San Francisco Dealers head to New York

Matt Furie: Nature Freak at Jack Fischer Gallery
"There is no motive other than the moment." states Jack Fischer.

Furie's sexually active characters, finely rendered in colored pencil on pristine white board, are a little startling. Are they monsters? Is this consensual? Are these randy creatures of nature just having a forest frolic? You decide. Clearly, Furie's work in a community toy bank pricked his creative impulses; his drawing skill is simply amazing.

The Jack Fischer Gallery will be participating in the Red Dot Art Fair at the Park South Hotel this March 27-30, New York.

Prelude to Spring•Group Show at Himmelberger Gallery
Leave it to David to host a beautifully diverse show. Plus, Himmelberger is known for his generous support of Bay Area artists; we thank them ever so much.

David Kawecki's archetypal sculptures are shrouded in the mysteries of ancient cult life. I could feel swirling superstition and skin raising notions. Kawecki's abstractions are created by welding steel into an amorphous character, these sculptures are masculine bundles of mystic energy.

Octa OOO, 2007, David Kawecki

Eileen Goldenberg continues her "Tea House" series. In some of the newer pieces she has added a portal; she's standing at the breach of something absolutely fantastic. One of the pieces is an astounding 12' in length. This woman can burn some wax.

Himmelberger truly reflects the spirit of generosity and warmth often missing in other venues. Old world charm and a feeling of community suffuse its air.

You'll also see the work of Leo Holub, Jean Weinbaum, and Jacek Sroka in the Prelude to Spring show. The show runs through March 31, Himmelberger Gallery, 445 A Sutter St.
Tea House #206, Eileen Goldenberg 2008





Tim Yankosky and David Fullarton at Hang Art
David Fullerton you make me laugh out loud! Sorry to the black clad, this work tickles my dark humor funny bone. Fullarton lifts normally trite phrases and lumps them into paintings where their meaning is completely shifted. He mocks us and gives us the opportunity to examine what is really important. Really, you can put your Blackberry in the off mode long enough to enjoy a moment of real life.


More beautiful wax work. Tim Yankosky's very personal body of work sends messages of hope, sadness, loneliness, and appreciation. See what you think:







Now I Understand, Tim Yankosky, 2008






Katina Huston, Field of Vision at Dolby Chadwick Gallery
For the first time in San Francisco, Huston shows some of her interesting and stimulating work from 2004. These enamel and human hair works, displayed in their own personal space, literally screamed out to me. I was compelled to peer around the wall. Lo and behold a hairy -eye ball and wall paper of human hair. So clever, so distinctive, so fun to view.

On view through March 26, Dobly Chadwick Gallery.

San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design
This little jewel, housed in the former home of Elizabeth Arden, continues to present unique pieces that showcase extraordinary craft and design work in wood, fiber, clay, metal, glass, etc. We think Ms. Arden would be pleased.

In addition to the innovative craft and design, we're not talking bows and bunnies here, SF Museum of Craft + Design hosts discussions with designers, artists and curators. The next one, New West Coast Design: Innovators and Inspirers is scheduled for March 27. Contact the Museum for more info. Please support this lovely jewel.

Matty Byloos and Kim Schoenstadt at Toomey Tourell
Schoenstadt's work mingles architecture and drawing with a bit of performance; Schoenstadt makes a vinyl cut-out from an architectural reference and following the directions of someone else-be it raffiti artist or acquaintance-she spray paints the surface and then removes the stencil. Most interesting are the small pieces she has constructed by using the stencils that are left over from the paintings. Each fragment may be linked to one of the paintings.

Through March 29, Toomey Tourell will also participate in Bridge Art Fair, NYC, March 27-30.

Deborah Oropallo, Feign at Stephen Wirtz Gallery.
Since I first saw Oropallo's work, at the 1989 Whitney Biennial, I have been enamored.
This artist continues to stretch and grow; she explores new territory and mines old. Oropallo is a creative power house!

Oropallo digitally layers the contemporary images with reproductions of 17th and 18th century portrait paintings that depict men in elaborate dress. The resulting hybrids that are produced on canvas combine the attributes of power and aristocracy in traditional portraiture with the sexually aggressive posturing of the models in costume. The interplay of the combined images creates a dramatic optical illusion.

According to Oropallo, “the adornment of both the women and the men solicit questions of long held beliefs about liberation, desire, bondage, hierarchy, sex and power. The merged images elevate maids, widows, nurses and brides above the rank and file and makes them the new royalty."

