With strengths in American and European surrealism, abstract painting, mid-century kinetic and light works, and art addressing powerful themes of history, land use, and identity, Art Since 1948 surveys the collection and encourages formal and conceptual connections across six decades.
These activities were understood as fundamentally interdisciplinary and undertaken for the benefit of all university students, not only for those studying art and art history. Faculty, students, and visiting artists in ethnic studies, music, dance, and computer science, along with art and design, have all played vital roles in producing and bringing contemporary art to our campus. This new long-term installation begins chronologically with works of art collected in the late 1940s, from the first years of what became the university’s historic Festival of Contemporary Arts, and continues to the present. Comprised primarily of painting and sculpture from KAM’s holdings, the exhibition also features key loans from the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, the American Indian Studies Program, and local collections.
Curated by Amy L. Powell, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
Photos by Julia Nucci Kelly.
