Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum becomes Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara
Dasha Shishkin: erry icket
Bloom Projects: Edgar Orlaineta, Katsina Horizon
July 7–September 8, 2013
MCA Santa Barbara
653 Paseo Nuevo
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
A long-standing West Coast anchor for creative expression and the only venue between Los Angeles and San Francisco focused solely on contemporary art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCA Santa Barbara), formerly known as Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF), presents its inaugural exhibition with New York-based artist Dasha Shishkin and a solo project by Mexico City-based Edgar Orlaineta. Set for Fourth of July weekend, the opening kicks off a month-long celebration, which includes a community-wide open-house event, artist meet-and-greets, a VIP Founders Circle reception, and new public outreach initiatives, such as the Visiting Artist Summer Series.
Founded in 1976, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum (CAF) presented a distinguished roster of exhibitions and publications over the course of its 37 years. Artists include Ann Hamilton, Ed and Nancy Kienholz, and Wayne Thiebaud, and more recently Sanford Biggers, EV Day, and Mario Ybarra, Jr. The new MCA Santa Barbara will remain a kunsthalle, operating as a non-collecting, non-profit museum, with increased dedication to innovative and experimental contemporary art and performance. “We have always functioned as an incubator for new ideas and risk-taking artwork,” explains Miki Garcia, Executive Director, MCA Santa Barbara. “As we position ourselves to be a contemporary art museum for the 21st century, we are both adaptive and responsive, acknowledging our potential to serve an increasingly larger audience.” Garcia’s thoughts are reflected in the new mission statement: MCA Santa Barbara advances creativity and inspires critical thinking through meaningful engagement with the art of our time.
The exhibition, Dasha Shishkin, errry icket comprises new work specifically created and conceived for MCA Santa Barbara’s main galleries. Internationally recognized, Shishkin has garnered attention for her large, colorful drawings on semi-transparent mylar surfaces, which utilize a variety of media including acrylic, ink, and conté. While the work is figurative in nature, evoking fable-like qualities, Shishkin eschews any concrete narrative. Rather, her complex compositions broadly contemplate themes of romance, eroticism, humor, and the grotesque.
Born in Moscow, Russia, Shishkin currently lives and works in New York. She received an MFA from Columbia University, New York (2006), and a BFA from the New School for Social Research, New York (2001). Shishkin has recently shown in solo exhibitions at the following: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; Gio Marconi, Milan; Griffelkunst, Hamburg; Andreas Grimm, Munich; Zach Feuer Gallery, New York; Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles; and group exhibitions at Denver Art Museum and Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg.
For MCA Santa Barbara’s Bloom Projects, Mexico City-based artist Edgar Orlaineta will create Katsina Horizon, inspired by folk and modern arts and crafts: the Hopi Kachina dolls of the American Southwest and mid-century Alexander Girard wooden dolls. The doll-sculptures in this installation are made with natural materials (from trees that have fallen naturally) using traditional lathe-turning wood techniques. Orlaineta’s works are influenced by modernist design and its legacy and combine hybrid forms where modernist ideals and contemporary realities collide.
Orlaineta received an MFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and a BFA from Escuela Nacional de Pintura y Grabado, Mexico City. His work has been shown at Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles; Casa Estudio Luis Barragan, Mexico City; Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York; and Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. He is represented by Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City.
About MCA
The Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara (MCA Santa Barbara) is a non-profit, non-collecting museum dedicated to the exhibition, education, and cultivation of the arts of our time. The premier venue for contemporary art between Los Angeles and San Francisco, MCA Santa Barbara is located at the Paseo Nuevo Shopping Center.
Media contact:
Jenn Kennedy: T (805) 966 5373 x104 / press [at] mcasantabarbara.org
