SAN FRANCISCO ART GALLERIES OPENINGS

FIRST THURSDAY - 03.04.10 Part I

(with assistance from DeWitt Cheng and GETBIZI )

Comment by AB: If you don't mind my imposing for a moment, I'd like a brief word with all you art dudes and dudettes, especially those of you who regularly bask in the bounty of archival delights to be found right here at San Francisco Art Openings. I need help formatting images, filling in the fields on review page templates, and basically preparing each column for upload so that you, my darling artsters, can continue to keep current on the latest in Ess Eff art gallery news, reviews and developments. It's getting tougher and tougher for me to do all this myself-- a victim of my own success you might say-- and I can barely keep pace with the race anymore (even with all the generous assistance I get from my fellow reviewers).

Of course, I'd love more than anything to hire someone for this, but since San Francisco Art Openings is a labor of love and we all do it on a volunteer basis, paying people is not terribly practical. Believe me, I would if I could (and I will if someone is interested in funding such a position). Anyone out there who either wishes to volunteer or who has any suggestions, inclinations, largesse or other thoughts or opinions on the matter, kindly email me . Assistance in all forms and emanating from all planes of existence, spiritual as well as material, will be unendingly appreciated. Let me assure you.

That's it. All done. Art time...

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Caldwell Snyder Gallery : TR Colletta - Recent Paintings; Jason Rohlf - Recent Paintings.

Comment by AB: TR Colletta's nostalgic images recall those good old days when life wasn't quite so tense, frenetic and fraught. They say you can't go back, but spend time with these paintings and perhaps you'll start thinking that maybe you can. In the rear gallery, Jason Rohlf demonstrates that no matter how vanguard or radical it may be at the outset, sooner or later it's destined to take a dip in the mainstream. Yes, even the art of The Mission School...

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Haines Gallery : A Xing Danwen - Personal Diary; Alan Rath - Handful.

Review by GETBIZI: Xing Danwen's show entitled "A Personal Diary" is literally and figuratively naked, his photographs expressing an edgy rawness that confronts you head-on the moment you enter the gallery. To your immediate right, you see two large pigs, symbolizing China and the US, copulating one another, perhaps serving as commentary on the relationship between the two countries. Straight ahead, is what looks like Danwen's interpretation of Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

It is fascinating to see in-your-face art coming out of China as the artists break out after so many years of extremely repressed (emotionally & creatively) culture. Get smacked; go see Xing Danwen's show.

Comment by AB: In the back gallery, enjoy Alan Rath's bewitching hypnotic electronic "sculptures."

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Gregory Lind Gallery : Barbara Takenaga.

Review by DeWitt Cheng: Barbara Takenaga is a New York/Massachusetts painter whose immaculately and obsessively rendered small acrylics on linen suggest mandalas that are simultaneously microscopic, astronomical, and (it's back, folks!) psychedelic. The scientifically- and mathematically-versed will discern fractals and other abstract patterns. Visionary art meets abstraction.

Review by GETBIZI: Cosmic elegance is how I describe Barbara Takenaga's paintings on exhibit. Walking through the doors of the gallery, I'm immediately drawn in by "White Trails". Looking at that painting, I feel as though I'm in outer space drifting towards a new galaxy in complete serenity... so tranquil.

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Brian Gross Fine Art : Stephen Sollins - New Thoughts.

Review by GETBIZI: Stephen Sollins takes common everyday commodities and re-contextualizes them, forcing you to think about these objects in a new way. So for example, a pencil sharpener which used to be on someone's desk, is not a pencil sharpener anymore, but transformed into an art object, cast in bronze. Question is, can it still be used as a pencil sharpener? It sure looks that way. And suppose the piece inspires an industrial designer to design a working retro bronze pencil sharpener that people can buy for their office desks, which takes it full circle... from desk to art and back to desk.

In all seriousness, Sollins' work forces me to think about everyday objects differently, but as you can see, my thoughts force the sharpener back to its desk because I am conditioned to think that is where it "belongs."

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A440 Gallery : Clayton Bailey & Betty Bailey - Artillery, Gun Show.

Comment by AB: Clayton Bailey's artful artillery, some of it actually operative, is straight out of "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"-- futuristic from a classical point of view. And totally convincing. To ramp it all up, Bailey is on hand firing one of his weapons (a compressed air cork rifle) into a gong across the room. Yo! Pick of First Thursday.

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Toomey Tourell Gallery : Eric Butcher - Material Witness.

Review by GETBIZI: This visually impressive solo show of London Artist Eric Butcher's work consists of precision resin-coated aluminum wall sculptures.

Comment by AB: Some of you might recall my mentioning in the January episode of First Thursday Art Openings that San Francisco Chronicle art critic Kenneth Baker had reviewed a rather remarkable five shows at Toomey Tourell in a relatively short period of time-- Lyndi Sales on April 18, 2009; Gregg Renfrew on May 16, 2009; Brian Dettmer on September 12, 2009; Jimi Gleason on October 31, 2009; and Ray Turner on January 9, 2010. Well, the total is now six and you can add Eric Butcher to that list, reviewed by Kenneth Baker on March 13, 2010. And now for the math: Baker has reviewed 6 of Toomey Tourell's last 10 shows!! Wassup? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Stephen Wirtz Gallery : Chris McCaw - Sunburned.

Comment by AB: Chris McCaw partners with the sun to create a series of haunting landscape and seascape photographs, each one unique, that literally track the sun as it transits across the sky. The sun's position is at times recorded as periodic spots that combine burn with overexposure, and at other times, as continuous curvilinear burns so intense that they've slices completely through the paper. Works for me from technical as well as aesthetic perspectives (and I don't think anybody's gonna be duplicating it anytime soon). Pick of First Thursday.

In the side gallery is an exhibition of photographs by significant Italian modernist Mario Giacomelli (1925-2000).

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Micaela Gallery : Nicole Schmoelzer; Lorraine Peltz; Silvia Levenson.

Comment by AB: Serene textureless oil paintings on linen in shades of sunlight by Nicole Schmoelzer; impressionistic recollections of a remembered chandelier by Lorraine Peltz; and a video/sculpture combination installation by Silvia Levenson wryly commenting on contemporary domestic life.

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You can't say I don't try .

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First Thursday - February 4, 2009

First Thursday - January 7, 2009

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