Michael Brantley, “Figures of Speech” (c. 2024), oil on canvas, 36 X 48”
As the inaugural exhibition at Kansas City’s new Zhou B Art Center, “A Benediction from the Rubble” soars like a phoenix arisen from the ashes, a scarred, but resolute, messenger of resilience and hope.
Conceived by the Chinese American contemporary artists ShanZuo and DaHuang Zhou, the Zhou B Art Center occupies the old Crispus Attucks school building in Kansas City’s 18th & Vine District. Named after an African American man slain in the Boston Massacre that preceded the Revolutionary War, the institution was one of the largest schools for Black students in Kansas City throughout the twentieth-century Jim Crow Era.
The structure’s metamorphosis from school to art center provides space for events, galleries, and studios for the community while still preserving the original building’s character. And it is within these storied walls that “A Benediction from the Rubble” makes its mark.
Featuring works by four Black artists — Tony Ramos, Robert Hale, Michael Brantley, and Harold Smith — “Benediction” weaves the literal and the abstract into a beautiful dreamcatcher, one that ensnares both reveries and the occasional nightmare.
Michael Brantley, a Kansas City multi-disciplinary artist, honors Black figures from music, entertainment, and politics in his oil paintings. But instead of paying static homage to their achievements, he depicts them with sensitivity and a glimmer of sadness that will make viewers linger. One of his most striking pieces, “Figures of Speech,” reveals a symbolic interpretation of Barack Obama, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Depicted almost entirely in grayscale, the group portrait only betrays color in the small lapel pins each man is wearing — an American flag, an Islamic Crescent Moon, and a Christian cross. All three individuals appear to be deeply introspective, even brooding, over the weight of the social and political burdens they carry. The work succeeds as a dignified tribute to its subjects while also contemplating the confluence of personal and group identity.
Kansas City artist Harold Smith likewise captures the emotional echoes of his subjects’ stories in a collection of acrylic on canvas portraits. In a visual language that could be described as abstract realism, Smith introduces us to a cast of Black characters doing their best to navigate their own lives amidst cultural expectations and prejudice. For example, despite its deceptively simple title, “Couple” teases at a rich vein of hidden thoughts and feelings. A man and woman, wearing formal clothes, stand next to each other but seemingly not together. Perhaps the invisible gap is a mirage, or maybe the ennui and distraction behind the couple’s eyes exposes a deeper meaning. Regardless, Smith’s ability to render such life into his pieces elevates the exhibition.
Tony Ramos, meanwhile, pivots the show toward a more conceptual conversation. The exhibition includes some of his older material, such as “Against the Evil Eye” (1996), a large acrylic on canvas work of vibrant purple, red, and gold patterns. The dense texturing of the piece is nearly irresistible and offers a three-dimensional presence for the show. Viewers who prefer more concrete manifestations of the artist’s vision might be drawn to some of Ramos’s more recent creations. “Rear View Mirror” (2020), for example, is a haunting look into the soul of its central subject — a person whose face is embellished with neo-pointillism looking warily at their nearby demons, represented by a skeleton and powerful avian talons.
Rounding out “Benediction” in a pleasant denouement are Robert Hale’s photographs. The diversity of these entries illustrates Hale’s expertise and instinct with the medium. Gorgeous vignettes of the human experience, like “Blue Perfection” (from the artist’s “The Blue City” series), which shows a solitary woman in a cerulean headscarf walking past a blue building, is quite simply enjoyable to look at. The smartphone clutched in the woman’s hand emphasizes the sheer novelty of genuine solitude in an ever-modernizing, globalized world.
With such a compelling array of talent gathered into one space, “Benediction” showcases the potential of the Zhou B Art Center, as well as celebrating the history and culture of the community.
“A Benediction from the Rubble” continues at Zhou B Art Center, 1801 E. 18th St., through Sept. 1. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday. For more information, visit www.zhoubartcenterkc.com.
