http://www.hespe.com/
Hespe Gallery's current show “Summer Memories” is a reminder that summer means different things to different people. Gone are the days of camp and water vacations. Summer can be a walk through steaming Times Square or an afternoon nap in a familiar year-round messy bedroom.
Charles Hespe’s new space at 251 Post has a happy, urbane personality. Walking in the door you are transported to Soho. Floor to ceiling windows look out on both a New-Yorky urban light well and a brilliantly sunny rooftop view of Geary Street neighbors.
The Hespe mission of ”fostering a high comfort level for established and novice art collectors” alike still holds true despite the new sophisticated location. Charles Hespe founded his gallery in 1993 on Union Street and moved from that more modest locale to Union Square about a year and a half ago. 251 Post is a more intimate version of behemoth neighbor 49 Geary. The lobby doesn’t look like much but the upper floor staircases are dramatic with mammoth intricate banisters supported by delicate spindles.
Despite the location over Bulgari, gallery assistant Ciara Shuttleworth does a great job of representing the egalitarian brand image. She gives a cheerful friendly welcome and has an innate talent for sensing when to offer information or hold back and wait for you to ask.
Another reason that Hespe is a welcoming place is that the work he chooses to feature is comfortingly consistent. Charles Hespe is dedicated to featuring works painted in a representational style. Be it photorealism or a primitivist landscape, a rose is a rose at Hespe.
The democratic mission statement is not just talk. Hespe is an enthusiastic supporter of Root Division, a San Francisco cooperative non-profit that rents affordable studio space in return for elbow grease. Member artist donate their time to teach free art classes and after school programs. http://www.rootdivision.org/ Hespe also has an open casting-call style page on his website that clearly describes how to submit work for his consideration.
I fell in love with the show’s opening pricepoint piece, Welcome to L.A., by Glenn Ness. The sides of a dark downhill LAX escalator tunnel gleam with promise. Like all of L.A., it’s an anonymous place, except for the haunting shadow of the traveller moving uphill in the opposite direction. Every detail of this specific public space is recorded, including the teeth of the moving steps. Ness’ Boy From Oz is a spooky deserted night scene of Times Square. The riotous White Way billboards are juxtaposed by the calming influence of diamond patterned slate gray sidewalk and puddled street.
http://www.hespe.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=23
Melissa Hutton’s Waiting To Get Out is a barren snowy landscape punctuated by a few benday-dot quonset huts. The painting is actually dripping with melting ice (epoxy resin) so you can feel the determination of the snowed-in residents to escape. The partner piece is in Hespe’s office, Still Waiting shows the same landscape in Summer, huts now serenely resting on a vibrant green meadow under a fiery red sky.
http://www.hespe.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=13
The piece featured on the postcard is Robert Townsend’s Cadillac, a breathtaking technical masterpiece of watercolor, a notoriously hard-to-control paint. Every chrome shine and reflection is beautifully captured. Even the dirt is recorded in this epistle to a once-loved classic car.
http://www.hespe.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=26
Eric Zener’s Calm Before a Turbulent Sea is the requisite contemplative bather piece. An angry body of water beckons a strong female swimmer.
http://www.hespe.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=1
Tony Chimento’s Afternoon Nap is what you are doing if you’re not swimming out-of-doors.
http://www.hespe.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=10
Don't rush out too quickly. Take a moment to browse through neighbor Newmark Gallery's cozy serene gallery next door currently featuring abstract "wastescapes" by Kevin Pincus. At the opposite end of the hall, pass through the door of Meyerovich Gallery and you are instantly transported to our own Manhattan MOMA Richard Serra show.
This show $3200-$55000
June 12 to August 4, Hespe Gallery, 251 Post Street, Suite 420, Tuesday- Friday, 11:00a.m - 5:30p.m. and Saturday, 11:00a.m. - 5:00p.m, 415.776.5918, info@hespe.com
6/16/07 Green Furniture Happening
http://www.sfnpc.org/node/299
There's going to be a "happening" this Saturday at Dolores Park (at 19th). That's a happening in the 50's performance art kind of way. Be on the lookout for an environmentally friendly "pop-up cafe" from 4:00-8:00 pm. Green furniture designers Jon Brumit and Mike Farruggia will supply the benches and tables and Ritual Coffee Roasters is bringing the fair-trade coffee. And there's a green party favor too- you'll get a reusable coffee mug. What's the Stark Guide angle? Sculpture that happens to be beautifully designed furniture made of recycled materials.
Do you remember the photo of the mayor sitting on a grass couch in front of city hall? It was taken last year for the lanch of the letsgreenthiscity program. The movement is a contemporary dichotomy of big business and green effort. PG&E is the sponsor and the purpose is to make renewable energy cool, to make San Francisco the "greenest" city in the nation. (Isn't is already?)
There's going to be a "happening" this Saturday at Dolores Park (at 19th). That's a happening in the 50's performance art kind of way. Be on the lookout for an environmentally friendly "pop-up cafe" from 4:00-8:00 pm. Green furniture designers Jon Brumit and Mike Farruggia will supply the benches and tables and Ritual Coffee Roasters is bringing the fair-trade coffee. And there's a green party favor too- you'll get a reusable coffee mug. What's the Stark Guide angle? Sculpture that happens to be beautifully designed furniture made of recycled materials.
Do you remember the photo of the mayor sitting on a grass couch in front of city hall? It was taken last year for the lanch of the letsgreenthiscity program. The movement is a contemporary dichotomy of big business and green effort. PG&E is the sponsor and the purpose is to make renewable energy cool, to make San Francisco the "greenest" city in the nation. (Isn't is already?)
Jon and Mike are alumni of the prestigious Artist in Residence program at SF Recycling & Disposal (AKA the Dump). http://starkguide.blogspot.com/2007/06/market-street-gallery-reart-co.html. These two are talented, multi-dimensional artists who happen to be furniture designers as well. Paul Fresina, director of the program, suggested them as good candidates for the project when PG&E's PR agency, Venables Bell, embarked on assisting the energy vendor with this aspirational effort. The combination of their design skills and green art provenance was a winning combination for this project.
When you go on Saturday, you'll see 3 legged tables made of bike parts, lounge chairs from shopping carts and quite a few riffs on the ever-adaptable wine barrel. Mike and Jon collaborated on the suite of pieces and enjoyed working together on the project.
What's going to happen to the furniture afterwards? Well, they're not sure. One idea is to auction off the pieces to the highest bidder in an auction that raises money for green causes. There will be six or seven more of these "pop-up cafes" as the summer progesses so maybe you can put in an "absentee bid plus one" for after the series has concluded.
http://www.mikefarrugia.com/, http://www.jonbrumit.com/, http://www.letsgreenthiscity.com/Market Street Gallery: ReArt, Co-Sponsored By Scrap (Not Crap)
http://www.marketstreetgallery.com/
Something unusual was happening at the opening reception for ReArt at Market Street Gallery on Friday night: people were having a really good time. Multi-generational packs of visitors were smiling and laughing and pointing at works on the crowded gallery's walls. Mike Kimball, Director of the gallery's MesArts program was mingling and chatting good naturedly with guests. All this before the wine was poured!
29 of 72 submissions using recycled materials were selected for this show by Paul Fresina, director of the Artist in Residence Program at San Francisco Recycling & Disposal, Inc., Christina La Sala, from the Lab Gallery and Steven Wolf of Steven Wolf Fine Arts.
