Posts archive: July 2003

Don’t let the question of why certain artists attract mob scenes keep you from seeing this parade of flying lovers and multicolored farm animals. I left a bit lighter on my feet—are they pumping helium into the galleries?

- Tucker Nichols [Monday, July 28th, 2003]

If you’re in San Francisco, and you haven’t seen the current show at the Adobe Room, go. If you’re in LA, and you haven’t seen Christian Marclay’s show at the Armand Hammer, go. There’s just a few more days in the run of each exhibition. Standouts in the Adobe Room’s group show of emerging artists are mechano-abstract paintings by Melina Finkelstein, reminiscent of Picabia in a fresh, quirky way, and collages by Nathan Burazer, including a series that smacks of landscape—if that landscape consisted of mountains perched on wires like pigeons. At the other end of the state and the other end of a career, Christian Marclay combines loads of charm with intellectual sophistication in his assemblages and video collages, most of which deal with our culture’s visual customs for presenting music.

- Meredith Tromble [Sunday, July 27th, 2003]

Over three months ago, conceptual artist Lee Walton began a round of golf at San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. He is now on the 16th green. Why so long, you ask? One shot a day. Join the ranks who tune in daily to see how the day’s swing went, as we root for the greens keeper not to move the hole location from the day before.

- Tucker Nichols [Thursday, July 24th, 2003]

This summer, Los Angeles was mostly seen in London, in what could be called a match between the stars of YBA (Young British Art) and YLA (Young Los Angeles). London played host to a number of Los Angeles artists with a common interest in “Do it yourself-ness” and hip-urban self-reflexivity. Sightings include Delia Brown, Jon Pylypchuck, Evan Holloway, Jason Meadows, and the grandfather of them all, Paul McCarthy. Addresses for your own surf trip to the London scene follow:

Gary Webb & Evan Holloway
The Approach Gallery
47 Approach Road, London
E2 9LY

“Some Things We Like….”
Asprey Jacques

Jason Meadows
Corvi-Mora
22 Warren Street, London
W1T 5 LU

Paul Mc Carthy
Tate Modern
Bankside
London SE1 9TG

—Carolyn Castano

- Jeannine McDonald [Wednesday, July 23rd, 2003]

There’s still time to catch the delightful MACROMATRIX For Your Pleasure exhibition at the UC Berkeley Art museum. The three installations, each focused on offering a moment of beauty and enjoyment, are sure to make you grin. Angela Bulloch’s Disco Floor_Bootleg: 16, a 4 x 4 grid of colorful, illuminated boxes which pulse to the looping beat of Chic’s “Good Times”, wryly evokes minimalist sculpture while referencing the disco era’s hedonistic exuberance. CHIHO AOSHIMA’s digital wall mural A Contented Skull, straddles the line between cute, seductive and spooky with a “superflat” Japanese Manga aesthetic. Finally, not to be missed, Cai Guo-Qiang’s Fireworks from Heaven, a kinetic light installation that fills the room with dazzling choreographed light and is viewed while relaxing in hi-tech, remote controlled japanese massage chairs. Enjoy.

MACROMATRIX FOR YOUR PLEASURE
TUE APR 22 2003 - SUN AUG 3 2003
BERKELEY ART MUSEUM
2626 Bancroft Way or 2621 Durant Avenue between College and Telegraph

- David Lawrence [Monday, July 21st, 2003]

I was afraid if I wrote in advance about the series of videos screened last night at New Langton Arts that I wouldn’t get a seat. As it was the pieces had an interesting range and I could barely breathe the room was so packed. “Drive by Shooting”, curated by Elliot Anderson included pieces by Claire Bain, Lisa Banks, Kota Ezawa, Karla Milosovich, Anne McGuire, Katy Schmidt, Wayne Smith, and Zan Truman.

Tonight there’s a CD release party for Troll’s new CD, “Pathless Land”, at the Hemlock Tavern. Troll, (the band goes on at midnight), features local visual artists Scott Hewicker and Cliff Hengst. Cliff also DJ’s Saturday night at the opening reception at Lucky Tackle in San Pablo in Oakland.

