The seventh annual San Francisco International Art Exposition (SF7) opened Thursday evening, January 13, 2004 with a preview party to benefit the San Francisco Art Institute Scholarship Program. SF7 is comprised of 70+ galleries showing several thousand works of art. It fills the Festival Pavilion pier building at Fort Mason Center, directly on San Francisco Bay, and runs through January 17th. Attendance was lighter than usual, possibly, postulated one aficionado in a moment of aficiative refrain, due to the Michael Tilson Thomas 60th birthday powwow over there at Davies Symphony Hall. Possibly.

Sometimes I think the locals blank on the what it means to have an international art exposition here in SF (albeit less international with each passing year). You see, here's how it works: Established art galleries from around the country, including several from overseas, take at least a week out of their lives, pay thousands of dollars for booths, and more thousands of dollars to pack, ship, unpack, and display what they believe to be among their best works of art. This way, you don't have to globe-hop shop. The stuff comes to you, and with minimal effort, you get to see a whole bunch of really good art by a whole bunch of really good artists from all over the place, all at the very same time.

So the show opens, the gallery owners (and/or their surrogates) strike various anticipatory poses, and wait-- for you to pass through the Festival Pavilion doors, stroll about, assess the situation, and-- this is the critical part-- come into their booths and buy something. Because if you don't buy anything, they lose money, and they don't come back. To complicate matters, they tell their fellow gallelry owners (the ones they like) that the SFIAE's a tough row to hoe. So fewer and fewer galleries are willing to take the risk, and the show gently ambles off into oblivion. That would be sad, don't you think?

And now for the visuals:

Pick (and "How Do Dey Do Dat?" award winner). Remarkable contemporary Japanese baskets at Tai Gallery, Santa Fe, NM. Price range, $1K - $20K; shown, $4K - $9K.

More from Tai Gallery.

David Lusk of David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, with super-neat "Mark My Words" by Tad Lauritzen, sold at $4K (somebody made a good buy). It's like those word puzzles that kids do in school today instead of getting educations.

Hypnotic Hung Liu beauty at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York, $35K.

"Like a Wind," thousands of bush clover branch segments grown, cut, arranged, and glued by artist Shim, Soo Koo, $9K at Galerie Bhak, Seoul, Korea.

"Blue Uncle," ceramic in three pieces by Wanxin Zhang, $32K at Byron C. Cohen Gallery for Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO.

Nathan Larramendy of Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, and pillow pills by Laura Splan, $3K per dose.

Recycle art by Michele Pred, $6K at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York. It's a big bowl-shaped sculpture fashioned of discarded charger cables, deep black, eminently aesthetically symmetric, and reminding us all to think about what we throw away-- and to think about maybe not buying it in the first place if, when we're done using it, it'll be a lot to throw away.

John Natsoulas of John Natsoulas Gallery workin' it. Looking on is a rocket-nosed Robert Arneson at $220K, a Wally Hedrick Vietnam opination, $40K (it showed at the Whitney, JN tells me), and a Barbara Spring calling card profferer, $7K.

Low-maintenance floral arrangement at Jenkins Johnson Gallery, I think.

Aaron Fink big scoop ice cream art, $17.5K at Alpha Gallery, Boston.

Big bronze brainless bust by Igor Mitoraj, $150K at Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago.

People eating food.