Subtle Questions

When Kansas City Art Institute graduates Mel Ziegler and Kate Ericson began working together in the mid-’80s, the art world wanted either the brutally provocative or the shamelessly solipsistic. Ziegler and Ericson, meanwhile, developed restraint and an almost polite resistance that went underappreciated. Ziegler and Ericson routinely chose insinuation over indictment, more interested in asking what something didn’t mean than in mandating outrage, guilt or shame. During their exhibit House Monument, they ran a newspaper ad, soliciting a buyer for lumber inscribed with literary quotes about the meaning of home and the idea of ownership. Was it a comment on sustainability, DIY mercantilism wrought by 20th-century capitalism, or the uselessness of art? It’s hard to say, but it’s apparent that the artists weren’t bludgeoning the viewer into conclusions. And that approach, more than a decade on, continues to be refreshing.
America Starts Here, at the H&R Block Artspace (16 East 43rd Street, 816-561-5563), showcases a decade of the duo’s work, from 1985 until Ericson’s death from cancer. The show begins with a 6 to 8 p.m. reception tonight.

Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Tuesdays-Fridays, 12-5 p.m. Starts: June 9. Continues through Sept. 29, 2007