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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City is presenting Barbara Takenaga: Awestruck, a survey of 40 paintings spanning the artist’s work since the early 2000s. The exhibition is on view through April 11, 2027, and is organized around process, scale, illusion and art history.
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City is presenting Barbara Takenaga: Awestruck, an exhibition of 40 paintings tracing the artist’s work since the early 2000s. On view through April 11, 2027, the show surveys Takenaga’s approaches to abstraction and marks her first comprehensive survey in nearly a decade, according to the museum’s announcement.
The paintings come from institutional and private collections across the United States and include works through Takenaga’s most recent. The museum says the exhibition charts the development of her practice, including her use of intricate patterns and canvases that have expanded in scale.
Organized by Jessica May, the museum’s executive director, and independent curator Tae Edell, the exhibition is arranged in four thematic sections. They focus on process, confusion of scale, illusion and references to art history. The museum describes these as strategies that unsettle viewers’ expectations and encourage curiosity.
One example listed in the announcement is Forte (2011), an acrylic-on-linen painting measuring 54 by 135 inches. The work is held by the Uncrated Art Foundation in Kansas City. That large format reflects one aspect of the show’s interest in how scale shapes the experience of Takenaga’s patterned compositions.
How the Survey Frames Abstraction
The survey brings works from different points in Takenaga’s career together, allowing visitors to see changes in her methods and the continuing concerns that connect them. Rather than presenting abstraction as a single visual language, the exhibition’s four themes offer a way to follow how process, scale, illusion and art-historical reference operate across the paintings.
The show also gives Kansas City audiences an opportunity to encounter paintings from collections around the country in one exhibition. Its inclusion of recent work alongside earlier paintings makes it possible to view the artist’s evolving practice, including her movement toward increasingly expansive canvases. The museum’s account presents this as an ongoing exploration, not a conclusion about where the work is headed.
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Takenaga’s Imagined Views
Takenaga, born in North Platte, Nebraska, in 1949, has described her paintings as abstract compositions that can suggest recognizable but ambiguous subjects. In the museum announcement, she names possible associations including natural phenomena, imagined landscapes, microscopic or cosmic views, mineral cross-sections, aerial maps and the Big Bang. These are descriptions of possible readings, rather than fixed subjects assigned to each painting.
She also points to the labor involved in making the work and to a recurring effort to balance chance with structure. The current exhibition spans work from the past 25 years, according to her statement, and is described as her first comprehensive survey in nearly a decade. The available announcement does not identify the earlier survey or provide a detailed account of how the two exhibitions compare.
Details Beyond the Announcement
The museum announcement does not provide a full checklist of all 40 paintings, their individual lenders or a detailed schedule of related programs. It also does not specify how many works are on view in each thematic section. The announcement describes the show’s organizing ideas but does not include independent assessments of the exhibition or visitor response.
Because the exhibition remains on view until April 11, 2027, any later programming or changes to the presentation may still be announced. The information available here does not establish whether the museum will add events or publish further interpretive material.
Visit Before April 2027
Barbara Takenaga: Awestruck is scheduled to remain at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art through April 11, 2027. Visitors can consult the museum’s website for current hours, admission information and practical details before planning a visit. The museum announcement does not list a further exhibition milestone or a closing event.
Key Questions
Where is Barbara Takenaga: Awestruck on view?
The exhibition is at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri.
How long is the exhibition open?
The museum lists Barbara Takenaga: Awestruck as on view through April 11, 2027.
How many works are included?
The exhibition brings together 40 paintings from institutional and private collections across the United States.
What themes organize the exhibition?
The four sections address process, scale, illusion and art history, according to the museum’s announcement.
Who organized the survey?
The exhibition was organized by Jessica May, executive director of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and independent curator Tae Edell.
Source: hyperallergic.com
