SF Art Week: Marin Art Day
Join us for a special afternoon of studio visits with Headlands Bay Area Fellows Omid Mokri and Việt Lê, part of San Francisco Art Week’s Marin Art Day. Studio visits offer a unique opportunity for an in-depth dialogue around artmaking and the creative process. Headlands will be open to the public 12–5PM, with studio visits and refreshments beginning at 2PM.
Mokri is an Iranian American artist classically trained in Iran in miniatures. His practice began with classical Persian- and European-style paintings in the tradition of the vanitas, and includes contemporary painting and drawing and intricate books inlaid with natural materials. For Mokri, making art became a vehicle for survival while in prison in the United States. While incarcerated, he used his work to tell the stories of inmates fighting to persevere against a system denying them their humanity, sketching portraits on commonplace, symbolic items such as non-sufficient fund envelopes; he now uses his work as a platform for social commentary and advocacy.
As a queer disabled Vietnamese boat refugee, Việt Lê’s creative and critical practice focuses on sexualities, spiritualities, and healing and asks: “is a pathology really a power?” Their work encompasses experimental film, performance, painting, sculpture, and academic text and centers contemporary transnational artists working through multi-sensory mediumship. Expanding definitions of “trans,” “trance,” and “medium,” this work highlights queer feminist artists who use various corporeal aspects–sight, sound, touch, smell, taste–to embody spiritual traditions ranging from Asian indigenous shamanism to Black Atlantic religions.
Explore Marin County’s many art offerings during Marin Art Day, a San Francisco Art Week event, with special hours, events, tours, and family programming at some of its leading galleries and museums. SF Art Week celebrates the rich arts landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area. Art museums, galleries, non-profit organizations and creative spaces host events during SF Art Week that invite attendees to connect in new and meaningful ways.
Photo: Việt Lê in the studio. Photo by Aaron Wojack.
