LUSH LIFE - ANTHONY MEIER - GOOD VIBRATIONS - SAGAN PIECHOTA

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRAL STUDIES

AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTS & CULTURE COMPLEX

04.08.10

(with assistance from RWM)

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Lush Life Gallery at the Jazz Heritage Center: Jazz Giants - The Photography of Herman Leonard.

Review by RWM; images c/o Herman Leonard: Wonderful images of the masters of jazz captured in all their style and ebullience. One can hear the music and also bathe in the light of their presences.

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Anthony Meier Fine Arts: Tam Van Tran - Mind is a Pure Expanse of Space.

Comment by AB: According to the crib sheet, Tam Van Tran's current body of art is "informed by meditation and mind training and the pursuit of beauty." For the two major works in the show, Tran appears to coalesce some remarkable combination of canvas, acrylic and adhesive, stretched over rigid imperturbably curved paper forms, and then for the denouement, he applies scrillions of staples like pointillist brushstrokes. I mean if this was Nascar, the dude would for sure be sponsored by Swingline.

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Good Vibrations, 1620 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109: Our Lady of the Burning Dreams - Penny Slinger, Carol Queen, Bobby Morgan.

Comment by AB: Painting, drawing, digital compositions and collage by three artists ranges from erotic and mystical to religious and political to just plain outrageous.

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Sagan Piechota Architecture: Nancy Genn - Geometric Abstractions, an Enduring Legacy. Curated by Hanna Regev.

Comment by AB: Hard edge meets soft ground characterize the paintings of Nancy Genn while her sculptures lean more toward classic Abstract Expressionism. Special added bonus-- Curator Hanna Regev proudly informs me that she skillfully hand painted one of Nancy Genn's sculpture pedestals.

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California Institute of Integral Studies: Sune Woods - Bountiful Darkness.

Review by RWM: Strange for me to see the woods depicted here in such a gothic way. But the woods are not necessarily everybody's property. Some rightfully belong while others should perhaps be excluded. The images work well for Halloween or October times. Luckily there are not hunters to contend with. Maybe it's better to stay on the path.

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African American Art & Culture Complex: Past Forward - African Spirituality in Contemporary Black Art. Curated by Demetri Broxton.

Artists: Duane Deterville, Nicole Dixon, Willie L. Little, Ramekon O'Arwisters, Kamau Amu Patton, Karen Seneferu, Malik Seneferu.

Comment by AB: Seven Bay Area artists of African descent look back and project forward. Arts, symbols, rituals and sacred practices "were forced underground through the experiences of the Middle Passage and slavery in the New World,'" but here all is revisited, reclaimed and reassessed for today and tomorrow.

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