SFMOMA - CATHARINE CLARK - BAER RIDGWAY - FREY NORRIS

ARC - HIJINKS - PAUL MAHDER - CASSEL GOORIN

06.04.11

(with assistance from Clare Coppel)



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Catharine Clark Gallery: Stephanie Syjuco - RAIDERS; Kate Gilmore - three video works.

Review by Clare Coppel: Works by Stephanie Syjuco highlight how useless and worthless an object of artistic and cultural value (Chinese vases in this case) can become when printed 2-D and mounted on board, but still kind of cool to look at, mass production can have a charm of its own. The way economics effect our views of art is certainly an interesting topic.

Comment by AB: Stephanie Syjuco continues her investigations into poaching other people's stuff off the Internet (in the past, some of it having been poached already by the people she's poaching it from). Among the diversions in this exciting episode, she's constructed a slick 2-dimensional version of an Asian art museum in the front room from pilfered online images of actual 3-D museum pieces. Down the hall, she sells bogus bootleg CDs representing her digital music collection, their covers also snarfed online. For Syjuco, the Internet is simply one gigantic FREE Happy Meal. Recommended viewing.

I also catch a snippet of Kate Gilmore's video, "By Any Means," where she's apparently engaged in a Sisyphean attempt to escape from a ditch lined with sharp pieces of wood.

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Baer Ridgway Exhibitions: Still Life Landscape - castaneda/reiman (Charlie Castaneda and Brody Reiman).

Review by Clare Coppel: Reworkings/reorderings of landscape paintings in composite and deconstructed ways prompt the viewer to wonder, "What is the point?" The resulting works have a quality of emptiness I find somewhat disconcerting and depressing, not to say that's a bad thing.

Comment by AB: I get the gist of the organizational process here, but the flea market/Salvation Army/junk shop appearance and probable origins of the component parts distract from the plot line.

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Frey Norris Contemporary & Modern: Ranu Mukherjee - Absorption into the Nomadic and Luminous.

Review by Clare Coppel: What one feels should be the central figures (Hindu? Gods/Goddesses) are lacking in the paintings of Ranu Mukherjee, which I suppose is the point. Also on exhibit are two video animations.

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Arc Studios & Gallery: FLOW - The Essence of Paint (main gallery downstairs); Contemporary Painters - Bay Area Exhibition (upstairs).

Artists for FLOW: Patricia Araujo, Leigh Barbier, Logan Bolger, Arnold Chao, Cameron Chernoff, Kathryn Clark, Joanna Dur, Tracy Fetter, Nancy Glenn, Jeffrey Glossip, Brian Greif, April Hankins, Patter Hellstrom, Len Holmes, Brett Houser, Vivien Kane, Irena Kononova, Angela Lazarow, Saundra McPherson, Christine Muratore, Nite Owl, Melisa Phillips, Kevin Pincus, Fernando Reyes, Carol Rienecker, Maura Satchell, Susan Spies, John Waguepack, Angela Willetts.

Artists for Contemporary Painters: Ellen Brook, Lou Bermingham, T.W. Chui, Felicia Forte, Richard Gullion, Michele de la Menardiere, David Hewitt, Rajiv Khilnani, kimrola, Karen Mumford, Jane Peterman, Jordan Quintero, and Gail Ragains

Comment by AB: FLOW is billed as a National Juried Exhibition. Hmmm. Is that so? How about this idea? Let's conquer The Bay Area first, then go national. The upstairs group show is curated by Deborah Mills Thackrey, Director, Axis Art Gallery, San Jose.

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Gallery Hijinks: Bad Casserole - David Bayus.

Comment by AB: Cryptic digital montages of objects that David Bayus makes and then photographs. True, the denouement's somewhat intestine-esque, but overall, the casserole doesn't look so bad to me (keep in mind that I haven't actually tasted it).

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Paul Mahder Gallery: Patrick Duegaw - Jurgen and the Wrong Tools.

Comment by AB: According to the press release, assuming my reading glasses are on straight, Kansas artist Patrick Duegaw's disciplined professional-grade painting/construction combinations are kinda like scenes in a play where all the stars are tools. No... not what you're thinking... actual tools.

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Cassel Goorin Gallery: Amandalynn - Head over Heels.

Comment by AB: Who's the fairest of them all? It's a tie.

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Addendum:

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