by Kelly Rogge
The Gallery at Kansas City Kansas Community College will be the host of a new art exhibit this month featuring Kansas City, Mo., artist Alexander Austin.
The exhibit is free and open for public viewing from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Thursday beginning Feb. 20. An opening reception from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 20 is also free and open to the public. The exhibit closes March 4.
If individuals would like to view the exhibit during alternate times, an appointment can be made. The Gallery is in Lower Jewell on the KCKCC main campus, 7250 State Ave.
Austin, who was born in Tallahassee, Fla., is a self-taught artist that began drawing as a young child. He was discovered when he entered his artwork into the North Florida Fair. He later gained recognition by painting murals on abandoned buildings and graffiti covered walls in the 1990s after he moved to Kansas City, Mo.
He is also the artist behind the largest mural in Kansas City, Mo., history, which was completed in 2007. Commissioned by the Cordish Co., the 18,000 square foot mural is on the southern façade of a building in the Kansas City Power and Light District. He has painted other murals for companies such as McDonalds, Google Fiber and the Kansas City Zoo and has also freelanced for Hallmark Cards.
Austin’s work has been published by Yale University Press and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York and has been featured in the Kansas City Star, the New York Times, Essence Magazine and Time Magazine.
Austin’s mural of Kansas City legend Buck O’Neil was used for the opening of the 2012 All Star Game and his work is owned by celebrities such as Will Smith, Magic Johnson and Danny Glover. The Studio Museum in Harlem lists Austin as one of the top 30 African-American artists working in the United States today.
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at KCKCC.