HACKETT MILL - ARTHAUS - JELLYFISH

AMPERSAND - SOMARTS - ASPECT

PARK LIFE - BELLJAR

04.08.11

(with assistance from DeWitt Cheng and RWM)



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Hackett | Mill Art Dealers and Advisors : Raimonds Staprans - Paintings.

Comment by AB: Raimonds Staprans has been painting and exhibiting for over sixty years. His compositions have always blended abstract and representational, and depending on the time period, tending more towards one or the other. Over the past several decades, his work has evolved into what you might get if you crossed Richard Diebenkorn with Wayne Thiebaud; he borrows generously from both, but makes the upshot his own.

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ArtHaus Gallery : Kenney Mencher - Renovated Reputations.

Review and images by DeWitt Cheng: Kenney Mencher mines found imagery for satire, nostalgia and narrative; he uses Rockwellian comic realism (assisted by collage and assemblage) to explore artifice. His new show, Renovated Reputations, comprises a rogue's gallery of several dozen invented characters-- B.B. Gunn, Evan Tually, Hammond Cheese, Luke N. Good, Mabel Syrup, Al A. Monie, Owen D. Bank, Constance Noring, Chastity Beldt, Hans Zoff, Benton and Eva Destruction, Melba and Burt Toast, and even, for fans of old-time radio, Dr. D. Mencher. (Whatever happened to that ebullient Reagan-era hottie, Rosy Scenario?) A newspaper, Renovated Reputations, tells the stories (contributed by roguish volunteer writers) of Bob Frapples, Betty Million, Earl Lee Riser, and Pat O. Butter. Art-history types who are on their game will recognize Jacquie M. Balla's debt to Futurist painter Giacomo Balla. Amélie and Warhol fans may wish to try out the vintage photo booth in the gallery.

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Jellyfish Gallery : Bunnie Reiss - Elle a eu beaucoup de chance (She had a lot of luck).

Review by RWM: Get caught up here in the old time rustic thrifty world. There are all sorts of references to the rural and the home grown. Also included among the assembled are various animals of the world. Some are portrayed as pets, even though they do not seem to fit. Those who experience this art might find comfort in this exploration of the old days.

Comment by AB: Bunnie Reiss tells me her homey funk-a-rama throwback installation is about her experiences living in France vs San Francisco. "Does one residence hold sway over the other?" I ask. Nope. It's a tie.

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Ampersand International Arts : Tara Foley - The Dripstone Sings to the Choir; Alex Clausen - Flood. Curated by Tracy Wheeler.

Comment by AB: Cryptically delicious watercolor/drawing/collage works by Tara Foley gift viewers with no shortage of intricacies to immerse themselves in. A delicate wood frame and fabric sculpture headlines Alex Clausen's foray in the front gallery. And outside, marvel at a mural spanning the length of the building, courtesy of Chip Thomas, aka Dr. T.

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SOMArts Gallery : Spread - California Conceptualism Then and Now. Curated by OFF Space.

Artists: Paul Kos, Tony Labat, George Legrady, Laetitia Sonami, Julien Berthier, Guy Overfelt, Angus Forbes, Jaqueline Gordon, Sharon Grace, Carissa Potter.

Comment by AB: Lively and entertaining exhibit surveys conceptual and new media art in California, classic as well as contemporary. Highlights include toilet plunger headphones, a slice of a billboard vandalized in the name of art, bocce from another planet, oversized inflatable marshmallow sculptures, and more. Wanna help caption the art? Please email alanb@artbusiness.com

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Aspect Art Gallery : Spring 2011 Artists' Reception and Show.

Artists: Stirling Elmendorf, Patrushka, Carl Couchman, Tiffany Chavez, Jeff Neugebauer, Sheela Singla, Lon Richter, Hooshang Yashar, Kelsey Harrison, Brent Bushnell.

Review and images by DeWitt Cheng: This gallery/framing store group show features eleven, including curator and proprietor Lon Richter, all working in a variety of media with various themes and approaches. If pluralism is the esthetic, then maximalism is the organizing principle-salon-style hanging in the old, cheek-by-jowl nineteenth-century mode. Time constraints make more than a quick look impossible, but the show is up for a nice long two-months.

Comment by RWM: Nice collection and variety in this group show. There is something here for everybody to be impressed by.

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Park Life : Living Room. Curated by Joey Piziali and Vanessa Blaikie of Romer Young Gallery.

Artists: Deric Carner, Amanda Curreri, Liam Everett, Pablo Guardiola, Cliff Hengst, Scott Hewicker, James Sterling Pitt, Susan O'Malley, Josh Pieper, Josh Podoll, Lucy Pullen, Gwenael Rattke, Erik Scollon, Chad Stayrook, Kirk Stoller, Dan Tierney, Alex Zecca.

Comment by AB: Romer Young Gallery co-owners, Joey Piziali and Vanessa Blaikie, transport their aesthetic across town to see how it plays on Clement.

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Gallery BellJar : Good Morning, Brain - Adam Fiveonehundred.

Review by RWM, image c/o Adam Fiveonehundred: Quite the media circus with all manner of creatures on the wall, some of which are human. Nice stylizations and odd visages as well. The works are vital, varied and stylized.

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