Bay Area Art Quake

How to avoid Super Bowl Sunday

2012-02-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

Blue Face with White Stripe" (1971), pigmented stoneware and porcelain, by Stephen De Staebler. (Photo: Philip Ringler)

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/how-to-avoid-super-bowl-sunday

Celebrate the Year of the Dragon

2012-01-26T15:46:00.000-08:00

Bowl with a pair of dragons. Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Reign of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722). Porcelain with incised decoration, yellow glaze, polychrome enamels. China | Jiangxi province. The Avery Brundage Collection

As the Bay Area's Asian-American population approaches 2 million, its cultural diversity has grown. The Bay Area is now home to Mongolian, Tibetan, Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese populations, each with their own distinctive traditions and celebrations. Many of the celebrations are rooted in Buddhist beliefs, a spirit of sharing, a hope for abundance and prayers of peace. The Year of the Dragon's celebrations were kicked off with the first rain of the year - a good sign because it means abundance.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/year-of-the-water-dragon-celebrations-the-bay-area

Honoring MLK in 2012. SF events and activities

2012-01-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/honoring-martin-luther-king?CID=examiner_alerts_article

YBCA choses a new director

2012-01-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Photo: Bethanie Hines Photography.

After a nationwide search, Yerba Buena Center for the arts (YBCA) has chosen a new director, Marc Bamuthi Joseph ...

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/yerba-buena-center-for-the-arts-choses-a-new-director-marc-bamuthi-joseph

UC Davis receives $10 million dollars for new museum

2012-01-05T16:27:00.000-08:00

Maria Manetti Farrow, Jan Shrem, Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi, Dean Jessie Ann Owens . Photo: Robert Durell.

Jan Shem, proprietor of Clos Pegase winery in Napa Valley has just donated $10 dollars to UC Davis to help build a new museum.

The museum will serve as a teaching and cultural resource for the region and provide opportunities to share the university’s artistic legacy, enhance its fine arts collection, and create new partnerships and collaborations.

Slated for completion in 2015, the museum will be named for donor Jan Shrem and his friend and arts patron Maria Manetti Farrow.

Born in Colombia of Jewish-Lebanese heritage, Shrem grew up in Jerusalem and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. After studying at UCLA, he built a successful publishing business in Japan, studied enology at the University of Bordeaux and later created the 450-acre wine estate, Clos Pegase. Shrem is now a member of the Director’s Circle for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and serves on the board of the Family Winemakers of California.

“After our dear friend, Margrit Mondavi, introduced the idea of the new museum, we decided it would be an honor to join her in supporting this extraordinary university and in sharing its vision for the future,” Shrem said. “Our philosophy of giving rests on simple concepts: We believe that education and the arts should be accessible to all people. And we believe that a curious and open mind should be nurtured and supported. Fortunately, the project at UC Davis has introduced us to people who profoundly share this philosophy. It is with deepest pleasure that we are able to help bring this new museum to life.”

Shrem’s gift will be counted as part of The Campaign for UC Davis, a university wide initiative launched in 2006 to inspire 100,000 donors to contribute $1 billion in support of the university’s mission and vision.

To date, $749 million has been raised from 85,000 donors. The gift is one of the largest ever received for the arts at UC Davis, and is the largest gift received to date by the College of Letters and Science. It is the fourth largest cumulative gift from an individual donor to The Campaign for UC Davis, and the sixth largest gift from any donor to the campaign.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/university-of-california-davis-receives-a-10-million-gift-for-a-new-art-museum

SFMOMA Artists Gallery Portrait Show & Andy Warhol at the Berkeley Art Museum

2012-01-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

Winni Wintermeyer, Thao Nguyen, 2011

The focus this month is on the portrait at SFMOMA Artists Gallery Portrait Show as artists Kim Frohsin, Claire Pasquier, Winni Wintermeyer explore the portrait. The Berkeley Art Museum will be showing 40 of Andy Warhol's polaroid portraits of the famous and not-so-famous.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sfmoma-artists-gallery-portrait-show-andy-warhol-at-the-berkeley-art-museum

Bay Area artists to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

2012-01-02T18:03:00.000-08:00

My arms are flung across the deep,
Into the clouds my towers soar,
And where the waters never sleep,
I guard the California shore.
Chief Engineer, Joseph Strauss (upon completion of the Golden Gate Bridge, 1937)

Celebrated by poets and painters, known as the “gateway to the Pacific,” the Golden Gate Bridge has been considered the the iconic symbol of San Francisco since it was finished in 1937. 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of this remarkable landmark.

To celebrate the bridge's 75th anniversary, fifteen artists from the Bay Area and around the world will create on-site installations responding to the bridge as an icon, historic structure, and conceptual inspiration. Adopting the title "International Orange" from the bridge's color and organized by the nonprofit FOR-SITE Foundation, the exhibits and installations will occupy selected areas of all three floors and the spacious courtyard of the historic Fort Point building.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

Looking back at the year in art

2011-12-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

"God created the Maharajas to provide a spectacle to humanity” wrote Rudyard Kipling, and the Asian did justice to his observation in their next big show, "Maharaja, Splendors of Indian's Royal Courts. There wasn’t an object in the show that wasn't embellished, inlaid with gems and gold, looped with sapphires and diamonds or outlined with pearls.The gaudy display was a reminder that today's 1% aren't alone in ignoring the misery outside their mansions.

The FAMSF gave us a feast of European art - from Pissarro to the splendors of the old masters to the subtle skill of 17th century Dutch painting in the Von Otterloo collection.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masterworks-from-the-dutch-golden-age-at-the-legion-of-honor

Pissarro is probably the least well know of the impressionists and the show displayed his humanistic look at family, friends and the working people of the day as well as his political radicalism.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/pissarro-s-people-at-the-legion

The behemoth blockbuster of the year was the two-museum tribute to the Stein family. Most of us know of Gertrude, the contrary, cantankerous and sometimes charming women who is notorious for saying 'There is no there, there" when referring to Oakland. Using a wealthy of archival material, the show brought to life her and Alice and a multitude of the famous and infamous of the Parisian avant-guard for decades.

Right across the road, at SFMOMA was an eloquent tribute to the family as art collectors. Seldom have so few bought so much art with so little money. It's difficult to say which is more amazing - the low prices paid for now priceless paintings by Cezanne, Picasso and Matisse or the Steins' (particularly Sarah Stein's) courageous support of art that was then new, provocative and revolutionary.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masterworks-from-the-dutch-golden-age-at-the-legion-of-honor

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/the-steins-collect-matisse-picasso-the-parisian-avant-garde-review

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/seeing-gertrude-stein-five-stories-at-the-contemporary-jewish-museum-review

Across the bay, the Berkeley Art Museum hosted two unique shows, the first West Coast exhibit of the work of Karl Schwitters and "Create," a show of art made by artists with disabilities.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/kurt-schwitters-color-and-collage-at-the-berkeley-art-museum-review

"Create" highlighted the extraordinary contributions of three of the foremost centers for artists with disabilities, all located in the Bay Area: Creativity Explored (San Francisco), Creative Growth Art Center (Oakland), and NIAD Art Center (Richmond, CA).

As I said at the time, "It's really a shame to call them "artists with disabilities" because they are artists first, and mentally challenged second. Yet, to ignore their condition is to make light of the difficulties they face.

Thanks to the lack of a safety net, the disabled roam our streets, beg on the sidewalks, mutter to themselves, are messy, dirty, frightening. They challenge us to define what it is to be human. They test the limits of what we can do, can afford to do, have the will to do. Unfortunately, they can't always communicate how extraordinary they can be, with help, with encouragement, with love and a support system."

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/create-at-the-berkeley-art-museum-review

The MoAD brought us a rare look at original works by Romare Bearden, the vibrant quilts of the Siddis, part of the African diaspora in India and "Textural Rhythms," swing, jazz and be-bop in fabric and thread,

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/soulful-stitching-patchwork-quilts-by-africans-siddis-india-at-the-moaf

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/textural-rhythms-at-the-museum-of-the-african-diaspora-review

The CJM brought us the work and tragic life of Charlotte Salomon, considered among the most innovative artists of mid-century Europe whose work defies categorization, and continues to influence artists in unusual ways.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/cjm-presents-charlotte-salomon-life-or-theatre-review

In the galleries: Hosfelt bought up a rare look at works by Jay De Feo. Next year, a major traveling retrospective of Jay DeFeo's work, organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, will be presented at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the autumn of 2012.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/jay-defeo-at-hosfelt-gallery

These are a few of my favorite things from the rich offerings from my favorite city by the bay. But none of this would be possible without the people behind the scenes at the museums. I want to give a shout of thanks to the following: Jill, Robin Wander, Cheryl McCain and Peter Cavagnaro at the Berkeley Art Museum, Libby Garrison and Robyn Wise at SFMOMA. If I left out your name, accept my apologies.

The best in 2011

2011-12-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

Add caption

I'm starting the yearly count down of the best and brightest for the year with "Bali, Art, Ritual and Performance, " at the Asian:

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/bali-art-ritual-performance-at-the-asian-art-museum-review

2010 SECA Award Winners

2011-12-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

Ruth Laskey, Pagoda Red, Woven piece.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sfmoma-announces-this-year-s-seca-award-winners

Sunnyvale Pottery Studio Christmas Sale

2011-12-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

All this of Pot and Potter—Tell me then,
Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?
Omar Khayyam—Rubaiyat. St. 87. FitzGerald’s trans.

Danny Shue. @the artist. Oxblood glaze in a contemporary format.

Here's another one in the sporadic series of "support your local artist and art organizations." ......
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sunnyvale-pottery-studio-christmas-sale?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Automata: Mechanical Wonders of the Nineteenth Century at SFO

2011-11-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

Fiddler c. 1910 . probably by Renou . France .papier-mâché, fabric, paint, metal, glass, wood, hair Collection of SFO Museum

If you are stuck out at SFO this holiday season, this exhibit can help you pass the time. The new exhibition features exquisite mechanical figures and musical machines from the 19th century.

Before the Industrial Revolution, automata were created mainly as one-of-a-kind scientific experiments, political or religious theater, and given as diplomatic gifts. Eventually they became promotional devices to attract sales. French manufacturers later incorporated mass-production technology to produce musical automata, musical dolls, clockwork singing birds, and tableaux méchaniques (mechanically animated scenes) to meet the increasing demand for these new forms of entertainment.

From the mid-1800s to the 1900s, automata served as parlor entertainment. Many skilled artisans were required to manufacture these clockwork machines. They were not considered toys for children, but rather items of social privilege and status - which didn't prevent me from wanting to play with them!
Continue reading Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/automata-mechanical-wonders-of-the-nineteenth-century-at-sfo#ixzz1ex7tq6Yi

Busy times at Chez Nancy's

2011-11-21T16:50:00.001-08:00

I've been busy reviewing art and even posted a new food recipe up at my food column at the Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

I want to do a longer piece on Bernini and more on the Venetian painters who are up at the de Young - heck, whole encyclopedias have been written about Bernini and Titian. Do you think I could be contented with just one column?

