ALTMAN SIEGEL - LIMN - 1AM - JANCAR JONES
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE - MARKET STREET - ASIWOULDSAY
OCTAVIA'S HAZE - REAVES - PROPELLER - LINCART
ROBERT BERMAN/E6 - 826 VALENCIA - SILVERMAN
SECESSION - 31 RAUSCH - INFERNO (OAKLAND)
04.17.09
(with Assistance from Laura Chenault and RWM)

Review by Laura Chenault: This conceptual show takes everyday objects and explores the art hidden within. Two eye-catching pieces are in the front room. The first is a tall panel with the days of the week in metallic letters approximately a foot tall. The second is a photograph of a yellow plastic calendar that evokes a die from a role-playing game. Filling most of the back room, homoerotic calendars are displayed like rediscovered or found objects (they're actually on loan from the GLBT archives). A series of small images, postcard sized, are showcased grid-like on another wall. Even the publicity material given at the show follows this theme-- a large folded poster-sized wall calendar and a precious pamphlet consisting of images of the backs of postcards. A stimulating essay on the nature of time and place.

***

Limn Gallery: Rik Ritchey - Drawn Out; Randall Stoltzfus - Further West.

Comment by AB: In the front gallery, Rik Ritchey's paintings on polyurethane foam have a mysterious shimmering otherworldly quality about them, reminding me at times of scenes from Walt Disney's Fantasia. I have no idea how such a medium will withstand the test of time, but they're certainly seductive now. He's also showing a series of sleek slender carved stained wood bas reliefs. Hmmm. Sleek and slender-- kinda reminds me of me.

In the rear gallery, Randall Stoltzfus materializes a shimmering chimerical reality, resplendent with radiance, yet teetering on the dreamy brink of darkness.

***

1AM Gallery: Peter Gronquist - New Paintings and Sculptures.

Review by Laura Chenault: 1AM offers up a wide variety of polished art by Peter Gronquist. Hanging in the large windows are full-scale machine guns covered in designer logos. Hanging on one wall are three mounted animal heads with antlers that morph into weapons. Another mounted head has antlers woven together in a convoluted chaos. Large glossy paintings cover the walls. Many of them have rich red and gold thick swirls of paint across their massive surfaces. Over these backgrounds is a variety of imagery-- tattoo-esque swallows, a smiling rosy-checked child, doe-eyed anime inspired girls, and realistic beautiful Asian women, all accentuated by uber-slick glossy coatings. Additional pieces that alter iconographic logos and trademarks including a crucified, golden Mickey Mouse and a cattle skull with McDonald's golden arches instead of horns. Gronguist has a very polished, eclectic style and his work is flawlessly executed.

***

Jancar Jones Gallery: Cameron Soren.

Comment by AB: Well, this one's got me thoroughly flummoxed pretext-wise, but I will say that Cameron Soren's sculptural works are rather nicely done. To quote from the diatribe, "Using the reproduction and reappropriation of images and objects, Soren often removes context and dimension, while repositioning them within an architectural, three-dimensional space, or within a two-dimensional page-- drawing becomes video, video becomes sculpture, drawing becomes painting, etc. In so doing, he forces the view away from a single vanishing point and toward a more phenomenological perception." Woah. Linguistic waterboarding! I think I just blew a gasket.

***

Alliance Francaise de San Francisco: Javier Manrique - On Photography.

Review and images by Laura Chenault: Javier Manrique uses a variety of mediums to explore photography. Beautiful selenium-toned silver gelatin prints are meticulous images of cameras. Some of the cameras are intact vintage models, while others have been smashed, melted, or even transformed into bronze sculptures. Photos created by drawing with a "light pen" further the running commentary on photography. The show utilizes this gallery's unique multilevel layout to it's fullest.

***

Market Street Gallery: Clay into Art.

Artists: Sherri Cavan, Rachel Cox, Reiko Kubota, Maggie Malloy, Oli Quezada, Don Santos and Maria Sosina.

Review and images by Laura Chenault: This group show presents a wide variety of ceramic work. Beautiful figurative sculptures by Sherri Cavan have a sense of humor. One of the amazing pieces by Oli Quezada represents a small bookshelf holding a skull and books-- a poignant commentary on life and death. Both Maria Sosina and Maggie Malloy transform everyday recognizable objects into sculptural works. Maria's pieces feature pipes that become organic while Maggie's are layers of locks and chains, both real and in clay. An interesting video of clay and pigment in water by Reiko Kubota is an exploration in time. Rachel Cox produces larger pieces including a chair perched on a globe titled Meditation. Don Santos is the one artist in the show working in a non-figurative style-- blue and black wall pieces are grouped together. The show is a great collection of local contemporary artists working in ceramic.

***

Asiwouldsay Gallery: Travis Weller - Nicknames, Yep.

Review by Laura Chenault: This small room all the way to the back of Ecologie on lower Gough Street is wallpapered with beautiful layered silkscreens by Travis Weller. There are variations, but each row shares similarities in content and imagery. The amount of labor is impressive as is the work. Casually hung with thumbtacks and flush to each other, the walls become a kaleidoscope of colors and images. On the wall above the back door to a small patio is a whimsical drawing of a console TV complete with antennas and a video projected onto it. Beautiful prints displayed effectively in a unique way.

Comment by AB: Priced right at $40 each.

***

Michalopoulos Octavia's Haze Gallery: James Michalopoulos.

Review by R.W. Miller: One of the high points of tonight's Hayes Street Art Walk is the Michalopoulos Gallery with its images of New Orleans and the outdoors. The colors explode of the canvas reminding me of the psychedelic age and Van Gogh. The images are a tad bit more realistic and suggest a longer story. Something interesting happened up the steps and on the other side of those closed doors, something soulful and meaningful.

