BRAUNSTEIN/QUAY - SOUTHERN EXPOSURE - NEEDLES & PENS

ROOT DIVISION - FEMINA POTENS - MARKET STREET

HEIST - SHOOTING GALLERY - WHITE WALLS

GALLERY THREE - PUBLIC BARBER

10.09.10

(with assistance from Clare Coppel , DeWitt Cheng, Hillary Lounsbury and RWM)

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Braunstein/Quay Gallery : Judy Pfaff - Tivoli Gardens.

Comment by AB: Judy Pfaff's riotous oversized assemblage/collage/sculptural amalgams may at first seem like complete chaos, but the longer you look at 'em, the more you appreciate their order, elegance, complexity and compositional magnificence. Definite go see. For those of you keeping score at home, Kenneth Baker is here making a rare art opening appearance-- as unassuming and inconspicuously as possible.

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Southern Exposure : Art Publishing Now Bay Area.

Review and images by DeWitt Cheng: Artheads not swept up in airshows or baseball playoffs had another option this weekend. Southern Exposure hosts two art-publishing events-- on Saturday, Art Publishing Now, a series of presentations and panel discussions by publishers, both print and web, organized by Southern Exposure and the APN Advisory Board (Steven Barich, Devon Bella, Amy Berk, Joseph del Pesco, Derek Fagerstrom, Courtney Fink, Eleanor Hanson, John Herschend, Patricia Maloney, Cheryl Meeker, Neet Moran, Jamie Venci and Griff Williams); and on Sunday, an Art Publisher's Fair, with forty publishers, including many of Friday's participants. The events are very well planned, with presentations that are informative, entertaining, and briskly paced. Devon Bella ringing a bell after six minutes was a nice touch-- beat the clock! Congratulations to everyone involved. (The taped proceedings will be available on soex.org shortly, if you want to listen during the next boring ballgame or air show.)

Joseph Del Pesco (ArtNow/Kadist) moderates a discussion on collaboration between artists (wha?) with Christina Amini (Chronicle Books), Brian MacFadden (MacFadden & Thorpe, CCA), Patricia Maloney (Art Practical), Valerie Wade (Crown Point Press), and Jamie Alexander (Park Life Store and Gallery).

NPR's Laura Sydell moderates a discussion on the future of print (and other tangible, vs. virtual) publishing with Brian McMullen (McSweeney's), Noah Lang (Electric Works), Kelly Lynn Jones (Little Paper Planes), Eleanor Hanson Wise (The Present Group), and Blake Riley (Arion Press).

SFMOMA blog editor Suzanne Stein moderates discussion on viable/"sustainable" publishing with Derek Fagerstrom (Pop-Up magazine), Andrew Leland (The Believer), and Mat Honan (Longshot magazine, WIRED Magazine). Also participating (but not in photo): Griff Williams (Gallery 16) and Amy Berk (Stretcher.org).

San Francisco Art Dealers Association delegation: Jennifer Gately, new ED; Rafael Musni (Togonon Gallery); and Pearl Malt (former Togonon intern).

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Gallery Heist : Adam Caldwell - These Fragments.

Review and images by Clare Coppel: Adam Caldwell's oil paintings depict ominously violent yet seductive dreamlike landscapes, blood, roses, crumbling buildings, checkered floors and striped shirts (which seem to be a thing lately... that's nice). Plus a well-executed trompe l'oeil.

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The Shooting Gallery : In Search of New Land - New Works by C3; Cradle Stories - New Works by Lucas Soi.

Review by Clare Coppel: Men with bloody masks and small detailed Midwestern Gothic pictures from C3-- like tiny pieces of a classic horror movie. Lucas Soi's meticulously detailed ink on paper works of teenagers engaged in questionable activities brings to mind all of the stories I have been seeing lately about adolescents killing themselves due to bullying at school (that would be my subjective reaction). Even so, doesn't everything look better though the rose colored glasses of memory and time? Powerful thought-provoking subject matters perfectly and disturbingly crafted.

Review by Hillary Lounsbury: Lucas Soi's pointillist style combined with the use of few lines and white spaces creates eerie suburban domestic scenes laced with lesbianism, rape and satanism, wrapped up in teenage rites of passage. The product placement of cheap beer cans and fast food wrappers adds to the sense of emptiness as seen through the teenagers' actions. The execution is flawless and fascinating to look at up close and from afar. The unsettling subject matters leave viewers wondering what might have happened before and after the scenes depicted.

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White Walls Gallery : Retrofitted And Other Forms Of Vintage Futurism - New Works by Augustine Kofie.

Review by Clare Coppel: Beautifully created images by Augustine Kofi of graphic designs mixed with retro 1960's and 1970's fragments of images and people. Elaborate yet strong compositions of lines, spaces and colors that seem almost three-dimensional and reflective like glass.

Review by RWM: You can't help but get caught up in the high tech designs and soothing streamlined color schemes of Augustine Kofi. You'll find the future of the past in old forms and styles as you're pulled in by the depth of the images.

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Gallery Three : Exhibit A - New Works by D Young V.

Review by Clare Coppel: Experience D Young V's apocalyptic minimal but effective use of color, graphic black and white images, and patterns resembling words and letters. Special added bonus-- free prints! Awesome show by a local artist; inspiring to see.

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