HIGHLIGHT - PARK LIFE - SEX & CULTURE

CA INSTITUTE OF INTEGRAL STUDIES - MARK WOLF

1AM - SOMARTS 17&HOFF

11.04.11

(with assistance from Clare Coppel and RWM)



Art, artists and activism. Click Here.

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Highlight Gallery : Renato Nicolodi - Libido Moriendi.

Comment by AB: Nifty little riff on death in sculpture and digital images by Belgian artist Renato Nicolodi. If the afterlife looks anything like this, then count me in. His style reminds me a little of Hugh Ferriss .

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Park Life : See You Next Tuesday - New Paintings by Courtney Johnson.

Review by Clare Coppel: Really intense paintings of Shark Women with Fangs! One even holding a monkey; is she going to eat that monkey?

Comment by AB: Regarding the show's title, I'm not exactly sure who's gonna see who next Tuesday, but I saw this tonight and have survived to tell the tale. Ghoulish but good.

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Center for Sex & Culture : Contact Sheet Sexual Portraits - Michael Rosen.

Review by RWM: Far more than a thousand words in many of these pictures. Nice to see women having fun changing the world in a town that continually pushes the boundaries.

Comment by AB: Fascinating composite portrait photographs by Michael Rosen present their subjects in a disarmingly straightforward way. Not only that, but each frame in each portrait corresponds to the identical frame in every portrait, so there's endless opportunities to compare, contrast, and get to know not only the subjects, but also ourselves better.

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California Institute of Integral Studies : Sea Change - Melissa Fleming.

Review by RWM: It is hard to know who here is the artist, Melissa Fleming or the sea. She makes her art by placing photosensitive paper in the path of waves. The resulting images, looking like abstract combinations of sand and ink, can go so far as to evoke theological explanations. The random shapes and patterns are sublime in how they connect us to the sometimes unpredictable natural world and its messages.

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Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art : Castigation - New Sculpture by Jud Bergeron, Albert Dicruttalo, Wayne Shaffer.

Review by RWM: Cool sculptural forms, shapes and colors. Some appear to exemplify various emotions, some look strange and otherworldly. This one reminds me of how I was feeling today; that one, yesterday. Wild in style, one can either commune or castigate to one's content.

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1:AM SF Gallery : I Am Legion - 3A Custom Toy Show.

Artists: anubis2night aka James Brown, Brizl aka Leonard Brizuela, Bubblegumking aka Marc Dooley, Bubo aka Michael Reilly, Chasbrock aka Charles Brock, CKwan Chan, Crestone aka Ralph Subia, CrisR aka Cris Rose, Cthulhugizzard aka Michael Swisstack, Dodgrr, EdGein aka Bryan Fulk, Fseb aka HEBERT Sébastien, Hanouman aka LABRO SEBASTIEN, Konfucious aka Mawuli Dzirasa, KidAkira, Makadi3000, Matthew Dunn, muffinman aka Malte Fulda, Nike Jerk aka Jared Cain, Piino aka Michelle Perez, Primer, Reactor 88, Rsin, Sail, wwwetworks aka Carlo Cacho, R. Cody Fultz, Drilone, Kenn Munk, Ultraman Fong, Moist aka Jason Freeny, Artgerm aka STANLEY LAU, Lily Black, Leecifer, nwo aka Domo Wasaki, zzzz, Frank Kozik, Luke Cheuh, Ferg, Master Lok, Mr. Munk, Amanda Visell, Pushead, Ron English, Keithing, Tokidoki, Ashley Wood.

Comment by AB: Artists customize 3A toys, or maybe it's more like artists transform 3A toys into wild futuristic science fiction sculptures.

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SOMArts Gallery : Man as Object - Reversing the Gaze.

Artists: Juana Alicia, Nancy Buchanan, Guerrilla Girls On Tour!, Lynn Hershman, Jill O'Bryan, ORLAN, Carolee Schneemann, Sylvia Sleigh, Annie Sprinkle, Elizabeth Stephens, May Wilson, Melissa P. Wolf, Roberta Ahrens, Olga Alexander, Zina Al-Shukri, Juliane Backmann, Hazel Bartram-Birchenough, Joanne Beaule Ruggles, Jasmine Begeske, Tracy Brown, Della Calfee, Brie Castell, Christine Cianci, Katie Commodore, Nicole Craine, Tristan Crane, Arabella Decker, Liz Dodson, Betsyann Duval, Merrilyn Duzy, Lynn Friedman, Linda Friedman Schmidt, Margaret 'Margo' Garces, Michal Gavish, Judy Gelles, Ingeborg Gerdes, Christine Giancola, Lisolette Gilcrest, Rosemary Giusti Dillon, Pallavi Govindnathan, Chanel Matsunami Govreau, Corinne Greenberg, Gail Gurman, Karen Gutfreund, Tania Hammidi, Laura Hartford, Trudi Chamoff Hauptman, Marlene Hawthrone Thomas, Katty Ryan Hoover, Hedda Hope, Aisjah Hopkins, Annette Isham, Patricia Izzo, Lahib Jaddo, Judy Johnson-Williams, Christy Kelly-Bentgen, Ellen Kieffer, Tammy Kinsey & Jean Kusina, Karen Lance Klaber, Susan Kraft, Allison Leach, Evie Leder, Lee Lee, Sharon Leong, Lynn Letterman, Amelia Lewis, Lory Lockwood, Michelle Lopez, Jacalyn Lopez Garcia, So Yoon Lym, Sita Mae, Kristina Martino, Karen Mathews, Jeanette May, Cat Lynch, Kristine Mays, Shilo McCabe, Erika Meriaux, Carol Morris, Janice Nesser, Molly Marie Nuzzo, Colleen O'Donnell, Brenda Oelbaum, Beth Olds, Priscilla Otani, Arla Patch, Heather Pilapil, Karen Purdy, Xian Mei Qiu, Nora Raggio, Lynda A. N. Reyes, Judith Roth, Clara Saprasa, Judith Segall, Shizue Seigel, Sal Sidner, Bonnie J. Smith, Priscilla Smith, Madelyn Smoak, Colette Standish, Erika Swinson, Yuriko Takata, Patricia Terrell-O'Neal, Lynne Todaro, J Toffic, Cristina Velazquez, Christina Renfer Vogel, Susan von Gries, Theresa Walloga, Ruth Waters, Jennifer Weigel, Corinne Whitaker, Tamara White, Sheila Winner, Nanette Wylde, Emily Yost, Karen Zack.

Comment by AB: Women objectify men in this penile extravaganza. It's precisely that simple and no more complicated. And it's about time too. I'm tired of being appreciated only for my brain. Good show; go see.

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17&Hoff Gallery : Giratutto - Howard Wong and Rachel Znerold.

Review by RWM: Great fun to be had here with art that breaks the interactive rules normally found in galleries and museums. Art is often kept at a distance, for the arts sake usually, but here squares turn into diamonds on one wall. Circular art can be spun on the opposite wall. Abstraction takes on wild forms in durable works that will certainly survive.

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