***

Reaves Gallery: Lucky Rapp - A Piece of My Mind.

Review by Laura Chenault: Lucky Rapp's perfectly named show welcomes you before entering the gallery-- both front windows are filled with books, small brains, and papers that evoke both intellect and history. Her paintings feature anatomical brains in black and white floating on fields of orange with glassy epoxy. Some paintings are small in scale, but the room is dominated by a large floor to ceiling piece spanning multiple canvases. Although the paintings look very scientific, the labels attached to the different cerebral areas add whole new meanings. Absorbing, intelligent, and humorous; this body of work is delightful.

***

Propeller: Proliferous Precisions.

Artists: Amanda Hughen, Susie Grant, Katie Lewis.

Comment by AB: Propeller trifecta presents delicate layered landscape abstractions by Amanda Hughen, gossamer string and thread wall pieces by Katie Lewis, and fanciful collaged alphabet letters (mainly the letter "o") by Susie Grant.

***

Lincart Gallery: Frida Lives - Photographic Portraits of the Immortal Frida Kahlo; Studio Man Ray - Photos of Man Ray's Studio by Ira Nowinski.

Comment by AB: Contemporary printings of vintage images by a variety of photographers recall the passion and vitality of Frida Kahlo. Contemporary printings of vintage images by Bay Area photographer Ira Nowinski document the eccentricities and ephemeral nuances of the Paris studio where Man Ray worked for the last 25 years of his life. For you photo buffs out there, contemportary printings of vintage images are perfectly fine to collect as long as they're priced right. Why? 'Cuz the vintage ones are the rarities, whereas you can print up a batch of contemporary after-the-facters whenever you feel like it.

***

Robert Berman/E6 Gallery: Julius Shulman ? Early Photographs from the Bay Area; Andrew George - Light Leaks.

Review by RWM: The photographs in black and white by Julius Shulman beckon to an earlier day in The City. They evoke a long gone time and document what once was. Here is an opportunity to observe the building process of the Bay Bridge, and other memorable subjects that are now landmarks. The play of light in Andrew George's interiors is examined. Light serves as muse in the shadow play. Slight lighting alterations would drastically change the subjects observed. Part of the fun is thinking about what is missing from sight because of the lighting.

Comment by AB: Dramatic photographs by Julius Shulman document the construction of the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the 1930's contrast interestingly Andrew George's photographic interplays of light in interiors. George tells me a number of his images were taken in and around a small cabin in the country. For those of you keeping score at home, Andrew George has perfected his photography with Shulman's assistance for the past 25 years.

***

A few shots from an intimate little shindig at Art Deco Collection, next door to Robert Berman E6:

***

826 Valencia: Lynn Rubenzer - The Reckoning.

Review and images by Laura Chenault: A window installation by Lynn Rubenzer features a young boy in yellow rain gear standing in a small boat. His lantern glows in the dark, while flat, theater prop style waves undulate around him. The mood is dark and the back wall is painted with images of pterodactyls. An intriguing and thought-provoking piece interweaves danger with surrealism.

***

Silverman Gallery: Desirée Holman - Reborn.

Review and images by Laura Chenault: The main room of pristine Silverman Gallery features beautiful drawings by Desiree Holman of women from a variety of cultures nursing or nurturing their babies. The drawings almost feel like intimate snapshots of private moments between mother and child. There is a sense of whimsy to them that is amplified in Holman's accompanying video playing in a small room off the main gallery. Opening with seated women holding sculptural babies slowly moving across the screen, this peaceful vision soon evolves into a humorous music video with women dancing and swinging their babies to the rhythm of the music. Both the drawings and the video are immaculately produced and intelligently conceived.

***

Secession Art and Design: Peter Andrea and Ivy Jacobsen.

Review and images by Laura Chenault: This unique gallery and design showroom is filled with beautiful things including this month's featured artists. Peter Andrea has beautifully constructed pieces combining different textures of wood with occasional found objects. The shapes in his work are geometric fields in a modern interpretations reminiscent of Mondrian's paintings. Peter's are warm and earthy because the materials uses offer a wide variety of textures. A mixture of carved and smooth wood-- sometimes painted, sometimes untreated-- is combined with brass and other found metal objects. The opposite wall is filled with ethereal oil paintings by Ivy Jacobsen. Soft dreamy backgrounds reveal silhouetted trees. Layered colors and ghostly trees exemplify the use of chiaroscuro to create the illusion of being in a deep forest.

***

31 Rausch St: Paz de la Calzada.

Review and images by Laura Chenault: Paz de la Calzada shows her petite mixed media pieces in this long narrow hallway gallery. The yellow walls complement her very feminine works that combine photographic pigment prints and drawings. The photographs are of girlish hair elastics with plastic colored shapes on the ends. Digitally manipulated so that parts of the photograph are erased, the artist then hand draws in delicate strands of hair. The images recall locks of a baby's hair saved in a box, or pieces of Victorian mourning jewelry.

***

Inferno Gallery, Oakland: INFERNO Artists Group Show.

Artists: Robert Aquarius, Lorely Bunoan, Dallas DeGroot, Rebecca Cotton, Bill Dunlap, Ezra Li Eismont, Susannah Israel, Alicia Justus, Leon Kennedy, William Latham, Stacey McDermott, Max Mellinthin, Erik Odegard,Lisa Ostapinski, Chris Pendergraft, Gary-Paul Prince, Lisa "Sandee" Smith, Michael Stahlbrodt and Mimi Vitetta.

Review and images by DeWitt Cheng: Eighteen artists are showing, so there?s a wide variety of subjects and styles, but Inferno's weird/funny esthetic is much in evidence.

***