KOLLABS is a collaborative project between artists Luis Garcia-Nerey and Anke Schofield. In their work, KOLLABS create compositions juxtaposing undomesticated animals within domestic and urban environments, highlighting the interaction between wildlife and the human experience.

Their work embarks on a journey in which the viewer is presented with an open-ended narrative and no definitive conclusion, engaging the viewer as a participant in the ultimate storyline of each piece. Whether literal or abstract, Nerey and Schofield’s pieces do not rationalize a specific idea of wilderness, but rather encourage the viewer to interpret the works without limitations by concrete definitions.

Nerey and Schofield continue to delve deeper into their work by further injecting the animals into everyday human situations, and through this process of anthropomorphizing animal behavior, challenge social norms and provoke thought in animal/human interactions.

Represented by Blue Gallery exclusively in the Midwest, KOLLABS mixed media paintings have been exhibited in prominent galleries throughout the US, and can be found in private and corporate collections worldwide. Luis Garcia-Nerey lives and works in Miami, Florida and Anke Schofield lives and works in Denver, Colorado. The two divide their creative time traveling between studios in both Miami and Denver in order to create their provocative pieces.

Talk begins at 7:00pm

Social Realism was an art movement that saw the goal of art as something more than art for art’s sake. These artists saw art as being a tool for bringing strong political and social commentaries to the masses. It was art for the sake of the forsaken. This show looks at this movement’s continual influences on today’s contemporary artist and the lasting humanist legacy that it has provided.

Does the early to mid-Twentieth Century art movement of Social Realism, relate in any way to the contemporary concerns of American art? Curated, critiqued, and censored, contemporary art searches for a rhythm that moves in flux with society, adapting to concepts, techniques and trends that have become popular avenues of artistic expression has allowed for the social commentary often found in Social Realism, to make a revival in today contemporary artist

Social realism has evolved into a timeless-means for celebrating individuality and the character of its subjects today. Social realism, a young yet piercing artform, evolved into a means for appraising ordinary people’s true character, personality, and style, and furthermore, diminishing society’s tendency to reduce people to its desired perception of them and hierarchical structures. Today the contemporary artists social commentaries shines a light on people’s brilliance and individuality.

The past few years have brought about an astronomical shift in societal perception, by which the purpose of social realism has been rejuvenated. Although a lot of these issues have always been present, there has been a surge in concepts such as ‘passing the mic’ — a catchphrase describing the need for non-marginalized people to give marginalized communities the opportunity to take up space and tell their own stories, rather than having someone else do it for them — and striving for equality. This covers issues relating to race, gender, sexual orientation, and class, which one can only hope is being recognized as more than a trend and are here to stay.

Erlene Flowers is a retired teacher and administrator. She moved to Lee’s Summit 14 years ago from Detroit, Michigan. She taught fine art in high school for 20 years in Detroit. She entered public school administration where she served a number of years and continued to show her work on a limited basis. She holds a Bachelors, Masters and Specialized degrees. She is a working artist and has pieces in several private collections in several states. She exhibits her work in several galleries including the Jazz Museum.
Flowers teaches classes at her Signature Creations Studio in Lee ‘Summit. Believing in giving back, she has mentored young artists .and still assists developing artists preparing for shows.

When asked to exhibit at Nativity, Flowers asked if she could include some works by her current students, Julie Davis, Rise Stephenson, Dana Miller and Phyllis Wiggins-Horne. Her students have varied interests and Erlene meets each of them where they are in their creative development and assists them in their growth as artists. She encourages her students to exhibit their work in local shows in Raytown and Blue Springs and to join local art organizations such as Summit Art.

Flowers is a member of Summit Art, the Missouri Valley Impressionist Society and Got Art Gallery.