Artadia San Francisco/Bay Area

"Regarding Truth" opened June 15, 2006 at CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts. The show curated by Jim Voorhies includes all the San Francisco/Bay Area 2005 grant recipients: Rosana Castrillo Diaz, Enrique Chagoya, Adriane Colburn, Kota Ezawa, Bill Fontana, Amy Franceschini, David Huffman, Mads Lynnerup, Shaun O'Dell, and Clare E. Rojas. The show closes August 15, 2006. Catalogue available.

Regarding Truth

Over the course of preparing for this exhibition, I had the pleasure to meet the recipients of the Artadia San Francisco/Bay Area 2005 Awards, visit their studios, view their work, and talk about inspirations and techniques. Throughout this process, it became apparent that each of these ten artists seeks to understand and reveal various facets about truth in humanity——be it political, social, environmental, historical, personal, aural, visual, or a combination thereof.

Of course, the desire to communicate truth has occupied artists for centuries, and aesthetic discourse about it has absorbed great philosophical minds and continues to engage writers and thinkers today. But this group is particularly noteworthy for the intensity with which each artist works to interpret and to expose to us a greater awareness, and at times even to correct misguided notions, about current conditions of the world in which we live. Some of these artists search for truth in myths that pervade American history, others in global politics, environmental waste, and social conflicts, while others search for it in the sublime beauty of subtle, forgotten sounds or overlooked minutiae and unexpected, even intangible realms that rest between obscurity and comprehension.

Perhaps a source of inspiration is the spirit of activism, morality, and sensitivity that historically defines this intellectually and culturally rich city of San Francisco, or perhaps it is the current debauched global conditions of a media-saturated, over-medicated, politically-bankrupt world. Whatever the source, it is all part of the human condition. It is refreshing to know that these artists are informed and, as such, genuinely compelled to use their knowledge and extraordinary talent to communicate, inspire, and demand that we too start to regard truth, in all things great and small, with a little more intent.

-James Voorhies, Curator

For questions related to the catalogue, please
contact: Silvia, Program Assistant –silviastramenga@artadia.org