KANSAS CITY, MO — New York-based painter Lisa Sanditz creates exuberant and engaging landscapes that mix the homespun aesthetic of folk art with the calculated gestures of postmodernist painting and celebrates places the artist calls “underappreciated and underexplored.”  Sanditz explores the dynamic between the natural and artificial experience of the environment in the exhibition Lisa Sanditz: Flyover, on view until January 7, 2007 at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri.  Sanditz is a visiting artist at the Kemper Museum, and this is her first solo museum exhibition.

In her paintings, Lisa Sanditz delves into the spaces and places found in the “flyover zone,” particularly those places outside the East and West Coasts and off the beaten path.  From the natural wonder of the Meramec caves found outside of St. Louis and Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains to the architectural feats of Samuel Mockbee, and even a housing subdivision based on the paintings of Thomas Kinkade, Sanditz’s landscapes combine elements of nostalgia with social commentary about consumerist habits and big-city attitudes.

Sanditz uses bright and bold colors and a style reminiscent of outsider and folk artists to create her depictions of popular destinations, including Dolly’s Peaks—named after hometown entertainer Dolly Parton—in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  Mass commercialization and natural scenery collide in a quirky, colorful mix of casinos, shopping centers, and planned-living communities.  While her works are devoid of people, Sanditz leaves visual reminders of human activity, including abandoned cars, buildings, and telephone lines.

Born in 1973 in St. Louis, Missouri (part of the flyover zone), Lisa Sanditz lives and works in New York City and Tivoli, New York.  She received her BA in studio art from Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1995 and her MFA from Pratt Institute, New York, in 2001. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the Orange County Museum of Art, Orange County, California; the International Print Center, New York; and the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, among many other venues.

The Kemper Museum acknowledges the generous support of Bank of America for the 2006 Visiting Artists Program.  Financial assistance has been provided by the Arvin Gottlieb Charitable Foundation, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; the Hallmark Corporate Foundation; the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation; the David Woods Kemper Memorial Foundation; and Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.  Generous in-kind support is provided by The Kansas City Star and Midwest Airlines.  Special thanks to Kenneth and Nancy Kranzberg for supporting this exhibition.

About the Kemper Museum

Kansas City’s acclaimed, free contemporary art museum, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 and draws more than 130,000 visitors each year.  The Museum boasts a rapidly growing permanent collection of modern and contemporary works of artists from around the world.  The Museum hosts temporary exhibitions, installations, performance work, film and video series, lectures, concerts, children’s workshops, and other creative programs designed to both entertain and challenge. For more information, visit www.kemperart.org