases. She focuses on many things but her works are usually simplified versions of her subjects. This piece exudes a tranquil feeling but it was chosen to illustrate life during quarantine and COVID-19. It shows the view from within a room and this perfectly encapsulates how being in quarantine felt like. Being able to see the beautiful world around but being stuck and secluded within the walls of one’s home. While the colors are still quite saturated, there is a dimness to them, and this also ties into the feeling of seclusion because although we were all trying to enjoy the nice weather that was occurring while in the first lockdown, we were all trying to cope with the fact that it was incredibly dangerous to even be outside.
Do you feel a connection to how you felt during quarantine and how this piece makes you feel today?
Audio & Writing by: Leyna Jurco
13. Frederick James Brown (American, 1945–2012)
"Andrew Wyeth (b. 1917), Tenant Farmer," 1994, from the series "The History of Art"
14. Hope Gangloff (American, born 1974)
Vera, 2013
Hope Gangloff, born in Amityville, New York, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Gangloff studied art at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In the simplest terms, Gangloff’s work is large-scale, color-saturated, and deeply personal depictions of the everyday. The artist’s strong but gestural lines create defined shapes that are filled with repetitive marks and bright patterns. Gangloff gives equal textural attention to all areas of the painting, which draws the viewer’s eye to every detail and also contextualizes each portrait sitter in a unique set of surroundings. I really enjoy this picture because I can relate to it in so many different ways. From the bored and tired look on her face to the way she is sitting—this reminds me of times when I would dress up with no place to go because of the pandemic.
Writing by: Shahday Bayan
On the Elevator is from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter IV: Door to Door, #1. Arthur Tress created this piece with Cibachrome. Tress creates an intriguing piece by adding layers and dimension with an array of colors, the clock, and the three men moving throughout time. It represents time passing and moving forward through this pandemic into the future.
Audio and Writing by: Ella Conner
15. Arthur Tress (American, born 1940)
On the Elevator, 1991, from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter IV: Door to Door, #1
16. Arthur Tress, (American, born 1940),
A Night Time Encounter, 1991, from the series Requiem for a Paperweight, Chapter IV: Door to Door, #3
Arthur Tress’s A Night Time Encounter is an exposition of two human figures veiled by foggy glass and colored lights, all about them unknown, only their warped silhouettes visible. The piece is characteristic of Tress’s work, which is infamously surreal and often explores human figures. The sight of two people in each other’s space having a conversation is not a common sight these days. Within the past year, we have grown accustomed to a period of necessary, however lonely, mandatory isolation. Hopefully, in the near future, we can slowly start to have more “night time encounters,” but for the time being, this is a strange sight.
Writing by: Aedan Harrup
17. Frederick James Brown (American, 1945–2012)
Alice Neel (1900–1984), Pregnant Woman, 1994, from the series The History of Art
18. Frederick James Brown (American, 1945–2012)
Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Tanz de Lebens, 1994, from the series The History of Art
Born in Georgia and raised in Chicago’s South Side, Frederick J. Brown lived in Soho during the New York Art Renaissance of the 1970s and 1980s. Brown’s work reflects upon his early exposure to the sounds and personalities of the blues and jazz while engaging themes of the urban fabric, spirituality, and Americana. I enjoyed his painting Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Tanz de Lebens because it gives me hope for what life will be like after the pandemic dissolves. It also gives me nostalgia for the times before corona, when people would just vibe together without worrying about social distancing and masks.
Writing by: Shahday Bayan
19. Frederick James Brown, (American, 1945–2012),
William H. Johnson, Man in a Red Chair/The Dancers, 1994, from the series The History of Art
20. Frederick James Brown (American, 1945–2012)
They Had the Right to Sing the Blues, 1995
Artist Frederick James Brown was well known for his immense collection of portraits based on jazz and blues musicians. I chose They Had the Right to Sing the Blues for the Future. To me, it displayed a sense of unity and kinship that I hope will be in the near future.
Writing by: Sym’one Lee
Betty Blayton’s work, like José Bedia’s work, is often described as spiritual abstraction. Blayton created her work for two reasons: “The first is personal, because the act of creating artworks allows me opportunities for meditation and self-reflective thoughts related to life’s mysteries and the meaning of being and becoming. The second is to hopefully provide my viewers with opportunities to also engage in meditation and self-reflective thought.” The bright abstract shapes in Dream Forms #3 are an accurate representation of our Tomorrow. Bright and colorful on the other side. Yet, just as our then, our Then is abstract and unknown.
Audio & Writing by: Ashlee Dureka
21. Betty Blayton (American, 1937–2016)
Dream Forms #3, 1984
22. Fatimah Tuggar (Nigerian, born 1967)
Home's Horizons, 2019
This piece was created by Fatimah Tugger who was born in 1967 in Kadma, Nigeria. The piece measures 23 by 40 inches. I chose this piece because it shows an unknown and calm scene, a feeling I wish for the future.
Writing by: Mona Ingersoll-Qureshi
Brendan Cass, born in New Jersey in 1974, now lives and works in New York City. Cass is an abstract painter, known for his bright, colorful depictions of city and landscapes. While upon first glance, Cass’s work may seem like chaotic, uncontrolled applications of paint on a canvas, once one takes a closer look, the subjects of his paintings can be made out. In Capri, Cass portrays the Italian island in a large array of bright colors, loose lines, and sweeping brush strokes. The painting seems to encapsulate an uncontrollable happiness, representative of the future ahead as the world slowly recovers from the pandemic.
Audio & Writing by: Kalvin Verner
23. Brendan Cass (American, born 1973)
Capri, 2009
Full credit lines can be found here.