Beautiful, defined as pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically. So what is beautiful then? For some beautiful might be seen as derogatory when used professionally to mean trite and shallow. For most however, beautiful as an artistic perspective is more complex and faceted for which a single answer does not exist. Beauty is physically everywhere and everything, however something being beautiful is not always about the physical features, rather it can be more towards a state of existence. It is a exploration into the aesthetics of pleasing the mind. However, a common thread does appear when viewing the work from the submissions for this show. It does not simplify the answer but it clearly shows that different cultures seem to have some similarities when it comes to seeing and describing what is beautiful. This exhibition will examine the question of what is beautiful by displaying artworks selected from Nationally submitted works by contemporary artists in a juried exhibition that attempts to portray just what is beautiful.

Caleb Harman: I Want you to Stay

July 02 – 31 | Bunker Center for the Arts, 1014 E. 19th St, KCMO 64108 | Art Exhibition

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The Bunker Center for the Arts proudly presents, Caleb Harman’s, “I Want You to Stay.”

Caleb Harman is a multimedia artist with a BFA in Drawing from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and an MA in Studio Art from University of Missouri-Kansas City. Harman creates multimedia exhibitions that utilize aspects of installation art as a method of expanding on the tradition of oral narration. While Harman’s subjects vary, his overall interests lay within the region of Missouri River Valley. By using regional history, folklore, fictional and nonfictional narrative, his work attempts to explore our relationship to the spaces that we occupy. Caleb Harman lives in Kansas City.

Artist Statement | “I Want You to Stay”
I love a good story, especially one that involves the paranormal. One of those stories is of the haunting of the Sallie House in Atchison, Kansas. In the summer of 2020 while the country wasshut down I found the podcast “Astonishing Legends” which had an exhausting series on the Sallie House. I was shocked to realize that the Sallie House, considered to be one of the most haunted houses in the United States, was less than an hour away, and could be rented out for overnight stays. “I Want You to Stay” is about my experience at the Sallie House in early June. Combining elements of the stories of the house and our own recordings and imagery, the body of work is created to be a perplexing conveyance of information. As with most stories of the paranormal, they exist primarily in disparate anecdotes with no clear narrative format, which is reflected in the installation of the exhibition. I want the viewer to explore the narrative both intellectually and emotionally. For I believe the best ghost stories are not just told, they are felt.

I strive to paint as my mother cooks. For us, the process is absorbing, spiritual, sometimes transcendent – and complete only when you are involved in the outcome. My goal is to initiate shared experiences that we’ll enjoy again and again. I revel in bold colors applied with big brushes and palette knives. I’m looking for the essence of the subject, its truth, more than its details. Rather than rein this state in, I work to sustain it. Thus, I ensure my paintings are never too finished; in fact, they succeed only when there are conceptual spaces for you to fill. There’s no right or wrong way to do that. If you stand closely to my painting, you should begin to feel the way I felt in creating it. If you step back, we can resolve the image together. – Lisa Noonis

Jonathan Christensen Caballero’s multi-media figurative sculptures are both personal and political. Inspired by familial ties, his work focuses on the immigrant experience and gives visibility to the struggles of the working class, including Latin American laborers in the United States.

Christensen Caballero uses a number of materials to create his life-sized sculptures, including red earthenware, recycled fibers, and fabrics, readymade objects, building materials, indigo, metal, and wood. His choice of materials is deliberate and layered with meaning and history. The red earthenware faces begin as life castings of people in the artist’s life. The indigo and denim used in the construction of his figures reference the history of labor. The reused tablecloths, bedsheets, and work tools that clothe and adorn these figures relate to specific objects that laborers work with today. Additionally, the iconography and artist’s choice of color palette acknowledge the pre-colonized art of the Americas.

Jonathan Christensen Caballero depicts moments of labor and struggle alongside feelings of love and joy. Poignant, hopeful, and rich in meaning, the works in this exhibition are a reminder of existing inequities, of our common bonds and interdependence.

Jonathan Christensen Caballero was born and raised in Utah. He graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics and sculpture and completed his Master of Fine Arts in ceramics from Indiana University in the spring of 2020. He is the current Interdisciplinary Ceramic Research Center (ICRC) Artist in Residence at Kansas University in Lawrence. He is a recipient of the International Sculpture Center Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award and was recently recognized as a 2021 Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly.

For high-resolution images, click here. Artist bio and additional images are available on our website.