Artspace project wall
Brandon forrest Frederick: An illusive view in an illuminated field
JANUARY 2026–JANUARY 2027
Todd & Emily Voth Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute
16 E 43RD ST KANSAS CITY, MO 64111
The Emily & Todd Voth Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute is pleased to announce a new Artspace Project Wall that draws upon its 25-year history of engagement with important KCAI-affiliated artists and collaborators.
For this project, Chicago-based guest curator Madeline Gallucci (’12 Printmaking) has partnered with artist Brandon Forrest Frederick (’11 Photography) to create a new work for the Artspace’s Project Wall.
In An illusive view in an illuminated field, Frederick builds on his ongoing interest in the natural world, beauty, contemporary states of being, and photography within our physical and digital lives. In Frederick’s image, he combines gestures of landscape and still life, alongside manipulations of collage and sculpture, and then packages and compresses them within a single picture plane.
Frederick’s composition suspends time in multiple forms: where the hand has pressed and crumpled, and where gradient and light suggest a continuous space that is, at once, both flattening and infinite. An illusive view in an illuminated field explores the collapse of distance between image and material, form and concept, where gradients become spaces of transition, play, and pause. The work resists the disembodiment of digital life, offering a tactile and organic counterbalance to our collective consumption of images online.
(left) Brandon Forrest Frederick (right) Madeline Gallucci
Brandon Forrest Frederick (b. Shawnee, KS, 1988) is an artist, arts organizer, and educator based in Chicago, IL. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2011 and his MFA from the University of Arkansas in 2024.
Frederick's artistic and professional practice is rooted in collaboration, community organizing, and experimental approaches to photography. His career began in Kansas City, where he worked extensively to support artist-led initiatives and grassroots creative communities that included co-founding and directing Archive Collective (2013-2017), an experimental photography collective that hosted exhibitions, publications, and public critiques aimed at expanding dialogue around contemporary image-making, and co-directing Open House (2017–2019), an exhibition program staged in a house under construction that presented over twenty site-specific installations, performances, and free educational workshops.
In addition to his independent projects, Frederick contributed to Kansas City’s broader arts infrastructure as a program supervisor and community arts specialist at Imagine That!, supporting artists with developmental disabilities, and as a visiting artist for the Nelson-Atkins Museum’s Photo Scholars program. He was also a studio resident at the Charlotte Street Foundation and Drugstore Studios. His curatorial and collaborative efforts were supported by multiple ArtsKC Inspiration Grants, a Rocket Grant, and a Meow Wolf DIY Fund Grant.
Frederick has exhibited his work throughout the Midwest and nationally, including presentations at 21c Museum Bentonville, H&R Block Artspace, Charlotte Street Foundation, Candela Gallery, Royal NoneSuch Gallery, and Historic Arkansas Museum, as well as internationally at the CICA Museum (South Korea) and SÍM Exhibition Hall Korpúlffstaðir (Iceland). His work is part of the permanent collection of 21c Museum Hotel in St. Louis, MO.
Madeline Gallucci (b. Greensboro, NC 1990) is an artist and arts administrator living in Chicago, IL. She received her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2012 and her MFA from the University of Chicago in 2020.
Madeline’s career is deeply rooted in community engagement and artist-led initiatives developed during her time in Kansas City. After graduating from KCAI, she worked at the college in Student Affairs and taught classes in the Continuing Education Department. From 2014–2018, Madeline was Co-Director of Front/Space with Kendell Harbin, a storefront apartment located in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District repurposed for non-commercial exhibitions, readings, workshops, research, and publishing projects. During their tenure, they produced over 35 exhibitions and events, including the annual Hot Hands drawing event. Through Front/Space, Madeline and Kendell co-curated the 2016 KCAI BFA Exhibition at the H&R Block Artspace and Wild Wild Guest at Imagine That! KC in 2017. Madeline was also deeply engaged with Charlotte Street Foundation—first as an intern while a student, then as a Studio Resident from 2012–2014, and later as a recipient of the 2016 Visual Artist Award. In 2017, she curated her first exhibition under her solo curatorial platform RADAR at La Esquina.
Madeline has shown extensively in Kansas City including Plug Gallery, 21c Museum Hotel, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Curiouser & Curiouser, Hotel Phillips, Weinberger Fine Art and Special Effects Gallery. Her work is included in the collection of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Overland Park, KS). She has shown nationally and internationally in Shanghai, China, Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, New York, NY, Columbus, OH, New Orleans, LA and beyond.
Her ongoing curatorial platform RADAR supports artists through emerging and collaborative initiatives, with a specific focus on projects based in the Midwest. Under RADAR, Madeline created Roommate, a temporary exhibition series featuring two artists in her two-bedroom apartment in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood which operated from 2022-2024.
About the Artspace Project Wall
Situated on the west façade of the building and facing the intersection of 43rd and Main Streets, the Artspace Project Wall is an ongoing site for temporary public art projects featuring selected and commissioned works by national and regional artists. Since its inauguration, the Artspace Project Wall has received important support from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
About the Artspace
Dedicated to artists, exhibitions and experiences since 1999, the Emily & Todd Voth Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute presents innovative exhibitions, public programs, and commissioned projects to engage and inspire the next generation of artists, designers, and culture workers. The Artspace receives support for its programs from the Missouri Arts Council – a state agency, The Stanley H. Durwood Foundation, the Jesse Howard Fund at the Kansas City Art Institute, and from private contributions.
About the Kansas City Art Institute
Founded in 1885, the Kansas City Art Institute is one of the oldest and most respected art and design colleges in the United States. Located at 4415 Warwick in Kansas City, Mo., KCAI is a premier private, fully accredited four-year college of art and design awarding the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 13 majors. The mission of KCAI is to prepare students to transform the world creatively through art and design.