Cait Petersen 2018

The UnMonumental is a group show with works by Daniel Arthur Mendoza, Cait Petersen, and Kat Trataris comprising of sculptures, paintings, and installations cacophonous both in their varied media and palette. Upon entering the space the viewer is met with Trataris’ large vinyl ants that emerge from the shadows of the darkest part of the ramp, creeping along the pathway into the higher levels of the gallery. Marring the walls is an infestation of another kind, a sort of black mold growing along crevices made of dyed and beaded wool. Following these innocuous invaders, the viewer is met with Mendoza’s voluminous sculpted forms attempting to break free of their restraints; lying helplessly on the ground or pinned to the walls. These objects successfully ooze out of their ties while existing in a constant point of tension; the moment before breaking free. At the top of the ramp lie ever increasing piles of sculptures made of trash, ceramics, and dirt — any immediately available material — emassed into mimics of the castaway objects they are made from. Small mountain ranges gather along their graphic counterparts; coalescing the sculpted object with the painted one. Acting on the incline of the space, The UnMonumental builds upon itself, exploring the multitude of constructed layers and what lives below the surface.

Exhibiting Artists:

766 Valencia St,
San Francisco, CA 94110 @ 19th Street

Daniel Arthur Mendoza is an artist whose cartoony and absurd sculptures and drawings are informed by the ways in which people use and dispose of objects, the trajectory of desirable consumer products from store shelves to overflowing landfills, and the emotional spaces objects can imitate. Mendoza received his BA in Studio Art at the University of California, Davis in 2013. That same year he was the recipient of the Gadberry Award for Sculpture, the Kubota Scholarship, and attended the Chautauqua Institution Schools of the Fine and Performing Arts in Chautauqua, New York. His work has been exhibited at The Luggage Store Gallery (San Francisco, CA), Guerrero Gallery (San Francisco, CA), R/SF Projects (San Francisco, CA), Gregory Kondos Gallery (Sacramento, CA), and The Center (Sacramento, CA). Mendoza currently lives and works in Oakland, CA.

Cait Petersen holds an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute and a BA in Painting from San Diego State University. Petersen is a multidisciplinary artist whose installation practice investigates opposites and in-betweens, while questioning the politics and appropriateness of the white cube. Her work has been shown at Root Division (San Francisco, CA), Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture (San Francisco, CA), CCA Hubbell Street Galleries (San Francisco, CA), and R/SF projects (San Francisco, CA).

Kaitlin Trataris is a multi-media artist living and working in San Francisco. In her practice, Kaitlin creates installations and performances that reflect on institutional and personal boundaries that perpetuate our communal traumas. Trataris received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, and her BA from San Diego State University. In 2015 she was a recipient of the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Award. She has shown work at SOMArts (San Francisco, CA), Noroof Gallery (San Francisco, CA), CCA Hubbell Street Galleries (San Francisco, CA), and EFA Project Space (New York, New York).