Review

"The Brightest Color that Everyone was Wearing that Entered Broadway Cafe on February 1, 2010 from 11:00am - 12:00pm," Paint Samples on Paper.

Cory Imig
Pitty Patt(rn)
(Shared show)

10 a.m-5 p.m.

Kansas City Public Library Central Branch
14 W. 10th St.
Kansas City, MO
816.701.3400

Hours: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
Runs through: March 28.

Artist's site: http://www.coryimig.com
Library site: http://www.kclibrary.org

Artists often get stereotyped as an intuitive lot, adding or subtracting from their works based on gut feelings.

Not so with Cory Imig. She plans her works and works her plans ... and while every work begins with a spark of creativity, the process always takes over.

My process usually begins with an idea, followed by an established set of restraints, whether it be with observing something over a set period of time or collecting something indefinitely, Imig writes. By creating a rule, I allow the artist to disappear. The work becomes a process to follow instead of a series of intuitive decisions that need to be made. Reducing art to a self-evident form of making allows natural patterns to be tracked and realized.

That information-gathering and -organizing ethic lies at the heart of Pitty Pat(trn), Imig's shared show with Garry Noland, now on display at the Central branch of the Kansas City Public Library. (The show runs through March 28, with a reception and artists' talks at 6:30 p.m Tuesday; there's free parking in the library garage, but hours for that are limited.)

Imig's works tend to have lengthy titles which leave nothing to the imagination, as with today's featured work: The Brightest Color that Everyone was Wearing that Entered Broadway Cafe on February 1, 2010 from 11:00am - 12:00pm.

Read the title, you know the premise and the rules ... but while Imig has hewed rigorously to both, it could be argued that there's no way for the artist to disappear.

Who knows how anyone else, given the same concept, regulations and materials (in this case, paint samples and paper) would have presented the results visually? The information is the control, but the artist — despite any intention to fade into the background — remains a variable.

And in Imig's case, that variable has produced results as pleasing to look at as they are fascinating to contemplate.

My work forces the viewer to reconsider the mundane and imagine the infinite possibilities of association, Imig writes.

That it does ... but it also allows the viewer to see Imig's skill and vision as an artist. And there's no way that can, or should, disappear.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Updating...