XANADU
Presented by Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation at the gallery at Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara with the support of JC Connelly, Inc.
Artists:
Cassandria Blackmore, Matthew Brannon, Paul Demuro, Cameron Gainer, Gary Lang, Ruth Pastine, Enoc Perez, Aaron Spangler, Wolfgang Tillmans, Russell Young, Beatrice Wood.
On View: August 1, 2019 – February 6, 2020
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 1, 2019, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Additional events to be announced
Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation is pleased to announce our second exhibition partnership with the Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara. XANADU opens to the public Thursday, August 1, 2019, and features artworks from the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Study Collection, artworks on loan from local collections, augmented with works available for sale through a partnership with JC Connelly, Inc. to benefit the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation. The exhibition is curated by Frederick Janka, Executive Director, and John Connelly, principal of JC Connelly, Inc. and will be on view through February 1, 2020.
The exhibition is a hybrid model of public-private partnership between the Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara and the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, with the support of JC Connelly, Inc. The exhibition is inspired, in part, by the name of the summer palace of Kubla Khan, the Mongol ruler and Emperor of China from 1260 – 1294. Xanadu, an alternative to Shangdu, gained popularity after the publication of the poem Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1816. Earlier literary visions of Shangdu were inspired by Marco Polo’s visit to the area in 1275 where he described encountering a wondrous park and palace, walled for miles around, with fountains, rivers, brooks, beautiful meadows and wild animals.
Describing his own vision of the summer capital, written in 1797 and published in 1816, Coleridge wrote:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
Since Coleridge’s poem was published the name Xanadu gained recognition and has been appropriated and used in popular culture, film, literature and music to symbolize or suggest an idyllic Eden-like setting. However, beneath the often colorful references to paradise and the riches and pleasures it offers, Xanadu also suggests the dark and dangerous side of the natural world, and the possible vagaries of man’s intrusion into it.
Among other cultural references and points of inspiration, Xanadu is the name (or part of the name) for: a mansion in the fictional biographical film Citizen Kane (1941); a 1980 film starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly (and a 2007 Broadway musical based on it); a bright feature on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan; a series of experimental homes built in the early 1980’s to showcase computers and automation; the nickname (with “2.0”) for Bill Gates’ private estate and the alternative name for American Dreams Meadowlands, a proposed mall in New Jersey.
Daniel Alvarado, Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara’s General Manager, says, “Our hotel is excited to be partnering with the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation to share unexpected art encounters with both locals and guests in the unique space of our hotel and to create a connection to our community that extends beyond our front door.”
Special Thanks:
The Artists, Beatrice Wood Center For The arts, Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara, OHI Home, JC Connelly, Inc., Santo Mezcal, Laurie & Marc Recordon, Lila Glasoe Francese & Dines Francese, Chris Bailey, and Bruce Mason
About Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara:
Hotel Indigo Santa Barbara blends historic splendor with sophisticated design to offer artful lodging in the Funk Zone. As Santa Barbara’s closest hotel to the Amtrak station, with complimentary bike rentals and nearby bike and foot paths to downtown, the beach, and Stearns Wharf, this hotel is the perfect car-free lodging choice. Contemporary art graces this 41-room boutique hotel which features pet-friendly, micro guestrooms with room service available from the award-winning Santo Mezcal restaurant, free WIFI, modern appointments, and some rooms with private, outdoor gardens. Facilities include an art library, open-air lounges, business center, fitness room, and boardroom.
Exhibition Images:
