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

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

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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.

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Sun Young Park

Sun Young Park (South Korean, born 1990),Untitled, 2022,
ceramic, 64 x 38 x 26 inches.
Courtesy of the artist. © Sun Young Park.

Kansas City-based artist Sun Young Park (South Korean, born 1990) creates surreal ceramic works that exist in a tension between realities: feminine/masculine; Eastern/Western; cool/hot; beauty/repulsion. The forms are the artist’s playful expression of these opposing qualities. In many ways they directly reference the body—bent limbs or flesh-like glaze colors—but retain an otherworldly sensibility in the way they seem to grow out of odd places or droop in ways uncommon to human anatomy. The rock-like shapes that appear throughout the objects are Park’s direct reference to the surreal style of Korean indoor and outdoor gardens she experiences as a child. Dull grey lumps of stone that nestle into lush bushes and tiered walls of floral colors inspire the contrasting elements of Park’s works.

Incorporating non-traditional media in ceramic work is an important part of Park’s practice. She uses oil pastels to draw on the already glazed surfaces, fabrics, and poles to emphasize certain areas of the works. This focus resonates with Park’s interest and ability to also contrast elements of beauty and sensual form with grotesque or seemingly flaccid shapes. These opposing elements open Park’s work to being recognized as real and surreal, even uncanny, and suggestive of new forms of this world, adaptations of our perceived normality, and refreshingly unique.