ReArt is co-presented by Scrap, the 501(c)(3) Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts. San Francisco residents and businesses are encouraged to donate their clean old stuff that could be used as found materials for artwork. And yes, you'll get a tax deduction. Museums, neighborhood centers, senior groups, summer camps, theater groups and childcare centers use Scrap materials. www.scrap-sf.org
Three of the artists featured in the show (Claudia Chapline, Mike Farruggia, Michael Kerbow) are alumni of the prestigious program at the dump. Don't turn your nose up, it's as hard to get into as an Ivy League school. For the sixty to eighty annual applicants there are only four to eight slots (Harvard's Fall 2007 acceptance rate was 9%). Artists are selected by a discerning bunch including Catharine Clark and Richard Newirth, outgoing Director of the San Francisco Arts Commission. Sixty-eight artists have participated in the program since it was founded by Jo Hanson in 1990. http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/AIR/index.htm
The most successful pieces in the ReArt show are the ones that don't take themselves too seriously, giving a wink to the viewer and a nod to their humble origins. Jerry Chatham's schmaltzy but endearing bridge view called Alcatraz, Daybreak at The Gate employs rock, glass, cable, plastic, metal and wood. Michael Kerbow's Code Red suggests that Harvey lost his foot in Brisbane. The oversize clown-nose-red rabbit's foot fob is attached to a circus ring hoop loaded with hundreds of lost keys. Hilary William's soft sculpture Ferd Jardine is a two-headed, fourlegged lovable small person monster complete with a bustle.
Be careful not to miss the best piece in the show. You might think you're looking through a fun house mirror when you see Mike Farruggia's Door Table. Covered with postcards and brochures advertising all things repurposed, you'll think it's just a piece of furniture unless you notice it at the very end of the 29 item exhibit checklist. About 24" of the top and bottom of the door were removed and reattached at 45 degree angles, hinges and rubber stop still attached. The joins connecting the three pieces are so smooth you have to look twice.
This show $40-$5500
June 4th - June 29th, Market Street Gallery, 1554 Market St., San Francisco, Hours: Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Wed. and Fri.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., noon-8 p.m. Thurs., Phone: 415-290-1441
Something unusual was happening at the opening reception for ReArt at Market Street Gallery on Friday night: people were having a really good time. Multi-generational packs of visitors were smiling and laughing and pointing at works on the crowded gallery's walls. Mike Kimball, Director of the gallery's MesArts program was mingling and chatting good naturedly with guests. All this before the wine was poured!
29 of 72 submissions using recycled materials were selected for this show by Paul Fresina, director of the Artist in Residence Program at San Francisco Recycling & Disposal, Inc., Christina La Sala, from the Lab Gallery and Steven Wolf of Steven Wolf Fine Arts.
ReArt is co-presented by Scrap, the 501(c)(3) Scroungers' Center for Reusable Art Parts. San Francisco residents and businesses are encouraged to donate their clean old stuff that could be used as found materials for artwork. And yes, you'll get a tax deduction. Museums, neighborhood centers, senior groups, summer camps, theater groups and childcare centers use Scrap materials. www.scrap-sf.org
Three of the artists featured in the show (Claudia Chapline, Mike Farruggia, Michael Kerbow) are alumni of the prestigious program at the dump. Don't turn your nose up, it's as hard to get into as an Ivy League school. For the sixty to eighty annual applicants there are only four to eight slots (Harvard's Fall 2007 acceptance rate was 9%). Artists are selected by a discerning bunch including Catharine Clark and Richard Newirth, outgoing Director of the San Francisco Arts Commission. Sixty-eight artists have participated in the program since it was founded by Jo Hanson in 1990. http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/AIR/index.htm
The most successful pieces in the ReArt show are the ones that don't take themselves too seriously, giving a wink to the viewer and a nod to their humble origins. Jerry Chatham's schmaltzy but endearing bridge view called Alcatraz, Daybreak at The Gate employs rock, glass, cable, plastic, metal and wood. Michael Kerbow's Code Red suggests that Harvey lost his foot in Brisbane. The oversize clown-nose-red rabbit's foot fob is attached to a circus ring hoop loaded with hundreds of lost keys. Hilary William's soft sculpture Ferd Jardine is a two-headed, fourlegged lovable small person monster complete with a bustle.
Be careful not to miss the best piece in the show. You might think you're looking through a fun house mirror when you see Mike Farruggia's Door Table. Covered with postcards and brochures advertising all things repurposed, you'll think it's just a piece of furniture unless you notice it at the very end of the 29 item exhibit checklist. About 24" of the top and bottom of the door were removed and reattached at 45 degree angles, hinges and rubber stop still attached. The joins connecting the three pieces are so smooth you have to look twice.
This show $40-$5500
June 4th - June 29th, Market Street Gallery, 1554 Market St., San Francisco, Hours: Noon-6 p.m. Tues.-Wed. and Fri.-Sat., 1-5 p.m. Sun., noon-8 p.m. Thurs., Phone: 415-290-1441
Catharine Clark Gallery: Grnad Opening
http://www.cclarkgallery.com/
No, that's not a typo! It's the name of a piece in Catharine Clark's grand opening show at her new digs. This homegrown gallerist has relocated her eponymous space from 49 Geary to 150 Minna. Be assured, this move is a political statement. Clark abandoned her spot in the tony yet frosty A-list Union Square building in favor of the burgeoning egalatarian Museum District, carefully cultivated over the past fifteen-plus years by the San Francisco City Planning Department. Right across the street are SFMOMA and YCBA (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts). The Museum for the African Diaspora around the corner just opened last year and The Contemporary Jewish Museum one block away is almost complete. Clark's timing is perfect.
The new space on the immaculate alleyway (the brand new fancy St. Regis Hotel next door may have something to do with the pristine environment) went through quite a metamorphosis. Formerly a farming equipment warehouse, LA based architectural designer Tim Campbell was in charge of the overhaul.
Clark has invited sixteen artists to participate in this auspicious show. These are artists old and new to Clark and each will be featured more in-depth over the next eighteen months. Clark’s new space is the only gallery in the City to date which features a dedicated video project room- another pitch perfect decision. She replicated the media room installed in the old gallery in 2002, presaging SFMOMA’s January 2006 decision to hire its first curator of media arts, Rudolf Frieling.
As you approach the gallery you first see Nina Katchadourian’s GRNAD OPENING Banner, 2006. This vinyl swath recreates a scene she saw in her Brooklyn neighborhood, and represents the forfeit of control in a new endeavor (perhaps the difficulty of learning a new language as well?). This is a friendly, disarming welcome. Next you are startled by Ray Beldner’s site specific work Ground Breaking or In Advance of the Broken Shovel, a nod to Duchamp’s In Advance of a Broken Arm. The upright shovels are frozen at attention and buried a few inches in the poured concrete floor. You can buy just one if that’s what you want.
Clark’s first gallery, Morphos, opened in Hayes Valley in 1991. Before getting into the business of art, she was an art journalist writing for Cambio, a weekly East Bay Marxist newspaper. It was inappropriate to write about the art market for that publication, so she established her voice and eye by examining the intellectual aspects of the work she featured. Her brand still reflects those origins.
Bordering the neighborhood on the west side are pioneering Braunstein/Quay (pronounced "key") and Hosfelt who share a duplex style warehouse space at 430 Clementina Alley. Both used to be at Union Square but made the one mile move southwest during the dot-com boom. The neighborhood's development "paused" after the crash, but is fulfilling its promise now. It's just a ten minute walk from Minna and Third to Clementina and Fifth so fortify yourself with something to eat at Caffè Museo and then stroll three blocks through the Howard Street corridor to your destination.
This show: $975-$52000
June 2 - July 7, Catharine Clark Gallery, 150 Minna, Ground Floor, San Francisco, 94105, info@clarkgallery.com, 415.399.1439, Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10:30 - 5:30, Saturday, 11 - 5:30
No, that's not a typo! It's the name of a piece in Catharine Clark's grand opening show at her new digs. This homegrown gallerist has relocated her eponymous space from 49 Geary to 150 Minna. Be assured, this move is a political statement. Clark abandoned her spot in the tony yet frosty A-list Union Square building in favor of the burgeoning egalatarian Museum District, carefully cultivated over the past fifteen-plus years by the San Francisco City Planning Department. Right across the street are SFMOMA and YCBA (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts). The Museum for the African Diaspora around the corner just opened last year and The Contemporary Jewish Museum one block away is almost complete. Clark's timing is perfect.