- Cheryl Meeker [Friday, July 18th, 2003]

It’s time for the San Francisco Art Dealers Association “Introductions” again, and Catharine Clark Gallery has mounted one of the strongest Intro shows in years. In addition to the dilute ink paintings of Josephine Taylor, praised by Dale Hoyt in the following post, the video works of Bull/Miletic and leonardogillesfleur are noteworthy. Go this week so you can see Bull/Miletic’s SF Time Capsule projected (each video artist in the show gets one week on the big screen.) The visual rhythms of this lovely piece are syncopated with tart commentary, as when the camera rises buoyantly into the air only to snag, as if hypnotized, on a circling surveillance camera. Down the hall, Patricia Sweetow has collected a group of artists who make delicately obsessive work, including strapping tape abstractions by Mareth Hoferer and colored pencil paintings by Sid Garrison. Maria Park’s fizzy, bright acrylic-on-acrylite works, at Toomey-Tourell, are also worth a look. All three galleries are at 49 Geary Street in San Francisco.

- Meredith Tromble [Monday, July 14th, 2003]

It would be hard to think of a series of images that broke my heart so easily as the paintings of Josephine Taylor. The implicit narrative although resistant to complete exposition tells enough for anyone to see their own story of broken childhood and separation in the the dim soft focus pencil strokes. Exquisite work. www.cclarkgallery.com

- Dale Hoyt [Monday, July 14th, 2003]

A meeting point for a set of whip-smart and entirely charming wired folks from Down Under, the 3rd Fibreculture conference took place at Brisbane’s Powerhouse over the weekend. I was only able to catch the Friday sessions, but some of the later discussions from the astute minds in attendance (including former San Franciscan Molly Hankwitz) on the practice and implications of internet culture have been blogged. Keep an eye out for continuing discussions on the list, publications from the Fibrecrew, and make note of the next conference in New Zealand in late 2004.

- Ed Osborn [Monday, July 14th, 2003]

Misa Nikolic shows recent paintings at the onepointsix Gallery during the month of July. His paintings celebrate architecture in Vancouver and capture the city’s uncharacteristic fair weather days - perfect for summer!

- Happy D [Monday, July 14th, 2003]

...in San Francisco so it’s nice to see it here,” said painter Roy Tomlinson, looking around the funky gallery 21 Grand in Oakland. A relaxed crowd turned out for the opening of “New Place-Oriented Work” tonight, featuring art by Sarah Cain, Michael Damm, Leonie Guyer, Kyle Knobel and Katherine Van Dyke. Nobody’s work was working too hard… Guyer’s wall paintings are about the size of a playing card; Van Dyke, who was also painting on the wall, covered more ground but kept it white on white. Cain’s intervention, a white mound with a corona of smoke marks climbing up the wall, was almost flamboyant in comparison. Damm’s video Elsewhere scrolled along urban storefronts, revealing patterns everywhere. Viewing Knobel’s video required climbing into a stuffy curtained black box, not the most appealing prospect on a warm summer night, but it was beautiful. 21 Grand is next to the Smythe Accordion Store at 449B 23rd Street. Hours are limited: Thursdays 4-8pm and Friday through Sunday 1-6pm.

- Meredith Tromble [Saturday, July 12th, 2003]

Marcel Sitcoske is shuttering her San Francisco gallery at 20 Hawthorne Lane (the Crownpoint Press building) and heading south to LA.

- Meredith Tromble [Saturday, July 12th, 2003]

The west coast was transported to Brooklyn for the release party of “Frisco Styles,” a compilation of SF bands co-sponsored by Jeffery Deitch and Jack Hanley. The party was at Deitch’s Williamsburg warehouse and featured some of the bands from the CD and various works by related artists. Highlights included Tussle’s performance, and Will Rogan’s videos of magical everyday occurrences, which were projected largely on the wall. Rogan’s videos elicit pronounced reactions (some guy sauntered up to me and a friend as we watched, said “Great videos, huh?” and then stood there with an awkward grin.) The cops came and shut it down, so the party moved to a club called Luxx. Aislers Set played a short, but high-energy set to a lively crowd and during their set Chris Johanson wished Mr. Deitch a happy birthday. Afterwards Zeigenbok Kopf, a faux-gay duo came up dressed in underwear and leather and yelled a lot in fake German accents over keyboard beats. More then anything else, they were just kind of sad and embarrassing.