Vegetarian pot pie

http://www.examiner.com/budget-grocery-in-san-francisco/vegetarian-pot-pie-for-thanksgiving

Later in the week, I'll start my promotion pieces for local art fairs and community centers. There are so many local art centers that are desperately trying to survive. Financial support is being cut back in all areas but remember the motto "art saves lives. Feeding the soul is important in desperate times.

Bernini's "The Medusa" at the Legion

2011-11-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Medusa, 1640s. Carrara marble. Musei Capitolini, Rome

This piece is so delicately beautiful and the level of craftmanship is so high that it has to be seen to be believed. At the press preview today, John Buchanan, the Director of the Museum, hinted that there will be more exchanges between the Capitolini Museum in Rome and the Legion. No details yet but keep tuned to this space ...

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/bernini-s-the-medusa-at-the-legion

Children's Creativity Museum

2011-11-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/children-s-creativity-museum

Anonymous Was A Woman 2011 awards

2011-11-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

Anonymous Was A Woman announced the ten artists selected to receive the Foundation’s annual award. The “no strings” grant of $25,000 enables women, over 45 years of age and at a critical juncture in their lives or careers, to continue to grow and pursue their work. Lauren Katzowitz Shenfield, director of the program, explained, “Anonymous Was A Woman Awards are synonymous with important recognition in artists’ personal and artistic development. The financial gift helps artists buy time, space, materials, and equipment, often at early stages of a new project, and, sometimes, recover from traumatic life events. In itself, the Award helps artists feel recognized and honored by other distinguished women who seek no credit for the role they play.”

Jungjin Lee, Buddha on hand made paper.

For me the real beauty in photography is not the end product but the process. My images are a means of metaphorical expression: not a representation of the actual world, or a reconstitution of visual beauty, but a basis for fundamental meditation. The photographs represent thoughts incapable of being expressed in words, asserted, or emphasized as a single argument. My THING series, unlike my past works, approached me from objects which were near and familiar to me. The familiarity means a waiting and a private communication between the thing and myself. And that familiarity turns into an estrangement through the vacating of thoughts. The act of vacating, like the blank spaces of my work, makes the thing dream of itself as well as me.

More award winners at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/anonymous-was-a-woman-2011-awards

Asian Art Museum: free Sunday admission and Be The Match Marrow Registry drive.

2011-11-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Pixlar animator Sanjay Patel's cartoons decorate the courtyard and the outside walls of the museum. @Asian Art Museum/Sanjay Patel.

Read more at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/asian-art-museum-free-sunday-admission-and-be-the-match-marrow-registry-drive

Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts at the Asian Art Museum

2011-10-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/maharaja-the-splendor-of-india-s-royal-courts-at-the-asian-art-museum-review

Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power at the de Young.

2011-10-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

Paolo Caliari, called Veronese. Lucretia. ca. 1580-1583. Oil on canvas. Gemäldegalerie of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. courtesy FAMSF/Andrew Fox

The de Young Museum is hosting another not-to-be-missed show - an exclusive presentation of 50 paintings by sixteenth-century Venetian painters Titian, Giorgione, Veronese, Tintoretto, Mantegna, and more,

Review at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masters-of-venice-renaissance-painters-of-passion-and-power-at-the-deyoung

Pissarro's People at the Legion

2011-10-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

Self-Portrait

“Pissarro’s People,” opening this weekend at the Legion of Honor, brings together more than 100 paintings, showing his humanistic viewpoint through portraits of his family and paintings of working class people. Pissarro was the most modest, the most committed to the original principles of Impressionism, the most politically radical and for us, the least known.
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/pissarro-s-people-at-the-legion

Richard Serra Drawings at SFMOMA

2011-10-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective is the first-ever overview of Serra's drawings. This traveling exhibition brings together roughly 70 works made over the course of some 40 years—including many of the artist's sketchbooks that have never been shown before—and is presented chronologically, tracing Serra's ever-evolving ideas and methods since the 1970's.

Long before the 20th black on black painting the show became, dare I say it, boring? Would I be considered a philistine for saying so? Probably. One thing is for certain; if it weren't for Serra's international reputation, no museum would be showing all of these without some serious editing.

Click on the link, earn the writer a penny:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/richard-serra-drawings-at-sfmoma

Open Studios, 3rd weekend

2011-10-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

"Mermaids at the fountain." Nancy Ewart. Ink and watercolor on paper, 2011

Weekend 3, October 15 & 16, highlights SOMA, the Tenderloin, Potrero Hill,
and Bayview.

I'm showing this weekend so I hope to see some of you there (Nancy Ewart, 689 Bryant St, #27). I'm having a half off price on lots of items so there will be bargains galore.

SOMA Artists Studios at Bryant at 5th have 35+ artists showing everything from puppets to pottery to painting.

More images at my Flickr account:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49938734@N06/

689 BRYANT ST @ 5th ST. SAN FRANCISCO, CA

The studios are easy to get to by walking, bicycling or by public transportation. All featured studios are close to the CalTrain station and only a few blocks from Market St. BART stations. Several MUNI bus routes run to the neighborhood including the 9, 10, 12, 15, 27, 30, 45, 47 and metro lines N and T.
Nearby street parking is available.

SATURDAY ONLY RIDE the SOMA BUS!
October 15th, 12-5pm: Download the bus map here: http://www.somac-sf.org/free-open-studios-bus.html

Click at the link and earn me an extra penny:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sf-open-studios-weekend-3

Free Family Day at the Yerba Buena Gardens

2011-10-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

And all museums within the area...

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/yerba-buena-family-day-october-16th?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Weekend Picks for October 6th - 9th

2011-10-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

Haven't got plans for the weekend? Here are a few suggestions..

At the Asian Art Museum: Ha Insun , working with pencil on Korean mulberry paper, explores the hidden afterlife of broken ceramics. She is part of the Seoul-based art collective, Ipgim, whose work reflects the emerging feminist art movement in Korea today.

More at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/creativity-explored-open-studios-asian-art-museum

Jay DeFeo at Hosfelt Gallery

2011-10-05T01:39:00.000-07:00

In the first West Coast exhibition of Jay DeFeo's art in fifteen years, Hosfelt Gallery presents a focused investigation of some of the formal and metaphoric themes that run through various bodies of work made in the two decades between the completion of her legendary painting The Rose and her death in 1989. The exhibition includes approximately 40 works, including paintings, drawings and unique photographic-based works, many of which have never previously been exhibited.

Review at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/jay-defeo-at-hosfelt-gallery

36th Annual San Francisco Open Studios, 2011. 1st weekend

2011-09-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

The Mission, Bernal Heights, Castro, Eureka Valley, and Excelsior are the
focus of Weekend 1, October 1 & 2. Paul Madonna, well-known Mission-based
illustrator and creator of All Over Coffee, a weekly strip in the San Francisco Chronicle and on The Rumpus, returns this year, as well as painter and installation artist Cynthia Tom, whose surreal paintings touch on cultural identity, women¹s issues, the circus and more.

Alexandra Blum is showing her colorful monotypes at 661 Castro while Jennifer Ewing exhibits her work on "spirit boats" at 540 Alabama St.

Felicia Hoshino's charming children's book illustrations at Art Explosion and the Metal Arts Guild on Valencia, showcasing the work of dozens of skilled, contemporary metal and jewelry artists.

Sadie Valeri's exquisite realistic paintings, showing at the studio complex at 18th and Mission.

Check out other artists and art events at the Art Span website and download a map.
http://www.artspan.org/

New logo for the Asian

2011-09-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

THIS cost $400,000?

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sf-s-asian-art-museum-launches-a-new-brand

MOCHA, Muddle, Machiavelli and Middle Eastern Politics

2011-09-26T17:41:00.001-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/mocha-muddle-machiavelli-and-middle-eastern-politics

Glenda Joyce Hape: Connections Through Fiber

2011-09-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

The de Young’s Artist-In-Residence Program returns after a short hiatus with Glenda Joyce Hape: Connections Through Fiber, October 5–30, 2011, in the Kimball Education Gallery. Hape, a Maori artist living and working in New Zealand, has had an interest in weaving for as long as she can remember. In recent years, she has enjoyed challenging technical boundaries and combining multimedia in her form making.

Hape’s strong passion draws attention to traditional and contemporary weaving techniques in the context of Maori costume, especially as it relates to kakahu (cloaks). Hape acknowledges her family, kinship group and community as strong informants in her thinking and inspiration for creating artwork. “My artwork speaks of and acknowledges the exquisite taonga (treasures) created by our tipuna (ancestors),” explains Hape. Read more at:

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

Central Market Arts Festival Kick-Off Weekend at Mint Plaza

2011-09-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

San Francisco sure knows how to party..Central Market Arts Festival Kick-Off Weekend at Mint Plaza

Celebrate the start of the annual 24 Days of Central Market Arts Festival at Mint Plaza with a weekend of performances by acclaimed local companies on Friday, September 23 through Sunday, September 25. A complete list of events here:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/24-days-of-central-market-arts-festival

Smithsonian Museum Day, Sat 9/24/2011

2011-09-21T00:16:00.000-07:00

Ji-Young Lee. Be Tinged, 2010 . Naturally dyed silk and silk yarn, traditional surrender technique, handstitching. Museum of Craft and Folk Art, SF

In the spirit of Smithsonian Museums, who offer free admission everyday, Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket...for free.

Check out the link for a list of Bay Area Museums offering free admission. The beauty of this offer is that it's nation wide so where ever you live, there's probably a museum participating in the program.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/smithsonian-museum-day-sat-9-24-2011?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Dog murdering artist gets $750,000 grant from SFAC

2011-09-18T17:14:00.001-07:00

When the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) sent out the press release for the artists chosen to decorate the Central Subway project, I filed it in my "ticker" file with a note to keep checking back.

I didn't give it much further thought except to note, with irritation, that some of the larger grants had not gone to local artists.

Like many San Franciscans, I was dubious about the value of the subway project. The price tag of $8 million and rising was high to begin with and a few extra million to various artists didn't seem more than a drop in the bucket of political patronage.

The name "Tom Otterness" didn't ring a bell.

Read more:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/dog-murdering-artist-gets-750-000-grant-from-sfac

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at the de Young

2011-09-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957). Two Women and a Child, 1926. Oil on canvas. Gift of Albert M. Bender to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. 1926.122. © 2010 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Diego Rivera's art was rooted in European modernism and the Mexican Renaissance, which sought to reaffirm indigenous culture as a means of unifying national consciousness. Rivera's depictions of rural Mexicans transformed cultural stereotypes with negative associations of poverty and ignorance into powerful nationalist symbols of human dignity and perseverance.

more at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/celebrate-hispanic-heritage-month-at-the-de-young

Remembering 9.11

2011-09-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

9/11/2011. The Day. Bern Rauch. acrylic on canvas, 9x8'. At Driftwood salon.

