RayKo Photo : The Invisible Age curated by Beth Kientzle and Jan Potts; Najib Joe Hakim - Born Among Mirrors.

Photographers: Susan Arthur, Cynthia Batmanis, Niki Berg, Norma Bernstock, Carol Dass, Topher Delaney, Mary Farmilant, Martine Fougeron, Peg Fredi, Jane Fulton Alt, Candace Plummer Gaudiani, Martha Grenon, Ingrid Hesling, Deborah Lattimore, Jean Locey, Charlotte Niel, Erin O'Neill, Jeanette Palsa, Wendy Paton, Jan Potts, Mary Ramain, Barbara Rothman, Nada Savic, Elizabeth Siegfried, Aline Smithson, Rebecca Lynn Swanson, Jacqueline Walters, Marydorsey Wanless, Anita White, Ewa Monika Zebrowski.

Comment by AB: In the main exhibition space, we've got self-portraits by thirty women artists from across America, all between the ages of 50-65. That age range, according to the scorecard, represents a time in women's lives when they are viewed by society as being "of little value and practically invisible." I'm not so sure about that 'cuz I'm in that age range and I find women in that age range to be intelligent, wise, worldly, and hot.

Along the hallway gallery on the right, Najib Joe Hakim presents an upbeat portrait of Lebanon-- after so many wars and so many invasions, the Lebanese remain resolute in their determination to rebuild, restore, and most importantly, to live full and joyous lives.

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Limn Gallery : Zhang Xianyong - You, Me and Them; Weng Yunpeng - Obscure Realities.

Comment by AB: Large-scale paintings by Weng Yunpeng depict lone television sets in vacant Chinese villagescapes, symbolizing the inexorable creep of mass media into contemporary Chinese culture. Zhang Xianyong's heroic posed photographs, meanwhile, blend East, West, storylines a la Chinese opera, and more. Shot in the streets of Shanghai, this body of work heralds Xianyong's first solo show in America.

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Anthony Meier Fine Arts : Katy Moran.

Comment by AB: Rich textural enigmatic abstracts in small format by London artist Katy Moran seduce you into wonderment. You might at first glance think there's not much there there, but the longer you look, the better they get. They've got a certain je ne sais quoi you can't quite put your finger on-- and not very much art has that. The entire show's sold out, by the way, so I inquire of Katy Moran as to approximately how much cheddar one might have to cough up in the hypothetical, assuming something was for sale, and she tells me $19-$22K. Good art; go see.

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Ratio 3 Gallery : Lydia Fong - Moment for Reflection.

Comment by AB: Lydia Fong is Barry McGee, the show is excellent, and that, as they say, is that.

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Bucheon Gallery : Sarah Ratchye - Relm uv strAnj; Miriam Hitchcock - Paradise and Other Habitats.

Comment by AB: Sarah Ratchye's paintings and watercolors have to do with her continuing investigations and explorations into the limiteless of space, while Miriam Hitchcock's curious delicate airy works on paper represent the result of a month-long residency in Costa Rica.

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Art Engine Gallery : Luther Thie and Bijan Yashar - Beautiful Eyesores.

Comment by AB: Luther Thie and Bijan Yashar argue that perhaps we shouldn't bandy about the term "eyesore" quite so freely. Thie makes his case with an impressive phone pole installation, trucked straight from a junkyard in Oakland and assembled here in the gallery, while Yashar makes his with photography.

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Jancar Jones Gallery : Chadwick Rantanen.

Comment by AB: According to the pronouncement, Chadwick Rantanen's show is installed "without touching the gallery," thereby enabling it to be transferred in toto to any location anywhere and be installed precisely identically as it is here without touching anything there either. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

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Edo Salon : Kate Durkin - It's Alright.

Comment by AB: Cut, painted, and stitched canvas concatenations by Kate Durkin. Reasonably appealing and nicely done.

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D-Structure : Duck Show.

Artists: Andy Gouveia, Chris Ocampo, Cole Higgins, David Coffman, Dela Longfish, Erik Otto, Jehan Choo, Jesse Lee, John Paul Balmet, Mark Tanner, Martin Kau, Nigel Li, Nikki Lukas, Nino Navarra, Tim Heitz.

Comment by AB: Fifteen alumni artists from San Jose State University's Illustration & Animation program pay homage to the yellow rubber duckie. The joint's so crowded I have to ask my doppelganger to wait outside.

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Addendum:

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