Go see… The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

During a recent trip to Kansas City, I visited the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art on the campus of Johnson County Community College. The museum building is new and beautiful and the collection is truly impressive—a must see for anyone interested in contemporary painting.  I was surprised to find such a strong collection at a community college, but even more surprised to find several significant pieces installed not in the museum, but in other buildings around campus.  The modest coffee shop in the student center has a painting by Jonathan Lasker and one by Linda Besemer; the Tomory Dodge painting pictured above (Lost and Found, 2004) is in the student center cafeteria!  If you like your art in quieter and less-trafficked settings, the museum galleries have excellent pieces by Elizabeth Murray, Do-Ho Suh, Kerry James Marshall, Karin Davie, Dana Schutz, Amy Sillman, Kehinde Wiley and Fred Tomaselli, among others.  Kudos to Bruce Hartman, the museum director and driving force (so I’m told) behind all things good at the Nerman.  Don’t miss it if your near Kansas City.