Posted by cafpress on: March 05 2010
The Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and City 2.0 present a rare conversation between curator and artist. Executive Director of CAF, Miki Garcia sat down with artist Sanford Biggers to discuss his work, thoughts about art, and take questions sent in by the public. Sanford Biggers: Moon Medicine opens on Saturday, March 6 at 7 PM and closes May 2, 2010. Stop by to see the exhibition at CAF located at the Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace.
Sanford Biggers Interview from City Two on Vimeo.
Sanford Biggers Interview/Conversation with Miki Garcia.
brought to you by City2 and CAF
CAF would like to thank Warren Schultheis and Kimberly Hahn.
Posted by cafpress on: February 24 2010
Exhibition
Sanford Biggers: Moon Medicine and Bloom Projects: Melanie Schiff, Stones
Opening Reception: SAT. MAR. 6, 7-9 PM, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum FREE
On View: MAR. 6 – MAY 2, 2010, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum FREE
Come and see the latest exhibition at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Sanford Biggers: Moon Medicine and Bloom Projects: Melanie Schiff, Stones, on view from March 6 - May 2, 2010.
The Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum presents a major West Coast exhibition of new work by internationally acclaimed artist, Sanford Biggers. The 2009 recipient of the prestigious William H. Johnson Prize, Biggers’ affecting and thought provoking work will debut at CAF with a self-titled exhibition Sanford Biggers: Moon Medicine. About the exhibition in Santa Barbara, the artist states, “Moon Medicine encompasses the breadth of my practice, showcasing photography, video, installation, and performance. It is a thematic, multi-disciplinary exploration of past themes and new themes meant to broaden and complicate our read on American history.”
Informed by living in the United States, Europe, and Japan, Biggers’ work references Buddhism, Indo- European Voodoo, African American history, jazz, hip hop culture, and a range of other influences to underscore notions of interconnectedness and hybridity. Accompanying this tour-de-force exhibition is a scholarly exhibition catalog written by CAF Executive Director, Miki Garcia. Garcia states, “We are proud to produce the artist’s first publication entirely dedicated to his practice despite showing internationally and being the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and residencies. With this exhibition and catalog, CAF succeeds in its mission to support the most compelling artists of our time and to bring world-class programming to the Tri-Counties.”
A native of Los Angeles, CA, Biggers is a resident of New York, NY, where he teaches at Columbia University, New York, NY. He received a B.A. from Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA, an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME. The 2009 recipient of the coveted William H. Johnson Prize, Biggers has won several awards (including the Creative Capital Project Grant and Camille Hanks-Cosby Fellowship) and participated in prestigious artist residencies and fellowships.
This exhibition has been made possible in part by the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Susan E. Bower, Cyndee Howard, Barry and Jill Kitnick, Jacquelyn Klein-Brown, Jon and Lillian Lovelace, Mike Healy and Tim Walsh, and Kimberly Hahn and James Van Arsdale of Myopia Design. Special thanks to Wayne McCall and Associates, Santa Barbara, CA.
Bloom Projects: Melanie Schiff, Stones
CAF is proud to present never-before-shown photographs by contemporary artist Melanie Schiff. A relative newcomer to Los Angeles, Schiff explores the cityscape, employing formal elements of the medium’s most ubiquitous type: the still life. Her stark photographs
expose how empty a city can feel and how the remnants of humans, though cast off and overlooked, can become sentimental, quiet moments wavering on the edge of a
constructed poetic narrative.
Schiff studied at University of London, Goldsmiths College, London, UK, received a B.F.A from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, New York, NY and an M.F.A. from the University of Illinois, Chicago, Chicago, IL. Her work has been in numerous exhibitions including the 2008 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY and a solo exhibition entitled The Mirror, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL. She teaches at Pitzer College, Claremont, CA.
This exhibition has been made possible in part
by the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual
Arts. Special thanks to Brush & Associates, Santa Barbara, C; Glenn
Miller and Marjorie Gies, Santa Barbara, CA; and Wayne McCall and
Associates, Santa Barbara, CA.
