JACK FISCHER - BAER RIDGWAY - ROMER YOUNG

SOAP - LUGGAGE STORE - ROOT DIVISION

STEVEN WOLF - GUERRERO - SHOOTING GALLERY

WHITE WALLS - LOPO - SPACE GALLERY

03.12.11

(with assistance from Clare Coppel and RWM)



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Jack Fischer Gallery: Couplings - John Hundt and Camilla Newhagen.

Comment by AB: Strange vs strange here-- good strange, that is. John Hundt combines commonplace elements, and in so doing, somehow manages to materialize the oddest collaged characters, while Camilla Newhagen finds novel uses for old clothes including a most entertaining suit sculpture.

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Baer Ridgway Exhibitions: Sean McFarland - Viewshed.

Comment by AB: Eyestrain is a distinct possibility when viewing Sean McFarland's extreme Barbizon and aptly monickered, "Dark Pictures." But ye who persevere shall be rewarded. Downstairs, McFarland's misty deadpan Polaroids imbue ordinary landscapes with a vague sense of foreboding.

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Romer Young Gallery: Pablo Guardiola - Jet Travel.

Comment by AB: I surrender to the verbal turgidity of the show's statement; no sense in singeing too many synapses, and yes, wimping out does occasionally have an upside. As a consolation, I enlist the show's title, "Jet Travel," to help weave the artworks into my own personal potboiler.

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Soap Gallery: Text Show.

Artists: Jeanne Lorenz, Cori Crowley, Jeff Tidwell, Rachel Corry, Mike Shriver, Matt Cella, Bert Bergen, Damien Lucas, Lisa Mendelson, Sharon Wickham, Jakub Calouseque, Catherine Haley Epstein, Nicolas Torres, Lani Asher, Scott MacLeod.

Comment by AB: Art with words, letters and symbols in it.

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Luggage Store Gallery: Bullet Train.

Artists: Erik Bluhm, Kyle Field, Ashley Gallagher, Paul Gellman, Chris Lipomi, Josh Lazcano, Julia Leonard, Chris Lux, Alicia McCarthy, Lauren McKeon, Ruby Neri, Michael Rashkow, Will Rogan, Torbjorn Vejvi, Nicholas Pittman. Curated by Ruby Neri and Julia Leonard.

Comment by AB: The bullet train's gonna eventually scoot from SF to LA (or LA to SF, depending). Now according to the show's preamble, and without naming names, one of these cities "is known for promoting social awareness" while the other is "an advertisement for self-indulgence and consumerism." I have just one quick question... "SeZ who?!" Anyway, the art is apparently an attempt to bridge that supposed righteousness gap.

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Root Division: Manufactured Organic - Exploring the Environmental Implications of Art.

Artists: Tim Armstrong, Alexis Arnold, Bill Basquin, Drew Bennett, Patterson Clark, Victoria DeBlassie, Miles Epstien, M.C. Gee, Elyse Horchstadt, Jeanette Hart-Mann, Misako Inaoka, Ryan Jones, Wendy Kawabata, Kristina Lewis, Kija Lucas, Jackson Martin, Scott Polach, Kate Stirr, Jesse Walton, Sarah Willis.

Comment by AB: This exhibition considers an issue that's not generally talked about in artland-- the environmental impact of making and exhibiting art. Just like any other product, certain works of art have greater ecological consequences than others.

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Steven Wolf Fine Arts: Lost in Space.

Artists: Stephan Pascher, Lisa Blatt, Chris Sollars, Rebecca Ora.

Comment by Clare Coppel: Broken glass, John Wayne, and videoed sculptural by Chris Sollars installations of things people have left behind.

Comment by AB: In this latest nail-biting episode of "Is it art?", Lisa Blatt steps up and shows several picture frames holding nothing but broken glass... but when combined with her photographs of broken glass, and frames containing both broken glass and photographs, then I suppose when cogitating on the totality of the matter, the answer might be "Yes." Then again... I mean... who knows? Let's say for the sake of world peace that it's whatever you want it to be. Meanwhile back at the exhibit, Stephan Pascher's "John Wayne" paper mache and foam core floor sculpture and Chris Sollars' found object sculpture slide show make it all worthwhile.

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Guerrero Gallery: Sad Sacks - Ryan Travis Christian; Chris Duncan & Jason Michael Leggiere.

Review by Clare Coppel: Ryan Travis Christian's impressive graphite drawings of fires, bikinis, and cartoon figures are so animate, they seem to move within their settings of black and white patterns and explosions. Its kinda like organized chaos. Plus one large cartoon face. Awesome. In the back gallery, you can actually play a triangular harp-like musical instrument constructed by Chris Duncan and Jason Micheal Leggiere, so large you can walk inside and around it.

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The Shooting Gallery: Rock You In a Tatami Room - Yumiko Kayukawa.

Review by Clare Coppel: Experience Yumiko Kayukawa's beautiful romanticized cartoon-like Japanese girls embellished with the likes of plants, animals, bunnies, playing cards, and octopi serving sushi. Playful and hauntingly gorgeous.

Review by RWM: One cannot help but notice the ambivalence here; it is not really wild creatures that are being connected with. Such connections are not directly possible with people, even at the zoo. Around town, animals have really become a symbol or personhood; we have our spirit animals and totems to provide guidance and help define our individuality. Why are men hardly ever depicted this way?

Yumiko Kayukawa's work, nevertheless, is fascinating even though the periodic melancholy affects. Viewers can be pulled right into the moods; the images are wondrous. What is happening to Nature is a sad tale, as alluded to also here, and one cannot help feel connected in a psychic way to the damage being caused.

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White Walls Gallery: Greatest - New Works by EINE.

Review by Clare Coppel: Ben Eine spray paints and stencils the alphabet in bright colors, shiny and sparkly, his compositions at times evolving into arrangements of shapes in space. I like the circus text the best.

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Lopo Gallery: Here We Go.

Artists: Bo Heimlich, Chad Hasegawa, David Ball, Do It, Jason C. Arnold, Jason Vivona, Jesse Balmer, Justin Lovato, Matt Miller, Mildred, Pacolli, Ryan De La Hoz.

Comment by Clare Coppel: This group show is raw, kinda dirty and funny.

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Space Gallery: New Beginnings.

Artists: Adam Caldwell, Brandie Grogan, Bunnie Reiss, Ezra Li, Fanee, Isabel Samaras, Llewellyn Bryan Dawson, Mike Cuffe, Mike Shine, Megan Wolfe, Nathan C. Warner, NOA, Peter Adamyan, Skott Cowgill.

Review by Clare Coppel: Lots of different crazy stuff well done, my favorite being the pieces by the artist Fanee in which she has taken porn and re-imaged it with layers of paint and text. It's like she's reclaimed these images and given the figures in them a power of expression in a feminist way that they previously lacked, though they still manage to stay sexy as hell. I like the old school low rider aesthetic as well. There is something about these pieces that strikes me as not just superficial, but still really fun.

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Addendum:

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