Exhibits
Ralph Steadman was the artistic yin to Hunter S. Thompson’s literary yang. (Or maybe it was vice versa.) They were collaborators and friends for 30 years, Steadman providing exquisitely outrageous illustrations that were perfectly suited to Thompson’s gonzo writing.
Steadman’s world renown as an artist stems in part – but hardly in total – from that long creative relationship. A special exhibition at the Kansas City Public Library, Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective, explores the full range of his inimitable work, including illustrations for Alice in Wonderland and George Orwell’s Animal Farm; images of extinct, endangered, and imaginary birds created for the books Extinct Boids and Critical Critters; and of course, Steadman’s exquisitely grotesque artwork for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other writings by Thompson.
Exclusive to the exhibition’s stay in Kansas City: more than a dozen of Steadman’s images from his coverage of the 1976 Republican Convention in KC, where he worked with former White House counsel and key Watergate figure John Dean for Rolling Stone magazine.
Approximately 100 of Steadman’s original works are featured in the exhibition at the downtown Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. The Kansas City Public Library is one of a limited number of venues nationwide chosen to host the retrospective, which is sponsored by United Therapeutics, Flying Dog, and Audible.
Steadman’s world renown as an artist stems in part – but hardly in total – from that long creative relationship. A special exhibition at the Kansas City Public Library, Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective, explores the full range of his inimitable work, including illustrations for Alice in Wonderland and George Orwell’s Animal Farm; images of extinct, endangered, and imaginary birds created for the books Extinct Boids and Critical Critters; and of course, Steadman’s exquisitely grotesque artwork for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and other writings by Thompson.
Exclusive to the exhibition’s stay in Kansas City: more than a dozen of Steadman’s images from his coverage of the 1976 Republican Convention in KC, where he worked with former White House counsel and key Watergate figure John Dean for Rolling Stone magazine.
Approximately 100 of Steadman’s original works are featured in the exhibition at the downtown Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. The Kansas City Public Library is one of a limited number of venues nationwide chosen to host the retrospective, which is sponsored by United Therapeutics, Flying Dog, and Audible.
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s leadership style as president reflected his practical, level-headed Midwestern roots: Work from the middle to accomplish what those on the extremes saw as impossible.
The exhibit Eisenhower’s Middle Road spotlights a prescription for peace and prosperity that guided Ike throughout his eight years in the White House. He sought balance for America—the pursuit and preservation of social gains, for instance, while refraining from government overreach. The exhibit in the Central Library’s Rocky and Gabriella Mountain Gallery explores six key areas reflecting that approach.
Presented in partnership with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. Work/research on the exhibit was funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The exhibit Eisenhower’s Middle Road spotlights a prescription for peace and prosperity that guided Ike throughout his eight years in the White House. He sought balance for America—the pursuit and preservation of social gains, for instance, while refraining from government overreach. The exhibit in the Central Library’s Rocky and Gabriella Mountain Gallery explores six key areas reflecting that approach.
Presented in partnership with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home. Work/research on the exhibit was funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
Kansas City artist Benjamin Todd Wills has corresponded with thousands of prisoners over the years. When one sent him a paper airplane—its folds, textual content, and illustrations laden with messages both expressed and implicit—it inspired a unique project.
From an ever-growing collection of inmates’ paper plane submissions, Wills fashioned the exhibit Airplanes. The creations vary in size and design, some made from notebook and drawing paper, others from commissary lists, notices of denied appeals, and behavioral writeups. Their content and tone range from regret to hostility, from bravado to humility, each representing, according to Wills, “a vehicle of escape, missed opportunity, and in some cases rebellion for its creator.”
The exhibit also features Wills’ near-life-size depiction of a solitary-confinement prison cell, constructed according to sketches of those who’ve occupied them.
From an ever-growing collection of inmates’ paper plane submissions, Wills fashioned the exhibit Airplanes. The creations vary in size and design, some made from notebook and drawing paper, others from commissary lists, notices of denied appeals, and behavioral writeups. Their content and tone range from regret to hostility, from bravado to humility, each representing, according to Wills, “a vehicle of escape, missed opportunity, and in some cases rebellion for its creator.”
The exhibit also features Wills’ near-life-size depiction of a solitary-confinement prison cell, constructed according to sketches of those who’ve occupied them.
