Welcome to the Cantor Arts Center

How does a community stay rooted in a region that’s constantly changing? California Current invites you to consider this question and others through its more than 60 works — many on view for the first time — that explore the interplay between Bay Area history, art, and artists over the past century.

Before 3D printing, there was photosculpture. Curated by Patrick R. Crowley, Associate Curator of European Art, Solid Pictures is the first major exhibition to explore these largely overlooked objects first conceived in 1859 by the twenty-nine-year-old French artist and inventor François Willème.

Bringing together precious keepsakes, souvenirs, archaeological detritus, and spooky messages from beyond the grave, the exhibition reveals the campy underside of a familiar biography and perhaps an even more familiar murder mystery.

A multimedia exhibition that begins with a score for a performance and unfolds as a series of interventions that engage accessibility as an artistic material.

The dual presentation of Irene Poon and Charles Wong sheds new light on each artist’s practice. The Mesa-Bains Archive Room presentation further contextualizes the artist, curator, and educator’s role in shaping Chicano and Latino art history over the past half century.