John Buice, known as Johnny B, died in April 2024. He was a beloved, long-term resident artist at Imagine That!, an arts-based day program in the Crossroads Arts District for individuals with developmental disabilities. The exhibition of Johnny B’s works ties into the Big Read 2025 selection: Rebekah Taussig’s Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body.

A natural storyteller, Johnny B drew from the history and pop culture of the 1960s through the ’80s. Using collage as his primary medium, he layered topical references to make poignant – and hilarious – statements expressing his views on religion, geography, and politics.

Scrawled across a collaged black-and-white photo of protestors outside a McDonald’s are the words: “Pray for a Filet-O-Fish.” In another piece, text on a painted floral background encourages viewers to “Look at my new guitar.” However, instead of a guitar, the figure with a smiling hand-drawn face holds a large reptile in its arms. In yet another, a figure leaps into the air gleefully and the caption exclaims, “I’m going to be a casual doctor.”

Artworks that first present as silly lead to deeper satire and irony.

Since 2012, Imagine That! has provided tools and materials to more than 50 individual artists with developmental disabilities. These artists work closely with staff artists and volunteers to create exhibitions in Kansas City, as well as across the U.S. and the U.K.

Concurrent with I’m Built Different, Imagine That! will host a companion retrospective, Johnny B: Thank You for This Art at their gallery at 2010 McGee Street. It opens with a reception on April 4 and runs through a closing reception and celebration of Johnny B on May 2.

Big Read 2025 is supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, the City of Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Tourist Development Fund, and the Estelle S. and Robert A. Long Ellis Foundation. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. El Proyecto NEA Big Read es una iniciativa del National Endowment for the Arts (el Fondo Nacional para las Artes de Estados Unidos) en cooperacion con Arts Midwest.