941 GEARY - HUNGRYMAN - ROOT DIVISION - A.MUSE

GUERRERO - QUEENS NAILS - SPACE - LOPO

08.13.11

(with assistance from Clare Coppel, Mairead O'Connor and RWM)



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941 Geary Gallery: The City We Love. Co-curated by Justin Giarla and APEX.

Artists: APEX, Casey Gray, Chad Hasegawa, Chor Boogie, David Ball, D Young V, EZRA, Hugh Leeman, John Felix Arnold, Luke Todd, NEON, Siloette, Teen Witch, Vogue.

Comment by AB: From established to up-and-coming, outdoor artists strut their talents indoors for this current survey of San Francisco Bay Area urban oeuvres.

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HungryMan Gallery: Dirty Pictures - Timothy Bergstrom and Nathaniel Ward.

Comment by AB: According to the literature, Chicago artist Timothy Bergstrom and New York photographer Nathaniel Ward take conventional images and "dirty" 'em up in order to challenge their conventional forms of practice.

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Root Division: Over My Dead Body - A Collaborative Installation about Artistic Survival. Curated by Laura Boles Faw and Hava Liberman.

Artist Collaborative Groups: Luca N Antonucci & Carissa Potter; Christi Baker & Colleen Mulvey; Johanna Barron, Christy Chan, Helen Lee, & Cybele Lyle; Peter Belkin, Evan Engstrom, & Joe Melamed; Amanda Curreri, Llewelynn Fletcher, Hannah Ireland, & George Pfau; Nancy de Y. Elkus & Matthew Marchand; Cathy Fairbanks; Bryan Hewitt, Vita Hewitt, & Emmanuelle Namont Kouznetsov; Pete Hickok, Jennie Lennick, & Rachel Mica Weiss; John-Mark Ikeda & Nicholas Price; Ryan Jones, Scott MacLeod, & Jesse Walton; Seth Lower & David Wolf; Cathy Lu & Rochelle Youk.

Review by RWM: Revel in the gestalt. Nice take on the age old process of the Exquisite Corpse. One need look closely to fully ascertain the shared connections. Quite a crowd pleaser.

Comment by AB: For those of you playing the home version, Exquisite Corpse was a Surrealist-era game where members of a group would assemble an artwork either by contributing according to a particular rule, or by only seeing the contribution that came immediately before.

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a.Muse Gallery: ReGeneration - Eight Contemporary Photographers Defy the Generation Gap.

Photographers: Kirk Crippens, Janet Delaney, Deborah O'Grady, Philipp Striebe, Gérman Herrera, Rachel Phillips, Niniane Kelley, Luis Delgado.

Comment by AB: You take four older photographers, four younger photographers, pair one older with one younger four times over, and you get this-- creative intergenerational dialogue.

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Guerrero Gallery: Building Context.

Artists: Leigh Wells, Adam Feibelman, Boris Tellegen, Greg Lamarche, Joey Piziali, Matt Gonzalez, Ray Beldner.

Comment by AB: This one's all about the ways artists create art out of paper-- from collage to cut-outs to sculpture, a distinctly atypical mix ranges from urban to conceptual. Guerrero Gallery seems to be evolving into a rather egalitarian venue for collaborative shows where no one's totally in control and everyone contributes to the endeavor, from artistic as well as curatorial perspectives. An interesting experiment in gallery management and operations. But artists-- if you're going to make this work, you have to bring in enough paying customers to keep the space in the family.

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Queens Nails Projects: SF Tropical (Pt 2).

Artists: Facundo Argañaraz, Sofía Cordoba, George Kuchar, Eamon Ore-Giron (DJ Lengua), Tim Sullivan and Chris Corrente, Jason Mena, Haden Nicholl, Jenifer K Wofford.

Comment by AB: Ess Eff's cold and blustery this time of year. What's the opposite of that? This show... or so they tell me. I suppose if you close your eyes and think humid thoughts, something like a thaw might happen.

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Space Gallery: Black Heart Tattoo "Scab Free Art Show."

Artists: Scott Sylvia, Jeff Rassier, Moses Saarni, Tim Lehi, Nick Rodin, Cody Miller, Bryan Burke, Juan Puente, Dan Gilsdorf.

Review by Clare Coppel: Black Heart Tattoo artists exhibit works on paper instead of flesh. Lots of Old School style tattoo art, girls, dragons, nude girls with snakes for heads, tigers, skulls, roses.

Review by Mairead O'Connor: Colorful, tattoo-like illustrations fill the walls at this group show. Much of the work is dark and eerily disturbing.

Review by RWM: Elaborate but intimidating. Demon women and strange and scary spirits abound. Animals show up to have their say. One can hear the screeches and roars.

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Lopo Gallery: Candy Coated - Robert Bowen.

Review by RWM: All sorts of surprising emotions evoked here. There is the scary, the funny-- nature told in fantastic way. Odd creatures spin their tales, skulls and animals like you have never seen. Strange paint drips on the walls remind that one is engaged with the fabulous. Revel in the surprises and beware the monsters.

Review by Mairead O'Connor: Robert Bowen's animated, dark, yet playful work is beautifully displayed in two rooms. His creativity is off the charts and the viewer can't help but be drawn into the scenes that he has created.

Review by Clare Coppel: Robert Bowen's show, "Candy Coated," as the name promises, provides lots of candy colors and shiny surfaces as well as deadly reptiles, large bugs and mutant rabbits... plus an homage to Andy Warhol of sorts.

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Addendum:

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