The Indianapolis Museum of Contempory Art (iMOCA) will exhibit Frank Warren’s PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God, August 6 through September 18. The opening reception is August 6, 6-11 p.m. at iMOCA, located inside the Murphy Art Center in Fountain Square.  It will feature the original postcards Warren received during a community art project where people anonymously mail in their secrets.

The senders created a handmade piece of artwork on one side with the secret which ranged anywhere from,” I send birthday cakes to people on Death Row.”  to “I jerk off to other people’s Facebook photos.” Warren posts the images and confessions every Sunday on his website: www.postsecret.com.

“This project has shown me that art can be like a new tongue that allows us to speak and pray in ways that might otherwise be impossible,” says Warren. “And if we listen, we may come to understand that we are always on our spiritual journey—even when we feel most lost.”

The website receives more than 6,000,000 visitors per month. The popularity of the website led to several books of the postcards being published, all of which made the New York Times bestseller list. Most recently the book “PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God” (the namesake of the art exhibition) released in October 2009 hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Warren’s PostSecret project is also credited to “moving the cause of mental health forward” by the National Mental Health Association and raised over $200,000 for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

iMOCA is open Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and closed on holidays. Admission is free and made possible by The Efroymson Family Foundation, The Murphy Art Center, The Haddad Family Foundation, and The Nicholas H Noyes Jr. Memorial Foundation.

The exhibition was organized International Arts &Artists, Washington, D.C. in cooperation with Frank Warren.

Projected Curiosity: installation and automated sculpture by Jeffrey S. Martin and Brose Partington

OPENING: Dec. 4 from 6-11pm
iMOCA
1043 Virginia Avenue, Suite 5
Indianapolis, IN
317.450.6630
Admission is FREE

We will be closed December 24th, 25th and December 31st for the holidays.

After five years at 340 N. Senate Ave. on the west side of Downtown, iMOCA has moved to a newly renovated 2,000-square foot space on the main floor of the Murphy Art Center which has been dubbed the “Temporary Contemporary.”  The new space is in the Fountain Square neighborhood, just down the street from iMOCA’s future permanent home, a 6,500-square-foot exhibition space on the second floor of a new building at the corner of Virginia Ave. and McCarty Street. The new building is planned to open in Spring 2011 and is a project of local architect and developer Craig Von Deylen.

A pair of Indianapolis-based artists will be the first featured in iMOCA’s Temporary Contemporary  in the Murphy Art Center in Fountain Square when their show of installation and sculpture opens Dec. 4

Jeffrey S. Martin and Brose Partington’s show, Projected Curiosity, runs through January 16th.

Martin’s work focuses on connecting with the audience, finding common ground.

“I am most interested in creating a dialogue with the viewer that is derived from a common experience,” Martin said. “I do not limit my work to any one medium, but rather utilize a variety of traditional and non-traditional media to make this connection.”

He said his goal is to create a form of escapism and suspend time. “A disconnection to the outside world is achieved,” Martin added. “Ultimately, it is an experience that I am creating for the viewer. In doing so, I am attempting to cross barriers between media and expand barriers of what has traditionally been perceived as art.”

Partington’s work focuses on motion and how it effects time, patterns, and the cycles of history. “I have represented my ideas about movement through the use of motors, electronics, and the mechanisms I develop,” he said. “Although the creation of the idea and the mechanism are distinctly different processes, if the work is successful, there is an inevitable and natural reconciliation of the two.”

Recently, Partington’s work has explored the natural world versus mankind’s created world. “This work reflects the inherent conflict of space between humans and nature, and it emphasizes how those elements can interact differently,” he said. “I want to continue to investigate these ideas and create ways to represent them in urban and natural environments, but instead of using motors and electronics I want to incorporate the existent kinetic energy of objects to power my works.”

Micro-interview with Jeffrey S. Martin

Why are you excited about this show?
Most of the opportunities that exist for installations are 1-2 day events and take place in alternative venues. Private galleries need to make sales to survive, therefore it can be counter-productive for a venue to devote it’s space to an experience based medium. Since IMOCA is a museum, it isn’t dependent on sales for financial stability and allows it to showcase a wide variety of exhibits. I’m excited to have the opportunity to exhibit an installation in a formal space for more than just a day or two. This will allow more visitors the chance to experience the piece for the first time or to re-visit it many times.

How will it be challenge?
Installation art inherently follows a different set of rules than object-based medias. Many times, you don’t know exactly how a piece will work until it is set up in the space. Some preliminary work can be done ahead of time, but for the most part, the majority of the work is done in a very short amount of time. This element of working against the clock is very exciting and one of the most challenging aspects of installation art.