Heartless, Deborah Oropallo, 2008

Ends, March 15, Stephen Wirtz Gallery

Premutations, Pretending and Press Works

Electric Works San Francisco
Katherine Westerhout Detroit
Holy cow, what a delightful place! Had my first visit on Friday (Jan 11) night; I loved it. This is the old Trillium Press (formerly in Brisbane). New digs, now located in the historic Buzzell Building on 8th Street, this gallery features editions, multiples and unique work by emerging, mid-career and established artists. They mount eight to ten shows a year exhibiting local, national and international artists.

For a great report on the goings on at Electric Works SF, check out the Stark Guide

Westerhout's photographs of abandoned, decrepit, foundering buildings are just breath taking; I felt like I could reach in to the photo and peel the paint off of long neglected walls. Her technique is quite accomplished and that eye. My Oh My!

Show closes Feb, 16 , 130 8th St, Electric Works

Haines Gallery
Dustin Yellin, Permutations
We stepped out of the elevator (I had a guest art snoop, the delightful Adele Shaw) and were sucked into Haines by these structures! I absolutely could not resist! Yellin draws on resin that he layers into a solid 3-D image. They prick your brain and then you just can't stop looking at, through, and around them.

Show closes Feb 11, 49 Geary St, Fifth Floor, Haines Gallery

Gallery 415
Claudio Roncoli, The Great Pretender
Here's a little insider tip, Roncoli's show, opening Feb 7, features an iconography steeped in graphic images, 50s advertising, and lots of repetition. He pokes fun at long ago cultural norms, flaunts the male gaze and has us smiling at all that youth and beauty. Hmmmm.

Anyway, Gallery 415 is bringing contemporary Latin American art to San Francisco in a big, big way. Stop by and encourage Christina Bosemark to keep it coming; she is adding wonderful diversity to our art scene.

Gallery 415, 49 Geary St, 4th Floor

A quick note about Miami Basel: The few dealers I chatted with (about MiamiBasel) Gregory Lind and Jack Fischer seemed pleased by their participation and eager to attend again. Jack Fischer Gallery with be at Red Dot, New York. Way to go home team! Keep carrying the "San Francisco loves Contemporary Art" message!

Patricia Sweetow Gallery
Michael Toenges-Painting, Peter Tollens-Painting, Bill Walton-Drawing, Sculpture
Don't go this gallery if you are hungary for oil paint. It will send you completely off the rails. I haven't seen paint this yummy in a long time, I'm talking about Michael Toenges' lush, rib-sticking, eye grabbing geographies. Mountains and peaks and valleys, and drips of glorious oil paint. That's all I can say.

Show closes Feb 23, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, 77 Geary St

Mmmmm, So Luscious

Kellesimone Waits at Luscious Garage
Hey, the paintings are engaging; I must declare, "Awesome job on finding an alternative space for showing work!" In her Men in Power show, Waits has rendered scary old white guys in oozing grays and pinks...that should take a little sting out of their bite.

If you wonder why we're in the mess we're in, just have a look at Waits' portrait of the Republican presidential contenders; you'll come away determined to work even harder to unseat these rascals.

Now, just what is Luscious Garage? LG is a charming, light-filled shop for people–not just for cars– with books, plants, art, comfortable furniture—you’re welcome to linger. Their highly qualified staff is also passionate about hybrids.

See this work through Dec 31 at 459 Clementina St www.lusciousgarage.com

Gyöngy Laky, Intersections, at Braunstein/Quay Gallery
So many red dots! This work is in a word stunning. Gyöngy Laky's work employs materials from nature, with the occasional inclusion of recycled elements. Her sculptural constructions, referred to as textile architecture, hang on the wall or are free-standing. Laky's themes cross varieties of subjects and social issues, often taking the form of words, letters, or symbols.

Wondering from whence Laky's interest in tree branches sprang, she admits " I was taken by the winter pruning of orchards. I had a strong visual response to the trimmed branches. I was born in 1944 in Hungary during the war. We had nothing. I found the pruned branches beautiful and useful, and the idea that they were considered waste to be burned, abhorrent."

My personal fav: "Multiplied Thinking" is a gorgeous basket of Manzanita branches neatly sawed into small pieces, burnished to a majestic burgundy that shimmers in the light. All this beauty is firmly held in place by sheetrock screws. Don't bother with the web photo, you must see this work first hand.

