Kansas City, MO - home to BBQ and the blues, a former haunt of infamous mafia types; it is a city steeped in legacy. Today the city boasts an impressive collection of prestigious art museums and institutions including the Kemper, Nelson-Atkins, and Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Kansas City Art Institute, and is home to the notable Hallmark and Sprint contemporary art collections. Good art abounds in the heartland city.

Kansas City is also known for its monthly art nights, which bring thousands of visitors and art patrons from surrounding states to visit the hundreds of galleries, artists' studios and alternative spaces in the city.

KC in LA gathers some of Kansas City's best and brightest young artists and artwork, showcasing the talent from a hot spot of the Midwest art scene in the epicenter of the West's.

Artists include:
Ricky Allman - The landscapes and architectural forms in Allman's paintings are meditations on dystopian visions of the future that explore the push-pull of faith and doubt.

Barry Anderson - Anderson's single-channel HD videos tweak the context of nostalgic imagery, reformatting them into pleasing yet slightly disquieting, imaginary milieus.

Orly Cogan - Cogan embellishes vintage fabrics and found embroideries with her figurative vignettes as commentary on women's roles in contemporary society.

David Ford - Culling cultural signifiers from societies with non-Eurocentric art values, Ford's works are an exploration of the dichotomy that occurs between philosophy and aesthetics.

Archie Scott Gobber - In the tradition of Ed Ruscha, Gobber uses contemporary jargon to create mischievous text-centric work that questions personal convictions and perceived value.

Heather Smith Jones - In her paper doily compositions, Jones's works marry fierce and fragile through the exquisite and obsessive technique of pin-pricked imagery.

Anne Pearce - Pearce's mixed-media figurative works on paper translate the physic remnants of human interaction in a complex ballet of abstract and representation, incorporating beauty in the grotesque.

Mary Ann Strandell - Strandell's long interest in the redux of Chinoiserie and Meissen porcelain embraces the paradoxical influence of East meets West through the modernist troupes of photography and painting.


KC in LA was curated by Ashley McLean Emenegger of McLean Fine Art. Emenegger is a Los Angeles-based local and national curator. Having recently lectured and guest curated an exhibition at UMKC, she recognized that these talented artists, though unique in their artistic expressions, share a sensibility akin to the art scene in Los Angeles.