The new space on the immaculate alleyway (the brand new fancy St. Regis Hotel next door may have something to do with the pristine environment) went through quite a metamorphosis. Formerly a farming equipment warehouse, LA based architectural designer Tim Campbell was in charge of the overhaul.
Clark has invited sixteen artists to participate in this auspicious show. These are artists old and new to Clark and each will be featured more in-depth over the next eighteen months. Clark’s new space is the only gallery in the City to date which features a dedicated video project room- another pitch perfect decision. She replicated the media room installed in the old gallery in 2002, presaging SFMOMA’s January 2006 decision to hire its first curator of media arts, Rudolf Frieling.
As you approach the gallery you first see Nina Katchadourian’s GRNAD OPENING Banner, 2006. This vinyl swath recreates a scene she saw in her Brooklyn neighborhood, and represents the forfeit of control in a new endeavor (perhaps the difficulty of learning a new language as well?). This is a friendly, disarming welcome. Next you are startled by Ray Beldner’s site specific work Ground Breaking or In Advance of the Broken Shovel, a nod to Duchamp’s In Advance of a Broken Arm. The upright shovels are frozen at attention and buried a few inches in the poured concrete floor. You can buy just one if that’s what you want.
Clark’s first gallery, Morphos, opened in Hayes Valley in 1991. Before getting into the business of art, she was an art journalist writing for Cambio, a weekly East Bay Marxist newspaper. It was inappropriate to write about the art market for that publication, so she established her voice and eye by examining the intellectual aspects of the work she featured. Her brand still reflects those origins.
Bordering the neighborhood on the west side are pioneering Braunstein/Quay (pronounced "key") and Hosfelt who share a duplex style warehouse space at 430 Clementina Alley. Both used to be at Union Square but made the one mile move southwest during the dot-com boom. The neighborhood's development "paused" after the crash, but is fulfilling its promise now. It's just a ten minute walk from Minna and Third to Clementina and Fifth so fortify yourself with something to eat at Caffè Museo and then stroll three blocks through the Howard Street corridor to your destination.
This show: $975-$52000
June 2 - July 7, Catharine Clark Gallery, 150 Minna, Ground Floor, San Francisco, 94105, info@clarkgallery.com, 415.399.1439, Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10:30 - 5:30, Saturday, 11 - 5:30
Ross Smith, Bayeté: Provocative Portraits Prove We Are What We Wear
http://bayeterosssmith.com/
That Bayeté Ross Smith is relaxed and easy going can be inferred from his colorful wrinkled button down shirt, oversized sport coat, and soft knitted driver’s cap. When I asked the artist if it is “fair” that people are judged by their outward appearance, Bayeté commented that this is a "very San Francisco-type of question." Fair or unfair, this is life.
The portrait series called “Our Kind of People” is a full scale expansion of work that was first shown at the artist's MFA show in 2004, then at the 2005 San Francisco GenArt juried Emerge exhibition. The four part series (six 20” x 24” light jet prints each) features regular people of different ethnic backgrounds. The subjects wear the exact same neutral expression in each image- no smile, face at rest, not even a hint of personality comes from the eyes. The photos were taken with the same lighting, from the same distance, with the same plain white background. It is this spartan combination that allows each subject to change, chameleon-like, from professional, suit wearing dilbert, to sweat-clad student, to hipster, to gangster (signified by wife-beater tank and colored bandana). Bayeté was the stylist on the shoot as well, working with his subjects (who also happen to be his friends) to pick the costumes from their own closets.
New work "Passing" (light jet prints 30" x 40") tells a similar story. A man with skin the color of creamy coffee and close cropped curly black hair is pictured on multiple passports: Brazil, Ethiopia, Israel, Sudan, Cuba, US, Netherlands, South Africa etc. The same issue is raised here- we make assumptions about people based on our assumptions about appearances, "facts," and what we do or don't know about the larger world community.
Bayeté received his Bachelor of Science in Photography ’99 from Florida A&M University. FAMU has a prestigious photography program through the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. Although the artist has been taking photos since he became interested in the medium at age 14, Bayete picked FAMU because it was a Black College with a great business program. "My experiences as a business major, at a Black school in the South, are the foundation for much of my work about identity." The photography curriculum at FAMU emphasizes the service industry aspects of photography. "It caused me to learn about creating images that convey a narrative and could be accessible to people from a broad range of backgrounds and education levels. It has been invaluable in my work as an artist. It has allowed me to create projects that are relevant to regular people, not just 'art' people."
The Bachelor of Science was then complimented with formal training in the fine arts through an MFA in photography '04 from the California College of the Arts. Notable accolades on his resume include 25 Under 25 2003 photography show curated by Iris Tillman, New York University and the companion text 25 Under 25, Up and Coming American Photographers, by the Center for Documentary Studies and Power House Books. Bayeté is most proud of being invited to present his work at the California Judiciary Council's 2006 Conference on Language Access in the courts where he presented work from Our Kind of People, Passing, and Upwardly Mobile.
Bayeté is an active member of the community, teaching at several schools and non-profits in the Bay Area including including the East Oakland Youth Development Center, Far West High School in North Oakland, Art-Esteem in West Oakland, Southern exposure's Mission Voices program in the Mission District, McClymond H.S.'s Young Photographer's program in West Oakland, and Out Of Site center for the Arts in S.F. In addition to being a strong role model and mentor, he teaches art, photography, video, painting and drawing, collage and hip hop art & culture.
Bayete's is one of three featured photographers in this show. The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, in a programmatic partnership with PhotoAlliance, presents Lens on Life; an exhibition featuring artists involved in the exploration of place and identity from both African and African American perspectives. This special exhibition is supported by the San Francisco International Arts Festival and the Museum of the African Diaspora.
This show $475-$2500
The show is on view at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery through June 22, 2007. The gallery is in the basement of City Hall, open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. For installation information, contact San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, 94102 (415) 554-6080 http://www.sfacgallery.org/
That Bayeté Ross Smith is relaxed and easy going can be inferred from his colorful wrinkled button down shirt, oversized sport coat, and soft knitted driver’s cap. When I asked the artist if it is “fair” that people are judged by their outward appearance, Bayeté commented that this is a "very San Francisco-type of question." Fair or unfair, this is life.
The portrait series called “Our Kind of People” is a full scale expansion of work that was first shown at the artist's MFA show in 2004, then at the 2005 San Francisco GenArt juried Emerge exhibition. The four part series (six 20” x 24” light jet prints each) features regular people of different ethnic backgrounds. The subjects wear the exact same neutral expression in each image- no smile, face at rest, not even a hint of personality comes from the eyes. The photos were taken with the same lighting, from the same distance, with the same plain white background. It is this spartan combination that allows each subject to change, chameleon-like, from professional, suit wearing dilbert, to sweat-clad student, to hipster, to gangster (signified by wife-beater tank and colored bandana). Bayeté was the stylist on the shoot as well, working with his subjects (who also happen to be his friends) to pick the costumes from their own closets.
New work "Passing" (light jet prints 30" x 40") tells a similar story. A man with skin the color of creamy coffee and close cropped curly black hair is pictured on multiple passports: Brazil, Ethiopia, Israel, Sudan, Cuba, US, Netherlands, South Africa etc. The same issue is raised here- we make assumptions about people based on our assumptions about appearances, "facts," and what we do or don't know about the larger world community.
