Co-curated by Stuart Horodner and Leah KolbPresented at the UK Art Museum (July 16 – November 23, 2024)and 2nd Story, 522 West Short Street, Lexington (July 16 – October 12, 2024)
 “One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family.”– Jonathan Saffron FoerThis two-venue exhibition brings together works by emerging and established artists who use their relatives (parents, children, siblings, partners) as…

Family dynamics and the relationship between generations have been Chris Verene’s subjects since he picked up a camera in high school in the late 1980s. Since then, he has consistently documented the lives of his relatives and friends in their hometown of Galesburg, Illinois.Verene has written, “Each person you see here has been in my life for a very long time, and my commitment to our relationship is forever, for good times and bad times, for…

Dieter Roth was a German-Swiss Conceptual artist known for his use of non-traditional materials in making sculptures and installations. Cheese, sausage, and chocolate, among other items, would lend definite odors (not always pleasant ones) during the run of his exhibitions. Roth enjoyed blurring the line between process and product, and his work often questioned assumptions about permanence.

His practice included drawing, printmaking,…

In Still feel gone, Tim Carpenter brings together three distinct series of black-and-white photographs that document spare American landscapes and feature houses, roads, trees, powerlines, and other natural or built elements. Often working in central Illinois where he grew up, Carpenter draws the viewer into unassuming semi-rural situations where the most dramatic thing occurring might be the leaning of a telephone pole or a meandering crack in…

Christina A. West is a mixed-media artist whose works often reference classical art and academic traditions of studying the model. We have invited her to adapt pieces from her Mere Mortals series (constructed wooden stages with wheels, plaster body fragments, plastic straps, and weights) and other recent photographs and sculptures to engage artworks in our permanent collection.
She has written, “My most recent installations explore the female…

This exhibition brings together the trompe l’œil sculptures of two established artists who transform clay and plywood into tableaus of everyday items including clothing, branches, envelopes, and bowls of fruit. Their works are likely to be familiar to Lexington audiences, but Isaacs and Shay are being shown together here for the first time.

Their mastery of craft contributes to a sense of wonder, as they individually take realism to a…

The preposition “re” has a rich grammatical history dating back to its Latin origins, meaning “in reality” or “in fact.” Today, you’re most likely to see “re” on documents or emails, meaning “in regard to” and often interpreted as shorthand for “reply.”
The re:museum exhibition employs “re” for its multitude of meanings, using it as framing to showcase our permanent collection and the Museum itself. Through education-forward installations, re…