GRAY AREA FOUNDATION - JACK HANLEY - D-STRUCTURE

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES - ARTHAUS

(with assistance from DeWitt Cheng and Pilar Vree)

10.02.09

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts: OPEN - Grand Opening & Inaugural Exhibition.

Artists: C.E.B. Reas, Camille Utterback, Stamen Design, others.

Comment by AB: Grand opening of this organization dedicated to all aspects of the digital arts. Gray Area is part of the San Francisco's Tenderloin Economic Development Program (TEDP), and the newest addition to the Mid-Market Taylor Street Arts District. Impressive space; good art; worth a visit.

***

California Institute for Integral Studies: Salma Arastu - Lyrical Visions.

Review by DeWitt Cheng: The California Institute for Integral Studies in its Spirit in the Arts program exhibits art that synthesizes the psychological and the esthetic, depicting a higher consciousness.  Previous participating artists have included Henry David Sultan and Richard Bolingbroke. The current exhibit in the CIIS offices in San Francisco features Salma Arastu, an Indian-born painter who moved to Pennsylvania in the late 1980s, and then to the Bay Area a few years ago; she's also a person who has overcome considerable cultural and personal obstacles in the course of her thirty-year career.

Born in Rajasthan, a province endowed with both a Hindu sacred lake and a Sufi saint's shrine, Arastu converted to Islam upon marrying (and was encouraged in art by her enlightened family). Religious ecumenism is thus as much a part of her work as esthetic eclecticism; her richly lyrical and decorative acrylic paintings blend folk-art color and texture, Arabic calligraphy, Buddhist (?) mandalas, and modernist simplification of form. and her laser-cut metal sculptures incorporate modern technology in order to depict spiritual states. Artist catalogue available.

***

ArtHaus Gallery: Think Before You Pink.

Artists: Torrie Groening, Adam Kurtzman, Nancy Otto, Carole Austin, Felipe Galindo, Carol Massa, Paule Dubois Dupuis, Pamela Merory Dernham, Mustafa Onder, more.

Comment by AB: Think Before You Pink, organzied by Breast Cancer Action, is not only about increasing awareness around breast cancer and the need for funding and support, but also a call for transparency and an accounting of various organizations and businesses selling "pink ribbon" products that are in it for the money more so than for the cause.

***

Jack Hanley Gallery: The Something.

Comment by AB: A good old fashioned New Age happening-style hoedown developed by and featuring Shaun O'Dell and his students at the California College of Art, San Francisco, Spring 2009-- and anybody else who feels like joining in. Art, music, multimedia, healing, telepath, astrosociopoliticalism, and so on and so forth ad infinitum, etc. Pretty good stuff. Even I get a little tranced out.

***

D-Structure: The Kelly Nicolaisen - Living Color.

Review by Pilar Vree: Kelly Nicolaisen's new work fulfills its promise; it abounds with vivid color. Meticulously executed paintings liven up the gallery with ultra American scenes. Nicolaisen's photography is a vibrant depiction of city living, echoing solitude and silence.

***