Curated by Noah Davis
October 30 - December 18, 2010
Opening reception Saturday, October 30th, 6-8 PM
Roberts & Tilton
5801 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, California 90232
T 323.549.0223
F 323.549.0224

Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Seattle, WA
Depaul Museum of Art, Chicago, IL
Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, Queens, NY

http://www.flashartonline.com/ In the Artist's Hands - Actual Size LA

http://beautifuldecay.com/2009/04/03/2866/

http://bevelandboss.blogspot.com/2009/01/samia-mirza.html

Starting November 2008, Samia will be moving to Los Angeles from Chicago. "Hello Sun!"

An exhibition curated by Jason Foumberg, entitled Shape-shifters will open on May 23, 2008. The Shape-shifters theme comes from an interest in the way that artists incorporate various materials and ideas into their objects. It is about the appropriation of culture: how does it get inside of us, and how do we live it?

The show is funded by the Contemporary Arts Council which is an Illinois not-for-profit corporation. It is an independent non-affiliated organization that is a unique addition to the Chicago arts community. The Contemporary Arts Council is a concept, not an institution. The thought: art is an act of free choice, it is self-evident - support for the arts should be equally free of influence. Each year the Contemporary Arts Council hosts an exhibition of artists from Chicago and this year, Jason's proposal has been chosen.

Included in the exhibit are Mike Andrews, Josh Mannis, Sarah Hicks, Melissa Pokorny, Reed Barrow, Mirza and more.

Mirza will be included in a group exhibition opening in the month of May at the Louis Pohl Gallery in Honolulu, Hawaii. Curator, Carl Pao, has chosen the theme Ku/Hina; Male/Female. In Hawaiian mythology Ku or Ku-ka-ili-moku is one of the four great gods along with Kanaloa, Kane, and Lono. He was the husband of the goddess Hina. Ku and Hina-man and woman-were the great ancestral gods of heaven and earth for the ancient Hawaiians. They were life's fruitfulness and all the generations of mankind, both those who are to come and those already born.

Gallery Information is attached below:
Louis Pohl Gallery
1111 Nuuanu Ave
Honolulu, HI 96817

Scheduled Events:
Artist Reception: Thursday April 24 from 6:00-8:00pm.
First Friday: Friday May 2 from 5:00-9:00pm.
Third Thursday: Thursday May 15 from 6:00-8:00pm.

Kunsthalle Chicago is a new gallery located on the corner of Damen and Chicago Avenue in Chicago, IL. Curator, Jean Kang, has put together a group show in which Mirza's pieces "Pointing" and "Can you see me?" will be exhibited. The space is a old gutted dollar store and the show contains a mixture of artworks and store items. The opening reception is April 19, 2008 from 6-10pm at 2006 W. Chicago Ave.

Mirza will participate in a group exhibition entitled, Don't Put It Past Me, at Koscielak Gallery, Chicago opening April 18, 2008.

Koscielak Gallery
1646 N. Bosworth Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
T.847.858.1540

This April, Mirza has been invited to exhibit her work in the 13th Annual Asian American Showcase. Each year the exhibition is held at the Ellen Sandor Family Gallery located at 164 N. State St. in Chicago, Illinois. The theme of the show invites thirteen artists to deal with, interpret or explore the idea of THIRTEEN whether number, process, or whatever. Mirza has chosen to include a revised version of her sticky toothpaste drawing entitled "I wish I was a little bit taller..." The show opens April 11, 2008 through May 18.

Mirza will install a new piece from 2008 entitled, "Karate & Dolphins" for her thesis exhibition amongst 250 SAIC students completing undergraduate degrees this spring. The students will exhibit their innovative work in a range of media including ceramics; designed objects; fashion design; fiber and material studies; film, video, and new media; painting and drawing; performance; photography; printmedia; sculpture; and sound.

More information on the BFA Thesis Show is below:
Gallery 2 & Project Space, 847 W. Jackson Blvd., 2nd & 3rd Floors
March 15 - April 4
Opening reception: Friday, March 14, 7:00 - 10:00 pm
Extended viewing hours: March 19 and April 4, 11:00 am - 9:00 pm

Eleven artists get together for a group show at Yellow Trapezoid Gallery. This is a one night event, opening March 7, 2008 in the West Loop area of Chicago, Mirza's piece entitled, Stars are forming in Orion, will be included in the exhibition.

Justin Polera

estudiotres is opening Friday January 18th with the group show--Thaw: Winter won't last forever.

