BRAUNSTEIN/QUAY - NOMA - A.MUSE

SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY - RAYKO

04.24-25.10

(with assistance from GETBIZI, DeWitt Cheng and RWM)

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Braunstein/Quay Gallery: David Ruddell - New Work; Accretion - Beverly Rayner.

Review by GETBIZI: Beverly Rayner's sculpture of a housecoat that represents the fabric of a single family's life, constructed with greeting cards, photos, poems, letters, & notes accumulated over a lifetime, is visually stunning. Although it is obvious that the housecoat is made of paper, it visually feels like heavy textured cloth. The long train representing the burdens of life accumulated over time, and juxtaposed with intimate photos filled with gleeful smiles, makes it a brilliant piece which captures the full scope of this family's life.

Sturdy, strong and calming; David Ruddell's new works mesmerize and gives the viewer a solid sense of balance. The blackboard, slightly on the charcoal side from medium gray, emphasizes the brilliant blues of the boat form. The vessels are positioned exactly horizontal or exactly vertical, representing a deliberate and very precise decision in life as David Ruddell's boat forms are a metaphor for the human vessel journeying through time.

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Art Department, San Francisco State University: MFA Thesis Exhibition.

Artists: Bren Ahearn, Luke Damiani, Aaron Granich, Matt Kennedy, Taryn McCabe, Jeff Ray, Holly Williams.

Review by RWM, image c/o SFSU: Nice combination, comprising a variety of innovative forms, to showcase the work of the graduate students here. On finds the mix and new media challenging and thought provoking.

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NOMA Gallery: Building Dwelling Thinking - Lisa Sigal.

Review by GETBIZI: Multiple window screens are employed to create a 3-dimensional structure that you can walk 180 degrees around to observe how the screens interplay visually with one another. The crisscross grids of screen material seem to move as you transit the piece; a static work that literally comes to life. It's quite beautiful. Viewers can see through each of the screens; light colored frames give faint impressions of rectangular structures defining visual space, the effects to be interpreted by viewers as they experience the totality of the work.

Ultimately, Lisa Sigal challenges viewers to question their perceptions of space. "Can a [flat] painting be a dwelling?" "What does it mean to dwell?" She works with literal space with her screen structures, and 'virtual' space with her paintings.

Comment by AB: I ask the gallery owner what we have here tonight, expecting a brief explanation or orientation to the work-- a very typical question for me. Instead, I get this rather lofty rejoinder about the artist speaking at SFAI and showing at the Whitney Biennial in 2008, the whole schmegegge slathered with attitude kinda like, "You don't get outta Turlock much, do you?" Look... I profusely apologize for not knowing everything about everything, and if I happen not to know something that you know, then I'd be forever grateful if you'd abdicate your pretend pedestal for a moment and elucidate me.

In other news, I do like the art. Admirably well crafted. Good show; go see.

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a.Muse Gallery: PlasticWorks, and Other Work - Scott Mickelson.

Review by DeWitt Cheng: Scott Mickelson's show comprises two bodies of work-- traditional-format oil paintings on canvas depicting working-class people (and possibly influenced by the Mexican muralists?); and brightly colored oil paintings of apple-cheeked children done on wood panels, preserved beneath thick layers of resin and pigment, the masked-out circular "bubble" areas suggesting both scientific scrutiny and the blister-pack marketing of mass culture. Social comment and political/cultural satire are certainly due for a renaissance nowadays, given the wealth of current material (thanks to the likes of Cheney, Murdoch and Palin!), so it's nice to see work this forceful or witty and-- dare we say the word?-- visual.

Review by RWM: Sad show here to remind us of the suffering of children. You can see their sad expressions as they attempt to get their messages out. There is the failure here to communicate, but the plight of these children is certainly acknowledged in the somber work on display.

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RayKo Photo Center: 2010 3rd Annual Juried Pinhole Show.

Photographers: Atsuko Morita, Klea McKenna, and 40 photographers from around the world.

Review by RWM, images c/o RayKo: Fascinating collection of pinhole photographs. Some images as clear as eyesight. Wondrous images to behold. The accompanying works of Klea McKenna use the texture of paper folds to highlight the colorful compositions. The colors combine to make fascinating and sharp images.

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