Modernism Gallery : Tony Hernandez - Paintings from the Silent Room; Daniel Mendel-Black - Naked Paintings.

Comment: Tony Hernandez masterfully manipulates encaustics to concoct endearing setting-less scenarios of children and doves interacting in curious ways, unerringly peaceful and pure. In complete contrast, Daniel Mendel-Black tops his electric plaid abstracts with abrupt unsettling oblong impasto globs, the brown and black versions of which remind me of poo.

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Rena Bransten Gallery : John Waters - Reckless Eyeballs.

This time around, John Waters excerpts stills from movies damned by various critics as "unwatchable" and rehabs them into informed-- often insider-- montaged commentaries on politics, the entertainment industry, the art world, social issues, sexuality, and more. This essence is accentuated with several sculptural works like a Waters self-portrait reincarnation as a six-foot scat-brown rubber snake, the whole shebang topped with a peppy color photograph of Waters throwing panned film DVD's onto a fire. Is it time to roast marshmallows or instead consider that perhaps critics, in their paroxysms of self-ordained pomp, incite mini-burnings of their own, and in so doing, undermine viewers' freedoms to reflect.

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Hackett-Freedman Gallery : The Passionate Gesture; Contemporary Selections.

Artists: Giorgio Cavallon, Herbert Ferber, Franz Kline, Hans Hofmann, Louise Nevelson, Joan Mitchell, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Diebenkorn, Esteban Vicente, Frank Lobdell, Manuel Neri, Emerson Woelffer, Robert Motherwell, James Aponovich, Jeanne Duval, David Ligare, Jeffrey Ripple, Paul Resika, Stone Roberts, Raimonds Staprans, Amy Weiskopf, others.

Comment: Hackett-Freedman hauls out a hefty selection of Abstract Expressionist works, a number by heavy hitters like Motherwell, Kline, Hofmann, and more. Prices range from a boatload of money to a shitload of money, but it's free to look, and as we all know, "He who smells the roses owns the garden (or she)." In the annex you'll find a representative sampling of contemporary realist works.

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Warnock Fine Arts : William Wolff - The Invisible City.

Comment: Retrospective of the art of William Wolff (1922-2004), involved and active, though not necessarily high profile, in the local art community for fifty years, most of those years spent as a printmaker. His prints from "The Invisible City" series reference the eternal "unity of creative souls across time and space."

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111 Minna Gallery : Jason Mecier - Celebrity Junk Drawer

Comment: Master assemblologist Jason Mecier fabricates portrait collages of his favorite celebrities, crafted entirely from recycled materials that relate to the personalities of the portraits they comprise. The work is outrageously marvelous; the prices perhaps a mite dear, the examples I looked closely at ranging around $20K per. The event's sponsored in part by Gen Art so there's no shortage of attractive available artsters running around.

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California Modern Gallery : Focal Points.

Artists: Alena Zhukova, Alexei Bochkovsky, Eugene Hayzen, Ivan Bajinov, Kiril Krylov, Mikhail Rezhepp, Nikolai Chigirev, Nina Tzaregradskaya, Oleg Lobykin.

Comment: Group photo and sculpture exhibition by nine Bay Area artists.

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ACE Auto Dismantling : "We're Turning One" Birthday Party.

Comment: Is it a junkyard or a sculpture garden? You make the call. Hint: There's a lifesize working version of the game Mousetrap on the property. According to the literature, the venue is available for social events. Plus special added bonus-- ACE Auto Dismantling was voted Best Junkyard For Artists by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Beat that. (And don't tell me I never take you anywhere interesting.)

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Addendum:

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