BERKELEY ART OPENING
ALPHONSE BERBER GALLERY
Reported by John Casey 2.27.09

Alphonse Berber Gallery: New Nature.

Artists: Reuben Margolin, MachineHistories, Julia C.S. Davis, Christina Pierson, Laura Kramer, Justin Margitich, Emily Jan, Christina Empedocles, Yvonne Mouser, Nervous Sysytem, Molly McGrath, Cyberoptics, Tere Ryder, Josh Jakus.

Review by John Casey: The brand new Alphonse Berber Gallery is housed in a 7200 sq. ft. Julia Morgan-designed building across from UC Berkeley. Upon entering the gallery for their debut show, I'm immediately confronted with a large kinetic work by Reuben Margolin. I first saw this work at Swarm Gallery and it still makes me smile.

The gallery combines high-end art with affordable works and wearable art. Usually the merchandising aspect of art ends up relegated to the "shop area" of a given gallery. But here the spectrum of objects is combined rather successfully. It's interesting to see affordable art shown in the same context as gallery art.

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