Art Kiosk – Tara de la Garza
Fung Collaboratives + Redwood City Improvement Association
Art Kiosk presents
Tara de la Garza
Monument to the Plastocene IV
Curated by Lance M. Fung
June 12 – July 5, 2020
On view every day & night through the Art Kiosk windows
(please maintain proper six-foot social distancing while wearing a facial cover)
About the Installation
As we collectively grapple with our multiple crises, artist Tara de la Garza took this time to reconsideration of her installation. This allowed her to think more deeply about racial & environmental justice with hopes of creating a community dialogue through her artwork at the Art Kiosk. We will be announcing a virtual speaking event that aims to bring together artists and advocates for social justice.
Between social justice and social distancing, Public Art can be an important forum at this unique time in history. We feel blessed to have the Art Kiosk in Redwood City’s Courthouse Square and understand our responsibility. As quarantines are loosened, the Art Kiosk offers art installations for contemplation and connectivity in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Environmental justice and stewardship of the planet are central to de la Garza’s art practice. She reveals the stories embedded in our collective consumption, specifically of single use plastic. She delves into the archaeology of contemporary waste materials. The artist states, “The work becomes time capsules, little stories of our consumption” while she hopes to elevate consumer plastic waste as an art medium.
Her minimalist forms contain a maximalist aesthetic of excess. Textures fashioned from the detritus of our community and molding into concrete cylinders and lights. Influenced by minimalist and constructivist artists such as Dan Flavin, Eva Hesse, Vladmir Tatlin, and contemporary artists Rachel Whiteread and Eva Rothschild, de la Garza’s ‘Monumental’ projects continue a practice of reusing materials and referencing modernist forms.
At this fraught time, the artist asks, “How does one exist in this once in a lifetime pandemic, let alone try and connect and tell stories with a community?” We are thrilled to reopen the Art Kiosk with such a visionary and timely artist. Inspired with our goal of keeping our viewers safe.
About the Artist
Tara de la Garza studied Fine Art at Curtin University in Western Australia and is currently in a resident studio program at Cubberley in Palo Alto.
De la Garza’s work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Watson Library, NYC. She has had two solo exhibitions at The Lodge Gallery in NYC. She has also exhibited extensively throughout the US in museums and galleries such as Mass MOCA, Chicago Art Institute, Cornell University, San Diego Art Institute, Palo Alto Arts Center, Palace of Fine Arts SF and SF Design Week.
De la Garza has received a National Endowment for the Arts grant through Chashama.
About the Art Kiosk
The Art Kiosk aims to bring thought-provoking installation art to Redwood City and the Bay Area through nine month-long exhibitions during 2020. Artists from the region and around the world have been invited to realize their ambitious site-specific artworks – often with the assistance of local volunteers, artists, and vendors. The initiative was conceived and curated by Lance M. Fung. Donated project management of the exhibition series is provided by Fung Collaboratives. The Redwood City Improvement Association funds the initiative for our second year of 2020. Redwood City acts as the logistical partner and its Civic Cultural Commission awarded small grant to support the efforts of participating Redwood City based artists. Please drop by for a visit 24/7 at 2208 Broadway, Redwood City.
For more information, schedule of upcoming exhibitions, artist talks, and all other events please visit www.fungcollaboratives.org and www.taradelagarza.com