RENA BRANSTEN - CALDWELL SNYDER

ELI RIDGWAY - MARKET STREET

05.11.13 Part I



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Rena Bransten Gallery: Eirik Johnson - Barrow Cabins; Space, Place, and Order - A Group Exhibition.

Artists from the group exhibition: Dennis Gallagher, Tony DeLap, Matthias Hoch, Candida Höfer, Gilles Barbier, Amer Kobaslija, Surabhi Saraf, Michael Zelehoski.

Comment by AB: In the front gallery, cogitate on images from Eirik Johnson's Barrow, Alaska trundles, photographs taken of identical scenes both in summer and winter. If you're partial to nippiness, solitude and subsistance living, Barrow may be the perfect place for you. Group show in the rear gallery. Stop on by... but remember to dress warmly.

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Eli Ridgway Gallery: Andy Vogt - Submerged on the Surface; Markham Johnson - 3 Attempts in Red, Green and Blue.

Comment by AB: Before there was sheetrock, there was lath-- thin rough strips of wood nailed closely together in older construction in order to hold the plaster which was applied over them to finish walls and ceilings. As you might imagine, oodles of lath have been removed and replaced with sheetrock over the decades, a small percentage of which is rescued by Andy Vogt and transformed into finely carpentered sculptures. But here he takes the dealie bob even further, memorializing this once essential building material in prints, drawings, projections and mixed media works as well. All in all, nicely done. In the gallery's entryway, Markham Johnson does a peppy color separation on a flexed bicep. Check it out.

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Caldwell Snyder Gallery: Docile Bodies - Sculpture by Brad Howe.

Comment by AB: Southern California artist Brad Howe works wonders with steel, perhaps the most wondrous of which are his intricate self-contained Calder-esque mobiles. So much art these days is bloated with cognitive construct and sadly lacking in mastery of materials and technical skills. Howe's is precisely the opposite. Heartening to see that at least someone still knows how to make stuff with an exemplary level of accomplishment. In the rear gallery, enjoy tastefully edgy mixed media works by Greg Miller. Recommended viewing, especially Howe.

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Market Street Gallery: humility - Skip Cullen.

Comment by AB: What a coincidence... the perfect contrast between the last show and this, and exactly what I was talking about above. Skip Cullen applies monochrome coats of airplane paint to used industrial palettes and in so doing "re-contextualizes the wooden palette as an object of consumption and individuality," invoking Jeff Koons and Takeshi Mirikami in the process, with "humility," referring to the show's title. The art will certainly liven up most any interior, I will say that, but can't anyone buy some airplane paint and a used palette and do exactly the same thing? Yes, I realize it's not really the same thing, but I'm just sayin'... Anyway, midway through the opening, in a performative gesture, Cullen applies a single coat of black paint to a store-bought canvas, something he's done to that canvas once a day ever since he first purchased it in 2007, and intends to continue doing until his dying day, a shout out to Jay DeFeo, one might surmise.

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