Through Dec 22, 430 Clementina, www.bquayartgallery.com

Arthaus, Ten Years in the Bay Area
This is the little gallery that could. Arthaus strives to represent artists whose work will stand the test of time. New and mid-range collectors would be wise to seek the services of James Bacchi and Annette Schutz. Their expertise will provide the confidence any collector would desire. For the uninitiated, it can be a minefield out there.

They select artists with a demonstrated body of work, whose works and words have been published and who have enjoyed a museum show (or two). Their screening process is rigorours and calculated. Mind you, they don't often accept new work. This vetting supports their commitment to both artist and collector.












Arthaus crowds for Last Saturday artwalk.




James and Annette are deeply committed and contribute greatly to several important causes and concerns benefited by BREAST CANCER ACTION, ArtforAIDS, Visual Aid, the bay-area Designer Showcases, Dining by Design and Art & Auction.

Pencil in The Painters are Here, January's show held in conjunction with Benjamin Moore paints. I just saw their new color line...ohmigod! This will be a visual extravaganza for sure.

For more info: 411 Brannan St, www.arthaus-sf.com

This post is short on photos, we think you may be in visual overload from all the holiday cheer. Consider this a meditative blog: you simply consider what you've read here and then seek it.

We wish you a happy, healthful, peaceful, and prosperous 2008!

Get ready for more Bay Area art happenings.

Uptown Oakland Art Scene

Art Murmur

Walking around Oakland’s burgeoning art scene on the uptown streets around Telegraph and 23rd, it’s hard to get beyond the wonder of, well whattayaknow-- how the world is changing. So yes, we're in catch up mode but hey, these folks are on a roll. The streets are safer. The galleries are exciting and well worth repeated visits. The spirit of infinite possibilities is abundantly present; wish we’d noticed sooner. A little bit Will Smith saving the world and a little bit Pimp My Ride, we like because the result is creative energy with a colossal welcome sign attached. Friendly and knowledgeable staff people actually schmooze with you in the galleries, even people from across the bridges are greeted with interest. The art ranges from exclusively made in Oakland to whatever the gallery believes in with enough diversity to enthuse even jaded viewers. Go see for yourself, it’s a real feel good excursion.

Oakland Art Murmur started a year ago and is a great way to explore the area if you enjoy the comfort of being part of a crowd. The Murmur is a coalition effort held on the First Friday of every month beginning at 7pm. Free minibuses run by the city of Oakland deliver art enthusiasts to the doorsteps of the galleries. Hundreds of people attend, there is a street fair atmosphere and we’ve heard that lots of people go home with purchases. Mark your calendars.

Now this isn't a new thought or anything but the large amount of construction on these very streets raises the question of gentrification displacing the growing art community. A good thing is that the Art Murmurers are thinking about this already and have made a commitment to a sustainable neighborhood as a way to prevent yuppification. Some of the galleries are making a conscious effort to partner with the community by offering classes, art education for local kids and space for events. Let’s see what happens.


Industrielle
33 Grand Ave.

Dana Taylor, a collage artist herself, named her shop/gallery for her love of all things French. She features affordable art , notable tchotchkes and a great vibe. Taylor, a third generation Oaklander who cares about what matters, intends to establish a community art space at Industrielle for Oakland school kids. Her current best sellers are screen-printed Ts and undies by Evonoche (hmm, how would they look framed and hanging in the living room?) and Sita Rupe's resin coated acrylic screenprints on antique paper.

Mercury 20
25 Grand Ave.
Mercury 20 is a collective exhibition space owned and run by 20 East Bay artists who show their work in rotating two-person shows.

JoAnn Biagini, a wonderful artist in her own rite, was gallery sitting during our visit and offered charm, useful info and quiet enthusiasm. The current show in the gallery is by Joan Weiss and Kathleen King.


Kathleen King Joan Weiss

Weiss calls her work nature based process abstraction. She paints the same scene over and over until she exhaust the possibilities, saying the final works may end up with little obvious relationship to the beginning sketch or photo because the process takes over. The pieces we saw had a pleasing romantic feeling. She’s great with color.

King is an improvisationist “allowing the idea to express itself in communication with her hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere”. She builds up layers of marks that interweave, overlap or obscure each other. The complexity of the pieces asks you look longer.


