CATHARINE CLARK - BRIAN GROSS - STEVEN WOLF

MUTINY RADIO - MARKET STREET - ALTER SPACE

03.01.14

(with assistance from RWM)



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Catharine Clark Gallery: Walter Robinson - Sic Transit Gloria Mundi; John Slepian - Art Is Not An Object.

Review by RWM: Great success for this heartfelt exploration of what it's like to grow older and maybe forgotten, to recognize the pain and sadness that sometimes comes with age. One can sympathize with the alienation and anguish of how things are different when we are older. It is hard to be laughed at and marginalized. Once a source of joy and humor, instead now a clown alone in a world that might just not care about your story anymore. Nice way to start off The Spring of this new year which we hope will be better than the last.

Comment by AB: I'm told that Walter Robinson's striking paint-by-number style clown paintings are autobiographical musings of a sort. And his sculpture just keeps getting better. From a rainbow container ship to oversized eyeglasses, it's all good here. In the project room, John Slepian creates a GS1 DataMatrix code that magically transforms into a three-dimensional image when viewed through the camera of your tablet or phone. This show's a definite yes on both counts.

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Brian Gross Fine Art: Marco Casentini - Up and Down.

Review by RWM: Beautiful art balloons and wonderful tiled paintings. The brilliant colors will add joy to one's life and lighten one's mood. Nice to be part of the process of encountering hues that ameliorate and enliven, and to see these balloon-like sculptures on the wall that will always float. Great works that will brighten one's abode.

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Steven Wolf Fine Arts: Very Good Plus (VG+) - John Kilduff; A Record is a Record - Superior Viaduct.

Comment by AB: In the main gallery, Los Angeles artist and host of "Let's Paint TV" whips up entertaining painterly renditions of vintage record album covers and other song-related works. In the center of the gallery is a treadmill on which he'll tread while engaging in activities like blending beverages, painting and taking questions from the audience, all directly beneath a gloriously funky disco ball. In the rear gallery, San Francisco record label Superior Viaduct offers a number of its recent releases including reissues of art-punk, free jazz, and 20th century experimental music. Primo punk photos by Ruby Ray round out the experience. Worth a visit.

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Mutiny Radio: San Francisco Eviction Times.

Comment by AB: Posters protesting San Francisco's excessive evictions and related inequities, printed right there on the spot, are free for the taking.

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Market Street Gallery: Re/Appropriate. Juried by Colleen Terry, Assistant Curator of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Artists: James Claussen, Lynn Curtis, Beth Fein, Kim Fink, Rebecca Foster, Jane Gregorius, Yuji Hiratsuka, Elizabeth Jameson, Debra Jewell, Katherine Levin-Lau, Joanna Kidd, Carrie-Ann Plank, Laurel Prieto, Stephanie Martin, Barbara Milman, Michelle Murillo, Deborah Sibony, Robynn Smith, Maryly Snow, Barbara Stikker, Toru Sugita, Jerry Theobald, Ouida Touchón, Katherine Venturelli, Sylvia Walters, Mark Welschmeyer, Michelle Wilson.

Comment by AB: Juried show of work by members of the California Society of Printmakers in conjunction with Bridges, the Southern Graphics Council International Conference.

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Alter Space: The Bottled Nova Must Feed Still - Bex Freund.

Review by RWM: If you ever wanted to visit the seven hells you can start here. Ugly visceral images with bleeding flesh, monsters and gleaming teeth. Mean and grisly, lacking even the occasional beauty that can be found in the gothic. A sad and dangerous place is depicted here in images that evoke our nightmares and fear of the future. They amaze nonetheless.

Comment by AB: Terrific vision, but the materializations in paint leave a little to be desired. Or perhaps it's possible that the style is intended to be as apocalyptic as the subject matters.

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