Bayeté received his Bachelor of Science in Photography ’99 from Florida A&M University. FAMU has a prestigious photography program through the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication. Although the artist has been taking photos since he became interested in the medium at age 14, Bayete picked FAMU because it was a Black College with a great business program. "My experiences as a business major, at a Black school in the South, are the foundation for much of my work about identity." The photography curriculum at FAMU emphasizes the service industry aspects of photography. "It caused me to learn about creating images that convey a narrative and could be accessible to people from a broad range of backgrounds and education levels. It has been invaluable in my work as an artist. It has allowed me to create projects that are relevant to regular people, not just 'art' people."
The Bachelor of Science was then complimented with formal training in the fine arts through an MFA in photography '04 from the California College of the Arts. Notable accolades on his resume include 25 Under 25 2003 photography show curated by Iris Tillman, New York University and the companion text 25 Under 25, Up and Coming American Photographers, by the Center for Documentary Studies and Power House Books. Bayeté is most proud of being invited to present his work at the California Judiciary Council's 2006 Conference on Language Access in the courts where he presented work from Our Kind of People, Passing, and Upwardly Mobile.
Bayeté is an active member of the community, teaching at several schools and non-profits in the Bay Area including including the East Oakland Youth Development Center, Far West High School in North Oakland, Art-Esteem in West Oakland, Southern exposure's Mission Voices program in the Mission District, McClymond H.S.'s Young Photographer's program in West Oakland, and Out Of Site center for the Arts in S.F. In addition to being a strong role model and mentor, he teaches art, photography, video, painting and drawing, collage and hip hop art & culture.
Bayete's is one of three featured photographers in this show. The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, in a programmatic partnership with PhotoAlliance, presents Lens on Life; an exhibition featuring artists involved in the exploration of place and identity from both African and African American perspectives. This special exhibition is supported by the San Francisco International Arts Festival and the Museum of the African Diaspora.
This show $475-$2500
The show is on view at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery through June 22, 2007. The gallery is in the basement of City Hall, open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. For installation information, contact San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, 94102 (415) 554-6080 http://www.sfacgallery.org/
"Rape of Europa": Riveting Documentary Movie About Nazi Plunder & Present Day Epilogue
Rape of Europa is about power, greed, wealth and war. This movie proves that art history is sexy- anything but the staid slide lectures in darkened auditoriums you avoided in college, I promise. Using rare archival footage and first person interviews of the real life heroes, the movie documents the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and World War II.
Have you been reading about Ronald Lauder's recent $135 million dollar (the most expensive piece of art ever) purchase of Gustave Klimt's "Adele Bloch-Bauer"? You'll learn why the painting is so important to the Jewish community. The title of the movie is the name of a 1640 Polish masterwork painted for King Wladislaw. Polish/Slav culture was deemed "heathen" by the Nazis and slated for systematic eradication, though this painting and others deemed worthy were carried off to be hung in Nazi museums.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L898
Actual Films was formed in 1998 by filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, who met while completing their graduate work in the Stanford University Documentary Film Program. Before writing/directing/producing The Rape of Europa, Director Richard Berge was a writer and producer for KQED's SPARK!, the weekly television series about the arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's another Stanford guy- B.A. History and '94 Masters in Documentary Film. Many important arts organizations provided funding for this film including San Francisco's own Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation.
Actual Films was able to secure a limited run at Landmark Theatre's Embarcadero Cinema after the film's showing at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Like all quality independent films, Rape of Europa depends on word of mouth for publicity and your ticket purchase will convince Landmark (the nation's largest theatre chain dedicated primarily to exhibiting and marketing independent film) to take it national.
http://www.actualfilms.net/index.htm http://www.therapeofeuropa.com/
Not rated. 117 minutes. Now playing at the Landmark Embarcadero Theater, One Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111 Moving to Opera Plaza Friday, May 25
Have you been reading about Ronald Lauder's recent $135 million dollar (the most expensive piece of art ever) purchase of Gustave Klimt's "Adele Bloch-Bauer"? You'll learn why the painting is so important to the Jewish community. The title of the movie is the name of a 1640 Polish masterwork painted for King Wladislaw. Polish/Slav culture was deemed "heathen" by the Nazis and slated for systematic eradication, though this painting and others deemed worthy were carried off to be hung in Nazi museums.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=L898
Actual Films was formed in 1998 by filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, who met while completing their graduate work in the Stanford University Documentary Film Program. Before writing/directing/producing The Rape of Europa, Director Richard Berge was a writer and producer for KQED's SPARK!, the weekly television series about the arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's another Stanford guy- B.A. History and '94 Masters in Documentary Film. Many important arts organizations provided funding for this film including San Francisco's own Bernard Osher Jewish Philanthropies Foundation.
Actual Films was able to secure a limited run at Landmark Theatre's Embarcadero Cinema after the film's showing at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Like all quality independent films, Rape of Europa depends on word of mouth for publicity and your ticket purchase will convince Landmark (the nation's largest theatre chain dedicated primarily to exhibiting and marketing independent film) to take it national.
http://www.actualfilms.net/index.htm http://www.therapeofeuropa.com/
Not rated. 117 minutes. Now playing at the Landmark Embarcadero Theater, One Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111 Moving to Opera Plaza Friday, May 25
Electric Works: Brisbane's Trillium Press Is Reborn
What a location! This former machine shop on the corner of Eighth and arty Minna streets will be easy to find in the Yellow Pages. Former Trillium Press partners haven't changed the name from the Buzzell Building's former incarnation. Big curved orange steel tracks are suspended from the ceiling and dangle pulleys overhead; they used to hoist large motors from one side of the building to another but now serve as inspiration for a George Lucas Star Wars creature. The gallery has inherited opaque sandblasted street-facing windows from the pervious inhabitants; the result is insulation from the gritty neighborhood surroundings and a pristine art-viewing environment.
Trillium Press now Electric Works is most famous for letting the artists they collaborate with do just about anything they want. If you wanted to bring back the puffy-changey-googly-eyed sticker as fine art this would be the place to do it. Their equipment is state of the art; huge electric printing press machines shaped like coffins on legs sport sleek names like Pegasus, Columbus, Triton and Valkyrie.
Principal Richard Lang has collaborated with many famous artists since the publishing program was founded in 2000. The names Enrique Chagoya, Nathan Oliveira and William T. Wiley should whet your appetite to peruse the online gallery: http://www.sfelectricworks.com/gal/gal.php
Tucker Nichols and Katherine Sherwood have the honor of the inaugural show. May 11–June 23
Electric Works; 130 8th St. San Francisco, CA 94101 (415) 626-5496, open Monday-Friday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, Saturday: 10:30 am - 4:30 pm, http://www.sfelectricworks.com/
Trillium Press now Electric Works is most famous for letting the artists they collaborate with do just about anything they want. If you wanted to bring back the puffy-changey-googly-eyed sticker as fine art this would be the place to do it. Their equipment is state of the art; huge electric printing press machines shaped like coffins on legs sport sleek names like Pegasus, Columbus, Triton and Valkyrie.
Principal Richard Lang has collaborated with many famous artists since the publishing program was founded in 2000. The names Enrique Chagoya, Nathan Oliveira and William T. Wiley should whet your appetite to peruse the online gallery: http://www.sfelectricworks.com/gal/gal.php
Tucker Nichols and Katherine Sherwood have the honor of the inaugural show. May 11–June 23
Electric Works; 130 8th St. San Francisco, CA 94101 (415) 626-5496, open Monday-Friday: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm, Saturday: 10:30 am - 4:30 pm, http://www.sfelectricworks.com/
Nichols, Tucker: Brainy Placemat Doodles
This series of lunch room placemat art, “Placemats,” will tempt you to borrow your kids’ crayons at the dinner table. It will make you say out loud, “I could have done that.” Except you couldn’t, because you didn’t spend eight years total studying Chinese art history at Brown (BA '93) and Chinese painting at Yale (MFA '98). Don’t confuse the short phrases with naivete or simple- mindedness. His brainy doodles are iconic symbols of modern life and his captions are succinct poems. His past installation wall paintings are modern day ancient Chinese landscape paintings.