How the ideas came to you for the pieces you plan on making for the show and/or the meaning behind the pieces?
Switch (working title) is rooted in childhood wonderment. As I observe my own children interacting with their environment and asking questions about things that I hadn’t thought about since I was a kid. “Why do I have a shadow?” “Why does it follow me?” “Does everybody have one?’ etc… As I re-live this curiosity through my children, I ask myself “How can I recapture a piece of this and share it with others?”  I have chosen to utilize the night light, a universal standard in children’s rooms, to engage the viewer through a common experience. Ultimately the piece is about exploring cause and effect. The goal is to do it in a visually interesting way that recalls the common experiences and wonderment of childhood.

Conditioning p2 (One time I fell and scraped my knee.)
This piece is part two in a series of three installations that explore a journey by dividing it into nine stages. The first piece (Conditioning) explored the first three: Temptation, Trepidation, and Departure. They were presented to the viewer while he/she was riding a slow moving motorized merry-go-round. Because riding a merry-go-round as a child is an experience most people have had, it immediately laid a foundation for accessibility.

Conditioning p2 goes on to explore the stages four through six: Elation, Obstacle, and Frustration. Once again the installation is based upon a specific experience. As we age, many people have to have an MRI for one reason or another. It is this common experience that allows for an immediate connection to the viewer.

Another important element of this series is the sound, specifically the constant droning of the bass and the disclaimer. They were present in p1, again in p2, and will be in p3. They are representative of the constants in our lives whether they be literal, metaphorical, or the ridiculous.

Micro-interview with Brose Partington:

Why are you excited about this show?
I’m excited to show my new body of work in my hometown of Indianapolis, where people have seen me grow and develop as an artist. These new sculptures reflect some of the ideas I’ve learned from my travels and exhibits abroad.

How will it be challenge?
The challenge for me was to utilize everyday machines used in construction or household activities and repurpose them in a new way that reflects cyclical patterns of development, comparable to how a society evolves and changes. I hope that this new creation from an old machine will spark curiosity in my audience, so that they can look at an everyday object and see it a bit differently.

How the ideas came to you for the pieces you plan on making for the show and/or the meaning behind the pieces?
Actually, Indianapolis has factored into the creation of this exhibit, as most of my ideas for this show came from watching the machinery used in the construction and growth of the city.

Above: From left to right: “Bureaucrat” by Jeff Martin. “Untitled” by Brose Partington

Phenomenon

On October 9 at 6 p.m., the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) celebrates the opening of its latest exhibition, “Phenomenon,” featuring Indianapolis artists Casey Roberts and Lori Miles. The show includes their interpretations of unexplained phenomenon such as UFOs and Sasquatch and is linked with a series of events featuring internationally known experts on these topics.

The The show runs at iMOCA through November 21, 340 N. Senate Avenue. It is linked with the Big Curiosities series at Central Library that features lectures by internationally known Bigfoot expert Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum and UFO expert Stanton Friedman.

Miles, an assistant professor of art at DePauw University who works in sculpture and installation, has a long-standing interest in exploring the unexplained and the unexplainable. “I love information that can’t be acquired by traditional methods of inquiry — religion, art, and marginalized ideas/ideology like UFOlogy — those things that can’t be proven or verified or studied into existence,” she said.

And Miles isn’t sure if she believes in alien life or not. “I don’t really care, actually. What I know is that I can’t live in a world where everything is known. The types of knowledge I’m in love with can’t be evidenced, they can’t even be seen, but they instead require an intuitive type of belief- the leap of faith — to trust what we know, internally, to be true.”

Likewise, Roberts’s work, which is created through a photochemical process called cyanotype, often illustrates a fantastic landscape and represents nature’s subtle way of dealing with the peculiar aspects in the relationship with mankind.

“A giant glow-in-the-dark heart, or a pile of precious gems tells us that we are loved, just as blood squirting from an oak tree trunk says, all is not well. I am inspired by my conversation with the landscape, I imagine long monologues when pine forests make me laugh and mountains test my patience.”

Miles received her BFA in sculpture from Herron School of Art and Design and MFA in sculpture from University of Notre Dame. Roberts also attended Herron School of Art. He received the Lilly Endowment’s Creative Renewal Fellowship and the Efroymson Contemporary Art Fellowship.

Read about phenomenon on Metromix.com>>

Exhibition made possible through the support of the Arts Council of Indianapolis, GenCon, Hotbed Creative, Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, and 92.3 WTTS.

