Des Moines Art Center exhibition focuses on outer space in Planetarium

DES MOINES, IA (April 2017) On Friday, April 21, the Des Moines Art Center will open Planetarium. The exhibition runs through August 13, 2017 in the John Brady Print Gallery.

Planetarium contains work from the Art Center’s collections inspired by space. Stars, planets, comets, and the moon have fascinated humans and artists throughout history, and in these works they are viewed from perspectives infused with spirituality, speculation, and scientific analysis. Spanning centuries of work, images show a ship steering through a storm using the stars for guidance, while in another a human looks down through clouds at the tiny lights of a city far below. Albert Einstein, whose theories are indispensable to our understanding of space, time, and distance, is shown in two portraits. Featured artists include Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol. Planetarium is organized by Curator Laura Burkhalter.

RELATED PROGRAM

Tandem Gallery Dialogue
Laura Burkhalter and Physicist Dušan Danilović
Sunday, July 9 / 1:30 pm
John Brady Print Gallery

Curator Laura Burkhalter and Physicist Dušan Danilović will enter into a discussion with participants about the exhibition.


Des Moines Art Center

Recognized by international art critics as a world-class museum in the heart of the Midwest, the
Des Moines Art Center has amassed an important collection with a major emphasis on contemporary art. The collection’s overriding principle is a representation of artists from the 19th century to the present, each through a seminal work. This accounts for an impressive collection that ranges from Edward Hopper’s Automat to Jasper Johns’ Tennyson, Henri Matisse’s Woman in White, Georgia O’Keeffe’s From the Lake No. 1, Francis Bacon’s Study after Velásquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Bill Viola’s Ascension, and Cecily Brown’s Half-Bind.

The Art Center’s physical complex marries with the collection for a totally integrated experience. The collection is housed in three major buildings, each designed by a world-renowned architect – Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei, and Richard Meier. With the exception of special events, admission to the museum is free.

In September 2009, the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park opened in Des Moines’ Western Gateway Park. Philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn have provided funding for and donated 28 sculptures by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists to the Des Moines Art Center. The collection of sculptures by such artists as Louise Bourgeois, Deborah Butterfield, Willem de Kooning, Olafur Eliasson, Keith Haring, Ellsworth Kelly, Jaume Plensa, Richard Serra, Joel Shapiro, and Mark
di Suvero, is the most significant donation of artwork to the Art Center in a single gift in the museum’s history. The Pappajohn Sculpture Park was created in collaboration with the Pappajohns, the City of Des Moines, the Des Moines Art Center, and numerous corporate and private donors.