THIS SUMMER OMAHA WILL BE THE ENVY OF THE ART WORLD AS
celebrating the arts
OUTSIDE KANEKO OPENS AT LAURITZEN GARDENS
omaha • lincoln • council bluffs
out of the box
Outside K aneKO sprOuts at Lauritzen Gardens
{This is The mosT ambiTious
exhibiTion we’ve ever mounTed.
APRIL 29 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 A common thread is woven through many of Jun Kaneko’s major public works – at least the ones that are most easily accessible to us here on the prairie. Just visit the Holland Performing Arts Center, the MidAmerica Center or travel to Kansas City’s Bartle Hall convention center and the theme repeats; all evoke images of the most organic of works set against what may be considered decidedly un-organic backdrops.
~ Spencer Crew LAURITZEN GARDENS
Venture further — and back in time — to New York City’s Park Avenue for Kaneko’s temporary 2008 installation of a group of head-turners from the Head series, and even the landscaped median of Park Avenue could do only so much in terms of offering a natural canvas when Gotham’s columns of cold steel, concrete and glass dwarfed the greenery with its palette of monotone grays. All that has changed with Outside Kaneko, the effort that places the internationally acclaimed artist’s work throughout the sprawling vistas and lush environs of the Lauritzen Gardens. big Show. big Canvases. “This is the most ambitious exhibition we’ve ever mounted,” said Spencer Crews, Lauritzen Gardens’ executive director, “You may commonly think of his work as being in ‘hard’ areas and that’s one of the reasons we are so excited about Outside Kaneko. There’s such a natural feel to his work. All those organic forms and shapes … it’s a perfect match for us.” In what is the largest assemblage to date of Kaneko’s work in a single-site exhibition, over 30 sculptures and about 20 two-dimensional works have sprouted inside and out in the fertile ground of the 100-acre botanical garden located east of 10th and Bancroft streets. continued 55
metroMagazine • MaY 2011
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