Anthony Meier Fine Arts : Rosana Castrillo Diaz.

Comment: At first, this appears to be one of those "emperor's new clothes" kinda deals, but it's not 'cuz the emperor actually has clothes-- you just can't see 'em-- unless you zoom in really really really reeeaaalllllyyyy close (assuming the emperor doesn't mind), at which point, once you're nose-to-art, you may or may not consider the venture productive, depending in large part on how cognoscentic an artster you are, or aspire to be. Even the show announcement is blindstamped .

Is it ever possible to overextend a premise and/or ascend upward enough to effectively broach the rarified realm of irrelevance? According to this show, no. However, on those regular occasions when I collide head-on with the wall of incomprehensibility, sans seatbelt OR airbag, I often take solace in technique, which in Rosana Castrillo Diaz's case is impeccable (albeit barely visible to the naked eye). The punchline? The entire show is SOLD OUT!

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Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi : Artful Aging.

Comment: Quilts made by AgeSong seniors, AgeSong comprising a "group of senior communities with a mission of creating therapeutic environments-- places that lovingly support people in being who they are." Through his continuing series of third-Friday art openings, Mirkarimi focuses as much on the social, political, and community aspects of art as he does on the artists who make it.

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Aftermodern Gallery : Elise Irving - Phantasmagories.

Comment: Elise Irving fractionates portions of photographs onto plexiglass plates, and then sandwiches the plates together into what she calls "light boxes," essentially reconstructing the photographs, but now with dimensional effects. For me (and the person I was with), the payoff was headaches. I'm no psychologist or sociologist and I have no idea why this is, but the mind, body, and senses attempt to resolve as quickly as possible whatever impinges on them-- everywhere, all the time. And these frickin' light boxes are impossible to resolve no matter where I stand or how hard I try to focus; something's always off kilter. And I can't tell my eyes to stop either-- they're the captains of their own pupils. As Mick Jagger once said, "I can't get no satisfaction." Nice idea, Elise Irving, but maybe hustle it back to the lab for a little fine tuning.

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301 Bocana Gallery , 301 Bocana St., San Francisco, CA 94110; 415.225.5427: Jen Pack - Thought Forms.

Comment: Jen Pack makes art from fabric and thread. The most imposing work in the intimate Bocana gallery starts like an orange red curtain, cascades down the wall, and climaxes in a Rapunzellian flourish, tressed out along the floor. However, her quadrilateral fabric "paintings" steal the show. They look like paintings until you get close and see that they're actually stitched sheer textile bands stretched onto wooden frames, peerlessly presented-- pure, airy and resplendent.

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Needles & Pens : Sara Thustra - Calendar Release, Hangout, Artshow.

Comment: Sara Thustra cooks up food, music and art in his inimitably upstanding iconoclastic style, and turns out the masses for an only-in-SF overflow hoedown. The belle of the ball is his annual calendar (now a Sara Thustra tradition), the 2007 model available in limited edition at Needles & Pens for $20.

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Giant Robot San Francisco : Robert Bellm & Munkao - Super Natural.

Comment: I almost didn't go to this, but fortunately I did. Seattle artist Robert Bellm presents a wall of exceptionally competent concise compositions which, he tells me, combine past, present, future, life experiences, dreams, memories, and whatever else happens to be playing on the mind-o-rama while he's in a painting mood. This dude has a future.

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Addendum:

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