I was sound asleep when one of my friends called me with the news. She was an early riser and told me to turn on the TV. I could not believe what I was seeing and it took quite a long time for what was happening to really sink in.

I was touched by the world wide outpouring of support and grief. For once in my life, I felt patriotic and even listened to the ceremony where Kathleen Battle sang so powerfully.

Then came the rest - restrictions on our civil liberties, a bombastic jingoism, a hijacked election, a right wing Supreme Court, endless war, endless death. How many have died since 9.11? I can't even begin to count.

I hate the meaningless rhetoric wrapped around the American flag. I refuse to accept that it's been the "worse catastrophe" since ever and I know too much to believe the fraudulent claim that nobody has suffered like we have. We didn't even attack the right country when we invaded Iraq for the majority of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia!

But if Bin Laiden and his followers wanted to destroy America, I think they have succeeded in ways that they may have never predicted. We have a debt that will probably destroy the country, unless we can reverse the tax breaks given to the most wealthy. The right wing and the mega-rich have a death grip on our economy, seeming not to care if the majority of people fall into an abyss little better than medieval serfdom . We have lost thousands of our young and killed more than thousands of people in countries that we knew little about before 9.11 and probably still know little about. Our political discourse has become toxic. The middle class that supported our democracy is under attack - not from outside terrorists but from an equally ruthless right wing plutocracy.

There are a few artists and a few events that approach this anniversary with sensitivity and political acumen - Driftwood Gallery is featuring the work of Bern Rauch (my friend Bernie from Project Artaud) whose paintings are a powerful look at 9.11. Ben Wood will be showing a new video at an interfaith service, the Cartoon Museum is sponsoring an on line exhibit and SFMOMA is offering free admission to active duty police, firefighters and first responders (and their families) this Sunday, September 11.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/commemorating-sept-11th-driftwood-gallery-ben-wood-cartoon-museum

The Getty acquires the Abby Bible, a 13th century Italian masterpiece

2011-09-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Getty Museum has just added to their already superb collection of manuscripts by the acquisition of the Abbey Bible, an Italian illuminated manuscript that exemplifies the highest achievements of the Gothic era.

more at....(plus more images: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/the-getty-acquires-the-abby-bible-a-13th-century-masterpiece

Bay Area Fall Arts Preview

2011-09-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Titian. Danae, part of Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power From the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna: Key works by Tintoretto, Titian, Giorgione, Mantegna and others from one of Europe's great city collections. Oct. 29-Feb. 12. De Young Museum

Mark your calendars for we are in for a glorious fall. You will be able to travel the world culturally without leaving the Bay Area - Dada in Berkeley, Houdini at the CJM, Maharajahs at the Asian and masterworks collected by the Hapsburg Dynasty - including Titian, Mantegna and Giorgione at the De Young. Read on because there's more, much more...
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/fall-arts-preview

Four Saints in Three Acts - no pigeons, no grass and that's a fact!

2011-08-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein looking over the score for Four Saints in Three Acts, ca. 1929; Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Library, Yale University; photo: Mabel Thérèse Bonney

Review up at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/four-saints-three-acts-at-ybca-no-pigeons-no-grass-and-alas-review

Oh, Art therapy, now I get it: Charlotte Salomon at CJMMatisse channels David Park at SFMOMA

2011-08-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

After the Gertrude Stein exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, see Charlotte Salomon's 300 small paintings on display.

Through her brush, Salomon articulated every painful and important thought and event -- the history of her life -- during a 2 year seclusion starting in the late 1930's.

For years, when I thought of SFMOMA, two colorful works came to mind: Sol Lewitt's wall drawings in the atrium, and the pre-psychedelic Matisse "Woman with a hat."

Even though Lewitt's installation was removed several years ago, I still expect to see it. And I've always wanted SFMOMA to move "Woman with a hat" to one of the back galleries -- like the Mona Lisa, something to be discovered -- rather than displaying her like a Wal-Mart greeter as you enter the permanent collection galleries.

What caught my eye in all the color at Steins Collect at SFMOMA were two dark nudes by Matisse, their blank sadness reminding me of works by David Park.

And when I found a fascinating painting like Picasso's Head of a Sleeping Woman (Study for Nude with Drapery), also at Steins Collect, I appreciated being able to go back and forth between the painting and the many studies of it, seeing how it came to be.

FourSquared - 16 Artists

2011-08-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

If you are tired of always looking at the big picture, try the Second Annual FourSquared show at Arc Gallery on Folsom Street. The opening reception is August 27, 7-10PM, and runs til Sept 26.

Sixteen Bay Area artists will each be showing sixteen small works.

Featured artists include Annie Arrasmith, John Fitzsimmons, photographer Audrey Heller, Judy Johnson-Williams, Barbara Kleinhans, Kristin Kyono, Paul Madonna (creator of "All Over Coffee"), Michael McConnell, Carrie Nardello, Nite Owl, Mark Paron, Sonya Philip (see Philip's fiber art pictured above), Silvia Poloto, Fernando Reyes, Rebecca Szeto, and Hadley Williams

Arc Gallery
W-Th-Sat 12-5PM
1246 Folsom St
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.298.7969

The Mourners. Tomb sculptures of the Dukes of Burgundy at the Legion

2011-08-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

Thirty-seven pilgrims from the Middle Ages landed at the Legion in San Francisco this week. Since 2010, they have have been making a journey across the United States and San Francisco is their next- to-last stop before returning to France, never to travel again.

Continue reading on Examiner.com The Mourners. Tomb sculptures of the Dukes of Burgundy at the Legion - San Francisco Museum | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/the-mourners-tomb-sculptures-of-the-dukes-of-burgundy-at-the-legion-review#ixzz1VWLd1DlU

70 Years of Archie Comics and the Green Lantern at the Cartoon Art Museum

2011-08-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Even though this cartoon strip came after the original creator served in WW II, it's still so very innocent and naive. Reality never intrudes in Archie's world. He may be seventy but he's still got all his hair, his freckles and hasn't gained an ounce of weight. Furthermore, he's still dithering between Betty and Veronica. The museum was full of kids, religiously reading every frame so obviously he's still got a lot of fans.

Promotional caricatures of Archie Andrews and cast for The Adventures of Archie Andrews, as part of the NBC Parade of Stars promotion. 1942 ? (from Wikipedia)

Michael McMillen: Train of Thought' at the OMCA

2011-08-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

I liked the show a lot better than I thought I would; usually conceptual and installation art leaves me cold but this was interesting, thoughtful, quirky and edgy.

Michael C. McMillen: "Train of Thought," the current exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is a retrospective look at the career of Michael C. McMillen, an internationally renowned Southern California-based mixed-media artist. The exhibition features large-scale multisensory installations, assemblages, sculptures, paintings, drawings, and films that invite viewers into McMillen's imaginary world, Review up at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/michael-c-mcmillen-train-of-thought-at-the-oakland-museum-of-california

(really infuriating that the Examiner template cuts off the top and bottom of almost all images)

Studying with Hans Hoffman - resources at the Berkeley Art Museum

2011-08-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hans Hoffman, Effervescence, Berkeley Art Museum (BAM).

Going back in time to study with one of the most influential teachers of modern art would require a time machine and I am afraid that we haven't built one yet. But the next best thing is right here in the Bay Area. UC Berkeley has a huge collection of Hoffman paintings and almost always has one gallery exhibiting work.

After all, the Berkeley Art Museum was founded in 1963 by following the donation to the university of forty-five paintings and $250,000 from artist and teacher Hans Hofmann. Their on-line data base also has a large number of Hoffman images; the search function is completely unworkable, but the images are fairly large with comprehensive captions. If you check the archive out, look at the enormous numbers of beautiful Chinese paintings. I hope that when the new museum opens (2014?), that they will have more room for exhibiting their collection of Asian Art.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/studying-with-hans-hoffman-resources-at-the-berkeley-art-museum#ixzz1USVR6mUh

Kurt Schwitters: Color and Collage at the Berkeley Art Museum

2011-08-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

The multidisciplinary nature of Schwitters’s output, which can make a career survey look like a group show, may be one of the reasons he remains an little known figure. His sole American retrospective, at MoMA, was 25 years ago. Representative samplings of his art have since rarely been on view, there or elsewhere.

Yet he has had a huge effect on post-World War II artists and is revered by many. Two of the collages in the show are from Jasper Johns’s collection; two others are owned by Ellsworth Kelly. ...And a Schwitters effect, however indirect and unrecognized, can be spotted in much contemporary work. (Holland Cotter, NY TImes)

Two part essay - Part two of the review of the show in Berkeley:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/kurt-schwitters-color-and-collage-at-the-berkeley-art-museum-review

Kurt Schwitters: Color and Collage at the Berkeley Art Museum

2011-08-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

Peter Bissegger: Reconstruction of Kurt Schwitters's Merzbau, 1981-83 (original ca. 1930-37, destroyed 1943); 154-3/4 x 228 3/8 x 181 in.; Sprengel Museum Hannover. Photo: Michael Herling / Aline Gwose, Sprengel Museum Hannover (c) Peter Bisseger.

Kurt Schwitters, Color and Collage” which opens Wednesday at the Berkeley Art Museum is the first major overview of the legendary German artist’s work presented in the United States in twenty-six years. The exhibition includes approximately eighty assemblages, sculptures, and collages made between 1918 and 1947 that elucidate the relationship between collage and painting—as well as color and material—in Schwitters’s work.
More at: http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/kurt-schwitters-color-and-collage-at-the-berkeley-art-museum?CID=examiner_alerts_article

"The Bible Illuminated: R. Crumb's Book of Genesis" San Jose Museum of Art

2011-07-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/the-bible-illuminated-r-crumb-s-book-of-genesis-at-the-san-jose-museum-of-ar

SFMOMA buys a work by Sol Le Witt

2011-07-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

I often wonder how work that is this intellectual and non-emotional will hold up. Will the next generation care about it the way we care about Rembrandt and Matisse? I don't find him very interesting myself but I do realize that conceptual art is the flavor of the decade (for some).

Yesterday, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) announced the acquisition of Wall Grid (3 x 3) (1966), an important early work by Sol LeWitt, one of the key artists of the postwar period.

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sfmoma-acquires-an-early-work-by-sol-lewitt

Soulful Stitching: Patchwork Quilts by Africans (Siddis) in India at the MoAD

2011-07-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

My grandmother used to make quilts but nothing like this. These are gorgeous, intricate works of art and if they were painted by men...well, you know the drill. It's only been in the last decade that quilts and other textile works, mostly made by women, have been looked at seriously. Now many are collector's items! If the art critic can extend the meaning of art to "conceptual art" and "installations," then there is no reason why these quilts shouldn't be considered works of art. For one thing, they are far more beautiful than much contemporary art and the level of skill is far higher.

But my mind boggles at the realization that these were made for everyday use. These stunning quilts are created out of the philosophy of "waste not, want not," in cultures where nothing goes to waste. We could learn a lot from them.