The Cursed Chateau

Artist/curator Timothy Hutchings has collected a disparate band of contemporary artmakers, including performance artists, digital artists, sculptors, painters, musicians and various in-betweens, all united by a direct or indirect relationship to role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons.  Hutchings has shoved these artists into the unaccustomed role of illustrators for the role playing game  adventure book “The Cursed Chateau”, written by James Maliszewski.

The participating artists include Chris Bors, Olaf Breuning, Jeffrey Brown, Kitty Clark, Alex DeMaria, Don Doe, Giovanni Fenech, Andrew Guenther, Ketta Ioannidou, Josh Jordan, Matt Lock, Fiona Macneil, Chris Patch, Jason Phillips, Owen Rundquist, Rebecca Schiffman, Siebren Versteeg, Todd White, Sherry Wong, Kadar Brock and Steve Zeiser.  Also contributing are the old school game illustrators Pixie Bledsaw and the renowned Erol Otus.

Concurrent with the exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art will be a related booth at GenCon, a yearly gaming convention hosted in Indianapolis.  GenCon is the most important game event in the world, attracting tens of thousands of visitors and acting as a platform for major industry releases and premieres.  This year, GenCon runs August 13 – 16, more information on the convention is available at www.gencon.com.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Arts Council of Indianapolis, GenCon, Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, Hotbed Creative, and 92.3 WTTS.

Das my i$H

The color for a 25^th anniversary is silver… but expect swirls and explosions of bright shades at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art when “Ish” celebrates 25 years as an abstract graffiti artist.

For Das my i$H, which opens Feb. 6 and runs through April, the artist (Ismael Muhammed Nieves) will transform the iMOCA galleries into his “crib.” This unofficial retrospective features such paintings as  “Babylon Gone #5″ and “Clap Your Hands”, along with several installations and even a sculpture of a chair with wild, flowing lines.

The exhibition of paintings and sculpture is sure to recharge the soul during the grey, dreary Indiana winter.

“My art is a lot of line work—shapes, images and moments formed by loose lines,” Ish said. “For me, drawing a line is equivalent to performing prayer. There has to be a trust that what you’re thinking and/or what you’re engaging in will manifest itself close to your intention.”

As befitting a Purdue graduate with a degree in electrical engineering, Das my i$H is sectioned into parts, all working together in a closed circuit.

Das my i$H is part of a partnership with the Indianapolis Public Schools, which features Ish and seven other artists on an interactive DVD to be used by more than 20,000 schoolchildren.

Ish became exposed to street art while growing up on the lower East Side of Manhattan. The work of this self-taught artist has been shown in solo exhibitions at the Indiana University Gallery for Contemporary Art, South Shore Arts in Munster, Purdue University Calumet and the CISA Gallery, among others. He has been part of group exhibitions at the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute and South Shore Arts.

Exhibition possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.

Hansel and Gretel: Never Eat a House

In the fairytale, a hungry Hansel and Gretel are lured to the witch’s house in hopes of a meal. By contrast, Hansel and Gretel: Never Eat a House from the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) is a feast of irreverent, thought-provoking contemporary art.

The exhibitions are part of collaboration with the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library and the Indianapolis Opera. iMOCA’s portion consists of modern takes on the dark fairytale from the Brothers Grimm–typical of the only Indianapolis museum dedicated to emerging contemporary art.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.
Above: Christoph Niemann

____________________

September 26 – November 1, 2008

Doppio Songo Dell’ Arte (Art’s Double Dream)

Some of the beautiful artwork in Doppio Sogno Dell’Arte includes delicate engravings by Alberto Burri, explosions of color by Sam Francis and the geometrical dreams of Basaldella. Other artists represented include Enzo Cucchi, Victor Pasmore, Amaldo Pomodoro, Henry Moore, George Segal and Louise Nevelson.

The exhibit’s promotion of an art form without borders, as well as its emphasis on graphic design from the 1970s to the present, dovetails with the mission of iMOCA. It is the only museum in Indianapolis dedicated to showcasing original, groundbreaking contemporary and modern art.

After successful showings in Milan and Chicago, Doppio Sogno Dell’Artearrives in Indianapolis thanks to some Italian help. “I wish to thank Dr. Carlo Romeo, the Italian consul in Detroit, who has been instrumental in generously allowing iMOCA to present Doppio Sogno Dell-Arte,” Nagler said. “My thanks also to Paola Santini for alerting me to this high-quality show and helping us bring it to Indianapolis.”

iMOCA’s goals include stimulating minds and inspiring new discoveries.Doppio Sogno Dell’Arte will inspire viewers to think—perhaps dream—in new ways about graphic art.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.
Above: Alexander Calder: Presenza Grafica, 1972, etching and aquatint on zinc plate.

