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FIFTYCROWS - CROWN POINT - GERAS TOUSIGNANT GALLERY 16 - LUGGAGE STORE ANNEX - A.MUSE QUEENS NAILS ANNEX 09.14.07 FiftyCrows Gallery: Phil Borges - Women Empowered. Comment: Combination photo show and release party for the book "Women Empowered; Inspiring Change in the Emerging World," photographs and essays by Phil Borges. Portraits and profiles of "ordinary women in developing countries" who've beat the odds and made "positive differences in their communities." Robust turnout. Photography. Photos. Photographs. Images. Circumstance. *** Crown Point Press: Robert Bechtle - Two New Color Etchings; Group Show - Urban Landscape. Artists: Iain Baxter, John Chiara, Tom Marioni, Ed Ruscha, Wayne Thiebaud, William T. Wiley. Comment: Robert Bechtle continues his remarkable pursuit of parsing the ordinary, presenting it over and over in so many ways as if to say, "I bet you never noticed." And he's right; we didn't. But we do now. His two latest etchings are flanked by sundry landscape interpretations from a half-dozen additional California art stars. The main attraction (Robert Bechtle). Art (Wayne Thiebaud). Art. Art. Art (Robert Bechtle). Art (Robert Bechtle). *** Geras Tousignant Gallery: Monika Steiner - Lines & Forms. Comment: Here's one you don't see everyday-- a show of abstract paintings and sculptures, all by the same artist, Monika Steiner, her work in either medium equally appealing. Art. Art. Monika Steiner - art. Art. The basic idea. *** Gallery 16: Cliff Hengst & Scott Hewicker - S.A.N.E. Comment: According to the crib sheet, the acronym "S.A.N.E. stands for Something, Anything, Nothing, Everything," here referencing the crazy embrace of altered states, superego shenanigans, and comparably zooey zones of consciousness, with Scott Hewicker providing the visuals, and Cliff Hengst treating the patient with text. Along with the art, the two release their new book "Good Times: Bad Trips," actual accounts by real people of their acute unglued ingestion-induced episodes, the narratives illustrated with paintings, collages, and photographs. Contributors include Devendra Banhart, Chris Johanson, Lars Bang Larsen, Shaun O'Dell, Keegan McHargue, Kevin Killian, Dodie Bellamy, Leslie Shows, Tony Labat, and Larry Rinder. Art (Scott Hewicker). Art TV (Scott Hewicker). Art (Scott Hewicker). Freshly printed literature. Cliff Hengst (signing) - Scott Hewicker (conversing). Art (Cliff Hengst). Art (Cliff Hengst). Art (Cliff Hengst). Wall of words art (Cliff Hengst). *** The Luggage Store Annex: Ramekon O'Arwisters (SuperArt Hero) - American Cuisine. Comment: The premise for the show is alarmingly unequivocal-- the menu for America's Last Supper will consist solely of people of color. Ramekon O'Arwisters decisively drives home his point with a series of sculptural anecdotes, rife with iconography selected to point up racial, social, and class stereotypes and prejudices, the upshot representing a sampler plate of beliefs that run deep and rampant through the fiber of American culture. Chew on that for a while. Good show; go see. Art. Art. Ramekon O'Arwisters (SuperArt Hero). Fetish throne art (like it). Fetish throne art detail. Art. Art. Location. *** a.Muse Gallery: Jeannie Pettigrew and Kelly Reiling - Interrupted Process. Comment: Bold elaborate exacting black and white ink drawings by Kelly Reiling nicely offset pastel textural abstracts by Jeannie Pettigrew. Art (Jeannie Pettigrew). Art (Jeannie Pettigrew). Art (Kelly Reiling). Kelly Reiling - art. Art (Kelly Reiling). *** Queen's Nails Annex: Supernatural - Form + Replication. Artists: Nate Boyce, Misako Inaoka, Kei Ito, Kristina Lewis. Comment: And here's another reason I'm stuck on Queen's Nails Annex-- I never know what they're gonna come up with next. In artland, so many galleries circumscribe their territories with such precision that, at worst, you have difficulty differentiating one show from the next, as they abide contentedly in the province of foregone conclusions. But here at QNA, art careens in at you from outta nowhere-- a genuinely energizing atypicality. It's no secret either; artsters come from near and far to bask in these previews of what the future may hold. Tonight's escapades intermingle art and fashion and functionality, twisting the idioms into alien dimensions, with eminently gratifying outcomes. Feature presentations include phenomenal fantasy fabrics and handbags by Key Ito, peculiar mutant sculpturals by Kristina Lewis, a dropped ceiling moss garden by Misako Inaoka, recessed ceiling video by Nate Boyce, and more. Another seriously sublime serve-up from Queen's Nails Annex. Don't miss it. Art (Key Ito). Art (Key Ito). Art (Kristina Lewis). Art (Kristina Lewis - Key Ito, bag on right). Key Ito (white gown). Key Ito gown detail. Here's something you don't see everyday. Video art (Nate Boyce). Art (Kristina Lewis). Drop ceiling moss garden art (Misako Inaoka). Misako Inaoka. Art (Misako Inaoka). Art (Key Ito). Art (Key Ito). Spillage (and it's still early). *** |
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