A ‘razzle-dazzle’ exhibit, death masks, local artists and more on display at Ulrich

Jo Reinert, the curator at the Ulrich Museum of Art on the Wichita State University campus, offered a quick take on the 25 pieces on display in the “Devan Shimoyama: Rituals” exhibition: “It’s glitter, it’s sequins, it’s vibrant color and you’re drawn to it like a magnet.”

But beyond the “razzle-dazzle,” which is also how Reinert described them, the ornate and intimate images provide a compelling, more serious take on Black experiences and gender roles.

Shimoyama, an assistant art professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, will give a free, hour-long artist talk at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 27, in 210 McKnight Art Center on the WSU campus.

Shimoyama, in his mid-30s, had his first solo exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in 2018. Since then, his work has been exhibited in galleries and art centers across Europe and major U.S. cities.

His works are inspired by fantasy, science fiction, pop culture, mysticism and more, along with drag performances he saw in various cities and the churchgoers from the Baptist church he attended in Philadelphia as a child.

“Rituals” brings together 24 of Shimoyama’s 2D pieces from private and institutional collections —including his 2019 “Togetherness Eclipse” work that’s part of the Ulrich’s collection — and from different series of his works.

“We are only the second U.S. museum that has combined various series of his,” Reinert said.

A sole 3D piece, a tower sculpture, has its debut in the Ulrich exhibition.

In another publication, Shimoyama talked about the meaning behind using gems and glitter in his art.

“I think of it as a way for people to present a better version of themselves that feels brighter, shinier, perhaps more luxurious but on a dime,” he said in the 2023 El País article.

For add-on experiences with the exhibition, there is a reading list handout of seven books recommended by Shimoyama with five of the seven books available to flip through in the gallery, plus augmented reality versions of a few of the works.

In the AR versions, which can be accessed by QR codes and the Adobe Aero app, eyes blink, heads nod and a razor moves in a barbershop scene. The animations were created by a team of four students and a faculty member in the WSU digital arts program.

Along with “Devon Shimoyama: Rituals,” three other exhibitions are currently on view at the Ulrich.

“Jim Riswold’s American Death Part I,” through May 25.

A former copywriter for a global ad agency in Portland, Riswold was the creative mind behind memorable TV commercials that included unexpected pairings — including the campaigns featuring Spike Lee and Michael Jordan and Bo Jackson and Bo Diddley for Nike and Grace Jones and Adam Ant for Honda scooters — in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Diagnosed with leukemia in 2000, he retired five years later and applied his irreverent creativity and satirical storytelling to making art, often making fun of dictators or tragic figures.

He also created various series of death masks of figures like iconic filmmaker John Ford and the short-lived cartoon pitchman Frito Bandito, both of which are part of the 12 masks on display at the Ulrich. The exhibition includes 13 photographs.

Around the same time, Riswold started making art, James Ackerly Porter, now the Ulrich’s exhibition designer and production manager, and Riswold became close friends after a chance meeting at the Tacoma Art Museum where Porter worked and the discovery of a shared love of rock poster graphic designer Frank Kozik’s vinyl toys.

About a year ago, Porter — who often helped source material for Riswold’s creations — asked the artist about staging a show at the Ulrich.

“I wanted a kind of retrospective of his work, but he wasn’t into that at all,” Porter said. Riswold told him he had several of his death masks available instead, so Porter arranged to have the first set, the part one in the exhibition’s name, crated and shipped to the Ulrich.

The original plan was to swap out the first series for a second series halfway through the exhibition’s run, but Riswold’s death in early August thwarted that idea.

“The Ulrich Co-Lab: Homegrown,” through June 12.

Nine artists were asked to create artworks inspired by pieces from the Ulrich’s permanent collection. Each artist, selected by Harvester Arts, was assigned two pieces to respond to: one that was assigned only to that particular artist and the second that was also assigned to another artist. The inspiration pieces included works by well-known artists, including Joan Miro, Andy Warhol and Robert Motherwell.

Vivian Zavataro, the Ulrich’s executive and creative director who curated the exhibition, said she had studied each artist’s practice and media to help align the nine-month assignments.

“The results are incredible,” she said.

“Homegrown” is the third phase of the “Ulrich Co-Lab” project, a four-phase “curatorial experiment” in creating different ways to experience art. Zavataro came up with the concept and research as part of her doctoral dissertation.

As part of the “Homegrown” experience, visitors can rank the inspiration pieces from one to nine. The top three vote-getters will be included in a culminating “Ulrich Co-Lab” exhibition later this year.

Several of the participating artists will be part of an artists panel during the Ulrich’s Senior Wednesday programming on March 19. Following 10 a.m. refreshments, the free program will start at 10:30 a.m.

“Listening Devices: The Photographer and New Perspectives,” through July 12.

Nineteen prints — inspired by Carrie Mae Weems’ 2014 photo-etching called “Untitled (Listening Devices)” that depicts different communication devices — comprise this exhibition, which is displayed in a gallery set up to resemble a darkroom.

All but two of the gelatin silver prints in the exhibition are from the Ulrich’s permanent collection. Gelatin silver printing was the most common chemical process used to create black-and-white photography.

Curated by Reinert and Zavataro, the exhibition is meant to look beyond the printed images and to consider how cameras can become listening devices in the hands of photographers making statements.

One of the prints, for example, is Gordon Parks’ “Emerging Man, Harlem.” Parks had created the print to run with a 1952 Life magazine article on Black writer Ralph Ellison’s first novel “Invisible Man.”

Admission to the Ulrich Museum, 1845 Fairmount, is free. Hours were recently updated and are now 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information, call 316-978-3664 or visit ulrich.wichita.edu.

This story was originally published February 23, 2025 at 3:41 AM.