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JOHN PENCE - JANCAR JONES - BERKELEY ART MUSEUM

CA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES - FIVEPOINTS - CANESSA

BRIEF SPACE - DRIFTWOOD SALON

(with assistance from DeWitt Cheng)

Alan Bamberger, Fine Art Appraisal and Consulting. Click here.

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John Pence Gallery: Randall Sexton, Steven J Levin.

Comment by AB: Accomplished exacting interior, genre, figure and still life paintings by Steven J Levin; art by Randall Sexton includes a couple of peppy big game trophy paintings and wall of contemplative portraits of oil derricks in landscape. Stop by; good art.

Art by Steven J Levin.

Steven J Levin art.

Chapeau still life art by Steven J Levin in above image closer.

Steven J Levin art.

Pinkie cam detail of art by Steven J Levin in above image.

Steven J Levin art.

Art by Randall Sexton.

Art by Randall Sexton in above image closer.

Big game still life art by Randall Sexton.

Landscape and coastal scene art by Randall Sexton.

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Jancar Jones Gallery: Bruno Fazzolari - Mirror 5.

Comment by AB: Peppy primal white-space abstracts plus a first for me-- Scent of an Artist-- Eau de Fazzolari. I've pretty much given up on J-J's show statements 'cuz about half the time I tackle 'em, I end up in the ER. You gotta give props though for high inscrutability. Then again, I'm certain that those in the know... know. And that's what counts, or so they say.

Art by Bruno Fazzolari (sorta like it).

Bruno Fazzolari art.

Art by Bruno Fazzolari.

Bruno Fazzolari eau de toilette art (Bruno Fazzolari, left).

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Bertkeley Art Museum: Lecture/Book Signing by Barbara Pollack.

Review and images by DeWitt Cheng: Barbara Pollack has been writing about the explosive Chinese art scene for a decade; her new book, The Wild, Wild East: An American Art Critic's Adventures in China, describes the scene, the major players, both Anglo-American/Euro and Asian, and the potential shift of cultural power (already a fait accompli?) from New York to Beijing. Good last-minute airplane reading for art pilgrims headed west. (BTW, Allegra Fortunati's report on the Shanghai Biennale will be posted on Stretcher.org shortly.)

Barbara Pollack.

Social[ist] Realist Communist poster art of yesteryear.

Ironic capitalist art photography by Wang Qingsong: "If you define modernism [not] by art movements [but as] grand utopian schemes promulgated by totalitarian leaders, then we [Chinese] were at the center of things and you Americans were at the sidelines." A bitter pill for the west.

Progress shot of Wang's "Blood of the World" panoramic photo. Hundreds of nude models gathered in a frigid unheated hangar building to pose in war scenes derived from Manet, Delacroix, Géricault. A suspicious neighbor reported an orgy, and the authorities confiscated the negatives..

Another "Blood of the World" progress photo.

Factory 798 art complex (a former munitions factory) in Caochangdi area outside Beijing.

Ai Weiwei, conceptual artist, political dissident, entrepreneur and blogger, with "Fuck You" sculpture, ready for his close-up (for Vanity Fair, I think).

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Brief Space: Gladiators - Head-to-Head Live Art Tournament.

Artists: Brett Amory, Jesse Balmer, N8 Van Dyke, Josh Ellingson, Daniel Fleres, Grant Gilliland, Wednesday Kirwan, Reuben Rude.

Comment by AB: Single elimination live drawing tournament between eight local talents. I'm there a tad early, but here's the prenup...

Left to right-- Grant Gilliland, Phoneticontrol, Nate Van Dyke, Brett Amory, Reuben Rude, Daniel Fleres, Jessie Balmer, Josh Ellingson.

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Addendum:

Interpretative photos by Deborah Jack at California Institute of Integral Studies.

Deborah Jack photography at California Institute of Integral Studies.

Photographs by Deborah Jack at California Institute of Integral Studies.

Art by Aoi Yamaguchi at Fivepoints Arthouse.

Columnar art by Hiroko Tsuchimoto at Fivepoints Arthouse.

Art by Aoi Yamaguchi at Fivepoints Arthouse.

Kinetic extravaganza c/o Jamie Banes at Canessa Gallery.

More art by Jamie Banes at Canessa Gallery (sorta like it).

Last one from art by Jamie Banes at Canessa Gallery.

Power of Perception group show at Driftwood Salon.

Group show at Driftwood Salon.

Dude's havin' a bad day art at Driftwood Salon.

One more from Power of Perception group show at Driftwood Salon.

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