Hayes Valley Market, 580 Hayes St., San Francisco, CA 94102: Paul Pratchenko - New Paintings.

Artists: Andrew Benson, Heather Brubaker, Dave Hamill, Vera Iliatova, Gisela Insuaste, Charlene Liu, Nellie King Solomon, Marc Williams, Susan Ziegler. Curated by Heather Brubaker, Marie-Claire Meisels.

Review by DeWitt Cheng: Uncharted Imaginary Landscapes features conceptual interpretations of the natural world by nine local artists. To quote writer/performance artist David Buuck, "This could be a staging area, then, flush with geographics as yet untainted, as sets unpainted, into the actual territories, measured by foot, by brushstroke, by anxious metered cross-hatching." Topography altered by consciousness-- we'll all have to think happy thoughts.

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

Comment by AB: Certainly one of the best shows to date at this venue.

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Luscious Garage : 'Fine Arts meets Alternate Energy' Bash.

Comment by AB: The event debuts a plug-in hybrid car fully painted with scenes of natural San Francisco by Jonah Roll. Group show art on the walls courtesy of GOGOGRACIEGALLERIES.

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Axelle Fine Arts : Michel Delacroix.

Comment by AB: I remember hearing an interview once with some lofty museum curatrix, whose name I've long forgotten, dissing the Marc Chagall show at SFMOMA based on the emotionality of the art. I was kinda stunned by that one seeing as on opening night the line to get in stretched ridiculously long. Since when is sentimentality bad in art? It's sure not bad in any other realm of creativity-- music, film, theater, dance, literature, poetry. In fact it's good.

Burping that one up leads directly into tonight's personal appearance at Axelle Fine Arts by one of the contemporary masters of sentimentality, Michel Delacroix, famous for his pure Parisian cityscapes denoting in no uncertain terms that all is right with the world. You know something, artsters-- it takes just as much talent to convey warm fuzzy moments in ways that resonate with broad international audiences as it does to make the deadpan art elitists so embrace. Meanwhile back at Axtelle, a line of admirers waiting patiently for Delacroix to sign their books, posters, and art spans the length of the gallery.

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Little Tree Gallery : Lacey Jane Roberts - The Master's Tools (Decay Goes Both Ways).

Comment by AB: An installation of barbed wire draped and interwoven with silver yarn fills the gallery; there's a hole large enough to fit through so you can stand on the other side and look out through the wire. What does it all mean? According to the ballyhoo, the barbed wire is in a state of decay, the silver yarn thrives on this progressive deterioration, the upshot being that beauty emerges out of ugliness, or life surmounts death, or light comes out of darkness-- stuff like that.

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Femina Potens : I Touch Myself.

Artists: Ellen Stagg, Suzanne M. Shifflett, Cristy C. Road, Twincest, Chrystal Powell.

Comment by AB: In celebration of National Masturbation Month, a display of masturbatoryesque art gently reminds us that we are all our own best friends.

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Frankee Uno : Sita Rupe - Tangle.

Comment by AB: Frankee Uno's second anniversary party features fresh decorative upbeat silkscreened panels finished in clear high gloss resin, sometimes referred to by artist Sita Rupe as "tiles."

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