Luka's Taproom & Lounge
2221 Broadway

Right on the corner of Grand and Broadway, everything in this comfy place says eat more. We can vouch for the great food and we hear they show great art on First Friday’s as well. So go nuts, a burger is waiting with your name on it. You know you love it.


Esteban Sabar Gallery
480 23rd St.

Gary Brewer’s show Ocean Flowers is on. He paints beautiful but ensnaring sea flowers, suspending them in a seemingly limitless space. Some, like the anemone, are seductive and menacing at the same time– reminds us of that bad dream we all have had about the creepy carnival where the clowns try to eat you. Sucks you right in.


Chris Isner’s work is in the back room. His show is titled Bald, Anthropomorph Amputees in Profile and Homo novo and we like it. Fetal forms are hyper sexualized, each with an enormous penis and at least one set of breasts, simultaneously funny and provocative. You’ve got to see them.

Esteban, Esteban, Esteban. What can we say? Esteban Sabar is an entertainer who loves telling a great story whether it’s all true or not.
He says he opened the gallery to sell his husband Marty McCorkle’s paintings.
He says he represents Oakland artists only and there are so many that are so good. He says he might hang an enter at your own risk sign on the back room of his gallery so no one is offended by Isner’s work. There’s something deliciously showbiz and fragile about his playful chatter but this is a man who knows exactly what he’s doing. Meeting him is a treat. Extra spicy? Sure, why not?


Johansson Projects
2300 Telegraph Ave.




If anyone is going to make a living selling art in Uptown, it’s probably Kimberly Johansson. She was working at a gallery in downtown San Francisco when she decided to open Johansson Projects. It’s too early to know if she is going to be profitable, but she says she sold 25 pieces in a single day. We think that’s because of the patch of very green grass she’s planted on the ceiling. Maybe “the grass is always greener?” The gallery is impressive.


We were especially taken with a stunning piece by Amanda Hughen; Hughen works on both sides of translucent mylar in pencil, ink, and acrylic starting with an architectural template that evolves into a painting of rare beauty. We love the elegance and attention to detail of the piece which demands a long look and then another.






Johansson’s next show is Anatomy of Folklore, opening Nov. 15th, 6-9pm by Evan B. Harris and Lawrence LaBianaca. From the previews we’ve seen we’re expecting another winner. Try to catch it. Don’t forget about the first Friday Art Murmur and those nifty busses.
















Creative Growth
355 24th St.
The Creative Growth Art Center Gallery is the first established gallery for artists with disabilities in the world, founded in 1980 with support of the National Endowment for the Arts. Creative Growth Art Center has placed the work of its artists in private collections, galleries, and major museums throughout the world including the Collection lÕArt Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland; Collection lÕAracine in Lille, France; the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland; the Ricco/Maresca Gallery and the American Museum of Folk Art in New York City; and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. On the day we stopped in Paul Butler's Collage Party was on. A Winnipeg native Butler and a team of Winnipeggers are here for two weeks and visitors are invited to join in a very freewheeling collage making experience. A whirlpool of festive, brightly colored stuff fills the huge gallery, whatever you want, however you want it. Next week the finished works will be on view and up for sale. Can’t wait to see them.


And one more kudo for an artist changing the world through art


Eileen Goldenberg, an accomplished San Francisco encaustic painter, won a grant from the San Francisco Art Commission for her Tea House Series and used a portion of the funding to reach out to a diverse group of normally underserved audiences and provide special showings designed to introduce them to her medium. Yes! Congratulations Eileen.

Art It's a Gift

Kelly Reemsten at CaldwellSnyder Gallery
Kelly Reemsten opens her first show at CaldwellSnyder with Recent Paintings, a delicious look at 50-60s fashion and furnishings. Reemsten liberally applies luscious layers of oil paint with an ever present hint of orange. Let me tell you, this woman can paint!

I was fortunate enough to be in the gallery while Kelly was inspecting the installation; hearing her insights and inspirations was remarkable; her work ethic really made me take notice. Reemsten is able to complete a full body of work approximately ever six months. She feels it her obligation to her collectors and viewing public to have new work available.

