SAN FRANCISCO ART GALLERIES OPENINGS

FIRST THURSDAY - 03.06.14 - Part I

(with assistance from Tami Tsark, Anna Rotty and RWM)



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Dolby Chadwick Gallery: Edwige Fouvry - Sous le Ciel.

Review by Tami Tsark: Edwige Fouvry's work at Dolby Chadwick is very present. When you see her paintings in person, there's a softer clarity than one might perceive when looking at the digital images. The paint seems more "harmonious" in person. In either case, there's a strong sense of personality-- both hers and those of her subjects. Her line, the presence of her brush, has a quite open feeling to it. Yet her figures exist in seemingly tight or closed, almost suffocating space. I am particularly charmed by the little seascapes which have an immediacy to them. It is quite nice to meet her; she looks particularly lovely sporting a "madder lake deep"-colored scarf, an ever-present signature color in her figures.

Review by Anna Rotty: Edwige Fouvry's exhibit is very impressive. She creates large-scale portraits placed in landscapes, or "abstract-scapes" built simply with line work. They are like diffuse impressionist pieces, where the presence of the figure interrupts the landscape and starts breaking it down. Her colors used are a beautiful and surprising blend of muted earth tones and vibrant neons. A great exhibit!

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Haines Gallery: John Chiara - de * tached.

Review by RWM: Photographs of houses along San Francisco's side streets were likely once part of Doelgerville, i.e. all those houses designed and built on the western side of the city by developer Henry Doelger. The work reminds that there are stories and sagas taking place within those homes. Their appearances don't necessarily suggest a wonderful and bounteous city even though they are placid. Half of San Francisco is like this, though many of us pay little attention to those who have found a residence and maybe a bit of quiet way out along the avenues.

Comment by AB: This is John Chiara's best work yet. His ethereal atmospheric one-of-a-kind photographs present the homes and panoramas of San Francisco in a light like you've never seen before. He's well on his way to mastering the intricacies of his gargantuan pinhole camera which he trundles around on the back of a flatbed truck, parks, aims and proceeds to take extended time-exposure images. An easy call for Pick of First Thursday. You really have to see these in person. They're stunning.

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Caldwell Snyder Gallery: Matt Rogers - Recent Paintings.

Review by RWM: Great large paintings. Nice to see work that seems inspired by Wayne Thiebaud. Wondrous hills, fields and places to visit. Beautiful use of color in landscapes.

Comment by AB: A curious blend of black & white abstracts with candy-coated landscapes

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Sandra Lee Gallery: Kathryn Arnold - Fields of Spring.

Review by RWM: Marvelous work. Wonderful despite some abstract rain on the canvas. Nice play and use of color. Dense and joyful. Much here which defies examination.

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Hilliard Architects & Gallery: Meditations on Silk - Ellen Brook.

Review by Anna Rotty: Ellen Brook's painted silk tapestries work beautifully in this architecture firm's offices, both hanging on the walls and suspended from the ceiling, dividing and rearranging the room to make new spaces on their own. She uses bold colors in a loose painting style. In some works, she incorporates smaller prints on silk and layers them together with thread, telling a story, like tapestries historically tend to do. If you look close you can view some of her installation/concept sketches, which fit right into this architectural think tank.

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K Imperial Fine Art: Collective Topographies - Peter Foucault.

Comment by AB: Peter Foucault's scratchy zigzag abstracts are actually made by his specially constructed machines, the art documenting their paths of random motion.

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Robert Tat Gallery: David Sokosh - American Tintypes.

Comment by AB: David Sokosh's contemporary photographs hark back to the early days of the discipline. His ghostly tintype images are created using the Wet-Plate Collodion process, popular in the mid-nineteenth century. To further the ruse, he frames them in antique-style frames of the era.

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Corden Potts Gallery: Top 50 from Photolucida's Critical Mass Competition. Curated by Jessica Johnston of George Eastman House.

Photographers: Mariette Pathy Allen, Bob Avakian, Mary Ellen Bartley, Anne Berry, Aaron Blum, Nadine Boughton, Michael Butler, Sam Comen, Kirk Crippens, Frank Day, Natan Dvir, Camilo Echavarria, David Favrod, Amy Friend, Paul Gaffney, Judy Gelles, Emer Gillespie, Jennifer Greenburg, Yuki Iwanami, Shannon Jensen, Stella Johnson, Dave Jordano, Birte Kaufmann, Jim Kazanjian, Hajime Kimura, Bear Kirkpatrick, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Clay Lipsky, Ben Marcin, Francesco Mastalia, Anne Arden McDonald, Christine Osinski, David Pace, Jill Peters, Jesse Rieser, Gilles Roudiere, Debora Schwedhelm, Christina Seely, Kerry Skarbakka, Agnieszka Sosnowska, Alnis Stakle, Jamey Stillings, Jeffrey Stockbridge, Ilona Szwarc, Brandon Thibodeaux, Richard Tuschman, Tsutomu Yamagata, Bill Yates, JI Yeo.

Comment by AB: All the finalists from this year's Critical Mass, an annual photography competition sponsored by Photolucida, nonprofit arts organization headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

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Reviewing all these shows and shopping up all these photos is really hard work. If you're ever so inclined, you're always welcome to contribute to the cause.

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First Thursday - February 6, 2014

First Thursday - January 9, 2014

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