“Hide and Seek”
I went through a number of medical challenges in the early 1990’s, including a kidney transplant in 1993. Because I take a number of drugs to suppress my immune system from attacking the transplanted kidney, I became very curious about human defense systems. Eventually that interest turned to other defense systems and protective strategies that may (or may not) protect us in our homes, at work, on our streets, and in our nation.
The figures in Hide and Seek utilize one of these protective strategies, camouflage. In art one of the main concerns is “appearance:” camouflage is about “disappearance!” I find this contradiction extremely interesting on many levels. These figures along Central Avenue test one’s perception. Is each individual appearing or disappearing? At first glance we might go on the defensive. Within the first couple of seconds we might think they are real, and then quickly perceive they are flat. We wonder what these individuals are doing, and we are not quite sure. We make up stories and wonder about their situation, but we do not know what their circumstances are beyond a shadow of a doubt. Is that person a victim, a stalker, a crook, a cop, or is he or she just playing a game of hide and seek?
*"Avenue of the Arts 2007" is the eighth annual summer exhibition of temporary public artwork by six Kansas City regional artists. The Avenue of the Arts Foundation (360 Architecture, DST Systems, Inc.), in partnership with the City of Kansas City Municipal Art Commission, is pleased to continue to showcase a wide range of innovative and thought-provoking art in downtown Kansas City. Selected by a panel comprised of arts professionals, and business and community representatives, each artist is commissioned to create a temporary, site-specific public art installation sited near one of six intersections between 14th and 9th Streets along Central St., also known as Avenue of the Arts.