Now that Reemsten has gone back to LA, don’t fret; Roger Azevdeo, CaldwellSnyder’s charming secret weapon, will effortlessly guide you through the exhibit and give you all the 411 you’ll need for an enjoyable viewing experience. Roger is committed to great art, he believes in the work he sells, and is a huge resource for the Bay Area art scene. Wish there were more like him. www.caldwellsnyder.com


The Gift of Art at Cecile Moochnek Gallery
Cecile Moochnek Gallery, a delicious, lovely, and contemplative space, will host a small works “gift of art” show Nov 14-Jan 31. Moochnek has been in the East Bay for 14 years and exhibits some astounding work. Her roster includes: Judith Williams, Emily Payne, Kate Phillips, Seiko Tachibana, and Tyrell Collins. For a full listing visit www.cecilemoochnek.com



Judith Williams






Recent Work by Kris Cox at Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery
If you love surface, you’ll die for Kris Cox’s work. Cox is process oriented using heavily layered surfaces that he grinds down. Cox describes his paintings as being created "by a process of applying multiple layers of pigmented putties, on wood panels with grids that have been chased into their surfaces". He goes on to say that the "elements which appear irregularly through the layers of putty, lead, wax, asphalt and pigment are a metaphor for memory, while the concentric, multi-chromatic rings are symbolic of time."

Did I ever ooohhh and aaahhh over this work. www.eesgallery.com

Theodora Varnay Jones, Structures, at Don Soker Contemporary Art
Varnay Jones’ use of layering and light are masterful; her work is pure, formally clear and superbly executed. Structures are a multi-dimensional interplay of translucent materials including paper, pigments, gauze, acrylic polymer, fiberglass and wood. Each work portrays inner depths under a ghostly surface of muted colors. Varnay Jones’ technique is innovative, complex and visually satisfying.

Impossible to catch in a photo, please, go see this work. www.donsokergallery.com


Robert Jack, Elements of History, at Brian Gross Fine Art
This flatness of Jack’s casein on wood paintings is alluring; it’s dense and it’s oh so beautiful. Working with tiny brush marks these minimalist, structural paintings are far from simple. Each painting has a limited palette whose arrangement of repeated marks suggest rigorous thought. Slight imperfections and unexpected patterns slowly emerge and take on an intuitive, organic quality. Jack sees his creation as a form of history, recombining, in new ways, natural elements that have evolved over eons of time according to Darwinian theory.

Brian Gross Gallery will be participating in Red Dot www.reddotfair.com The fair dates are December 6 - 9, 11 am to 8 pm at the South Seas Hotel. www.briangrossfineart.com

Lucy Gaylord-Lindholm, Cookie Cutter, at Jack Fisher Gallery
I won’t even attempt to interpret Gaylord-Lindholm’s work. It is fascinating to see and oddly stimulating. I was made curious and compelled to look more than once. Go, see this work, dare yourself to be curious!

The Jack Fischer Gallery will be participating in the Red Dot Art Fair www.reddotfair.com at the South Seas Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, December 6 – 9, 2007 www.jackfishergallery.com

Dannielle Tegeder, 7(x) = 20x + x5d-1 + (Yellow), at Gregory Lind Gallery.

Dannielle Tegeder's drawings and paintings resemble engineering blueprints for the inner workings of a new civilization. These landscapes are awaiting the occupancy of a post-apocalyptic society. Recurrent forms created to perform particular functions provide the foundation for this world of the future¬ great geometrical mashups.


Tegeder uses gouache, ink, colored pencil, graphite, pastel and various drafting tools on paper. Like her older work, these pieces are invested in the mapping of various spaces—planetary, geological, biological, and architectural—but the materiality of the work is much more actualized rather than merely inhering in the artist's utopian blueprints. And, if you are stumped as to how one displays large work, check out the innovative installation at Gregory Lind. www.gregorylindgallery.com


Gregory Lind Gallery will be participating in Aqua Art Miami and the Aqua Hotel. www.aquaartmiami.com


Let’s Hear if for the North Bay!
Donna Seager Gallery www.donnaseagergallery.com will be participating in Flow at the Dorset Hotel. Seager will feature: art work by Joe Brubaker, Claudia Marseille, Carl Dern, Ann Weber, Lisa Kokin, Aondrea Maynard, Michael Cutlip and others. Donna Seager Gallery also has a very interesting Book program that she will show at Flow. www.flowfair.com

MarinMOCA's new show is Art By The Inch, a 100 foot long painting stretched between two galleries. Painted by Kent Rupp, Louis Bording, Dorallen Davis, Joan Hauck, Kathleen Lack, Margaret Mantua, Beryl Miller, Sandi Miot, Nancy Nelson, Randy Pottenger and Joel Yau, The participating artists have donated their work as a fundraiser for the new museum. Viewers are invited to partner with the artists by choosing a portion of the giant painting to purchase for a donation of $1.00 a square inch. One hundred per cent of the proceeds benefit MarinMOCA. Hurry. Your chance to take home some great work for a fraction of it's normal price and support MarinMOCA will be over November 18th.

