General comment by AB: A funny thing happened on May 9, 2003-- five full years ago. On that entirely typical night, I took my 1.3 megapixel camera to an opening at a gallery I'd never heard of or been to before (and never since, 'cuz as quick as it opened, it closed), shot three pictures, went home, and put them online. I have no idea what possessed me. Maybe reasons were kicking around somehwere at the time; maybe not. But now that I've worn a little tread off the tires, I know-- I do it because it helps.

Wanna see some art? OK...

***

Caldwell Snyder Gallery : Jose Goncalves.

Comment by AB: Brazilian artist Jose Goncalves paints dense-- everything everywhere in every direction, and people people people. I've always wondered what Brazil might be like, especially in the big cities, and Goncalves paintings offer up an inkling.

***

Gump's : Maria Olivieri Quinn - New Works.

Comment by AB: Anonymous banners, ribbons, and fabrics wave gently in the breeze-- soft, pure, and sunshine light-- courtesy of Maria Olivieri Quinn.

***

Patricia Sweetow Gallery : Gale Antokal - No Vanishing Point; Sarah Wagner.

Review by DeWitt Cheng: Evanescence seems to be the common theme in Gale Antokal's blurred chalk pastel drawings depicting woodland scenes and cloudy skies (No Vanishing Point), and Sarah Wagner's installation of ethereal, barely-there deer (mutants? ghosts?) made of raw or dyed silk, board and fishing line (Nuclear Family). Terrific craftsmanship by both.

DeWitt Cheng writes for Artweek, Art Ltd., www.SanFranciscoArtMagazine.com, www.Shotgun-Review.com, and the East Bay Express.

Comment by AB: I entirely agree with DeWitt. Good art; go see.

***

George Krevsky Gallery : Building a Team - The Art of Baseball.

Artists: Mark Ulriksen, Max Mason, Curtis Wright, Debbie Gallas, Carl Aldana, Arthur K. Miller, Angela Villegas, Mark Ulriksen, Toby Tover-Krein, Terry Thompson, Jim Sottile, Vincent Scilla, Nan Phelps, Roger Patrick, John Musgrove, more.

Comment by AB: George Krevsky's annual baseball free-for-all lavishes you with more imagery of "America's Pastime" than you can swing a bat at. Plus there's beer and Cracker Jack and stuff like that to consummate the congress.

***

Gallery Paule Anglim : John Buck; Larry Thomas.

Comment by AB: Sculpture and prints by John Buck of Bozeman, Montana. The wood sculptures are what rivet me, particularly the crisp symbol-rich bas reliefs with carved colored insets-- engaging on all levels-- visual, cognitive, emotive, technical. My antiquarian muse whispers that they're hard to dust, meaning that though they're stunners now, time may compromise the phenomenon. But I don't care. Tonight they're Pick of First Thursday. Check it out and tell me if you don't agree.

In the anteroom, Larry Thomas renders oversized charcoal drawings of rock outcroppings with architectural assiduousness.

***

Haines Gallery : Patsy Krebs - Hibernal Dreams.

Review by Contessa Trujillo: Hibernal Dreams, featuring new work by Patsy Krebs, showcases an intimate group of acrylic paintings, finely applied on wood panels, resulting in meticulous compositions of soothing colors and orthogonal shapes. The pieces have a three-dimensional quality to them; with darker colors generally located in the center, the mind's eye is drawn in as if entering a tunnel. Krebs's attention to detail is evident, precise with respect to both color and form, and intimate in tranquility and grace.

***

Fraenkel Gallery : Christian Marclay - Stereo.

Review by Mark Olson: While ostensibly concerned with echoes, what is equally striking and revealing about Christian Marclay's work as installed at Fraenkel Gallery is what goes un-noted-- his chosen frame of reference. Echoes do indeed abound and rebound throughout the show in a variety of forms including his "Imaginary Records" jacket series, the fanciful doubled instruments, his doubled photographs, and more. Yet the analogy remains pure analog. From the hand made, archaic looking full-sized LP album covers of the "Records" series to the loops and loops of unwound cassette tape in his "Mashup" to the various bits of disassembled sound gear objectified by installation in a gallery, it's an analog world-- nothing digital in sight-- and it harkens back to a time that already seems long gone. Marclay searches diligently for the perfect echo, and in so doing reveals the 20th Century fetish for perfect reproduction through sound as a sensual object.

