STEVEN WOLF - GERAS-TOUSIGNANT - PHOTO EPICENTER
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS - MOLLUSK - GIANT ROBOT
03.27.09
(with Assistance from R.W. Miller and Lynnore Goldfarb)

Steven Wolf Fine Arts: Kent and Kevin Young - Jury Breaks DNA Deadlock.

Comment by AB: Kent and Kevin Young continue their extended peregrination into the intro- as well as extrospective aspects of what it's like to be twins. This installment's diversions include several superior pencil drawings, a complex collaged concatenation of twin-significant images, a notarized document requiring that all existing works of art by either Kent or Kevin are heretofore declared as being by both, a multi-channel video, and even participatory mind games in the form of The Amazing Kreskin's (sixties psychic celebrity) vintage Milton Bradley board game, ESP. Entertaining, thoughtful, and worth a visit.

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Geras-Tousignant Gallery: Whitefield - James Scott Geras & Daniel Tousignant.

Review by R.W. Miller: If you're missing the winter or skiing or the mountains, you'll definitely enjoy these images of the snow filled trees and fields, and paintings of birch branches against plain white backgrounds. The paintings and photographic images stir the imagination. You can closely observe the birch trees in Daniel Tousignant's paintings while the photographs of James Scott Geras transport you to the land of the snow without chilling you up in the process. If you listen closely, you might even hear the crunch of freshly stepped upon snow in the empty woods.

Comment by AB: James Scott Geras and Daniel Tousignant celebrate the ten-year anniversary of their gallery with an exhibition of their own art - photography by Geras, and paintings by Tousignant. Nicely done and selling well.

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Photo Epicenter: Sarah Filley, Daniel Turner, Michael Wells - Spirit Rappings.

Comment by AB: In a notable departure from exhibiting contemporary photography almost exclusively, Photo Epicenter embarks on an intrepid adventure into the realm of fine art (oh my!) with this three person show, Spirit Rappings. The art ranges from paintings to prints to documents to a rope installation, and according to the blurb, "acts as conduits through which hermetic recipes, public and private rituals, mystical revelations, transcendental reflections, phenomenological hallucinations, myth and the sacred ineffable are transmitted through monochromatic, primordial portals," which basically essentially pretty much more or less covers everything. The verdict? So far so good. Looking forward to the next exciting episode.

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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Nick Cave - Meet Me at the Center of the Earth.

Comment by AB: Fifty sensationally imaginative "Soundsuits" by Chicago artist Nick Cave are guaranteed to overwhelm you with kaleidoscopic opulence and spectacular flash, as they transform the main gallery into a world where all beings-- humans, animals, and otherwise-- are unequivocally equal, individual, and magnificent in their uniqueness. Hmmm. It's kinda like Cave offers up a metaphor for everyone everywhere to maybe one day coexist in on an exalted plane of unity and oneness. And he includes a world on the wall and a globe overhead just to make sure you get the message. Plus copious cornucopias of extras-- design, vision, materials, quality of workmanship, dedication, and attention to detail-- all uniformly exemplary-- enhance the experience of Cave's exhibition even further. This eye candy extravaganza is a definite must see.

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Mollusk Surf Shop: Y A R - Art Stuff Derived from Thomas Campbell's Surf Film, "The Present."

Artists: Thomas Campbell, Peter McBride, Steve Keene, Kyle Field, Alex Kopps, Evan Hecox, Nat Russell, Jesse Ledoux, John McCambridge, Johanna St. Clair, Serena Mitnik-Miller, Tiffany Campbell, Scott Soens, Devon Howard.

Review and images by Lynnore Goldfarb: This is a group show in a separate gallery inside of a surf shop way out in the Aves. The show is a collage of posters and prints promoting the surf film "The Present" by Thomas Campbell, with some stills from the movie and some small paintings thrown in by the filmmaker's friends.

I walk into the fairly large store with people crowded on one half of the room watching a type of Jazz Fusion quartet playing in the other half. I am instantly mellow. A very laid back vibe rushes over me as I see the sandy hair, perfect bodies, glassy eyes, and perma-grins, yes this is a room full of surfers. Even though the mesmerized surfers are firmly planted in their spots, I weave my way to the gallery in the back without incident. The gallery is quite small and completely full of nodding, grinning surfer-types, just standing there, I can't see a thing. Once I am able to see the show, I notice that the pieces look like they are just thrown up on the walls. I ask someone if they are supposed to be crooked. I like the actual pieces, but I have to ask a lot of questions to understand the show. The standouts for me are the posters by Thomas Campbell and Nat Russell and the $10 paintings that can be taken right off of the wall once they are bought. Even with the haphazard presentation, all I want to do is go in the water. Dudes, mahalo!

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Giant Robot: Game Over/Continue?

Artists: APAK, Robert Bellm, Christopher Bettig, Bigfoot, Blinky, Sean Boyles, William Buzzell, Scott Carl, Ako Castuera, Ethan Hayes-Chute, CUPCO, Liam Devowski, Elayne Dixon, Everybody Get Up, Matt Furie, Pete Glover, Tim Gough. Jay Howell, Yellena James, Jeremyville, Chris Kline, Matt Lock, Aaron Martinez, Bill McRight, Mike Perry, PCP, Sidney Pink, Albert Reyes, Brian Ralph, RONDO, Brian Rush, Johnny Ryan, Robert Sato, Scrappers, Caleb Sheridan, Snaggs, Jim Stoten, Kaz Strzepek, Team Macho, Joe To, Lawrence Yang, Hellen Jo and Derek Yu, Saelee Oh and Anna Anthropy, Souther Salazar and Petri Purho, Deth P. Sun and Jonatan "Cactus" Soderstrom.

Review and images by Lynnore Goldfarb: Giant Robot is packed, but somehow I manage to play the video games presented by Artxgame collective. Three of the four games are played on laptops, placed right on top of cardboard boxes on the tables with the books for sale, in the center of the gallery. The games are clearly in the development stages, which makes playing them really fun and entertaining. The first one I try has instructions written out on a piece of paper torn out of a small memo pad lying next to the computer. Instruction number one is, KILL EACH OTHER. The gallery walls are crammed with video game related art pieces by over forty artists, in too many mediums to list. I stay in the gallery for almost an hour and I still feel the need to go back and really look at the art and ask myself (in a computer voice with a particular visual) Game Over/Continue?

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