____________________

July 22 – September 6

Chakaia Booker: The Making of a Public Art Exhibition

How does a tire become a work of art? Chakaia Booker: The Making of a Public Art Exhibition explores through video and finished sculpture how the artist created her works for her citywide installation Mass Transit. Follow the artist as she creates some of the pieces you can find around downtown Indianapolis in our videos featuring interviews with Booker herself. Meanwhile, the maquettes show different stages of a work before it can be considered finished.

The pedestal and hung pieces serve as a window into the creative mind of Chakaia Booker. While rubber tires appear crude and purely utilitarian at first glance, Booker sees greater potential in the material. She manages to transform the rubber tread into flowing forms that explore transformation, beauty, line, and texture. At the same time, the concept of using tires maintains references to Indianapolis racing and the city’s history.

Chakaia Booker was born in 1953 in Newark, New Jersey and now resides in NYC and Allentown, Pennsylvania. She attended Rutgers University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology in 1976 and continued on to The City College of New York for a Masters in Fine Arts in 1993. Booker’s work has been exhibited in the 2001 Whitney Biennial, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. and the Akron Museum of Art in Akron, Ohio among many others. Mass Transit is Booker’s largest outdoor urban exhibition to date.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.
Above: Chakaia Booker: Black Hole, 2001, rubber tire and wood, 46″ x 50″ x 7.” Copyright Chakaia Booker, courtesy of Marlborough Gallery, New York.

____________________

April 17, 2008

Is You Is or Is You Ain’t

Is You Is or Is You Ain’t helps us understand ourselves through what we aren’t when the collection of seven video works, ranging from satirical to heartbreaking, opens at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art on April 17th from 5 until 8 pm. Visuals available upon request.

The new exhibition draws its title from the Louis Jordan song Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby. One of its verses reflects the themes of the videos: “A man is a creature/that has always been strange/Just when you’re sure of one/You find that he’s gone and made a change.”

In this vein, the funny, poignant Mustache2 by the Indianapolis based film collective AnC follows a cabinet salesman who barely maintains a façade of optimism while advising a protégé to find his own way. With Dead White Men, Zoë Charlton assumes the poses of famous nudes in art to question her role in art and society as an African-American woman. Transvestites talk about relationships, sex and art world habits in Kalup Linzy’s KKQueens Survey. In Oh, Juliette, Karen Yasinsky uses line–drawing animation to capture the fraught emotional space between a man and a woman.

Other works explore danger—of the streets as well as the sensual. Winter in America by Hank Willis Thomas in collaboration with Kambui Olujimi, reenacts the true story of a sidewalk robbery and murder with toy figures. Simone Montemurno transforms the threatening into the sensuous by gliding through a pool with a homemade shark fin on her head in Fin. Laura Parnes’ untitled work suggests how we’ve lost touch with our primal survival instinct by juxtaposing images of a blissful family overlooking a peaceful landscape with footage of wildlife stampeding from danger.

Curators for Is You Is or Is You Ain’t are Kristen Anchor and Jed Dodds of Creative Alliance at the Patterson in Baltimore and Christopher West of iMOCA. After its Indianapolis run, the exhibition will open in Baltimore in September and in New York at a time and date to be determined. Special thanks to all of the artists for their participation, Mari Spirito, Jack Shainman Gallery and Taxter & Spengemann.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.
Above: Simone Montemurno, Fin, 2006-2007, digital video.

____________________

January 18, 2008

Adam Pendleton’s Rendered in Black and Events Are

The Rendered in Black sculptural installation occupying the main gallery space will consist of approximately 100 ten-inch, black-ceramic cubes in an improvised arrangement. Their presentation will play with the ideas of minimalism and performance art.

The Events Are series is made up of an expanding selection of culturally and historically significant images that are silk-screened and presented as small “paintings” with white backgrounds and black detailing. Works on display will include fragmented text from a Scalapino publication, an abstract painting by a student at Black Mountain College and a small Cy Twombly painting.

Artkrush observes that Pendleton’s work often splices together wildly disparate source materials to offer insights on how language and rhetoric shape human experience.

