2008 SECA Art Award: Tauba Auerbach, Desirée Holman, Jordan Kantor, Trevor Paglen

This publication highlights work by the recipients of the 2008 SECA Art Award, SFMOMA’s biennial award program honoring Bay Area artists. The four winners of the 2008 award — Tauba Auerbach, Desirée Holman, Jordan Kantor, and Trevor Paglen — employ a wide spectrum of artistic approaches. 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. Texts by curators Apsara DiQuinzio and Alison Gass and a roundtable discussion with the artists are accompanied by illustrations of selected pieces included in the award exhibition and other works by the artists.