Home & Away - Phillip Bakala and Emily Wilker

Phillip Bakala and Emily Wilker are both studio artists at Vulpes Bastille. They are also roomates, and over the course of their friendship have developed their studio practices around their mutual interest in painting, landscapes, bright colors, and sentimentality. Their duet show at Vulpes Bastille is a bright and bold display of intricate detail that transports the viewer into strange places, settings void of people or explanations. Some seem post-apocalyptic, some seem to resonate with childhood nostalgia, and some landscapes seem to feature other-worldly atmospheres. For more information on work availability, please e-mail vulpesbastille@gmail.com

Photos and text by Mark Allen.

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November Exhibition: Other Windows

Vulpes Bastile is pleased to present Other Windows a group exhibition curated by Jonah Criswell.

 Featuring works by:

Olivia Gibb,

Cristina Muniz,

Annie Woodfill

Other Windows brings together three emerging artists, who pursue aesthetic perspectives built on freedom and internal rigor. Each artist rediscovers their world through their studio practices resulting in an exhibition that champions curiosity and individuation. By placing these artists together, viewers are encouraged to recognize their discovery of sophisticated aesthetic meanings.

Opening Reception on Friday, November 6th from 6:00-9:00pm & up through November 28th.

UPDATE: Open Windows has been featured in The Pitch! Read the article here. 

The Space Between opens September 4

Vulpes Bastille is proud to present The Space Between. Show runs September 4-26.

Opening Reception: September 4, 6-9pm

The Space Between is a collaborative exhibition by Tobias Fike and Matthew Weedman consisting of both collaborative and solo pieces drawing on themes related to the cosmos, isolation, and various forms of the “unknown.”  It is the space between knowledge & wonder, fear & fascination, us & the other and here & there that this exhibition seeks to investigate through photography, video, sound and sculpture.  Fike and Weedman collaborated from Colorado and Indiana respectively and it is Kansas City that is literally the space between this long distance collaboration.  Both growing up in the golden era of the space age, the two artists’ comprehension of wonder is naturally tied to the mystery of outer-space.  The collaborative work attempts to draw links between the awesomeness of interstellar worlds and the perceived banal qualities of the everyday. 

CNB Group Exhibition opens July 3

Event info:

July 3, First Friday | 6-9pm | Vulpes Bastille

Cross-Border Network has teamed up with KC+ Connect in showcasing three local artists and featuring documentation from CBN's most recent human rights delegation to Honduras. This exhibition focuses on issues of worker justice, community empowerment, and international solidarity.

Join us this First Friday! 50% of sales will go to funding the work of Cross Border Network for Justice and Solidarity and their mission of fighting for workers across borders and who cross borders.  

Featuring: 
Ashley Anders, Curator
Eugenia Ortiz, Visionary Artist 
Stephen Holland-Wempe, Photography 
Tino Scalici, Spoken Word with Illustrations

Cross-Border Network Mission Statement:

Economic globalization, driven by unaccountable transnational corporations and an ethic of competition, is driving down living standards of workers around the world, despoiling communities, and weakening institutions which foster democracy and protect human rights.

The Cross-Border Network for Justice and Solidarity believes that an alternative to this type of globalization must be created by building international bridges of solidarity and mutual aid between workers and communities of working people. We educate and organize for social and economic justice by connecting workers and communities across borders and who cross borders.

Cross-Border Network website: http://www.crossbordernetwork.org

Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/939727446049174/

Eugenia Ortiz, featured artist website link: http://eugeniaortizart.com/home.html

"Stone and Ether" opens Friday, June 5th

"Stone and Ether" an exhibition of new work by Thomas Luna and Adam Crowley opens June 5.

"Empty space constitutes a fundamental component of the structure of sublimation. Structure has two elements: sacred space, and the positive object which fills the space and delivers the idea of sublimation. Inversely, the common/public space and the negative object delivers the negation of sublimation."

This exhibition, featuring the works of Adam Crowley and Thomas Luna, is an exploration into sacred space, the void, and the sublime. Both artists attempt to create and decode their own ideas of what sacred space represents and how it functions.