Pendleton has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S., notably at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2005); the Studio Museum in Harlem (2005-2006); and the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2007). Last year he launched Performa 07 in New York with The Revival, which included Pendleton delivering a sermon based on the writings of playwright Larry Kramer and poet Paolo Javier; passionate jazz music; and declarations by poet Jena Osman and artist Liam Gillick.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.
Above: Adam Pendleton: Rendered in Black. Courtesy of the artist and Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago.

New Work by Jeff Gabel

Gabel specializes in scribbly, small-scale pencil drawings of people or faces, possibly imaginary, with a line of text explaining who they are or what they were thinking at the time they were observed. Gabel’s empathetic exploration of the contemporary American landscape finds moments in the everyday that transcend the banal.

The iMOCA show will include a large graphite and charcoal drawing which Gabel will create directly on the museum’s walls; a number of graphite drawings on gesso board; and a video piece, an illustrated audio-visual adaptation of Thomas Mann’s short story “Gladius Dei,” rendered from the original German into “a grammatically impoverished (yet profanity-rich) contemporary vernacular.”

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.

____________________

July 13 – September 1, 2007

XANADU

Armageddon is set to a disco beat in Robert Boyd’s four-part video installation Xanadu, which kicks off the grand re-opening of iMOCA. Boyd, a New York-based artist, used rapid editing to combine images from vintage documentary films, TV and Internet clips, and cartoons into a history of apocalyptic thought–presented as a series of MTV-style music videos in a disco-like setting.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Rowland Design, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes Charitable Foundation, Stellar Gin, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and LevelSix.

____________________

February 3 – March 24, 2007

Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellows

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) is proud to exhibit artworks by ten talented local contemporary artists, all of whom have been awarded $20,000 grants from the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship program over the past two years. Since 2004, the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, which is managed by the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), has recognized some of the city’s most gifted contemporary artists. A reception for the artists will take place Friday, February 2, 2007, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm at iMOCA. The exhibition will continue through March 24, 2007.

In 2004, Fellowships were awarded to Indianapolis artists Gregory Hull, Linda Adele Goodine, Eric Nordgulen, Marc Jacobson, and David Russick. 2005 Fellows include Katrin Asbury, Stuart Hyatt, Emily W. Kennerk, Brian Myers, and Jamie Pawlus.

This award is unique because it is available to almost any central Indiana artist with very few restrictions. While the artists must be 25 or older and work in photography, painting, sculpture, new media or installation art, those applying for the award are not required to have a degree or a minimum amount of experience. Efroymson Fellows can use the money any way they choose — for living expenses, equipments and supplies, studio rental, travel essential to artistic research, or to complete work.

“The Efroymson Fellowships are intended to get funds directly to individual creative people in our city,” said Jeremy Efroymson, vice chair and one of three Efroymson Fund advisors. “By supporting creativity we can make Indianapolis a vibrant cultural center, a place where creative people choose to live.”

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, IMC, NUVO, The Indianapolis Foundation, Allen Whitehall Clowes, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and Jim and Meg Irsay.
Above: Stuart Hyatt: Shrimp Attack. Courtesy of the artist.

Home: Living with Contemporary Art

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to present Home: Living with Contemporary Art. In conjunction with the iMOCA 101 series of panel discussions on collecting contemporary art, and with the support of Helmut Fortense and Form + Function, iMOCA will transform its gallery space into a domestic interior. Showcased amidst this setting will be some of the most provocative and innovative artworks currently in private collections throughout central Indiana.

Artists included in this exhibition include Josh Azzarella, John Baldessari, Chuck Close, Lucinda Devlin, Jeff Koons, Ellen Kooi, Loretta Lux, Shiran Neshat, Shazia Sikander, Rosemary Trockel, Banks Violette, Kara Walker, Andy Warhol, Kehinde Wiley and many others.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Form+Function, Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes, IMC, Jim and Meg Irsay, and the Indianapolis Foundation.
Above: Loretta Lux: Boy in Blue Raincoat 1, 2001, Ilfochrome print. Courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York. Collection of Lee Marks & John C. DePrez Jr., Shelbyville, IN.

____________________

September 23 – October 21, 2006

Photographs, the work of Mpozi Mshale Tolbert (1972-2006)

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) is proud to announce Photographs, the work of Mpozi Mshale Tolbert (1972-2006). Taken from both his photojournalistic and fine art photography, this small retrospective will showcase Mpozi’s unique ability in capturing the American experience.

Moving to Indianapolis from Philadelphia in 1998 to work for The Indianapolis Star, Tolbert captured his subject matter, from the tragedy of the September 11th terrorists attacks to the most intimate moments between a father and daughter, with a simplicity and sophistication unmatched by his peers.