As part of its exploration of how traditional practices are adapted over decades throughout the African Diaspora, the Museum of the African Diaspora's (MoADSF) current exhibit is yet another example of textile art made by women.

The stunning, colorful, patchwork quilts are known as kawandi and are made only by craftswomen living in the little known Siddi communities of Africans in India.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Soulful Stitching: Patchwork Quilts by Africans (Siddis) in India at the MoADSF - San Francisco Museum | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/soulful-stitching-patchwork-quilts-by-africans-siddis-india-at-the-moaf#ixzz1SUoM0YDh

Masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age at the Legion of Honor

2011-07-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Part four of the series..

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masterworks-from-the-dutch-golden-age-at-the-legion-of-honor-sf-part-four-review

Masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age at the Legion of Honor

2011-07-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

This is the next part in my continuing series on the current exhibit.

Rembrandt van Rijn (Leiden 1606–1669 Amsterdam), Portrait of Aeltje Uylenburgh, 1632. Oil on panel, 29 x 22 inches (73.7 x 55.8 cm). The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection. Image courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Prosperous Dutch Burghers: As the Dutch merchant class became ever more powerful and prosperous, they demanded art that reflected their social status. Portraiture became a genre a genre that ranked only below history painting in the traditional hierarchy of subject matter.

Masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age at the Legion of Honor (part two)

2011-07-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Part two of a continuing series

Van van der Heyden (Gorinchem 1637–1712 Amsterdam), View of the Westerkerk, Amsterdam, ca. 1667–70. Oil on panel, 21 x 25 1/4 inches (53.5 x 64.2 cm). The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/masterworks-from-the-dutch-golden-age-at-the-legion-of-honor-part-two-review

Masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age at the Legion of Honor

2011-07-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

Jacob van Ruisdael (Haarlem 1628/29–1682 Haarlem?), Winter Landscape with Two Windmills, ca. 1675. Oil on canvas, 15 1/8 x 17 1/8 inches (38.5 x 43.4 cm). The Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection. Image courtesy Peabody Essex Museum

Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo began collecting horse carriages, until they completely filled their New Hampshire barn. So they switched to horse and sporting prints, until about two decades ago, when Peter Sutton, then curator of European painting at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, encouraged them to get into Dutch and Flemish art. It seemed a natural fit for the Marblehead couple -- she a native of Belgium, he a Dutch-born investor and developer who had co-founded the Boston investment firm Grantham, Mayo & Van Otterloo in 1977.

The result is the current exhibit at the Legion of Honor. nearly seventy paintings from the 17th century. It's the most astonishingly beautiful show that I've seen in San Francisco in a long time - and that includes the current Picasso show at the De Young and the Stein collection at SF MOMA (with a few exceptions for the Matisse pieces and the early Picasso).

Don't bother with the over-hyped show of "Baroque Masterpieces" at the Berkeley Art Museum. The show consists of eight poorly lit drawings, one of which showed some damage and is in need of conservation. You can barely see the work for the glare on the glass. The rest of the show consists of two third rate paintings by a largely forgotten painter. The show is frustrating to view, difficult to access and poorly documented. I have to make two exceptions; the Tiepolo drawing (also on the web page) is the best drawing in the show. The "St. John in the wilderness" by Caracciolo is amusing for its lack of any religious feeling. The boy in the painting is obviously a Roman rent boy and certainly for sale. While lacking in Caravaggio's sly eroticism, he is gesturing with a finger that seems to say, in 17th century Italian, "You talkin' to me?" What's with the red toes? But there's not a masterpiece in the lot.

Here's where some real art history scholarship would have been much appreciated. It's difficult to understand why Berkeley, with it's art and history departments couldn't find at least one student to do some basic research and write up more comprehensive wall tests. If the museum doesn't have the money, they could certainly find someone who would do it for class credit. This is even more important because the web site has only one brief essay, one small image and the guards are Berkeley are ever vigilant to make sure that you don't take a photograph (even with the flash off) or write with anything other than the soft, stubby yellow pencils that smear at the first touch.

Needless to say, I was underwhelmed.

I can't say the same for the show at the Legion. I guess that the difference between the two is the difference between a museum that's basically interested in the new and trendy vs. a museum that displays classic art. One venue largely shows art that spends a lot of time telling you what it is because the artist is not skilled or talented enough to let the image do the talking. It's unfortunate that this is the case because the BAM has a wonderful collection of Asian art and maybe even a decent collection of European art but you'd never know by the way it is presented.

The other venue (the FAMSF) displays art that does not have to waste a lot of time in text because the artist is (or was) well enough trained to make a painting that's worth the proverbial 1000 words. Of course, this art is also beautifully documented because it's historically important and has stood the test of time. The contemporary art at "the other museum" will last, at best, maybe 25 years. By and large it does not deserve to last longer.

The Dutch masterworks comes to SF from the Peabody Museum in Salem where it was originally organized in conjunction with the Mauritshuis. Dr. Frederik J. Duparc was the guest curator, and Karina Corrigan, the H. A. Crosby Forbes Curator of Asian Export Art at Peabody Essex, was the coordinating curator. The Legion's curator of European art has followed in their footsteps, hanging a show where every painting is in superb condition with an impeccable provenance.

Don't be shy; a click on the link earns me a whole .05 percent of one cent. Spoil the local artist and blogger and exercise that clicking finger:

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

Luis Cancel, Director of the SF Arts Commission, resigns from his post

2011-07-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well, heads are rolling at the SF Arts Commission. Dissatisfaction had been building for some time about the behavior of Luis Cansel, the $147,000-a-year head of San Francisco's public arts program.

More at:

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/luis-cancel-director-of-the-sf-arts-commission-resigns-from-his-post

Art from trash

2011-07-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

I am horrified by what we are doing to our world. Like a horde of locusts, we are picking the planet clean and one of the worst areas is what is happening to the ocean. The amount of trash that ends up there is staggering - I don't know how large the "floating plastic crud" is that's out in the Pacific and I'm not sure I want to know.

But Angela Pozzi and her fellow artists at the Marine Mammal Center at the Marin Headlands are using that trash to make art and trying to create a greater awareness of the problem. This is even more relevant on the 4th of July when everybody makes speeches about American the Beautiful while leaving trash on everything in sight. Read more at my column at the Examiner.com:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/washed-ashore-plastics-sea-life-and-art-at-the-marine-mammal-center?CID=examiner_alerts_article

Matisse, Picasso, Gertrude, Alice, Paris and all that jazz

2011-06-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

Matisse. Blue Nude (Biskra) at SFMOMA

Reviews of all the current shows in town up at the Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

or over on Chez Namaste Nancy
http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/

Art Notes: From Pulp to Puppets"WOW" moments on recent art outings

2011-04-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave
Legion of Honor
February 5, 2011 - June 5, 2011

The jaw dropping moment was learning de Borchgrave made the lace scarves and dress accents by delicately applying white paint to large sheets of lens paper. Incredibly real looking, as was the bead work created from finely dripped paint.

Diana Thompson
Re: Fence
An On-going Series of Crocheted Site-specific Art Installations

I ran across Thompson's web site while checking out an East Bay WordPress Meetup group. Among her other endeavors, Thompson crochets squares of yarn in chain link fences. Looking forward to a public show.

Corinne Gobet
Ceramic African masks and ceramic bowls

On display at this weekend's Mission Artists United Open Studios, many of Gobet's colorful and expressive masks and mini masks looked like carved and painted wood, even up close.

Niki Ulehla
Recology Artist in Residence

Residency Period: February 1, 2011 - May 31, 2011
Art and Puppet Show: Friday May 20, 2011 & Saturday May 21, 2011

Along with about 40 other people, I took the tour of Recology's dump site (or sea gull and pigeon sanctuary, depending on where you are standing) on Tunnel Road. A stylish woman from eCoexist in India was also on the tour. She said, “When people heard I was going to San Francisco, they asked if I was going to go shopping. I told them, ‘No, I’m going to the dump.’”

Part of the tour included the Artist in Residence studio, where Niki Ulehla was working on many puppets. The puppets are made from wood, leather, feathers, string, chopsticks, and anything else she can find in the drop off area where residents bring their own loads to the dump. You have to take the tour to see the artists in residents at work, as well as the large sculpture garden.

Recology hires Wingmaster Falconry to be on site six days a week with falcons and hawks, to scare away the pigeons and seagulls. Apparently they don't attack, just scare.

On the day of the tour, Steve Vasconcellos of Wingmaster brought two trainees. Covered in fine white fuzz, both looked like dandelions with beaks. "The Claw" above was just a few days old. "Mr. Cranky Pants" below was a few weeks old, and had dark feathers underneath his fuzz.

by Phil Gravitt

Fringe of Marin FestivalApril 15-May 8, 2011

2011-04-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

The 27th season of Fringe of Marin Festival of new Bay Area one act plays and solos will be held at Dominican University on Friday, Saturday and Sundays April 15 and May 8, 2011.

The fourteen plays in the Festival include one written by theater critic Jeffrey R Smith and another by performance poet Charselle Hooper. The fourteen performances are split into two programs on alternating days. Most performances are at 7:30PM, and a few at 2PM matinees. For reservations, directions and information call: (415) 673-3131.

Fine Art of Baseball - 14 AnnualApril 2 - May 28, 2011George Krevsky Gallery

2011-03-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

It's almost that time again. Time to put on your orange and black ascot and drop by George Krevsky Gallery for the annual Fine Art of Baseball exhibit.

Paintings, drawings, collage, scupture, recycled sports equipment, maybe even some dirt and sod, possibly an acrylic rally thong, you never know.

Fine Art of Baseball is a fun and interesting show every year, a showcase of diverse media and ideas focused around baseball.

Above:
Dave Eggers
Lincecum "The Unfaithful Shall be Vanquished"
2010
colored pencil on paper
22 x 28 in.

LA Road Trip

2011-01-19T23:20:00.000-08:00

Photo by Anna Conti. LA Sunset Strip, Jan 2011. used with permission

Three of us (Anna Conti, David Sumner and myself) took a road trip to LA to attending the opening of a mutual friend, Sandy Yagi. Anna has posted an account of the trip on her blog and I'm working my way through my recollections on my blog. Four artists, four days, four different viewpoints, 441 photographs with probably more to come.

http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/

http://workingartistsjournal.blogspot.com/

Photographer Kathleen KellySpring Training in Cooperstown

2011-01-12T09:47:00.000-08:00

Bay Area photographer Kathleen Kelly spent the first seven months of 2010 in upstate New York, giving her the opportunity to see and photograph a real change of seasons for the first time. Some of the photos were taken in and around the town of Otsego and the village of Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Little known baseball fact: There is only one stoplight in all of Cooperstown. By comparison, there are at least three stoplights in front of AT&T Park.

Her show of spring flowers and buds is now on the walls of Jonas on Hyde, between Vallejo and Green, in the Russian Hill neighborhood in San Francisco. Jonas is an art gallery with deli cold cases, or a deli with a lot more than menus on the walls, depending how you look at it.

