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Headlands Center for the Arts

January 18 - February 23, 2009

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944 Simmonds Road Sausalito, CA 94965
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Front + Center Francesca Pastine, Erosion, ArtForum Evacation Series, 2008
Location: 944 Fort Barry, 3rd Floor An exhibition featuring new and recent work by: Tamara Albaitis, Brice Bischoff, Todd Bura, Matty Byloos, Ajit Chauhan, Joshua Churchill, Lori Esposito, Mayumi Hamanaka, Taro Hattori, Rachel Mayeri, Jennie Ottinger, Erik Parra, Francesca Pastine, Alison Pebworth, Tara Tucker, Paul Urich, Lindsey White, Noah Wilson, Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough, Ayelet Zohar Headlands Center for the Arts is pleased to present Front + Center, a dynamic group exhibition featuring cutting edge artwork by California artists working in a range of mediums who applied for the 2009 residency program. After six successful years launching its residency season with an annual exhibition, Headlands, in collaboration with Kimberly Johansson, reimagines the show and calls critical attention to noteworthy California artists from the applicant pool. Front + Center reflects diverse interests among contemporary, emerging artists at both aesthetic and conceptual extremes. While some of these artists embrace blankness, or the void, others relish the notion of horror vacui, or "fear of empty space," illustrated on the canvas, page or gallery wall. Others pay particular attention to Headlands' physical space, focusing on architectural surroundings as subject matter. Front + Center also traces a trend among some artists in responding to history; they borrow and freely remix tropes of Surrealism, Dada and traditional portraiture, seemingly in reaction to their art historical ancestors. Many revisit antiquated techniques and favor the low-fi over the high-tech. This fascination with history and its relationship to current artistic production again underlines the significance of Headlands as an exhibition site. The exhibition's title is borrowed from the military lexicon, alluding to Headlands Center for the Arts' campus as a place of rich military history. Moreover, Front + Center reflects the position of Headlands as both historic and contemporary, off the beaten path yet central. While physically located in the hinterlands of the Bay Area, Headlands is at the center of creative innovation. At the core of Headlands' mission is the importance of promoting and supporting artists as cultural producers who actively shape the world. Front + Center supports this mission while showcasing a specific group of artists to kick off the new year.