Above: Mpozi Mshale Tolbert. Courtesy of Indianapolis Star

____________________

July 15 – August 19, 2006

Peripheral View: New Installations by Jamie Pawlus and Ryan Wolfe

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) is proud to announce Peripheral View: New Installations by Jamie Pawlus and Ryan Wolfe. This exhibition will include interior and exterior site-specific installations by Jamie Pawlus (Indianapolis) and Ryan Wolfe (San Francisco). Pawlus and Wolfe transform both man-made and natural landscapes causing the viewer to become more aware of their everyday surroundings.

Pawlus’s work involves the creation of conceptually based site-specific installations. Much of this work is expressed through a public vernacular; made with the same industrial grade sign materials used for public communication. The literal and visual imagery of her works are individual antidotes and anecdotal expressions of personal experiences. For this exhibition, Pawlus has created both interior and exterior installations, and celebrates, along with the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the debut of her new installation on Massachusetts Avenue.

Wolfe’s work explores the idea that a memorable time, place or experience can be condensed in a singular, physical object that embodies the essential qualities of that experience. For Peripheral View, Wolfe will transform the north gallery into a simulated and computerized field of grass that encapsulates the experience of watching the rise and fall of a summer breeze across a field.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fundation, IMC, Wayne Zink, Jim and Meg Irsay, and the Indianapolis Foundation.
Above: Left: Ryan Wolfe: Sketch of a Field of Grass, Individually programmed circuits, mottors, sand and grass. Courtesy of the artist and Dam, Stuhltrager Gallery, New York
Above: Right: Jamie Pawlus: Care/Don’t Care, Neon, 2006. Courtesy of the artist

____________________

May 12 – July 1, 2006

Untitled Projects: Auto Economies
a solo exhibition by Conrad Bakker

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) is proud to announce Untitled Projects: Auto Economies, an exhibition of original handmade artworks by Conrad Bakker. This exhibition will be a series of three separate, interconnected projects that investigate the subtle intersections of capital and power that permeate general car culture and are specifically oriented to the car culture of Indianapolis.

Conrad Bakker lives and works in Urbana, IL and has exhibited his work nationally and internationally in places such as the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Fargfabriken Center for Contemporary Art (Stockholm), Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (North Adams), Southern Exposure (San Francisco) and Art in General (New York) among many others.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, IMC, Jim and Meg Irsay, Wayne Zink, and The Durfee Foundation.
Above: Conrad Bakker. Courtesy of the artist.

____________________

March 25 – May 6, 2006

I’m Brian Presnell
a solo exhibition by Brian Presnell

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) is proud to present I’m Brian Presnell, an exhibition of new paintings and installations by Indianapolis based artist Brian Presnell. For his first solo exhibition, Presnell is creating over 50 paintings, sculptures and site specific installations borrowed from his earlier performances and videos. Presnell has incorporated this new media with the much more tangible and traditional practice of painting. By utilizing found, or ‘thrift store’ type paintings and making them his own, the artist has been able to take his characters off of the stage and screen and essentially cast them into a new narrative.

Presnell’s performances are documented via video and photography, excerpts of which are cut and collaged into paintings. The collaged aspects of the pieces include the artist’s diverse cast of characters taken from both regional and national fame. Characters such as Abe Lincoln who was carved from a silver maple tree by chainsaw in the artist’s back yard; Billy Bob, the Southerner who carved the tree along with his brother John Wayne; P. Nelson Swisher, an international socialite and Hollywood producer; Bobby Knight who does battle in a bicycle competition with the famed Wheelie Man; as well as the artist himself bring to light the diversity of Mr. Presnell. Presnell’s goal is to make his characters adapt humorously to the different surroundings of these paintings.

This exhibition marks the first solo exhibition by a local artist in iMOCA’s gallery at the historic Emelie Building and will be celebrated with the debut of a new catalogue on the work of Brian Presnell.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, IMC, Jim and Meg Irsay, Wayne Zink, Penrod Society, The Indianapolis Foundation, Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, Carter-Lee, Norwood, PRN Graphics, Editions Limited, and Firehouse.
Above: Brian Presnell. Courtesy of the artist.

____________________

February 4 – March 18, 2006

Contradictory Impulses
a solo exhibition by Reanne Estrada

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) is proud to announce Contradictory Impulses, an exhibition of original handmade artworks by Reanne Estrada. Estrada’s on-going work of free standing and wall hung packing tape and delicately cut erasers are based on the idea that every seven years the human body renews itself on a cellular level. She began the work in 2001 and she will continue to reconfigure, stick and re-stick, add and remove and develop her artworks until the year 2008 when her body has completely finished its renewing cycle. Estrada carries this message further by continuing to change and alter her works with every new location. The iMOCA exhibition will include existing works and site-specific installations.

