Jeffrey E. Gundlach Building
Floor 3

The thought of making an artwork may not invoke images of hard hats and harnesses, but for those who make art in public spaces these are tools of the trade as common as any brush or tube of paint. Public art takes place at great heights and busy intersections, with heavy machinery, following the guidance of experts in fabrication and rigging and the instructions of engineers. All of this takes place alongside artists to physically make their work happen as a live audience comes and goes—and while clad in high visibility orange or yellow. Over the first ten years of its existence, the Public Art Initiative at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum has created more than sixty works by eighty artists. When these artworks are installed, sometimes for a short amount of time, sometimes permanently, they meet an audience of hundreds of thousands—the highest form of visibility an artist could ask for.

Hi-Vis is an invitational survey exhibition that celebrates the artists who have worked with the Buffalo AKG’s Public Art Initiative in its first ten years of existence. While you may recognize the works of these artists found throughout the region, you might not know the depth, the breadth, and the variety of art practices they embrace. Hi-Vis allows us to look closely and engage deeply with the practices behind the public art.

Often, the Public Art Initiative challenges artists to create their first-ever public works or to make the largest works of their career. Working in this way creates the chances for robust dialogue in shared civic spaces. Often, these conversations are led by the public, with the ensuing dialogue creating new space and novel platforms for opportunities to create, experience, and talk about meaningful aspects of our collective creative culture. As an institution, the Buffalo AKG has seen its public art as a way to more meaningfully connect with the many residents of the region by working in their neighborhoods. 

With Hi-Vis, we are overjoyed to expand those conversations with the work into the museum itself, to offer a platform for our artists in a new way, to revisit conversations with our audiences, and to celebrate what we have created together.