HOSFELT - PUSH - FEMINA POTENS - SOAP - VENUS - PUBLIC GLASS - WHITE WALLS - SHOOTING GALLERY - 02.07.09 (with assistance from R.W. Miller)

Hosfelt Gallery: Christian Houge - Arctic Technology; Michael Light - New Work.

Comment by AB: Spitsbergen (or Svalbard), an island located between Greenland and the North Pole, is known for its pristine atmospheric conditions and scientific equipment installations for gathering astronomical and climatological data (situated there because of those pristine atmospheric conditions). Christian Houge's photographs capture the icy eerieness of it all-- this technological assault on the middle of nowhere. In the rear gallery, Michael Light goes aerial over arid landscapes-- both untouched and altered by man.

***

Push Studio: OwenArt and Kawika Duncan.

Comment by AB: Grand opening of this spacious facility on Folsom Street between Fourth and Fifth. I'm here a little early, so not many people... but plenty of art.

***

Femina Potens: Cinch - The Art of Corsetry.

Artists: Fakir Musafar, Ehren Reed, Suzanne Forbes, Catherine Murty, Angela Fortain.

Comment by AB: An ode to that preeminent restrictive undergarment, the corset. In da house tonight is Fakir Musafar, one of the earliest practitioners of Western-style body modification, exhibiting an engaging selection of his vintage and contemporary photographs, including a stunning self-portrait as a young man.

***

Soap Gallery: Carrie Hott - Stowaway.

Comment by AB: Carrie Hott tells me that her drawings and installations represent significant events and circumstances from her past and present such as a particular TV show or rooms she spends (or spent) a lot of time-- images that may no longer exist in reality, but continue to exist in her mind and influence how she lives her life today.

***

Venus Gallery: Jeff Beers - An Introduction.

Comment by AB: Jeff Beers rarely shows his art. He's one of those artists who makes art because he loves it, meticulously crafting the rich textural surfaces of his abstracts, sometimes over a period of years. He favors a range of ingredients including wax, resin, emulsion, tar, paper, paint and natural pigment, and tells me he's developed proprietary combinations of them that he uses to create his paintings. Here he presents a selection of older and newer work, much of which has never before been seen in public.

***

Public Glass: Hot Glass, Cold Beer! Valentine's Celebration.

Comment by AB: So here's the deal-- for 25 bucks you get a handblown glass heart plus all you can eat and drink. Plus there's a live glassblowing demonstration which, for neophytes like myself, is pretty ferkin' fascinating. While I'm there, artists transform a lump of glowing molten glass into a large heart-shaped vase right before our eyes. Plus there's live tunes, hardcore artsters galore, and no shortage of thrill in the air. Add it all up and you've got your basic kickass party in a gritty industrial setting, the white-hot heat from glassblowing furnaces radiating throughout. The show in the front gallery this month is Matty Harvery - Lamp-worked Glass Sculpture.

***

White Walls Gallery: Matthew Palladino & Ryan Shaffer - New Works.

Comment by AB: Matthew Palladino parts ways with the representational realm this time around, waxing less objective, but nevertheless weaving in those telltale urban overtones. Ryan Shaffer, meanwhile, trends surreal-esque with unequivocal symbol-laced scenarios.

***

The Shooting Gallery: Patrick Segui - Curiosa Natura.

Review by R.W. Miller: Coinciding with the recent Darwin commemorations, Patrick Segui's "Curiosa Natura" explores our biological nature. Detractors of Darwinism may refer to people as apes while putting forth the nonsecular argument that we are all part of some beautiful devine design. Segui's works assembled here, however, remind us how complex life is and refer perhaps to something more complicated than a grand design. Close examination and dissection of the art at times approaches repulsive, and one may be put off by the showcasing of our internal parts, i.e. our guts, blood and bones. There are also scary insects on display. A few of the works are fantastical showing hybrid beasts. Considering all this, one marvels that all our insides work together so well. Evolution argues that this is why we have survived leaving behind a legacy of failed competitors. It is not only tooth and claw here.

Comment by AB: Patrick Segui concocts one of the more exqisitely bizarre compilations I've had the pleasure of enjoying in quite some time-- a natural history museum-style exhibition of shadow box specimens surely originating in the far recondite reaches of his brain. Not only are these deviant delicacies extremely well crafted, but Segui has attended to every last detail including the use of old labels, varnishes that mimic aging, and other vintage trimmings to make everything appear genuinely antique. Worth a visit... and a buy, I might add. Priced reasonable too, considering the degree of meticulousness and amount of work involved-- $500 to $1800. Like it!

***