Jancar Jones Gallery : Gina Borg.

Comment by AB: Gina Borg paints in progressions of color value, she tells me. Each work is composed of numerous diminutive monotone geometric areas of paint, usually four-sided, the value of each area proportional to those of it's adjacent areas, and so on and so forth until she runs out of space. Borg typically locates the most intense values in the vicinity of the center (though not always), reducing them as she emanates outward. Individual areas on her oil paintings are also textured, resulting in unusual snakeskin effects. She goes on to note that initial constructs may spontaneously alter at any point during the course of her creative endeavors. Nice work.

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The Luggage Store : Kick Out the Jams.

Artists: Mary Elizabeth Yarbroug, Amanda Eicher, Chris Taggart, Bill Dunlap, Christopher Robin Duncan, Ryan Jacob Smith, Julianna Bright, The Golden Bears, Paul Schiek, William Swanson, Jason Jagel, Butt Johnson, Colter Jacobsen, Tucker Nichols, Andy Vogt, Glen Baldridge, Chris Corales, Ernest Burgos, Griffin McPartland, Paul Wackers, Hisham Akira Bharocha, Jen Smith, Jeremy and Claire Weiss, Chris Pew, Chris Duncan. Organdized by Chris Duncan & Griffin McPartland

Comment by AB: Combination art show and zine realease for "Hot and Cold," Issue 2. The art is entirely by artists who are in some way included in the zine. Issue 2 is either 30 or 35 bucks depending on where you look, it's limited to only 150 copies, and in my opinion (as a specialist in rare and out-of-print art books for over 20 years), it's destined to become one of the significant Bay Area fine art publications of this era. If you can still find one, buy it. Good art show too.

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Gallery del Grotto at Sports Basement , 1590 Bryant Street, San Francisco, CA 94103: Lisa Bostwick - American History II.

Comment by AB: Lisa Bostwick's acrylic paintings on wood range from Native American portraits to surfing scenes to landscapes with figures. She also teaches art at Drew School in SF, and has generously given a portion of the exhibition space over to paintings by a select group of her students.

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Ratio 3 Gallery : Ryan McGinley - Spring and By Summer Fall.

Comment by AB: Color photographs by Ryan McGinley document summer road trips he's taken around the country over the past three years. According to the fact sheet, his compositions are "inspired by images from nudist magazines from the 1960s and early 1970s," except that McGinley's naked people are upgraded beyond those nudes of yore by being photographed against atypical landscapes or cosmic or abstracted backgrounds, occasionally pictured as flying through the air, and in general, posed to connote pure unrestrained freewheeling freedom with perhaps a dash of mysticality thrown in for good measure. Effective.

So like 20 people ask me during the evening whether I've seen or will be seeing this show, and I'm thinking to myself, "Self, why are all these people asking me this?" Well, my lovelies, it turns out that McGinley's apparently the darling du jour of informed artsters everywhere, while meanwhile, I've never heard of him until now. Clueless Al strikes again. I gotta get out more.

Plus this delectable tidbit-- in attendance at the opening is none other than our Honorable Mayor Gavin Newsom. Plus special added bonus-- he's accompanied by fiance Jennifer Siebel (or is it the other way around)? In any event, it's always gratifying to see our elected officials take time out of their busy lives for art appreciation.

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Fecal Face Dot Gallery : Michael Sieben and Nat Swope - Forever and Never.

Review by Kristin Farr: "Forever and Never" is a neatly laid-out exhibition of twenty 2 and 4-color prints by Michael Sieben, an artist from Austin, Texas who runs Okay Mountain Gallery, and Nat Swope who runs Bloom Press in Oakland. Swope and Sieben want to show-- through their ongoing collaboration-- how easy it can be to make and buy art, in this case, limited edition hand-printed pieces with substance made by artists who might also design board graphics for a living and have skate ramps in their backyards. Sieben contributes illustrations and Swope refines the composition of the prints with background designs. Sieben?s signature characters are ruddy and lovable and they are relatable in their weariness. They have globular heads and extra long arms and arrows in their backs, illustrating how you might feel after a long, treacherous week of working (or partying).

