Following on the acclaim and success of their recent Water Works show, The Venice Institute of Contemporary Art (ViCA) and the Porch Gallery Ojai present Water Works II, an international juried exhibition from May 2 through June 5, 2015, broadly focused on the myriad issues related to water – from it’s beauty, to its scarcity, to it’s importance to human life, the politics of water, to environmental issues and beyond.

Jurors will be Juri Koll, Director of the Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, Lisa Casoni and Heather Stobo, Directors of The Porch Gallery, Ojai, Peter Frank, renowned critic/curator, and John Yau, renowned art critic and writer.

Art will be accepted in all media, including sculpture. A catalog will be published for the show.

In addition, this Spring, there will be 3 commissioned sculptures which will be installed at the Besant Hill School/Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts and Farmer and the Cook in their fields and farms who have experienced the devastating drought that is taking place all over California right now. There will be tours offered to view the sculptures and learn about the issue from the community.

As Art critic Shana Nys Dambrot wrote for the first Water Works catalog:

“Water is an emblem of fluidity in the material world….Its various naturally occurring and familiar manmade forms — rivers, lakes, oceans; rain, dew, puddles; swimming pools, faucets, fountains; waterfalls, brooks, tall cold glasses to drink — and its various states of calm, agitation, storminess, damming-up; cleanliness, darkness, dirtiness, purity; scarcity, gentleness, power, depth, and danger indicate a range of emotions from fear to fertility, inspiration, exuberance, soaring serenity, and existential unrest. In a dream, these factors reveal an understanding of one’s basic state of being.”

Juri Koll
310-957-7037
[email protected]

or

Lisa Casoni
213-321-3926
[email protected]