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GALLERY 291 - ART AT THE DUMP - BELLJAR - ZEN CENTER

TRIPLE BASE - CHROMA - FABRIC8 - LOWER HATERS

(with assistance from DeWitt Cheng, Clare Coppel, RWM and Neal Strickberger)

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Gallery 291: Brian Taylor - The Art of Getting Lost.

Comment by AB: Photographer Brian Taylor concocts his somewhat surreal compositions by setting them in deep woods and brush and then scripting the immediate environments to varying degrees. He achieves his eerie atmospheric effects by using mid-19th century Gum Bichromate and Cyanotype printing processes. Nicely done.

Photograph by Brian Taylor.

Brian Taylor photography.

Photos by Brian Taylor.

Photographs by Brian Taylor.

Brian Taylor photography.

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Art at the Dump: Break in case of Emergency - Josh Short; The Uncanny Valley Orphanage - Ben Burke; An Exhibition Honoring Henri Marie-Rose.

Comment by AB: Josh Short and Benjamin Perkins Burke ratchet funk to euphorically amusing heights with kinetic works that do everything from cook waffles and chill your beer to project shadows onto a screen that mimic a film of a ship being tossed about on the high seas. Like 'em both! But wait; there's more. In the adjacent gallery, see a retrospective of longtime Recology associate and assistant, Henri Marie-Rose-- born in Martinique and a fine artist in his own right, his modernist paintings and sculptures dating clear back to the 1950s.

All-in-one art by Josh Short.

Single beer mini-fridge - in case of emergency, break glass (Josh Short).

Proper deployment of mini-fridge in case of emergency - art by Josh Short.

Stereo auto parts waffle maker by Josh Short (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Josh Short demonstrates the art of stereo waffle making (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Ersatz auto engine beer cooler complete with faux oil leak (Josh Short).

Art by Benjamin Perkins Burke (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Art by Benjamin Perkins Burke (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Art by Benjamin Perkins Burke (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Tunes out back.

Official.

Art at the Dump - gallery frontal.

Art by Henri Marie-Rose.

Henri Marie-Rose art.

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Gallery BellJar: What We Hunt In California - Jack Howe.

Review by Clare Coppel: Jack Howe's show runs from May 14-June 8. When I ask Jack Howe about the title of the piece "Born on the Backseat," me and the other girls get a story about the life of a man (or baby) who was conceived, born, and died on the backseat of a Chevy. His vices were women, booze and "poisons," and he was involved with a dangerous crowd who came after him. At the last moment of his life he prayed to god. This was all symbolized by the surrounding objects attached to the backseat. It was an American life. Jack Howe also rents his work out for movies. He boasts of having work in three of the SF Chronicle's ten worst movies of the year including Alien Resurrection. Awesome.

Review by RWM: Jack Howe is a self taught assemblage artist currently residing in Santa Cruz, California. His works are narrative pieces that tell stories reflecting his appreciation of decay.

Assemblage art by Jack Howe (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Jack Howe art (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Jack Howe (photo c/o Clare Coppel).

Art by Jack Howe (photo c/o Clare Coppel).

Jack Howe art (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Assemblage art by Jack Howe (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

Overview (photo c/o Clare Coppel).

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San Francisco Zen Center: Andrea Narins - Night Stories and Landscapes.

Review by RWM; images c/o San Francisco Zen Center and Andrea Narins: Soulful and intimate works showing the spiritual and the wondrous. The photographs are contemplative and beautiful. One can connect with the magic of the night and the urban ecology. Bright lights, fascinating city.

Photography by Andrea Narins.

Andrea Narins photograph.

Photo by Andrea Narins.

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Triple Base Gallery: Jars Filmed Inside - Elaine Buckholtz Solo Show; Hunter Longe - Perception Projection Delay (Triple Basement installation).

Comment by AB: In the upstairs gallery, Elaine Buckholtz actualizes a museum of sorts consisting of shelves of curiosities lining two rooms, the specimens displayed in diverse states of mock preservation. The capstone is a participatory floor/ceiling distorted mirror installation, the two mirrors facing each other, and we the viewers reaping the infinite reflective benefits. Downstairs, Hunter Longe waxes Op Art hypnotic in video.

"Preservation" art by Elaine Buckholtz.

"Preserved" art closer by Elaine Buckholtz.

Elaine Buckholtz.

Floor to ceiling mirror art by Elaine Buckholtz.

Looking into the floor mirror; reflection in the ceiling mirror.

Art by Elaine Buckholtz.

Op art video by Hunter Longe downstairs in the Triple Basement.

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Chroma Art Design: Bay Area Figurative Art. Curated by Geoff Smith.

Artists: Jennifer Bloomer, Jennifer Downey, William McElhiney, Takeshi Nakayoshi.

Review and images by DeWitt Cheng: The Bay Area prides itself on its creative nonconformity (hark! a distant drummer!), so a painterly approach to representation took root here in the 1950s despite the prevailing trend toward abstraction. That Bay Area Figurative style was seen then by some as heretical and retrograde. It still is-- uber-conceptualists should make the sign of the cross and scurry on. Chroma is showing four practitioners of this eternally shocking style-- Jennifer Bloomer, Jennifer Downey, William McElhiney and Takeshi Nakayoshi-- who demonstrate what can be done with that which abstraction apostate Philip Guston described as "colored mud" and a stick with hair on one end.

Takeshi Nakayoshi and his art.

Jennifer Downey and her art.

William McElhiney and his art.

Curator Geoff Smith (photo c/o Alan Bamberger).

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Lower Haters Gallery: The Beginning of the End.

Artists: Cuca Refugia, Taren Meacham, Pobresito, Michael Shapcott, Burner, Nichole Camarillo, Give Up, Decimus, Biafra Inc. Curated by Curt Anderson.

Review by Clare Coppel: The Beginning of the End is on view here at Lower Haters from May 14 - June 9. The show features 9 artists with a total of 44 pieces and is curated by Curt Anderson, founder and project manager of urban-muse.com a local company (however these artists from all over the country). Curt Anderson has some of his own pieces up including "Muse" a linoleum block print, an image he's also made a fine sticker of. Artist and tattooist Taren Meacham of San Diego has some sexy lady pieces on display including "Cercean Virtue." And Cuca Refugia of Las Vegas is showing some distraught beautiful girl pieces-- "Drown your Beliefs," "Bullet Proof" and "Your Love" among them. All nice work. Pretty much amazing is an artwork by Nicole Camarillo titled "The Way We Get By" showing a female human torso with a wolf's head.

Review by RWM: Dark moody work with its own lively zeitgeist. Big variety shown here addresses our common dilemmas and occasional panics. Soulful work depicted with angst and style.

Art by Pobresito.

Artist Taren Meacham in front of his art (photo c/o Clare Coppel).

Art by Cuca Refugia.

Decimus and his painting, Weep, to his left (photo c/o Clare Coppel).

Art.

Art by Nicole Camarillo - The Way We Get By (photo c/o Clare Coppel).

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Addendum:

Open studios party at Fabric8 Gallery (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

One more from open studios party at Fabric8 Gallery (photo c/o Neal Strickberger).

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