MARX & ZAVATTERO - AUROBORA PRESS - FFDG

ARTZONE 461 - HUNGRYMAN - ROOT DIVISION - GUERRERO

INTERSECTION FOR THE ARTS - RVCA AT VASF - FIFTY24SF

SHOOTING GALLERY - WHITE WALLS

06.11.11



(with assistance from Neal Strickberger and RWM)



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Marx & Zavattero: Sea Change - The 10th Anniversary Exhibition.

Artists: Davis & Davis, Stephen Giannetti, Matt Gil, Libby Black, David Hevel, James Gobel, Michael Arcega, Patrick Wilson, Paul Paiement, Taravat Talepasand, Tim Bavington, David Lyle.

Review by RWM: Nice retrospective celebrates the gallery's ten year history. Hard to say whether these pieces represent the greatest hits when there has been so much memorable art over the past ten years.

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Aurobora Press: Fragments/Specimens - Andy Vogt and Russel Crotty.

Review by RWM: Cool use of wood by Andy Vogt to create sculptures/images with perspective. The work on the wall is not exactly pop art, but the recycled wood is shaped in ways to evoke meaning-- structures presented for your consideration.

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Intersection for the Arts: Chico & Chang: A Look at the Impact of Latino and Asian Cultures on California's Visual Landscape.

Artists: Pablo Cristi, Sergio De La Torre, Takehito Etani, Ana Teresa Fernandez, Mike Lai, Angelica Muro and Juan Luna-Avin, Favianna Rodriguez, Lordy Rodriguez, Tracey Snelling, Charlene Tan.

Comment by AB: The show's title pretty much says it all. Now isn't that just so easy?

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HungryMan Gallery: Future Findings - Russell Leng.

Review by RWM: Wild abstracts with color and motion. Though painted, they seem constructed. Multifaceted they are, like looking at gems. Beautiful, yet melancholy in a way.

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Root Division: Eye of the Beholder.

Artists: Marie Bergstedt, Amanda Boehm-Garcia, Gina M. Contreras, Angie Crabtree, Brynda Glazier, Jose Jimenez, Cathy Lu, Colm McCarthy, Nicole McClure, Brooke Nelson, James Parlin, Alissa Polan, Michelle Ramin, Sam Senack, Karen Thomas, Johanna Villamil, Anna Zusman. Curated by Karen Thomas.

Review by RWM: Startling. Provocative. Perverse. Fun. Not just the clothes are taken off in these revealing images.

Comment by AB: A befuddling bonanza of art about the body, some of it truly transiting the edge. And we are the beholders... of what, I'm not sure.

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Guerrero Gallery: New Bohemia Signs. Also featuring Jeff Canham and Steve Powers.

New Bohemia artists: Caitlyn Galloway, Heather Hardison, Ken Davis, Aaron Cruse, Damon Styer, Josh Luke, Corinne Matesich, Candice Obayashi.

Comment by AB: Don't think sign painting is art? Think again. New Bohemia has way more than a few words to say (and paint) about that. Sidle on by.

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VASF Gallery at RVCA: Voyagers - Kyle Fields, Barrett Gents, Jay Nelson, Kanoa Zimmerman.

Comment by AB: Four Bay Area artists strut their stuff in the form of crystal-related photographs by Barrett Gentz, gritty abstract paintings and video by Jay Nelson, breathtaking black and white ocean photography by Kanoa Zimmerman and circuitous drawings by Kyle Fields.

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Fifty24SF Gallery: Swampy - In My Room.

Comment by AB: Paintings and photographs by mystery artist Swampy in the front half of the gallery. A false wall has been constructed across the middle of the gallery and hung with art. But wait-- one of the paintings lifts up to reveal a secret entrance to a total chaos room installation that you can climb right into and experience. One night only; long gone by now.

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FFDG (Fecal Face Dot Gallery): Mel Kadel & Travis Millard.

Comment by AB: Cut paper, muted palette and impressively intricate pen & ink combine to materialize the moderately mystical Mel Kadel experience. Travis Millard, equally adept at drawing, adopts a more comic perspective on the matter.

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The Shooting Gallery: A Thin Line - New Work by Aaron Nagel.

Review by RWM: Think twice about objectifying these woman. They do not seem like they have a lot of patience, though it's not really their fault. They must survive as well in this somewhat terrifying world, and here they do so with a necessarily beguiling and terrific twist.

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White Walls Gallery: Intersection - A Dual Exhibiton of Jonathan Darby and Adam Caldwell.

Review by RWM: Sad to see the deprived young faces in the paintings of Jonathan Darby, but it is great that they are being remembered and brought to our attention. Far away in the difficult Brazilian slums they are, their distressed expressions revealing a lot.

In the front gallery are paintings of sex symbols by Adam Caldwell, usually from our time and continent, but captured here in diverse contexts. One will find it hard to take their eyes off these beautiful women, but they are part of historical circumstances and stories. It is worthwhile to look around the canvasses to find out more about them.

Comment by AB: Adam Caldwell's montage canvases represent an homage to his celebrated grandparents, author Erskine Caldwell and photographer Margaret Bourke-White. Not too shabby of a lineage.

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Addendum:

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