Braunstein/Quay Gallery : Beverly Rayner - State of Worry.

Comment by AB: Beverly Rayner's imaginatively crafted "art with eyeballs" stares back at you as it reflects on surveillance, perception, and the veracity of visual information we receive about the world around us. For you paranoids looking to corroborate your delusions with tangible proof, you'll likely find help here.

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Little Tree Gallery : Paul Zografakis - TBD.

Comment by AB: Twisty collage work by Paul Zografakis ratchets the ordinary othewise.

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Galeria de la Raza : Pachanga 2008 (aka La Pachanguita).

Artists: Ana Adarve, Pilar Aguero-Esparza, Keith Aguiar, Raul Aguilar, Juana Alicia, Elena Anaya, Mitsy Avila Ovalles, Jesus Barraza, Alexandra Blum, Victor Cartagena, Melanie Cervantez, Lawrence Colacion, Antonio Contreras, Jaime Cortez, Rudy Cuellar, Ali Dadger, Einar & Jamex De La Torre, Sergio De La Torre, Lou Dematteis, Andy Diaz Hope, Francisco Dominguez, Caleb Duarte, Felipe Dulzaides, Emael, Ana T. Fernandez, Colleen Flaherty, Juan Fuentes, Rupert Garcia, Guillermo Gomez-Pe?a, Tirso Gonzalez, Johanna Grawunder, Jaime Guerrero, Gabriela Hasbun, Ester Hernandez, Leticia Hernandez, Allan Herrera, Leonardo Herrrera, Jimmy Jane, Jody Jock, Tim Keefe, Sahar Khoury, Tony Labat, Robin Lasser, John Leanos, Liz Lerma, Yolanda Lopez, Juan Luna Avin, Alicia McCarthy, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Miju, Julio Cesar Morales, Michelle Munning, Angelica Muro, Adrienne Pao Viva Paredes, Txutxo Perez, Patrick Piazza, Dulce Pinzon, Johanna Poethig, Silvia Poloto, Juan Carlos Quintana, Rigo, Calixto Robles, Favianna Rodriguez, Isis Rodriguez, Shizu Saldamando, Diana Sanchez, Andrew Schoultz, Jonathan Solo, Ernesto Sopprani, Brian Storts, Andrea Suess, Vincent Valdez, Rene Ya?ez and Rio Ya?ez, more.

Comment by AB: Galeria de la Raza's 8th annual fundraising auction features 100 works of art by an impressive and talented array of Bay Area artists. Opening bids for both the silent and live auctions are enticingly low, and I'm sure some lucky buyers walked away with bargains (astute collectors take note). Don't miss next year's.

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Root Division : Buy Now.

Artists: Joshua Aaron, Ashley Adams, Ana Adarve, Verda Alexander, Andrea Antonaccio, Eric Araujo, Jason Michael Aumann, Seza Bali, Micca Bandit, Elizabeth Bernstein, Timothy Berry, Jan Blythe, Amanda Boehm-Garcia, Anna Bogatin, Nicholas Bohac, Tanya Boggs, Aaron Brady, Esther Bruijn, Jamie Brunson, Amy Cancelmo, Deric Carner, John Casey, Kristen Chappa, Jon Casey Clary, Beth Alice Cook, Mel Davis, Lori del Mar, David DeRosa, Elizabeth Deters, Lauren DiCioccio, Alan Disparte, Claire Droney, Amy Ellingson, Grant Ernhart, Kelly Falzone, Michele Feder, Selene Foster, Peter Foucault, Adam Friedman, Joel Frudden, Daniel Galas, Karen Gallagher, Jen Garrido, Dan Grayber, Adam Green, Ryan Hackett, Melissa Hutton, Stephanie Inagaki, Rachael Jablo, Jeremiah Jenkins, David O. Johnson, Ryan Jones, Ashley Kalemjian, Erin Kellgren, Tammy Kim, Keira Kotler, Michael Krouse, Angela Lanyon, Carrie Lederer, Kristina Lewis, Whitney Lynn, Lindsey Lyons, Michelle Mansour, Kari Marboe, Vanessa Marsh, Alex Martinez, Molly McCracken, Brian McDonald, Dennis McNulty, John K. Melvin, Conrad M. Meyers II, Yvette Molina, Mimi Moncier, Eve Morgenstern, Tom Mueske, Carson Murdach, Michael Namkung, Haden Nicholl, Jenna North, Chelsea Pegram, Bernardo Poggi-Leigh, Nigel Poor, Mel Prest, Juan Carlos Quintana, Matt Rogers, Aaron Rosenstreich, Rob Schroeder, Lauren Scime, Laurel Shear, Andrea Slattery, Jamie Spinello, John Stewart, Amber Stucke, James Tantum, Kevin E. Taylor, Mitch Temple, Chris Thorson, John Torrente, Carly Troncale, Jessica Tully, J. Kristen Van Patten, Aldo Valdez, Mr. Ben Venom, Camille Verboort, Keef Ward, Dave Warnke, Brian Wasson, Jeannie Pettigrew Whelan, Nancy Willis, Patrick Wilson, Bijan Yashar.