Estrada, born in Manila, Philippines, now resides and works in Los Angeles, CA. Estrada’s unique work establishes a balance between the two and three dimensional worlds. Her process-intensive work is a comfortable combination of high-relief drawing and low-relief sculpture. These handmade pieces defy the information overload that is just part of everyday life in today’s digital society. Recalling the traditional task of creating art by hand gives her art a touch of delicate sensitivity. Her idea of the continual process of renewal of the body coincides with her continuously morphing art.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, IMC, Jim and Meg Irsay, Wayne Zink, and The Durfee Foundation.
Above: Reanne Estrada: Factus Black 18 (365), Detail, Erasers mounted on plexiglass. Courtesy of the artist and Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery, Los Angeles

Designs by Ron Arad

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to announce an exhibition of designs by Ron Arad. Arad is one of todays most creative and versatile furniture artists and designers of our time.

Born in Tel Aviv in 1951, architect and designer Ron Arad studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Art and at the Architectural Association in London. He was Professor of Design at the Hochschule in Vienna from 1994 to 1997, and is currently head of the Design Products Department at the Royal College of Art In London. Arad has exhibited his sculpture and furniture at major museums and galleries internationally and his work is represented in numerous public collections including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.; Victoria & Alberta Museum, London; and the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, IMC, Endangered Species Chocolate, and Christel DeHaan Family Foundation.
Above: Ron Arad: Lo-Void, 2005, Polished Super-inflated aluminum
Courtesy of Barry Friedman Ltd, New York

____________________

September 10 – November 5, 2005

An Exhibition of New Pastels by Tim Gardner

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to announce an exhibition of new pastels by Tim Gardner. Gardner’s new work consists of larger than life-sized pastel portraits based on photographs found in his family’s archive. Known primarily for his watercolors of adolescents striving to become adults, Gardner’s new work continues to investigate identity by looking more closely at his own past.

Gardner, born in Iowa City, IA, now resides and works in Canada. Gardner’s work is charged with elegance and at times humor. Many of these pieces invite us to recall a simpler period of few worries, and in doing so they awaken a familiar feeling of nostalgia. But neither life nor art is ever so simple. Simultaneously confirming and deconstructing reality, his portraits also expose a tension within the viewer that most professional photographers don’t reveal. Gardner’s message: unease. Powerfully, Gardner’s mastery of the mediums he works with increases our uneasiness and in doing so reinforces our intimate connection with his art.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, IMC, and Endangered Species Chocolate.
Above: Tim Gardner: Untitled (Family Portrait 1), 2005, Pastel on gessoed paper mounted on canvas.
Courtesy of the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas

____________________

July 23 – September 3, 2005

Hugh & Alethea

A solo exhibition by New York based collaborative artists Hugh and Alethea. In From Indiana, With Love…, the photo tandem continues an ongoing study of rural America. Drawing on the artists’ shared cultural background, this body of work presents beautiful and dispossessed young women, yearning for recognition and displaying their inherent sexuality. Simultaneous with their empty lives is their all too apparent beauty that the artists draw out with care and sensitivity.

Hugh (b. 1978, Dallas, TX) and Alethea (b. 1979, Bloomington, IN) have been collaborating for five years. Having met the first day of college, they have influenced each other’s photographic style from the start. Their rural upbringing reveals itself in their joint style, which exhibits a strong influence of the glossies and the mainstream culture that they portray. This is Hugh & Alethea’s first solo exhibition in the Midwest.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Fund, IMC, Endangered Species Chocolate, and Christel DeHaan Family Foundation.
Above: Hugh & Alethea: Bluex Kyack, 2004, C-Print
Courtesy of the artists and Rare Gallery, New York

____________________

May 5 – July 9, 2005

Altered Spaces

Artists’ interpretations of interior and exterior spaces are showcased by site-specific installations and other mediums that renegotiate physical space. Participating artists include Robert Beck, Greg Hull, Jesper Just, Vincent Lamouroux and Sean McFarland.

