CONTACT Maureen Cappon-Javey 408.283.8155 maureen@sjica.org

May 28, 2009, SAN JOSE, CA - The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is presenting the work of nine Bay Area artists in its NextNew exhibition that features work from emerging talent on the region's contemporary art scene.  This year's show subtitled Green, surveys fresh perspectives on climate change and related environmental and conservation issues.

Artists represented in the exhibition include Michelle Blade, Colette Campbell-Jones, Misako Inaoka, Vanessa Marsh, Carson Murdach, Sandra Ono, Ryan Pierce, Rebecca Rothfus, and Michael Ryan.  NextNew: Green opens on July 7th and runs through September 20th in the ICA's Main Gallery. An opening reception is being held on August 7th.

This year's NextNew artists are recent graduates of regional MFA programs who reflect on 'green' as source material for their ideas and work. "One of the distinguishing characteristics of this year's show is how the artists have succeeded in marrying their conceptual goals with their chosen materials," explains Cathy Kimball, ICA Executive Director. 

On view is work in a range of mediums, including miniature sculptures of invented creatures by Misako Inaoka, and Michael Ryan's life-size floating, breathing specters on life-support.

                                                                                             
Painters Michelle Blade's, Carson Murdach's and Ryan Pierce's richly-rendered paintings depict apocalyptic dreamscapes, post-industrial landscapes, and historically-referenced seascapes devoured by urban sprawl.  Digital photographic collages by Colette Campbell-Jones and mixed media pieces by Vanessa Marsh shine a spotlight on the intentional and unintentional footprints left by visitors in once remote and uninhabited natural settings.



Sandra Ono, Untitled, 2009, cast resin, variable.
Courtesy of the Artist



"The big, unwieldy topic of green encompasses everything from re-using lunch bags to halting global warming," muses ICA Assistant Curator, Susan O'Malley.  "To successfully tackle this theme we selected artists who are remarkable in part by how they personalize the topic and keenly engage the viewer by presenting curious combinations of beauty and destruction, natural and man-made materials, and classic and contemporary subject matter."

Vanessa Marsh, Incomplete Freeway On-Ramp, Seattle, WA, 2009, Mixed Media, 30 inches x 27 inches, x 23 inches. Courtesy of the Artist


Also on view at the ICA this summer is the 15th Annual Monotype Marathon Print Exhibition which runs from July 1st through July 18th.  This popular exhibition features monotype prints created by over seventy-five Bay Area printmakers. The prints are auctioned at a fundraising party on July 18th at the ICA.  Multi-media installation artist Christel Dillbohner's Ice Floe, on view from August 8th through September 20th  is a site-specific sculptural installation comprised of thousands of suspended cone-shaped objects dipped in pigmented wax, hovering just above the floor to reference the majestic Arctic landscape. From June 30th through September 20th, Night Moves, after-dark programming in the ICA's front windows presents Gail Wight's National Agenda - a video art piece that is part eco-political activism and part Theater of the Absurd.  


Christel Dillbohner: Ice Floe is funded by Applied Materials Excellence in the Arts Grants, a program of Arts Council Silicon Valley.

The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an energetic art space located in downtown San Jose dedicated to making contemporary art accessible and exciting to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Exhibitions are presented in three galleries that display the most current, relevant and often challenging art from the region, the nation and the world. The ICA is activated by opening receptions, South First Friday gallery walks, after-dark programming in the front windows, panel discussions, printmaking workshops, brown bag lunches and impromptu conversations in the galleries. Admission is always free.