NEIL KENDRICKS
Neil Kendricks is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer, and educator. Kendricks earned a Master’s degree in Television, Film and New Media from San Diego State University in 2006. Kendricks participated in Art Produce gallery’s 2020 Artist-in-Residence program where he launched his Strange Fruit series of mixed-media drawings. The San Diego-based artist is currently searching for completion funds for his documentary-in-progress Comics Are Everywhere! Kendricks has awarded the 2013 Creative Catalyst Fund/ Individual Artist’s Fellowship, the William Male Foundation’s 2019 Artist’s Grant, and the 2023 Far South/Border North Grant.
Kendricks’ award-winning short films like 2002’s Loop, and his 2015 experimental short films Memory Lines and Suspension screened at numerous international film festivals. His photography has also been exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Art, the now-defunct African-American Museum of Fine Arts in San Diego, London's Royal College of Art, and other venues. The artist’s first solo photography exhibition, Bruised Eye Candy was shown at San Diego’s Spacecraft gallery in 2008. In 2021, Kendricks’ short films and storyboards were shown in the short-film exhibition Mirror, Mirror: Lights, Camera, Dreams! at Bread & Salt gallery. In collaboration with his long-time friend and collaborator, composer Mike Mare, Kendricks’ interdisciplinary art-and-storytelling exhibition Temple of Story was shown at the Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) from October 2021 to February 2022. His short film Book of Skin will complete postproduction in 2024. The artist plans to screen the short film on the international film-festival circuit while writing short fiction and screenplays.
In tandem with pursing his interdisciplinary art, writing and filmmaking practice, Kendricks teaches drawing and arts-related courses at San Diego State University and Grossmont College, and film-survey courses at Southwestern College and San Diego Miramar College.
Kendricks’ drawings and photography can be viewed on his website.
MIKE MARE
A sound visionary and multidisciplinary collaborator, Mike Mare produces innovative musical compositions across a range of creative contexts. Using textural resonant electronic layers and heavy washes of ambient guitar, Mare’s compositions invite sustained emotional connection. Recent credits include composing for Michael Hull’s documentary film Betrayal At Attica (Fifth Column Films/HBO, 2021) and composing and designing site-specific sound for Neil Kendricks’ exhibit Temple of Story (Oceanside Museum of Art, 2021). Decades into a bold and versatile music career, Mare creates rich, textural sonic moods, such as in his compositions for Zack Taylor’s Edward R. Murrow Award-winning short documentary New York Seen From Above (Subset Inc./The New Yorker Documentary Series, 2020) and Shinako Sudo’s short film Lay Me Down (2009). Whether scoring, generating soundscapes for site-specific settings, or recording and touring with iconic bands, Mare brings an exploratory and adroit skillset that adds depth and heart to any project.
Mare is particularly interested in the sonic intertwining of urban and natural landscapes. In 2020, Mare released his solo LP Music For Film (Staywild Industries), an immersive affair that sits comfortably between John Carpenter’s suspense-laden soundtracks and Brian Eno's ambient landscapes. Born and raised in Queens, New York, Mare’s ear is simultaneously compelled by the cacophony of major cities, and the luring sounds of the ocean and other natural habitats. As such, undertakings in recent years push towards a more generous world, with stronger connections to community and the earth. Mare envisions soundscapes that connect sensory experience to an action-call to foster environmental restoration and rehabilitation.
Mike Mare has deep roots in the underground music scene as well. He is perhaps best known for his work co-producing iconic hip-hop group Dälek, with whom he released several LPs, including Precipice (Ipecac Recordings, 2022), Endangered Philosophies (Ipecac Recordings, 2017), and Asphalt for Eden (Profound Lore, 2016). He’s also collaborated with Anguish, on their self-titled LP (Rare Noise Records, 2018) and is the visionary behind Destructo Swarmbots (Clearlight, Public Guilt, 2007). You can learn more about Mare’s ever-evolving creative journey and be in touch at