Crown Point Press / London Calling

The Very Best Bay Area Art Experience

Crown Point Press, a true jewel in San Francisco’s art crown, currently shares a mini-retrospective of Robert Bechtle’s work. It’s truly wonderful to see some older editions juxtaposed with the newer ones. We can see some elimination in Becthle’s work and sublime improvements in the print-making process. “20th Street VW” is simplicity rendered by a master.

If you have never visited Crown Point Press please, give yourself this gift. It’s a fantasy trip into the printmakers world. Your SteinbergFarmer reporters were awed to be in the building whilst Nathan Oliveira was busy working –WOW, moment of abundance. Our souls stood still in respect.















Nathan Oliveira, Twin Runners


We contented ourselves by viewing the work of Pat Steir, Laura Owens, Ian Baxter, Julie Mehretu, Anish Kapoor, Robert Colescott (currently showing at Meridian Gallery on Powell St), and others. CPP has hosted more than 100 artists since their 1962 inception. www.crownpoint.com




















Mary Heilmann, Joaquin's Close Out

Of course we filled our totes with treasures from the well-stocked bookstore; oh, a few printmaking supplies found their way into our bags as well. Farmer confesses, “ I’ve never left Crown Point without a purchase. This is the ultimate artist’s candy store.”

Here’s your scoop: Amy Sillman opens Tuesday, Nov 6. Be there; this unusual Tuesday opening will provide the perfect opportunity to slow down and enjoy this magical space. You won’t have to run around to other openings and you can take in Sillman’s expansion of her visual vocabulary, blending her figurative work into abstraction, at your own pace. Give yourself time to explore this treasure trove of fantastic art and art making.

Oh, did I mention magical? Well, “Magical Secrets about Thinking Creatively: The Art of Etching and the Truth of Life” by Crown Point Press’s founder, Kathan Brown, provides insight into the creative process from artists who have worked with Crown Point. They’ve even embroidered the catchy tenets onto work aprons.

To round out our visit we discovered a special dry-point kit. You purchase the kit, it contains everything you need to produce a print, create your own work and then send it back for a professional print. Here’s the link: http://crownpointpress.stores.yahoo.net/drypointkit.html

LONDON Calling: Beaux Arts, Seventeen Gallery, Gallery 435
On a recent trip to London I (Gail) visited over three thousand galleries and museums, from upmarket Cork Street, to artsy Hoxton, to the republic of Slough...well maybe it only seemed like that many because there was so much great work. Unfortunately I had to miss the art fairs which were scheduled a week too late for our schedule but I did see more than I ever thought I could. Here are just a few highlights:

Beaux Arts, Redefining Bodies
There is something provocatively primal yet clean about these sculptures, like new age creatures birthing, transparent bodies constructed of plastic sheets covered with digitally precise photographic scans of the human heart and womb. Marilene Oliver uses digital imaging technologies to examine the relationship between seeing and knowing a human being and the desire to discover something fundamentally true about ourselves through knowing the human body. Oh sure, some might say these works are more crib mobiles than serious exploration with their clear colors and movable parts but Oliver says that “the only way to find the information we want is to go inside it” and that the more time “I spend working with and through computers the more I feel the way I interact with others and even myself is changing.”






















Marilene Oliver, Heart and Womb

There’s something that feels true and intriguingly different about her vision that holds your interest. Using tools she calls “pivotoptic,” that “allow us to enter the information world at ground level and spin inside it, the more we pivot, the faster we spin, the more information we acquire,” her work strives to both put us inside the body and to comment on the impossibility of attaining a fuller sense of identity by knowing our digitalized selves. Providing new packaging for information that is both encapsulated and in motion at once, Oliver’s work redefines our relationship to what the human body is and exposes our continual drive to know more about ourselves. It takes a special set of skills to make this much information all at once visually exciting. Her creatures have personalities and supply aesthetic intrigue. I’d be glad to visit them again and again. www.beauxartslondon.co.uk

