SAN FRANCISCO ART GALLERIES OPENINGS

FIRST THURSDAY - 05.05.11 Part I

(with assistance from Kathryn Arnold, DeWitt Cheng and RWM)



Tips for exhibiting at art fairs. Click Here.

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Caldwell Snyder Gallery: Greg Miller - Recent Paintings.

Comment by AB: Need a breather? Travel back in time to those easy carefree days via the nostalgic art of Greg Miller.

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Gallery Paule Anglim: Paul Kos Selected Works - 1969-2011.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: Good looking exhibition. I'm fascinated by the "Beethoven Piano Sonata #13" and "Aspen," both from 2009. They each consist of a large painted image on canvas with a video, exactly the same size, projected over it. "Piano Sonata" appears to be a piano soundboard; the projection layers an element of abstraction/ playing of light and perhaps sound-- but hard to hear during the opening. In "Aspen," the painting itself is made with abstract patternings/markmaking and the flickering light from the projection appears just like the light/shadows of aspens on a forest floor. A best-- projections combined with paintings produce experiences uniquely complete in themselves.

Comment by AB: Classic conceptual here. Stop on by.

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Robert Koch Gallery: Alex MacLean - The American Landscape at the Tipping Point.

Review by RWM: Bizarre constructs in the desert. Often a serene and profound place, you'll likely be astounded by the developments underway in as evidenced in Alex MacLean's aberrant photographic perspectives from above. Missing are the walks through these remote regions where one can find beauty and solitude. Instead are man's efforts to overrun these lands despite environmental consequences to the contrary. Strange occurrences in what some do not think of as desolate places, finding plenty of beauty there. But absent is any experience of the wild, only its alterations.

Comment by AB: You wish it's a mirage, but it's not. Worth a look.

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Gregory Lind Gallery: Christian Maychack - Uncertain Spaces.

Comment by AB: Uncommonly odd amalgams are the order of the day here.

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Brian Gross Fine Art: Tony Berlant - New Works.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: The construction titled "Tigertail" catches my eye, love it! A tall vertical white-on-white piece created with cut metal shapes tacked onto wood with small nails. Organic shapes interlock-- layering of whites-- each layer differentiated by way of inherent textures, patterns, gloss and more. Robert Ryman did not do it all!

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Fraenkel Gallery: Richard Learoyd - Presences.

Comment by AB: According to the program notes, British photographer Richard Learoyd photographs his muted melancholy subjects with a camera that's the size of two rooms. The light from the subjects is reflected directly onto photographic paper. The larger-than-life scale and atmospheric essence of the images will surely impress. Worth a visit.

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Toomey Tourell Gallery: How the Light Gets in - Lisa Bartleson & Tom DeGroot.

Comment by AB: Cosmic hi-gloss abstractions by Los Angeles artist, Lisa Bartleson, and Seattle artist, Tom DeGroot, luminesce like astronomical phenomena in the nighttime sky.

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Stephen Wirtz Gallery: Doug Rickard - A New American Picture.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: Innovative use of Google Street View creates an element of meaning reflected in the title of the exhibition-- A New American Picture. Doug Rickard seems to randomly pull images from Google, photograph them directly off of his computer screen, and then print out the shots. Utilizing Google's truck cam views-- and taking advantage of the indiscriminate nature of who/what gets photographed-- a new American picture evolves, as the artist creatively points out.

Google's technology combines with Rickard's process of selection. I notice metaphorical messages as in the portrayal of youth crossing a street in one image, the traffic headed another direction. Another photograph shows a figure standing at a crossroads (metaphor and also actual intersection), but both streets in either direction are deteriorating. Such as often life seems, metaphorically speaking!

Comment by AB: Pick of First Thursday. Doug Rickard culls a brilliant batch of images off of Google Street View. He tells me he computered his way up and down countless seedy streets, from Camden to Dallas, in search of perfect poignant moments and folks with little hope and nowhere to go. And you know what? He found 'em.

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Rena Bransten Gallery: Luis Aguilera - New Drawings; Marci Washington - For Forever I'll Be Here.

Comment by AB: Marci Washington's macabre borderline mortals are kind of like crosses between Patrick Nagel and The Addams Family-- in a good way. In the front gallery, enjoy Luis Aguilera's vibrant upbeat blends of fantasy and reality.

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Togonon Gallery: Conviction and Emotion - The Art of Luis Gutierrez from the 1970s to Now.

Comment by AB: Forty years of paintings and assemblages by Luis Gutierrez. A number of the assemblages are particularly well composed and constructed.

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Addendum:

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Here's a thought.... support the cause.

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First Thursday - April 7, 2011

First Thursday - March 3, 2011

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