FOULADI - WRITERS' GROTTO - GALLERY 16

CENTER FOR THE BOOK - MOROSO PROJECTS

BASH CONTEMPORARY

11.15.13

(with assistance from RWM)



The finer points of pricing art. Click Here.

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Fouladi Projects: "SEN" - Lisa Solomon.

Comment by AB: Lisa Solomon stitches up a bona fide pinkie cam extravaganza, the centerpiece of this detail-saturated show being an installation consisting of 1000 miniature doilies, each piece hand crocheted and perfectly pinned in a grid pattern along the length of a gallery wall. It's a riff on the Japanese tradition of Senninbari, good luck belts comprised of 1000 knots, made and given by wives to their husbands in order to protect themselves at war.

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The San Francisco Writers' Grotto: Random Bloomers - Tracey Kessler and Al Grumet.

Review by RWM: Fascinating shapes and colors are put together in all sorts of ways. Surprising creativity. The compositions are evocative and mysterious. Wonderful to encounter and think about.

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Gallery 16: Futurefarmers - Taking Stock.

Review by RWM: This show defies a singular description, captivating the interloper. All sorts of messages despite the below-the-knee level presentation. Much to think about as one wanders the room, which is full with these growths of the mind.

Comment by AB: Extensive retrospective record of research, concepts and projects courtesy of the design firm and art collective Futurefarmers, founded in 1994 by Amy Franceschini. As you might suspect, much of the work has to do with gardening and farming. Go see.

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San Francisco Center for the Book: The Uncommon Thread - Jody Alexander and Lisa Kokin; A Visit to Mad Geppetto's Workshop - B. Alexandra Szerlip. Curated by Donna Seager.

Comment by AB: Art made from books is the subject of this show. In the entertainment department, Lisa Kokin pulverizes and reshapes How-To books, generally useless and outdated within six months of their release, into unidentifiable book-like forms. She also has several intricately sewn works on display. Jody Alexander creates sewn collage/assemblages using books as her canvases. B. Alexandra Szerlip incorporates parts of books into her skillfully constructed contraptions designed to simulate scientific instruments and objets de vertu. Worth a visit.

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The Popular Workshop at Moroso Projects: "and when we thought it would last forever..." - Greg Ito.

Comment by AB: To me, Greg Ito's inventive art and installation is all about vacation, liesure time, and basically taking a break from life's travails. But to whoever pens The Popular Workshop's pompous convoluted bombast, "The works are a mediation of common desires incorporating a visual vernacular tailored by familiar aesthetic tropes." And furthermore, "Exploring multiple methodologies of contemporary artistic production, Ito prompts the viewer to experience disharmonies between common cultural objects' practical functionalities and their imbedded symbolic connotations developed over time." Excuse me, but what? I've seen pools of puke that make more sense.

The good news is that Ito's installations are already excellent, and getting better. He does it oh so well, and I love it. In fact I love it so much, I'm gonna slap a rare "Pick" on this show. The dude's going places. Check it out.

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Bash Contemporary: Fantasy Faire Group Show.

Artists: Sandra Yagi, Larkin Cypher, Alexandra Manukyan, Graham Curran.

Comment by AB: Other worlds and outlandish realities earmark this show with Sandra Yagi proves that skeletons have lives just like the rest of us, Alexandra Manukyan's stunning portrait paintings transforming earthly lives into escapades in fantasy, Graham Curran reminding us to take care of our environment, and Larkin Cypher materializing hallucinatory beings.

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