Is it a fiber show?

"Is it a fiber show?" has been open about a month, and will be up a couple more weeks. I was in Hayes Valley recently and stopped by Bucheon Gallery. Just walking in cold, without knowing the theme or thinking behind the show, I thought it was work about releasing the animus, and/or piercing the surface.

I think my favorite piece is an embroidered Lucha Libre cape, covered with subversive overlapping line drawings of contemporary and Aztec images. The artist, David Gremard Romero, has paintings and drawings of other neo-mythic narratives on his website. It reminds me a bit of Goya - the skilled drawing combined with recycling of the old mythic images. The cape is a shiny, silky, rippled blue that's very difficult to photograph, but I tried anyway - at least you'll get a hint of what it looks like. (More photos on Flickr.)



A corner installation by Martha Sue Harris includes a painted wall behind a shelf full of aggressively cute plants and animals, all covered in fleece. The underside of the shelf reveals roots with character.



There's some amazing trompe l'oeil in this show, including a pair of embroidered baseball cards by Ray Materson, who started his needlework in jail. (Great photo of one of the "cards" at right, from Alan Bamberger's review of the show - more photos of the show there, too.) The stack of ceramic "washcloths" by Emma Luna was hard to resist, as well (image at top.)

Lots of great pieces here, and most are not on the web, so you need to see it in person, if you can. Bucheon - 389 Grove St. San Francisco.