AnticKS & MOdels + My theater to your eyes: Kahlil Robert Irving

AnticKS & MOdels + My theater to your eyes: Kahlil Robert Irving marks the artist’s first institutional exhibition in Kansas and a return to the central Midwest. Irving’s work engages with the current post-industrial landscape and grapples with how tools and technology challenge perceptions of what we see and how we understand information. Irving is interested in using materials to engage abstract ideas around perception and legibility. Growing up in St. Louis, a city that has experienced a sharp population decline in recent years, the artist is constantly learning stories about places that need to be memorialized and not forgotten—places that continue to go unrecognized and unappreciated for their significance.

Irving critically engages the Nerman Museum’s architecture by trespassing its gallery divisions and boundaries. As visitors navigate the walkway, they encounter sculptures of ceramic, painted foam, fabric, granite, marble, wood, in addition to artifacts, and discovered objects drawn from the artist’s personal collection. With AnticKS & MOdels, the artist’s goal is both to fool the eye and the opposite: to make space for viewers to experience more. Irving uses material culture to reflect his own life and memorialize the present. Learn more about this exhibition at nermanmuseum.org.