SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE - JESSICA SILVERMAN

101 POST STREET - MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA

4N5 - SHOOTING GALLERY / WHITE WALLS

02.08.13

(with assistance from RWM)



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San Francisco Art Institute: Gutai Historical Survery and Contemporary Response. Curated by John Held and Andrew McClintock.

Artists: Saburo Murakami, Kazuo Shiraga, Jiro Yoshihara, Shozo Shimamoto, Chiyu Uemae, and Takesada Matsutani, Atsuko Tanaka, more.

Comment by AB: I'm not sure this modus would fly today, but back in the days of postwar Japan (World War II that is), the mantra for the Gutai artist collective was to "do something no one's ever done before." And so they did. Highlights of this first West Coast Gutai survey include lush expressionist abstractions, an exemplary collection of mail art and related ephemera, posters, photographs, contemporary renditions of vintage performances, and more. Definitely worth a visit.

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Jessica Silverman Gallery: Susanne M. Winterling - Game Heart Matter.

Comment by AB: Susanne Winterling tells me that the majority of works in her show reference the rise and fall of Kodak and the glorious history of film and film cameras. Her focus is particularly on the decline, demise and heartbreaking nostalgia of it all. Nicely done.

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101 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94108: Abstract Conversations - A Group Show.

Artists: Kevin Brown, Ethel Jimenez, C. J. Schake, Jimmy Leong, Judy On.

Review by RWM: Some from North Beach assembled to showcase at this new multipurpose spot. Great pictures of outdoors and nice appreciative pieces about Nature, also abstracts and pastel color schemes. Nice and sweet company.

Comment by AB: This is complete bullshit. Never ever email me a press release and make it sound like it's an event worth seeing when all you do is set up a few easels around a stairwell and call it an art show.

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Museum of the Africa Diaspora: The Kinsey Collection - Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey, Where Art and History Intersect.

Artists, authors, politicians, clergy, etc: Zora Neale Hurston, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Henry O. Tanner, Artis Lane, Richmond Barthé, Elizabeth Catlett, Samuel L. Dunson, Jr., Lois Mailou Jones, Richard Mayhew, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, many more.

Comment by AB: One of the best collection exhibitions I've seen in good long a while. Why? Because this collection is not about the collector like way too many collections are, but rather about the history, talent, brilliance, perseverance and boundless optimistic potentialities of a culture. I'm fortunate enough to hear a bit of Bernard Kinsey's uplifting and relentlessly motivational talk about why the past is worth paying attention to and the future is worth fighting for. I love it.

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On the Edge 3 at Gallery 4N5: Erotic Photography Exhibition, A Group Show.

Photographers: Chi Lum, Rue99, Vlad Kenner, Peter Keresztury, Rich Cirminello, Ivan Ramirez, Same Source, Michael Rosen, Priapus, Eugene Frankel, Yancy Mendoza, David Steinberg, Ronnie Olson, Milan Sabata, Retrotie, Just Me-Amr, Rachel Levine, Hal Brandes, Tom Foolery, Peter Turner, Paul Johnson, Alex Sher, Edson Yamazaki.

Comment by AB: Over 400 photographs by 20 accomplished erotic photographers spice up this Valentine's Day festivities. Plus fashion shows, pole dance performances, rope bondage demonstrations, and more. My pick? Paul Johnson, the photography king of San Francisco's Golden Age of Porn with his graphic technicolor stills dating from the late sixties through the early eighties. He tells me he's got in the vicinity of 100,000 negatives in his stash. The best news? He was exceptionally ace, accumulating a comprehensive libidinous archive that encompasses the unbridled unencumbered unfettered pre-AIDS free love spontaneity of an era that we'll never ever experience again. Should he be relegated to selling prints for $100 each at an erotica show? I think not. Somebody give this dude the recognition he deserves.

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Shooting Gallery and White Walls Gallery: Abstracts - Chad Hasegawa; Muses - Charmaine Olivia; Fuck You Pay Me - Word To Mother; Mello Diorama - Sickboy.

Review by RWM: Best of show are the Bears of Chad Hasegawa painted to some degree in abstract. Nice to see the melding colors. Great show in the back with Muses by Charmaine Olivia which may make one want to be a bigamist, but unlikely that one could get away with it in this town. Wonderfully rendered with beautiful colors and emotions. Great new space for this stalwart Tenderloin/Van Ness gallery which surprises again with bold art.

Comment by AB: The Shooting Gallery, White Walls and 941 Geary coalesce in this expansive new space. Make sure you go all the way back because there's more, more and more. One of the premier resources for art by precocious urban virtuosos. How it'll all shake out over time is anybody's guess. But right now these artists are hotter than hot.

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