SF ARTS COMMISSION - SILVERMAN - SPOKE ART

63 BLUXOME - CARTE BLANCHE

WORKSPACE LIMITED - 50 SHOTWELL STUDIOS

10.26.12

(with assistance from RWM)



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San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery: Nothing to See Here - Johnna Arnold, Joshua Band, Nicole Jean Hill, Jin Zhu. Curated by Aimee Le Duc.

Review by RWM: Thought provoking confrontation here between the natural and human built environment. We do not revel in the beauty because it is not presented; instead the change and damage we are causing is more the subject. Instead we notice the interaction and the marks we are leaving. These are human-created green spaces and not the frontier, even in pictures of sand dunes. Life struggles here. A tree needs propping while it is withering, for example. A wild of sorts is demarked and bordered by human alteration. There is also the human debris left behind. The exhibit reminds of the notion that some do not wish to leave civilization. In this exhibit we have left our imprint, even in what we have created.

Comment by AB: Four photographers call our attention to landscapes we typically ignore. Why do we ignore them? Because they're unattractive, unpleasant, defiled, ravaged, or otherwise have nothing left to offer. Why are they that way? Because of us. Maybe these images will get us thinking in more sensitive and concerned ways about how we treat our fragile environments. Or maybe not.

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Silverman Gallery: Conrad Ruiz - Juice.

Comment by AB: The eruptive compositions of Conrad Ruiz derive from photographs he took of crashing waves along the shore. Ruiz has interpreted and reconfigured the ocean's boundless power in ways that might relate to any detonation from microscopic to intergalactic to emotional to a refreshing splash of juice. Stop on by.

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Spoke Art Gallery: Bad Dads - An Art Show Tribute to the Films of Wes Anderson.

Artists: Tracie Ching, Dave Perillo, Aaron Jasinski, Oliver Barrett, Joshua Budich, Michael De Pippo, Caia Koopman, Philip Tseng, Kristin Tercek, Ana Bagayan, Dave MacDowell, Greg Gossel, Munk One, Dabs Mayla, many more.

Comment by AB: Spoke Art's rollicking annual Wes Anderson fest is now in session!

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63 Bluxome Street Gallery: New Work - Ricky Miranda and Clam Lynch.

Comment by AB: Sensitive black & white portraits of homeless and street people by Ricky Miranda are offset by the campy configurations of Clam Lynch.

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Carte Blanche Gallery: California Dreamin' - Guillaume Grasset.

Review by RWM, images c/o Carte Blanche: French photographer Guillaume Grasset presents The Golden State from all sorts of vantage points. There are even observers and spectators caught in the photographs. Strange views, odd places, iconic locations challenge our sense of entitlement. California is an odd place, but not necessarily any worse than anywhere else.

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Workspace Limited: San Francisco Open Studios Opening Night.

Comment by AB: A quick survey of what's on tap at the Workspace Limited artist studio building.

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50 Shotwell Studios: 10th Annual San Francisco Altered Barbie Show.

Artists: Margaret Thrupp, Erotic Tales, Tuan Tran, sheririce, celticdragon_60, Tess Nottebohm, danapics, artistcharlotte, ronman ng, abeck000, connie.wood, Julia Sisi, Natalie, Barbara Hasein, Brian11Adams, House of Plasro, Frame, Catwoman30307, Laura McHugh, Sharon Butticci, Pallavi Govindnathan, artbyalatorre, Diane Cassidy, A Place of Her, Jerry Zientara, Cecilia W Yu, Deborah Colotti, Greg Angelo, LottaFruit, Leigh Radtke, LavonnesBarbies, Tine Valentine, Debbie Fimrite, Cherrie Williams.

Comment by AB: Barbie and Ken once again submit to the whims of an enterprisingly outlandish creative caboodle.

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