Review

"Jazz Masters," Pencil on Paper.

Alexander Austin
Earnest to Epic, off the street

9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sixth Street Gallery
YWCA of Greater Kansas City
1710 N. 6th St.
Kansas City, KS
913.371.1105

Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday
Runs through: March 10

Artist's site: http://www.kcmuralist.com
Gallery site: http://www.ywca.org/site/pp.asp?c=hvKVLbMVIuG&b=5473869

Be honest: If you know Alexander Austin's work, you saw his name atop this post and thought I was sending you out into the wintry weather to see his murals.

Okay, yeah, that too. But for the first time, Austin — whose work enlivens the Troost Corridor and the 18th and Vine Jazz District, adorns the City Union Mission and the Kansas City Call newspaper, and welcomes visitors to the Power and Light District — has a solo show of indoor works.

His drawings and prints hang inside the YWCA's Sixth Street Gallery in downtown Kansas City, Kansas; Austin also has several paintings in the Corner Coffee Cafe, located just inside the YWCA's west door. (The cafe is closed today for President's Day but opens tomorrow morning at 7.)

The drawings are almost all done in black and white ... but for all of that stark contrast, there's a warmth and depth to them (in the emotional sense, as well as the physical). Martin Luther King Jr. figures prominently in the show, as do musicians (see Jazz Masters, pictured above) and such celebrities as Danny Glover, Muhammad Ali and the late Buck O'Neil.

Given that February is Black History Month, it would be easy to pigeonhole this as a "black show." It would also be incredibly unfair to do so. This is an intensely human exhibition, covering an emotional and experiential range from tragedy to triumph.

That's a range Austin has covered in life as well as in his art. There's a reason his show at the YWCA is titled Earnest to Epic, off the street.

Before his work found its way into private collections and the public eye, before he launched his philanthropic efforts, before he was named one of Kansas City's "100 Most Influential African Americans" by The Kansas City Globe ... Austin was homeless and living in the City Union Mission.

It's been twenty years since then, but the experience has given him a ground-level regard for the less fortunate ... and a sense of purpose for the firstfruits of his creative gifts.

I feel a calling for my art, Austin writes. An altruistic concern for the social and spiritual welfare of all mankind. A continuous flow of compassion from my inner being, juxtaposed to my brush and perched onto our city walls.

In an echo of that moment when the mission took him in, Austin's art has come in from the cold ... not for its own comfort, but to warm those who come to see it.

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