BRAUNSTEIN/QUAY - JACK FISCHER - DON SOKER

MICHAEL ROSENTHAL - SOAP - GUERRERO

DRIFTWOOD SALON - PRETTY PRETTY COLLECTIVE - JELLYFISH

SHOOTING GALLERY - HEIST - SPACE - LOPO

(with assistance from Clare Coppel and RWM)



How Not to Succeed in the Art World. Click Here.

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Braunstein/Quay Gallery: Gyöngy Laky - Reading Geometries.

Comment by AB: Gyöngy Laky approaches sculpture like painters approach painting, treating bits and pieces of this and that like individual brushstrokes, and combining them piece by piece to form recognizable wholes.

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Jack Fischer Gallery: Faces.

Artists: Camille Holvoet, Aurie Ramirez, Rosita Pardo, Billy White, Thomas Pringle.

Comment by AB: Jack Fischer culls the good stuff from the coffers of Creative Growth, Creativity Explored, and the National Institute of Art and Disabilities (NIAD), three Bay Area nonprofits that bring the best out of developmentally and physically disabled artists.

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Don Soker Gallery: 40th Anniversary Exhibition.

Comment by AB: Don Soker's been at it for four decades and we can see select examples of what that's all about in this eminently eclectic survey of gallery works.

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Michael Rosenthal Gallery: Allison Cortson - From Dust.

Comment by AB: Los Angeles artist Allison Cortson tells me she gathers dust from her subjects' domiciles and then paints their portraits, using the dust as the primary background ingredient.

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Soap Gallery: Joshua Pelletier and Josh Short - futurebowl.

Review by RWM: Cool show. Here is football of the future. Not quite science fiction, but so what. How about Hebrew National for a healthier future lifestyle in The Mission instead of the bacon-wrapped franks served here? Nope. Nice though to see the creativity, exploration of theme and generosity.

Comment by AB: OK. I confess. I ate a bacon-wrapped hotdog. The good news? I lived to write about it.

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Guerrero Gallery: Blaze - Glen Baldridge; Successive Interruptions - Marisa Textor.

Comment by AB: Haunting silkscreen & powdered graphite compositions by Glen Baldridge are created by erasing rather than drawing the images. Baldridge also offers up several sculptures and photographic works. In the rear gallery, experience serene small-format landscape and seascape drawings by Marisa Textor.

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The Shooting Gallery: American Iconomics - Akira Beard and James Charles.

Comment by Clare Coppel: Images of American icons in paintings by Akira Beard and ink on real U.S currency by James Charles. Good concept, well done.

Comment by AB: Raw portrait watercolors by Akira Beard and reconfigured currency by James Charles sardonically comment on various aspects of celebrity, idol worship and materialism in America. Worth a visit.

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Space Gallery Gallery: Apocalypse Meow.

Artists: Mia Christopher, Kristin Farr, William Emmert, Kelly Allen, Yumiko Kayukawa, Helen Bayly, Audrey Erickson, Katie Bacigalupi, Ezra Li, Bunnie Reiss, Garrison Buxton, Yuki Miyazaki, Ryan Jones, Bo Heimlich, Matt Miller.

Review by Clare Coppe: A group show about cats featuring the locally famous "Kittenzilla" mural-- aaaawwww-- giant kittens with lazer beams coming out of their eyes! Other cats are adorable as well, and some kind of scary.

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Lopo Gallery: Of Course - Justin Lovato, Chad Hasegawa and Jason Vivona.

Review by Clare Coppel: Three rooms each feature a different artist. Abstract and not abstract pieces by Chad Hasegawa, some replicating wallpaper, others looking like dripping blood and others composed only of lines. Jason Vivona conjures up crazy detailed monsters and organic forms, some with the liberal use of pink and yarn webs. Also on view is Justin Lovato's creepy fairytale forest land which one could become lost in. His art extends outside the pieces and onto the walls, absorbing the viewer.

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Addendum:

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