Permanent Collection

4420 Warwick Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64111

Contact

Kemper Museum Policies

The Kemper Museum website uses cookies. By continuing to use the site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

Hours

Employment

Docent Portal

Policies

News

Atrium Project

Oil on Linen

Visit

Free Admission

Free Programs

Location & Directions

Free Parking

Kemper Museum is a free art museum in Kansas City, Missouri that presents global contemporary art.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Accessibility

Exhibitions

Exhibitions & Collection

Calendar

Groups & Tours

Volunteer

Public Programs

Programs

Mission

History

Architecture

Leadership

Community Partners

About

Memberships

Legacy Society

Gala

Annual Report

Support

Cafe

Museum Shop

Special Event Rentals

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art acknowledges it resides on the ancestral territory of the Osage, Kaw, and Otoe-Missouria, among other tribal nations forcibly moved to the region such as the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) nations. We recognize and support the continued vibrancy of Native communities and cultures today who continue to thrive, as well as the inherent sovereignty of tribal nations. We are compelled to serve and advocate for these communities in accordance with our public mission.

Kemper Museum acknowledges and respects the diversity of Native people connected to this land today. Many recognize the land and all beings who live within it as relatives. We acknowledge the earth we inhabit, the waters of the Blue River, the Kansas River, the Missouri River, and the plants, animals, and people supported by them. 

We acknowledge our responsibility to be good caretakers of the land we occupy. 

Click here to learn more about our land acknowledgment process.

Land Acknowledgement

Join

Celebrate

Shop

Lucía Vidales (b. 1986, Mexico City) engages drawing and painting media to explore and expand the lineage of traditional art historical subjects. In Hambre, her massive installation commissioned for Kemper Museum’s ninth annual Atrium Project, Vidales takes on the iconic Last Supper, a portrayal of the apostles’ reactions to Jesus announcing that one of them would betray him. Hambre both pays homage to and critiques historical imagery associated with the Last Supper, and addresses modern pictorial representations of a dinner scene, acknowledging the evolution of the genre, subject, and setting.

Vidales uses traditional painting and drawing as a window into the complex social, cultural, and historical layers of meaning within meal sharing, dinner parties, and gathering spaces, where eating and community are central elements. “The first time I lived in an international context, I noticed that Latinos and Latin Americans stayed long after meals to chat, have coffee, dessert, a drink, or a smoke at a leisurely pace,” Vidales observed. She added:

In Mexico, where I live, as in other parts of Latin America, mealtime and after-dinner conversations are culturally very important and privileged spaces for social life. The time spent cooking, preparing meals and all the activities that go into preparing a gathering are what is usually considered in the realm of female activities, and often part of unseen and unacknowledged labor. Those are also spaces for building close connections, solidarity, and enjoyment, gossip, confessions, and skill building. Lucía Vidales

In this new work for Kemper Museum’s atrium, the many layers of charcoal drawing that create the network of silhouetted figures beneath the painting honor those who make it possible for gatherings to take shape such as chefs, kitchen prep cooks, servers, and more. The painting of guests gathered around a table—while hung in front of the drawing—contains sweeping marks and washes that coalesce seamlessly with the background, emphasizing their connectedness.

For the first time in 2024, the Atrium Project is expanding to fill the entire central core of the museum. In addition to the commissioned installation, which has grown to span 22 x 25 feet, Hambre also includes preparatory drawings for the installation, providing insight into Vidales’s development of her surreal forms and adept use of color transitions. Her mural-scale painting Viendo Desde El Monte Calvario (2020) depicting a pilgrimage destination, the Christian site where Jesus was crucified, stretches her modernization of a historical subject across the space. Hambre means “hunger” in Spanish and here could refer to people’s hunger for some type of experience from a religious site. It also alludes to the artist’s hunger for contemporary depictions to broaden the scope and audiences of these religious sites, subjects, and scenes from visual culture. In this eight-panel painting, Vidales employs her unique mark making to evoke the blurred boundaries between human, animal, and spiritual place. The result is Vidales’s forming of a new mythology from past visual, folkloric, and spiritual histories.

Together, Vidales’s paintings and drawings encourage considerations of what we know of prescribed historical imagery and how that may have the potential to expand in contemporary art and life. 

Hambre is curated by Erin Dziedzic and organized by Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Lucía Vidales is a painter who lives and works in Monterrey, Mexico. She is currently an Art Professor at University UDEM and has been awarded three times with the Jovenes Creadores grant by the Secretaría de Cultura, Mexico. Vidales’s layered paintings engage themes of materiality, the body, and the consequences of historical and colonial imaginaries. The beings that populate her paintings suggest the potential for confrontation, but seldom follow through. Instead they play with humor or anxiety, or seek consolation from ancient wounds.

