Loren Holland
08 Sep - 08 Dec 2007
Project Room II
Loren Holland
Black Magic Woman
September 8 - December 8, 2008
From September 8 through December 8, 2007, the Santa Monica Museum of Art will present Loren Holland: Black Magic Woman, the first solo Southern California exhibition by Los Angeles artist Loren Holland. Holland uses highly allegorical, hauntingly beautiful, yet disturbing imagery to explore key themes of creativity and the resourcefulness of African-American women. Holland’s stylized representations of black women address issues of cultural misconception and include both contemporary and mythical elements.
For Project Room 2, Holland will construct a shallow-relief stage set with a large photomural and numerous smaller freestanding sections. An elegantly presented marriage of opposites, Black Magic Woman is replete with an abundance of seductive and also repulsive images, and possesses the eerie, uncanny quality of nineteenth-century gothic ghost stories. With its title inspired by the Santana song of the same name, the work portrays three contemporary Santeria priestesses practicing in the spooky, partially decayed landscape of a Louisiana graveyard, complete with Spanish Moss and creeping mist. In its form, the installation alludes to the constructs of the theatre; in its content it addresses themes of class, racial stereotyping, consumerism, death, and decay. Holland created Black Magic Woman specifically to accompany the exhibition by William Pope.L on view in the museum’s main gallery.
Holland received her B.A. in Visual Arts from Brown University and her M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University School of Fine Art. She has participated in group exhibitions and has received numerous awards for artistic distinction. Her work is in many private collections. Holland lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
The Santa Monica Museum of Art is grateful to the following foundations and organizations for their support: Anonymous; The Annenberg Foundation; City of Santa Monica Cultural Arts/Organizational Support Grant Program; City of Santa Monica Community Arts Grant Programs; Elliot R. Donnelley Charitable Trust; The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; The Getty Grant Program; Good Works Foundation; The Audrey and Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation; LLWW Foundation; Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation; Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation; and the Board of Trustees and the Friends and Members of the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
Loren Holland
Black Magic Woman
September 8 - December 8, 2008
From September 8 through December 8, 2007, the Santa Monica Museum of Art will present Loren Holland: Black Magic Woman, the first solo Southern California exhibition by Los Angeles artist Loren Holland. Holland uses highly allegorical, hauntingly beautiful, yet disturbing imagery to explore key themes of creativity and the resourcefulness of African-American women. Holland’s stylized representations of black women address issues of cultural misconception and include both contemporary and mythical elements.
For Project Room 2, Holland will construct a shallow-relief stage set with a large photomural and numerous smaller freestanding sections. An elegantly presented marriage of opposites, Black Magic Woman is replete with an abundance of seductive and also repulsive images, and possesses the eerie, uncanny quality of nineteenth-century gothic ghost stories. With its title inspired by the Santana song of the same name, the work portrays three contemporary Santeria priestesses practicing in the spooky, partially decayed landscape of a Louisiana graveyard, complete with Spanish Moss and creeping mist. In its form, the installation alludes to the constructs of the theatre; in its content it addresses themes of class, racial stereotyping, consumerism, death, and decay. Holland created Black Magic Woman specifically to accompany the exhibition by William Pope.L on view in the museum’s main gallery.
Holland received her B.A. in Visual Arts from Brown University and her M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University School of Fine Art. She has participated in group exhibitions and has received numerous awards for artistic distinction. Her work is in many private collections. Holland lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
The Santa Monica Museum of Art is grateful to the following foundations and organizations for their support: Anonymous; The Annenberg Foundation; City of Santa Monica Cultural Arts/Organizational Support Grant Program; City of Santa Monica Community Arts Grant Programs; Elliot R. Donnelley Charitable Trust; The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; The Getty Grant Program; Good Works Foundation; The Audrey and Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation; LLWW Foundation; Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation; Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation; and the Board of Trustees and the Friends and Members of the Santa Monica Museum of Art.