Also of note: One of Kelly’s photos of a classic car hood ornament was chosen by SF Gate editors as one of the 22 best reader photos of 2010. See photo # 16.

Posted by Phil Gravitt

Last Call for Pear Tree Art Studio Show & Sale.

2010-12-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

This weekend (tonight 5-8 and Sunday 11-3) is your last chance to pick up extremely affordable fine art, jewelry, knitted wear, and crafts from 10 local artists including Anna Conti, Pam Heyda, Cynthia Tom, Adele Shaw, Anna Efanova, and others. Pear Tree at 1890 Bryant Street, San Francisco.

Federico "Pico" Sanchez, 1943-2010

2010-12-01T01:47:00.001-08:00

Monday morning San Francisco artist Federico "Pico" Sanchez died peacefully in his sleep, at his live-work space at Project Artaud. The "Prince of Artaud" will be hugely missed by his friends and neighbors, not only for his warm and friendly presence but his guidance during his frequent stints as president during his 20-plus years with the organization, his welcoming installations in the center patio and central hallway and his murals seen all over the Mission.

Tuesday was the closing day of his show "Three Tigers" (a group show with his two sons Hayyim and Solomon Sanchez) at Artillery Gallery on 2751 Mission street. Artillery Gallery will host a memorial for Sanchez on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. “Three Tigers” is held over until Friday.

Mission Local has a nice write-up about him here.

Last spring, Michael Yochum wrote a brief essay about Pico's life and work on SFArtNews, here.

Here's a 22 minute audio (mp3) interview with Pico by Southern Exposure's Neighborhood Radio radio - he talks about his many years at Project Artaud.

SFGate interviewed Pico in 2007 for a story on changing real estate in the neighborhood:

When Mexican painter Pico Sanchez moved to San Francisco in the early 1980s, he joined an artists collective in the former American Can Co. building on Potrero Hill. Sanchez says the neighborhood was "much funkier" then. The train still ran along Florida Street every night at 7, and the greasy air wafting out of the Best Foods factory on the corner smelled like a fast-food restaurant. "There was nothing going on around here at all," he says, "Just hippies living out of their cars."

There will be a memorial service at Project Artaud on Saturday from 1-4pm, and a 1000memories page has been set up for Pico here.

My Home Is Far Away

2010-11-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

Roving correspondent here, with a report from Chicago.

My grandparents, whom I loved so much and still miss, although they have been dead and gone lo, these many years, were of the generation that embraced the concept of the chain restaurant, and found particularly attractive the notion that no matter where you were--Omaha, Nebraska, or Oceanside, California--if you went to a Bob's Big Boy, well, you were sure to get the same burger and fries.

Predictably, and probably partly in reaction to having eaten so many of those damn burgers, I hate chain restaurants. But I see the allure. When you travel, when you are a long ways from home, you do feel a sense of disorientation. I also feel this sense on holidays, that the world is a different place from the one I am used to.

I was in Chicago on business last week, that beautiful city, and it was a magical trip. (Even the traveling itself was fascinating. I met a sexagenarian businesswoman who wore intimidating jewelry and long grey dreads, and who owned 7 El Pollo Locos and 9 Burger Kings, and man! Did she have some stories to tell! Although I steered the conversation away from politics, because you can imagine how someone whose wealth came from the sweat of others over her grills feels about being compelled to provide health care for those others.)

The disorientation is part of the magic, it stirs everything up, like shaking a snow globe, it's good. And yet, when you retire for the evening, whether it be in your luxury hotel overlooking the skyline or in the spare bedroom at your friend's brick house two doors down from Codger Corner (where all the homeowners are septuagenarians, and a story about the neighbors frequently begins with "My neighbor was trying to get his wife's wheelchair out of the house/into the car/out of the car/onto the sidewalk"), you lie in bed and have that strange feeling of not being quite sure who you are.

This is where the art comes in. (I apologize for the lengthy setup.) I stayed with a friend in Chicago, and when she asked what I wanted to do, I said I wanted to see as much art as possible, and have as much fun as possible. My friend took me at my word. On Friday night, we drove around the suburbs and looked at Frank Lloyd Wright houses. On Saturday, we went on the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio tour, and then--as if that weren't enough--we went to the Art Institute of Chicago.

I've been thinking about this since my return, how to describe the sense of walking into that beautiful house and beautiful studio, and feeling so completely at home in this place where everything is designed and ordered with precise and elegant intention. And of walking through those galleries and falling in love with the haunting Têtes-paysage, 1928 (Francis Picabia), and the angular, vivid Kandinskys. Chagall's America Windows. I still don't quite know how to describe this sense that art gives you of being absolutely at home where you are at that moment. And that the world, some appearances to the contrary and in spite of the struggles (to secure health care for the poor, for example), really is a beautiful place.

P.S. Title from Dawn Powell's My Home Is Far Away. If you don't know of her, she is a wonderful early 20th century American writer who--here it comes, the story of women artists from time immemorial--was overshadowed by the men. In Dawn Powell's case, the men were Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Although Powell is just as great. Some might say better.

P.P.S. Great photos of Chicago here.

Holiday Shopping outside the mall

2010-11-25T12:20:00.000-08:00

Think outside the box - the big box stores that is.

“Fruit Jello” by Camille Holvoet - Creativity Explored

"Making plans to take advantage of Black Friday shopping deals? We'd rather not, personally, that's why we have the Internet and a stack of Amazon gift cards. But if that's your kind of thing, you might want to start queuing up now because one Lori Davenport has already set up camp in front of the St. Petersburg, Florida Best Buy. As she says, "it's not about being first or any sort of firstness, it's about our own personal firstness...it's about the experience of what this brings to you." (SFist)

It brings you a week's worth of hard nights out on the pavement in front of Best Buy and a brief, if embarrassing, shot at Internet fame. That's what it brings to you.

But if you want to opt out of the buying frenzy, avoid the hysterical crowds and support local artisans, try some of the following craft fairs. The current economic crisis is an unavoidable reality for many organizations as well as individual artists. It has been devastating to a wide array of services, in great part because the availability and wealth of granting agencies has greatly diminished. As a result, individual contributions are a vital artery of support. Your support, now more than ever, is the life-blood of the local arts community, no matter how large or small the gift. The list below is just a sample of what's available, outside the big box stores - the events listed are either local, benefit artists who are not represented elsewhere or non-profit arts organizations that need our support, now more than ever. (Michelle Mansou, Roots Division)

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/holiday-shopping-outside-the-mall

SFMOMA: How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now

2010-11-20T15:45:00.000-08:00

The Judgment of Paris - wall mural at SFMOMA

In vino veritas? Read and find out...
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/sfmoma-how-wine-became-modern-design-wine-1976-to-now-review

A Visit to Porchlight for Stories About Art

2010-11-17T15:35:00.000-08:00

This past Monday I went over to the Verdi Club to see "Don't Call Me Retard," one of Arline Klatte and Beth Lisick's monthly storytelling series - this one benefitting Creativity Explored. The storytellers were teachers and students at the Mission art studio that serves artists with developmental disabilities. Or, as one of the speakers described the place, "a safe haven for the vulnerable."

The joy, awe and inspiration was almost more than that little old dance hall could contain. The program alternated solo standup stories with interviews, and video presentations. There was a common thread between all of the presentations, by teachers and students alike, and it was the pleasurable surprise and wonder that occurs when creativity is nurtured, witnessed, and appreciated.

Thomas Pringle is an entertaining fabulist who regaled us with his stories of catching a Great White Shark in San Francisco Bay and becoming the youngest professional baseball player at the age of two.

Whitman Donaldson read from his graphic novel about his experiences living with Prader-Willi syndrome and told another story that involved mythic cupcakes and mother love.

When the video presentations developed technical glitches, Klatte and Lisick did impromptu dances.

The videos used images and recordings of student work to tell stories that were impractical for the stage. One of the most powerful was by Than Diep. She illustrated a story about her early life, accompanied by the keening sound of her natural voice and the mechanical voice of her communication device. I don't think I'll ever forget it. I wish you could see it. But check out this short video of Than Diep in the studio.

Union Square Ramble

2010-11-14T22:20:00.000-08:00

Anna wrote up a marvelous report about our fabulous Friday night in downtown SF - art, food, friends...go and read about it at:
http://workingartistsjournal.blogspot.com/

Masao Yamamoto at the Robert Koch Gallery

2010-11-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

I prefer the intimate experience of looking at small prints. I print and display my own photographs small for that very reason. When I walked into the Robert Koch Gallery last evening I was more than pleased to see the entire gallery devoted to an exhibit of Masao Yamamoto's exquisitely crafted photographs, most no larger than 4X6 inches.

Everything about the exhibit played to exactly what I love about photography: intimate view of subjects presented in a manner that invites the viewer into that intimacy while offering a fresh and often unique perspective.

Yamamoto's vision and process transcends the generations of photographic pursuit. Many of his images evoke pictorialism and classic figure study, but they are in fact beyond all that and firmly planted on a most contemporary point of view.

"If I take small photos, it’s because I want to make them into the matter of memories. And it’s for this reason that I think the best format is one that is held in the hollow of the hand. If we can hold the photo in our hand, we can hold a memory in our hand. A little like when we keep a family photo with us." -(quote from an interview posted to lensculture)

The work of Masao Yamamoto is on view through December 24, 2010 at the Robert Koch Gallery, 49 Geary, San Francisco.

Photos by Masao Yamamoto, courtesy of Robert Koch Gallery

Julie Michelle: " I live here" opening at SOMArts

2010-11-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

@ Julie Michelle

New post up at:Chez Namaste Nancy

Open Studios 2010, Hunters Point

2010-10-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

Brief report on Open Studios at Hunters Point.

Open Studios 2010, 1st Weekend

2010-10-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Cross Posted from Working Artists' Journal
Hugh Buck's iPad drawings (at Developing Environments)

It's getting to the point where I can barely keep up with seeing the the studios of my friends & acquaintances, nevermind seeing someone new. But still, we try.

Last weekend was for artists in the Mission and I visited studios all day Saturday & Sunday. This week (SOMA & Dogpatch) I'm going to try to limit it to the Friday night receptions. I couldn't possibly write about everything I saw, but I'll give you the highlights.

Project Artaud hallway - Dale Erickson's paintings.

My overall impression was that the studios were set up beautifully and the art was better than ever. It looked to me like there were plenty of visitors everywhere I went - I even witnessed two sales. But most of the artists I talked to said it was slower than usual and sales were poor. No surprise, I guess, in this economy - still, artists are enthusiastically making plenty of art.

Bernie Rauch is working on a new banner for political actions. He's also finished some new paintings in his multilayered style, including one of Glenn Beck covered in dog (Fox?) shit.

Detail of the acrylic raised surface on Bernie's paintings:

Dale Erickson made a sale while I was there. His paintings filled the studio and spilled out into the halls. In his newest work, he's adding deeper, richer colors and playing with edges.

Robert Burg had quite a few new paper constructions, plus a series of drip paintings.

