Bruce Beasley, The Primacy of Form
March 21 - October 25, 2025
Pioneering sculptor Bruce Beasley transforms basic geometric shapes into mesmerizing compositions that seem to defy gravity. Working in materials from bronze and granite to Lucite, his sculptures have commanded international attention since his undergraduate years, when the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) displayed Beasley’s work with Picasso’s and Duchamp’s in a groundbreaking 1961 exhibition.
Works in The Primacy of Form were made especially for the KANEKO exhibition, which represents a culmination of Bruce Beasley’s six-decade artistic journey. His masterful balance of opposing forces – mathematical precision with organic flow, complexity with elegance – demonstrates why Beasley’s work is widely collected, frequently installed in public places, and continues to captivate audiences.
KANEKO’s soaring spaces provide the perfect setting for these sculptures, allowing visitors to appreciate their commanding presence and intricate interplay of form and light.
Exhibition Performance
In keeping with the Bruce Beasley Foundation's mission to encourage boundary-stretching programming, and support inclusion, we sponsored French conceptual dancer, performance artist and painter Yacnoy Abreu in his interactive performance titled Pilgrim | A — a movement invocation of the idea that we are all pilgrims traveling for refuse in one fashion or another.
About the Artists
Yacnoy Abreu Dutour
Yacnoy Abreu Dutour, a French visual artist and dancer with Afro-Cuban roots, brings his multidisciplinary artistry to Pilgrim – a transformative ritual that defies conventional artistic boundaries. Inspired by the relationship of movement between sculpture and dance, Pilgrim invites audiences into a profound journey of symbolic action, as well as spiritual and emotional liberation, with Bruce Beasley’s monumental sculptures serving as guardians of this sacred passage.
The performance unfolds as a contemporary pilgrimage of the soul. Throughout the journey, Abreu Dutour carries various elements and accessories, each imbued with profound significance. Each element weaves an intimate narrative that transcends the physical and ventures into the transcendent. A powerful contemporary baptism becomes the centerpiece, creating an immersive environment that dissolves boundaries between performer and audience, offering a bridge between the material world and the intangible realm of spiritual awakening.
Samantha J. Perkins (Violin)
Sam Perkins is a professional violinist in the Omaha area. She has had the opportunity to perform with Omaha area theaters such as the Rose, Bluebarn, and Ralston Community, as well as performed with artists such as Michael Bublé, Rod Stewart, Disturbed, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She has a Bachelor of Music Performance Degree specializing in Music Technology from University of Nebraska at Omaha. She was highly involved in the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Heartland Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Concert Choir, Jazz Choir, and Contemporary Music Ensemble 768. Her versatility spans a wide range of genres including classical, contemporary, fiddle, pop, and rock, which she brings into both performance and teaching. Samantha is currently Resident Artist-Faculty with the Omaha Conservatory of Music and teaching String Sprouts program at Nelson Mandela Elementary. She also teaches the Suzuki method privately as well as Suzuki Early Childhood Education classes at the Conservatory.
Mindy Zimmerman (Cello)
Mindy Zimmerman holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Music Education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she studied cello under Dr. David Low. She has been the Director of Orchestras at South High School for over twenty-three years where the orchestra program has grown from one performing class to four. In that time, she has also expanded the Music Theory program to include Honors and Advanced Placement classes. This year, she launched an innovative mentorship program that trains high school orchestra students how to give 30-minute instrumental lessons based on best teaching practices to elementary and middle school mentees free of charge. As a clinician and adjudicator, Mindy has worked with the Music for All Honors Orchestra of America, Nebraska Music Educators All-State Orchestra, Omaha Music Teachers Association, Millard Public Schools, Lincoln Public Schools, and UNO String Olympics. In November 2024, she was elected as Apprentice to the Nebraska Music Educators Director of Orchestra Affairs and will take over the position in January 2026. As a cellist, Mindy has performed for Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Michael Bublé, Billy McGuigan, The Omaha Community Playhouse, The Rose Theater, Chanticleer Theater, Bellevue Little Theater, PART, Heartland Philharmonic Orchestra, Ralston Community Theatre, and is principal cellist and owner of the Metropolitan String Quartet.
Michael Murphy (Flute / Percussion)
Michael Murphy has been a folk musician for most of his life, piano, guitar, harmonica. But in 1985 his mother passed away, and he felt that he was missing her heritage in his music. She was Scottish/Mohawk on her father’s side, and French/Huron on her mother’s, and soon he started playing the Native American Flute. When he does, he hears his mother sing again. His music has been used in a number of films and documentaries, performed in Cuba, Ireland, Mexico, and Guatemala, as well as across the US.