SAN FRANCISCO ART GALLERIES OPENINGS

FIRST THURSDAY - 11.03.11 - Part I



(with assistance from Kathryn Arnold and Larissa Archer)

How to work the crowds at your shows and openings. Click Here.

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Anthony Meier Fine Arts: Richmond Terrace - Donald Moffett.

Comment by AB: This is the best two-fer I've ever seen. Not only do you get a painting, but you get a structure to hang it on. Plus the concept behind the show espouses a topic near and dear to my aesthetic sensibilities, that every detail of a work of art has to be just as competent and compelling as the rest-- front, back, sides, top, bottom, everything. Way too many artists think all that matters is the front, and that the rest can look like shit. Not so, my artful darlings. Here you get to inspect the 360-degree top-to-bottom entirety of every amazing painting, each composed of myriad monotone strands of paint, looking almost like fine coats of colored hair on canvas. Now they do fall into the hard-to-dust category, but even so, they're marvels of artistry. You have to see this show in person to really appreciate the art; the photos don't come close to doing it justice. Pick of First Thursday AND recipient of the rare and highly coveted "How Do Dey Do Dat?" award.

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Caldwell Snyder Gallery: Cole Morgan- Recent Paintings.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: Mixture of paint and sometimes collage and/or paint intended to appear like collaged fragments. Itsy bitsy elements align themselves (or sometimes not) creating a visual sense of pattern and, thereby, order.

Comment by AB: Trompe l'oil fantasies by Cole Morgan, varying melds of abstract and representation, are upbeat and a pleasure to behold.

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John Berggruen Gallery: Richard Serra - Works on Paper.

Comment by AB: Bold imposing black and white works on paper by Richard Serra include oil stick drawings, gravures and etchings.

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Dolby Chadwick Gallery: Dan Jackson - Natura Morta.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: Storybook-like images create a sense of the surreal with everyday still-life items (at times) set within odd juxtapositions and in unusual scale.

Comment by AB: It's a curious land that Dan Jackson paints, but certainly one I wouldn't mind visiting. You never know what delights you might come upon here as you hike the hills and beaches. Goodies abound.

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Gallery Paule Anglim: David Ireland; Ann Hamilton.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: Am glad to see David Ireland's work-- I think this is my first time in person as I am not from here originally. Portions of installations or maybe the installations themselves-- balanced and composed-- or so it seems. I read that they are from his studio and house. The physical materials play.

The video of Ann Hamilton is an interesting contrast and also quite enjoyable with what appears to be crazy elongation due to the way it is projected onto a corner.

Comment by AB: In the main gallery, see a retrospective selection of art dating from 1974-1975 courtesy of the 500 Capp Street Foundation, and chosen by Jock Reynolds. These mounted textural works on stiff paper are comprised of ingredients like cement, dirt, resin, binders and other materials not typically used by artists.

In the vestibule, marvel at Ann Hamilton's video "Clapping" which stars a torso dressed in a striped suit making clapping motions with paper mache hands.

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Stephen Wirtz Gallery: Chris McCaw - Ride Into the Sun.

Review by Larissa Archer: It's easy to forget that photography is a physical process, especially now that most of the photographs we see every day are digital images magicked onto the computer screen through twitter feeds and facebook. Chris McCaw's photographs in Ride into the Sun remind us that the making of a photograph is in fact intensely physical, that committing images to a two-dimensional plain involves time, chemical reactions, a process whose function can easily tip over into the destruction of the product itself. Hours-long exposures yield darkly poetic landscapes spread out under arcs literally burnt through the paper by the path of the sun. It's a concise representation of the sun's power, both beautiful and dangerous, that brings to mind the ancients' preoccupation with the same.

Go for the moody beauty of the work as well as the glimpse into the science of it all.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: Photos with rips caused by burns from the sun comprise this noteworthy body of work. Two large rooms filled with them. Black and whites feel like solar eclipses with the effects almost appearing to be solorization. The look is almost like alien vessels hovering over the earth and sea.

Comment by AB: In this exciting episode, Chris McCaw trundles off to Alaska, close to the Arctic Circle, to engage the sun in a series lengthy exposures (one lasting an entire 24-hour day) which document the passage of time as it transits across the sky. Each muted black and white photograph is unique with the sun actually burning its time track into chill of these barren atmospheric images. It's kinda like Lucio Fontana with ear muffs. Pick of First Thursday Honorable Mention. Good show and definitely worth a visit.

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Haines Gallery: Leslie Shows - Split Array; Darren Waterston - Forest Eater.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: I need to go back-- at first glance I'm in a state of overwhelm with these lovely bold/Leslie Shows' and subtle/ Darren Waterson's. Silhouettes of black across atmospheric fields along with the white linear elements across mystical landscape are Waterson's. Shows' works pulls together a wide variety of media into one-- an amazing feat-- plexiglass, glass, aluminum, mylar and more. Like industrial chaos creating a large depth of field.

Comment by AB: Leslie Shows deploys a variety of ingredients to paint what appear to be abstractions on shiny aluminum panels, but they're really photorealistic representations of the crystal structure of Pyrite-- Fool's Gold. To complement Pyrite's worthlessness, Shows scatters cast sulphur sculptures around the floor-- sulphur being a main component of Pyrite, but in its pure form, serving essential purposes in industry. Worth a visit.

In the rear gallery, Darren Waterston waxes volcanic in works on paper and one cascading globular sculpture, the whole shootin' match inspired by a recent residency in Honolulu.

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Gregory Lind Gallery: Grey Area - Sarah Bostwick.

Review by Kathryn Arnold: This time greys. Subtlety not-to-be-messed-with in these shallow-relief resin based works featuring architectural elements-- a past industrial feeling vs nature in a few.

Comment by AB: According to the game plan, grey Hydrocal plaster and painted resin cast bas reliefs with architectural and landscape subject matters by Sarah Bostwick are inspired by night photography and the colorlessness of late dusk and early evening. Check it out.

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Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery: Gustavo Ramos Rivera - Paintings and Works on Paper.

Comment by AB: Classic expressionist abstracts by Gustavo Ramos Rivera in bright vibrant colors.

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Yes, I do it all for free, but also yes-- it makes me feel really good to know that you appreciate the incredible amounts time and hard work that go into bringing San Francisco artland to your computer screen. So maybe... just maybe... even an itsy bitsy bit of maybe... kindly support the cause. I know you can do it.

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First Thursday - October 6, 2011

First Thursday - September 8, 2011

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