Nartan modeled one of her fashion creations.

Anna Efanova was also making a sale. Her studio was filled with eclectic sculptures, prints, and paintings of mostly surrealistic creatures.

Heather Robinson has a big new body of work, using stitchery in her mixed media panels, with a recurring theme of openings, peepholes, or directed views. The space she shares with a handful of other artists, a little storefront called Secession, was the best looking space I saw this weekend.
It's very attractive, very inviting, filled with interesting things to look at and buy. Everyone was so hospitable, I hated to leave. I've noticed more and more of this kind of art sales space - geared more toward the retail model and less toward the white walls (museum) model. Seems to be working.

I stopped by the Southern Exposure Gallery for the "Art Publishing Now" fair. Thirty-four publishers, from zines and web-only outfits to established companies like Re/Search and McSweeny's were set up at tables with samples and were willing to talk to artists about ideas, plans and projects. It was pretty exciting - i came away with a ton of samples and even more ideas.

Jennifer Ewing had a brand new installation for her Spirit Boats - she told me this was a kind of trial run for an installation she'll be doing at the de Young in January. She also has a new web site, with a great page about a very special spirit boat and its launching.

Shawn Ray Harris has expanded his series of 3D anaglyphs (photo-based line images, red/cyan) to include graphic novel styled layouts and narrative. They're really cool looking, and original. I told him they would make a great iPad app, and told him where he could get it made. Then he told me about another artist in his building, Hugh Buck, who has started painting on his iPad and making the printouts at Costco.

Shawn took me upstairs to see Hugh's work and I was blown away! This guy should be doing covers for the New Yorker. Seriously - wish I had better photos - he doesn't have a web site I can direct you to, either. See if you can pick out the Gavin Newsom caricature.

Now it's time to go visit a whole new bunch of art studios . . . .

Nancy Ewart at Open Studios: October 15, 16, 17

2010-10-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't want to post examples of my work on "the other blog" - right on top of a post about one the gorgeous screens from the upcoming show at the Asian - talk about unfair competition. But since I'm tooting my own horn, here are some more pieces from the inventory. The piece above is titled "Big Dipper." It's about 24 x 36, mixed media on paper and I don't remember the date but it is older. (Bad Nancy). The image doesn't do justice to the texture or the colors; when I work with acrylics, I seem to feel freer to incorporate raised areas, gold leaf and lots and lots of paint.

Bimini, 24 x 30. Oil on Canvas, 2009/2010

Memory of Water. 12 x 12. 2009. Part of a four part series

Low Tide, Full Moon. 28 x 36. Oil on Canvas, 2010

Sandy Yagi at Open Studios

2010-10-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

I met Sandy though Anna and have become intrigued by her Gothic visions, part medieval, part post-apocalypse, but always uniquely hers. She brings an impressive level of skill to her work - a rare facility with oil and imagery, a sense of humor and an imaginative vision of unknown worlds that almost, but not quite, seem like ours. It's as if we are a parallel time line to the worlds that Sandy imagines, a different evolutionary track but one which seems quite plausible until you look more closely. With Sandy's work, it's always important to look more closely.

Friday Evening Reception
October 15th - 6:00PM - 9:00PM
with live music, snacks and refreshments

Open Studio - Saturday and Sunday -
October 16th - 17th - 11 AM to 6 PM

South Beach Artists Studios
340 Bryant Street - Suite 320, Studio #13
San Francisco, CA 94107
http://sandrayagi.artspan.com/

Nancy Ewart at Open Studios: October 15, 16, 17

2010-10-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

Nancy Ewart. Dangerous Waters. Oil on canvas, 22 x 20. 2010

Open Studios coming up: Opening Reception October 15 from 6-9

Open to the public on Saturday and Sunday, October 16 & 17 from 11 to 6

689 Bryant St, SF, Studio 27

Accessible via public transportation - some parking in the neighborhood

Open Studios 2010

2010-09-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

I will be showing the second weekend (Nancy Ewart, SOMA Arts, 689 Bryant St, 5th & Bryant, #27) and I hope that the rest of the contributors to this blog will add their information.

2010 SF Open Studios

Gala Weekend

ArtLaunch 2010: 7-10 p.m. Sat. More than 400 works for sale, open bar and hors d'oeuvres. $35 advance, $40 at the door.

Exhibition opening reception 4-7 p.m. Sun. Admission free; cash bar. Both events take place at SOMArts Main Gallery, 934 Brannan St., S.F.

Weekend 1: Oct. 9-10: Bernal Heights, Castro, Duboce, Eureka Valley, Glen Park, Mission, Noe Valley, Portola

Weekend 2: Oct. 16-17: Bayview, Excelsior, Financial District, North Beach, Potrero Hill, Russian Hill, SoMa, Tenderloin

Weekend 3: Oct. 23-24: Buena Vista, Diamond Heights, Fort Mason, Haight, Hayes Valley, Marina, Mount Davidson, Ocean Beach, Pacific Heights, Richmond, Sunset, Twin Peaks, West Portal

Weekend 4: Oct. 30-31: Hunters Point Shipyard and Islais Creek Studios

Studios are open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information, go to www.artspan.org.

Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay

2010-09-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

Gauguin, The Yellow Christ

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/de-young-museum-van-gogh-gauguin-c-zanne-and-beyond

Independent Publishing: Where's It At?

2010-09-20T16:16:00.001-07:00

FREE arts workshops tonight, tomorrow night, and next Saturday (9/25) in SF: (via Ramona Soto)

Independent Publishing: Where's It At?
Monday, September 20, 6-8PM
Viracocha SF, 998 Valencia St. @ 21st. St., SF

What will rule publishing? Print vs. Internet? ... or are people even reading? How do you start and run your own small press? What literary events are happening? What spaces are available? How do you promote your lit'ry endeavor? Who's writing, who's reading, what's happening around the Bay Area?

•Mike Skott (Ink. Publishing http://www.inkonbooks.com/)
•Ramsey Kanaan (PM Press, http://www.pmpress.org/)
•Tony DuShane (Cherry Bleeds, http://www.cherrybleeds.com/)
•Deborah Grabien (Plus One Press, http://www.plusonepress.com/)
•J. Brandon Loberg (Performance poets, publisher of "The 16th & Mission Review")
•Ginger Murray (Whore Magazine - http://whoremagazine.net/)

Promoting Your Underground Art
Tuesday, September 21
Mission Comics & Art, 3520 20th St. x Mission St., 6-8PM
How to promote your event on a limited budget, and on the edge of propriety.

•Evan Karp (QUIET LIGHTNING Reading Series, http://qlightning.wordpress.com/)
•Bix Warden (Bookings/Outreach, Mission Control, http://missioncontrolsf.org/)
•Doctor Popular
•Caroline Thompson (promotions for Broadway musicals "Wicked," "Peter Pan," etc.)

Also: PLEASE DO COME TO SF next Saturday: Wonderful Expo for Independent Arts with workshops galore!! PLEASE SHARE!

Writing for marketing, PR, grant proposals, storytelling and more
10:30-11:30 (CELLspace, 2050 Bryant St. SF)
Dalya Massachi, author, Writing to Make a Difference
Josh Wilson, co-founder, Independent Arts & Media

Social networking
11:45-12:45 (CELLspace, 2050 Bryant St. SF)
Emily Goligoski, arts and culture writer
Therese Davis, Songbird Festival founder
Kwan Booth, writer, editor, cultural curator
Johnny Funcheap, founder, FunCheapSF
Gregory Stock, arts promoter

Community collaboration and project documentation
2:30-3:30 pm (Sports Basement, 1590 Bryant St, San Francisco, CA)
Wendy Testu, Project Director, Welcome to the NeighborHOOD
La Constance Shahid, Project Coordinator, Welcome to the NeighborHOOD
Lise Swenson, filmmaker
Gregory Stock, arts promoter

Online fundraising
3:45-4:45 pm (Sports Basement, 1590 Bryant St, San Francisco, CA)
David Hunt, co-founder, Circus Bella
Michael Stoll, SF Public Press
Lisa Lee, Hyphen
Irene Kao, Hyphen

* * * *
Concurrently:
1:00-4:00 pm (CELLspace, 2050 Bryant St. SF)
SFAC’s Face Time

"Getting Back to the Phantom Skill"

2010-09-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

This promises to be a very interesting series of columns in the NY Times: "Line by Line" will be a 12 week series by James McMullan which readers are encouraged to follow with pencil and paper in hand.

Viva Mexico - Celebrate Mexico's Bicentennial on Friday at the De Young (And it's Free!)

2010-09-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

September 16th marks marks the day in 1810 when Mexico began its war of independence against Spain, an event that triggered similar uprisings across the Western Hemisphere.

In September 1810, rebels in the central state of Guanajuato were secretly planning an uprising against the Spanish when their plot was discovered. As Spanish troops moved to arrest conspirators, one of the them, priest Miguel Hidalgo, realized the moment for revolution was upon them.

Before dawn on Sept. 16, 1810, Hidalgo rang the church bell to gather residents in the town of Dolores, and then delivered a famous call to arms known as the grito, or shout.

The war lasted 11 years before Spain finally gave Mexico and Central America its independence. The territory included what is now California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado.

Tonight at 11, Calderón will ring a bell in the Zócalo Plaza and recite the names of Hidalgo and other independence heroes. After each name, the crowd shouts Viva!— long may he live.

The event, which is repeated by mayors and governors across Mexico, has become an annual sign of hope, said Oriel Gómez Mendoza, a historian at Michoacan University.

Read more at
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

Fecal Face - 10th Anniversary Show

2010-09-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

If you like a certain type of SF 20-something hipster-yipster-trend (probably with trust fund) kind of art, Fecal Face is throwing a party to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

From SF Fist:
Fecal Face Dot Com, the premier and inexhaustible arts and culture site, are having their mammoth 10 Year Anniversary Show tonight. The exhibit at the Luggage Store Gallery features some of SF's favorite artists, and the after-party at Mezzanine will include performances by Kelly Stoltz, Sonny Smith, and Ty Segall, and DJ Ted Shred.
6 to 8 p.m. // Luggage Store Gallery (1007 Market St) // free
9 p.m. to 2 a.m. // Mezzanine (444 Jessie St) // $8, suggested donation
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php/good-stuff/2080-fecal-face-dot-com-10-year-anniversary-show

SF Chronicle review: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/08/NSPA1F6K57.DTL&type=art

Cézanne: part of the Post Expressionist exhibit opening later this month at the De Young.

2010-09-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

A year after he died, a major exhibition of Cezanne's works opened at the Salon d'Autumne in Paris. Picasso, Braque and Matisse were among those crowding into the show--and stealing his secrets. But they would never steal his grandeur. Rilke, too, was there. "Not since Moses," he wrote to his wife, "has anyone seen a mountain so greatly."

