Sep 09, 2025 Art Department to host exhibition 'Before Now' featuring work of artist Michael Deragon

Sept. 9, 2025 - Cal State Channel Islands' (CSUCI) Department of Art and Art History has announced the first exhibition of the new academic year. The Napa Hall Art Gallery will host "Before Now," a solo show featuring the work of Southern California artist Michael Deragon. Dozens of Deragon's intricately crafted mixed-media collages will be on display along with his expressive paintings and experimental sound work.

The exhibition opens Thursday, Sept. 18 with a free public reception being held from 5 to 7 p.m. at Napa Hall. All members of the campus community and the public are invited, and the artist will be in attendance. The exhibition runs through Oct. 30 and the gallery is open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A special performance and Q/A are also scheduled during the final week of the show on Tuesday, Oct. 28 from 6 to 7 p.m.

Michael Deragon is an artist who has made a career of inhabiting in-between spaces, seeking out the mysteries that lie hidden in the darker corners of the imagination. In truth, it's more than just a career, it's an ethos - a deeply held philosophy that drives the entirety of his creative practice. As a musician and film composer, a poet, and visual artist, he approaches his work with a restless fervor that at times borders on a kind of mania. Obsessively experimenting, playing, and tinkering - at its core, his practice digs into the more secretive nooks of creativity and the workings of the human psyche. "Before Now" offers a glimpse into his prolific studio practice.

Deragon's tactile collages are created from a repository of antiquated periodicals, vintage music scores, tattered paper stocks, and found ephemera. He first began making cut-and-paste pieces for band fliers in the 1990s, taking inspiration from the aesthetics of punk rock music, along with the Cubists and Dada artists from the 1920s. Since that time, he has formalized his practice, working with an ever-increasing array of unique materials - weathered blueprints, moth-eaten envelopes, discarded anatomy textbooks, an entire year's worth of The New York Times from 1933, and lots of tape. These raw materials are torn, cut, trimmed, ripped, and then selectively arranged and rearranged to create hauntingly weathered artworks on display in the gallery.

"Collage is a practice that can be very inspiring - we have many Art courses where students create work from found materials, and the results are always unique," says Luke Matjas, Professor of Art and Director of the Napa Hall Art Gallery. "Michael Deragon's work reminds us of the real magic of 'play' - of moving things around on the page until they somehow create a story, a resonant mood, or a sensation. His works are filled with hidden dramas, cryptic poetry, and many opportunities for philosophical introspection."

For Deragon, the use of found materials stands in contrast to the cultural obsession with newness - new technology, new gadgets, and new modes of communication - allowing him to create a fuller, unvarnished picture of the human condition. "I love things that are decaying, breaking, and torn apart. That's where the good stuff is," he describes. "That's real life. As in dreams, a broken heart, falling in love, falling apart - we are all collaged together from the beautiful and the ugly. The combination makes us a firebrand. It makes us human."

"Before Now" captures the sometimes fractured and often fragmented nature of the world around us - the frustrations and the joys, as well as the strange and the magical. Michael Deragon's artworks are certain to invite speculation and a sense of visual intrigue, though the exhibition may leave viewers with more questions than answers.

The Napa Hall Gallery is located on the CSUCI campus at the entrance to Napa Hall near the corner of Santa Barbara Avenue and Ventura Street. Visitors can park at the nearby A4 parking lot (select stalls are free for 30 minutes or $6 for a general permit).

The University encourages individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs, events and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact the respective area below as soon as possible, but no later than seven (7) business days prior to the event/activity: CSUCI Students: [email protected]; CSUCI Employees and members of the public: [email protected]