HACKETT MILL - MERIDIAN - LUGGAGE STORE
SF CAMERAWORK - SFMOMA - JELLYFISH
MUSEUM OF PERFORMANCE & DESIGN
(with assistance from Larissa Archer
and RWM)
07.13.12
Making art on commission - when it's best to say no. Click Here.
***
Hackett Mill Gallery : David Beck and Robert Schwartz.
Comment by AB: This double bill is heaven for connoisseurs of artists who have mastered their craft. Intricate small-format paintings by Robert Schwartz will keep you guessing as to their narratives, while extraordinarily precise miniature carvings, sculptures and automatons by David Beck are certain to amaze. Definitely worth a visit.
Automaton art by David Beck at Hackett Mill Gallery.
Miniature sculptures and automatons by David Beck at Hackett Mill Gallery.
Mechanism art by David Beck in above image closer.
Dodo carving by David Beck at Hackett Mill Gallery.
Pinkie cam detail of David Beck Dodo art in above image.
Dodo sculptures by David Beck at Hackett Mill Gallery.
David Beck (center) discourses on his art at Hackett Mill Gallery.
Miniature carved art by David Beck.
Pinkie cam detail of David Beck automaton at Hackett Mill Gallery.
Miniature paintings by Robert Schwartz at Hackett Mill Gallery.
Robert Schwartz art in above image closer.
Weird narrative art by Robert Schwartz at Hackett Mill Gallery.
Robert Schwartz art closer at Hackett Mill Gallery.
***
Meridian Gallery : The Painted Word. Co-Curated by Peter Selz and Sue Kubly.
Author/writer/poet/artists: William Saroyan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Kenneth Rexroth, Jack Hirschman, Jess, Robert Duncan, Michael McClure, Jack Micheline, Henry Miller, Kenneth Patchen, Christopher Felver, John Keating, William S. Burroughs, David Meltzer.
Review by RWM: The artistic muse expressed here by the literarti. The results are usually abstractions that sometime tell a story rather than just provoke a mood.
Comment by AB: Last day of this extensive exhibit of art by a cast of eminent authors, writers and poets. Sure glad I get a chance to see it. Art by people who aren't known as artists can often range anywhere from uneven to inferior, but displayed altogether like this allows viewers to better comprehend the context and to appreciate the idiom in more impactful ways.
Art by Lawrence Ferlinghetti at Meridian Gallery.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (left) - Jack Hirshman art (2 on right).
Art by William Saroyan at Meridian Gallery.
More William Saroyan art.
Art by Jack Micheline at Meridian Gallery.
Robert Duncan art.
Nice collage by Jess at Meridian Gallery.
Photography of Beat Era literary notables by Christopher Felver.
More photographs by Christopher Felver at Meridian Gallery.
Art by Kenneth Patchen.
Kenneth Patchen art (foreground) - John Keating portrait (background).
Art by Henry Miller at Meridian Gallery.
***
Luggage Store Gallery : People of Earth - Neil LeDoux.
Comment by AB: 2011-12 Tournesol Award winner Neil LeDoux tells me that his paintings represent manifestions of imaginary realities. Considered from that perspective, the sanguine appearance of the works gives the impression of looking into the innards of living breathing beings. Check it out.
Art by Neil LeDoux at Luggage Store Gallery.
Art by Neil LeDoux.
Neil LeDoux and his art at Luggage Store Gallery.
Art by Neil LeDoux.
Neil LeDoux art at Luggage Store Gallery.
One work of white art by Neil LeDoux.
Neil LeDoux art at Luggage Store Gallery.
Long view - Neil LeDoux art show at Luggage Store Gallery.
***
SF Camerawork : Transient States. Curated by Lisa Sutcliffe.
