SOMARTS - SF ARTS COMMISSION - CAIN SCHULTE - NOMA

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE - ROMER YOUNG - TRIPLE BASE

09.16.11



Need consulting on whether to buy or how much to pay? Click Here.

***

SOMArts Gallery: Frontrunners - The San Francisco Foundation 2011 Murphy & Cadogan Awards Exhibition.

Artists: Andrew Chapman, Li Chen, James Coquia, Christine Elfman, Joel Frudden, Stephanie Halmos, Joey Izzo, Adam Katseff, Michael Koehle, Senalka McDonald, Kate Nartker, Toyin Odutola, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck, Kari Orvik, Maya Pasternak, Christine Peterson, Yulia Pinkusevich, Michelle Ramin, Amy Rathbone, Helene Schlumberger, Sofia Sharpe, Elia Vargas, Rachel Mica Weiss.

Comment by AB: Closing reception for "Frontrunners, a survey of new work from the recipients of the competitive Jack and Gertrude Murphy Fellowships and the Edwin Anthony and Adelaine Bourdeaux Cadogan Fellowships in the Fine Arts. The exhibition identifies young artists whose work connects directly to the pulse of emerging trends and showcases the work of promising visual artists from regional Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) programs working across disciplines." The artists each receive $3500 Fellowship tuition awards; one wins an additional $3500 Juror's Choice tuition award.

The selection's pretty worthy all the way around. The masking tape light post with red balloons particularly impresses as does a substantial knotted rope installation suspended from the ceiling and resting on the floor.

***

San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery: SHIFT - Three Projects Constructing a New Dialogue about Race in America.

Artists: Elizabeth Axtman, David Huffman, Travis Somerville.

Comment by AB: David Huffman's pyramid of 650 basketballs holds court in the center of the gallery and practically devours the show. All 650 will eventually be donated to local charities-- functional art of the most noble order. In the video room, one of Huffman's Traumanauts is out for a walk in the woods. On a more serious note, Elizabeth Axtman essays in video on a relatively recent Louisiana incident where a Justice of the Peace refused to marry a mixed-race couple. And at 155 Grove Gallery, Travis Somerville's impressive set of painted building blocks combine to form six different scenes, all of which will be presented tonight, each commemorating an historic race or ethnicity-related San Francisco uprising.

***

Cain Schulte Gallery: Linda Karshan - Measure Without Measure.

Comment by AB: According to the handout, Linda Karshan's minimalist freehand grids reference everything from texts and plays by Plato and Samuel Beckett to psychology to the "geometry of inner structures." She's evolved her mark-making over the course of twenty years.

***

NOMA Gallery: Jamie Bollenbach - The Amplitude of Time.

Comment by AB: Seattle artist Jamie Bollenbach tells me his paintings have to do with memories, in particular, how we recall specific individuals when thinking back on them. Our recollections are typically fragmented, blends of different times, places interactions or events, and that's what his compositions are intended to represent. Works for me.

***

Southern Exposure: Proof - Entry-Fee Free Juried Exhibition. Juror - Denise Markonish, Curator at Mass MoCa.

Artists: lrika Andersson, Alexis Arnold, Johnna Arnold, Art for a Democratic Society, Joshua Band, Anna Bihari, Amanda Boe, Susan Chen, Kimberly Cook, Rachel Dawson, Sara Diamond, Mendoza Dio, Rachel E Foster, Johanna Friedman, Jon Gourley, Nicole Hayden, I - Daughter of Kong Center for Research, Kelly Falzone Inouye, Jesse Kauppila, Joanna Kidd, Joshua Kim, Robert Larkin, Phillip Maisel, Summer Mei Ling Lee, Ali Liebegott, Niana Liu, Jeanne Lorenz, Atsuko Morita, Kate Nartker, Fred Nocella, NOSFE, Christian Oittinen, Sandra Osborne, Matthew Pawlowski, Michelle Ramin, Rachelle Reichert, Neil Rivas, Jeremy Roberts, Ida Rödén, Leah Rosenberg, Some Guy, Lorna Stevens, Ruth Tabancay, Sunaura Taylor, Chris Thorson, Thomas Wing, Ryan Wylie.

Comment by AB: I suppose if you're a pro on the prowl for new talent, this extravaganza is required viewing. For the rest of us, it's a largely anarchic cacophony. Serious sifting required here.

***

Romer Young Gallery: Pamela Jorden - Looking Through Trees.

Comment by AB: Jagged abstractions by Pamela Jorden are founded in representational moments, certain of which may occur to you if you take some time to look.

***

Triple Base Gallery: Romance - Todd Bura; Madiha Siraj - Solo Installation.

Comment by AB: I ask Todd Bura about his paintings. His answers range from willfully convoluted to complete gibberish; he clearly cares not a whit whether I come away with clue #1 about what he's up to. Now if I was one of those writers who believes in calling out arrogant elitist punks, I'd probably say something. But I'm not, so I won't. The good news? Bura tells me he really likes his art, so that pretty much absolves me of any obligation in that regard as well. I bet I would have liked it more with a little expository.

On a more pleasant note, Madiha Siraj plasters "The Ellipsis Space" (aka rear gallery) floor to ceiling with color swatches making for a rather engaging installation.

***