***

Don Soker Gallery : Victoria Wagner - The Remains.

Review by DeWitt Cheng: Victoria Wagner's mixed-media drawings on paper and sculptures in "The Remains" are about nature, but an imagined or conceptualized nature related to scientific illustration, or ancient Eastern art (for example), or derived from her imagination, rather than based on memories of traipsing through the woods. Beautiful and strange imagery-- something for everyone. Unfortunately, some of my shots misfire-- a paparazzo-shy crowd this evening. Is this how San Franciscans behave?

***

Toomey Tourell Fine Art : Roni Feldman - Collective Dissolve.

Comment by AB: Nancy Toomey informs me that Roni Feldman of Los Angeles creates his spectral anonymous crowd scenes by digitally collaging and projecting images of people onto canvas, and then materializing them in airbrush. Curiously alluring.

***

Scott Nichols Gallery : Barbara Morgan - Rhythmic Vitality, Dances in Silver.

Comment by AB: Classic images by Barbara Morgan capture ephemeral instants as actioned by icons of modern dance. Payoff? Their grace and consummate mastery of craft can be marvelled at and appreciated by all, and for all time.

***

Steven Wolf Fine Arts : Daniel Tierney - Ghost Hesh.

Comment by AB: According to the grandiloquent blandishment, nonetheless penned with finesse by Steven Wolf, Daniel Tierney's process of making art is a cat-and-mouse game of "feverishly trying to outwit the dead hand of abstract painting and it's surrounding thrones of antecedents and consequents." Yes, it's difficult to come up fresh in the nonrepresentational realm these days, but Tierney emerges victorious, decidedly sidestepping the innumerable derivative traps set by those pesky expressive practitioners of yore. But wait; there's more. He sweetens the deal with several hammered nailed painted wood constructions that appear utilitarian, but are not-- perhaps inquiries as to potential functions of nonfunctionality. Good show; go see.

***

ARTworkSF : What Goes Around.

Artists: Judy Johnson-Williams, Alexander Polzin, Annekarin Glass, Ben Fash, Bruce Hopkins, Caren Lorber, Charlotte Kay, Chester Elmore, Christine Cianci, Daniel Rose, David Boudreau, Fitz Maurice, Gianluca Franzese, Irene Hendrick, Jacob Kaminker, Karen Gutfreund, Kiran Kumari, Les Phillips, Lois Llewellyn, Mary Lou D'Auray, Natasha Dikareva, Olaina Silva, Steven Gray.

Comment by AB: Notable amidst the perennial potpourri that characterizes ARTworkSF are scratchboard-style compositions-- razor-cut, buffed, and sanded from black painted sheets of corrugated cardboard by Judy Johnson-Williams. But neatness counts, Judy Johnson-Williams, and occasional rough spots undermine the outcomes. Yes, I know-- you have to zoom in close to see 'em, but some of us do just that.

***

871 Fine Arts : Sandra Ortiz Taylor - Paper Dreams.

Comment by AB: Assemblage and collage by Sandra Taylor, several of the collages measuring little more than a square inch in area.

***

Hespe Gallery : Marianne Kolb - The Illusion of Singularity.

Comment by AB: Ultra-reductive figuration. Marianne Kolb furnishes the fundamentals; hopefully your brain will do the rest.

***

Hangart Gallery & Annex : Derek Nunn - Tracery and Inscription; Close to Focus - Group Show.

Comment by AB: Richly textured organic abstracts by Derek Nunn reference that which is natural. Across the street and up the stairs at the Annex, Close to Focus presents select works by Hugo Kobayashi, Philippe Jestin, and what look to be vintage Hollywood or TV Golden Era vignettes against patterned backgrounds by Nicole Hayden.

***

Frey Norris Gallery : Inkie Whang - American Debut.