Posted by cafpress on: February 24 2010
Forum Lounge: Cartune Xprez, CASTL CRNRS
Performance: THUR. MAR. 4, 7 PM
Location: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace
FREE
Join us at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum on March 4, 2010 at 7 PM for Forum Lounge: Cartune Xprez, CASTL CRNRS.
Let your imagination run wild at Cartune Xprez’s CASTL CRNRS socialized performance! CASTL CRNRS combines animated videos and performance to unfold a three-part, mythical tale of a violent forest tamed and replaced with geometric systems.
Portland-based artists Peter Burr and Christopher Doulgeris are Cartune Xprez, a multimedia dance duo that use videos, music, and installations that capitalize on the abundance of digital information. By combining mediums, Cartune Xprez’s performances become social events, which are exaggerated by living animation energy. With youthful cartoon spirit, Cartune Xprez chooses material that leaves space for viewers’ imaginations and fuses many styles together. Hand-drawn, digital, structuralist, comedic, and the dark are served up with a heavy dose of mystery!
About the Forum Lounge Series: The Forum Lounge is a series of free, performance-based events that reflect CAF’s mission to sustain and encourage the artistic process by presenting art in the form of exceptional music, dance, video, and other multi-media to our community. The series encourages experiences with unique performance pieces ranging from the theatrical to the avant-garde that are normally found
only in large metropolitan venues.
Funding and support for the ‘09-‘10 Forum Lounge season generously provided by: Endevermusic Productions, the Franciscan Inn, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Official media sponsors: KCSB and the Santa Barbara Independent. Forum Lounge is presented in association with the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s 1st Thursday.
Curator's Note:
I am excited and honored to welcome March's Forum Lounge featuring artist Peter Burr, one half of the collaborative multimedia musical art duo, Hooliganship. Their work first came to my attention when they performed as part of Machine Project's Field Guide to LACMA for an all-day, performance art spectacular in November 2008. Formed with partner Christopher Doulgeris in 2005, Hooliganship is one part art collective and one part experimental band. For this month's Forum Lounge, Burr will present a performance of Cartun Xprez, a traveling roadshow of animated videos featuring live video performance in an “electro-luminescent stage show.” Inspired by Saturday morning cartoons and USA Network’s animation shows, Burr and Doulgeris remix animated imagery using the work of established artists like Martha Colburn and Alison Schulnik and add their unique brand of collaborative performance with an emphasis on social interaction. In the blurring of genres and their boundaries, Cartune Xprez is an excellent example of a trend in contemporary art practices in which artists take advantage of accessible tools (i.e. animation software) and a willingness to share artistic efforts to create new work that defies traditional categorization. CAF is actually just one stop on Peter's Cartune Xprez presentation; in addition to his performance in Santa Barbara, he is also presenting this roadshow in cities across the US including Minneapolis, LA, Reno, Oakland and Chicago.
--Heather Jeno Silva
Posted by cafpress on: February 22 2010
Posted by cafpress on: February 02 2010
Looking for something sophisticated, exciting, and different this Saturday night?
Join us this February 6th for a très chic art, fashion, and wine event! Beginning at 8 PM CAF will be transformed into a Parisian inspired, late-night lounge, offering fine art, luxury goods, and wine auctions all in support of the art and artists of our time! A haute couture fashion show by dressed/ready of Montecito; DJ Fab's sexy sounds; and delectable edibles and apéritifs await you!
