Loren Holland & Nzuji de Magalhães: The Garden of Forking Paths

Press release

Track 16 Gallery is pleased to present The Garden of Forking Paths, an exhibition featuring the works of Loren Holland and Nzuji de Magalhães. The exhibition will run from September 10 through October 15, 2011, with an opening reception on Saturday, September 10 from 6 to 9 PM. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday from noon to 6 PM.

A visual conversation between two artists, Holland and de Magalhães use an assortment of media ranging from oil paint, ink, charcoal and graphite to yarn, fabric and collage to depict simultaneous spaces and occurrences, flirt with storytelling as a method of communicating complex theories and construct conceptual mazes.  With its title inspired by the Jorge Luis Borges short story of the same name, the exhibition revolves around the concept of the labyrinth—one in which false pathways, illusory exits, dead-end tunnels and pitfalls are frequently employed, creating the appearance of possible escape where there is none. Enigmatic and unexpected, the works of Loren Holland and Nzuji de Magalhães combine references ranging from parallel worlds and alternative realities to literature, mythology, architecture and history.

Loren Holland makes artworks that lampoon expected social norms, analyze contradictions and distort traditional perceptions of space.  Holland received an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University and both a BA in Visual Arts and a BS in Neuroscience from Brown University.  Holland has had solo exhibitions at the California African-American Museum (Los Angeles, CA), the Santa Monica Museum of Art (Santa Monica, CA) and Anna Kustera Gallery (New York, NY) and has participated in group exhibitions at the CSU Fullerton Main Art Gallery (Fullerton, CA), the Oakland Museum of California (Oakland, CA), the Contemporary Galleries at the University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT) and the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (Jamaica, NY).

Meticulously combining art forms learned in Angola and America, Nzuji de Magalhães makes artworks that vividly critique socio-cultural stereotypes, post-colonial discourse, myth, politics and other challenges confronted in daily life.  After completing a BA in Studio Art with a minor in Digital Art from UC Irvine, Nzuji de Magalhães received an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Southern California.  De Magalhães is currently pursuing an MA in Music History at California State University, Fullerton.  De Magalhães has shown work in many nationally-renowned museums and galleries including the California African-American Museum (Los Angeles, CA) Steve Turner Contemporary (Los Angeles, CA), MOAD (San Francisco, CA) the Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, NY), Boxheart Gallery (Pittsburgh, PA) and Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL)