Home Base

FRI 6/18
We expect déjà vu to be in full effect at Friday’s closing reception at the Bank (11th and Baltimore). Homecoming consists of one-time local artists, so the mix of once-familiar faces and sort-of-recognizable art on the walls might have some visitors scratching their heads trying to figure out how they know these people.

Take us for instance. We knew we recognized Nathan Fox’s style — the flowing ink lines stirring a complex car-crash illustration. Nowadays he’s living in New York, lending his pen to Batman comic books, Real skateboards and various magazines, including Spin and The Village Voice. We knew that stuff looked familiar: He did illustrations for the Pitch around 1998.

Fox is one of 15 or so artists visiting their old stomping grounds. The closing reception is from 7 to 10 p.m. Call 816-221-5115 for details.— Michael Vennard

House Rules
Our House is full.

THU 6/17
Our House, the June 17 Indy Film Showcase, is among that rare breed of documentaries able to simultaneously entertain and trouble an audience. Director Sevan Matossian, who will sit for questions at 6:15 p.m. at the Westport Coffee House (4010 Pennsylvania) prior to the 7:30 screening at Tivoli Cinemas (4050 Pennsylvania), condenses a year of filming at a California group home for disabled adults into a pithy and often funny 84 minutes. Matossian doesn’t flinch from showing the residents — who have cerebral palsy and Tourette’s syndrome, among other challenges — at their prickliest. On the way to an outing she’s not thrilled about, for example, one young woman says, “Fuck soda. Fuck snacks. I want clothes and makeup.” Yet the beauty of the film is the ease with which the same subjects steal viewers’ hearts. Call 913-649-0244 for more information. — Steve Walker

View From the Vault

6/19-7/31
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (4525 Oak) won’t be scheduling any blockbuster traveling exhibitions until after its additions are complete in 2007. To appease the art-loving public for the next three years, the museum is putting together a series of exhibits from its extensive permanent collection. Realism and Abstraction: Six Degrees of Separation, which opens Saturday, should be a real eye-opener for people who like art but hate abstract painting. The show points out that all painting is abstract, including realistic painting, which is actually just a two-dimensional abstraction of a 3-D object. For more information, call 816-561-4000. — Theresa Bembnister