The Body Weird, Megan Koth at UCSB
By Skylar Lines, Lum Arts Writing Intern
Today the phrase “new normal” frequently comments on how drastic our lives have shifted in 2020 with Covid-19. This is certainly true for UCSB’s graduating MFA Class of 2020, whose final show, Field Day, the culmination of years’ worth of work has been shifted to a solely virtual exhibition. Talking with Megan Koth, a fresh perspective emerges on the experience of finishing an MFA program during the pandemic and its impact on her work and thesis show.
Megan Koth, Cleansing.
Despite the loss of the traditional exhibition space, the online exhibition allowed for artists to talk more extensively about their process and work, compiled into uniquely personal Zoom presentations. “The recording lives on and it’s been able to reach a lot more people,” says Koth, “and with more and more people getting to see it, the show becomes more democratic.”
Koth’s body of work comprises large, lush ultra-Baroque oil paintings, often self-portraits. Focusing on beauty rituals, Koth highlights the good and the ugly from these performances—a form of catharsis and a way to assert control over one’s body. In her series Mask and Peel, Koth depicts herself with various skincare/face masks, estranging the mundane beauty products as grotesque and surreal forms. Koth engages with the construct that women’s faces are constantly “under construction.” Her pieces reveal both enjoyment of beauty products and an examination of their impact.
“I’ve come to understand why I do it more, I think that is what the work is about, it’s just trying to understand why I let it be this part of my life and why it’s important to me,” says Koth. During the pandemic, the work’s has become an exploration of self-care as a space of solace and control. “This time has sort of solidified that concept even more for me… we are living in this time where we feel a sense of a loss of control and even a sense of questioning our bodies with an expansion of ritualistic control and confrontation of the weirdness of the body,” says Koth. “That is something that is going to migrate more into my work.”
Megan Koth, Soothing Green Tea Mask.
This autumn, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara will host a UCSB MFA exhibition for a three week run. To check for updates on exhibition dates, visit mcasantabarbara.org.
To view Field Day online, visit museum.ucsb.edu. To learn more about Megan Koth’s work, visit megankoth.com.
Megan Koth, Picking, Installation View.
Megan Koth in her studio.
Cover image: Megan Koth, Luminizing Pink Mask.
