GEORGE LAWSON - ALTMAN SIEGEL - GALLERY 291

SANDRA LEE - TRIBAL & TEXTILE ARTS

A.MUSE - MINA DRESDEN

02.10.11

(with assistance from Kathryn Arnold)



Navigating the gallery system; an introduction. Click here.

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George Lawson Gallery: Ward Schumaker - Selected Paintings From the Composer Series; Tama Hochbaum - Moving Pictures, Recent Photographs.

Comment by AB: Inspirations for Ward Schumaker's blends of illustration and abstraction incorporating names of his favorite composers include Russian Jewish theater posters dating from the early 20th century. In the antechamber, Tama Hochbaum's photographs glimpse images in ever so fleeting instants.

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Altman Siegel Gallery: Trevor Paglen - Unhuman.

Comment by AB: Trevor Paglen's eerie clandestine take on photography reminds us not only that we're all being watched, but that even those who do the watching better cover their ass. Ominous overtones admonish us that no one gets away with anything in this reality.

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Gallery 291: Ferit Kuyas - Chongqing, The City of Ambition.

Comment by AB: This one's all about the mega-metropolis of Chongqing, China, population 32 million (5 million less than the entire state of California). The photographs of Ferit Kuyas give you a pretty good sense of the enormity of it all-- not only in terms of size and scale, but also with respect to the apocalyptic byproducts of so many people, so much industry, and such monumental development.

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Sandra Lee Gallery: A Sunnyo Lee and Dong Phan Collaboration - Love and Compassion.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: Arrangement of large figurative works, mostly close-up portraits, some alone and some facing each other, all presented with a sense of abstraction in the handling of surfaces and materials. Next to each painting is text on a sheet of paper. The messages have to do with the recognition that we are the same with respect to our humanness and to the sensitivity experienced by all. Nice to see work with a spiritual cast such as this. An added treat to the opening is a poetry reading by known and unknown poets, writers and artists-- moving moments, poems about love-- love experienced, love lost, and love not found. As I leave, I begin composing poetry in my head and imagine becoming a poet, inspired by it all.

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Caskey Lees presents at Fort Mason, Festival Pavilion: The San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show.

Comment by AB: I love this show-- exotic art, artifacts, textiles, jewelry, sculpture, carvings, weavings, and much more-- antiques and antiquities of indigenous African and Pacific cultures. Top international dealers converge on San Francisco for an event that's not only amazing in terms of visuals, but also an educational ethnographic exploration and experience you won't soon forget.

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