Mimi O Chun: It's all cake
|
New York-based artist Mimi O Chun’s first solo museum exhibition presents all-new soft sculptures produced over the past year and a half—a time marked by the global COVID-19 pandemic, a polarized political climate, and a civil uprising for racial justice. Chun explains that “these cultural, political, and economic winds formed a perfect storm that have exposed and exacerbated the structural inequities of a late capitalist economy.” The soft sculptures in Mimi O Chun: It’s all cake prompt viewers to reexamine the reality of this time, reckoning with illusions influenced by popular culture and consumerism. For example, the plush sculpture Prime Hermit (2021) is a handmade version of a single-use delivery envelope—white with bright blue text and a yellow sticker—that once held an item ordered from Amazon. Inside the discarded package is a stuffed coral-colored hermit crab peeking out from its repurposed home. The sculpture is simultaneously adorable and disturbing as it points to human consumption and its effect on the natural environment. One might find a sympathetic connection with the hermit crab when considering the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic required us to seek shelter and use online ordering to avoid interactions with others.
Download PDF |
Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes
|
A dark silhouette squats in a contemplative position with arms spread outward and head bowed. Suspended in a sky of blue, the figure’s gesture is simultaneously vulnerable and vast as it balances within the patterned frame of an 8-foot weaving. Somewhere between the color of dusk and night, the blue woven yarn is radiantly deep and speckled with flecks of white as if stars making their first appearance in the night sky. When looking at survival is a shrine, not the small space near the limit of life by Diedrick Brackens, one can almost imagine an atmosphere filled with the vibration of celestial beings and the static hum of creatures settling for the long night. The colors—black, dark gray, blue—are distinct and yet variations of the same palette that close the gap between body and cosmos. In a new series, including large-scale weavings and premiering the artist’s first woven sculptures, Diedrick Brackens: ark of bulrushes tells a timeless narrative about emancipation and remediation through pattern, body, and the power of craft.
Download PDF |
The Hopper Prize
|
The question “What makes art contemporary?” often arises in conversations when looking at contemporary art, and I seem to reflect on this question when asked to select artists whose work deserves recognition in the form of an award. Art historian Terry Smith wrote that “place making, world picturing, and connectivity are the most common concerns of artist these days because they are the substance of contemporary being.”* This is true that artists who cover topics about “contemporary being” are those dealing with the most current issues, such as environmentalism, reforming modernisms, postcolonial rehabilitation, and politics (plus its ripple effect), among other things. Read more.
|
Marigolds, Horses, and a Diamond: Jill Magid's "The Proposal"
|
In a minimal black ring box with white interior cushions rests a 2-carat blue diamond set on a silver band. Unlike most, this diamond is formed from the cremated remains of Mexican architect Luis Barragán (1902–1988). The ring and its proposal are part of an intricate story involving the deceased architect, his archives, and a corporation in Jill Magid's multi-part project "The Proposal."
COMING SOON . . . |
Asher Hartman and Cliff Hengst / MATRIX 264
|
Exhibition brochure for Asher Hartman and Cliff Hengst / MATRIX 264 at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Download PDF |
Carey Leibowitz Loves Andy Warhol
|
Cary Leibowitz loves Andy Warhol, as he has stated in his paintings and interviews. The repeated sentiment, meant to express fandom and admiration rather than suggest a personal relationship, makes one think of a teenage obsession with a favorite celebrity. In conjunction with the exhibition Carey Leibowitz: Museum Show at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco.
Read ESSAY |
The 46th Annual UC Berkeley MFA Graduate Exhibition
|
Exhibition brochure for the 2016 UC Berkeley MFA Graduate Exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Download PDF |
The 45th Annual UC Berkeley MFA Graduate Exhibition
|
Exhibition brochure for the 2015 UC Berkeley MFA Graduate Exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Download PDF |
David Ireland's 500 Capp Street: Making Visible a Complex Matrix of Relationships |
Masters thesis on the artist David Ireland and his most significant artwork, his home at 500 Capp Street in San Francisco.
Download PDF |
MANY PLACES at ONCE |
Exhibition catalogue for Many Places at Once at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, including a curatorial essay and interviews with the artists. Edited by Marie Martraire, Julian Myers-Szupinska, and Lauren R. O'Connell.
Download PDF |
Interview with Tony Labat |
Artist Tony Labat discusses performance, documentation, the rituals of cleaning, and his collaboration in 1978 with artist David Ireland at 500 Capp Street in San Francisco.
Read INTERVIEW |
Intervention in Everyday Space: Renata Lucas' Cruzamento |
Through a simple intervention in the physical space of an urban street intersection, Brazilian artist Renata Lucas' Cruzamento (Crossing, 2003) shifts the perception of the commuters’ everyday routine to draw attention to the socio-political context of the site.
Read ESSAY |
Impermanence and Death of an Iconic Building: The Nakagin Capsule Tower |
This paper considers the concept of impermanence of a building—which is at the ideological core of the Metabolist vision—and the actual living conditions of the Nakagin Capsule Tower in order to reevaluate the argument to preserve this iconic building.
Read ESSAY |
Arriving at the Beginning: Interview with Cydney Payton
|
Cydney Payton, former director and chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, discusses architecture, social space, collaboration, and the future of curatorial practice.
Read INTERVIEW |
Intermediary Space: Locating formal relationships in SFMOMA's Field Conditions |
Exhibition review of Field Conditions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from September 1, 2012 to January 6, 2013.
Read ESSAY |
