Love Over Rules: An Evening with Hank Willis Thomas

Join conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas for a public conversation exploring how artists document society and shape what it means to be American. Presented on the 25th anniversary of September 11th, Thomas will also reflect on love, language, and unity as tools for collective healing — drawing on his own practice, including his neon work, Love Over Rules, sculpture Community, and photo-based work, Pledge, on view in For the People, By the People: America at 250. A moderated Q&A facilitated by Rehema Barber, KIA Director of Curatorial Affairs, will follow. Thomas holds a B.F.A. from New York University and an M.A./M.F.A. from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. He has received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, ME. Arrive early to view Thomas’s Pledge (2018), Love Over Rules (Horizon Blue) (2020), and Community (2024), all on view in the For the People, By the People exhibition! Gallery hours for this exhibition will be extended until 6 pm, and admission is included with the cost of lecture attendance. Purchase early — tickets for this highly anticipated program are likely to sell quickly! Ticket Prices: KIA Members – $10 Non-members – $15 College students – $5 Hank Willis Thomas, Community, 2024, Polished stainless steel. Courtesy the Artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Hank Willis Thomas, Love Over Rules (Horizon Blue), 2020, neon. Courtesy the Artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Hank Willis Thomas, Pledge, 2018, UV print on retroreflective vinyl, mounted on Dibond. Courtesy the Artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. This animation is simulated to demonstrate the effect of viewing the artwork with and without a camera flash. Hank Willis Thomas’s Love Over Rules on display in the gallery. Hank Willis Thomas’s Community on display in the gallery. Photo by Dan Selvidge.