FFDG - ROBERT BERMAN/E6 - GALLERY 16

CENTRAL CITY HOSPITALITY HOUSE - SF WRITERS' GROTTO

Z SPACE - SOUTHERN EXPOSURE - 111 MINNA

COWBOYS & ANGELS

11.11.11

(with assistance from Anneliese Vobis, Clare Coppel, Mairead O'Connor and RWM)



Tutorial on teaching artist workshops. Click Here.

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FFDG: Mario Martinez (Mars-1); Group show 11.11.11 featuring works from Nathan Brown, Ryan Bubnis, Huey Crowley, Ryan De La Hoz, Lola Dupre, Hamishi, Russell Leng, Charles Martin, Eric Shaw, and Winnie Truong.

Review by Mairead O'Connor: Mars-1's work is masterfully constructed and aesthetically beautiful. It's also abstract, so there is no real meaning behind it other than the emotion that's evoked when you look at it. He sometimes paints with a pastel palette, soothing and light, while the darker pieces are space age, Star Trek and exciting. There is a wonderful sense of movement in his compositions. Geometric shapes float and dart around the image. They are mathematically correct and perfectly rendered.

Comment by AB: In the rear gallery, Mario Martinez aka Mars-1 lays down yet another metaphysical brain-bender with intergalactic implications. In the center of the room is a complex 3-D planetscape, and as if that's not enough, he frosts it all with a black & white Op Art spectacular guaranteed to make your eyeballs dance. Check it out.

In the front gallery, a group show spotlights promising up-and-comers.

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Robert Berman / E6 Gallery: Rob Setrakian / Eleven.

Comment by AB: Classic action abstracts by Rob Setrakian, long on dash and dynamics. Plus a musical performance by the artist's daughter, Sofi Rox-- in full throttle while I'm here covering the show.

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Gallery 16: Benjamin Echeverria + Laurie Reid.

Review by RWM: Wow. Is it minimalism? The art evokes a playful mood.

Comment by AB: According to the crib sheet, the collaborative endeavors of Benjamin Echeverria and Laurie Reid result in "works that inhabit feelings of insecurity, wonder, frustration and excitement." For me it's mostly wonder. Seems like artists everywhere are engaged in varying gradations of this arcane conceptual process-driven jag and I'm gonna keep asking questions until I figure out exactly what the essence is.

At this point, I'm thinking it might have something to do with decades of isolationist over-intellectual inbreeding in those hallowed bastions of MFA-dom. Kind of reminds me of back in the New Age days when I did so much yoga, meditation, spiritual introspection and experimental diets that I effectively rendered myself irrelevant, though I personally felt I had evolved into a higher realm of being. (Don't worry-- I'm all better now; that was a long time ago.)

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Community Arts Program, Central City Hospitality House at The Luggage Store: Art for the House - Ronnie Goodman and Jason Rivers.

Review and images by Anneliese Vobis: Vivid colors, expressive imagery and excellent craftsmanship are the key elements of this powerful exhibition. Ronnie's work was recently featured in the SF Chronicle. A real cool place to search for new talented artists.

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San Francisco Writers' Grotto: Scott MacLeod and Jacob Kalousek - As Hardworking as They Are Comfortable.

Comment by AB: Scott MacLeod and Jacob Kalousek will surely whiplash your aesthetic sensibilities with this wiggy creative clambake. Those of you who prefer to recreate are welcome to play an invigorating round of ironing board ping pong.

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Z Space at Project Artaud: Dark Star - Photograms by Maggie Preston and Klea McKenna.

Comment by AB: Klea McKenna creates her kaleidoscopic photograms entirely by exposing photographic paper to available light sources here at Theater Artaud. Maggie Preston flashes point & shoot cameras directly at photographic paper, recording each white-light flash as black, and then presents the individual "flashes" as a grid. Worth a visit.

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Southern Exposure: Working Conditions.

Artists: Steven Barich, Elyza Lozano, Jennie Ottinger, Nathaniel Parsons, Carlos Ramirez, Zachary Royer Scholz, Charlene Tan, Ethan Worden, Wafaa Yasin.

Review by Anneliese Vobis: The artists' communication is based on the work processes and not the word. The viewers become active participants like in Thomas Hirschhorn's action monuments. The displays consist of colorful kiosks, altars and ordinary studio environments.

Comment by AB: Artists construct their own work spaces on the Southern Exposure premises and work in front of the public for at least fifteen hours per week. Those of you who are curious about how art happens will likely get answers here.

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111 Minna Gallery: ZZZ??? Zebras, Zepplins & Zucchinis - 111 Zonktales by Merkley???

Review by Anneliese Vobis: Merkley??? transforms the space into a monumental socio- political environment. His complex multi layered collages consist of striking imagery in a complex cosmos. Like Richard Hamilton's collages, Marley???'s theatrical art confronts us with many witty ironic statements from popular culture to highlight certain discordant features of reality. Every piece serves as a platform for social commentary.

Comment by Clare Coppel: It's about dreams and a lot of nudes on the streets of San Francisco with clever photoshop weirdness... Fun and funny.

Comment by AB: Have you ever dreamed of inventing your own world and then living in it? Well that's precisely what Merkley??? is up to here. This dude is one prodigious Photoshop jockey; if he can dream it, he can materialize it. 111 shrink-wrapped bar-coded styrofoam-backed glam glam slams at reality, tricked out to the max with an opulence of incongruous detail. At first glance you might think it's a gusher of glistening schlock erotica, but this artistic enterprise is far far jucier than that. A definite must see. In fact, I think I'm gonna go ahead and slap a rare mid-month Pick on this baby.

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Cowboys & Angels: Fernando Cisneros - Galactic.

Comment and images by Clare Coppel: Big silk screens of fashionista stuff.

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