Skip to content
Exhibition

2008 SECA Art Award

Tauba Auerbach, Desirée Holman, Jordan Kantor, Trevor...
February 12–May 10, 2009

The recipients of this year’s SECA Art Award employ a wide spectrum of artistic approaches, including painting, sculpture, photography, and video. Tauba Auerbach mines TV static, digital binary code, alphabets, and other sources to probe the dynamics of symbolic representation. Referencing 1980s sitcoms, Desirée Holman uses sculpture, performance, and video to look at the human condition via both reality and fantasy. Jordan Kantor’s paintings explore the ways images circulate in our culture via appropriation. Trevor Paglen’s photographs examine the shadowy side of the U.S. government, capturing images of spy satellites, clandestine flight missions, and secret military operations.

2008 SECA Art Award: Tauba Auerbach, Desirée Holman, Jordan Kantor, Trevor Paglen is funded by SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art), an SFMOMA art interest group, and The Graue Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Bay Area Contemporary Arts Exhibition Fund at SFMOMA. Media support is provided by San Francisco magazine.

Auerbach, rainbow dots
Holman, seven people in masks in front of green screen
Kantor, lens flare image

Tauba Auerbach, STATIC 1, 2008; photo: courtesy STANDARD (OSLO), Norway; © 2008 Tauba Auerbach

Desiree Holman, The Magic Window (still), 2007; photo: courtesy of the artist and the Silverman Gallery, San Francisco; © 2008 Desiree Holman

Jordan Kantor, Untitled (Lens Flare), 2008; private collection; photo: courtesy Ratio 3, San Francisco; © 2008 Jordan Kantor

Trevor Paglen, Unmarked 737 at “Gold Coast” Terminal, Las Vegas, Nevada; Distance ~1 Mile, 10:44 pm, 2007; chromogenic print; Courtesy Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco, and Bellwether, New York; 2008 Trevor Paglen; photo: courtesy the artist, Altman Siegel Gallery, and Bellwether