Seventeen Gallery, Susan Collis, Redefining Looking


We were in Hoxton, half way out the door of the Seventeen Gallery when Paul Pieroni, the director pointed out the drips on the floor, one of those categories I don’t usually pay attention to. Someone carried an open can of paint across the room leaving a trail of drops. Whoa. The drips are actually a 32 foot pattern of precisely cut mother of pearl stones set into the floorboards of the gallery. Most people: too preoccupied to imagine the obvious as interesting. Susan Collis: an installation artist who notices the things in front of our eyes we tend to overlook. When it comes into focus, the work is exquisite, a wake up call. Feeling new empathy with that deer caught in the headlights, my perception shifts abruptly. Look. Search for more.
Is this a gallery or a treasure hunt? In a corner, a plastic bucket catches drips from a hole in the ceiling. Not really. Called Without You the World Goes On , there is a concealed pump that lets the same trickle perpetually recirculate. Think about it. What appears to be an old broom leaning against a different wall is not flecked with bits of paint but delicately set with inlaid pearls, jasper, turquoise, garnets and black diamonds. Challenging what we think we’re supposed to do in an art gallery (As Picasso said, “Give me the venue and I will fill it up”, all viewers have to do is view what’s on display).
















Susan Collis
Collis insists we search for her work to find these things that exist between what we take for granted and what she has created. Apart from the so beyond boring game of it and the invitation to meditate on what’s present, she challenges our way of defining how we see the surfaces of everyday life. What she calls for is a fundamental change in our assumptions about art and when you find her pieces they are stunning. Spare. Revealing. Compelling. Good. There is no way to be indifferent to her vision. Depending on what you bring, her work matters or does not. www.SeventeenGallery.com

Gallery 435, Pintura Fresca, Redefining Abstract
Pintura Fresca is an international group of abstract painters who met through the internet and are now working together on various art projects. The principal objective of the association is to be a platform and a forum for contemporary artists and in particular, abstract painting. The essential drive of Pintura Fresca is to encourage dialog and demonstrate that articulate abstract expression still thrives and remains vibrant into the new millennium. They propose that in contrast to being dead abstract art has matured and grown in nuance and refinement of thought over the last century. Artists involved, Mark Bennion, USA, Petronilla Hohenwarter, Germany, Eva Ryn Johannissen, Sweden, Mirian Kres, Slovenia, Thierry Le Baill, France, Paul Lorenz, USA, Connie Noyes, USA, Antonio Puri, USA, and Kathleen Waterloo, USA.

Gallery 435 is a nonprofit gallery housed in a huge warehouse in Slough, about 20 minutes outside of London. Gallery 435 is Slough's only public art gallery. It combines the energy and innovation associated with London art spaces to present some of the best and most challenging contemporary work from local, national and international artists. It was established as a voluntary organization in 2006. The Pintura Fresca show was curated to compliment the work on display and could be seen as a piece of art in its own right. Paintings were ingeniously suspended from the rafters to the ground, making full use of the enormous gallery size, creating a display that was accessible, engaging and inspiring. Gallery 435 has developed a loyal community who are interested in contemporary art and is well worth the short train ride from Paddington.

Connections--Contemporary Art, Architecture, Urbanism, and Memory

NEW LANGTON ARTS
In Residence
Pete Nelson and Tercerunquinto



After two weeks in residency at New Langton Arts, Pete Nelson and the collective Tercerunquinto each created mega size installations in different sections of the gallery.

New Langton Arts’ Archive For Sale: A Sacrificial Act
Here's something we never thought of before. Banker’s boxes as art. It's not like you can’t make a 30 year art history housed in tables full of file boxes compelling, right? Tercerunquinto, a collective formed by artists Julio Castro, Gabriel Cázares, and Rolando Flores has nailed organizational aesthetics and zeroed in on New Langton’s art’s most valuable asset: its historical memory. It's truly brilliant. Maybe visually bland, but mentally intriguing.
For more discussion: http://langtonblog.wordpress.com

What would happen if New Langton Arts, a cash poor non-profit with 30 years of history tied to the emergence of new art forms, (photographic, audio, and video docs and files full of communications with artists and fiscal paperwork) put all of it up for sale? Tercerunquinto sees it as a “sacrificial act” -relinquishing things that define you in order to survive. What are the possible different offers, the appraisal, and all the other elements that would come into play if New Langton sold their history? It’s simply an instillation, we don’t know if New Langton will decide to do it, but provocative ideas often reap interesting results. Well worth thinking about.

