SANDRA LEE - SFMOMA - SOMARTS - HOTEL BIRON

08.12.10

(with assistance from RWM)

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Sandra Lee Gallery: Jeffrey Palladini - Recent Works.

Review by RWM: Figures without faces still manage to tell stories and evoke emotions. We get caught in the narratives of our imaginations. Postures suggest all manner of outcomes. Looking vaguely like comic strip panels, the blocks of color in the backgrounds become part of these abstracted realities. The featureless figures appear to have more than a little psychological baggage; perhaps they can take some of yours into their indeterminate minimalist spaces.

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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: Mark Ryden Book Signing.

Comment by AB: Mark Ryden signs copies of his new book, The Snow Yak Show (Last Gasp, San Francisco, 2010, hardcover, 11 by 14 inches, 68 pages, illustrated, $28), and other of his books here tonight. Business is brisk; he can hardly sign fast enough to gratify the robust turnout of devotees. Special appearance by the Anarchist Ice Cream Truck out front.

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SOMArts Gallery: What Cannot Be Taken Away - Families and Prisons Project.

Comment by AB: "Over seven million youth in this country have parents in the legal justice system." This exhibition is all about that. Eight striking larger-than-life paintings by Evan Bissel centerpiece the show, surrounded by various community artworks, literature, correspondences, participatory drawing, installations and audio video works. Eminently socially relevant and worth a visit.

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Hotel Biron: A More Open Place - Photographs by Phillip Maisel.

Review by RWM: Interesting photo montages challenge us to remember and think about how instants in our lives blend and combine, possibly referencing the infinite stream of images emanating from handheld devices... and how that phenomenon affects us. The assemblages are evocative, the juxtapositions startling. One may find here, sooner than expected, Facebook-style memories.

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