VARNISH - ELEANOR HARWOOD

CAMPFIRE - ALTER SPACE

05.31.14 Part II



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Varnish Fine Art: Brian Goggin - Defenestration.

Comment by AB: The former Hugo Hotel, the site of artist Brian Goggin's Defenestration, the building with all sorts of artified furniture sticking out of it at the corner of Sixth and Howard Streets will soon be no more. It'll be razed to make way for affordable housing. Tonight's event is a swan song of sorts to celebrate the end of the installation's glorious seventeen-year run. The furniture/sculpture will all be saved and sold, so if you have an itch to acquire a bona fide piece of San Francisco art history, contact Varnish Fine Art and they'll fix you right up.

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Eleanor Harwood Gallery: small moves in strange rooms - Claire Colette; Speaking softly towards an intimate immensity - Claire Colette and Sean Smith.

Comment by AB: In the front gallery, Claire Colette combines precise parallel graphite lines into definitive geometric forms in order "to explore the impact of space from a concrete and interpretive perspective. Relating her methodical line work to wavelengths of sound, she establishes parameters for the drawings around shapes, building them out through the repetition of lines that resonate like an echo." OK. I'm lost. But the work's good. In the rear Project Room, Claire Colette and Sean Smith create a sound and shape installation.

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Campfire Gallery: DEBRIS - Joshua Nissen King.

Review by RWM: This amazing show will have you worrying about the future. Though psychological, you cannot help but think of Global Warming and Sea Level Rise while looking at these paintings. There are also scenes of those trips to swimming holes, but here the areas are polluted with all sorts of psychedelic debris. Makes you wonder whether this will be the fate of our urban coastal cities. Among the debris are all sorts of fascinating things that are usually tossed by our consumptive society. Fascinating work which reminds us to be concerned about what's to come.

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Alter Space: Everyday Zeal.

Artists: Andy Coolquitt, Christopher Davison, Mie Hørlyk Mogensen, Renee Rhodes, Dean Schneider.

Comment by AB: Meandering group show, the kind I always wonder about. I'm sure the artists know what's going on, as does the gallery, and probably the artists' inner circles as well. But how about the rest of us? If you're not gonna put together some kind of introductory prospectus for the uninitiated, then just make it a party for yourselves and don't bother with outsiders. I really want to understand and appreciate the art and how it all fits together. Really.

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