Date: February 6, 2010, 8 PM until Late
Location: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Upper Arts Terrace, 653 Paseo Nuevo, Santa Barbara CA, 93101
For information and tickets: www.sbcaf.org or call 805.966.5373
CAF’s famed and cherished annual event has added a few exciting new twists! Brought to you as a late-night, lounge extravaganza inspired by the romance and sophistication of Paris, this benefit offers an array of live and silent auctions featuring exceptional wines, luxury items, and world-class artwork by internationally renowned artists and Santa Barbara’s own art luminaries including Adrienne Allebe, Amy Bessone, Calico Brown, Alejandro Casazi, Stephanie Dotson, Jayson Eoff, Julia Ford, Tera Galanti, Servando Garcia, Nancy Gifford, Penelope Gottlieb, Carlos A. Grano, Saul Gray-Hildenbrand, Kimberly Hahn, Jean-Pierre Hebert, Mary Heebner, Susan Jorgensen, Anne Luther, Hugh Margerum, Carrie Maseredjian, Bob Mask, Michael Barton Miller, Barbara Parmet, Zacarias Paul, Rafael Perea de la Cabada, Gail Pine, Harry Reese and Sandra Liddell Reese, Joan Rosenberg, Richard Ross, Warren Schultheis, Joe Shea, Dante Sigismondi, Steven Smith, Jason Sober, Kat Trajano, Patrick Turner, James Van Arsdale, Mitchell Wright, Lise Claire Wuebben, Kathleen Yorba, Seyburn Zorthian, and Pamela Zwehl-Burke.
A combined art exhibition and benefit, La Vie en Rose will blossom with a not-to-be-missed fashion show in partnership with Susan Pitcher’s iconic boutiques, dressed & ready! Induge your senses as models strut the runway in très chic creations by Halston, Yigal Azrouël, Thakoon, Mark & James by Badgley Mischka, A . L . C ., Caleen Cordero, Kimberly Ovitz, Lanvin shoes and handbags, Raquel Allegra, The Row, YSL and many more!
All attendees may participate in the silent art, wine, and luxury item auctions. For tickets, call 805.966.5373 or visit our website store http://www.sbcaf.org. Tickets from $75 - $175.
Finding that fashion must-have or Valentine’s gift is a snap with dressed/ready’sLa Vie en Rose 10% discount which will run from Jan 28th through Feb 5th; a portion of the proceeds from sales during this time will benefit CAF. While there, don’t miss the sister exhibition of Doug Wada's delicate perfume bottle watercolors. Wada’s fashionable art works will be on view and for sale from Jan 27 - Feb 4 at dressed/ready and then move to CAF on Feb 5 for La Vie en Rose. dressed/ready is located at 1253 Coast Village Road in Montecito.
Please come and preview the works up for auction at CAF during normal gallery hours from January 29 - February 5, 2010. Viewing the exhibition at CAF and dressed/ready is FREE.
All proceeds from La Vie en Rose benefit the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum’s highly acclaimed exhibitions and educational programs.
Thank you to our major supporters!American Laser Centers, Arcadian Winery, Bella Vista Designs Inc., Casa Magazine, Cheri Bibi, Design Within Reach, dressed/ready, MB Et Compagnie, Omni Fresco, Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Barbara News-PressBabcock Winery & Vineyards, Grape Wise, Heitz Cellar, RND Vodka,
Posted by cafpress on: January 18 2010
Posted on Jan 7, 2010
Forum Lounge: The Amazing Animated Jukebox Vol. 2
THUR. JAN. 7, 2010, Showings at 7PM & 8:15PM
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace
FREE 
Remember The Amazing Animated Jukebox Vol. 1?
Tune in for Vol. 2 packed chock full of wicked awesome animated tracks
compiled by Ted Mills! Starts at 7 PM sharp and rewinds for a second
time at 8:15 PM!
Kick the New Year off right with the second installment of the Amazing Animated Jukebox. Curated by local filmmaker and writer Ted Mills, the Amazing Animated Jukebox Vol. 2 screens videos from Menomena, N.A.S.A. featuring Kool Keith and Tom Waits, Death Cab for Cutie, Birdy Nam Nam, Lemon Jelly, Royksopp, Azeem, The New Pornographers, and many more. Don’t miss your fix of the latest wave in animated eye candy ranging from old-school 2-D line drawing to computer graphics and those that negotiate the subtle levels in between!