Comment by AB: Sneak preview and early buying opportunity for Root Division's seventh annual fundraising art auction to take place on Thursday, October 23, 2008. Loads and loads and loads of art. Check it out.

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SomArts Gallery : Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) in the Time of Change.

Artists: Elizabeth Addison, Kemit Amenophis, Susana Aragon, Suha Araj, Vivian Arend Mullaney, Adrian Arias, Anais Arias-Aragon, Mara Barenbaum, Nathaniel Bolton, Pam Bolton, Mara Brown, Carla Caletti, Cindy Cleary, Deborah Cohen & the San Francisco School 5th Grade Spanish Class, Harry Crofton, Alicia Cruz-Hunt, Rudy Cuellar, deCoy99, Kathy DeRosas, Lanell Dike, Denhi Donis, Annamarta Dostourian, Laura Dubois, Marsha Ercegovic, Candi Farlice, Karen Goodkin, Shawn Griggs, CJ Grossman, Bjorn Heinbach, Carlos Loarca, Heather Logas, Ytaelena Lopez, Dean MacCannell, Juliet Flower MacCannell, Susan Lorraine Madonich, Cris Matos, Susan Matthews, Patricia Montgomery, Mary Molly Mullaney, Carla Oden, Aydasara Ortega, Brenda Rasmussen, Renaldo Ratto, Denise Richards, Enrique Salazar, Jos Sances, Andy Schine, Malik Seneferu, Carol Stewart, David Tafolla, Lia Tealdi-Heinbach, Cynthia Tom, Ellen Vogel, Marcy Voyevod, Alain Waeber, Vivian Walz, Tanya Wilkinson, Rene Yanez, Rio Yanez, Victor Mario Zaballa.

Comment by AB: One of my favorite and most uplifting events of the year, Day of the Dead at SomArts creatively venerates and honors those who have come before us-- with no shortage of interwoven editorial comment-- because in far too many instances, people don't have to die when they do. This time around, someone had the brilliant idea to cordon off the individual booths with old wooden cargo pallets, the upshot being that even though it looks good, the aisles are significantly narrower, and navigating the dealie bob is kind of sort of more or less a pain in the ass. Even so, the celebration is always worth a visit.

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White Walls Gallery : Mike Giant - Greetings from San Francisco.

Comment by AB: Nobody encapsulates the contemporary urban condition like Mike Giant, and the good news is he just keeps getting better. This time around, his bicyclist portraits are noble and deserving, his more complex text works are stupefyingly good, his commentaries on global and local matters are concise and to the point, he torques the tattoo ethos into whole new realms, and his perspectives on big city territoriality remind us of the ways we separate ourselves from each other. Mike Giant is a prodigious talent and he takes no prisoners with this show. In fact, I'm gonna slap a mid-month Pick on this baby. Plus if you got the scratch, now might be a good time to augment the collection. Plus the gallery (and the entire length of the block out front) is a mob scene.

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The Shooting Gallery : Travis Louie, Kris Kuksi and Mercedes Helnwein - New Works.

Comment by AB: Travis Louie's amazing acrylic portrait paintings make bizarre seem real; Kris Kuksi incomprehensibly intricate assembled hard-to-dust sculptures materialize fantastic realities; and Mercedes Helnwein's contemplative black & white full-figure personality studies admirably gratify. It's a go-see on all counts.

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Books & Bookshelves, 99 Sanchez Street, San Francisco, CA 94114-1112; (415) 621-3761: Lina Lenberg.

Review and images by DeWitt Cheng: Yet another ad hoc art venue-- here, a small bookstore and bookshelf store (buy your milk paints here!)-- and very San Francisco, with poetry and art combined. Poets Jacqueline Motzer and Richard Froude read from their work, and painter Lina Lenberg shows her surreal/expressionist paintings, some of which have a Kahlo-ish psychological edge.

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