The setting sun burned a dull orange as Kimberly Masteller stepped out of a contemporary art gallery in the city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. As her eyes became used to the dusty twilight, the evening call to prayer came from neighborhood mosques in all directions. The dissonant voices sang at different pitches and speeds, yet cycled in and out of union with each other.
“I was struck by the juxtaposition of stumbling from a white cube gallery into a place so steeped in tradition,” says Masteller, Jeanne McCray Beals Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. “As I listened, I realized that it was only a surprise to me because I was bringing my perceptions and assumptions to this moment, assumptions that separate culture into impenetrable zones like past and present, tradition and modern. Of course, we all live within and beyond the boundaries of these categories. We are contemporary, but are also informed and influenced by our histories, our traditions, our cultures–artists certainly are.”
This layering of tradition and modern would become the framework for Masteller’s exhibition, Echoes: Islamic Art and Contemporary Artists, which opens at the Nelson-Atkins on Aug. 31. The works in the exhibition date from the 9th century to the 21st century, and come from Islamic cultures across the globe, including contemporary art from U.S. artists. A Pakistani cargo truck made in Kansas City by artist Asheer Akram will be installed outside near the entrance to the Bloch Building.
Akram, a Pakistani-American educated at the Kansas City Art Institute, is a metal artist known for sculptures that incorporate bold patterns and designs. He was inspired to create the truck after traveling to Pakistan and encountering boldly painted trucks throughout the country. Akram purchased a 1950s Chevy farm truck, and with the help of mechanics and a team of artists from Kansas City and Pakistan, he has transformed the vehicle into a Pakistani-American painted truck, filled with hybrid imagery and decoration.
The collections of the Nelson-Atkins provide the historical foundation of the exhibition. Visitors approaching the gallery will be greeted by a monumental mosaic arch that will serve as the entrance to the exhibition. Acquired by the museum in 1932, this early 17th-century Persian arch has not been on view for more than three decades, and Nelson-Atkins conservators have been restoring the arch over the past year in preparation for this exhibition.
“We are so excited to show the Mosaic arch again after all these years,” Masteller says. “It is a truly spectacular piece, and gives you a glimpse of the grandeur of Persian architecture. Imagine being a traveler to Isfahan in the 1600s and what it must have felt like when you approached the city, seeing grand gateways covered in mosaics and glistening in the sunlight.”
What makes Islamic art Islamic? Art historians use the term “Islamic Art” when discussing the wide range of art forms created in the historically Islamic lands (West Asia, North Africa, parts of southern Europe, and Islamic South and Southeast Asia). The term is cultural rather than religious and refers to the cultural context in which the art was created.
There are some fundamental characteristics shared in many artworks from the Islamic world. They include the use of elegant calligraphy based upon the Arabic script, an exploration of geometric or vegetative design, an interest in intricate detail and patterning, and paintings rendered with calligraphic outlines, rich colors, and containing forms or figures suspended in flat or unnatural settings.
“We realized there was a real opportunity here to showcase some of the outstanding works in our collection,” Masteller says. “But we are also able to introduce Kansas City audiences to contemporary art from or inspired by the Islamic lands.”
Masteller interviewed several of the contemporary artists who have objects in the exhibition. Those interviews will be shown on iPads in the gallery so visitors can hear the artist talking about his or her work.
“The overarching theme here is dialogue,” Masteller says. “We use the installation and the artists’ interviews to invoke conversations between the works and their cultures, and also between past and present.”
When Masteller came to the Nelson-Atkins four years ago, she immediately surveyed the condition of the museum’s Islamic collection and developed a plan for treating and restoring key works of art. With this exhibition, she is seizing the opportunity to showcase some of the outstanding works in the collection in dialogue with the contemporary works.
“We are thrilled to have some of the top artists from across the Middle East and South Asia participating in this exhibition,” she says. “Their names are a veritable who’s who of key figures in the global art scene.”
This exhibition is part of a larger collaboration between arts organizations in Kansas City, including a joint summer exhibition at the Kansas City Artists Coalition and related programming with the Kansas City Public Library and the Friends of Chamber Music of Kansas City. Echoes: Islamic Art and Contemporary Artists runs through March 30, 2014 at the Nelson-Atkins.