Funding and support for the ‘09-‘10 Forum Lounge season is generously provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Make Studio, and the Franciscan Inn. Official media sponsors: the Santa Barbara Independent and KCSB 91.9 FM. Forum Lounge is presented in association with the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s First Thursdays.
Posted by cafpress on: January 18 2010
Posted on Dec 3, 2009
Forum Lounge: Julie Lequin, Top 30
THUR. DEC. 3, 2009 , 7 PM
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace
FREE
Quebec-born artist Julie Lequin explores the construction of identity through role-playing and props, oftentimes with humorous results. A participant in CAF's exhibition Unusual Behavior, Lequin will present a performance piece related to her newest video work in progress Top 30.
Funding and support for the ‘09-‘10 Forum Lounge season is generously provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Make Studio, and the Franciscan Inn. Official media sponsors: the Santa Barbara Independent and KCSB 91.9 FM. Forum Lounge is presented in association with the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s First Thursdays.
Curator Note:
Julie Lequin's work blends theatrical unconvention, humor and pop culture in such a seamless, inventive manner that I immediately knew that I wanted to include her piece, Car Talk, in the Unusual Behavior exhibition at CAF. To compliment the show, I asked Julie to present her work in progress, Top 30, as a performance art piece for the Forum Lounge series. In addition to her filmmaking, Julie is a prolific sketch artist who prepares her films by creating paintings and drawings to lay out her work, scene by scene. This urge to draw and record her own history has greatly informed Top 30, a project in which Julie documents every year of her life until age 30. Using her charming drawings and humorous narrative, Julie pieces together the many places, emotions and thoughts from the past and accompanies them with a soundtrack of an actor (playing her) who sings one song that indicative of that particular year. The result is a poignant travelogue of sorts that focuses on the minute details of her life to form a revealing portrait of the artist.
--Heather Jeno Silva, Forum Lounge curator
Posted by cafpress on: January 18 2010
Posted Nov. 5, 2009
Forum Lounge: Bruce McClure, Projector Performances
THU. NOV. 5, 2009, 7 PM
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace
FREE
Using an array of modified 16mm projectors, film loops, and guitar pedals, Bruce McClure's work challenges cinematic conventions. His performances have enraptured audiences at the Whitney Biennial in ’02 and ’04 and multiple times at the Rotterdam Film Festival, and have garnered him the 2008 Alpert Award in the Arts.
Funding and support for the ‘09-‘10 Forum Lounge season is generously provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Make Studio, Endever Music, and the Franciscan Inn. Official media sponsors: the Santa Barbara Independent and KCSB 91.9 FM. Forum Lounge is presented in association with the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s First Thursdays.
Curator's Note:
I first became of aware of Bruce's projector performances at Light Industry, a film and media space in New York. Since most of my curating happens online, I do a majority of my research by visiting other organizations who present similar work. Bruce seemed a perfect fit for Forum Lounge: his work has been highly regarded by institutions like the Herb Alpert Award Foundation, for which he won a prize in 2008, and he presented a new perspective on the presentation of film and sound based on its cinematic roots. Bruce's performances incorporate the thrill of experimentalism with the specificity of a film mechanic as he translates the physicality of filmmaking into an experiential phenomenon. As a result, his work is not for the faint of heart;in addition to the flashing, throbbing lights the projectors give off, sound is a crucial element in Bruce's work. Loud is an insufficient description; thundering pulsations more aptly conveys the intensity of his work. But after you have settled into the experience, the physical shock of the visual and audio components melt into a meditative effect, where the performance becomes the background to a surprisingly introspective moment.
--Heather Jeno Silva, Forum Lounge Curator
Posted by cafpress on: January 18 2010
Forum Lounge: Jessica Findley, Aeolian Ride
THU. OCT. 1, 2009, 4 PM
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace
FREE
Photo by Sarah Clark
Inspired by a love for bikes, city cruising, critical mass, costumes, silliness, and things that inflate, Aeolian Ride is a mass participatory bicycling performance with a sense of humor. This is special outdoor collaborative event that has been performed in cities across the world. Afterwards, all are welcome to join the riders and volunteers at CAF to view video footage of the event.
