A new exhibit at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA) brings the human spirit into focus within the context of culture, family and ethnicity. Part of the corporate collection of RBC Wealth Management, the traveling exhibit titled “The Human Touch” includes paintings, photographs, sculptures and mixed media and continues through April 28. “RBC Wealth Management has an outstanding art collection,” said associate curator Emily Stamey. “We have a fraction of what the company owns. They focus all their collecting on images of the human figure interpreted broadly. They have a wonderful range, and at the heart of it is people.”
One example, Stamey said, is a portrait by German artist Roland Fisher. “He came to Los Angeles in the early ’90s and started photographing people,” she said. “This image [see photo at left] is from a series where he submerged people in swimming pools so the pool water became the surround and isolated their head and shoulders. It looks like a classical bust. He photographs a range of ethnicities.”
The exhibit also includes a painting by Israeli artist Tiranit Barzilay Cohen. “She gets groups of people together and stages them in air raid shelters or empty apartments,” Stamey said. “She purposely makes the images lack color. In this painting, people are doing something together but seem distant and turned inward toward their own thoughts. It picks up allusions to the Holocaust. Contemplative, questioning, thoughtful, looking on to the future – it shows the conflict between the individual and the collective.”
Always provocative, SMoCA opened in 1999 in what was a five-chamber movie theater. Now, each room has been transformed into a gallery with exhibits changing every few months. With an emphasis on architecture and design, the museum includes an outdoor “skyspace” by renowned artist James Turrell. Primarily known for his work with light and the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, he is currently transforming an ancient volcano outside Flagstaff into a heavenly observatory without telescopes. His Zen-like cylindrical space at SMoCA is most impressive at sunrise or sunset.
While viewing “The Human Touch” be sure to stop by SMoCA’s other exhibits. “Paolo Soleri: Mesa City to Arcosanti” ( Jan. 26 to April 28) surveys three major projects by architect and urban planner Paolo Soleri. “Mashup: New Video Art” (Feb. 9 to May 19) combines songs and videos by different artists. “Cycles: From Fields to Cities” ( Jan. 25 to April 25) at SMoCA’s Young@Art Gallery challenges children to imagine how they would reconstruct and reconfigure their city and includes scrolls, drawings, models, mobiles and animations. “It’s a fantastic collection,” Stamey said. Formerly the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, she arrived at SMoCA in September 2012. “I get to engage with fantastic art and with people. We have a lot of public programming like educational and tour groups. I’m not just creating these exhibits but also seeing how people interact with them.”
SMoCA 7374 E. Second St., Scottsdale
Hours: noon to 5 pm, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Sundays; noon to 9 pm, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays; closed Mondays. Admission: $7 adults, $5 students, free 15 and under; free for everyone all day Thursdays and from 5 to 9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.
Special “Meet the Artists” event on Friday, Feb. 8 at 7 pm For more information call 480-874-4666 or visit smoca.org
Polina Olsen is a freelance writer and author.
