ARTPADSF OPENING NIGHT

05.16-19.13

(with assistance from Mark Gould)



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ArtPadSF at Phoenix Hotel: Opening Night Preview & Party.

Exhibiting galleries: [ 2nd floor projects ], San Francisco, CA; Three Point Nine Collective, San Francisco, CA; AMEX / QUEEN'S NAILS, San Francisco, CA; Art Collectors Forum / George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Artist Curated Projects (ACP), Los Angeles, CA; ArtSpan, San Francisco, CA; Bash Contemporary, San Francisco, CA; beta pictoris gallery / Maus Contemporary, Birmingham, AL; Blythe Projects, Los Angeles, CA; CES Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; Electric Works, San Francisco, CA; Gauntlet Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Jancar Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA; Krowswork, Oakland, CA; gallery km , Santa Monica, CA; LUIS DE JESUS, Los ANGELES, Los Angeles, CA; Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Paul Mahder Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Marx & Zavattero, San Francisco, CA; The McLoughlin Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Mirus Gallery, San Francisco, CA; moniquemeloche, Chicago, IL; New Image Art, West Hollywood, CA; NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA; Spoke Art, San Francisco, CA; THE POOL NYC, New York, NY; The Popular Workshop, San Francisco, CA; Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA; Unspeakable Projects, San Francisco, CA; Reverie Arts, San Francisco, CA; Steven Wolf Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA; Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA; Zio Zieglier + Wallspace SF, San Francisco, CA.

Comment by AB: It's hipster heaven tonight at ArtPadSF. Trendoids galore are stylin' their stuff... but enough about me. Fine art in a casual atmosphere is what this show is all about; the pressures of formal art fairs are nowhere to be felt. Stroll from room to room at the sold-out Phoenix Hotel, window shop the galleries, and if you see something you like, amble on in and find out all about it. The exhibitors are mainly from California, though a number have come from across the country as well to share the best oeuvres from their inventories. This is great way to see (AND BUY) art. I know I don't have to remind you, but I will anyway-- we want our art fairs to survive and prosper, and the best way to do that is to fill your walls and pedestals with their exhibitors' wares.

Review by Mark Gould: The San Francisco and Bay Area artists at the Tenderloin's Gauntlet Gallery seem to pull no punches when it comes to making social and political statements with their art, often with bright and vivid palettes. I'm drawn right in by Chilean artist and illustrator Fab Ciraolo's pop culture rendering of Frida Kahlo, Tracy Piper's Tomahawk Man, and the impressive way painter Drew Young blends the look of "glitch art" and other digital stylizations into his work.

Over at Johansson Projects the large format work of David O'Brien explores the politics of human interaction and uses digital techniques to critique how these interactions are warped by digital networks. You get different points of view standing back and up close, as you do from a lot of artwork. O'Brien's work leaves me feeling as though the artist makes a strong comment about people being joined together, yet floating and somehow lost.

A broad range of wonderful art can be seen at the Gregory Lind Gallery exhibit. Art by Christian Maychack is a highlight, as is the delightfully colorful abstract work of Jim Gaylord, whose undergraduate degree is in film, and much of his abstract work is based on imagery found within special effects or action sequences in films.

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