HACKETT-FREEDMAN - LUGGAGE STORE - GALLERY 16
DESIGN GUILD SF - ELECTRIC WORKS - WHITE WALLS - NEEDLES & PENS
CA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES - MCCAIG WELLES AND ROSENTHAL
09.12.08
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Hackett-Freedman Gallery: Frank Lobdell - The Dance Series 19691972.
Comment by AB: Money, money, money... and how time flies... and how prices rise. When I last reviewed a Frank Lobdell show at Hackett-Freedman in 2004, his high price at auction was significantly under $10K. Now his high price circa a 2007 sale at Christie's NY is $220K, and that followed five days later by his next highest price, a $65K sale at Sotheby's LA. Curious about how all this shakes out, I whip out my appraiser's hat and get on the horn with David Carlson, owner of Carlson Gallery in Carmel and an expert on abstract expressionist painting in California. He tells me the $220K piece, "Black Edge II," is perhaps the best painting Lobdell ever painted. Nevertheless, Carlson was surprised it sold so high, suspects it was the result of competing bidders getting a little loose with the lucre, and adds that we won't likely see comparable prices at auction for Lobdell paintings anytime soon. So there you go-- a little insight into how things click in the art market.
Paintings by Frank Lobdell. Art. Frank Lobdell (center). Art. Art. Art.
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The Luggage Store Gallery: Art for Corporations - Andrew Jeffrey Wright.
Comment by AB: Philadelphia artist Andrew Jeffrey Wright proffers a plethora of artworks in a variety of mediums including video, animation, photography, paintings, drawings, collage, constructions, and screen prints, all in an effective endeavor to point up the undue influence and inanity of corporate and brand-name juggernauts on average Joes and Josephines. Special added attraction-- Wright collaborates on certain pieces with the likes of Barry McGee, Clare E. Rojas, Isaac Lin, and Crystal Kovacs.
Installation by Andrew Jeffrey Wright. Art. Art. Andrew Jeffrey Wright - art. Art. Video art. East wall. West wall.
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Gallery 16: Fifteenth Anniversary Show - These Are The People In Your Neighborhood.
Artists: Elliot Anderson, Libby Black, Rebeca Bollinger, Ann Chamberlain, Rob Craigie, Lowell Darling, Lauren Davies, Ala Ebtekar, Amy Ellingson, Harrell Fletcher, Amy Franceschini, Jamey Garza, Michelle Grabner, Bonner Hamaker, Stephen Hendee, Cliff Hengst, Arturo Herrera, Lynn Hershman, Scott Hewicker, Jim Isermann, Xylor Jane, Heather Johnson, Jeff Kao, William Kentridge, Margaret Kilgallen, William Laven, Charles Linder, Kara Maria, Martin McMurray, Cheryl Meeker, Russell Nachman, Tucker Nichols, Shaun O¹Dell, Deborah Oropallo, Gay Outlaw, David Perry, Rex Ray, Andrew Romanoff, Phil Ross, Alice Shaw, Gedi Sibony, Wayne Smith, Dani Tull, Rudy VanderLans, Darren Waterston, Alex Zecca.
Comment by AB: You don't necessary recognize the aggregate import of an established gallery, in this case Gallery 16, and the artists who've exhibited there until you see the unmitigated aggregate dealie-bob presented for posterity. Shows may come and go at Gallery 16, but their reputation continues to build.
Serpentine Gallery 16 painted floor roster. Art. Art. Art. Art. Art. Art. Books published by Gallery 16 surround the column.
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Design Guild San Francisco: 4 Artists - Paintings, Objects, Photographs .
Artists: Natasha Gronski, Antonio Sindorf, John Spanier, Stephen Stout.
Comment by AB: According to the proclamation, "abstaining from a unifying theme, pieces have been selected to better represent the evocative character of each artist's individual work." Ah. I get it. It's a show about nothing-- kinda like Seinfeld. That's not necessarily a bad thing by the way, and certainly in this case, the cull's reasonably respectable.
Art. Art. Butt smoking a pipe art (back wall). Art. Art. Art.
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Electric Works: Jason Jägel - 73 Funshine.