Co-sponsored by the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and WheelHouse.
Funding and support for the ‘09-‘10 Forum Lounge season is generously provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Make Studio, and the Franciscan Inn. Official media sponsors: the Santa Barbara Independent and KCSB 91.9 FM. Forum Lounge is presented in association with the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s First Thursdays.
Curator's Note:
Aeolian Ride was the lovechild of a new romance between CAF and the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, a local organization dedicated to promoting and advocating for cyclists in Santa Barbara. Jessica's piece was brought to my attention by a good friend, Don Lubach, who has been following her site-specific performance rides with rapt appreciation for the last few years. When he voiced his dream to one day bring her project to Santa Barbara, I jumped on the opportunity, as it seemed the perfect chance to meld two diverse cultures--visual arts and cycling--of our local community.
Jessica has been producing Aeolian Ride in cities worldwide for the last couple of years with great success. Inspired by her own love of the two-wheeled transportation, her childlike enthusiasm and whimsical aesthetic seemed perfectly suited to a mass bicycle ride past Santa Barbara's beautiful beachscapes. As a collaborative performance art piece, I was particularly excited to include Aeolian Ride into this year's Forum Lounge series because it captures both the spirit of working together to make art and the joy of riding. Despite some logistic challenges determining the course of the ride through Santa Barbara's downtown area, we successfully gathered over 50 people outiftted in Jessica's handmade blow up costumes, pedaled them past surprised onlookers and finally met back at CAF to view footage of this mass performance piece. And what a site to behold it was.
--Heather Jeno Silva, Forum Lounge Curator
Posted by cafpress on: January 18 2010
Posted on Sep. 3, 2009
Forum Lounge: Daniel Barrow, Every Time I See Your Picture I Cry
THU. SEP. 3, 2009 - 7 PM
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace
FREE
Winnipeg-based artist and featured performer at the 2009 Time-Based Art Festival in Portland, OR, Daniel Barrow uses obsolete technologies as "manual" forms of animation by projecting, layering, and manipulating drawings on old-school overhead projectors.
Funding and support for the ‘09-‘10 Forum Lounge season is generously provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Make Studio, and the Franciscan Inn. Official media sponsors: the Santa Barbara Independent and KCSB 91.9 FM. Forum Lounge is presented in association with the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s First Thursdays.
Curator's Note:
Daniel Barrow has been producing his multimedia performances are pieces for major festivals, including TBA at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, where I first noticed his work. Based in Winnipeg, Daniel was the first non-US artist to be a part of Forum Lounge, due largely to the NEA grant we received to fund the program which increased my travel budget for artists. I was intrigued by one of Daniel's earlier pieces, Winnipeg Babysitter, in which he appropriated clips from Winnipeg's public access TV station in the 1980s. The result was--not surprisingly--hilarious and intimately revealing at the same time, like peeking into the window of a neighborhood garage where teenage kids practice their flailing musical pursuits.
The same sense of voyeurism informs the piece Daniel performed at CAF: Every Time I See Your Picture I Cry. Incorporating film, drawing, music and storytelling, Daniel uses a relic of art historian proportions--the overhead projector--to perform his piece, weaving a complex murder-mystery of a garbage man who traces the inhabitants of a city through their bedroom windows to create an independent phone book. Both eerily unsettling and compelling in its delicate aesthetic, Daniel translates the first person experience into a captivating storytelling collaboration, drawing the viewer in through the immediacy of his illustrations and the deliberate pacing of the narrative.
