MARCO CASTANEDA

I have begun to approach working with physical photographs no longer as precious objects, but as malleable forms with endless, sculptural possibilities. I find comfort in cutting, folding and re-photographing the objects I make in hopes of manifesting a more solid foundation to build up from. I enjoy the tactility of sculpture and its haptic registers within the photographic. I often use found objects, usually pieces of fashion that represent a certain type of person, most of the time the type of person I used to be. Continuing with the language of advertising and commercialism, color is used as a mode of strategic appeal, shouting first so the I can whisper later. I’m thinking about control and presented image; what is shown and what is concealed.

What intrigues me about fashion is how clothes act as a sort of armor but also as a focal point of vulnerability. The duality that comes along with presenting oneself, how each article of clothing affords one different privileges and access to particular circles. I’m validating the place-holder as the real thing, fighting the gentrification of myself and the aesthetics of combating an ever-creeping nostalgia for the comforts of heteronormativity. I am interested in the repetition and production of secrets, the way oral history can operate as a mechanism of exclusion but can be distorted during its proliferation. I critique everyday objects and utilize them as vital components for my own exploration of otherness and presentation.

CV

B 1994

Lives and works between San Francisco & Los Angeles

Solo Exhibitions

Boys in Polos Think its Funny, Still Lights Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2017

Group Shows and Collaborations/Artist Talks

Distorted Perception, Today at Apple, Apple Store Union Square 2019

The Sweet Escape,  Fort Mason's Gallery 308, San Francisco 2018

Way Bay Now Exhibition, Berkeley Art and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley CA 2018

Altered Landscapes, Southern Graphics Council, Las Vegas, Nevada 2018

The Love Below, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2018

The Radicals, The Real Old Paper Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2018

You Were Here, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2018

The Impracticals, Bass and Reiner, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA 2017

Fort Mason Opening Spectacle, SFAI Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA 2017

Playtime, Isaac Julien, (Collaborative Card Piece) Fort Mason Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA 2017

Many Rooms by Ebitenyefa Baralaye, (collaborative video piece) Museum of African Diaspora, 

San Francisco, CA 2017

It's Complicated, 511 Pop Up Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2017

Below the Threshold, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2017

Inadequacy, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2017

Awards & Residencies

Adidas Originals Window Activation 2018

Paul Sack Award 2018

Casa Na Ilha Artist in Residence, Sao Paulo, Brazil 2018

San Francisco Art Institute Photography Program Honorable Mention 2017

Paul Sack Award Honorable Mention 2017

San Francisco Art Institute Merit Portfolio Scholarship in Photography 2015-2018

Experience

Content Producer at LightSource SF

Gallery and Installation Assistant, Walter and Mcbean Galleries, San Francisco, CA 2017-2018

Still Lights and Paul Sacks Galleries Co-Curator, San Francisco, CA 2018

PhotoAlliance Volunteer, San Francisco, CA 2016-2018

Digital Content Assistant (Arts Marketing) San Francisco Art Institute, 2016-2017

Digital Imaging Assistant, San Francisco Art Institute, 2016-2018

The Billboard Creative Contributor, Los Angeles, CA 2014-2017

Director of Photography at Black Entertainment Television, Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY 2014-2015

Owner, Marco David Commercial Photography & Imaging, 2014-Present

Creative Intern at Paramount Pictures Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA 2013-2014

Skills

• Photography & Imaging
• Photoshop
• Lightroom
• Illustrator
• Premiere Pro
• Videography
• Print Media/Design
• Photo & Video Production
• Digital Content Production/Strategy Execution
• Art Consulting