Comment by AB: It's a retrospective, a book release, and an exhibition of current work all rolled into one, with Jason Jägel offering up a slew of art. The earliest works on display date from 1997; his book, "73 Funshine," is a sizable 200-page survey of his work. As if that's not enough, the book comes with a 10" vinyl record, containing three jazz tracks, tucked neatly into a pocket on the inside back cover. A deluxe limited edition of 50 copies, each in a clamshell box and containing a signed print, is also available and priced at $300.00
Paintings by Jason Jägel. Art. Art. Art. Art. Art.
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California Institute of Integral Studies: Michael Johnstone and David Faulk - Verasphere.
Comment by AB: Michael Johnstone photographs David Faulk in every costume, pose, and setting imaginable. It's kinda like a visual version of Elton John and Bernie Taupin.
David Faulk in photographs. Photos. David Faulk. Photographs. Photography.
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McCaig Welles and Rosenthal Gallery: David Hochbaum, Travis Linquist, and Colin Burns - Russian Reduction - Goldmine Shithouse in Residence.
Comment by AB: The skinny in this instance is as follows... Brooklyn artists David Hochbaum, Travis Linquist, and Colin Burns (aka Goldmine Shithouse) live in the gallery for two weeks, make all kinds of art, then hang everything they make on the walls, and then that there's the show. The event also heralds the grand opening of McCaig Welles and Rosenthal Gallery. Welcome to the fray!
Art by David Hochbaum, Travis Linquist, Colin Burns (Goldmine Shithouse). Art. Art that opens and closes to reveal paintings inside and out. Goldmine Shithouse in front of open/close painting closed. Goldmine Shithouse in front of open/close painting opened. Art. Art. Art.
(not sure who's who-- help please)
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Needles & Pens: Geoffrey Ellis and Andrew Martin Scott.
Comment by AB: Estimable selection of photographs by Geoffrey Ellis and Andrew Martin Scott (who tonight double-dips as exhibitor and proprietor). In a nutshell, the two display distinct takes on detritus and decay, with Scott approaching the matter from an outdoor perspective-- many of his images presented as split views, and Ellis working the interior angle via cropped sections of pictures hanging on walls, shelf displays, and knickknack accumulations in general.
Photography (Andrew Martin Scott). Photographs (Andrew Martin Scott). Geoffrey Ellis - Andrew Martin Scott. Photos (Geoffrey Ellis). Photography (Geoffrey Ellis). Attendance figures.
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White Walls: Shepard Fairey - Duality of Humanity.
Comment by AB: Suffice it to say that Shepard Fairey is a force in the world of so-called urban art, and I'd venture to expand that to the art world in general. The show here is dense with Fairey's unique evolvements on propaganda-based imagery, and excellent and intense and overwhelming and all the usual superlatives. But I wanna talk about something else here-- a little thing called "generosity." You see, one difference I notice over and over and over again between artists like Shepard Fairey and his contemporaries, and those who show at the poofy downtown galleries is that the former give of themselves far more readily and far more often than the latter.
In Fairey's case, he comes to town nearly a week in advance of his opening and not only hangs a show that completely fills two galleries and an entire second floor exhibition space, but also and perhaps more significantly, he seasons the streets and walls of San Francisco with a bountiful bevy of his signature visuals for everyone to enjoy and appreciate (or complain about). He does this absolutely positively free of charge-- a gift from Shepard Fairey to our city. Nobody asks him to do it, nobody expects him to do it; he does it entirely of his own volition.
My darling artsters, I've been to countless thousands of art events over the decades and can report with certainty that expecting any such outpouring from the overwhelming majority of the entitled contingent of the artist community is at best a pipedream. In fact, I'll go one step further and add that with very occasional exceptions, not only are they remarkably ungiving (unless, of course, there's something in it for them), but many are offended at even the suggestion of doing something above and beyond the call. All those lofty high-minded ideals y'all espouse at the drop of a paintbrush-- what a bucket of bullshit it turns out to be when opportunities arise to exemplify that lip service.
OK. Rant over. Let's check out the art, free and otherwise...
Free art by Shepard Fairey along Mission as seen from South Van Ness. Free art by Shepard Fairey on Larkin Street. Art. Art. Shepard Fairey - art. Art. Art. Art. Art. Art. Art. Art. Art.
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