JANCAR JONES - EXPLORATORIUM - FIVE POINTS - FINE PRINT FAIR - AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS - MCKINLEY ART SOLUTIONS - 01.28-30.09 (with assistance from R.W. Miller)

McKinley Art Solutions at Hotel Triton: Cheryl McDonald - UNBUTTON THE PAGE, Graphite and Colored Pencil Drawings.

Review by R.W. Miller: Fascinating subjects abound in this installment of Cheryl McDonald's fantastical images at the Hotel Triton's Mezzanine Gallery. Abundant symbols challenge the viewer to search for meanings and story. The drawings can compete with photographs which may only be worth 1000 words. These tell more words... and all sorts of emotional tales. The works are also dramatic and dreamlike. McDonald's outdoor settings remind the viewer that Spring and Summer theater are on the way.

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AIA San Francisco Center for Architecture + Design Gallery: School Buildings - The State of Affairs, A New Architecture for a New Education.

Review by R.W. Miller: Showcasing 31 examples of recently designed schools from Switzerland, the assembled exhibit at AIA (American Institute of Architects) is very cerebral with the school designs, and significant texts accompanying the images. The works are very architecturally oriented and one can imagine that they are also suitable elsewhere, like in a book or catalog, rather than on the wall like scientific posters. Yes, they are intriguing as art displays but they might work better as a topic to be read about and studied. As noted at the reception, buildings do not make a school, but they can compromise the quality a school. As these architects understand, schools can be housed in very cool buildings.

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Exploratorium: 3 X 3 X 3 X 1. Curated by Jordan Stein.

Artists: John Edmark, Adam Hathaway, Jessica Miller.

Comment by AB: Three artists are given three spaces to create and exhibit works of art in keeping with the principles of the Exploratorium. My favorite is John Edmark's optical illusion 3-D spherical kaleidoscope. You control the patterns by placing variously shaped and colored pieces of paper against a glass, the images of which are somehow reflected or projected backwards onto the illusionary sphere-- a splendid conundrum composed of a video monitor, camera, mirrors, plywood, LEDs, and steel. Apologies on the picture quality-- the galleries are darkened for the show.

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Five Points Art House: Noah Ptolemy - New Work.

Comment by AB: Black and white ink drawings by Noah Ptolemy have a petroglyphic essence about 'em.

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Jancar Jones Gallery: Takako Yamaguchi.

Comment by AB: Los Angeles artist Takako Yamaguchi formulates a glorious blend of representational and nonrepresentational patterns and flourishes into stunning otherworldly artscapes. She even drizzles in a little tincture of Maynard Dixon but twists it up just right (I ask her about Dixon and she confirms my suspicions). Excellent work; go see.

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Fort Mason Center: The San Francisco Fine Print Fair.

Comment by AB: Another one of those way-beneath-the-radar San Francisco art extravaganzas that any artist or artster who has any affinity with the graphic arts should attend. I mean where else can you find masterworks by many of the greatest practitioners of the discipline including Kandinsky, Rembrandt, Otto Mueller (look him up), Childe Hassam (look him up), Chagall, Braque, Lautrec, Whistler, etc etc etc, and more more more... for sale from some of the best fine art print purveyors in America?

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