Klaus NOMI & Kenny SCHARF: Time SPLAT!
August 24-December 5, 2026
Bob Rauschenberg Gallery ANNEX
8099 College Parkway (Bldg. J/Library-Lobby-Room 118), Fort Myers, Florida 33919
No Opening festivities, but a “Closing Reception” with Artist Kenny Scharf and related events to be announced as confirmed.
Free and Open to the Public.
Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday 10am-4pm (except holidays)
The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College (FSW) is proud to present “Klaus Nomi & Kenny Scharf: Time SPLAT!” – a landmark exhibition celebrating the synergistic creativity and era-defining work of two seminal artists who helped shape the late 1970s and early ’80s East Village/New York City downtown/underground. An immersive installation, Time SPLAT! bridges the gap between Kenny Scharf’s signature, ethereal “Pop Surrealist” landscapes and characters and the highly-theatrical, extraterrestrial persona of the late, now legendary performer Klaus Nomi. On view from August 24 through December 5, 2026 in the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery Annex (J-118), this exhibition invites visitors to witness the enduring legacy of these visionaries who dared to imagine a more colorful, queer and otherworldly reality.
A Collision of Street Art, New Wave, and Operatic Futurism
Time SPLAT! serves as more than a retrospective; it is a vivid exploration of a shared aesthetic universe that remains startlingly relevant today. Visitors will experience a playful yet profound collision or “splat” of time – where Kenny Scharf’s recurring motifs of cartoonish joy and nuclear-age anxiety meet Klaus Nomi’s operatic, avant-garde futurism. A selection of Scharf’s vibrant paintings, transformed found-objects, uniquely customized clothing and cosmic printed editions are presented in direct dialogue with vintage artifacts, stageworn costumes, props and rare performance documentation capturing Nomi’s tragically brief yet spectacular career. Together, these elements mark a pivotal moment in art history when New Wave music, Street Art and high-concept performance met, merged and forever reshaped contemporary culture.
About the Artists:
Kenny Scharf rose to prominence in the East Village during the late 1970s alongside close friends and collaborators like Ann Magnuson, Joey Arias, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Renowned for his street-art-infused canvases, mind-altering installations and playful “Pop Surrealist” iconography, Scharf’s career spans over four decades. Since his inclusion in the 1985 Whitney Biennial and early immersive environments like his famous Cosmic Caverns, Scharf has been the subject of over 100 solo exhibitions worldwide. His notable museum retrospectives and major surveys include shows at the Pasadena Museum of California Art (2004), the Hammer Museum (2015), the Nassau County Museum of Art, The Brant Foundation (2024–2025), and MAM Shanghai (2025). Scharf was also prominently featured (alongside Klaus Nomi) in MoMA’s landmark 2017 exhibition, Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, 1978–1983. His work is held in permanent collections across the globe, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Broad, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Klaus Nomi (born Klaus Sperber in Immenstadt, Bavaria, 1944–1983) worked as an usher at the Deutsche Opera in West Berlin before moving to New York City in 1972. While working as a pastry chef and nightclub singer, he embedded himself in the downtown scene. Possessing an extraordinary countertenor vocal range, Nomi captivated audiences by blending rock, disco and cabaret with operatic arias—spanning compositions from Henry Purcell and Saint-Saëns to covers of Elvis Presley, Chubby Checker and Donna Summer. Nomi’s highly stylized aesthetic—including his iconic, geometric tuxedo inspired by Dadaist Tristan Tsara and David Bowie—led to a career-defining performance backing Bowie on Saturday Night Live in 1979, an RCA recording contract, and international tours. Tragically, Nomi became one of the first prominent public figures to die of AIDS-related complications on August 6, 1983. Leaving an indelible mark on music, fashion and visual art, his ashes were scattered over the New York City he helped redefine – while his papers/archive has been more recently acquired by Harvard University’s Special Collections.
Exhibition Details & Visitor Information
Special Events: Please note there will be no formal opening festivities. Details regarding a Closing Reception featuring artist Kenny Scharf and additional related programming will be announced as confirmed.
Exhibition: Klaus Nomi & Kenny Scharf: Time SPLAT!
Dates: August 24 – December 5, 2026
Location: Bob Rauschenberg Gallery Annex (Building J-118), Florida Southwestern State College, 8099 College Parkway, Fort Myers, FL 33919
Admission: Free and open to the public
Gallery Hours: Monday–Saturday, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Closed holidays)
Additional announcements will follow in coming weeks and months as lectures, performances and special events are confirmed in conjunction with the exhibition.
Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at FSW
The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery was founded as The Gallery of Fine Art in 1979 on the Lee County campus of Florida Southwestern State College/FSW (then Edison Community College). On June 4th 2004, the Gallery of Fine Art was renamed the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery to honor and commemorate our long-time association and friendship with the artist. Over more than three decades until his death, the Gallery worked closely with Rauschenberg to present world premiere exhibitions including multiple installations of the “¼ Mile or Two Furlong Piece.” The artist insisted on naming the space the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery (versus the “Robert Rauschenberg Gallery”) as it was consistent with the intimate, informal relationship he maintained with both our local Southwest Florida community and FSW. For the dedication ceremony, the artist (as he often did) created an original print edition to benefit the Gallery and to commemorate this important event. As he had recently suffered a stroke, Rauschenberg inked his thumb with orange pigment, adding a unique impression on each lithograph and simply signed them “Bob.”
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