LIMN - RAYKO PHOTO - MINA DRESDEN - SOUTHERN EXPOSURE - CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES - OCTAVIA'S HAZE - GALLERY 1988 - 11.07.08

Limn Art Gallery: Illiterature.

Artists: Pamela Birmingham, Linda Ekstrom, Michael Joaquin Grey, Wolfgang Herbold, John Himmelfarb, Linda Hutchins, Yeal Kanarek, Stephanie Lempert, Stefana McClure, Greg Milne, Megan Murphy, Larissa Nowicki, Mike Patten, Duston Spear, Mark Lawrence Stafford, Masako Takahashi, Cody Trepte. Curated by Mark Carter.

Comment by AB: Group show of text-based works. Stop by if you're in the neighborhood. You won't be disappointed.

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RayKo Photo Center: Lou Dematteis and Kayana Szymczak - Crude Reflections... Oil, Ruin and Resistance in the Amazon Rainforest; Ed Kashi - Curse of the Black Gold... 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta; Ian van Coller - Interior Relations... Portraits of Female Domestic Workers in South Africa.

Comment by AB: Three worthy documentary photo shows. "Crude Oil" takes on the devastation big oil (Texaco, now Cheveron) inflicts on the Equadoran Amazon, "Curse of the Black Gold" chronicles similar degradation in West Africa, and "Interior Relations" focuses on the considerable vestiges of racial inequality-- epitomized by black and "coloured" domestics employed in white households -- still alive and well in South Africa.

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Mina Dresden Gallery: Andrezej Michael Karwacki - In the Name of Vanity.

Comment by AB: Babes.

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Southern Exposure: Kamau Patton and Suzy Poling - Object Agency.

Comment by AB: During their month long SoEx residency "Antennae Mirror Prism," Kamau Patton and Suzy Poling explore "the intersection of dissonance and resonance, analog and digital, and tactile and ephemeral." Tonight's performance is about that-- sort of a culminative moment. Don't ask me no questions beyond that, 'cuz I won't know the answers.

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California Institute of Integral Studies: Pintura Fresca. Pulse - The Beat of Global Abstraction.

Artists: Mark Bennion, Petronilla Hohenwarter, Eva Ryn Johannissen, Miran Kres, Thierry Le Baill, Paul Lorenz, Connie Noyes, Roland OrÈp¸k, Gabriela Proksch, Antonio Puri, Kathleen Waterloo.

Comment by AB: Pintura Fresca is an international group of abstract painters who met through the Internet and who now work together on various art projects. The the main objective of the organization is to be a platform and forum for contemporary artists and, in particular, abstract painting. It's that simple and no more complicated. And here's the results...

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Octavia's Haze Gallery: James Michalopoulos.

Comment by AB: James Michalopoulos paints New Orleans like nobody's business. I mean the dude irrefutably captures the essence with his wild Van Gogh-ified renditions. Plus the gallery's packed plus they're serving copious high octane cocktails made with specialty rums from New Orleans plus there's New Orleans tunes, and you know what? I feel like I'm in smack dab in the center of The Crescent City.

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Gallery 1988: Imaginary Friends.

Artists: Andrew Bell, Cherri Wood, Israel Sanchez, Ken Garduno, Scott Campbell, Yoskay Yamamoto.

Comment by AB: Creature-based fare for the most part. The good news? Prices are remarkably reasonable compared to many of Gallery 1988's shows, with some originals priced as low as $100-- maybe a few even less but I'm not totally sure about so I'm gonna stick with $100. Capiche?

Reminder-- the distance between my thumb and index finger, when included in an image for scaling purposes, is approximately 6 1/2 inches.

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