SAN FRANCISCO ART GALLERIES OPENINGS

FIRST THURSDAY - 03.01.12 - Part I



Pros & cons of making art with experimental materials. Click Here.

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Dolby Chadwick Gallery: Siddharth Parasnis - Wanderlust.

Comment by AB: Bright optimistic blends of abstraction and architecture by Siddharth Parasnis. Wherever these places are, they sure look inviting. I'm there.

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Hespe Gallery: Ingénue - Erin Cone.

Comment by AB: Idealized young women against empty indeterminate backgrounds, contemplative, immersed and just a wee bit mysterious. The nice thing about these finely painted figures is that all you have to do is look... and you're there. You might call 'em an aesthetic version of Zen meditation. Stop on by.

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Marx & Zavattero: Liséa Lyons - Disbelief.

Comment by AB: For me, it's adventures in feminine reverie. For Liséa Lyons, it's an ongoing essay on her relationship as a single mother with her daughter, currently on the cusp of adulthood.

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Patricia Sweetow Gallery: Zina Al-Shukri - The Long Brevity.

Comment by AB: I ask Zina Al-Shukri who the subjects of her stark gouache and charcoal portraits are. She tells me they're students in an art class she taught in Turkey, mostly from underprivileged families. "So do they all want to be artists?" I ask. Nope. They want to be mathematicians and engineers. Where oh where did America fall off the rails? Aspirations like this are practically unimaginable here.

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Haines Gallery: Patsy Krebs - New Paintings; Nigel Poor - Remainders... God, Sex and Animals Talking.

Comment by AB: Nigel Poor takes copies of banned and censored books with women's names in the titles, throws them in the laundry with her wash, symbolically cleanses them of their iniquities, and then artfully discourses with the purified aftermaths. Ever inquisitive, I ask Poor whether she ruined any of her clothes in the process. Her answer? No. For those of you keeping score at home, reasons for banning books include God, sex and talking animals. Nothing wrong with war, gore or violence, apparently. (Sex bad; war good.)

Also on the docket, geometric ecstasy by Patsy Krebs-- abstractions so impeccably painted that you marvel at precision of it all. This double-header is definitely worth a visit.

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Brian Gross Fine Art: Robert Arneson - Self-Portraits in Bronze.

Comment by AB: It's hard for an artist to make self-portraits over and over again that anyone can appreciate. Robert Arneson was certainly among the most talented at that. His likenesses are so upbeat and entertaining that they can't help but brighten our lives.

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Fraenkel Gallery: Adam Fuss - New Work.

Comment by AB: In the front gallery, Adam Fuss lays animal intestines directly on photo-sensitive paper and allows light and chemical reactions to do the rest. I'm not sure I had to know that, but it certainly extends the range of interpretation. In the middle gallery, Fuss exhibits huge daguerreotypes, possibly the largest ever made, according to the gallery. This one's a must-see.

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I realize I must sound like a broken record, but kindly click here.

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First Thursday - February 2, 2012

First Thursday - January 5, 2012

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