Jan. 21, 2014

This Spring at SMoCA

SMoCA brings art, architecture and design

to Arizona to challenge expectations. This

spring, take in the five artists of The Five

Senses and explore the work of Bay Area

artist Leslie Shows for her first museum

exhibition.

Leslie Shows, Untitled, 2013 (detail)

Acrylic, ink, plexiglass, synthetic rubber and wood on aluminum, 42 x 33 inches.

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND HAINES GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA.

. . .

Spring Opening Celebration

SMoCA invites the public to its new spring exhibitions on

Feb. 7 from 7 to 9 p.m. Experience a special live performance by

Phoenix Chorale to complement the Janet Cardiff artwork titled

"The Forty Part Motet" included in The Five Senses exhibition.

More info

. . .

THE FIVE SENSES

Feb. 1 – May 4, 2014

The Five Senses begins on a simple premise: five senses, five works of art.

A visitor to an art museum expects to see the art, not hear it. To anticipate smelling, tasting or touching the art requires an even more radical leap. The Five Senses begins with a simple premise: five senses, five playful works of art that inspire a sense of awe, wonderment and curiosity.

The imaginative sculptures of renowned international artists Janet Cardiff, Olafur Eliasson, Spencer Finch, Roelof Louw and Ernesto Neto activate the body and mind, cross boundaries and dodge museum conventions.

>>> More info

Roelof Louw, Soul City (Pyramid of Oranges), 1967

6,000 large oranges, dimensions variable.

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND RICHARD SALTOUN, LONDON.

Olafur Eliasson, Beauty, 1993

Spotlight, water, nozzles, hose and electric pump, dimensions variable.

Installation view at Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo.

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST, TANYA BONAKDAR GALLERY, NEW YORK AND NEUGERRIEMSCHNEIDER, BERLIN. PHOTO BY JENS ZIEHE.

LESLIE SHOWS: SURFACING

Feb. 8 – May 4, 2014

The artist’s first solo museum exhibition!

Rich with myriad details and varied textures, the surfaces of Leslie Shows’s collaged paintings reward careful study. In them, one might find rust, plexiglass, mylar, acrylic paint, mica, magazine cutouts, crushed glass, mud, ink, sand and engraved aluminum. An avid researcher and expansive thinker, Shows diligently and creatively explores the fluid dynamics of our material world. The slow shifts of glaciers, the crystalline formation of minerals and the stellar origins of water have all inspired her work.

Presently, the artist is developing a new series drawing on the centuries-old history of the ways in which people have transformed matter and given it new shape — from ancient lost-wax casting techniques to modern-day injection molding technologies.

>>> More info