Everybody loves Colescott

Meridian Gallery, a non profit gallery, will open a must see show September 20, 6-9 pm featuring a ten year retrospective of Robert Colescott's lush paintings. Colescott uses high comedy, painterly abandon, and satire in his sexually and racially charged work. This long overdue survey will feature work from 1997-2007. Don’t miss this energetic, vigorous work that explores stereotyping.

Olympia's Fountain
2000, Acrylic on Canvas

“ I pull the viewer in with humor, but when they begin to understand what they have to deal with in the paintings, they don’t know whether to love them or hate them,” he says. “I've been talking about this stuff for twenty years. It's about white perceptions of Black people".

Phyliss Kind points out how Colescott "mocks our anxiety" about race but he "never doesn't talk about race and he never talks about it only; " his joyous state, replete with "sonorous tumbling, shady joy, sex, love, money, music, art, memories, and comfort food" are present in all their glory, yet so are racism, sexism, poverty, murder, hate, avarice, envy and deceit. All, propelled by an overreaching consumerism, twirl through a spectacular frenzy of color and form to become paintings so masterful on so many levels that one's breath is taken away,”

Born in Oakland, California in 1925, Colescott received a Masters from the UC Berkeley and studied in Paris with Leger. His work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, SF MOMA, the Hirshhorn Museum etc.. He was the first African-American artist to represent the U.S. in a single-artist exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1997..

The show will run through October 20th and the Meridian Gallery in it’s new home at 535 Powell Street is worth a visit on its own.

Designed by C.A. Meussdorffer,it is in the only building left downtown which was a single-family residence and it’s a treasure.. In this gracious space, Ann Brodzky and Anthony Williams, Directors have made attractive spaces for the Meridian music program and the Meridian Interns Program for at-risk youth learning to make art in a better than first class gallery environment. Their commitment to exploring issues and to make spaces where youth and adults could access experientially a widening of the possible makes it much more than another great gallery. We dare you not to come away inspired. www.meridiangallery.org


Art for Aids 11 Annual Art Auction preview at ArtHaus Gallery


This juried art auction of modern and contemporary art donated by artists, galleries, and collectors can be previewed at ArtHaus Gallery www.arthaus-sf.com
This premiere art event benefits UCSF AIDS Health Project. For online bidding and more information go to www.artforaids.org



Maria
Deborah Oropallo




Ocatavia's Haze Gallery features James Michalopoulos

Opens October 2 ,2007

Michalopoulos is best known for his distinctive architectural renderings. Kevin Allman writes of his architecture, “They slope, soar and sway. Some of them rear back on their foundations, or lurch drunkenly over cracked sidewalks...". Michalopoulos's unsteady houses seem to stagger under their own heavy heritage. There is a palpable energy and mystery in his highly original work; they are a mystical and a powerful evocation of the city Katrina left in tatters.

In addition, Ocatavia's Haze features some of the finest hand blown glass work in the Bay Area. See www.octaviashaze.com for more info.

Bucheon opens Serena Cole and Grant Barnhart September 4, 2007

Exploring the contemporary idea of beauty through fashion magazines as an initial source, Serena Cole uses portraiture to address behind the image and superficiality of a pose The viewer is struck by the sadness and alienation that is portrayed, rather than the glib look of a supermodel. Painted and drawn with a delicate and intuitive hand, Cole captures a different consciousness of the angst of youth today.

Illustrator/artist Grant Barnhart has evolved into a masterful storyteller. The work is reminiscent of an adult fairy tale with imaginary creatures and soldiers fighting giant animals with bows and arrows. It is wonderfully engaging and inventive and can compel the viewer to spend a lot of time with each picture. He is fascinated by the idea that humans and animals can be innocent one minute and brutally violent the next.
Plan to see Bucheon at the Jupiter Art Fair in Portland OR Sept 14 and 15.
To see more of the compeling work of these artists visit www.bucheon.com

A Juicy Tidbit for Steinberg Farmer Report readers:
Marin has a new museum! Yes, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art will soon open its doors. Please check with us for more information on this exceptional turn of events.