Full piece up at:
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/c-zanne-coming-to-the-de-young-september

Up and Coming for the fall

2010-09-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

There's a comprehensive list of all the fall shows up at the Examiner.com website, along with a lot of other notices and reviews about art and daily posts - well, almost daily up at Chez Namaste Nancy (see sidebar for link).

http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

Ars Longa, Vita Brevis!

Cantor Arts Center: “Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa

2010-08-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University presents “Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas,” August 4, 2010 through January 2, 2011. This exhibition explores 500 years of visual cultures and histories of the water... Read more »
http://www.examiner.com/museum-in-san-francisco/nancy-ewart

Anselm Kiefer at SFMOMA

2010-08-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

New piece up at: http://www.examiner.com/x-13996-SF-Museum-Examiner

Maira KalmanVarious Illuminationsof a Crazy World

2010-08-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

I first heard of illustrator, author and designer Maira Kalman when a friend forwarded her New York Times blog, about a trip to City Hall and a sewage treatment plant. Her funny, interesting and educational story was intermingled (intertwingled?) with paintings and photographs of what she saw along the way and at the plant.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco has an exhibit of Kalman's work, now through October 26. Like a good San Franciscan, I tried to take the Muni railway to the museum. But then there was a switching problem, followed by a few and far between bus and trolley problem, and then a full to the brim bus, trolley and cab problem. Finally made it to the museum about an hour and a half after I left.

As there is a lot of detail in Kalman's work, as well as plenty of reading of the several books accessible in the exhibit, I recommend going to the exhibit when one is fresh. Choose your mode of transportation accordingly.

The Kalman exhibit includes drawings, books, children's books, designs on clothing, objects that appear in her work, and short films. Photographs are also on display, including a series on free sofas on the sidewalk. Coincidentally, I had taken a similar photo below, just before boarding the train to nowhere. Somehow, Kalman's free sofa photos are so much more revealing.

My favorite of her books was "FIREBOAT, The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey."

It is a wonderful combination of fun and history, powerful and inspiring.

by Phil Gravitt

Upcoming: Klee, Keefer, Hauntings in Berkeley and water Goddesses at Stanford

2010-08-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

Art viewing, research and writing in progress:

A new show at the Cantor Art Center in Stanford, featuring Africa art that honors the Goddess of Water.

A reprise of an early Klee show at SFMOMA (opens August 8th)

Part three of my long essay on Anselm Kiefer at SFMOMA (part of the Fisher Collection)

French philosopher Jacques Derrida meets Berkeley: Hauntology at the Berkeley Art Museum

SoMa Artists Studios voted the best artists collective

2010-07-28T22:57:00.001-07:00

BEST ART COLLECTIVE: SoMa Artists Studios 689 Bryant, SF

http://somaartiststudios.com/

A Whole Lot of New Stuff up

2010-07-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

I've got several new posts up at Chez Namaste Nancy and the SF Examiner.com and it's not always the SAME stuff so take a few minutes and read what you may not have read already. I will be contributing on an infrequent basis to Venetian Red and will cross-post those essays to my own blog and the Examiner.

I'd like to remind the spanners who continually try to slip something in the comments section that comments are moderated and links in unknown languages or to porn/self-advertising sites will always be rejected.

http://cheznamastenancy.blogspot.com/

Views of Paris

2010-07-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

If you cannot make it to the Legion or the De Young, try a free quick trip through the "Views of Paris" exhibition in the Concourse Gallery, 555 California Street, San Francisco. Paintings are from Le Trianon Fine Art, currated by Casey & Associates.

Toy Theater at MPD

2010-07-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

"Toy Theaters, Worlds in Miniature"
Twenty-one rare toy theaters from around the world
at the Museum of Performance and Design
Veterans Building / 401 Van Ness Avenue / 4th floor
Open Wed - Sat, 12 - 5pm

I was lucky enough to get a private tour of this show with the curator, Bill Eddelman. His knowledge and enthusiasm for toy theater is infectious and I soon found myself imagining my own handmade dioramas. The assembled theaters, full of 2D actors and stage sets, tiny lights, toy furniture and paper moons, were mostly in glass cases - good thing because I had an irresistible urge to put my hands in them and start moving things around. Took me right back to childhood.

The theaters are from all over the world and the show is organized by country of origin. Mostly classical fairy tales and opera are represented, and they're mostly Victorian Era theaters (ranging from the 18th century to present.) Besides the constructed theaters, the walls are full of flat printed sheets of more paper-doll-like actors, backdrops and props.

For those of us who like to know what goes on behind the curtain, the construction and workings of the theaters can be seen from the sides. I was reminded of contemporary artists who have recently exhibited work with toy theaters - Sandow Birk and William Kentridge. And I couldn't help thinking that this is a art form that would appeal to the SteamPunk and Make crowds.

Actually, it appeals to me.

More photos at MPD's Flickr site.

Holiday in Heaven

2010-06-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

Robert Rahway Zakanitch

Rococo Revisited (2008)

Gouache on Paper, 96'' x 72''

To visit the work of Robert Rahway Zakanitch in "From a Garden of Ordinary Miracles" at the Samuel Freeman Gallery in Santa Monica is to find oneself suddenly and unexpectedly adrift on a mighty cloud of joy: we're blessed, we're blessed, we're blessed, we are blessed.

There is a particular sensibility in this work, a way of looking at the world with love, a way of allowing magic and light to slip into your consciousness, which, along with the underlying tone of assuming the best in all of us, reveals a habit of mind that is enchanting:

Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no fear.
Those who see all creatures in themselves
And themselves in all creatures know no grief.
How can the multiplicity of life
Delude the one who sees its unity?

These massive (96” x 72”) displays of flowers and creatures
(it's even more of a surprise in person!) allow one to become so absorbed in the experience of joyful seeing and awareness that one forgets oneself:

. . . in those moments when we forget ourselves—not thinking. “Am I happy? Am I having fun yet?” but completely oblivious to our little ego –we spend a brief but beautiful holiday in heaven.

But the forgetting is a sort of divine paradox, because in the forgetting, one feels most oneself in this intimate connection with nature and beauty and sheer goodness.

By “goodness,” you understand I mean moral goodness, and by “moral goodness,” I mean what is beautiful in the human spirit, from even the tiniest impulsive act of generosity or kindness or mercy. I mean take-my-hand goodness; I mean Gwendolyn Brooks’ “Maud Martha Spares the Mouse” goodness:

Maud Martha could not bear the little look.
"Go home to your children," she urged. "To your wife or husband."
She opened the trap. The mouse vanished.
Suddenly, she was conscious of a new cleanness in her. A wide air walked in her. A life had blundered its way into her power and it had been hers to preserve or destroy. She had not destroyed. In the center of that simple restraint was–creation. She had created a piece of life. It was wonderful.
"Why," she thought, as her height doubled, "why, I'm good! I am good."
She ironed her aprons. Her back was straight. Her eyes were mild, and soft with loving kindness.

Through some amazing grace, these works nudge you to spread your wings--to be a better person--to put a little love in your heart.

Inside Out

2010-06-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

Last year, I read Daniel Goleman’s Vital Lies, Simple Truths: The Psychology of Self-Deception because I was thinking about the inner being and the face one presents to the world. I was thinking also about Paul Ekman’s work with micro expressions--how one might be able to deceive with words, but how one's true emotions will leak out and give one away. Now I am reading Thomas Moore’s Soul Mates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationships which, in spite of the title, mostly concerns coming to a deeper knowledge of one’s self and one’s own soul—the desires and fears and dilemmas and mysteries with which we struggle. Our demons and our angels.

All right. So we have (or we are) this soul, this heavenly and demonic being, and we try to fit it into this world that demands from us certain obligations. We must work or marry or raise children or all of the above. We take this big inner being, this chaotic, passionate, inspired, crazy, impulsive, beautiful, ferocious mess of humanity, and squish and shove and squeeze it into some kind of semblance of what might pass for convention so we can get jobs/make friends/find mates/not scare people/not get arrested. We tell lies, to ourselves and others. We construct a self that is presentable/suitable/appropriate. We keep our real selves in check.

Like wily toddlers, some of us occasionally escape through the screen door when no one’s looking and run out naked through the sprinklers in the front yard shrieking with joy. Some of us create a life in which we get to have an alter ego or two. Some of us let the angels and demons out in our art or writing or music or dance. Some of us can’t bear the strain and we get a little neurotic. Or sink to the bottom of a bottle. Some of us are so wounded by the struggle that we sort of give up and our soul flattens out a little, lying down resentfully in a corner like a dog that never gets let off the leash. In a lifetime, we might try all of those things.

Last month, I was helping Bob Debris, a friend who is a photographer (if by “helping” we mean telling people they looked beautiful and tucking in shirts and pushing strands of hair out of faces and draping shoulders with glittery fabric and fastening a corset around the voluptuous waist of one beauty) as Bob took pictures of masses of humanity on Members’ Family Day at Lotusland in Santa Barbara. Not to suck up to Bob (though it might be a good idea, being as it is summer and he and his lovely wife Caroline Allen do have a pool), but first I will say that to watch this kind of artist at work is fascinating.In some of the photos, the models just did whatever they wanted. Other models seemed to inspire Bob, and he would start telling them what to do, how to move or turn, how to hold a hand up or shift a leg. Those images were the best, the most fun and the most funny, the ones that took on a new life. It was so interesting to see how some models would submit entirely and give themselves up to Bob’s vision. Others resisted flatly. Still others brought their own visions and inspirations to the image.

And then, if you can look past the fake fur and Mongolian armor and spears and plastic flowers and toy skulls and all the other props (or maybe the props are a means to the revelation), some of the images clearly present the mystery of the soul; that is, you see in the image the inner being, what seems like a previously hidden essence of the person that emerges in the flash of the bulb. How do that happen? You can see the Lotusland images here in all their glory. (You can see more of Bob's work here.)

Which brings me to the Alice Neel show at LA Louver. What astounds me about Alice Neel's work is that you walk away from the paintings and you actually feel as if you know something about the subjects--about who they are as human beings. Sometimes it's beautiful, sometimes it's ugly. Sometimes it can't be put in those terms, it's more of a sense or a mood. It's as if the artist has the ability to turn us inside out and reveal our secret selves to the world.

Coming to your TV set: So You Think You're An Artist?

2010-06-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Forget summer returns. Art is now being turned into the next reality show. "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist", which debuts on cable channel Bravo on Wednesday, June 9, pits 14 very different artists against each other in weekly challenges and awards the winner a $100,000 prize and a solo exhibition.

The question is, can highly personal, visual art be judged like a gourmet dish or a ready-to-wear collection? And is the rarefied world of art ready for a reality TV make-over? Another question the producers dodge is how the "artists" REALLY were chosen. Can we trust their judgment on art when, when, judging by the above photo, the artists are all young, attractive and quite photogenic. What - there are no good artists over, say, 50? No older men or women? Louise Bourgeois would have never made it through the first round; neither would most of the artists whose works now grace our museums and whom we value - the list is endless.

