Brian Hearn

Brian Hearn is an interdisciplinary arts writer, curator and consultant active in both film and visual arts. For two decades he has shared his passion and expertise with arts organizations large and small, from art museums to film festivals, galleries to collections. He and his wife Sarah recently collaborated on a new art project, a baby boy.

“Now/Here,” H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute

“Now/Here,” H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute

“Now/Here,” a fresh survey of 30 recent works by Kansas City artists of color, shows an interesting spectrum of both artistic media and approach, ranging from expressionism, conceptualism, figuration, geometric abstraction to cultural reinvention. Kathy Liao’s monumental mixed-media work “The Continuous Line” sets the stage in the Block’s tricky two-story main gallery. A labyrinth of […]

“Nicky Nodjoumi: The Long Day,” H&R Block Artspace

“Nicky Nodjoumi: The Long Day,” H&R Block Artspace

It’s a man’s world that Nicky Nodjoumi paints and that hasn’t been a good thing for the planet or its inhabitants. His exhibition of bold figurative oil paintings “The Long Day,” now on view at Block Artspace, burrows under the skin and into the mind with bizarre depictions of cabalistic power brokers acting out their […]

An Inclusive Picture of American Modernism

An Inclusive Picture of American Modernism

Bruce Hartman, an accomplished local museum director and collector, is helping Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, expand the canon of American art history. Hartman’s recent loans of exceptional, if little known, 20th-century Native American works from his personal collection have given Crystal Bridges’ Modern permanent collection galleries a refreshed look while showing the way forward for a more inclusive, nuanced picture of American Modernism.

“NUANCE: Recent Paintings by Sherry Cromwell-Lacy,” Leedy-Voulkos Art Center

“NUANCE: Recent Paintings by Sherry Cromwell-Lacy,” Leedy-Voulkos Art Center

Are curators really just frustrated artists?  One senses the pent-up energy coursing through “NUANCE: Recent Paintings by Sherry Cromwell-Lacy” now at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center. Remarkably, this is the artist’s debut solo exhibition — 39 small- to medium-sized abstract oil and acrylic paintings, produced over the last four years. Cromwell-Lacy, an accomplished curator, educator, and […]

Angela Dufresne: Making a Scene, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Angela Dufresne: Making a Scene, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Angela Dufresne is an unabashed painter. Undaunted by the aesthetic ebbs and flows of her medium she instead has immersed herself in its rich and varied history. In “covering” moments of visual culture, like a band covering a classic tune, the artist seeks to renew and recontextualize painting for a contemporary culture drowning in its […]