SWISS CONSULATE - SILVERMAN - RATIO 3 - ADOBE BACKROOM

GARAGE SALE PROJECT - ELECTRIC WORKS - FIVEPOINTS ARTHOUSE

04.29.11

(with assistance from RWM)



Someone likes your art. Now what? Click Here.

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Silverman Gallery: Volker Eichelmann & Florian Schmidt - Haute.

Comment by AB: Appealing uncomplicated unembellished abstracts by Florian Schmidt look like leftovers hammered together, and demonstrate quite nicely that you can make something out of nothing. Impractical yet engaging collaged constructions, text paintings and rudimentary wood structures by Volker Eichelmann refer to avant garde architecture of the early 20th century.

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Ratio 3 Gallery: Takeshi Murata - Get Your Ass to Mars.

Review by RWM: Poignant testament about desire to be elsewhere. Takeshi Murata's digital images showcase all manner of exit valves-- alcohol, books, tobacco, music, and instruments that look like they're made of internal organs which appear to be compromised. Other objects suggest ploys necessary to get by. Murata's video, "I, Popeye," chronicles the pain of life and desire to be elsewhere. Some wish to escape; not everyone is thrilled to be here. Popeye ultimately transitions beyond the living sphere. Mars was once more fun and fantastic than it is now that science has had its way, but it remains one vast wilderness. This is not the case on the Mars of our fables and fantasies where we picture it overrun by all sorts, existing as a fantasy world, fun to dream about or visit in a video reverie as is witnessed here.

Comment by AB: Takeshi Murata's computer-generated Popeye video is worth seeing; I'm relatively rapt and actually pause (a rarity) from my frenzy to take a fair amount of it in. His unsettling otherworldly still-lifes are equally engaging, and for those of you keeping score at home, they're generated entirely by computer. Worth a visit.

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Adobe Books Backroom Gallery: From the Golden West Notebooks - Poems by Jason Morris, Illustrations by Jason Grabowski and Jesse Schlessinger. Curated by Katie Hood Morgan and Colter Jacobsen.

Comment by AB: Event and art show to celebrate the release of "From the Golden West Notebooks," published by Publication Studio Berkeley, Allone Co. Editions captained by Colter Jacobsen.

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The Garage Sale Project: Barrett Gentz - A Crystal Myth.

Comment by AB: Fascinating documentation of the annual World Championship Quartz Crystal Dig held in Mt. Ida, Arkansas, brought to us here in Ess Eff by Arkansas native, Barrett Gentz. The show also includes art about crystals, and actual crystal-rich mud that attendees to dig through themselves.

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Electric Works Gallery: Paul Madonna - Book Release & Art Exhibit.

Comment by AB: Paul Madonna turns out quality pen, ink and wash drawings at a prodigious rate, and they're all really good. He goes on the road for this exciting episode of his career, releasing his second book, Everything Is Its Own Reward, and exhibiting drawings from fifteen cities around the world. Nice gig if you can get it. Good show; sidle on by.

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Fivepoints Arthouse: Celestial/Terrestrial.

Artists: Jon Carling, Dave Higgins, Obi Kaufmann, Alex Rosmarin, David Seiler, Alison Tharp.

Review by RWM: The extraterrestrials have landed, but instead of attacking they have posed for these artists. All sorts of strange creatures here. Creatures odd and mild, as if they truly are from from somewhere else. Some may already be out their undiscovered in our rain forests, home to many endangered species. Creatures yet to be named? Your guess is as good as mine.

Comment by AB: Oakland goes bozo.

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