CHROMA - DAVID CUNNINGHAM

ARTILLERY - FOREIGN CINEMA

(with assistance from RWM)

08.20.09

Chroma Art Design: The Second Tranche.

Artists: Takeshi Nakayoshi, Roc Hopkins, Suzanne Radcliffe, Eileen Downey, Anna Edwards, April Hankins, John Smiddy, Sona Holman, Mi Jung Penzien, Elizabeth Tana, Tama Greenberg.

Review by RWM: Nice collection of mostly playful abstracts. The colors are fun and the light blue colors and pastels hold the collection together. There are occasional stylized nudes and several more intense renderings in darker colors. The show is reflective and memorable-- nice things to put on one's walls, but serious nonetheless.

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David Cunningham Projects: Pawel Kruk - Talking to Yourself is Very Important.

Comment by AB: First off, I can't agree more with the title of the show 'cuz if I don't talk to myself, I won't have anyone to listen to me. Meanwhile back at David Cunningham Projects, Pawel Kruk, a Polish artist currently living and working in San Francisco, creates an installation that incorporates basically everything including performance, video, Deep South lynching, painting, drawing, writing, found objects, World War II, video, sheep electrocuted in a lightning strike in Utah on September 1, 1939... and that's not all, I'm sure. According to the treatise, the essence of the deal "calls into question issues of identity, language, authenticity, cultural iconography and collective obsession. Kruk constructs bizarre fictions, which reveal stranger truths." I refer to shows like this as emblematic of the Kitchen Sink School of art.

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Artillery Apparel/Gallery: Erik Parra & Danny Neece.

Review by RWM: Impressive exploration of our connection to the natural world. The work presented is fascinating and biophilic. Our relationship to the natural world is told in all sorts of intriguing ways. In addition you'll find urban scenes and pieces about our connections as people. Prints are also available.

Comment by AB: Art, fashion, accessories and an above average confluence of energized attendees.

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Foreign Cinema: 10th Anniversary.

Comment by AB: Yes it's a restaurant, but it's an artful one without a doubt. Modernism West Gallery is headquartered here, which tonight features the stencil art of Scott Williams, a San Francisco artist who's been quietly and consistently at it since the 80s-- a pure artist according to Modernism proprietor Martin Muller, who does what he does regardless of what the market forces may dictate. Plus we've got an admirable charity skatedeck fundraiser for DrawBridge, an arts program for homeless children, curated by Reyes. And there's acrobats and dancers and performers and musicians and libations and veritable cornucopias of excruciatingly ambrosial edibles. Yo!

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