Andrea Carlson, “The Surveyor’s Obstacle” (2024), mixed woods (tupelo, poplar, maple, and basswood) 10 carved columns, 3 carved balls and 1 carved bird, dimensions variable: (3 eight-foot columns, 3 six-foot columns, 4 four-foot columns. All 7″ diameter) (courtesy of the artist © Andrea Carlson. image courtesy of MCA Chicago; photo by Robert Chase Heishman)
Kemper Museum’s ‘Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons’ exhibit addresses colonization, dispossession and the interwoven fates of people and the land
The landscape as catalyst for artistic impulse is long acknowledged. Expansive imagery of the midwestern horizon line is part of a canon most would recognize, including many an endless field, cloudless sky or ripple-free body of water.
Andrea Carlson’s horizons are, in contrast, not empty expanses, but dense vistas teeming with life and color. Based in northern Minnesota and Chicago, Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe/European descent) presents work spanning painting, drawing, sculpture and video. She employs a full spectrum of media, including oil, acrylic, gouache, colored pencil and graphite. Meticulously rendered, her paper landscapes are full, entangled, spaces of purpose. Tiled terrain stretches across the room, offering mirrored, symmetrical refractions lulling one into hypnotic reflection on the densely embedded symbolism in the works.
In addition to pattern, animal imagery, plants, tools and toys, the works employ very specific references. For example, in the piece “Unearthed Cannibal,” there is a depiction of Christo’s “Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida” (1980-1983), a land art installation that was arguably not so respectful of the land it occupied. The reference activates a dialogue about the impact of art/artists on the environment and acts as one of many metaphors for colonization and dispossession.
Regarding her use of symbolism, Carlson says, “What an audience is familiar with, their cultural context and what they bring to an image can’t be fully anticipated. I typically assume that most people would stumble into my work without much access to what inspired the work’s creation, but I’m more often than not surprised and delighted to hear the connections that viewers make.
“I’m happy to learn (that) the artist Christo, whose ‘Surrounded Islands’ are referred to in my piece ‘Unearthed Cannibal,’ has a connection to Kansas City. This work references things that are both less obvious and hyper accessible. Someone might not know the patterns I’m referencing, but I’d be surprised if someone hadn’t seen a blue jay and admired their freedom as they move through the air. In that way, there is a feeling of empathy that one might have with a figure or a tiny aspect of the work that makes them feel like an insider to the work.”
There is an intentional reverence in these epic depictions. The series of works on paper in the exhibition concerns itself with effigy mounds, found across North America. Effigy mounds had many purposes, some ceremonial and spiritual, some as gathering points for community. While there were probably more than 15,000 effigy mounds in Wisconsin prior to European colonization, fewer than 4,000 remain today, lost to development, agriculture and looting.
Echoing this disruption, Carlson’s narratives are fractured stories, interrupted and intersected, but they speak clearly and unapologetically of the interwoven fates of the people and the land. Disruption is a theme throughout, even in the layout of the exhibition. A large wooden sculpture of columns titled “The Surveyor’s Obstacle” acts as a barrier in the space, remixing and reframing other works in the exhibition as you encounter it.
About these acts of interference Carlson says, “I wanted to make landscapes as a space that is hard to access. In a sense, I want you to see it, wander the space, but not fully emerge into it. These are spaces where you get a glimpse, but you remain aware of the materials of the art. You can see the paper segments, you can see the use of the various mediums, but you can also hallucinate or project past the physical materials into a kind of mindscape, hopefully an imagined space where colonization is not so ever-present.”
This exhibition originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and was curated by Iris Colburn, curatorial associate. In mounting a presentation of this work in Kansas City, Chief Curator at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Jessica Hong, saw a relationship to Kansas City’s history and communities.
“Andrea Carlson’s incisive work draws attention to what is often overlooked in the lands we move through and inhabit, making it deeply relevant to our context, particularly as we are in Mound country. She reminds us that while each place holds its own histories, communities, and lived experiences, we are always in relation to one another. At a time when broader forces increasingly dictate how narratives are shared, Carlson’s work is a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness, something central to both our local context and the museum’s mission.”
“Shimmer on Horizons” offers the reminder that forces of creation and destruction are part of the same fabric, our histories and fantasies have power and impact (both negative and positive), and that humanity isn’t separate from nature but interdependent. This exhibition presents complicated and needed space to sit with all of this truth — and consequence.
“Andrea Carlson: Shimmer on Horizons” continues at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick Blvd., through Feb. 15, 2026. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday. Admission is free. For more information, 815.753.5784 or www.kemperart.org.
