Needles & Pens Gallery : Hope Springs Eternal.

Artists: Works from Monica Canilao, Bill Daniel, Chris Duncan, Mat O'Brien, The Polaroid Kidd, Kyle Ranson, Andrew Martin Scott, Sara Thustra, and Paul Urich.

Comment by AB: Needles & Pens showed this tasty selection of primarly San Francisco art (plus more) at 96 Gillespie Gallery in London in March 2008. Now an abridged assortment is back home for an encore performance. Almost everything's under $1000-- superior value considering the quality.

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Receiver Gallery : Scott Barry - One Foot in The Other World The Other Foot in The Other World.

Comment by AB: An upbeat assemblage by Scott Barry explores the lighthearted fun side of art with amusements galore including a framed backlit smiling casket wallhanging, a video starring a performing banana, a tombstone-shaped peace sign with legs jutting out from it, an oversized stuffed naked something-or-other with a really big ass, and so on and so forth ad infinitum etc. Mostly black and white. All competent; all entertaining.

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Eleanor Harwood Gallery : Nickolas Mohanna - Amid the Below.

Comment by AB: According to the poop sheet, Nickolas Mohanna's black and white ink drawings "walk a fine line between abstraction and representation while the generative and time-based aspect of the installation investigates the natural and artificial." So if you've ever wanted to own a walking drawing, now's your chance. They're $500 each.

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Little Tree Gallery : Casey Logan - Come Celebrate The Knowledge You Never Knew You Had.

Review and photos by Libby Nicholaou: Casey Logan's show, "Come Celebrate The Knowledge You Never Knew You Had," is composed of kinetic sculptures and images that ask us to look at the sky, land, and the mechanisms that keep them running. I chat with Casey about one piece in particular-- a globe is suspended by elastic straps, connected to a 3D wooden frame.? It replicates the packaging techniques he uses when packing fragile items for transport (part of his day job).? Having the globe as the object being suspended provides a removed-from-the-earth perspective, which is found through out the exhibit.

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Million Fishes : Medicine - Resident Artist Group Show.

Review and photos by Libby Nicholaou: Fourteen artist residents of the Million Fishes artistic industrial complex show their art in conjunction with each other. The video projections are the most interesting here. One by Carlos Marulanda is projected onto a hanging Plexiglas box filled with smoke in order to pick up the light rays, making for a hologram type image. A hanging diorama in a cardboard box that you stand under and stick your head in to see-- a castle scene-- is also worth a look.

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Soap Gallery : Matt Gonzalez - Pull Here To Get Everything You Want.

Review by Libby Nicholaou: Matt Gonzalez's color-rich collages, set on white backgrounds, are composed of collected materials such as playing cards, fabric, cardboard boxes, and more.? With titles like "The Hurrying There Along The Wall" and "In Somber Wonders The Music," the viewer takes another look to see how Matt is expresses these movements.? They allude more to Cubism than Surrealism, as in a single collage, the images and colors seem to work with each other as opposed to providing contradiction or surprise.

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SomArts Gallery : Tortilla Art for the 21st Century.

Artists: George Aguilar, Troy Alders, Susana Aragon, Anais Aragon-Arias, Adrian Arias, Mara Brown, Rudy Cuellar, Ella Diaz, Michael Dingle, ?Annamarta Dostourian, Candi Farlice, Daniel Galvez, Bjorn Heinbach, Chip Lord, Carolina Lucero, Violeta Luna, Susan Matthews, Sofia Mendez, Jose Montoya, Juanishi Orosco, Alma Raddha, Isis Rodriguez, Nicole Schach, Ann Schnake, Lia Tealdi-Heinbach, Maurice Ya?ez, more.

Comment by AB: Art on tortillas. It's that simple and no more complicated. This half-serious half-camp testimonial to that edible "circle of life," the tortilla, offers a variety of activities and opportunities including a panel discussion on the history of Tortilla Art, a panel discussion examining the role of corn and tortillas in the global economy, and dancing with tortillas. The Tortilla Conspiracy website appears to be the propaganda arm of the operation, and according to the brochure, the overall spectacle is supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Paris Hilton Endowment for the Tortilla Arts.

In the SomArts Main Gallery, you'll delight to a huge painting installation by Carlos Loarca titled "Painting Toward the End of Time - A Path to the Mayan Mysteries 2012." The show opened on First Thursday, April 3, but sadly, my dance card was full and I missed it. I'm allowed three make-up openings per semester, though, so I procure the visuals tonight.

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Femina Potens Gallery : Alicia DeBrincat, Lex McQuilkin, Rocksusto - New Wave Feminism.

Comment by AB: Bold portrait and figure paintings by Alicia DeBrincat, meticulous cut paper works by Lex McQuilkin, and challenging photographs by Rocksusto investigate various aspects of gender, identity, and sexuality.

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