PARTISAN - BELLJAR - MISSION CULTURAL CENTER

1AM - 666 - LOWER HATERS - LUSH LIFE

08.14.09

(with assistance from RWM, Sandra Silvoy and Pakayla Biehn)

Partisan Gallery: New Work by Nate Boyce.

Comment by AB: Nate Boyce tells me his videos incorporate copious complicated concepts, many of which he enumerates, pretty much all of which exceed my cognitive capabilities (except for his use of old skool technologies). Calculated methodologies clearly control the outcomes of his videos, though, and that makes it all worthwhile.

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BellJar: Micro-Habitat, New work by Micke Tong.

Review by RWM: Great statement about being an animal and all that entails. Presented here are lots of animals, i.e. our extended natural family. But at the same time Micke Tong conveys that we have our animal ways as well, successfully demonstrating how we have affected the city, impacted the skyline, and designed the buildings, neighborhoods, and open spaces. The city is our habitat; the wilds are theirs.

Review by Sandra Silvoy: In our constant determination to evolve and expand, the weight of the human world rests heavily upon our animal counterparts as depicted in the sculptural installations of Micke Tong. Architectural cityscapes of detailed wooden models span one wall only to perch atop the futuristic animal folk that look to us with widened bejeweled eyes in disbelief. Your personal investigation is absolutely suggested.

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Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts: 3 Worlds - Myths, Bricks, Prints.

Artists: Luis Arias Vera, Juan R. Fuentes, Casper Banjo. Curated by Rene Yanez and Art Hazelwood.

Comment by AB: Trifecta features the intense expresssive portraiture and modernist abstractions of African American artist Casper Banjo (the Bricks part of the exhibition), cosmic kaleidoscopic fantasies of Luis Arias Vera (the Myths part), and powerful activist imagery of Juan R. Fuentes (the Prints part).

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1AM Gallery: Attaboy (aka Daniel Seifert) - Antidote.

Review by RWM: What an excellent venue to show all the drama, personal and impersonal, of our heroine displayed. We find our darling subject in all sorts of predicaments and scenes. Through it all, she and her friends are cool in visage and up to the challenges of modern life. The work is dramatic, but also a celebration of sorts.

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666 Gallery: Local Love Group Show.

Artists: Pakayla Biehn, Alberto Vargas, Adam Flores, Christopher Blackstock, Jeff Enlow, Rob Williamson, Ryan De La Hoz, Rex Waters, Sean Summers, Jennie Smith.

Comment by AB: Peppy big town brew packs 'em in.

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Lower Haters: Ronnie Buders and Ed UFO - Headless Body in Topless Bar.

Review by Sandra Silvoy: Concerns of the inexplicable curiosities of our world, from Stonehenge to the Bermuda Triangle, are referenced through the visible notes and dates scrawled amongst the paint. The lone owl of a cartoonish nature seems a bit out of context. Otherwise the series of panels keeps an organic feel and a fluid motion enhanced by occasional energized eruptions of detail work.

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Lush Life Gallery at the Jazz Heritage Center: Reflections of Jazz History and Heritage.

Artists: Frank Koci, Jeremy Sutton, Valeriy Kagounkin Wosene Kosrof, many more.

Comment by AB: Get your jazz art here at Lush LIfe, part of the Jazz Heritage Center located at Yoshi's in The Fillmore. Plenitudinous selection-- overflowing with art. Stop by; you'll be impressed. And for live jazz, Yoshi's is as good as it gets. But you already know that.

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