SAN FRANCISCO ART GALLERIES OPENINGS

FIRST THURSDAY - 01.03.13

(with assistance from RWM)



How to respond to criticism of your art. Click Here.

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Robert Koch Gallery: Alfredo De Stefano - Desert Reclaimed.

Comment by AB: Noted Mexican photographer Alfredo De Stefano scripts chimerical interactions between man and the environment in barren desert landscapes and then documents the enigmatic outcomes in photographs.

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Gregory Lind Gallery: Eamon O'Kane - Neues Bauen.

Comment by AB: Irish artist Eamon O'Kane artfully homages the domestic architecture of some of the Europes's great modernist architects of the 1920s and 30s including Richard Neutra, Walter Gropius, Mies Van Der Rohe, Hans Scharoun and Albert Frey. In particular, he points up their influence on American building design.

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Fraenkel Gallery: The Unphotographable.

Artists: Robert Adams, Diane Arbus, F. Baldet & F. Quénisset, Walead Beshty, Mel Bochner, Sophie Calle, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Liz Deschenes, Kota Ezawa, Tom Friedman, Adam Fuss, Paul Graham, Idris Khan, Clarence John Laughlin, Richard Learoyd, Glenn Ligon, Adrien Majewski, Man Ray, Christian Marclay, Chris McCaw, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Richard Misrach, Jakob Ottonowitsch von Narkiewitsch-Jodko, Gerhard Richter, Frederick Sommer, Alfred Stieglitz, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Wolfgang Tillmans.

Comment by AB: The unifying thread of this impressive group show has to do with photographic endeavors to explore beyond the concrete, to depict phenomena, concepts, commentaries, ideas and outcomes, thereby demonstrating ways in which the discipline can be exploited as an exploratory, interpretive and editorial means. A 124-page hardcover book accompanies the exhibition.

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Toomey Tourell Fine Art: Allison Paschke.

Comment by AB: Rhode Island artist Allison Paschke layers epoxy resin and acrylic gels over smooth shiny surfaces, playing on the effects of light, and materializing scenarios where all we can see as we gaze at them deeply are indeterminate reflections.

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Corden Potts Gallery: Camille Seaman - Melting Away.

Comment by AB: Camille Seaman's dramatic polar photographs remind us of what we're doing to our planet. What was once majestic and magnificent is now at best foreboding.

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Scott Richards Contemporary Art: Play on Pespective.

Artists: Warner Friedman, Steve Perrault, Patrick Hughes, Yrjo Edelmann.

Comment by AB: Three dimensions appear as two and two dimensions appear as three in this trompe l'oeil frolic.

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Hang Art Gallery: David Lippenberger & Kirsten Tradowsky - Specific and Anonymous.

Review by RWM: Nice pairing here of the personal and the object. One may revel in the funny individuality of David Lippenberger's self-portraits with surprising numbers on the walls. He is a conehead, but does he have a brain tumor or a super intellect? Fun to be in the audience for this one. We may all become part of a brain tumored generation, but also depicted here is the digital and numeric world of the present and future.

Kirsten Tradowsky's still-life compositions evoke motionlessness, solitude, and contrast to the enduring past. Nice to see objects of design given attention; some are very much objects of genius, but the compositions are not quite a treatment of pop art. The fascinating past perseveres nonetheless.

Comment by AB: David Lippenberger paints his quizzical alter ego into all manner of perplexing predicaments, heavy on the numerical, while Kirsten Tradowsky immortalizes the ordinary.

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Spoke Art Gallery: The 2nd Annual Supersonic Electronic Invitational. Curated by Zach Tutor.

Artists: Alessandra Maria, Allan Innman, Andrew Hem, Angie Wang, Audrey Kawasaki, Barnaby Ward, Brett Amory, Cam Floyd, Casey Weldon, Charmaine Olivia, Conrad Roset, Dan Christofferson, Erik Jones, James Jirat Patradoon, Jason Levesque, Jeremy Enecio, Joao Ruas, Jon Todd, Ken Garduno, Michael C. Hsuing, Mike Mitchell, Nimit Malavia, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Scott C., Seamus Conley, Soey Milk, Steve Kim, Tatiana Suarez, Tessar Lo, Tina St. Claire, Tom Bagshaw, Zoltron.

Comment by AB: Sultry sirens of all ilks pepper this rangy affair while Zoltron's doctored slot machine holds court in the center of the floor.

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Addendum:

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Here's a thought.... support the cause.

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First Thursday - December 6, 2012

First Thursday - November 1, 2012

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