Review by Contessa Trujillo: Korean artisit Inkie Whang's American Debut at Frey Norris Gallery consists of twelve medium to large scale pieces. Ten consist of innumerable tiny dots (or dollops) of silicon (looking like mini Hershey Kisses) applied over monotone layers of acrylic paint on canvas. The dots are arranged in perfect gridlike patterns to form serene quiet pointillistic landscape and waterscapes. Another piece in the show consists of deep fushia rhinestones arranged into verse, and yet another is composed entirely of yellow and black Leggos. All pieces are minimalist, each employing only two distinct colors to represent concepts of positive and negative shapes and space.

***

Gallery 291 : Jim Marshall - Marshall in Platinum.

Review by Jessica Whiteside: Gallery 291 is a new gallery, open only six weeks, on the fifth floor of 291 Geary, overlooking Union Square.? The current show is a retrospective of Jim Marshall's work.? Marshall is one of the preeminent rock & roll photographers of our time. The exhibition, called Marshall in Platinum, contains some of the most iconic images of musicians ever photographed, all printed in platinum/palladium.

This is my first time in this gallery, and man, is it crowded! Jim Marshall's work entices what must be half of San Francisco to pile on in.? I had no idea that this local artist was so prolific in his career and responsible for creating some of the best known images of stars like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Cotton, Mick Jagger, John Coltrane, and my personal favorite, Johnny Cash-- just to name a few.? This exhibition is most certainly worth taking a trip to see, and hopefully won't be as crowded as the opening!? His portraits are intimate and beautiful, and highlight the career of an important figure in photography.

Comment by AB: The joint's poppin' with rockers of all eras, here to honor the great Jim Marshall. Don't miss this one.

***

The LAB : Subversive Complexity.

Artists: Laurel Beckman; Chris Barr; Julia Bradshaw, James Morgan, and Bennett Goble; Elisheva Biernoff; Cesar Cornejo; Holly Crawford; Sharon Daniel; Bryan and Vita Hewitt with Chuck, Inc.; Liss and Lake; Bradley McCallum and Jacqueline Tarry; Neighborhood Sign Club with Alison Pebworth, Leigh Ann Martin, and Megan Saperstein; Nancy Nisbet; Jennifer Parker with Matthew McGuinness; Sasha Petrenko; Johanna Poethig with VPA Painting and Mural Class, CSU Monterey Bay; Alyssa C. Salomon; Randy Sarafan; Sherri Lynn Wood.

Review and images by Kate Watkins: The LAB promotes experimental art and encourages artists to incorporate new media into their work, with the idea of also using the community as a tool when focusing on political or social issues. According to the gallery's website, they are particularly interested in "work that crosses boundaries, encourages evolving artistic and social dialogue between artists and audiences, and develops the culture and community of the San Francisco Bay Area." In the latest exhibit, Subversive Complexity, the artists most definitely cross boundaries and deal with a range of issues that are highly conceptual and community-based. As a whole, the exhibit is extremely successful because it not only raises social awareness on a diverse group of ideas, but it also covers almost every media of art. Ranging from text, film, video loop, installation, sound, drawing, and photography, the artists each deal with important issues and invite audiences into a set of conversations.

One of the projects that definitely stands out from the rest of the group is by artist Elisheva Biefniff. Her project, "Dollar Heroes," (2008), is based on twenty-four of her heroes painted on twenty-four one dollar bills. According to her artist statement, "These are some of my heroes. I've painted them on twenty-four dollar bills, one for each day this exhibit is open. Every day, I will take a bill down from the wall and give it away to someone I encounter who behaves with unusual kindness or generosity. I will ask this person to tell me one of their heroes, who I will then paint on another dollar bill. This bill will replace the original on the wall." This particular project is successful because the artist focuses her work on a simple, yet effective idea that gives the viewer a deeper understanding of herself along with that of the community. The incorporation of text to the visual components works very nicely and provides a brief description about each of her personal heroes. Most importantly, her artist statement is what ties her entire project together, and definitely is the most significant element that she presents to the viewer.

Another interesting project is by artist Sasha Petrenko. For her work, she builds a one-person portable shelter pod, called the "Pockethouse," with a custom desk, storage/guest seat, LED lamp and Mp3/FM sound system. The pod holds a maximum capacity of 3 people or 375lbs. Her materials include the following: birch plywood, sleeping bag, fabric, foam, drawings and digital prints documenting 'Pocket Tours' ('06-'08). For this two-year duration, she would travel from place to place, documenting herself in the Pockethouse. Because of its unusual shape and size, the Pockethouse attracted attention from various communities, demonstrating the idea of living off of minimal necessities. This piece is interesting because it involves the community, but in an indirect manner. By installing the shelter pod in various locations, both urban and rural, the artist produced immediate responses from others.

