A shift to the middle: the Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial at the Salina Art Center

Perhaps the greatest joy of visiting a biennial exhibition lies in the discovery of previously unfamiliar artists. The 2024 Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial, which opened May 22 and remains on view through September 1 at the Salina Art Center in Salina, Kansas, presents recent work from 62 contemporary artists who were selected from across ten states. In this year's iteration, viewers are invited into an exhibition juried by Jane Burke, the curator at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in Boulder, Colorado. The assembled works offer pluralistic perspectives from artists who live and work across the Mountain/Plains region. 

Upon entering, the viewer is greeted by Elizabeth Nixon’s "critter," a 2 by 4 by 2 foot spritely sculpture made with dog hair and wire that possesses a warm and witty spirit, inviting visitors to crouch down low to the ground, as one might when greeting a furry friend. Spanning three gallery spaces, the artists represented in the biennial examine themes ranging from materiality and landscapes to portraiture, the environment, and abstraction. These categories, which loosely correspond to the exhibition’s design and layout, serve more as springboards than constraints, welcoming viewers to navigate a broad spectrum of disciplines and mediums with fluidity. 

In the first gallery, craft as high-brow art dominates, whether in Maggy Rozycki Hiltner’s "Perpetual," an altered found quilt that features a striking design of twenty skulls, crafted from a variety of colorful fabrics creating a patchwork effect against a stark black backdrop; or Heather Schulte’s cross-stitch embroidery "What we feel, we cannot say (RAGE, shame, GUILT)," that emphasizes monochromatic and minimalist design, placing an emotional emphasis on the texture of the repeated text brought into being within each panel. 

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This exhibition often presents multiple works by each artist, which deepens the viewer's engagement and provides meaningful context. Lim Puoch's contemplative oil paintings, including "Pink Sink'' and "Rolls on Deck," offer intimate renderings of personal narratives within everyday contexts. In particular, the pink-tiled bathroom symbolizes more than just a color choice — it captures a cultural moment following World War II when optimism and prosperity dominated American suburbia, and the aspirations of the burgeoning middle classes’ desire for homes that were not only functional, but also stylish. Through advances in mass production, pink toilets, sinks, tiles, and bathtubs became commonplace in homes across America. In Puoch’s paintings, these quiet and private environments are captured amidst the hustle and bustle of daily existence, echoing the introspective themes Edward Hopper often explored in his paintings.

Across the gallery hangs a bold and bright contemporary portrait titled “Resplendent Resurgence” by Omaha, Nebraska-based artist Ang Bennett.  Here the artist uses flat, vivid colors to create a patchwork effect within their subject’s face and neck, positioned against a solid blue background. The painting alludes to cartography, akin to the patchwork fields of the plains that one might witness from an aerial distance. Nicholas Kostnar employs  a similar method of color blocking to depict form in his painting  “Weak Antidote.” Kostner’s work, made in rural Kingman, Kansas, is abundant in both rhythm and balance, presenting psychological abstractions of surreal terrains. 

The exhibition concludes in a gallery brimming with material explorations in abstraction. Three strong sculptures stand in the center of the room, including a geometric work by Kansas City artist Cesar Lopez. The sculpture's design is reminiscent of a three-dimensional tessellation, where each unit contributes to a larger, cohesive whole. This modular approach evokes the spirit of modernist architectural principles, where form follows function, yet it transcends mere practicality through its aesthetic appeal. 

Anchoring the space at the corner are Matthew Hilyard and Shelby Shadwell’s works, arranged in a delightful conversation centering around concave and convex form. The interplay between the three-dimensional and two-dimensional is energizing. Hilyard’s manipulated canvases burst from their underlying stretcher bars, and Shadwell’s highly technical charcoal and pastel on polyester drawing of an emergency blanket is seemingly illuminated against a dark, somber background.

The Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial offers a genuine opportunity to engage with and celebrate contemporary work by regional artists. Experiencing this work reinforces the notion that the dominance of coastal art is shifting. As this biennial, established in 2018, continues to evolve, it's one to follow.

The Details

The Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial
May 22-September 1 at the Salina Art Center, 242 S. Santa Fe Ave. in Salina, Kansas
The Salina Art Center is open to the public from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.
Learn more about the Mountain Plains Contemporary Art Biennial.

Under the umbrella of artist, Chloe Lang is an arts administrator, painter, writer, and cultural producer based in Wichita, Kansas. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and is committed to partnering with artists and organizations to achieve their visions.

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