Preserve: Maya, 1994

Scottish artist Anya Gallaccio created two installations: one untitled piece located at Centro Escolar Agua Caliente, the other titled Preserve: Maya/Preservación: Maya at the downtown location of the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Gallaccio was drawn to the site of Agua Caliente because of its history: it was built in 1929 as a resort and casino for the rich who came there to escape and play. Having been abandoned for many years, the pool was showing signs of decay with missing tiles, cracks, and broken elements. Gallaccio chose to cover these exposed areas with gold foil, referencing and revealing a sense of the pool’s gilded past.

At MCASD, Gallaccio worked with the theme of natural transformation. The artist chose a space viewable from both inside the museum and from the bookstore and layered red gerbera daisies between two panes of glass to create a botanical stained glass that was inserted as a window space. Over the course of the exhibition the flowers decomposed, fading to grey and revealing their own life cycle.

Curators: Lynda Forsha and Kathryn Kanjo
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (downtown location)
Organizers: Installation Gallery and Museum of Contemporary Art