Exhibition runs June 5 thru 24. Opening reception Friday June 5, 6-9pm.

"A Theory of Human Motivation" work by Molly Garrett opens May 1st

Physiology, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization — the needs of every human being, as theorized by Abraham Maslow in 1943.  In this video installation, A Theory of Human Motivation, Molly Garrett and Cody Kauhl use sound, animation and projection as a means to reinterpret Abraham Maslow’s thoughts to fit a contemporary and personal context.
 

Show runs May 1 thru May 10.                                                                                      

Opening Reception Friday May 1, 6-9pm

Contact: Molly Garrett, MGarrett@kcai.edu

"The Donut Box" featuring KCAI's illustration seniors, opens March 6

A gallery event featuring selected works of new and emerging illustrators in Kansas City. The varied aesthetic, appeal and application of each illustrator's work satisfies a wide range of cultural institutions while showcasing the personal visions of each image maker.

An accessible morning tradition. A casual sunrise delight. Above all, a collection whose strength rests in its differences.

• Show runs March 6 thru March 21
• Opening Reception: Friday March 6, 6-9pm
• For more information visit http://www.thedonutboxshow.com/

"Transient Sequences" Opens February 6

Christian Hirschfeld wrote in his Theorie der Gartenkunst (Theory of Gardening), that mankind sees his own potential in the grandeur of nature and in natures’ boundless landscape. He also believed that this applied to both man’s freedom and lack thereof. Moving away from being restricted and towards becoming free results in the exalting of the inner self. By exalting one’s inner self, the sublime becomes an internal force which transforms physical grandeur into spiritual grandeur. This group exhibition is intending to create a lyrical dialogue of enthusiastic responses to this transformation from restricted to free, from lowly to revered, and from physical to trans-substantial. Objects become mystic, presentation becomes pedestal, and language becomes transcendent.

Artists: Miranda Clark, Fredy Gabuardy, Jonathan Khan, Thomas Luna

Show runs Feb. 6 thru Feb. 21

Opening Friday Feb 6, 6-9pm

"Straight Out the Ole Brain Hole" by Chico San opens Dec. 5

"Straight Out The Ole Brain Hole" is an exhibit of Chico San's newer paintings exploring the depths of his subconscious. The intent is to illustrate the shadow and its ability to unlock imaginary dimensions, varying in content and visual language.

Opening reception will be Friday, December 5th from 6-10pm.

Private viewings will be available through December 26 by appointment. For more information, please contact Gallery Director Caranne Camarena at vulpesbastille@gmail.com or Chico San at 816-842-2628 or chicobraindead@gmail.com.

"Turf Management for the Near-Sighted" opens Nov. 7

Vulpes Bastille will be opening "Turf Management for the Near-Sighted" paintings by Lydia Bryan, Friday, November 7. Opening reception 6-10pm. Show runs through November 28.

Excerpts from Imaginary Landscapes opening Oct 3

An exhibition by artists Casey Whitier and Karin Davis

Born from memory, desire, and imagination,  the pieces in this exhibition
speak about the physical and psychological relationships between
landscape, place, and humanity.  Working in a variety of media, both
artists use the vocabulary of nature to explore ideas about mortality,
vitality, and beauty.  With fragile ceramic plant forms, Whittier creates
installations that transport viewers to places somewhere between time and
memory.  Addressing viewers on a sensory level, Davis sculpts abstract
forms that gently remind us of our own natural state.  Together, their
artwork spans the familiar to the strange, the vivid to the ephemeral, and
the awkward to the elegant.

Runs from Oct 3 thru Oct 25

Opening Reception: Friday Oct 3, 6-9pm

Vulpes Bastille is now open on Saturdays 12-5pm.

"My Year With Them" opening August 1

Vulpes Bastille is pleased to present Mark Allen's second solo exhibition on view from August 1-30th.

"My Year With Them," is an exhibition of photograph-based images featuring Kat Von Rich and her vicarious characters that weaves a narrative of identity, transformation, and the loss of innocence.

The MYWT exhibition will open August 1st, as part of the West + East Crossroads First Friday's event.