“Climbing Circles,” William Kay
“A line is a dot that keeps walking,” quipped artist and Kansas City Artists Coalition cofounder William Kay during the opening reception of his exhibit, “Light, Color, and Movement,” at the UMKC Gallery of Art.
Geometrically speaking, a straight line is infinite with no beginning or end. In a sense, Kay’s exhibition is not a retrospective but a continuum from past to present only bound by a chosen starting and stopping point. After all, Kay’s exhibit displays creations from the ’70s through the day before the show opened. His visual language and expression of ideas suggest infinite potential merely limited by space, time and human constraints.
The aptly titled, “Light, Color, and Movement” signals a thematic throughline across Kay’s 2D and 3D work. He drew inspiration from the Light and Space movement of the ’60s and ’70s, in which artists used unconventional materials, produced ethereal imagery in relation to surfaces and environment, and manipulated light in dialogue with geometry, analytical precision, built physical objects and space itself. From this framework, Kay interpreted, experimented and assembled his ideas into an accumulated body of work that evolved over years yet remains cohesive.
Initially, Kay’s art prompts a sense of playfulness and joy. Geometric shapes, colors, and light in patterns, structures and arrangements delight. Like the way children meet and play without pretense, Kay’s work invites us into his vast sandbox so we can engage with the work (some pieces are interactive).
The presence of light, color and movement is self-evident. So what? After all, humans encounter light, color and movement daily. Culturally and commercially, these elements are endlessly deployed to prompt a functional response and make us feel something by association. Fast-moving glowing red eyes accelerating toward us in a dark room makes us feel some kind of way, right?
Deftly, Kay fashions these fundamental elements into something greater with the intent of eliciting an unscripted emotional response. His 42 works tap into our skill of pattern recognition, something we’re innately good at as humans. Consciously or not, our eyes perceive light and color within a visible spectrum. We detect shape and movement. Our brain processes visual information and suggests a pattern. This context informs understanding, physical behavior and emotional reaction. Kay’s artwork initiates an unspoken conversation that we complete. Valid or not, we recognize patterns, perhaps associate them with a memory or conjure a story that fulfills our part of the conversation. Doing so coaxes an emotional response to the abstraction, analytical precision and order of Kay’s art.
Describing Kay’s individual works seems clumsy, given his rich visual iconography. Curated by gallery director Davin Watne, Kay’s exhibit ought to be experienced in person. These works are stationary but compel our eyes to move. We are moving, and by doing so are moved.
“Light, Color, and Movement” continues through Nov. 14 at UMKC Gallery of Art, 5015 Holmes St., 203 Fine Arts Building. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday and Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, and 9 a.m.to 5 p.m., Friday. For more information, 816.235.1502 or info.umkc.edu/gallery/.
