What Is Kenzi Shiokava at MCA Chicago, and How Do You Visit?

Short answer

Kenzi Shiokava is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA Chicago) through January 31, 2027. The museum calls it the artist’s first solo museum exhibition, and it gathers over 50 sculptures made between the 1970s and the 2010s. The museum is at 220 East Chicago Avenue; hours are Tuesday 10am-9pm and Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm, closed Monday. Admission is $19 for Chicago-resident adults and $22 for non-residents, and free for anyone 18 and under.

The museum describes Shiokava’s practice as the recovery and transformation of castoff materials: carved wooden totems and box installations animated by toys, dried plants and stones. All times are local to Chicago.

Key facts

• Exhibition: Kenzi Shiokava, the artist’s first solo museum exhibition, per the MCA.
• Dates: June 27, 2026, to January 31, 2027.
• Venue: Bergman Family Gallery, MCA Chicago, 220 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611.
• Hours: Tuesday, 10am-9pm; Wednesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm. Closed Monday.
• Admission: adults $19 (Chicago residents) or $22 (non-residents); students, teachers and visitors 65+ $10 or $14. Free for Illinois residents on Tuesdays 5-9pm; free every day for anyone 18 and under.
• Pay what you can: in person at the museum only; the MCA says no one is turned away.
• Curator: organized by Nolan Jimbo, Assistant Curator.
• Catalogue: the show is accompanied by the first monograph on the artist.

Who was Kenzi Shiokava?

According to the museum’s biography, Shiokava was born in 1938 in Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, Brazil, to parents who had immigrated from Kagoshima, Japan. After his early adulthood in São Paulo, he left Brazil in 1964 – the museum says he narrowly evaded the military coup d’état – and moved to Los Angeles just months before the 1965 Watts Rebellion.

He earned a BFA from the Chouinard Art Institute in 1972 and an MFA from the Otis Art Institute in 1974, then worked in Los Angeles for the next five decades. He was a longtime artist-in-residence at the Watts Towers Arts Center, where his peers included John Outterbridge, Noah Purifoy and Betye Saar. He died in 2021 in Los Angeles.

What will you see in the exhibition?

Over 50 sculptures from the 1970s to the 2010s. The museum says the presentation is anchored by two core bodies of work: abstract totems meticulously carved from wood, and enigmatic box installations animated by toys, dried plants and stones.

Three works are named on the museum’s page.

• Primal Totem X (1999): carved Douglas fir post wood, 84½ inches (214.6 cm) tall.
• Untitled (Shaman Series) (2000): shells, leather and wood.
• Untitled (Let it Be Series) (2007): a wooden box with plastic toy figurines.

The materials, the museum says, were salvaged from secondhand stores, the street and the shore – action figures, telephone poles and driftwood among them – and filled his cavernous warehouse studio in Compton, which the museum calls an artwork in and of itself.

What shaped his way of working?

The museum describes a transcultural practice that melds the aesthetic sensibilities of wood carving in Japan, assemblage in South Los Angeles and multiple belief systems, including Candomblé, Catholicism and Zen Buddhism.

Shiokava spoke of unearthing what he called the “inner movement” of everyday objects, and he compared his sculptural process to archeology – in the museum’s words, both patient practices of excavation, recovery and revelation.

How can context shape the visit?

A first museum survey of an artist who worked for five decades raises simple questions: why these materials, why this patience. That is where cultural mediation can help: connecting a work, its setting and a visitor’s questions. The museum’s labels are one layer; your own questions are another.

Shiokava’s Compton warehouse was a working studio, not a public one. Antre’s glossary explains what an open art studio is – a different way artists invite people into their process.

For other Chicago guides, see Melanie McLain at MCA Chicago and Tony Cokes at the Art Institute of Chicago.

How should you plan the visit?

The museum encourages visitors to buy tickets online in advance. MCA Chicago is closed on Monday, and Tuesday evenings run until 9pm. Illinois residents receive free admission on Tuesdays from 5 to 9pm, and anyone 18 and under is free every day.

According to the visit page, admission is also free for Illinois elementary and high school teachers with a valid ID, for visitors with disabilities and their caregivers, and for MCA members. If price matters, pay-what-you-can admission is available in person at the museum, and the museum says no one is turned away. Groups of 10 or more should call the Box Office at 312-397-4010. Check the museum’s pages before you go, because hours can change.

FAQ

Is Kenzi Shiokava still alive?

No. The museum’s biography says he died in 2021 in Los Angeles.

How much are tickets to MCA Chicago?

Adults pay $19 (Chicago residents) or $22 (non-residents); students, teachers and visitors 65+ pay $10 or $14. Admission is free for anyone 18 and under, and for Illinois residents on Tuesdays from 5 to 9pm.

When is MCA Chicago closed?

On Mondays. It is open Tuesday 10am-9pm and Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm.

Can you pay what you wish?

Yes, in person at the museum only. The MCA describes a pay-what-you-can policy and says no one is turned away.

Is there a catalogue?

Yes. The exhibition is accompanied by the artist’s first monograph, designed by IN-FO.CO, with essays by Nolan Jimbo, Naima J. Keith, Aram Moshayedi and Michiko Okano.

About Antre

Antre is building an app that gives artworks their context, starting with New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Join the waiting list at antre.art.

Sources

• MCA Chicago: Kenzi Shiokava exhibition page: dates, gallery, works and materials, artist biography, catalogue and curator.
• MCA Chicago: Plan Your Visit: address, admission prices, free-admission groups, pay-what-you-can policy and hours.