Christian Holstad

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART PRESENTS
CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD’S
FIRST SOLO U.S. MUSEUM EXHIBITION
SEPTEMBER 9 – NOVEMBER 5, 2006

Opening reception
Saturday, September 9, 7-9 pm
Launch of MOCASONIC performance series 8 pm
with special DJ set by artist Christian Holstad & Ryan Schaefer
MOCA at Goldman Warehouse
404 NW 26th Street, Miami
Free admission
RSVP: 305.893.6211

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North Miami, FL…The Museum of Contemporary Art will present the first solo U.S. museum exhibition of New York artist Christian Holstad from September 9 through November 5, 2006. Featuring a new large-scale installation combining drawings, soft sculptures and a transformed jukebox, as a means to convey the transitory nature of reality, the exhibition Christian Holstad: The Terms of Endearment will be on view in the museum’s annex, MOCA at Goldman Warehouse, 404 NW 26th Street in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami.

Christian Holstad’s works transform everyday materials and recognizable objects to reflect themes of love, loss and nostalgia. In this new exhibition, life-size sculptures of donkeys, inspired by the artist’s childhood memories of nativity scenes, are fabricated from the recycled wool of men’s suits and chicken wire. The creatures surround a working jukebox covered in shredded yellow wool made from old sweaters, and plays melancholy ballads by iconic female singers. The donkeys, portrayed in various stages of decay portray the artist’s belief that all creatures are locked in an eternal cycle of growth and dissolution.


Christian Holstad: The Terms of Endearment is curated by MOCA Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater. The exhibition is generously sponsored by Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, Millennium Partners - Four Seasons Hotels and Tower, Miami, with additional support from the proceeds of the MOCA Shaker fundraising event Mystery Dates.

The exhibition will open to the public on Saturday, September 9 from 7 to 9 pm in conjunction with the Wynwood Gallery Walk. Also debuting that evening will be MOCA’s new free performance series MOCASONIC.

On Saturday, September 9 from 7 to 9 pm, the public is invited to an opening reception for the exhibition and the launch of MOCASONIC, MOCA’s new cutting-edge monthly performance series. The evening's performances will include a special DJ set by Christian Holstad and Ryan Schaefer.

Incorporated into Terms of Endearment are 40 new drawings from Holstad’s Eraserhead series. The works contain newspaper images that the artist partially erased to create haunting suggestions of forms. To these, Holstad added drawn elements poetically dramatizing human features, both imagined and real.
Christian Holstad was born in Anaheim, California in 1972 and received a BFA degree from Kansas City Art Institute. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Holstad’s work has been included in such exhibitions as: Greater New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, 2005; Moving Toward the Light, Daniel Reich Gallery, New York; Beautiful Lies, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, 2005; the Whitney Biennial, 2004; and Gaity: Discovering the Lost Art (in Absentia), Kunstahalle Zurich, Switzerland, 2004. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

. MOCA at Goldman Warehouse is located at 404 NW 26th Street in Wynwood. It is open to the public by donation Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5 pm and the second Saturday of every month in conjunction with the Wynwood Gallery Walk. This satellite branch of the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami opened to the public in December 2005 and provides gallery space for projects by emerging and mid-career artists and selected works from the Museum’s permanent collection.

The Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 770 NE 125th Street, North Miami, Florida. For additional information about either MOCA location, please call 305.893.6211 or visit www.mocanomi.org.

Exhibitions at MOCA are made possible through grants from the City of North Miami; the Florida Arts Council, the Department of State; the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners. The Museum of Contemporary Art is accredited by the American Association of Museums.