Tucker’s work resonates because it is a return to low tech in this high tech world. Seeing Tucker’s hand drawn pen and ink cartoons and wall drawings allows the viewer to relax, let down his guard, and be a part of the moment or a part of the joke, whichever the case may be. It doesn’t hurt that he is also a tall, handsome guy with a winning personality. At the Electric Works opening he held court with a throng of friends and fans around him all at once. Locals will appreciate that Tucker's work has been featured in McSweeny's and The Believer. He has shown a few times at his good friend Charles Linder's gallery, Lincart. Subscribe to his blog at http://www.tuckernichols.com/
Confidential to Art History geeks: I felt great relief when I read Tucker’s review of the 2003 Philip Guston retrospective at SFMOMA. Sometimes a mound of giant cherries is just a mound of giant cherries. http://www.stretcher.org/archives/r1_a/2003_09_02_r1_archive.php
This show $40-$750
Tucker’s work resonates because it is a return to low tech in this high tech world. Seeing Tucker’s hand drawn pen and ink cartoons and wall drawings allows the viewer to relax, let down his guard, and be a part of the moment or a part of the joke, whichever the case may be. It doesn’t hurt that he is also a tall, handsome guy with a winning personality. At the Electric Works opening he held court with a throng of friends and fans around him all at once. Locals will appreciate that Tucker's work has been featured in McSweeny's and The Believer. He has shown a few times at his good friend Charles Linder's gallery, Lincart. Subscribe to his blog at http://www.tuckernichols.com/
Confidential to Art History geeks: I felt great relief when I read Tucker’s review of the 2003 Philip Guston retrospective at SFMOMA. Sometimes a mound of giant cherries is just a mound of giant cherries. http://www.stretcher.org/archives/r1_a/2003_09_02_r1_archive.php
This show $40-$750
Sherwood, Katherine: This Is Your Brain On Archival Digital Pigment Print
Katherine Sherwood’s story is remarkable. The lifelong artist and Cal Professor suffered a stroke in 1997 at the age of 44 and then her art got even better. After the stroke she taught herself how to paint left-handed and her work evolved, becoming freer and more fluid.
Amorphous, glossy vivid color dances around real medical xrays of brains and magnified genes. The bright red and noxious greens are remarkably harmonious. The mysterious organic forms are reminders of our primordial soup origins. Science geeks will not be alone in finding these works intriguing.
Well established before her illness, the awards and shows continued to flow after that: The 1999 SF Art Institute’s Adaline Kent Award for an outstanding, yet under-recognized California artist; inclusion in the Whitney Biennial 2000, and the 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship Award for contributing to our nation's educational and cultural well-being, to name a few.
She received her B.A from the University of California at Davis and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has been a Professor of Art at Cal since 1989, now teaching an innovative course she designed called Art, Medicine & Disability. In San Francisco she is represented by the Paule Anglim Gallery.
This show $1400-$1800
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~sherwood/sherwood/art/sherwoodart.html
Amorphous, glossy vivid color dances around real medical xrays of brains and magnified genes. The bright red and noxious greens are remarkably harmonious. The mysterious organic forms are reminders of our primordial soup origins. Science geeks will not be alone in finding these works intriguing.
Well established before her illness, the awards and shows continued to flow after that: The 1999 SF Art Institute’s Adaline Kent Award for an outstanding, yet under-recognized California artist; inclusion in the Whitney Biennial 2000, and the 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship Award for contributing to our nation's educational and cultural well-being, to name a few.
She received her B.A from the University of California at Davis and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has been a Professor of Art at Cal since 1989, now teaching an innovative course she designed called Art, Medicine & Disability. In San Francisco she is represented by the Paule Anglim Gallery.
This show $1400-$1800
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~sherwood/sherwood/art/sherwoodart.html
6/1/07 Headlands Center for the Arts Benefit Auction
Headlands Center for the Arts’ Board of Trustees and Executive Director Gary Sangster invite you to Headlands Center for the Arts Benefit Auction, an evening of live and silent auction
Auction items include works by Thomas Campbell, Sophie Calle, Santiago Cucullu, Felipe Dulzaides, Anya Gallaccio, Rainer Ganahl, Katy Grannan, Oliver Herring, David Ireland, Hung Liu, Barry McGee, Christine Streuli, Larry Sultan, Yoon Lee and dozens more.
Supporting Galleries: Aicon Gallery, Gallery Paule Anglim, Rena Bransten Gallery, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, Catharine Clark Gallery, Paula Cooper Gallery, Gallery 16, Greenwood Van Doren Gallery, NY, Gregory Lind Gallery, Fraenkel Gallery, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Kent Fine Arts, NY, Heather Marx Gallery, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, Trillium Press, Queen's Nail Annex, Steven Wolf Fine Arts
Time: 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM, Tickets $100. Herbst International Exhibition Hall in the Presidio, 385 Moraga Avenue San Francisco CA, For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.headlands.org/auction
Proceeds from Headlands’ Benefit Auction provide direct support for Headlands Center for the Arts programs.
Auction items include works by Thomas Campbell, Sophie Calle, Santiago Cucullu, Felipe Dulzaides, Anya Gallaccio, Rainer Ganahl, Katy Grannan, Oliver Herring, David Ireland, Hung Liu, Barry McGee, Christine Streuli, Larry Sultan, Yoon Lee and dozens more.
Supporting Galleries: Aicon Gallery, Gallery Paule Anglim, Rena Bransten Gallery, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, Catharine Clark Gallery, Paula Cooper Gallery, Gallery 16, Greenwood Van Doren Gallery, NY, Gregory Lind Gallery, Fraenkel Gallery, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Kent Fine Arts, NY, Heather Marx Gallery, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, Trillium Press, Queen's Nail Annex, Steven Wolf Fine Arts
Time: 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM, Tickets $100. Herbst International Exhibition Hall in the Presidio, 385 Moraga Avenue San Francisco CA, For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.headlands.org/auction
Proceeds from Headlands’ Benefit Auction provide direct support for Headlands Center for the Arts programs.
Fisher, Don: Cal Alumnus of the Year 2007
This memory of Don Fisher, Gap Inc. Founder and Chairman, was mailed in to the corporate archives department by me as part of a company project to honor his status as the University of California at Berkeley's 2007 Alumnus of the Year.
"I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Fisher for sharing their breathtaking art collection with the Gap Inc. community. Their collection is second only to MOMA in New York for its breadth, depth and quality of 20th Century art. Our buildings hold works by the most important artists of 1950 to the present. Many rooms in the Two Folsom galleries are mini-museums in thier own right dedicated to one artist, with pieces that are representative of every style and period in that artist's career.
I have taken many, many friends on tours of the galleries over the years so that as many people as possible can benefit from this treasure. Thank you for making Calder, Serra, Warhol, Lichtenstein and Richter (to name just a few) a part of my daily life! Go Bears!"
"I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Fisher for sharing their breathtaking art collection with the Gap Inc. community. Their collection is second only to MOMA in New York for its breadth, depth and quality of 20th Century art. Our buildings hold works by the most important artists of 1950 to the present. Many rooms in the Two Folsom galleries are mini-museums in thier own right dedicated to one artist, with pieces that are representative of every style and period in that artist's career.
I have taken many, many friends on tours of the galleries over the years so that as many people as possible can benefit from this treasure. Thank you for making Calder, Serra, Warhol, Lichtenstein and Richter (to name just a few) a part of my daily life! Go Bears!"
Auerbach, Tauba: Typeface Can Be Groovy
http://www.taubaauerbach.com/works.html
Just as Alexander Calder started out working for the circus and Richard Serra in steel mills, Auerbach’s first job after graduating from college was sign painter. Like Calder’s mobiles and Serra’s monoliths, Auerbach’s works are indebted to their maker’s early workaday life. Tauba’s pencil, ink and gouache drawings are made up of carefully drafted letters, numbers, lost and arcane alphabets, calligraphy and wordplay.
