Magic Mountain

MCASB Satellite @ Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara

For centuries, travelers to remote mountain villages, seaside escapes, desert oases, and elsewhere, have sought out nature’s curative properties. Whether it’s to find the elixir of life, or to practice sungazing; to harvest mud for beauty masks or to dig for healing rocks, the searches are motivated by a belief in nature’s bewitching attributes that often transcends scientific explanation. This exhibition investigates the inspiration for some of these quests and obsessions, and the truths, mysteries, antidotes, and rabbit holes that arise along the way. The artists’ works bring to light the mythologies and marketplace of natural cures—spiritual, physical, and psychological—at a time when humankind’s relationship to the environment is rapidly changing.

Artists include: Zachary Cahill, Alyse Emdur, Chris Johanson, Boris Mikhailov, Yunhee Min, Shana Moulton, John Newling, Johan Rosenmunthe, Truong Cong Tung, and Hannah Vainstein.