"The whole point of the show is that there is no right opinion. Everyone has their own subjective view. But it is amazing every week that there is a consensus about the quality of the work, and what's good and what's not," said Dan Cutforth, one of the executive producers. So, does this means that the show has already been taped and the "contest" already decided?

"Good art really moves people and inspires a reaction. You know it when you see it. The old chestnut 'I don't know much about art, but I know what I like' is true," he told Reuters. How about some..oh, I don't know.. .smidgen of art history or background as to why people like what they do. How do you define good art - by only a reaction? Whose reaction? And what kind of reaction?

"Work of Art" comes from the same Magical Elves production company that blended personality and the process of fashion design in "Project Runway", and helped lift the lid on how food goes from good to great in "Top Chef."

In the first challenge, contestants ranging from 23 to 62 years-old are randomly paired off and asked to produce a visual work that captures the essence of their partner. A three-person panel of judges decides who has responded best to the challenge, and who will go home. In future episodes, the contestants must create unique pieces in mediums such as sculpture, photography, collage and industrial design.

"When we started reaching out to the art community, we were worried that people would be against the idea of a reality show. What we found was that people were pretty receptive," said Cutforth.

Or maybe they were desperate for a way to make a living; let's face it - if a contestant "wins" one of these shows, he or she has a shot at sales, a gallery and a huge step up in the competitive art scene. Artists don't live in an ivory tower, or, at least, those who have to pay the rent and put food on the table don't. I don't blame them for participating in this but it certainly can lead to a further degradation of any method of judging what's good and what's not. Far too often now, we judge solely by price; if a piece of art sells for a lot of money, it must be good. No sales equals bad art. By that standard, Van Gogh was a failure as were many artists whom we now value.

More than 2,000 people from oil painters to conceptual artists and silk-screen experimenters applied to take part, reflecting the hunger for a larger public canvas for an often misunderstood form of expression. But will the show encourage more people to seek out art or simply be satisfied with what may be a visual version of McDonald's?

"One of our goals for this show is for people to realize that art is all around them. It shouldn't frighten people to have opinions," said Jane Lipsitz, Cutforth's Magical Elves business partner.

"People perceive art as being possibly elitist and a rarefied world. So it would be amazing if we were to bring art more into the mainstream," she said. Unfortunately for this laudable goal, the artists presented in the PR photo look, for the most part, young, attractive and today's version of hip. They don't look unique but more of the glossy, standardized model that we get on every other TV channel. Maybe the show will prove me wrong. I was appalled by the idea when I first read about it and I haven't seen anything that makes me feel otherwise. Or at least, not yet.

The TV show has been embraced by some professionals. Mixed-media artist Jon Kessler and photographer Andres Serrano are among the guest judges, while the permanent panel is made up of New York gallery owners Bill Powers and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, and New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz. What? No 800-dial-in-your-choice-for-this-evening's-contestant? Any bests as to whether they will have a text messaging option set up by the end of the first week?

Art auctioneer Simon de Pury acts as mentor to the contestants, and the series winner gets a prestigious solo show at the Brooklyn Museum, the second-largest art museum in New York City.

"I think the art world is definitely risky. It would be very easy for people to think this show is not for them. But I think people who actually watch will be sucked in," said Cutforth.

I will watch. After all, it's summer and the TV pickings are slim. But I'm withholding judgment, which one does anyway with a new show. It just seems wrong that something that can be as life-affirming and soul satisfying as art is turned into a spectator sport in this fashion.

One wonders what Louise would say.

A SHOW IN PETALUMA

2010-05-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

I was wandering downtown Petaluma with my friend Jo this weekend and we stopped in to Dimensions Galleria on 115 Petaluma Blvd. North. Two groups of pieces really caught my eye.

First, in the window, were some delightfully funky and whimsical ceramic cars by Jon Gariepy. Inside the gallery, we were also shown a couple of his ominously leaning ships. Both cars and ships are featured on his website; I recommend clicking on the thumbnails.

Then, hanging on the wall were some intriguing pieces that seemed to combine layers of felting or paper on some kind of screen. AHA! It has probably been 15 years since Susan Hersey and I were active together in Artspan/SF Open Studios. I remember her papermaking studio on 18th by where it cuts off of Portola and having a conversation with her about her planned move north. Some of her lamps are also featured at Dimensions. It was very cool to see how she has continued to explore new possibilities within her chosen medium.

Abstract Expressionist Art on USPS Stamps

2010-05-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

In the 1980s, when I was collecting stamps, it always bugged me that the French could continue to produce amazingly beautiful stamps, a few every year, that showed treasures of French art. They were engraved, the colors were both rich and subtle, and having a page of them was like a poor person's art collection.

Why oh why couldn't the USPS do that? Oh sure you'd get the Cassat or Rockwell now and then, but the production values weren't very good and they never seemed to occupy the space of the stamp as well as the French ones.

Well, I haven' seen them yet except in a magazine and online, but I can't wait to buy a few sheets of these latest stamps. They are for the current first class postage, 44 cents, and the list is interesting:

The Golden Wall (1961) — Hans Hofmann (1880–1966)
Romanesque Façade (1949) — Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974)
Orange and Yellow (1956) — Mark Rothko (1903–1970)
The Liver Is the Cock’s Comb (1944) — Arshile Gorky (1904–1948)
1948–C (1948) — Clyfford Still (1904–1980)
Asheville (1948) — Willem de Kooning (1904–1997)
Achilles (1952) — Barnett Newman (1905–1970)
Convergence (1952) — Jackson Pollock (1912–1956)
Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34 (1953–1954) — Robert Motherwell (1915–1991)
La Grande Vallée 0 (1983) — Joan Mitchell (1925–1992)

San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design

2010-05-26T16:54:00.000-07:00

Something's Happening Here: The San Francisco Rock Scene

The Charlatans, 1966 @ Herb Green (courtesy MPD)

San Francisco's neighborhoods are full of little known but interesting spaces. To me, one of the more fascinating is the Museum of Performance and Design. Tucked away on the 4th floor of the Veterans Building (401 Van Ness Ave) and in part of the space formerly occupied by SF MOMA (before its move to 4th Street), the current exhibit is of particular interest to those of us who came here in the 60's.

We were drawn by the promise of a new way of living (aka, sex, drugs and Rock and Roll). Rod McKuen's poetry about Stanyan Street became a best seller, almost everybody was drenched in patchouli oil, draped love beads around their necks, believed in free love, thought that we were going to change the world forever - and listened to the music. The Avalon Ballroom was in its heyday and music promoters like Chet Helms were pioneering psychedelic light shows, the forerunners of today's music videos.

Before rap, before heavy metal, heck before disco, SF's music scene blossomed with bands like The Beau Brummels, The Charlatans, Country Joe and the Fish, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. We could hear Janice singing in funky little dives and Grace Snick was the ice princess for a whole generation of young men (and maybe even a few women). Men wore their hair long, we all got into Indian religion and transcendental meditation, spoke of peace and love even while the Vietnam War was raging. It was sometimes silly, sometimes innocent, certainly naive and it was over far too soon.

Co-curators Melissa Leventon and Alec Palao evoke this rich era using a wealth of rarely seen footage, posters, images, and costume from private and public collections and from the artists themselves. Visitors are able to sample extremely rare audio and video clips, some of them drawn from the important archive of recordings from San Francisco’s KSAN that are now in MPD’s permanent collection.

Just a few of the key original items on display include:

Costume pieces worn by Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, Sly Stone, and others
the full-sized original painting featured on the Grateful Dead’s Anthem of the Sun album cover
The famed “Captain Trips” hat worn by Jerry Garcia
original posters from classic Bay Area venues, including the Avalon Ballroom and the Fillmore Auditorium
Rare letters, documents and one-of-a-kind ephemera from the Bay Area's 1960s rock'n' roll heyday
Iconic and previously unseen photographs from the archives of photographers such as Baron Wolman, Herb Greene, Bob Seidemann, Bill Brach, and Elaine Mayes
Musical instruments used by John Cipollina (Quicksilver Messenger Service), Merl Saunders, Dan Hicks, and others

The exhibition will be open to the public September 25, 2009-August 28, 2010.
Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $5.
Gallery hours are Wednesday-Saturday, 12:00-5:00 pm.

401 Van Ness Ave, 4th Floor
http://www.mpdsf.org/
Thanks to David W. Summer of the Museum of Performance and Design for his invaluable help on this.
dhttp://photographynewsnotes.blogspot.com/

San Francisco Fine Arts Fair

2010-05-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

Gage Opdenbrouw, Coit Tower (oil on canvas, used with permission)

If you can't make it to the new Impressionist show at the De Young, don't fret! There's another blockbuster show this weekend at Fort Mason. There's parking at the site (for a minimal cost) and you can lunch at Green's or one of the local food booths. When you get tired of looking at art, come over to the Book Bay, run by the Friends of the SF Public library, and check out their incredible selection of modestly priced books.

For nearly a decade, the city by the bay has been without a major internationally-ranked fine art fair-until now. Avid collectors, art enthusiasts, galleries and the art press eagerly await the long overdue arrival of the San Francisco Fine Art Fair. Over $300 million in art representing 500 artists from 70+ worldwide renowned galleries will be available for viewing and purchase. Attendees can select from the finest collection of 6,000 significant artworks from the 20th and 21st century - focusing on 1950’s to present. Carefully vetted, the fair offers a spectacular selection of paintings, works on paper, drawings, printed editions, photography, and sculpture (both indoors and outdoors.) From the masters to important contemporary offerings, artworks range in price that fit into every collector's budget.

One of my local favorite painters, Gage Opdenbrouw will be showing his work but there are dozens and dozens of others:
www.engageingart.com
SF Fine Arts Fare: http://www.sffineartfair.com/
Book Bay: http://www.friendssfpl.org/

STRAY SHOPPING CART PROJECT

2010-05-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

I hope nobody minds that this is not Bay Area - wasn't sure how or where else to share this website I just found. Like some of the pieces I've created, it initially reads like an extended joke but is a serious project:
The Stray Shopping Cart Project

What I really enjoyed, as an artist, is how it started as a casual zine spread and grew over time to encompass installations and recreations of settings. His outdoor installation in Long Island City is detailed on flickr and looks like it would have been fun to walk around.

The Birth of Impressionism - Masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay at the De Young

2010-05-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

Whistler. Arrangement in Black and Gray (aka The Mother). Seriously, is there anybody in the western world who doesn't know this painting? (@ Musee d'Orsay/used with permission)

Because the Musee D'Orsay in Paris will be closed for renovations and because "our" Dede Wilsey, President of the Board of Directors of the De Young, has the connections and cachet, SF is getting three separate and equally fabulous exhibits, detailing much that is most important in 19th Century French art. The first state of the exhibits opens on Saturday at the De Young. I was able to preview the show yesterday and it really is full of significant pieces. Most importantly, it places the Impressionists and their followers within the context of the academic art of the period.

More at http://www.examiner.com/x-13996-SF-Museum-Examiner

Another image of the Big Buddha in the Civic Center

2010-05-18T12:16:00.000-07:00