Her latest gallery show, an anagram title “THE ANSWER/WASN’T HERE” just opened at Jack Hanley Gallery on May 4 on the outskirts of the Mission (closer to Flax Art & Design than La Taqueria). Jack Hanley (locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles) has been showing young and more established conceptually based artists since 1990. When I visited on opening night, 8 of 13 works had pre-sold.
Tauba is a perfectionist- a bellwether in our 80/20 culture. Her work is best when there is a blend of her signature sculptural typeface, harmonios bright color and either humorous or didactic subject matter. “Uh-Huh II,” “Yes and Morph I,” and “Subtraction (Startling)” are examples of this winning combination. This time Tauba has also done a video piece to compliment her work, “Telephone” 8 minutes, is a visual example of how her mind jumps and could translate "startling" into starting, staring, string, sting, sing, sin and finally, I. Work that was new to me featured pure intricate geometric design, now without any letters or symbols. It is large scale and breathtaking in its exactitude; ink on paper is an unforgiving medium.
I first saw Tauba Auberbach’s work with my fellow members of SECA when the artist was being considered for the 2006 SECA Art Award. Her friends at the Luggage Store Gallery had allowed her to set up her work for my group’s review one Saturday morning in the Spring of that year. The biennial award, sponsored by SFMOMA's Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, recognizes local artists of exceptional promise.
Locals will appreciate that Tauba is a native San Franciscan. She attended SF Day School and University High. She earned her BA in Studio Art from Stanford in 1999. She grew up in the Marina but told me she thinks the neighborhood has changed irrevocably. She is wistful for an earlier time, before chain stores took over the mom-and-pops, the kind of stores that would have hung her signs. During her tenure at Damon Styer’s New Bohemia Signs, she worked on some noteworthy projects: Far West Fungi and Miette in the Ferry Building, Stinking Rose and Calzone’s in North Beach, Mollusk Surf, the gold leaf windows at Cable Car Clothiers, as well as smaller businesses like chiropractic offices and psychics.
It is impossible to write about Tauba without mentioning the accolades she has received so early in her career. There has been impressive scholarly art world press about her and noteworthy galleries in San Francisco and New York have shown her work. Her highly original subject matter and beautiful execution makes her one to watch.
This show $3000-$18000
Through May 26. Jack Hanley Gallery, 395/389 Valencia Street, San Francisco 94103, tel: 415/522.1623, fax: 415/522.1631, email: info@jackhanley.com, hours: tuesday - saturday, 11am - 6pm
Just as Alexander Calder started out working for the circus and Richard Serra in steel mills, Auerbach’s first job after graduating from college was sign painter. Like Calder’s mobiles and Serra’s monoliths, Auerbach’s works are indebted to their maker’s early workaday life. Tauba’s pencil, ink and gouache drawings are made up of carefully drafted letters, numbers, lost and arcane alphabets, calligraphy and wordplay.
Her latest gallery show, an anagram title “THE ANSWER/WASN’T HERE” just opened at Jack Hanley Gallery on May 4 on the outskirts of the Mission (closer to Flax Art & Design than La Taqueria). Jack Hanley (locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles) has been showing young and more established conceptually based artists since 1990. When I visited on opening night, 8 of 13 works had pre-sold.
Tauba is a perfectionist- a bellwether in our 80/20 culture. Her work is best when there is a blend of her signature sculptural typeface, harmonios bright color and either humorous or didactic subject matter. “Uh-Huh II,” “Yes and Morph I,” and “Subtraction (Startling)” are examples of this winning combination. This time Tauba has also done a video piece to compliment her work, “Telephone” 8 minutes, is a visual example of how her mind jumps and could translate "startling" into starting, staring, string, sting, sing, sin and finally, I. Work that was new to me featured pure intricate geometric design, now without any letters or symbols. It is large scale and breathtaking in its exactitude; ink on paper is an unforgiving medium.
I first saw Tauba Auberbach’s work with my fellow members of SECA when the artist was being considered for the 2006 SECA Art Award. Her friends at the Luggage Store Gallery had allowed her to set up her work for my group’s review one Saturday morning in the Spring of that year. The biennial award, sponsored by SFMOMA's Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, recognizes local artists of exceptional promise.
Locals will appreciate that Tauba is a native San Franciscan. She attended SF Day School and University High. She earned her BA in Studio Art from Stanford in 1999. She grew up in the Marina but told me she thinks the neighborhood has changed irrevocably. She is wistful for an earlier time, before chain stores took over the mom-and-pops, the kind of stores that would have hung her signs. During her tenure at Damon Styer’s New Bohemia Signs, she worked on some noteworthy projects: Far West Fungi and Miette in the Ferry Building, Stinking Rose and Calzone’s in North Beach, Mollusk Surf, the gold leaf windows at Cable Car Clothiers, as well as smaller businesses like chiropractic offices and psychics.
It is impossible to write about Tauba without mentioning the accolades she has received so early in her career. There has been impressive scholarly art world press about her and noteworthy galleries in San Francisco and New York have shown her work. Her highly original subject matter and beautiful execution makes her one to watch.
This show $3000-$18000
Through May 26. Jack Hanley Gallery, 395/389 Valencia Street, San Francisco 94103, tel: 415/522.1623, fax: 415/522.1631, email: info@jackhanley.com, hours: tuesday - saturday, 11am - 6pm
Guinness, Hugo: Whimsical One-Of-A-Kinds at Kate Spade
There is an established tradition of buying art from high end retailers such as Neiman’s or Barney’s. Now Kate Spade San Francisco jumps into the mix. Hugo Guinness’s iconic subjects are just as quirky as the material he uses to make them. G rated prints titled “banana,” “greyhound bus,” and “tractor” sit side by side with PG “panties,” “panties again,” and “rubber.” He no longer uses linoleum blocks for his work; he’s discovered Speedy Cut’s eraser-like material, much easier to work with. The designs in black ink on handmade Indian paper are simple and universal. He’s cagey when asked if the pieces on display are part of a print series or if they really are one of a kind, and let’s me know in a friendly way that I am missing the point. He's right. $550 for a work that is framed (floating mount on wood panel) and godparented by the Spades is a bargain.
The May 3 launch party at the store happened to be First Thursday, the night when the A list galleries of Union Square stay open a little later so students and 9-to-5 folk can get in to see what’s featured. John and Gretchen Berggruen saw the party from the second floor windows of their gallery across the street and made their way over to introduce themselves to Hugo. The guest-list party was multi-purpose: introduce Hugo's work (only for sale in the San Francisco store) to the SF set, raise money for the Fine Arts Museums’ Junior Committee, and show off the Hugo-Kate clear plastic op-art tote that New York Magazine helpfully points out is a legal airplane carry-on:
http://www.katespade.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2580852&cp=1863844.2180761
Hugo Guinness (along with fellow alum Vivienne Westwood) is a graduate of Harrow College of Art in London. Like most artists, his school emphasis (ceramics) is not what he currently practices. In addition to the charming prints at Kate Spade and John Derian's Bowery boutique, he contributes “spots” to the New Yorker magazine (those little drawings in between the paragraphs) and is an AIGA award winning book-jacket illustrator.
Note to the speculator: 29 of 65 pieces sold that night at the party and prices have gone up 60% since Kate Spade recommended Hugo's work to Time Magazine's Style & Design "The Best of 2004" list.
