Beyond 2020 Vision: Closing Reception

Beyond 2020 VisionAugust 13th, 2020 – June 19th, 2021 On Friday, June 18th, 6-9 PM, Kiosk Gallery will host a closing reception for the current exhibition, Beyond 2020 Vision. We request that our guests please wear a mask in the gallery. Over the past year, we’ve set aside a space for the artists in our community and around the country to respond to the unprecedented circumstances of 2020 and dream for the future. We began the open call with a prompt: In 2020, the ever-present injustices of our world were revealed in powerful and compelling ways. How can you create lasting change? How has your imagination been activated to new possibilities? What do you want to remember about this moment in history? What does the view look like from your window? Artists mailed small works of art directly to the gallery, and we displayed them on the walls in an ever-growing time capsule. Early on, the novelty of mask-wearing was clearly on the minds of many, and the feelings of isolation caused by stay-at-home orders were apparent in images depicting anxiety and loneliness. Artists attempted to reflect on and respond to calls for racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, and those reflections are clear in some of their words, images, and symbols. There was an intense energy in the work we saw leading up to the presidential election, as artists worked to make their voices heard at the polls as well.We invited two creators, A. Andresia and marcus scott williams, to guest-curate selections of work from the submissions. In addition, they have each made a creative response to the project, which can be seen on our website. This exhibition is made possible in part by a grant from the Charlotte Street Foundation’s Art Where You’re At: Socially Distant Art Projects. About the guest-curators: A. Andresia is a Florida-based artist who explores conditions of racial, cultural and gender identity through questions of communication. She received her BFA from the Painting Department of the Kansas City Art Institute in 2015. Allowing curiosity to lead, Andresia’s pursuit of learning and understanding knows no material bound. Her studio practice requires mental flexibility and skill as she moves from a white walled room to a kitchen to a laptop to speakers and beyond. Andresia utilizes visual and auditory tension and release to engage the viewer in a response to what W. E. B. Du Bois calls ‘double consciousness.’ Presenting the inaccessible as a modern-day trickster to distract the viewer with beauty from grotesque realities mirrors everyday life as a black woman in a white society. Light, texture and sound illustrate internal and external pressures of existence as the ‘other.’ These unobtrusive narratives reveal contemporary social conditions. marcus scott williams is a writer and artist from Kansas City, Missouri living in New York City. his works include “Sparse Black Whimsy: A Memoir” (2fast2house 2017) and “damn near might still be is what it is” (Noemi 2022). Collaborations with both haul and HOUSING galleries, as well as work appearing in the Black Warrior Review, will also slide through 2021. he loves and appreciates you.  Closing Reception:Friday, June 18th 6-9 pmOpen Hours:Saturdays 12-4 pm, and by appointment