The exhibition is expansive; Saar’s career started in the 1960’s. Still Tickin’ takes you on a journey through Saar’s life, fearlessly revealing personal, social and cultural challenges that have been part of her path since her birth in the 1926. Presented is work Saar created to explore and examine three different themes: nostalgia and memory, mysticism and ritual, and political and racial. Her stories are told using a variety of mediums, including assemblages, collages, installations and sculptures.
Her skills reflect a natural ability, an ease, and as you weave through the exhibition, it’s impossible not to be intrigued. The thoughtfully chosen materials reveal honest and jarring messages that render you motionless. It’s also hard to not see some of her pieces created in decades past that comment on racism and previous political climate and compare them to current situations. It’s doubly sad when that thought highlights, in some cases, the similarities to things still occurring today.
Still Tickin’ is a layered and mesmerizing look at this important artist’s life and career – a must-see exhibition that runs through May 1, 2016.
If you go:
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Admission costs $7 for adults, $5 for students; free for members and ages 15 and younger
7374 E. Second St., Scottsdale
Hours vary Tuesdays through Sundays
480-874-4666, smoca.org