Another piece in the exhibit that uses text and expression, called the "Mantra Trailer," is an interactive project designed and produced by artist Sherri Lynn Wood. According to the artist (www.mantratrailer.com), "The 'Mantra Trailer' invites us to contemplate, chant, voice and explore our prayers, aspirations, desires, frustrations and petitions for the transformation of self and society, or whatever resonates within us, even the nonsensical. By-passers drawn to the 'Mantra Trailer' are invited inside one at a time to contemplate and record their mantra in privacy." By using this fun and creative idea to interact with others, the artist has gained a tremendous amount of insight. Through this ongoing project, the artist has encountered all sorts of people and states the following: "Mundane, playful and even bizarre personal mantras may take on unforeseen spiritual, cultural or political content to those who witness them." This piece is successful because it not only sparks conversation and expression between individuals, but because it also has a humorous ambiance that several of the other projects lack.

Jennifer Parker and Matthew McGuiness present a strong piece, called "Biofuel Gateway: information booth." Their work, one of the most politically based projects in the exhibit, focuses on issues of biofuel production. According to the artists, the project stems from the desire to gain a broader understanding of complex issues of biofuel production at the local urban level as well as from national and global industrial perspectives. The website, biofuelgateway.net, was researched and developed by Parker, with the goal of assimilating many different perspectives into one resource that will ultimately guide people more readily through alternative fuel websites. On the other hand, McGuiness spent his time and research collaborating with students from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), creating art that is based on biofuel and the culture surrounding this issue. According to McGuiness, "The images attempt to ask questions and poke fun at many complex issues that surround the use of fossil fuels and biofuel." Although very serious, this piece is successful on a number of levels. The incorporation of the installation with drawings by the students, along with the computer station showing their website, is both visually and conceptually stimulating to the viewer. The artists utilize the gallery space very nicely and present a project that is based on both of their desires to experiment and embrace new approaches for sharing information technologies and enthusiasm for alternative fuels.

***

111 Minna Gallery : Ferris Plock + Kelly Tunstall - Circus!

Review by Jessica Whiteside: This is the second collaborative exhibition by Kelly Tunstall and Ferris Plock at 111 Minna Gallery. The integration of their styles is a match made in art heaven-- Ferris' masculine style harmonizing seamlessly with Kelly's ultra feminine style.? Their first show together began the experiment; this show evolves into an expansion of the dialogue between the two, as evidenced by the progressive perfection of their technique. Kelly and Ferris work in everything from acrylic, collage, and spray paint, to pencil, and pen and ink.? Here at 111 Minna they create a Circus of lovable characters, both graphic and painterly, highlighting both their combined and individual styles. Most notably, adding to the overall joy and festive tone of the event is the happy news that Ferris and Kelly will be married at 111 Minna on the Saturday following the opening. Congrats guys!

Comment by AB: Good show; go see. Most expensive piece-- diptych-- $8K-- already sold. And deservedly so.

***

Cafe Royale : Klea McKenna - Give Me a Sign.

Review and image by Jessica Whiteside: This exhibition consists of photographs that work together in a narrative fashion that is not overly obvious. The colors are delicate and the images are arranged on the wall in such a way as to show the subtle relationships between them.? I like the way Klea's opinion comes through so clearly in her work, not being afraid to place beautiful images alongside ones that are slightly grotesque or disturbing. Klea explains that the majority of her photos are taken just at dawn or dusk which adds to the overall softness in color compositions and contextual drama.? I like her work.

***

Addendum:

Artist Michael McMillen & Jan Wurm out and about shortly after McMillen's lecture at UC Berkeley's South of Market Center, 95 3rd nr Mission, part of UC Extension's Free Artist Lecture Series .

***

I save you time, I save you gas, and we all save the environment by reading it here rather than going there. Think about it. It's just this easy . And I thank you.

***

First Thursday; April 3, 2008

First Thursday; March 6, 2008

***