Photographers: Amanda Boe, Sparky Campanella, Sophie Tianxin Chen, Sarah Christianson, Terri Garland, Scott Hopkins, Hiroyo Kaneko, Melissa Kaseman, Linda Levinson, Paccarik Orue, Ethan Rafal, Cynthia Rettig, Tealia Ellis Ritter, Matthew Shain, Donna J. Wan, Terri Warpinski.
Comment by AB: Momentary interludes between monumental events appears to be the modus for this SF Camerawork members group show.
Photographs by SF Camerawork members.
Members photography show at SF Camerawork.
Amanda Boe and her photography (that's her brother).
Photograph closer at SF Camerawork member group show.
Photography at SF Camerawork.
Photographs by SF Camerawork members.
Population sample - group photography show at SF Camerawork.
***
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art : Cindy Sherman.
Review and images by Larissa Archer: The crowd at SFMOMA is appropriately large for such a buzzy artist. For much of the night there's a line to get into the exhibition halls (though, interestingly, not nearly as long of a line as there was the night of the opening for The Steins Collect last year, when it snaked down the staircase), but many people seem just as happy to stay away from the halls and enjoy the various musical and performance acts, the $7 sloppy bratwursts (served menacingly without napkins), or just mingle under Exploded Views in the Atrium.
In the halls themselves, people cozy up to Sherman's most accessible and loveliest work, her Untitled film Series, but the other rooms housing Sherman's more controversial later projects inspire more mixed reactions. The tone in the Centerfolds room is somber; there seems to be an immediate recognition of Sherman's accuracy in positing her lost, sad, fearful girls with their desperate eyes as some figurative mirror image of the beckoning models pampered and painted for our objectification.
People try not to retch in the "grotesque" room and scurry past the clowns as quickly as they can. The History Portraits provide some respite, the glamour shots both confusion and fascination, the portraits of aging society ladies a final punch in the gut before we are disgorged back into the museum to resume mingling and to try to forget the more brutal images stamped into our psyches by some of the large, garishly colored images. The catalogue is helpful but no substitute for the real thing; go see them in person.
Photography by Cindy Sherman at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Cindy Sherman self-portrait photography in above image closer.
Earlier work by Cindy Sherman at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Cindy Sherman photograph in above image closer.
Cindy Sherman photography retrospective at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Classic self-portraiture by Cindy Sherman.
Above the main lobby at SFMOMA with light installation by Jim Campbell.
***
Jellyfish Gallery : Light, Space, Perception - Craig Dorety.
Comment by AB: Actual moonscapes digitally rendered into solid wood surfaces and then burnished, buffed and sometimes grouped into art are named for the geographical features and regions they represent. Unexpected concept gratifyingly materialized. Good work; go see.
Lunar landscape art by Craig Dorety at Jellyfish Gallery.
Art by Craig Dorety in above image closer.
Craig Dorety and his moonscape art at Jellyfish Gallery.
Art by Craig Dorety.
Craig Dorety art in above image closer at Jellyfish Gallery.
Moonscape art by Craig Dorety.
Ambiance - Craig Dorety art show at Jellyfish Gallery.
***
Museum of Performance & Design : Body In-Sight - Action-Drawings From The Dance Studio; Toy Theatres - Worlds in Miniature.
Comment by AB: Genuine bona fide action art. Students from a Stanford dance class under the direction of ballerina Muriel Maffre, their feet coated in liquid pencil, perform routine training exercises on top of oversized sheets of paper while working out at the barre. Along the main hallway is a captivating exhibit of antique and contemporary toy theater art. Sidle on by.
Here we are - Museum of Performance & Design. Shall we? OK.
Ballet exercise "action drawings" at Museum of Performance & Design.
The means whereby ballet action drawings are created.
Ballet exercise art at Museum of Performance & Design.
The main gallery at Museum of Performance & Design.
Toy theater exhibit at Museum of Performance & Design.
Toy theater art closer.
Toy theater art closer at Museum of Performance & Design.
Toy theater exhibit at at Museum of Performance & Design.
***