--Heather Jeno Silva, Forum Lounge Curator
Posted by cafpress on: January 18 2010
Forum Lounge: Susan Simpson, Exhibit A
THUR. FEB. 4, 7 PM (with a repeat performance at 8 PM)
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Paseo Nuevo Mall Upper Arts Terrace
FREE
Experimental theatre artist Susan Simpson uses intricate marionettes and unusual film projections to create captivating performances of puppet theatre. Simpson is co-founder of The Manual Archives, a micro theater and exhibition space devoted to the presentation of newly discovered and invented folklore of Los Angeles.
FREE
Curator's Note:
Now that the Forum Lounge is in its fourth year and has built a diverse audience in Santa Barbara, I strive to maintain a similarly reflective diversity in curating. Out of the 11 performances that happen over the course of the year, my goal is to program events that touch upon the many types of performance art happening across the US and internationally. Whether these events are based in music, theatre, film, or a combination of different media, my final intent is to bring captivating and revealing performance art to Santa Barbara that is indicative of larger performance art practices around the world.
For the February Forum Lounge, I'm excited to present Susan Simpson. I first became familiar with Susan's work after seeing her listed as part of REDCAT's series. Susan is a professor of Theatre at the prestigious CalArts and is also an experimental theatre artist and filmmaker who's work has won critical acclaim, including her theatrical performances at The Manual Archives. I was first drawn to Susan's unique brand of performance art because of her theatrical background and work with puppetry, an art form that combines the narrative of theatre with complex artmaking skills in puppet craft and set and lighting design. But what I find most appealing about Susan's work is the interplay between different media as she incorporates film and imagery with the production values of a theatrical endeavor. And, by drawing up on Los Angeles folklore and mythology, the subject matter becomes even more pertinent to a Santa Barbara audience.
Click here to read an article on Susan's work in the LA Times:
http://www.manualarchives.org/LA-Times-Lead-Feet-review-v.gif
I hope that you can join us for what will be an incredible evening of imaginative storytelling with a twist.
--Heather Jeno Silva, Forum Lounge Curator
Jan. 18, 2010
Posted by cafpress on: January 18 2010
Come see works by internationally renowned artists and local art luminaries beginning January 29th for the La Vie en Rose exhibition.
January 29 - February 5, 2010
La Vie en Rose: Annual Valentine's Exhibition
Adrienne
Allebe, Amy Bessone, Calico Brown, Alejandro Casazi, Nicole Cherubini,
Stephanie Dotson, Jayson Eoff, Julia Ford, Tera Galanti, Servando
Garcia, Penelope Gottlieb, Carlos A. Grano, Saul Gray-Hildenbrand,
Kimberly Hahn, Jean-Pierre Hebert, Mary Heebner, Susan Jorgensen, Ann
Luther, Hugh Margerum, Carrie Maseredjian, Bob Mask, Michael Barton
Miller, Barbara Parmet, Zacarias Paul, Rafael Perea de la Cabada, Gail
Pine, Harry Reese and Sandra Liddell Reese, Richard Ross, Warren
Schultheis, Joe Shea, Dante Sigismondi, Steven Smith, Jason Sober, Kat
Trajano, Patrick Turner, James Van Arsdale, Mitchell Wright, Kathleen
Yorba, Seyburn Zorthian, and Pamela Zwehl-Burke.
A sister exhibition of couture inspired paintings by Doug Wada will be on view from Jan 27 - Feb 4 at dressed/ready .
Page:
CAF is a non-profit, non-collecting institution dedicated to exhibiting the highest quality of contemporary art while recognizing "the artists of tomorrow," and was founded in 1976 by artists and art supporters seeking a venue dedicated solely to contemporary art. What once began as a grassroots, artist-run organization with nominal funding now serves as the leading contemporary arts presenter in Central California. CAF offers its innovative education and exhibition programming to the region primarily free of charge. There is no admission fee because CAF believes that the arts should be accessible to all audiences of all persuasions. It truly is foundations and individuals from the community that keep CAF active, inspired and alive with opportunities for artists, children, and adults to experience all the visual and performing arts have to offer.
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