Current Exhibitions
Shiva Ahmadi: Strands of Resilience
UC Davis Professor of Art Shiva Ahmadi uses painting as a form of storytelling, combining luminous colors and mystical beings with violent imagery to draw attention to global issues of migration, war and brutality against marginalized peoples. Focusing on the female figure, this exhibition of all new paintings — Ahmadi’s first midcareer solo museum exhibition on the West Coast — continues her exploration of alternate worlds where women have agency beyond the binary of the beautiful victim or ugly villain. Through her experimentation with the medium of watercolor, Ahmadi probes what lies hidden beneath the surface of the stories we are told, from ancient myths and childhood memories to the current news cycle.
Curated by Susie Kantor, exhibition department head and associate curator
On view January 28–May 6, 2024
- Read a profile of Shiva Ahmadi
- Read a review of Strands of Resilience
Deborah Butterfield: P.S. These are not horses
For more than 50 years, Deborah Butterfield (’71, M.F.A. ’73) has explored the horse — both its form and presence. And yet, Deborah Butterfield: P.S. These are not horses encourages viewers to understand her sculpture as more than representations of the equine world. Taken from the closing line of a poem by Butterfield’s mentor, William T. Wiley, the title emphasizes the sculptor’s commitment to abstraction and her profound investment in material experimentation. The artist’s first solo museum exhibition in California since 1996, P.S. These are not horses surveys Butterfield’s career from her most recent wildfire sculptures to rare early works including ceramics made while studying at UC Davis.
Curated by Rachel Teagle, founding director
On view October 1, 2023–June 24, 2024
Malaquias Montoya and the Legacies of a Printed Resistance
Activist artist and UC Davis Professor Emeritus Malaquias Montoya embraced political printmaking to advocate for social justice. From his leading position in the social serigraphy movement of the mid-1960s to his tenure at UC Davis from 1989-2008, Montoya has had a multigenerational career as a master printer. His role as a print educator resulted in artistic collaborations and partnerships with featured artists Sandra Fernández, Juan Fuentes, Ester Hernandez, Juan de Dios Mora, Ramiro Rodriguez, Royal Chicano Air Force, Xabi Soto Beleche, Alicia María Siu Bernal and Elyse Doyle-Martinez.
Curated by Claudia Zapata, guest curator
On view October 1, 2023–May 6, 2024
Also on view
Neon, custom controller, steel, paint. Courtesy of the artist and Hignite Projects. Neon bending by Amy Enlow. Fabrication assistance
provided by Jessica Green and Wren Martin. Photo: Hung Pham.
Alicia Eggert: This Present Moment, 2019–2022
Sculpting words the way other artists sculpt clay, wood or stone, Alicia Eggert considers language and time to be her mediums. For this work, Eggert plays with our experience of time, using the effects of neon signage to turn writer Stewart Brand’s phrase “This present moment used to be the unimaginable future” into the simpler phrase “This moment used to be the future.” Originally installed in partnership with the Long Now Foundation on a mountaintop in Nevada among bristlecone pines, the sculpture takes on new meaning on the UC Davis campus. What kind of futures might we imagine here on campus and for whom?
Curated by Susie Kantor
On view through May 29, 2024
Hatched: The Making of Robert Arneson’s Eggheads
Did you ever wonder where the Eggheads originated? Visit this special lobby display showcasing early clay models of Robert Arneson’s iconic sculptures. Most of these models, known as maquettes, have never been shown before. A visual display of photos and stories submitted by Aggies about their memories and moments with the sculptures accompanies the Egghead models.
Curated by Ginny Duncan, curatorial assistant
On view through June 16
Pyro Futures
Collections Classroom
What will future fires be like in California? What might we do now to prepare for and sculpt what might become? Pyro Futures invites collective speculation on the transformative nature of fire and the ways it can change the materiality of California’s landscapes. Through interactive displays and multidisciplinary methods of inquiry, visitors will feel their way into possible futures and our role in making them. Learn more at the Pyro Futures website.
Curated by Brett Milligan and Emily Schlickman, professors of landscape architecture and environmental design, Department of Human Ecology, UC Davis.
On view January 4–June 16, 2024
Pyro Futures receives support from the Manetti Shrem Museum, the Institute of the Environment, and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis.
Photo: Courtesy Emily Schlickman & Brett Milligan