The Kemper Museum Hosts "Exploring the Mystery of Place ~ Eric Forstmann's Works in Context'

Written by Alexander Portman Monday, 02 May 2011 23:25

Kansas City, MO.- A new exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art puts Eric Forstmann’s works in context. "Exploring the Mystery of Place — Eric Forstmann's Works in Context', will be on view until August 14th and the artist will give a talk at the museum on Sunday May 8. Reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s works of isolation, Eric Forstmann paints images of the empty streets of Amenia, a small town in New York’s Hudson Valley, as well as the interiors of long-abandoned farmhouses.

The exhibition focuses on the painter’s interiors and night-time street scenes and provides context for the artist’s work, "Amenia, 2:30 a.m." (2010–11), specially commissioned by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art for its Permanent Collection. "Amenia, 2.30 a.m." will be featured beside 8 other works by the artist.

As a realist painter, Eric Forstmann works in recognizable genres—still life, plein air landscapes, trompe l’oeil, and interiors. The artist celebrates the images of the everyday and takes inspiration from painters before him, from 17th-century Dutch artist Jan Vermeer to 20th-century American realist Edward Hopper.  Forstmann paints the landscapes and environments of areas around his home in northwestern Connecticut and the nearby Hudson Valley. The Museum’s new acquisition comes from the artist’s series of paintings of neighboring Amenia, New York. Created at night, these psychologically charged canvases depict a  time when few are awake. They resonate with a sense of abandonment and isolation.


In an interview with Kemper Museum Chief Curator Barbara O’Brien, Forstmann said, “I feel a certain responsibility to champion the unsung.” He continued, “I am always attracted to the mystery of the lives of those that live or have lived in the places: the history, failure, and the how and why of a place.” Born in 1962, Forstmann studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University. His works can be found in many private and public collections, including the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; the Evansville Museum of Arts, Science, and History, Indiana, and the New Jersey Center of the Visual Arts, Summit, New Jersey. This exhibition at the Kemper Museum is among the artist’s first solo museum exhibitions. This is the second in a series of exhibitions, called Acquisitions in Context, at the Kemper Museum. This focused exhibition pairs new works to the Kemper Museum’s permanent collection with other works by the same artist. This allows visitors to see more works by the artist and makes more transparent the process by which works of art enter the Museum’s collection.

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened October 2, 1994. At the core of the permanent collection is the Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection, a gift by the Museum’s donors R. Crosby Kemper and his wife Bebe Kemper, and the Kemper Foundations. The collection includes works by such artists as Louise Bourgeois, Christian Boltanski, Manuel Neri, Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler, Frank Stella, Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Hung Liu, Robert Motherwell, Deborah Butterfield, Fairfield Porter, Wayne Thiebaud, Grace Hartigan, William Wegman, Red Grooms, Georgia O’Keeffe, Christopher Brown, Willem de Kooning, and Robert Mapplethorpe. The Kemper Museum was formally incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit museum with an independent board of trustees on September 13, 1995. The dynamic building form is expressive of the constant progression of modern art. It presents the distinct personality of the museum while using an informal vocabulary that is not related to any architectural historical style, yet is expressive and accommodating. The free-flowing interior space unfolds as it progresses. It is not compartmented, but allows flexible transitions from one space to the next, from one gallery to the next, and to the Grand Atrium. A continuous ribbon of daylight provides for continuity and direction within the museum and a connection to the outside. The weaving of nature into the building form further establishes a visual dialogue within the context and a space for outdoor exhibitions. The building, designed by Gunnar Birkerts, represents its own and unprecedented image. It is not a style to be emulated, but a standard for design quality and responsiveness. Each year, the Museum presents 10–12 special exhibitions in its galleries. The group and solo artist exhibitions feature established and emerging artists from the United States and around the world. Past special exhibitions have included works by Alex Katz, Liza Lou, Christian Boltanski, Kojo Griffin, Alison Saar, and Fairfield Porter, among many others. Lectures, film and video series, performances, and workshops are offered on a regular basis in the Museum’s meeting room, which seats 88 people. Visit the museum's website at ... www.kemperart.org

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