Jon Scott Anderson, Derrick Breidenthal to Debut at Missouri Bank Crossroads

The Missouri Bank Crossroads Branch will debut four new large-scale commissioned images by Kansas City artists Jon Scott Anderson and Derrick Breidenthal on its "Artboards" in time for First Friday, January 2012. Installed on the exterior, double-sided billboards rising above the bank, the "Artboards" are visible to the public all hours of the day, and will remain on view for approximately three months.

Jon Scott Anderson presents one contiguous photographic image, split between the two billboards, which inserts a patch of lush green forest into the urban realm in the dead of winter. "Across a field of green, black vines write their calligraphy, a poem about their gestural nature," Anderson writes. Composed of multiple photographs taken from different points of view, his Artboards in fact portray a uniquely constructed view of nature, "like a Muybridge motion and time study about this place in the forest." About his intent, Anderson writes, "Just as the use of stepping stones in the Japanese tea garden was to slow down the visitor and to humble them as they bowed to enter the tea house's low doorway entrance, so does this image, with its multiple viewpoints, suggests a 'bow' and echo a similar reading."

Interested in how technology shapes perception and experience, painter Derrick Breidenthal presents a pair of images that contrast a naturalistic painted landscape with a pixilated, digital representation of the same. In juxtaposing the two depictions, he seeks to provoke consideration of how our digital environment is fundamentally transforming the way we see and experience space and place. "We are quickly reaching a time (some would say we have already arrived) in which the virtual world holds a deeper connection for many than a simple walk in the woods," he writes. The fact that the large-scale images will be viewed from various distances introduces an additional layer to this dynamic, whereby the images will slip back and forth between abstraction and representation at different rates, depending on proximity.

About the Artists:
Jon Scott Anderson received his MFA in Filmmaking from Syracuse University and his BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute. He also attended Rockhurst College, where he studied Japanese. His work has been exhibited around the country and internationally, including in New York, Tennessee, Ohio, Minnesota, California and Japan. He is represented by the Dolphin Gallery in Kansas City, where his work has been shown frequently in both group and solo exhibitionS. Anderson's photographs are also in the collections of businesses and institutions including Sprint World Headquarters, Overland Park, KS; University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, AR; Houlihan's Restaurants, Inc.; Shook, Hardy & Bacon, LLP, Washington, DC; and Missouri Bank, among others. Visit www. www.jonscottanderson.com for more information.

Derrick Breidenthal attended both the University of Kansas and Johnson County Community College. His work is featured in collections located around the world, including Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Rijeka, Croatia; Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell, IA; Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City; KU Medical Center, W Hotel Collection, Detroit, MI; and Kansas State University. His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, most recently at Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA. In Kansas City, Breidenthal has presented solo exhibitions at the Leopold Gallery, Medium Well Studio, The Arts Incubator and Station A. In 2009, he received an Artist Inspiration Grant from the ArtsKC Fund, and this past year was a resident at the Caye Caulker Study in Belize, Central America. Visit www.breidenthalart.com for more information.

About the "Artboards":
An Art through Architecture "Art Achievement" project, the Missouri Bank "Artboards" launched fall 2008, when the building's existing double-sided billboards were renovated and converted into a highly visible site for work by area artists as part of the bank's purchase and renovation of the building to house its Crossroads Branch, completed by Helix Architecture + Design. Art through Architecture, a partnership of Charlotte Street Foundation and American Institute of Architects-Kansas City, administers the programming of the Artboards in collaboration with a panel of Missouri Bank representatives. To date, the Artboards have featured commissioned works by Kansas City artists Warren Rosser, Jaimie Warren, Archie Scott Gobber, Miki Baird, Elijah Gowin, Emily Sall, Grant Miller, May Tveit, Allan Winkler, Mike Sinclair, Anne Lindberg, Paul Shortt, Adolfo Martinez, Jerry Kunkel, Deanna Dikeman, and Mary Wessel, Barry Anderson, and Luke Firle.

Art through Architecture (AtA) is designed to encourage collecting and commissioning work by Kansas City area artists through architectural practice. Through AtA, new architectural projects may earn Gold, Silver or Bronze levels of Art Achievement by dedicating a percentage of the total construction budget to collecting artworks, commissioning temporary or permanent artworks, and/or including artists on design teams. For more information about the Art through Architecture program, visit www.artarch.org

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