- Asha Schechter [Friday, July 11th, 2003]

Only to go home to attempt to make art at night? Anyone who has known me for 5 minutes will know that I am constantly looking for (legal) ways around this problem. In the third week of their “Summer Line 2003 events” Sliv and Dulet at New Langton Arts showcase two artists who hit the sweet spot on this issue. Kenneth Hung is doing an IPO of a company that sells silkworm carcasses for sexual longevity (you can become a stockholder, and from their information it looks as though you can gain mightily on your investment). And perhaps more to the point, Joseph Reihsen’s infomercial sells a program that is exemplified by an artist interviewee who says that he made 5000 works of art in 2 months. Or was it 2 weeks? Whatever - I was impressed. As the sound gets more out of sync the videotape gets better and better.

- Cheryl Meeker [Thursday, July 10th, 2003]

BLACK PRESIDENT: THE ART AND LEGACY OF FELA ANIKULAPO-KUTI, a group exhibition exploring the cultural impact of the famous Nigerian musician and activist who died in 1997. The exhibition continues through September 28, 2003.

- Meredith Tromble [Thursday, July 10th, 2003]

Have any of you ever read “From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film” by Film Historian Siegfried Kracauer? Well, read it and compare his thesis with this interview with “Bush’s Projectionist”.

- Dale Hoyt [Wednesday, July 9th, 2003]

Alicia McCarthy at Jack Hanley Gallery through August 1 and Rebecca Miller at Linc Art through July 20.

- Cheryl Meeker [Tuesday, July 8th, 2003]

on her appointment as Assistant Visual Arts Curator at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Multitalented sometime stretcher contributor Golonu recently completed an MA in Visual Criticism at California College of Arts and Crafts (soon to be CCA) and has served as editor in chief of Artweek. And kudos to outgoing Associate Visual Arts Curator (and sometime stretcher contributor) Arnold Kemp who leaves the Center for the greener pastures of the MFA program at Stanford University.

- amy berk [Saturday, July 5th, 2003]

Eyal Weizman and Rafi Segal’s detailed analysis of the spatial politics of the West Bank, “A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture,” serves as the core of the “Territories” exhibition now on view at Kunst-Werke. Looking at the production, occupation, and control of space in the Mediterranean, Christiania, and Guantanamo Bay, among other places, the show depicts a complex set of conditions around politically contentious spaces both physical and virtual.

Among the many highlights two stand out. One is Armin Linke’s video of Paelstinians ducking into sand dunes to avoid gunfire at Gaza Strip checkpoint, a strange scene that depicts vulnerability and ordinary routine in equal measures. The other is a point where you can watch two videos simultaneously in spaces separated by a dividing wall. One shows a heavily fortified bulldozer tearing up a Bethlehem street to make a blockade, the ruptured pipes below it hemorrhaging muddy water as nearby residents peer from apartment windows. The other shows a seamless ride on a limited-access highway through the West Bank that links Israel with its settlements. The difference between the control and usage of these two thoroughfares couldn’t be clearer.

“A Civilian Occupation” was originally commissioned by the Israel Association of United Architects for inclusion at the World Congress of Architecture in Berlin last summer, but was censored at the last minute by the IAUA after representatives saw the completed catalog. Kudos to the Kunste-Werke crew for taking on the show and expanding it into “Territories.”

- Ed Osborn [Saturday, July 5th, 2003]

gave me reason to cheer. The panel, co-organized by artist Ray Beldner and curator/writer Marcia Tanner, included some of the superstars in the war over the public domain. Among the eclectic grouping of artists and lawyers who spoke was Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig who’s written a couple of books and argued before the Supreme court on the topic. And in the audience, Electronic Frontier Foundation director Fred Von Lohmann, whose organization consistently fights the good fight supported only by donations from members (have you donated lately?). It was truly inspiring to talk with and listen to corageous, dedicated, idealistic and impassioned attorneys like these. This panel was organized in conjunction with the Bay Area debut of Illegal Art currently on view at the San Francisco Museum’s Rental Gallery at Fort Mason.

- Ella Delaney [Friday, July 4th, 2003]

Join the growing list of music makers and producers who are signing this petition in protest of the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA).

- Ella Delaney [Tuesday, July 1st, 2003]

From the editors