Review

Archie Scott Gobber's latest public art installation

Archie Scott Gobber works on his installation piece "DREAM," which is featured in the vehicular drive-thru at Missouri Bank in Kansas City, Missouri (since late February 2010). Photo: E.G. Schempf

Archie Scott Gobber, artist-in-residence at Review Studios since 2005, calls Missouri Bank the home of his latest installation.

The colorful installation, featuring the word “DREAM” in hand-painted aluminum letters, is on one wall of Missouri Bank’s vehicular drive-thru, in the center of the former Star Motors building at 7 West 62nd Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri. A glass wall in the bank faces the installation, so it is viewable from inside, as well. The Missouri Bank opened for business February 22.

Art through Architecture, a partnership between the American Institute of Architects-Kansas City and the Charlotte Street Foundation, awarded the highest level Art Achievement to Missouri Bank, BKS Real Estate, and Helix Architecture + Design for the installation. The Art Achievement award is granted to architectural projects that dedicate “a percentage of the total construction budget to collecting artworks, commissioning temporary or permanent artworks, and/or including artists on design teams,” according to the AtA Web site.

Gobber’s artwork revolves around colorful, signage-based text — often referencing cultural and political topics — that can hold several meanings. “I start with this signage idea and I keep my phrases compact and short,” says Gobber, who lives in Kansas City, Mo., and received his B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1998. “I pick words specifically because there’s ambiguity about it.”

Gobber has contributed to the public collections of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Spencer Museum of Art, Saint Louis University Museum of Art, and others. He has shown his artwork in solo exhibitions for the past 16 years and has contributed to group exhibitions for the past 7 years.

Installation view of Archie Scott Gobber's "DREAM" while lit at night at the Missouri Bank in the Brookside neighborhood. Each painted aluminum letter is approximatley 93” x 84". Photo: Sarah Kraly

One of Gobber’s former works, Better Off Now, features the word “NOWHERE” presented as the “HOLLYWOOD” sign. “It had a certain architecture to it,” Gobber says about the work, which props up the letters using cedar wood. He says he’s always considering architecture in his artwork, whether it’s the signage form, the structure of the sign, or what holds the signs up.

Gobber says the messages in his artwork seem succinct to viewers at first, but once they notice the dual meanings, the messages last a little longer. Though viewers may sometimes not interpret his works as he intends or imagines they will, Gobber is not discouraged. “You get people that understand it in a way that you never thought of,” he says.

The meaning behind his DREAM installation is meant to be presented in a positive fashion — “dream big, American dreams, your dreams,” Gobber explains. “Dream can be seen negatively as well but I don’t tend to see it that way.”

Archie Scott Gobber, "Better Off Now," foam board and cedar, 114" x 369" x 108", 2009, as installed at Review Studios Exhibition Space. Photo: courtesy of the artist

The artwork, which he says was one of his largest-scale pieces, took about eight months to complete, from its conception to its opening. Gobber says the process of making this work for another party made for an out-of-the-ordinary creation. "It’s different when you do work for an interesting party as opposed to yourself," he says. "It has to pass through some filter. It’s the public filter."

Some of Gobber’s previous public artworks include It’s a Free Country, which was featured on the H&R Artspace Project Wall from 2004 to 2006, and Changeable, which was featured in 2009 through “Artboards,” a billboard project created by Missouri Bank and AtA. Though DREAM is publically displayed, it is not as visible as Gobber’s previous public artworks.

“I sort of like that it’s hidden and it’s not a billboard. It’s sort of an interesting hidden gem,” Gobber says about the installation, which is about 90 feet long. “I like that they’ve left it open at night as a promenade.” The late-night look of the installation is amplified by the LED lighting that glows from behind the letters. Gobber says this look is indicative of the spray can aesthetic and street artist visuals that he says he’s been focusing on with his artwork.

Another branch of Missouri Bank has previously played host to the exterior sculpture Golden Hedges by Jesse Small and received the highest level Art Achievement by AtA.

Gobber is working on an exhibition for Dolphin Gallery for fall 2010 and an exhibition for Marty Walker Gallery for spring 2011.

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