Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoNear North Side / Streeterville

Kenzi Shiokava

Now showing27 June 2026 – 31 January 2027$22

The artist's first solo museum exhibition gathers over 50 sculptures from five decades: abstract totems carved from wood, and box assemblages of toys, dried plants and stones.

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On now All of November 2026

An eight-minute video from 2017 shows Kenzi Shiokava in his Compton studio, gouging away at an enormous tree trunk. Born in Brazil to Japanese parents, he moved to Los Angeles at 25, spent 20 years as Marlon Brando's gardener, and got this, his first museum solo show, five years after his death.

It fills the Bergman Family Gallery on the first floor with more than 50 sculptures from five decades. You walk among smooth wooden totems up to almost nine feet tall, carved by a man the curator puts at about five foot three. A dozen-plus boxes of toy figurines and plant matter sit along one long shelf.

Hyperallergic's Lori Waxman wished the video "were eight hours long", but found the wall pieces "fine but nothing special" and the boxes lonely, spaced out far more than at home, where they framed his sink and encased his toilet. It's included in general admission ($22, $19 for Chicago residents, free under 18), and Tuesdays run until 9pm.

Editor's pick

Smooth wooden totems up to nine feet tall, carved by a man of about five foot three who spent 20 years as Marlon Brando's gardener. Hyperallergic's Lori Waxman wished the studio video "were eight hours long".

Look for

The 2017 studio video
Eight minutes of Shiokava working an enormous tree trunk with hand tools, the same carving tools that are displayed in the gallery.
Primal Totem X (1999)
A single Douglas fir post carved into a totem about seven feet tall.
Untitled (Shaman Series) (2000)
A slender six-foot wooden column dressed in shells and leather.
The Let It Be box
Inside one wooden box from the 2007 series, a toy ballerina twirls among other plastic figurines like a tiny stage set.
The dancing triptych
Three photographs in the archive section catch Shiokava spinning mid-dance with a big grin.