Comment by AB: Skateboard lifestyle notable Michael Sieben and Bloom Press principal Nat Swope collaborate to craft a series of upbeat silkscreen prints blending graphic forms, urban attitude, caricature, and layout. Prices range $30-$150. You can't beat that; time to augment the collection.

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Michael Mullin Fine Art at Belcher Studios Gallery : Marta Resende.

Comment by AB: Inaugural exhibition of Michael Mullin Fine Art features digital photographs and large scale paintings by Portuguese-German artist Marta Resende in her United States solo debut. According to an unofficial conversation I have with a couple attending the show, Resende's subject matters represent renditions of images she sees and saves from her computer screen. I don't exactly recall the details on how she transits or transforms them from screen images to digital images to paintings, but one thing for sure-- she effectively investigates the conflux of abstraction and representation. Interestiong show.

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Soap Gallery : Photography by the Bay - The Mix.

Photographers: Sarah Musser, Nicole Carroll, Liz Cervntes, Barbie Dike, Erin Hafey, Mandy Knockaert, Zoe Floyd, Khanh Huu, Rosalyn Lee, Kara Petak, Marie Price, Alex Shamis, Randi Willis, Bonnie Zimmerman, Nancy Rodriguez, Jamie Wharton, Liliah Ornelas, Chia-I Chang, Tanya Buchananm, Joel Do Kim, Beth Ferrante, Tracee Littlepage, Nathan Proctor, Holly Kisacky, Donald Torrez, Ann King, Isabel Green, Sheila Morgan, Garvin Tso, Matt Patrick, Philip Ringler, Jill Therrien, JoJo Ludwig, Madhu Miller, Robin Perkins, Kirsten Hayes-Hand, Gwen Ortiz, Sean O'Cairde, Phil Hofstetter, Paula Pereira, Lisa Levine, James Saxon, Scott Hopkins. Curated by Sharon Wickham.

Comment by AB: Survey of current work by 40 Bay Area photographers. And that, as they say, is that.

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Queens Nails Annex : This Is Not An Auction / This Is A Terrarium.

Artists: Archigram, ARTEMIO, Erik Baake, Justin Butler, Luke Butler, Binh Danh, Sergio De La Torre, John Dwyer, Frank Ebert, Anna Fernandez, Harrell Fletcher, Howard Fried, Jill Haefele, Justin Hoover, Jim Jacoy, Marnia Johnston, Jason Kalogiros, Geoff Kaplan, William Keihn, Denise King, Paul Kos, Tony Labat, Stella Lai, Isaac Lin, Bob Linder, Juan Luna-Avin, Marcela & Gina, Sarah McMenimen, Armando Miguelez, Liz Miller, Juio Cesar Morales, Yoshua Okon, Nick Olney, Eamon Ore-Giron, Gina Osterloh, Guy Overfelt, Kottie Paloma, Maggie Preston, Daniel Prubrick, Mark Ramos, Kyle Ranson, Juan Requena, Marco Rios, Joe Roberts, Patrick Rock, Bayete Ross Smith, Chris Solars, Brian Storts, Gabrielle Teschner, Matt Volla, Leslie Wilkes, Xxxato, many more.

Comment by AB: According to the debriefing, this is the "second, and final annual fundraiser This Is Not An Auction / This Is A Terrarium (sic)." I'm not sure whether that means this is their last fundraiser auction period, or whether it's their last fundraiser auction with this name. Whatever the deal is, there's plenty of worthy art on the block tonight offered at extra attractive opening bids. Interspersed among the merchandise are artist-arranged flower bouquets, and a survey of terrariums. For you historians in the crowd, Queens Nails Annex has been in operation for four years now, and consistently shows consistently gratifying vanguard art.

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Park Life : Feudal Echo - Alex Lucas, Brian Willmont.

Comment by AB: Brian Willmont and Alex Lukas both belong to Space 1026 collective of Philadelphia, PA. Willmont incorporates elements of fiction, history, religion, blacklight posters, and more into his dreamy free-floating fantasyscapes. Lukas, on the other hand, makes art around the upshots of destruction of the American landscape. His bereft vistas with isolated industrial and commercial structures are consistently interrupted with spatter-paint black smoke and flames. Good show; go see.

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