Catharine Clark Gallery : Packard Jennings - The Pitch of Dissent; Kara Maria - Dystopia.

Comment by AB: People often ask me, "Al baby, does being a subversive always have to get so serious?" Well, actually nobody's ever asked me that, but for those of you who've thought about asking me, and for anyone else who's mused on the topic, Packard Jennings here proves beyond a doubt that subversion can not only be fun, but also creative, entertaining, campy, and all kinds of other unserious stuff-- with an underlying thread of seriousness, of course. For you recreational revolutionaries, Jennings offers a variety of playtime options including creating bogus newspaper headlines for placement in newspaper dispensing machines and fabricating fake coupons for insertion into coupon books.

In the rear gallery, Kara Maria melds sex, oil, corporations, and war into a delightfully disturbingly raunchily poignant set of canvasses. These are not G-rated so be sure to safeguard the children and cover your tender vegitation.

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Rena Bransten Gallery : Andrew Moore - Recent Photographs; Sam Perry - Wood Sculpture.

Comment: Photographer Andrew Moore documents faraway places-- Russia, Cuba, and Vietnam in this instance. His work combines elements of architecture, interiors, varying states of decay or disrepair or neglect, and moments of past meeting present, the atmospherics skewed just enough to impart mildly unreal essences to the images. Meanwhile over in the lumber department, Sam Perry carves wood with special sensitivity to its natural forms and imperfections, choosing to work with the whole rather than extract out the flawlessness and throw the rest away. In so doing, he reminds us that inner strength and beauty inevitably arise from acknowledging and accepting our shortomings.

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2nd floor projects : George and Mike Kuchar - paintingsdrawingspaintingsdrawingspaintings.

Comment: Creative whiplash here. Twin brothers George and Mike Kuchar exhibit vintage selections of paintings and drawings from the 1970s and 80s, with Mike showing mainly commissioned works-- confident, meticulous, often amusing, and with mainly homo-erotic subject matters. George, on the other hand, ranges far and wide incorporating everything from slice-of-life and mildly autobiographical to urban myths and legends into his enchantingly twisty realities. Not your everyday art, which means-- you guessed it-- worth a look.

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Jack Hanley Gallery : Yo! What Happened to Peace?

Review and photos by DeWitt Cheng: Political art lives! Three nights of silkscreening demos and poster giveaways took place at Jack Hanley Gallery during BushCo countdown days 367-365. Posters by a variety of engages/enrages: The Firehouse, Jesus Barraza, Eric Drooker, Karen Fiorito, Art Hazelwood, Kelly Maxxx, Mear One, Doug Minkler, Ra, Favianna Rodriguez, Chris Shaw, Adam Smith, Winston Smith, Kevin Taylor, and Gee Vaucher. Photos are from first night, Thursday. Penny Rimbaud and Louise Elliot performance took place Friday and Sat.

DeWitt Cheng writes for Artweek, Art Ltd., www.SanFranciscoArtMagazine.com, www.Shotgun-Review.com, and the East Bay Express.

Jon Paul (of Political Gridlock.com) pulling silkscreen prints; Ron Donovan (FirehousePosters.com) assists, while John Carr (YoPeace.org) and Hanley Gallery artist Gee Vaucher, who generously surrendered space from her "Introspective" show, look on (hope I got the names right!).

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