2014 M.F.A., National Autonomous University of Mexico, Faculty of Art and Design, Mexico City

2009 La Esmeralda National School of Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking of the National Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico City

2021 Sudor Frío, PROXYCO, New York, New York

2021 Manoteta, PEANA, Monterrey, Mexico (20; 

2020 To cool the blue, Taka Ishii Gallery Ph / F, Tokyo

2019 Noche durante el día, Sala Gam, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City

2019 Come as you are, House of Deslave, Tijuana

2018 Cuerpo de esta sombra, Galería Alterna, Mexico City

2020–21 Four Women Painters at the Crossroads, Sapar Contemporary (at Piero Atchugarry Gallery), Miami 

2020 Murales para un cubo blanco, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City

2020 Daichi Takagi, Lucia Vidales, Hiroka Yamashita, Taka Ishii, Tokyo

2019 City Prince/sses, Palais de Tokyo, Paris

An Artist Grappling With Mexico’s Cultural Legacy

Slow Bodies, Racing Hearts: Lucía Vidales’s Paintings of Our Changing Selves

The Atrium Project is an annual series of commissioned projects that presents the work of emerging and mid-career Hispanic and Latinx artists. Featured artists included José Lerma (2016), Firelei Báez (2017), Paul Henry Ramirez (2018), Angel Otero (2019), Joiri Minaya (2020), Aliza Nisenbaum (2021), Pepe Mar (2022), and Sarah Zapata (2023). These site-responsive projects involve artists visits to Kansas City, inspiration from which is often incorporated into the projects. This exhibition is organized by Erin Dziedzic, director of curatorial affairs, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Exhibitions are always free thanks to the generosity of members and other donors. Join or donate today to support free access to contemporary art.

Lucía Vidales: Hambre

Lucía Vidales (Mexican, born 1986), Viendo Desde El Monte Calvario, 2020, painting on canvas, 83 ¾ x 283 ⅜ inches, Courtesy of the artist and PROXYCO Gallery, New York © Lucía Vidales

As Kemper Museum celebrates its 30th anniversary, Executive Director Jessica May has spent her first year at its leader learning about the Permanent Collection. Director’s Cut offers a peek into her explorations. Every artwork tells a story; this exhibition bridges the stories of contemporary art and artists with the personal reflections of a dedicated art lover. Come reflect with us!

Generous contributions of all sizes help keep the Museum FREE for all visitors.

At Kemper Museum there is no charge for admission, parking, special exhibitions, or programs. Your donation underwrites these expenses and inspires many thousands with contemporary art each year.

Director's Cut

Petah Coyne, Untitled (#887P-97), 1997, gelatin silver print, edition 1 of 3, 60 x 40 inches. Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Anonymous gift in honor of Bebe and Crosby Kemper on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. 2013.15 © Petah Coyne, courtesy of Galerie Lelong. Photo: courtesy of Galerie Lelong.

Considering Kansas City’s storied legacy of jazz, Riffs on Real Time explores the expansive possibilities of riffing and more broadly, the power of rhythm and music. As the exhibition’s starting point, Leslie Hewitt’s eponymous work nods to this musical approach by creating juxtapositions and layers in her compositions demonstrating riffing’s conceptual richness. Riffs on Real Time builds on this idea with works from the Kemper Museum’s collection featuring artists riffing on different artistic styles or movements and aspects of popular culture. Additionally, it includes works highlighting the cultural and sociopolitical dimensions of rhythm and music as well as their ability to convene, even galvanize.  

Organized by Jessica S. Hong, chief curator, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Featured Works

Riffs on Real Time

Leslie Hewitt (American, born 1977), Riffs on Real Time (5 of 10), 2024, chromogenic print, 1/1 edition + 1 AP, 30 ⅝  x 44 ¼  x 2 inches framed, Courtesy of the Artist and Perrotin © Leslie Hewitt. Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli, 2024. 

Free contemporary art museum in Kansas City, Missouri

Kemper Museum is a leading presenter of contemporary art and ideas in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Welcome to Kemper Museum

Infinite Regress: Mystical Abstraction from the Permanent Collection and Beyond

Join us for an evening of artist-led figure drawing inspired by works on view in the galleries.