Samia Mirza presents her work Conjoined Snowmen (We all Fall Down) which is a beautiful and sad sculpture. I have variously interpreted this sculpture through many different readings. Mirza's work is an inspiration for me and has helpped me understand how "art in the present-tense" must be experienced in the moment. Standing before the sculpture we are transported to the moment of pre-reflective wonderment, where a child creates his very first sculpture before he even understands words. This pre-reflective moment of joy, intuition, gut feeling and wonder comes from birth. Imagine the shock of being born, of coming out of the womb and seeing the world for the first time.

Mirza's work brings us back to ourselves. Importantly, her work brings her back to herself, telling us stories of who she is.

Alternatively, I have seen this work through pre-modern, modern, fruedian, post-modern, feminist, semiotic and even queer lens. Conjoined Snowman reminds me that much great art is open ended, free to be interpreted and reinterpreted through different views and new sets of eyes.

Through a certain lens I see the two snowman as a sad impossible homoerotic love, two of the same kind, lovers who can't make love work-- collapsed on the floor. Or maybe forbidden desire, larger than any of us.
link to blog

estudiotres is proud to announce its next exhibition,THAW, beginning on January 18, 2008 and continuing through March 7, 2008. The opening reception will be held on Friday, January 18, 2008 from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. THAW features the works of Rob Bondgren, Samia Mirza, Andrew Winship, Nate Wolf, and Davin Youngs. The exhibition will feature work that compliments the theme “Winter won’t last forever,” perfect for this time of year.
link to gallery

Eye Exam
External Pleasures

Jason Foumberg

There’s something roughly pornographic about Samia Mirza’s new sculpture at Koscielak Gallery. It’s a beastly thing engaged in a pose like the yogic upward-facing dog, yet also reminiscent of a woman halfway between birthing and orgasm. Her infant swims nearby, a smiley-faced tadpole. All the while, she’s lost her head; it rests by her neck. Her anus, pushed up in the air, exhibits a frightfully screaming face composed of gouged holes. The whole scene is reflected in a mirror beneath the figure, like a prostitute’s ceiling, so that all angles are exposed in all writhing perspectives.

I’m not usually swayed by titles, but Mirza’s " Drop your legs and lay on me said the Macha to the Meecha" proved too enticing to not prompt a bit of Internet research. Macha is a Celtic goddess of war who sometimes takes the form of a horse. Meecha is a difficult reference to pin down, but a religious text from the mid-1800s states that Meecha is a Hindu term for someone "not born twice." The connection is loose, but given Mirza’s past penchant for mythology, I’ll infer that these beings served as inspiration for the primal scene on the mirror; an awful scene indeed, but it’s just another cosmic day for some strange gods.
link to article

Mirza is exhibiting work in a group exhibition opening this Friday. The
exhibition entitled, Wish List, consists of work from artists in the Advanced Sculptural Practices Studio Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Opening Reception is this Friday, December 14, 6-10 pm @

Koscielak Gallery Chicago
1646 N. Bosworth Ave, Chicago IL 60622
773.252.9921
link to gallery

“Double X” is an upcoming exhibition at Arizona State University’s Step Gallery that examines the network of mentorship. The exhibition will feature small works by women university sculpture professors from around the country. In addition, each invited professor has invited one female student who is either a current or recently graduated undergraduate senior to contribute one small work. Opening October 22, 2007 Mirza will participate in "Double X" alongside artist and mentor, Frances Whitehead.
link to exhibition

Samia Mirza is fearless. She embodies the "expanded field" of sculpture, moving between media, contexts and meanings seamlessly. She tempers a keen sense of professionalism with a serious but down-to-earth body-humor. The fried toys are true genius.
– Frances Whitehead

This August Samia had work in an Exhibition entitled "Queer Fest Midwest" with artist's including Sadie Benning, Bruce La Bruce, Kean O’Brian, Terence Koh and others. The show was curated by Justin Polera and Gonia Rejnowska of the curatorial team R&P.
link to Art in the Present Blog

Samia is currently attending the Documenta 12 exhibition in Kassel, Germany occurring every 5 years. She is then headed over to Munster, Germany to witness the Munster Skuptr Project occurring every 10 years. She will be returning to Chicago in Mid-July and working on several new projects, one including a 48 ft high swing.

This May Samia will be part of the 2007 Union League and Civic Arts Foundation Scholarship Competition in Chicago, Illinois. Fifteen artists within the city of Chicago have been selected to compete in the final competition.
Union League Civic and Arts Foundation

www.samiamirza.com is now up and running and will have frequent updates as time goes on. Many of Samia's pieces are yet to be photographed but will be here shortly. There will be documentation of her deep fried sculptures and her latest project: a giant Donald Judd made out of "Rice Krispie Treats."