Grand Arts Presents: Blossom, new work by Sanford Biggers

Grand Arts announces new details about:
Cheshire, a new video piece by Sanford Biggers
Co-Presented with the American Jazz Museum
September 7 - October 20, 2007
WHO: Sanford Biggers in conjunction with Grand Arts and the American Jazz Museum
WHAT: Cheshire, a video projection visible on the north wall of the Gem Theater.
Tune in to 87.9 FM to hear the Cheshire soundtrack within a two-block radius of the Gem.
WHERE: At the Gem Theater, 1615 E. 18th Street across the street from
The American Jazz Museum, 1616 E. 18th Street, Kansas City, MO 64108
WHEN: Viewable evenings from dusk to dawn Sept 7 - Oct 20, 2007

PRESS RELEASESeptember 1, 2007
With the generous support of The American Jazz Museum, on the occasion of the 10 Year Anniversary of the renovation of the Historic Gem Theater, Grand Arts is pleased to present Cheshire, an outdoor video installation which is part of Biggers’ solo Grand Arts project titled Blossom.

Cheshire will be visible on the north wall of the Historic Gem Theater in Kansas City’s Jazz District, and will run evenings from dusk to dawn. Cheshire’s audio sound track can be heard outdoors at the Gem or accessed via car or portable radio on FM station 87.9, as a low-watt radio transmission within a two-block radius of the Jazz Museum.

Cheshire is a visual and conceptual meditation on themes of (in)visibility and ascension. To create the work, Biggers constructed a visual template for a scene in which a single black male wearing professional garb attempts to climb a tree. Biggers then filmed this scene with different men of various professions in locations throughout the world. Explains Biggers, “The title Cheshire references Lewis Carroll’s infamous cat from Wonderland who disappears spewing riddles or koans (Buddhist paradoxical utterances) until only his bodiless grin remains. He is as invisible as the professional Black man is in mass media today—but I am also thinking about Black men hanging out in trees, as opposed to being hung from them.”

“Blossom” is the culmination of a three-year conversation between the artist and Grand Arts. The exhibition is being realized with assistance and collaboration from: The American Jazz Museum, Gregory Carroll, Demetria Jones, Oscar Burrow, Chris Collier, Pat Jordan, Kathy Barnard Studio, Jamie Reichart, David Estey Piano Service, Virginia Commonwealth University, Mary Goldman Gallery, Akademie Scholss Solitude and Headlands Center for the Arts.
Originally from Los Angeles, CA, Sanford Biggers lives and works in New York and Richmond, VA where he teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University. Biggers received his MFA from The School of the Art Institute Chicago in 1999 and studied at The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Sanford has had solo shows at Kenny Schacter Gallery, London (2005), Triple Candie in New York (2005) and Mary Goldman Gallery in Los Angeles (2004). Group exhibitions include Black President (a tribute to Fela Kuti) at The New Museum, New York (2003), Black Belt at The Studio Museum in Harlem (2003) and Freestyle also at The Studio Museum in Harlem (2001). He was included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial and in 2001 Biggers was a resident artist at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY.

Grand Arts is open to the public and free of charge. Our gallery hours are Thursdays & Fridays from 10am-5pm, and Saturdays 11am-5pm, or by appointment.

For further information on Blossom or the Grand Arts program, contact:
Lacey Wozny
Grand Arts Assistant Director
(816) 421-6887
[email protected]



Sanford Biggers, Cheshire, 2004-2007. Work in progress image still from single channel, color DVD projection. Image courtesy the artist.