Robert Beck’s installation literally turns space on its side as he transforms a corner of the gallery. Greg Hull’s installation Night Orchid, a kinetic light sculpture to be placed permanently on the roof of the historic Emelie Building, will alter the cityscape as it will be visible from surrounding neighborhoods as well as respond to altering climatic conditions. Patrons will be able to screen Jesper Just’s film “Bliss and Heaven” in a semi trailer video lounge located in front of the iMOCA galleries. Just’s film follows a young man on his quest to reveal an older man’s secret life and sexuality. Internationally exhibited artistVincent Lamouroux will create a site-specific floor installation in the iMOCA galleries such as has been exhibited in New York, Miami and Paris. The piece will have a spellbinding effect, transforming the perception of our surroundings and encouraging patrons to interact with the environment with renewed self-consciousness. The photographs of Sean McFarland, characterized by a dramatic depth of field, reduce generic cityscapes to the scale of a model train set.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, Arts Council of Indianapolis, NUVO, and IMC. Installation made possible by Lowes Home Improvement Centers of Indianapolis.
Above: Vincent Lamouroux: Sol, 2005, Wood and wood screws, Site specific installation
Courtesy of the artist and Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York

____________________

March 4 – April 15, 2009

Rashid Johnson
A Production of Escapism

Escapism is the tendency to seek distraction and relief from reality, especially through the arts and in fantasy. In this exhibition Johnson explores escapist tendencies in a multi-media project of photos, video, and site-specific installation to reveal reality and often the absurdity of it all.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and NUVO.
Above: Rashid Johnson: Portrait of My Ex-wife as the Tragic Mulatto, 2004, Lambda print
Courtesy of Moniquemeloche, Chicago

____________________

January 15 – February 26, 2005

Guy Richards Smit
Nausea II

A full-length video project in the cinematic rock opera tradition, is an absurdist journey through crippling doubt, self-discovery, healing, and in the end, unconditional love. The film travels to iMOCA after its debut at Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin, the Efroymson Fund, 92.3 WTTS, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and NUVO.
Above: Guy Richards Smit: Nausea (II), 2004, Video Stills
Courtesy of Roebling Hall Gallery, New York

When Contemporary Art Speaks

Artists have been fascinated with words as images since ancient times, but particularly in the 20th century. When Contemporary Art Speaks takes this literal visual language (words and letter forms as subject matter) a step further. Some are witty. Some require a bit of thought. Most question the traditional notions of the viewer purely as a spectator. The exhibition is an exploration of direct communication between the artist and their audience and encompasses a multitude of mediums from vinyl wall installations and drawings to video and interactive art.

Participating Artists

Stephanie Brooks
Harrell Fletcher
Kevin Hamilton
Adam Pendleton
Tomas Schmit
Erwin Wurm

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin and the Efroymson Fund.
Above: Stephanie Brooks: Politeness Strategies #3, Vinyl, 2004
Courtesy of Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago

____________________

August 27 – November 6, 2004

Out of Place TWO
Conclusion of a two part series

Place…the landscape in art has been represented by artists through the centuries. From the earliest cave paintings to the impressions of Monet, we have been amazed by what surrounds us every day.

Four artists from different geographical areas throughout the United States take an updated and fresh approach to this most traditional of subjects. Via a multitude of mediums and the utilization of the latest technology, Ken Fandell, Anthony Goicolea, Dwayne Moser and Kari Thomas create their own versions of the contemporary landscape.

Artists

Ken Fandell – photography
Anthony Goicolea – video
Dwayne Moser – mixed media
Kari Thomas – installation

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin and the Efroymson Fund.

____________________

May 15 – July 15, 2004

Out of Place ONE
iMOCA’s opening exhibiton

Place is a subject that has been contemplated by artists over the centuries. A permanent place for the advancement of contemporary art has been something that has been missing from the cultural landscape of Indianapolis, until now. Out of Place One is the first exhibition at the new and first home of the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art at The Emelie Building at 340 N. Senate Avenue.

Out of Place One will include four nationally exhibited artists from different cities using different media to explore that place between who we think we should be and who we are, how we interact with and interpret what we see everyday. Those artists are Craig Doty, Theresa Gooby, Nikcy Hoberman, and Lee Walton.

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin and the Efroymson Fund. 

____________________

January 23 – February 21, 2004

Earth, Air, Fire & Water
The Four Elements by four artist

The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (iMOCA) and Herron Gallery will collaborate to present this exhibit of site-specific art. All of the participating artists (Charles Gick, Jeremy Tubbs, Bill Viola and Patrick Zentz) will present unique experience-based installations for the Herron Gallery.

Herron Gallery, Herron School of Art / IUPUI
1701 North Pennsylvania Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46202
(317) 920-2420

Exhibition made possible through the support of Katz & Korin.