The Commonwealth Club : Urban Landscapes by Xavier Castellanos .

Comment: Good sized reasonably painted fairly priced rather odd cityscape acrylic paintings, some with collage. Like, for example, one's got floating wrist watches in it, another's got a floating Frida Kahlo head. And there's a Dali eye and a Van Gogh sky and, my oh my, it's time to fly. Bye bye.

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Sculpturesite Gallery : Inaugural Exhibition - Vernissage.

Artists: John Atkin, Jorge Blanco, John Denning, Richard Erdman, Bella Feldman, Brad Howe, Jane Johnson, Nina Lyons, Ryan McCourt, Mark Oldland, Frances Semple, Gerard Tsutakawa, Rebecca Welz, Bruce Beasley, Jeffery Laudenslager, Clement Meadmore, Royden Mills, Bret Price, Peter Schifirin, Hans Van de Bovenkamp, William Wareham, more.

Comment: Brand new Sculpturesite claims to be "San Francisco's Premier Sculpture Gallery," and it looks that way to me. For the most part, the art's extremely competent, polished, mature, antiseptic, and perfect for corporate concerns. In fact, a good alternative moniker for the gallery might be "The Corporate Sculpture Store." Now I'm well aware how some of you feel about "corporate art," and true, it's not the most exciting thing in the world, but the good news is that corporate art is always better than no corporate art. If I recall correctly, The City of San Francisco requires construction projects above a certain dollar amount to budget a certain percentage of the total cost to "art," meaning a built-in client base for purveyors of affable lobby-ploppers such as Sculpturesite. Good luck. Most priced low thousands to mid-tens of thousands, top-out at $200K.

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PlaySpace Graduate Gallery : Juried Exhibition - Altered & Strangely Democratic.

Artists: Jarrett Mitchell, Lettie Jane Rennekamp, Bryan Kaplan, Joshua Pieper, Whitney Hubbs, Mads Lynnerup, Tonya Solley Thorton, Jason Mortara, Ben Riesman, Amy Rathbone, Sue Pak, and Sarah Cain.

Comment: You start with two juries, one of arts professionals and a second of "experimental artists." The first jury selects the artists who are then "reviewed" by the second jury. The exhibit is about the process of producing this show as well as about the art selected for it. Included in the "art" is a roomful of text documenting the show's evolution (on which anyone is allowed to write). Additionally, much of the "art" selected for the show is or includes text. What's it all mean? Baffles the crap outta me. Probably a group goose for insiders.

"You're a philistine."

Oh really?

"...and you have no credentials either."

What's that supposed to mean? I'm not qualified to write about art? Nothing I say is valid? You have a free ticket to dismiss me? Here-- I'll give you a credential-- I like art and I have some ideas that I think might help more people like more art better.

"Why don't you learn something first and then help?"

OK, fine. How about this? If you're smart enough to conceive this show, you're smart enough to write a basic three-sentence (or maybe 2 three-sentence paragraphs) explanation that normal educated intelligent human beings can understand. I don't mean dumb it down; I mean a synopsis-- sentence #1 presents the problem, sentence #2 states the means of solving the problem, sentence #3 states the conclusion-- something like that. Simply give those of us who take the time to visit your event a fighting chance to understand and appreciate it. That's all.

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ARTworkSF : The 3rd Annual Cafe Show.

