THRESHOLD was a duo-exhibition featuring the work of two Kansas City-based artists, Andrew Mcilvaine (born 1993, San Antonio, TX) and Kevin Demery (born 1992, Modesto, CA). 

The word Threshold has been defined as the magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomenon, result, or condition to occur or be manifested. This premise can be interpreted in a literal material sense or employed through a cultural lens.

The artists Kevin Demery and Andrew Mcilvaine explore through a two-person exhibition the various thresholds of the Black and Latino cultural experience against the backdrop of America.

Much of what can be defined as a threshold or barrier is investigated through the composition of the exhibition and the plethora of materials used. Soil, concrete, ceramics, chain, wood, animal pelts, and other materials are used to create a symphony of cultural metaphors that speak to the similarities and the vast differences of the cultural legacies being discussed.

Much like their colleague relationship, Kevin Demery and Andrew McIlvane’s work started from similar origins. Both artists were born into environments rife with political inertia, poverty, and violence.

Threshold is the result of many conversations between Mcilvaine and Demery about the convergence of their respective worlds as two artists who identify as Black and Brown. Threshold as an exhibition is a visual laboratory of activation that asks what currents run consciously and unconsciously through these respective communities. This body of work calls attention to the similarities that have existed between both cultures for centuries. In addition to this, Demery and Mcilvaine embrace the triangulations of history, personal narrative, and visual metaphor. Demery and Mcilvaine hold the positions of Assistant Professor at the Kansas City Art Institute in the Foundation Department.