Kansas City, MO, April 26, 2011 

First Lobby Installation Since 2007 Opening

Visitors to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will get a rare look at artwhile it’s being created as part of the exhibition Roxy Paine: Scumaks and Dendroids, April 29 – Aug. 28 in Bloch Lobby. A sculpture-making machine designed by artist Roxy Paine melts plastic polyethylene beads with pigments and periodically extrudes them, creating unique, bulbous-shaped sculptures. The completed sculptures will be displayed on pedestals for the duration of the exhibition, which is called Roxy Paine: Scumaks and Dendroids. Paine will flip the switch to start production at 10 a.m. Friday, April 29, in Bloch Lobby as part of a public dedication and celebration of Paine’s work.

“All of Roxy Paine’s work addresses the relationship between what occurs naturally and that which is technologically produced,” said Jan Schall, Sanders Sosland Curator, Modern & Contemporary Art. “The organic configurations that result from this sculpture- making machine follow the laws of gravity.”

The machine, or Scumak, which is short for Sculpture Maker, celebrates the installation of Paine’s 56-foot tall stainless-steel Dendroid, Ferment, in the Museum’s Kansas City Sculpture Park in mid-April.

Forty-two sculptures are expected to be created throughout the course of the exhibition. Explanatory panels of text will help visitors understand the process. Paine developed the Scumak to remove the artist’s hand from the creative process, replacing it with a computer program that he designed.

Also on display in Bloch Lobby will be five of Paine’s Dendroid models, including Model for Ferment and Model for Distillation, presented in fall 2010 at the James Cohan Gallery in New York. The scale models will be displayed on the plaza level and on the ramp leading to the Info Desk and galleries. A video slide show of Paine fabricating Ferment will be shown continuously, together with a video of the artist speaking about his work.

“Roxy Paine is a transformer,” said Schall. “He configures organic principles in technological forms and uses technology to create organic forms.”

The Café in the Bloch Building will be transformed for the Roxy Paine exhibition. Beginning May 11 it will be known as the Creative Café, offering computers and “hands-on” opportunities for visitors to learn more about Paine and to create their own Dendroids.

Special programs are set in conjunction with Roxy Paine: Scumaks and Dendroids:

Ferment Event!
Friday, April 29
6-7 p.m.
FREE ticket required, Atkins Auditorium

A performance of Dendroids for Viola, a new composition by Dr. Mara Gibson of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, followed by a conversation between Director Julián Zugazagoitia and Martin Friedman, Hall Family Foundation consultant for the Kansas City Sculpture Park, in whose honor Ferment was gifted.

Dance Performance
The Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company:
Dendroids Emerging
Sunday, May 1
1-2 p.m., repeated 3 p.m.
FREE ticket required, Atkins Auditorium

Selections include a commissioned work by Mary Pat Henry and inspired by Ferment, in which dancers seemingly “grow” through lifts and kinetic movement.

Presentation
The Nature of Roxy Paine
Friday, June 24
6-7 p.m.
FREE ticket required, Atkins Auditorium

Noted nature writer and New York Times journalist Michael Crewdson will talk about the natural inspirations that drive internationally celebrated artist Roxy Paine to create works like Ferment. Crewdson first wrote about Paine’s work for the book Bluff. His talk will explore the wild side of Paine–discussing the microbial, fungal and arboreal obsessions of the artist.

Family Festival: Ferment!
Sunday, July 17
1-4 p.m.
FREE, Kansas City Sculpture Park

A commissioned performance by the Owen Cox Dance Group and hands-on activities related to conservation and the natural environment.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America’s finest art museums. The Nelson-Atkins serves the community by providing access and insight into its renowned collection of more than 33,500 art objects and is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, and new American Indian and Egyptian galleries. Housing a major art research library and the Ford Learning Center, the Museum is a key educational resource for the region. The institution-wide transformation of the Nelson-Atkins has included the 165,000-square-foot Bloch Building expansion and renovation of the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins.

The Nelson-Atkins is located at 45th and Oak Streets, Kansas City, MO. Hours are Wednesday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Thursday/Friday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, Noon–5 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free to everyone. For Museum information, phone 816.751.1ART (1278) or visit nelson-atkins.org/.

Ferment was commissioned by the Hall Family Foundation in honor of Martin Friedman, who is retiring after 20 years as art consultant for the Foundation and the Museum.

Ferment Fabrication. Roxy Paine Studio. Treadwell, New York. 2010-2011. Roxy Paine, Ben Jones, and Sheila Griffin.

This exhibition has been organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. This exhibition is supported by Marti and Tony Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer Brothers Foundation, James E. C. and Elizabeth Tinsman, the Campbell-Calvin Fund and Elizabeth C. Bonner Charitable Trust for exhibitions and the Rheta A. Sosland Fund.

Lenders to the exhibition:
James Cohan Gallery, New York/ Shanghai
John & Amy Phelan
The Collection of Anabeth and John Weil
A private collector