Artists: Adekunle Adejare, Adison Garzon, Alanna Spence, Albert Chi Hwang, Alisa Lowden, Alyssa Ghessi, Amelia Lewis, Antonia Zotti, Ariel Levy, Atwood Gaines, Ayako Tanaka, Big Al Lopez, Charlise Tiee, Chenee Fournier, Chris Lawrence, Christine Cianci, Dan Cope, Dan Stromberg, danyol, Darlene Hampton, David Ball, David Boudreau, David Hewitt, David Leong, Dean R. Gustafson, Donna Lerew, Donna Reibslager, Elisa Carozza, Elizabeth King, Elizabeth Tennant, Emily McLeod, Eric Paulson, Eridanus Giffin, Erin Schroeder, Ernesto Aguirre, Florence Smith, Fong Fai, Gianfranco Paolozzi, Godfrey Lim, Heather Hanan, Hugo Carlos Arreola, Illyanna Maisonet, Jacob Fisher, James (Jake) Snyder, Janet Rosen, Jason Van Horn, Jennifer Mack, Jennifer Stinnett, Jennifer Valenzuela, Jo Farrell, Joan Elan Davis, John Rothermel, John Yoyogi Fortes, Josh Feldman, Josie Grant, June-Young Lim, Jussara Donnellan, Kamil Dawson, Karen Gutfreund Ford, Kate Thompson, Kathryn Arnold, Kevin Fox, Kevin Murphy, Kim Haueter, Kimberly Verde, Kristin Hashimoto, Larissa Nahhas, Leanne C. Miller, Leslie Firestone, Linda Mueller, Lisa Meyer-Kairos, Lois Llewellyn, Lorely Bunoan, Louis Fuqua, Luis E. Garcia, Maja Sidzinska, Marcela Bennett, Maria Gonzalez, Marie Dvorkin, Marie Soderlund, Mark Santa Ana, Maya Wibling, Micah Shull, Michael D. Wong, Momi, Muffin Hyche, Natalee Kolbrich, Nika, Nilofer, Nina Nathan, Olivia Kent, Pat Koenigsberg, Phyllis Rockne, Raymond Virata, Robert Duvall, Ruby Pearl, Ryan Ethington, S A Murray, Sarah St. Claire, Shweta Agrawal, Simone Raoux, Stephanie Cunningham, Stilian Pandev, Stuart Sheldon, Susan D. Latham, Susan Hall, Susan Roberts, Taiko Fujimura, Teresa Moore, Tony Perez, Trey Reed, Tuy Nga Brignol, Uri Max Korn, Verity Dierauf, Yong Han, Zian Wang, Zoe Martell.

Comment: If you want to see at least one of everything, then this is the show to attend. It's among the most unconditionally uncompromisingly diverse group exhibitions that take place anywhere in San Francisco. As far as I can tell, there aren't many rules regarding who participates other than that you make art, and you have a desire to go public with it. The interesting aspect here is that when you let artists do what they want, and you don't jury it up with third-party opinions, curious, entertaining, wacky, progressive, raw, embryonic, and enjoyable things happen.

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The Shooting Gallery : Helen Garber - Olympussie.

Comment: Cheerleaders in flight, cheerleaders at rest, eerily set against either plain or unexpected backdrops such as snowy Alpian landscapes or oil derricks, the paintings then finished in pristine hi-gloss. The compositions are ambiguously unsettling-- nothing's ever quite right, sometimes you're sure what the mitigating factor is, other times you're not. Come to think of it, sounds kinda like life. Priced $800-$5500, most $1K-$2K.

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White Walls Gallery : David Choong Lee - Urbanscape.

Comment: David Choong Lee is both versatile and competent, here clasically flavoring the bigtown hepcat hipster aspect of his art to produce some of the slicker urban portraiture you'll see (he could easily do commission work-- maybe he already does). I would have liked to see more of his traditional figural takes on metropolitan living (because I like 'em), but then again, he's probably wise to stay on topic. Prices $400-$6000; most $800-$1500.

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Future Primitive Sound : Swiss Made in America - Featuring New Work by Romanowski.

Comment: Recycle art by Swiss-born artist Romanowski. The three basic flavors are 70's stencil, classic box collage, and 70's stencil box collage. It's all good, technically sound, priced to sell ($75-$2500; most low hundreds), and here's the order I like 'em in-- 70's stencil box collage, 70's stencil, classic box collage. No, wait. 70's stencil, classic box collage, 70's stencil box collage. No, wait. Classic box collage, 70's stencil box collage, 70's stencil. Fuck. I can't make up my mind. Anyway, Romanowski shows me a pair of old sliding shower doors that he's spray-stencilled up and varnished; they look brand spankin' new and ready for multi-purpose display. He's got an excellent design sense, the skills to materialize it, and he can go far a lot of different ways. Take your pick.