Studio Night: Fever

"Music is a space of convening," Jessica S. Hong Chief Curator, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Silent Concert: Echoes & Reverberations

Join us for an evening of creativity and community at the museum.

Open Drawing

Join us for a drop-in tour led by a Kemper Museum docent on the second Saturday of the month at 1 PM.  Docent guides will spark curiosity and conversation about select artworks and exhibitions. Gather at the Visitor Services desk in the Atrium at 1 PM to participate. No registration required.

Gallery Conversation with a Kemper Museum Docent

TEENS ONLY! Join the Teen Arts Council & Sheri Purpose Hall for a poetry workshop at the museum!

Finding Your Voice: A Poetry Workshop led by Sheri Purpose Hall

Celebrating 30 Years

Dálida and Michael (Serennata del Tres Cubano)

Paintings

Carry III

Sculptures

Carbon, silver and gold

Works on Paper

Helen Frankenthaler and Alexander Liberman in her East 83rd Street studio, New York - 1967, with GUIDING RED

Photographs

Deck

Textile Installations

In Praise of Prairie Dogs

Prints

The Wedding

Film & Video

Untitled Escape Collage

Mixed Media

Keep admission, parking, special exhibitions, and programming free for everyone.

Home

Join us for a disco-inspired evening of figure drawing! Artist Peregrine Honig will guide participants through instruction and live demonstration, drawing inspiration from works on view while making connections to her own practice.

Materials provided. Drawing sessions take place at Kemper Museum. All levels of experience are welcome. Cash bar.

Capacity is limited! If your plans change and you can no longer make it, we appreciate you canceling your reservation to give someone else the chance to attend.

Click here for information on how to get to the museum and where to find our free parking lots.

Kemper Museum programs are FREE thanks to support from members and other donors. Join today!

Please note, this event was rescheduled (previously February 15, now March 1) due to inclement weather. 

Join us for a unique "freestyle" silent concert featuring Kemper Museum's Chief Curator, Jessica S. Hong, in conjunction with the opening of Riffs on Real Time, which explores the expansive possibilities of riffing. While wearing wireless headphones, experience the full production of Echoes & Reverberations orchestrated by Silent KC, inspired by and riffing off of works included in the exhibition.

Grab a bite at Oil on Linen, visit the Museum Shop, and visit the open galleries afterwards.

This event is presented by Silent KC, 2 the Maxxe, and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

By registering for this event you agree to receive email communications from Kemper Museum. You may unsubscribe anytime.

Artwork credit: Roger Shimomura (American, born 1939), Untitled, 1984, acrylic on canvas, 60 1⁄2 x 72 1⁄4 inches, Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection, Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. © Roger Shimomura. Photo: Dan Wayne.

Head to Kemper Museum each month for an evening of community and creativity!

Pick up a stool, drawing board, and provided drawing materials, or bring your own sketchbook and find a spot for open drawing at the museum.

All levels of experience are welcome. Cash bar. (Members receive two free drinks.)

Attendees are allowed to bring their own sketchbooks, paper, and pencil. Otherwise, please use the materials provided by the museum.

Please use only graphite pencils, colored pencils, and crayons in all areas of the museum.

Markers, ink pens, charcoal, paint, watercolor, etc. are NOT allowed (nothing that is liquid-based or highly friable) in any areas of the museum.

Larger drawing boards can be used in the Atrium, but please use standard or smaller size clipboards if you enter one of the galleries.

Folding stools can be taken into the galleries. No easels, tables or drawing horses in the galleries.

Set up a minimum of 6 feet from artwork in the entire museum, and please do not blow or swipe graphite dust or eraser debris toward artworks.

Please dispose of any pencil shavings or any other debris in trash cans provided.

Public Programs are FREE for everyone only because they are supported by many.

Join us for a drop-in tour led by a Kemper Museum docent on the second Saturday of the month at 1 PM. No registration required. Docent guides will spark curiosity and conversation about select artworks and exhibitions. Gather at the Visitor Services desk in the Atrium at 1 PM to participate.

Public programs are free for everyone only because they are supported by many.

Join the Teen Arts Council for an inspiring poetry workshop with award-winning writer, Sheri Purpose Hall. Through guidance, interactive exercises and creative prompts, explore self-love, empowerment, and the strength of poetry in shaping your own universe.

Whether you’ve written poetry before or are just beginning, this workshop will help you find and amplify your unique voice.

Kemper Museum programs are FREE for everyone only because they are supported by many. Become a member to support free access to contemporary art and ideas today!

Click here for information on how to get to the museum and where to find our free parking lots. 