March 19 through May 2, 2004
WE BUY ART! initiated from an awareness that the health and vitality of our art community is contingent not only upon the strength of its artists but also upon the entire infrastructure that supports those artists and their work. Art collectors, particularly those committed to collecting work being made locally, are essential to the sustenance of an active art scene. By purchasing artwork from local artists and from local galleries (established commercial galleries as well as emerging and experimental spaces), these collectors invest in, and contribute to, the continued presence and and development of Kansas City’s artists and venues. The greater the number of local collectors, the greater the viability of Kansas City as a place for artists to live and work, the greater the number of venues to see art, and the richer and deeper our local culture.
For the exhibition we sought out a diverse group of active and passionate local collectors, who then invited us into their homes to choose pieces to borrow. While wanting to show a range of work and aesthetics, there was no fixed criteria for deciding which collectors to invite to participate, and we look forward to future exhibitions in the same vein which will highlight other collections. In choosing pieces for the show, and in installing them, we attempted to represent the general sensibility of each collection, thus creating a kind of portrait of each collector’s predilections. Yet in each case what is shown here is just a sampling.
The artists represented in WE BUY ART! Range from recent Kansas City Art Institute graduates to artists widely known in our area and beyond. With pieces spanning from the 1980s to now, the exhibition offers a—by no means comprehensive—glimpse of art in Kansas City, past, present, and future.
It is certainly our hope that WE BUY ART! Encourages those who do not already buy original art locally to consider the possibility of doing so. The eclecticism of the exhibition illustrated that there is no set formula for how or what to collect, and that one’s personal tastes, a belief in the value of personal expression, and a respect for one-of-a-kind objects are enough to propel a collection. The attachment each of these collectors has to the pieces they have leant to the exhibition is a testament to the profound and ongoing rewards of living with art. We appreciate their generosity in enabling us to place them on public view.
Curated by
Tom Gregg, Kate Hackman and Davin Wayne
Featuring works by local artists from the collections of
Bruce Bettinger, Dr. Loretta Britton, Todd & Carol Haenisch, John Holland, Anne Winter, Tonya Witmer & Ben Hansen
Collection of Todd and Carol Haenisch
STRETCH, Eric Sall, Ika, Vince Roark, David Ford, Kendall Kerr, Doug Schweitert, William Shipman, Mott-ly, Lori Raye Erickson
Collection of Tonya Witmer and Ben Hansen
Staria Stine, Lisa Grossman, Marcie Miller Gross, Anne Lindberg, Mary Ann Strandell, Michael Breson, Hugh Merrill
Collection of John Holland
Gear, Dylan Mortimer, Lindsey Barras, Renee Laferriere, Donald Ross “Scribe”, Peregrine Honig, Jesse Small
Collection of Dr. Loretta Britton
Henry Dixon, Lonnie Powell, Leroy Allen, Dean Mitchell
Collection of Bruce Bettinger
James Woodfill, Mike Snelson, John Pucheck, Mike Randall, Mary Jo Dawson, Debra Smith, John O’Brien, Mary Lou Shempf, Jay Norton, Allan Winkler, Sand McAllister, Susi Lulaki
Collection of Anne Winter
Brady Vest (of Hammerpress), Peregrine Honig
Exhibition Details
