Gajin Fujita: Zephyr By mixing traditional Japanese images into his graffiti-inspired paintings, Gajin Fujita creates what he calls a "dialogue" between two cultures — his native Los Angeles and his Japanese lineage — that's repeated in exciting scenes throughout this show. In "Ride or Die," Fujita uses spray paint, acrylic, paint marker and paint stick for a vibrant portrait of a warrior atop a reeling horse. Flying arrows surround him as he proudly carries a Los Angeles flag; behind him, indecipherable letters and words fill the tagged wall. (For blushes and giggles, head to the back of the gallery for erotic paintings with titles such as "Bangin'" and "Knockin' Boots.") Through Nov. 5 at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick, 816-753-5784. (R.T.B.)
Megan Mcginnis Family photos never felt so creepy. Megan Mcginnis captures seemingly innocuous events in snapshots and then paints them with subtle changes so they're somehow scary — we're not sure why we should be weirded out, but we are. Two girls seated in front of a dollhouse in "Shared Room" look at the viewer with a blank stare; a veil of whitewash separating the girl in the background from the older girl in the foreground creates a sense of foreboding, heightening our anxiety. Mcginnis uses her camera's depth field to create a similar feeling of unease in "Big Boy," in which an adolescent boy is seated in front of a TV in what appears to be a rec room; Mcginnis has smeared a bit of paint around his eyes as the light from the basement window trickles down. Even the few smiling faces in Mcginnis' images foretell awful things. Though Oct. 28 at Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art, 2020 Baltimore, 816-421-5665. (A.E.F.)
2006 Charlotte Street Awards Exhibition Deanna Dikeman strikes us as the most worthy recipient of one of this year's Charlotte Street Awards. The series of photographs on display here, called Relative Moments, chronicles her family — in particular, her parents, aunt and son. Dikeman captures snapshotlike moments in beautiful black-and-white prints: her parents waving goodbye as she leaves for college, her father teaching her son to cut rhubarb, her mother standing at Dikeman's father's grave. The intimacy in these photographs doesn't feel voyeuristic because such experiences are so universal. We feel we know these people. Through Oct. 14 at the H&R Block Art Space, 16 E. 43rd St., 816-561-5563. (A.E.F.)