This show $550
Kate Spade, 227 Grant avenue, San Francisco, 94108, tel: 415.216.0880 fax: 415.216.0878 Hours M-Sat: 10-6, Sun: 12-5, Stefanie Strickland, Manager
The May 3 launch party at the store happened to be First Thursday, the night when the A list galleries of Union Square stay open a little later so students and 9-to-5 folk can get in to see what’s featured. John and Gretchen Berggruen saw the party from the second floor windows of their gallery across the street and made their way over to introduce themselves to Hugo. The guest-list party was multi-purpose: introduce Hugo's work (only for sale in the San Francisco store) to the SF set, raise money for the Fine Arts Museums’ Junior Committee, and show off the Hugo-Kate clear plastic op-art tote that New York Magazine helpfully points out is a legal airplane carry-on:
http://www.katespade.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2580852&cp=1863844.2180761
Hugo Guinness (along with fellow alum Vivienne Westwood) is a graduate of Harrow College of Art in London. Like most artists, his school emphasis (ceramics) is not what he currently practices. In addition to the charming prints at Kate Spade and John Derian's Bowery boutique, he contributes “spots” to the New Yorker magazine (those little drawings in between the paragraphs) and is an AIGA award winning book-jacket illustrator.
Note to the speculator: 29 of 65 pieces sold that night at the party and prices have gone up 60% since Kate Spade recommended Hugo's work to Time Magazine's Style & Design "The Best of 2004" list.
This show $550
Kate Spade, 227 Grant avenue, San Francisco, 94108, tel: 415.216.0880 fax: 415.216.0878 Hours M-Sat: 10-6, Sun: 12-5, Stefanie Strickland, Manager
5/31/07 Hospitality House 22nd Annual Art Auction
Hospitality House's 22nd Annual Art Auction Benefiting the Community Arts Program of Central City Hospitality House, Thursday, May 31, 20076 - 9 PM at the Andrea Schwartz Gallery 525 2nd Street, Honorary Chair: Danielle Steel. An evening of cocktails, hors d'oeuvres,silent and live auction, and live music. $30 in advance ($40 at the door) http://www.hospitalityhouse.org/07auction.htm#tickets Tickets are also available bycontacting Daniel Hlad at 415-749-2184 or at the door the evening of the event. Click here for a list of participating artists and galleries: http://www.hospitalityhouse.org/07artists.htm
Park Life Store: CWA Clement With Attitude
Clement Street has not had such cool since the "Call Me Ms..." boutique and its naughty greeting cards dominated the scene in the early eighties. New arrival Park Life art and design shop flaunts hipster cool as a gallery space plus boutique featuring art books, Japanese gewgaws and decorative accessories for the home. The book selection includes works published by Park Life business partners Derek Song and Jaime Alexander's other venture, Paper Museum Press.
An early alliance with Headlands for the Arts minted their credibility out of the gate. Former Headlands Director now SFMOMA Deputy Director of Development Blair Winn discovered them while strolling down Clement one afternoon and established their reputation by hosting the launch party for the Headlands 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Prints there.
On view now (April 27th through May 23rd, 2007) is commercial skateboard artist Ian Johnson's drawings and paintings featuring portraits of jazz greats. Ian Johnson was born in Syracuse, NY and currently lives and works in San Francisco. Johnson is the Art director for Western Edition Skateboards. His illustrations have appeared in publications that include Straight No Chaser, Wax Poetics, The San Francisco Chronicle, and SB (Japan) among others.
Ian's pen and ink on paper portraits demonstrate strong draftsmanship but the collectibles are the acrylic on wood panel pieces. The show is dynamically curated in the small space, "graffiti style" in a manner that evokes Barry McGee's collage walls.
In the evening, put your name on the list at Burma Star across the street and browse in the store while you wait for your table to come up. By day, it's stroller friendly for the Inner Richmond Mommy crowd.
This show $200-$1200
Park Life Store, 220 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118, Phone: 415.386.7275, Fax: 415.386.7272, Email: info@parklifestore.com Store Hours: 11AM - 8PM Daily, 11AM - 9PM Saturday
An early alliance with Headlands for the Arts minted their credibility out of the gate. Former Headlands Director now SFMOMA Deputy Director of Development Blair Winn discovered them while strolling down Clement one afternoon and established their reputation by hosting the launch party for the Headlands 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Prints there.
On view now (April 27th through May 23rd, 2007) is commercial skateboard artist Ian Johnson's drawings and paintings featuring portraits of jazz greats. Ian Johnson was born in Syracuse, NY and currently lives and works in San Francisco. Johnson is the Art director for Western Edition Skateboards. His illustrations have appeared in publications that include Straight No Chaser, Wax Poetics, The San Francisco Chronicle, and SB (Japan) among others.
Ian's pen and ink on paper portraits demonstrate strong draftsmanship but the collectibles are the acrylic on wood panel pieces. The show is dynamically curated in the small space, "graffiti style" in a manner that evokes Barry McGee's collage walls.
In the evening, put your name on the list at Burma Star across the street and browse in the store while you wait for your table to come up. By day, it's stroller friendly for the Inner Richmond Mommy crowd.
This show $200-$1200
Park Life Store, 220 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118, Phone: 415.386.7275, Fax: 415.386.7272, Email: info@parklifestore.com Store Hours: 11AM - 8PM Daily, 11AM - 9PM Saturday
4/25/07 SFMOMA Annual Artists' Warehouse Sale
Gala Reception Wednesday, April 25, 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Music and refreshments, free admission. An annual tradition since 1993, the Artists Warehouse Sale is one of the Bay Area’s most anticipated art events, attended by new and seasoned collectors alike. The five-day sale features paintings, photographs, sculptures, prints, and works on paper at 50 percent off regular retail price. Proceeds benefit the programs of the SFMOMA Artists Gallery, which supports the Museum as well as regional artists.The event begins with a grand opening reception that features complimentary wine and live music, and it closes with an afternoon of live jazz. Throughout the sale, the gallery offers special extended hours. The gallery restocks sale works daily, but visitors are encouraged to attend early for the best selection. The event is free and open to the public. On opening night, a limited number of reserved parking spaces will be offered in the Fort Mason parking lot. Free parking is available outside the gates in the Marina Green.
This year’s sale: April 25 - 29, 2007
Special Sale HoursThursday and Friday, noon - 8:00 p.m.Saturday, noon - 5:30 p.m.Sunday, noon - 4:00 p.m.
This year’s sale: April 25 - 29, 2007
Special Sale HoursThursday and Friday, noon - 8:00 p.m.Saturday, noon - 5:30 p.m.Sunday, noon - 4:00 p.m.
4/26/07 ArtSpan Auction
ArtSpan Annual Benefit Art Show and Auction
Thursday, April 26, 2007 California Modern Gallery 1035 Market Street, between 6th and 7th StreetsPark at US Parking (Mission Street between 6th and 7th Streets) To purchase tickets now, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/50941367
Bid on more than 140 works by local artists in live and silent auctions. Enjoy desserts, drinks and delectables with a San Francisco flavor and groove to the sounds of DJ Shissler. VIP Ticket Benefits: 6:00-6:30pm (tickets are limited)
Exclusive preview of Artwork with champagne cocktail reception courtesy of Torani / R. Torre & Co, fine wine, and light supper from 6:00pm to 7:00pm.
Art Lecture: "How to Augment your Art Collection," presented by John F. Melvin, Artist, and Risley H. Sams, California Modern Gallery
Reserve parking passes provided for US Parking (Mission Street between 6th and 7th Streets)
Preferred seating for live auction
5% discount on purchase of art (up to $50 per purchase)
Express wrap and checkout General Ticket Benefits: 6:30-9:00pm
Bid paddle and opportunity to grow your art collection
Open Bar
Light hors d'oeuvres Purchase tickets
Thursday, April 26, 2007 California Modern Gallery 1035 Market Street, between 6th and 7th StreetsPark at US Parking (Mission Street between 6th and 7th Streets) To purchase tickets now, visit http://www.eventbrite.com/event/50941367
Bid on more than 140 works by local artists in live and silent auctions. Enjoy desserts, drinks and delectables with a San Francisco flavor and groove to the sounds of DJ Shissler. VIP Ticket Benefits: 6:00-6:30pm (tickets are limited)
Exclusive preview of Artwork with champagne cocktail reception courtesy of Torani / R. Torre & Co, fine wine, and light supper from 6:00pm to 7:00pm.
