paintings + drawings

Behind the scenes at the gallery.

Find out what it really takes to follow your dream of opening a gallery in the Bay Area. Sure, the events title is dreaded dose of artspeak -- Contemporary Galleries: New Business Models in a Changing Art World -- but check it out anyway. If you can tear yourself away from the cartoon, its Saturday May 17th, 2008 at 11 am at the Oakland Art Gallery.

This panel discussion will features three gallery directors:
Michelle Mansour (Root Division, San Francisco)
Kimberley Johansson (Johansson Projects, Oakland)
and Eleanor Harwood(Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco)

The admission fee is $15 at the door; pre-registration is also available by phone at 510-637-0395.

The panel discussion, moderated by Oakland Art Gallery co-director Kerri Johnson, will focus on alternative programming models for contemporary galleries in an era dominated by art fairs, the necessity of an active web presence, and fluctuating economic circumstances.

Behind the scenes at the museum.

I'm thankful for docents. How about you? Alright, then let's have a big round of applause.

Slideshow of SFMOMA's annual docent appreciation party.

All that.

Can you name all 120 colors in a box of Crayola crayons? Me, neither. Nor can I name their hex codes or RGB values.

Thankfully, that has changed.

btw my favorite color in that set was silver. It was soooo prententious.

Photo: theDawg

New painting.

title: As I want you to be.
description: acrylic on canvas 45" x 48" 2008 signed on reverse.

process shots.

Eames lounge chair debuts on NBC.

More Ray and Charles Eames at "Birth of The Cool." BOTC opens at Oakland Museum on May 17.

(video via MAN)

Abstract Expression again.

AbEx is starting to rear its head again. ‘Bout time I say.

C-monster offers a look at “Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976” in The Jewish Museum. Show is up thru Sept 21. Included is Lee Krasner’s block-rockin' “Blue and Black, 1951-53”.

On a similar tip McCormick Gallery has dug up work from Michael Loew. Fan-fcking-tastic.

Robert Motherwell dug Leo Manso’s collages. He couldn’t say enough nice stuff about him. Acme Fine Art and Design likes him too.

photo: c-monster

Robert Rauschenberg, dead at 82.

from the NYTimes obit:

Mr. Rauschenberg’s work gave new meaning to sculpture. “Canyon,” for instance, consisted of a stuffed bald eagle attached to a canvas. “Monogram” was a stuffed Angora goat girdled by a tire atop a painted panel. “Bed” entailed a quilt, sheet and pillow, slathered with paint, as if soaked in blood, framed on the wall. They all became icons of postwar modernism.

A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer, Mr. Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded and sometimes reconceived all the mediums in which he worked.

Rest is here.

Eric Dolphy's "My Favorite Things."

with Coltrane, 1961.

Sturges redux.

Daniel Clooney Fine Art has a Jock Sturges photo from the early 90s up for bids in their Spring auction.

Seems like now is as good a time as ever to mention that the new documentary, LINE OF BEAUTY AND GRACE, has Sturges defending his work. Its not the first exploration of the photographer. Back in 1995, Jennifer Montgomery offered a fictionalized account of her relationship with Sturges in ART FOR TEACHERS OF CHILDREN. That was a great movie.

Godstar.

This why I love Psychic TV.

Spanning, nearly two decades the piece is part of an experimental film P-Orridge began about Brian Jones. Released in '05 the song now belongs to an imaginary soundtrack that explores 60s psychedelia, sorta.

(via AFC).

MATRIX/REDUX at BAM.

My review of the Berkley Art Museum's self-celebration went up Saturday on KQED.

The tease is:

Not to be outdone by last year's CCA centennial survey at the Oakland Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum is currently offering a vanity exhibition of its own. Assembled by BAM's Elizabeth Thomas, MATRIX/REDUX is a self-curated look at the Museum's acclaimed program of a similar name.

Begun in 1978 by then BAM director, James Elliot, the MATRIX program was a way to present -- almost immediately -- work from rising or influential contemporary artists. The idea was revolutionary for its time. In the late '70s it took most museums a few years of planning to mount exhibitions of art. MATRIX shows could be up and running in a few months.

Nowadays, MATRIX is the norm, and any museum of modern art worth its nettle has a similar project space program of its own.

