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Helix Office Features Latest Exhibition by James Brinsfield, “Annie Are You OK?”

With our office located in the heart of the Crossroads Arts District, it only makes sense that Helix often uses our prime location to support local artists. Whether we are promoting the latest gallery with the large banner on the corner of our building or hosting an event for arts organizations, support for the arts is a part of our DNA.

Through December 15, Helix is featuring the work of Kansas City artist James Brinsfield in our office. Originally born in Chicago, James is a nationally reviewed painter who has had many solo exhibitions in his career. His work has been featured in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park; and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City. He was also a lecturer in the painting department of the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI).

About the Exhibition

In 2015 the term “liminal” (the state of becoming without being) was beginning to be used in the critical and philosophical dialogue of contemporary painting. It was a word that was unfamiliar to me. I wrote a rough research paper; little more than a page of notes and citations. Later that year I shaped it up and expanded my notes into an assignment for my studio classes at KCAI. And for the most part that was that. Shelved, filed and put out of mind. Fast forward five years to me assembling a chest of drawers from IKEA. I emptied a flat box filled with various sized wooden panels onto a bedroom rug. I studied the instructions, looked at the panels and realized I was seeing the liminal state. The unmade about to become made. The panels in their layout upon the rug suggested a grid that triggered the beginning of the series of works you see in this exhibit.

“I studied the instructions, looked at the panels and realized I was seeing the liminal state. The unmade about to become made.”

The works feature a richness of texture that warrants a glimpse in-person. For those who are in Kansas City, Helix invites you to come view the paintings during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.). We ask that all guests wear masks while in our office, regardless of their vaccination status.