Neil Kendricks: 'Temple of Story'

'Temple of Story' is stories and drawings by Neil Kendricks, with music and sound design by Mike Mare

On view at OMA Oct. 9-2021 through Feb. 20, 2022
Exhibition Celebration: Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021

From the artist:
“We need stories now more than ever. Future generations will ultimately understand our unprecedented times of pandemic, crazed demagogues, and failed insurrections through the art and stories that come out of this period in history. Artists, writers, playwrights, and filmmakers will construct funhouse-mirror reflections capturing the loss, chaos, and bewilderment, along with the courage, innovation, and resilience of human beings finding their way through the confusion of the early 21st century. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I wrote ‘flash fiction’ (short, quickly written stories) to wrap my mind and heart around the days and nights of contagion, quarantine, and masks in a private vigil for better tomorrows.

In collaboration with composer and musician Mike Mare, Temple of Story offers a fascinating exploration into the process of how my stories are created in a fusion of images, sound, and text. In this exhibition, viewers will take a stroll through a forest of fables with drawings on the walls to illuminate their path. Graphic narratives erupting with bursts of magical realism will be integrated with Mare’s atmospheric music and sound design, allowing them to discover an intimacy with an unseen storyteller.

Temple of Story is dedicated to the memory of my loving and much-loved father Willie James Kendricks (1941–2018), who taught me the power of art and the written word to build bridges of understanding in our increasingly complex world.”
—Artist Neil Kendricks

Related links:
Oceanside Museum of Art on Instagram
Artist website