Visits to Cemeteries, Mortuaries and Crematorium – GCAC Artist in Residence Adriana Salazar
Adriana Salazar is the current GCAC Artist in Residence, visiting us from Bogota, Colombia. Her residency is a collaborative effort for GCAC with the Orange County Museum of Art. Adriana will be a part of the upcoming OCMA California-Pacific Triennial, curated by Dan Cameron. GCAC has partnered with OCMA to be a host venue for the Triennial, so Adriana will be developing a major installation in the Main Gallery that will open at the end of June, as well as an installation work that will be in the galleries of the Orange County Museum of Art.
Adriana is researching the concepts of life and death, and the spaces that perhaps exist in between. Over the past two weeks, she has been visiting cemeteries, mortuaries and crematorium with our Director/Chief Curator, John Spiak. In the coming weeks, there are plans to visit grave stone makers, casket builders and a boat trip to experience the spreading of ashes at sea. The work is part of her ongoing investigation, that began with her series The Life of Dead Things, for which she has realized projects for in Bogota and Mexico City. The ideas of the final GCAC installation are being developed, so please stay tuned and plan to join us on July 6th for the public opening reception.
We would like to thank the following individuals for the generosity, openness and knowledge with Adriana’s research to date:
Tim Deutsch – Orange County Cemetery District
Neil P. O’Connor – O’Connor Mortuary
Chris Macera – Macera Crematorium
Julio Amarillas – Santa Ana Cemetery
Joel Torres – Anaheim Cemetery
George E. Lopez – Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary
Adriana has also spent time down at the Orange County Museum of Art for site visits with Dan Cameron, OCMA Curatorial Associate Johnny Sampson (who also happens to be a Cal State University, Fullerton Alum) and their preparator team, talking out the details for the on-site sculptural installation to take place there.
As part of the collaboration, GCAC will also be hosting a kick-off event for the Triennial here in Santa Ana on June 26th, taking place at our collaborative community partner location of The Yost Theater.
Here are the details and know that you are all invited – if the installation is close to complete, we will open GCAC after the panel for a sneak preview of Adriana’s installation:
California-Pacific Triennial Artists Panel
Thursday, June 27th, 7-9 pm
Yost Theater, Santa Ana
Please join us for an early glimpse of the Triennial with a panel discussion in Spanish (with English Translation), moderated by Alma Ruiz featuring artists from Chile, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Colombia. This program will take place in partnership with Grand Central Art Center and the historic Yost Theater in downtown Santa Ana.
Darío Escobar
Adriana Salazar
Adí¡n Vallecillo
Sebastií¡n Preece
Yoshua Okí³n
Hugo Crosthwaite
Moderator Alma Ruiz – Senior Curator @ Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles