Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz and 'Songs of Freedom'

Ai Weiwei, @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz explores human rights and freedom of expression in the context of this iconic historic site. Installed across four locations on Alcatraz and on view from September 27, 2014, through April 26, 2015.

The seven installations commissioned by the FOR-SITE Foundation for @Large include:

• With Wind, New Industries Building: This large-scale installation, located in the building once used for prison labor, features a contemporary version of the traditional Chinese “dragon kite,” a large kite handmade by Chinese artisans in collaboration with Ai’s studio. Scattered around the room are other kites decorated with stylized birds and flowers, which speak to the natural environs of Alcatraz Island—an important bird habitat—and reference 30 nations with serious records of restricting their citizens’ human rights and civil liberties. The position of the kites—trapped inside a building, unable to fly—suggests the powerful contradiction of freedom and restriction.

 Do Thi Minh Hanh, a young Vietnamese labor activist, was released from prison on June 27 after serving four years of a seven-year sentence for leafleting in support of footwear workers striking for better working conditions and higher wages. During her imprisonment, she suffered repeated beatings at the hands of prison guards and other inmates.

 Fariba Kamalabadi, who was jailed in Iran, for being a leader of the Baha'i faith

• Trace, New Industries Building: 175 portraits, constructed from LEGO® bricks,  are laid out on the floor. Each portrait represents an individual who has been imprisoned or exiled because of his or her beliefs, actions, or affiliations.

 • Refraction, New Industries Building: Using the imagery of flight to evoke the tension between freedom and confinement, this monumental installation—weighing more than five tons—is modeled after a bird’s wing. The artwork is composed of reflective panels originally used on Tibetan solar cookers.

• Stay Tuned, A Block: Stay Tuned invites visitors into 12 individual cells in A Block, where they can sit and listen to spoken words, poetry, and music by people who have been imprisoned for the creative expression of their beliefs—as well as works created under conditions of incarceration. Each cell features a different recording, such as works by the Russian punk band Pussy Riot and the South African anti-apartheid activists Robben Island Singers.

• Illumination, Hospital (Psychiatric Observation Cells): The psychiatric observation cells, used for the isolation and observation of mentally ill inmates, resonate with chanting recorded at a Buddhist monastery and a traditional song of the Hopi tribe. In the 19th century, the Hopi, along with other American Indian Tribes, were subjected to a program of forced 'Americanization." In 1895, 19 of them were imprisoned here for a year.

The installation of chants raises an analogy between subjugated peoples and those who have been classified as mentally ill—both often dismissed, deprived of rights, confined, and observed. Illumination speaks to the profound role of chanting as a source of comfort, strength, and identity under severe circumstances.

 • Blossom, Hospital: With intricately detailed encrustations of ceramic flowers, Ai transforms the utilitarian fixtures (sinks, toilets, and tubs) in several hospital ward cells and medical offices into porcelain bouquets. The flowers, rendered in a cool and brittle material could be understood as an ironic reference to China’s famous Hundred Flowers Campaign of 1956, a brief period of government tolerance of free expression, immediately followed by a severe crackdown against dissent.

• Yours Truly, Dining Hall: In this interactive work, visitors are encouraged to write postcards addressed to some of the prisoners represented in Trace. The cards are adorned with images of birds and plants representing the nations where the prisoners are held. Ai has spoken of the deep feeling of isolation that afflicts incarcerated people and the fear that their causes have been forgotten.

Ai Weiwei at Alcatraz is organized like your high school English papers - find out what the teacher wants, tell the teacher what you are going to say, say it and tell them again. The installation is huge, overwhelming, chaotic, and lacks nuance and in some cases, historical accuracy. Of course, it's this season's must see show.

I realized that Ai's images didn't make any sense without extensive text. But I have a real problem with that - if the visual doesn't convey the message, is it really art - or, in this case propaganda that could have just as easily been written in a book. Now I agree with many of Ai's ideas about political prisioners, the lack of democracy around the world and the totalitarian state as well as the injustices of the past. 

BUT to link that with the criminals who were held on Alcatraz and make no distinction between them, the actions taken during Alcatraz's over 100 year history and now is sloppy history, If not sloppy art making.

For more about some issues with the exhibit: http://www.examiner.com/article/ai-weiwei-s-songs-of-freedom-on-alcatraz

SJMA, Dickerman Prints, Robert Koch Gallery and more..

From "Night and the City," 2011

Pin-Up Show at Dickerman Prints: For one night only, Dickerman Prints hosts an audience participatory photo show.  Those who attend are encouraged to bring their favorite prints and pin them the wall. 50% of sales will benefit the SF non-profit "Sixth Street Photography Workshop" which brings photography to the residents of SF's hotels and shelters on the Sixth Street corridor. The other 50% of sales will go to the photographer.

How it works: Bring a favorite print (or prints under 16"x20"), and Dickerman will provide the magnetic pins for you to hang them with. Price your photo(s) accordingly. Browse others' works on display while enjoying a complimentary glass of wine or a cold beer and mingle with local photographers. Buy a print from another photographer, if you wish. Your money will help to support "6th St Photography Workshop" which brings the art of photography to the homeless and transient residents living in the 6th St corridor.

Have a great evening socializing with other Bay Area photographers and helping to support a wonderful local organization! Plus, maybe you'll sell a print or two!

There is no cost to participate, and all are welcome.

Viewers will also choose a photo to win a "Viewer's Choice" printing package prize worth $200 redeemable at Dickerman Prints. RSVP at Facebook. One night only Friday, Sept 26th (6 - 9 p.m.) 1141 Howard St.

More weekend picks at: http://www.examiner.com/article/san-jose-museum-of-art-dickerman-prints-koch-gallery-treasure-island-lecture

'David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Nathan Oliveira, Manuel Neri' at John Berggruen

Last week, I went to as many galleries as I could and I haven't begun to sort things out yet.  But for me, the standout gallery show was the exhibit of iconic Bay Area figurative painters at the John Berggruen Gallery.

More at: http://www.examiner.com/article/david-park-richard-diebenkorn-nathan-oliveira-manuel-neri-at-john-berggruen

The Poetry of Parmigianino's 'Schiava Turca' at the Legion

"Schiava Turca” (“Turkish Slave”) arrived at the Legion of Honor, cloaked in mystery. A small painting, set within an elaborate gold frame, the lady is winsome and coy, from her stripped turban, heavily rouged cheeks and delicately arched eyebrows to the tips of her graceful fingertips. On loan from the Galleria Nazionale di Parma, it was painted between 1531 and 1534 in Parma.

More at: http://www.examiner.com/article/the-poetry-of-parmigianino-s-schiava-turca-at-the-legion

ARC, Sandra Lee, Fouladi Projects and kid friendly at the de Young

Art Works – Buy Art, Do Good: Enjoy local art, complimentary food, wine and silent auction.

An auction benefitting SFGoodwill @ ARC Gallery

Can’t resist local art finds with a unique sensibility? You won’t want to miss this special benefit evening of “FourSquared,” a collection curated for art enthusiasts with a strong abiding interest in local, affordable art. Created by some of the most talented Bay Area artists, these sixteen small works, presented in clusters, give the experience of sixteen micro solo exhibitions.
Admission is free and all works are priced under $500. Best of all, your purchase of artwork supports Goodwill’s job training and placement mission, giving local people in need a second chance through the power of work. Thursday, September 11th - 6 -9 p.m.

More at: http://www.examiner.com/article/arc-sandra-lee-fouladi-projects-and-kid-friendly-at-the-de-young

The Anderson Collection at Stanford opens to the public

Jim Dine (U.S.A., b. 1935), Blue Clamp, 1981

Roy Lichtenstein (U.S.A., 1923–1997), Mirror 1, 1977. Paint on bronze

For the past 50 years, Bay Area art collectors Harry and Mary Margaret Anderson have passionately assembled one of the most outstanding private collections of 20th-century post-war American art in the world. On September 21, more than 100 extraordinary works from their collection will be on view in a new museum adjacent to the Cantor Arts Center: the Anderson Collection at Stanford University.

To celebrate its new neighbor, the Cantor presents an exhibition of spectacular Pop Art works. The show, "Pop Art from the Anderson Collection at SFMOMA,"  runs August 13, 2014 through October 26, 2015.

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-anderson-collection-at-stanford-opens-to-the-public

'From Two Arises Three," Korea Day and more at the Asian Art Museum

 The Tao gives birth to one
one gives birth to two
two gives birth to three
three gives birth to ten thousand things
—Laozi, Daode jing

 Sunday is KoreaDay at the Asian Art Museum and it's F R E E. Daylong extravaganza for all ages.

The 2nd floor galleries have two exhibits worth going out of the way to see. "From Two Arises Three" focuses on the work of two American contemporary artists working in uniquely Chinese styles: painter Arnold Chang and photographer Michael Cherney.

http://www.examiner.com/article/from-two-arises-three-korea-day-and-more-at-the-asian-art-museum

Oakland Museum

BARTed to Oakland for dinner on a recent Thursday, and decided to go early and tie in a stop at the 12^th St BART Station, to see the Oakland Museum and the June Steingart Gallery at Laney College.      
        
After hearing so much about Oakland revival, I was surprised to find not much going on in the whole neighborhood except a sidewalk garage sale with many unique items.    Few people were in the Oakland museum.

Sculptors and stained glass artists speak highly of the Laney art program.   I was disappointed to find the open til 5PM Steingart Gallery at Laney was already closed at 3PM.  The Laney web site does say hours are subject to change.   After making a call to the number listed on the gallery page of the web site, I was informed that is not the number to call nor is the correct one available.   My thoughts drifted to all the welcoming Academy of Art galleries in SF, their MFA shows, etc.    

Future art trips to Oakland:  First Friday Art Walk of Oakland Art Murmur.  

Looking at map of Oakland Art Murmur made my head hurt, and also begged the question, is it called Art Mumu in Honolulu? 

From the murmurmap, it looks like the art movement is moving away from Oakland museum and nearby Laney College.  

I had not been to the Oakland Museum in a long time.  It is much larger than I remembered, with extensive grounds.   As the Museum’s primary focus is education and California history, I sped through those sections, having temporarily reached my limit recently through books, documentaries and other sources.      I stopped at one room with kids flopped on beanbags on the floor. They seemed to be enjoying a full wall video of what it is like to see the ocean from a slowly rocking boat, known in the interactive education arena as a seasick-o-tron.   Woozy from standing on the deck of the boat, I staggered from the room, holding the wall along the way to the coastal tide pool and beach found plastics collection, before heading to my favorite exhibits at the museum:

• Paintings by David Park and others with similar style 

• Inspiration Points: Masterpieces of California Landscape   now through Sunday, January 4, 2015

 

• The Smallest of Worlds    through August 31, 2014   dioramas from the collection of San Francisco artist Rex May, with figures created by the Aguilar family, artisans from Oaxaca, Mexico 

2013 SF Gate article about Rex May collection at SF Mexican Museum  

The upcoming SFMOMA collaborative Fertile Ground: Art and Community in California  opens September 20, 2014, runs through April 12, 2015 at Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland, CA 94607

Posted by Phil Gravitt

The Mexican Museum announces a partnership with the University of Mexico

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico (National Autonomous University of Mexico) (UNAM)

The Mexican Museum keeps on working to upgrade its status and visibility - last week's Family Day was a big success and now, the possibility of visiting artists from Mexico? Viva Mexico! Viva Arte!

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-mexican-museum-announces-a-partnership-with-the-university-of-mexico

'Project Mah Jongg' at the Contemporary Jewish Museum

Leisure-class ladies playing a floating game of mah jongg, 1924. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Project Mah Jongg. The On view July 13–October 28, 2014. Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco.

Dorothy S. Meyerson teaching mah jongg on television, 1951. Courtesy Marjorie Meyerson Troum. Project Mah Jongg. On view July 13–October 28, 2014. The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco. 

My knowledge of the Jews in China came through the novels of Pearl Buck, particularly through her novel, "Peony." "Peony" is set in the 1850s in the city of K'aifeng, in the province of Hunan, which was historically a center for Chinese Jews. The novel follows Peony, a Chinese bondmaid of the prominent Jewish family of Ezra ben Israel, and shows through her eyes how the Jewish community was regarded in K'aifeng at a time when Jews had started to become assimilated into the Chinese community. The story shows the mutual tolerance between Jews and Chinese, an interracial love story and yes - lots of upper class Chinese women playing Mah Jongg.

It had many of the elements present in the current exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, "Project Mah Jongg," ...

http://www.examiner.com/article/project-mah-jongg-at-the-contemporary-jewish-museum

Bay Area art events for the week of July 7th

In July, while the rest of the country is enduring three-digit temperatures, San Franciscans are reaching for their sweaters. The fog, affectionately known on Twitter by his handle @KarltheFog, is hanging around the Golden Gate Bridge and keeping the city cool. But there are plenty of art happenings to heat things up.

http://www.examiner.com/article/bay-area-art-events-for-the-week-of-july-7th

'Gorgeous' at the Asian Art Museum

 Summer gatherings in mountain villas, 1738, by Hua Yan (Chinese, 1682–1756). Set of twelve hanging scrolls; ink on gold-surfaced paper. 

 

SFMOMA is closed for renovation but continues to be present in the Bay Area's art world. Last week, they, in collaboration with the Asian Art Museum opened "Gorgeous," the museum equivalent of a summer movie. "Gorgeous" works like an arranged marriage, which is to say, sort of, kind of and not at all. More at:

http://www.examiner.com/article/gorgeous-at-the-asian-art-museum

Redefining the Multiple, Works on Paper, Gary Francis Fine Art Gallery, Alameda,July 10 to August 3, 2014

The upcoming Redefining the Multiple show, July 10 to August 3, 2014 at Gary Francis Fine Art Gallery in Alameda, features 2-D and 3-D works on paper, including  printmaking, woodcuts, stone lithographs, etchings, screen prints, book art and letterpress, by 32 Bay Area artists.  Opening Night Reception: 6-9pm, Friday, July 11 .
The 32 Bay Area artists included are:   Peter Baczek, Andrew Carney, Macy Chadwick, James Claussen, Gary Comoglio, Holly Downing, Jessica Dunne, Barry Ebner, Barbara Foster, John Gruenwald, Debra Jewell, Mike Kimball, Luz Marina Ruiz, HJ Mooij, Gustavo Mora Perez, Diego Marcial Rios, Michelle Murillo, Sarah Newton, Lian Ng, Rajit Phiosuwan, AV Pike, Carrie Ann Plank, Mandie Rider, Robyn Smith, Sylvia Solochek Walters, Herlinde Spahr, Jack Stone, Toru Sugita,  Sandy Walker, Shane Weare, Mark Welschmeyer, Linda Yoshizawa. 

Gary Francis Fine Art Gallery
1419 Park Street, Ste E
Alameda, CA 94501

http://www.garyfrancisfineart.com/  



Posted by Phil Gravitt










   

Chicago has scooped the George Lucas Museum

Sorry San Francisco. The force is not with you this time. 

http://www.examiner.com/article/chicago-has-scored-the-george-lucas-museum

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/24/star-wars-creator-george-lucas-museum-chicago

ArtZone 461 closes this weekend

Another gallery closes - the last one of the once vibrant and lively Valencia St. art scene:

http://www.examiner.com/article/artzone-461-closes-this-weekend

'Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible' opens at the Berkeley Art Museum

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) presents "Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible," the first museum retrospective of the eccentric outsider painter in more than twenty years. Organized by the Menil Collection in Houston, the Berkeley presentation features approximately forty of Bess’s works, dating from 1946 to 1970 with an installation of archival materials curated by American artist Robert Gober.
 More at:  http://www.examiner.com/article/forrest-bess-seeing-things-invisible

'Modernism from the National Gallery of Art: The Robert and Jane Meyerhof Collection,' opens at the de Young

 Frank Stella. Gray Scramble. 1969

 While SFMOMA is closed for renovations, those wanting their modern art fix have have had to look elsewhere. But after today until October 12, 2014, they won't have to look very far. "Modernism from the National Gallery of Art: The Robert and Jane Meyerhof Collection," just opened at the de Young Museum, following touring shows from Paris' Musée Picasso and Musée d'Orsay and the Mauritshuis in the Hague.

 Frank Stella. Flin Flon IV

 The show features 50 important works in the Meyerhof collection, seminal works in the history of modern art. For half a century, Robert and Jane Meyerhof worked to put together one of the greatest collections of post-war American painting. They donated over three hundred works to the National Gallery, fifty of which will be shown here. All but six have been donated to the National Gallery.

 The National Gallery of Art is in the midst of renovating its East Building galleries, making this show and the current one at the Legion possible. "It's no coincidence," said Harry Cooper, the National's curator of modern art, by telephone. "We have a great relationship with the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco."

The contrast between the show at the Legion of post-Impressionist art and this one is an art history lesson in two exhibits. Post-Impressionism was still concerned with the figure, with landscape, portraits and with presenting the real world. Modernism has left the real world behind to create pieces that are based on the numerous fleeting art movements of post war America, from abstract expressionism to minimalism to pop. All of which reject any connection between the art created and the world of realistic objects and many of which aimed to replace religious feeling by painting seeking that "inner space."

The centerpiece of the exhibition is Barnett Newman’s "The Stations of the Cross" (1958–66). This series of 15 paintings, widely considered to be the artist’s most important work, has been displayed as the artist intended. Newman's compositions are built around a strict format: a field of color is bisected vertically by one or a few bands (narrow or wide) that he referred to as "zips." The black and white pieces are installed within a separate section of the gallery, in order to encourage the proper quasi religions gaze. Newman - like many of the artists in the show - was interested in evoking a metaphysical emotion, an art of "pure ideas' by discarding narrative, figures and even painterly detail.

 Roy Lichtenstein, Painting with Statue of Liberty, 1983.

 But other works are not so austere.  Stella’s "Flin Flon IV" (1969), Johns’ "Perilous Night" (1982), and Lichtenstein’s "Painting with Statue of Liberty" (1983) are colorful, chaotic and playful with riotous imagery.  Lichtenstein's "Fragmented Painting of Lemons and a Melon on a Table" pops with red stripes, yellow circles and the horizontal plane of a white table.

 The show is not organized by chronology, Rather, Harry Cooper, curator of modern and contemporary art at the National had identified ten material and visual themes "Scrape, Concentricity, Line, Gesture, Art on Art, Drip, Stripe to Zip, Figure or Ground, Monochrome and Picture the Frame."  Cooper tags Rothko's "No 3" as an example of "Stripe to Zip" and Jackson Pollock's "Untitled 1951" is classified as "drip; looks like Jack the Dripper can't get away from that nickname even within the higher echelon of art criticism.

The de Young is the exclusive venue for this exhibition, the first of the Meyerhof Collection to be seen outside the greater Washington, DC, and Baltimore metro areas.

Modernism From the National Gallery of Art: The Robert and Jane Meyerhof Collection: Runs Saturday through Oct. 12. De Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. $20 (includes museum admission). (415) 750-3600. www.deyoungmuseum.org.

http://www.examiner.com/article/modernism-from-the-national-gallery-of-art-opens-at-the-de-young-1

How often can you see both John Waters and Alice Walker in San Francisco in the same week as well as the kick off for Queer Art Month?

The Green Arcade is hosting "A Conversation with John Waters." Filmmaker, author, celebrity, and provocateur John Waters sits down and talks with the proprietor of The Green Arcade, Patrick Marks, about his new book, "Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America." Waters' fans will not be disappointed in this sometimes side-splitting saga of sagacious sexuality, a witty, urbane and oft downright filthy journey into the heart, soul, and bowels of America.

It is what you would expect from the director of "Lust in the Dust," and other transgressive cult films.

Tickets $10 or free with purchase of "Carsick" from The Green Arcade. Monday, June 9, 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. At The 3rd Floor McRoskey Mattress Factory, 1687 Market St. E-mail: info@thegreenarcade.com

More at: http://www.examiner.com/article/for-june-7-9-john-waters-alice-walker-catherine-clark-queer-arts-festival?CID=examiner_alerts_article

San Francisco vies with Chicago for Lucas's cultural museum

 Of course, there are city politics involved - copious amounts of politics and egos. But let's get real - what large building, much less an museum, was built by saints. I hope we get the museum because it's not only a collection of art and costumes from Lucas' own collection but a collection of exquisiite art from the Golden Age of Illustration - Maxfield Parrish, Arthur Rackham and more

http://www.examiner.com/article/san-francisco-view-with-chicago-for-george-lucas-s-new-museum

'Sorolla in American' opens at the San Diego Museum of Art

This artist is one of my favorites and I am so glad that this massive exhibit has come to the west coast. First Anders Zorn and now Sorolla - if they show the work of John Singer Sargent, I will be one very happy woman:

http://www.examiner.com/article/sorolla-and-america-opens-san-diego