April 15 was Thomas Hart Benton’s birthday. Arguably the most influential painter from Kansas City he was a key figure in the regionalist art movement. But this post isn’t about Benton, it’s about Michael Mardikes.
A few years ago, I was contacted by Kevin Schwarzenberger. I’d had the pleasure of working for Kevin for several years at Scenic Road Productions. His friend,Nick Vedros had contacted him about a project with Nick’s uncle Mike. For those that have been in the agency or photography scene in KC for a while, there’s a good chance you’ve rubbed shoulders with Nick. And it turns out, photography runs in the family because his uncle Mike was a prolific photographer as well.
In late 2020, Nick’s aunt Myrt had revealed a treasure trove (1,000+) of Mike’s negatives from 1956, all featuring Thomas Hart Benton. In 1956, Mike had struck up a friendship with the painter and was given incredible access to Benton’s home, studio, and work. The result was a collection of striking black and white images, only four of which were ever published.
Nick realized what a historic collection of images his uncle had taken. With Mike now 93 years old, Nick took it upon himself to make sure those images were seen, shared and documented.
I rarely take on freelance projects and the few that I undertake, I do because I care about the project itself. And when Kevin called me, I knew it was a special opportunity. Nick directed, Kevin filmed, and I got to put the pieces together in the edit. And although the photographs were all of Thomas Hart Benton, the documentary was also about Mike, his wife Myrt, and Mike’s first visit back to Benton’s studio since the 50’s.
It was incredible to get to hear Mike’s stories and his remarkable ability to remember specific particulars about each of the images like the camera he used, the film type, camera settings, etc… With projects like this there’s a personal responsibility to make sure that you do justice to the people whose story is being told. And I felt that.
Thanks to Nick’s perseverance, an exhibition of 32 images (along with the documentary) debuted in the Mezzanine gallery at the downtown Kansas City library on November 20, 2021. The photographs are exceptional not only historically, but artistically. It was really rewarding to see Mike escorted around the gallery by Nick, seeing all of his remarkable photography on display.
Mike passed away a month later.
It was a privilege to play a small part in telling his story.