Read the rest hee-yer.

photo: Full Frontal, Zoe Leonard.

Oakland Museum remixed.

My feature on the recent goings on at the Oakland Museum is in the May 11 edition of the San Francisco's Sunday Datebook.

Here's the tease:

Believe it or not, the Oakland Museum of California is among the most cosmopolitan museums in the nation. Many museums specialize in only one area of collecting - fine arts, historical objects or natural sciences. Housing California-centric collections in all three areas, the Oakland Museum is especially ambitious among Bay Area institutions.

But there is no other local museum so out of date.

Rest is here.

Three bits.

1.   Eggleston to SFMOMA.
2.   Hasan Elahi to San Jo.
3.   All over the place is Lynn Hershman Leeson. Lynn Hershman Leeson. Lynn Hershman Leeson. Wake me up when its over.

Could it happen here?

A lot of ‘net jabber happening around NYC’s 303 Gallery note to artist/blogger Mark Berry:

From: Simon Greenberg
Date: May 7, 2008 10:06:33 AM EDT
To: mark@markbarryportfolio.com
Subject: Maureen Gallace image - flickr

hello mark -

this is simon at 303 gallery. i noticed you had an image of Maureen Gallace's work up on your flickr page - please be aware that 303 Gallery owns the copyright to the work and all public display of images, including web content. if you could kindly remove this image from your page, it would be most appreciated.
best
simon

The images were taken by Berry at the press preview of the 2006 Armory Fair.

Thus far, SF galleries have not sunk to this to level - have they? (I’m talking about the no photo policy, not the we-have-time-to-trawl-the-internet-for-imagined-copyright-infringements part…)

related:
Free Expression in the Age of Copyright Control
Douchebag Award
AFC
Ed Winkleman

Wanna see the contested photos?  Barry Hoggard's got them on bloggy.

Ratcliff & Ratcliff, 1954.

From the listing: "This architecturally significant MID-CENTURY MODERN home by noted Bay Area architects Ratcliff & Ratcliff is superbly sited on park-like ONE ACRE grounds... The property is zoned for horses and offers across-the-street access to riding trails and the fabulous East Bay Regional Park system.

The architecture is open and free-flowing with strong modern lines and high ceilings. The renovated master suite is stunning: an artful integration of hand cast terrazzo, custom artisan tile, elegant tinted concrete and original clear heart redwood paneling. The dramatic juxtaposition of natural wood and concrete is elegantly elaborated through the home.

Abundant parking and dual driveway entry points at the top and bottom of property add to the ease and elegance of home entertainment.

Yellow Ledbetter.

from Vik Muniz.

I never liked that song. Actually never liked Pearl Jam either, but the real lyrics are:

Unsealed
On a porch a letter sat
Then you said i wanna leave it again
Once I saw her on a beach of weathered sand
And on the sand I wanna leave it again... yeah
On a weekend I wanna wish it all away yeah...
And they called and I said that I want what I said
And then I call out again
And the reason oughta leave her calm I know
I said i dont know whether
Im the boxer or the bag
Ah yeah ehh....
Can you see them
Out on the porch
But they dont wave
I see them round the front way yeah
And I know I dont want to stay...

Make me cry <guitar solo>

Ooooh I see
I dont know theres something else
I wanna drum it all away
Oh I said I dont, I dont know whether Im a boxer or the bag
Ah yeah ehh....
Can you see them
Out on the porch
But they dont wave
I see them round the front way yeah
And I know I dont want to stay
I dont wanna stay (2x)
Dont
Dont wanna
Oh... yeah... oooh...

Three bits. (calendar section)

1.     Works on paper by David Park opens tonight at Hackett Freedman. Continues through June 28. Catalog is available. Amazing pieces, get over there.
2.     The freshly renovated gallery space at Creative Growth opens with “New Walls.” The group exhibition features the usual cadre of CG’s heavy hitters - Aurie Ramirez, William Scott, William Tyler, Gerone Spruill, and Terri Bowden. Reception is from 5-8pm.
3.     Can’t make either? Then at your leisure mosey down to the Police Activities League at the corner of MacDonald Ave and 22nd street in Richmond and check out out the new mural by NIAD and Mariá Bueno.