Pete Nelson’s installation about foundations uses the gallery space as his medium. His sculptural pieces involve the links between a time clock, a room size pink inflated blimplike structure and an assemblage of wood, mirrors and a little text. “Foundations” refers to the support for the structures and the invisible groundwork of social expectations and right and wrong. www.newlangtonarts.org

Triple Base Gallery
Double Blind
Jay Nelson and Bryson Gill
September 7 - October 7, 2007


Brought together by a shared interest in site-specific and multi-disciplinary contemporary art practice, Triple Base Gallery’s co-curators Joyce Grimm and Dina Pugh invited artists Bryson Gill and Jay Nelson to create their current show, Double Bind. San Francisco-based artists and long-time friends, Gill and Nelson are presenting new paintings that illustrate both their common sensibilities and recent divergences. They attended California College for the Arts together and often influenced one another in their work. For this exhibition neither saw the other's work in process as an experiment to see what differences or similarities would emerge. The results pull in many directions without any clear visual recipes gathered. Quietly bubbling and percolating, they seem less the same than different. www.basebasebase.com




Lincart
Michael S. Moore and Bob Van Breda

Michael Moore is showing daily watercolor paintings, capturing the changing light and shadows of the high desert in and around the Northern Great Basin along with large landscape paintings. “I spend a lot of time on the desert,” Moore says. The monochrome seeming sagebrush ocean of the northern basin navigating playas in pickups, scrambling around in rocky canyons, staring at rabbits, birds, and bugs. Silence or wind; the occasional truck on the county road. My paintings were always about this country even before I came into it over thirty years ago. It’s nice over here; the light is hard and brilliant, and there’s more weather than a person might reasonably expect. I try to make work about that, about the coalescence of the image and its realization, and about the silence. Slow paintings, which bear watching.”

Conte #40, Bob Van Breda


Bob Van Breda captures the fun in chewed-up pencils. Artsy qualities included, his room full of highly sharpened assemblages are models for mischievious skyscrapers pointing like fingers, upwards and out. As Lincart says, “It’s Pick Up Sticks meets Lincoln Logs as Bob pegs pencil onto pencil, building mock-ups for public art that function entirely on their own as Pencil Sculptures.” Let be honest, makes you want to go play in your own pencil box don’t it? We might not all be trained as architects and I have low expectations for my own results but his idea is contagious. See it at your own risk. You might fall in love. www.lincart.com

Catharine Clark Gallery
150 Minna Street new address
The Depravities of War
Sandow Birk
September 8-October 20



Incurion, Sandow Birk

Many words have been written about this exhibition of 15 large-scale woodblock prints that investigate the Iraq war, after the set of etchings titled Miseries of War by Jacque Callot, 1592-1635. Suffice it to add that this show is more powerful than anything else we’ve seen about this war, with equal parts ironic criticism, tenderness and humor. Just go see it. Intelligent, generous and very present, each print holds enough content to make a great film. www.cclarkgallery.com

SFMOMA
Take Your Time
Olafur Eliasson

While we were in the neighborhood we couldn’t resist the chance to wrap up in a blanket to see Olafur Eliasson’s show at MOMA, Take Your Time. Yikes. What makes art hot when it’s so cold? What did Mom use to say? “If you don’t have anything nice to say, hush up, but we won’t let that stop us, in the minority as we are on this one. So many terrific recommendations but we respectfully disagree, not that Eliasson will give a care….It’s eye-gouging and all but somehow, we thought it just weird. Because he could de-construct a car and cover it with ice we would consider it fine art. Being from Chicago, it did stir up some memories but is it engineering and chemistry or is it art? Wow, sorry, what brought on that fit of judgement? Anyway, what we mean is, the show left us cold. On the other hand, we both enjoyed the Felix Schramm show, Collider, on the 4th floor where a titling wall slices through walls and corridors. Stay tuned.

MarinMOCA
Re-newal, opens Sept 29, 2007
The second show of this burgeoning museum will feature the work of 15+ Bay Area artists. This show, Re-newal, features encaustic works juried by Bob Nugent, Ab Ex painter and Professor Emeritus, Sonoma State University. The opening for this exquisite show is Sept 29, 5-8 pm. Mark your calendars and pop on over to discover and explore this exciting art form and Marin's newest museum. Culture at every turn. www.marinmoca.org