Art Lecture: "How to Augment your Art Collection," presented by John F. Melvin, Artist, and Risley H. Sams, California Modern Gallery
Reserve parking passes provided for US Parking (Mission Street between 6th and 7th Streets)
Preferred seating for live auction
5% discount on purchase of art (up to $50 per purchase)
Express wrap and checkout General Ticket Benefits: 6:30-9:00pm
Bid paddle and opportunity to grow your art collection
Open Bar
Light hors d'oeuvres Purchase tickets
Chacon, Omar: Not Your 1970's Rainbows
The headliner at Lincart is Omar Chacon, back in the larger, more formal gallery space. His work is beautiful. It is happy, joyful and uplifting. The work is just as engaging at close range as it is from far away. The work is alive with the rhythm of bright colors and texture.
Knowing about Chacon's artistic process makes the viewing experience more rewarding. The acrylic multi colored stripes of paint are first formed on wax paper. After they dry they are glued to the work's surface. Although the primary colors sing with familiarity, the combinations are fresh and new. This is the rainbow of your mid-seventies kindergarten classrooms all grown up.
Best are the linear works whose narrow stripes move in unison like shallow surf at Stinson. The most desirable piece in the show is actually many little works hung together in the front window of the gallery. These small pieces are $1000 each but if you bring home just one by itself it will be lonely. The other prevalent style is multi-colored ovals like eggs with many yolks, reminiscent of crowds of people viewed from above. The third style I can only describe as little explosions layered on top of each other, also rainbowed.
Because Omar's strong practice of art background is combined with a scholarly art historian's thoughtfulness, he is the real deal. Omar graduated with a major in art and a minor in art history from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. He did his graduate work in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. He is represented in San Francisco by Charles Linder's Lincart and Greene Contemporary in Sarasota. He showed at Greene Contemporary in New York in January 2007.
This show $1000-$7000
Knowing about Chacon's artistic process makes the viewing experience more rewarding. The acrylic multi colored stripes of paint are first formed on wax paper. After they dry they are glued to the work's surface. Although the primary colors sing with familiarity, the combinations are fresh and new. This is the rainbow of your mid-seventies kindergarten classrooms all grown up.
Best are the linear works whose narrow stripes move in unison like shallow surf at Stinson. The most desirable piece in the show is actually many little works hung together in the front window of the gallery. These small pieces are $1000 each but if you bring home just one by itself it will be lonely. The other prevalent style is multi-colored ovals like eggs with many yolks, reminiscent of crowds of people viewed from above. The third style I can only describe as little explosions layered on top of each other, also rainbowed.
Because Omar's strong practice of art background is combined with a scholarly art historian's thoughtfulness, he is the real deal. Omar graduated with a major in art and a minor in art history from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. He did his graduate work in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. He is represented in San Francisco by Charles Linder's Lincart and Greene Contemporary in Sarasota. He showed at Greene Contemporary in New York in January 2007.
This show $1000-$7000
Gonzales, Matt: Sexy Former Supe Debuts At Lincart
What thinking woman doesn't find a cultured Stanford Law grad who gave years of his life to making the city a better place and cares about the environment attractive? Matt Gonzalez Esq. makes his gallery debut at Lincart, on view April 20th- June 2nd. Opening reception for Gonzalez and Omar Chacon: Thursday, April 19th, 6 to 9pm.
No dispute, Gonzalez's collages are interesting because of who he is. The local celebrity angle is undeniably fun. It's also fun to visit Charles Linder's Lincart, one of the more accessible galleries in town. His is a warm, inviting place that is caj and established. Be sure to stop in at Zuni across the alley afterwards for a balsamic bloody mary. Lincart open Tuesday-Saturday, 12 to 6 pm and by appointment. 1632 C Market Street, San Francisco (415) 503-1981 http://www.lincart.com/
From Lincart's publicity materials: "Matt Gonzalez is best known as a local green party activist, having served terms as the president of the San Francisco board of supervisors and by nearly achieving victory in the last mayoral election. As a long time supporter of the local art community, he hosted numerous art events while in office at city hall, and has written and published essays about beat era artists such as Jack Hirschman and Jack Micheline. He has recently been outed as an accomplished artist himself and we are thrilled to be exhibiting his collages which he crafts from material he finds while walking in the city"
In reviewing some 22 works posted on the Lincart website, my favorite are the ones that tell a story from the found text. The best piece is "Kitchens & Theatres," ticket stubs combined with a valet claim check, collapsed matchbooks, a benefit program and a hint of a social security number. If I owned this I would be tempted to peel off the decoupage and figure out exactly what Matt was up to that night. The narrative pieces that are incomplete stories are less satisfying.
The other main theme in the collection is abstract geometrics. The ones with saturated color such as "Building Folding Tragic Sails," a reassembled turq corrugated cardboard puzzle has nice color and balance. Whimsical titles coupled with bold signature and date scribbles are strong elements that enhance the compositions, but cannot carry them.
I am looking forward to seeing how Gonzalez's work evolves after this modest debut.
This show $600-$800
No dispute, Gonzalez's collages are interesting because of who he is. The local celebrity angle is undeniably fun. It's also fun to visit Charles Linder's Lincart, one of the more accessible galleries in town. His is a warm, inviting place that is caj and established. Be sure to stop in at Zuni across the alley afterwards for a balsamic bloody mary. Lincart open Tuesday-Saturday, 12 to 6 pm and by appointment. 1632 C Market Street, San Francisco (415) 503-1981 http://www.lincart.com/
From Lincart's publicity materials: "Matt Gonzalez is best known as a local green party activist, having served terms as the president of the San Francisco board of supervisors and by nearly achieving victory in the last mayoral election. As a long time supporter of the local art community, he hosted numerous art events while in office at city hall, and has written and published essays about beat era artists such as Jack Hirschman and Jack Micheline. He has recently been outed as an accomplished artist himself and we are thrilled to be exhibiting his collages which he crafts from material he finds while walking in the city"
In reviewing some 22 works posted on the Lincart website, my favorite are the ones that tell a story from the found text. The best piece is "Kitchens & Theatres," ticket stubs combined with a valet claim check, collapsed matchbooks, a benefit program and a hint of a social security number. If I owned this I would be tempted to peel off the decoupage and figure out exactly what Matt was up to that night. The narrative pieces that are incomplete stories are less satisfying.
The other main theme in the collection is abstract geometrics. The ones with saturated color such as "Building Folding Tragic Sails," a reassembled turq corrugated cardboard puzzle has nice color and balance. Whimsical titles coupled with bold signature and date scribbles are strong elements that enhance the compositions, but cannot carry them.
I am looking forward to seeing how Gonzalez's work evolves after this modest debut.
This show $600-$800
4/12/07 "Outsider" art benefit auction for the artist-clients
This annual event and worthy cause features contemporary "Outsider Art" and a marquee of laudably local celebrities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art
Works by adults of all ages with developmental disabilities put their works created in the "Creativity Explored" center up for auction in this annual fundraiser. If you are interested in a funky movement that is high/low concept at the same time then this is for you. Buy a few to tell a story and hang them close together. List prices range $50-$100.
Thursday, April 12, 7PM, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, $50, (415) 863-2108
http://www.creativityexplored.org/news/#000278
Under #100
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outsider_art
Works by adults of all ages with developmental disabilities put their works created in the "Creativity Explored" center up for auction in this annual fundraiser. If you are interested in a funky movement that is high/low concept at the same time then this is for you. Buy a few to tell a story and hang them close together. List prices range $50-$100.
Thursday, April 12, 7PM, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, $50, (415) 863-2108
http://www.creativityexplored.org/news/#000278
Under #100
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