Richard Diebenkorn “Ocean Park #23” oil and charcoal on canvas. Image courtesy of Berggruen Gallery.
Ongoing to April 30 – Richard Diebenkorn: Paintings and Works on Paper, 1948-1992 at Berggruen Gallery: This is a historical survey exhibition featuring over fifty paintings, works on paper, and limited-edition prints—including rarely exhibited works from private collections. Richard Diebenkorn, whose career spanned five decades, has long been revered as one of the most influential 20th-century American painters. He is also considered a quintessentially Californian artist. His profound oeuvre is comprised of distinct aesthetic periods, including unprecedented exploration into abstraction, the figure, landscape, and still life. Today, the artist is most known for helping found the Bay Area Figurative movement in the 1950s and for the masterful Ocean Park series he commenced in the 1960s. Diebenkorn produced such a compelling body of work throughout his lifetime that his influence continues to inspire artists today. Berggruen Gallery is located at 10 Hawthorne Street in San Francisco and is open by appointment only. Please visit here to schedule a visit.
Tania Candiani, “For the Animals” (still). Image courtesy of Kadist Foundation.
Ongoing to May 2 – La Luz Entre Nosotros and The Light Between Us an online video exhibition at Kadist: Curated by Julio Cesar Morales this is a two-part online video exhibition. The titles refer to the light that now perpetually shines between us as we keep our distance, at once illuminating and casting a shadow. During a time of great uncertainty and opposition, the video program looks to leading voices in contemporary art to cast light on our commonalities and encourage reflection on where we go from here. The videos address issues of labor, migration, loss, intimacy, and our relationship to the environment, both psychological and physical.
Part 1 can be viewed now until March 29, and includes Tania Candiani, Tiago Rocha Pitta, Iván Argote and Julio Cesar Morales.
Part 2 can be view March 30 to May 2, and includes Marco Rios, Petra Cortright, Jennifer Locke, Ranu Mukherjee, Eamon Ore-Giron, Kate Gilmore, Ana Teresa Fernández, Allora & Calzadilla, Javier Castro, Shahzia Sikander, Anthony McCall
Lisa Solomon detail of “Senninbari [1000 stitch knot belt]” hand dyed cotton rope. Image courtesy of Bedford Gallery.
Celeste-Marie Bernier; Judith Butler. Photo by Stefan Gutermuth; Isaac Julien. Photo by Thierry Bal.
Thursday March 4, 12 to 1:30 pm – Celeste-Marie Bernier, Judith Butler, and Isaac Julien in Conversation presented by McEvoy Foundation for the Arts: This online conversation with Celeste-Marie Bernier, Judith Butler, and Isaac Julien, explores Douglass’ legacy and the influence of key historical figures featured in Lessons of the Hour. In this conversation, Julien is joined by the celebrated philosopher and educator Judith Butler and acclaimed Douglass scholar Celeste-Marie Bernier to explore Douglass’ legacy as well as the influential role of figures such as his wife Anna Murray-Douglass, the suffragettes, and others important to his life and voice. Butler’s renowned scholarship in the fields of philosophy, ethics, and feminist, queer, and literary theory guides her moderation of the conversation. This program takes place online via Zoom, registration is free here.
Stephanie Syjuco “Afterimages (Interruption of Vision)” Photogravure printed on gampi mounted on Somerset black 280 gram cotton rag. Image courtesy of Catharine Clark Gallery.
March 6 to April 10 – Native Resolution at Catharine Clark Gallery: This is a solo exhibition of new work by Stephanie Syjuco that resulted from a 2019/2020 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Syjuco spent hundreds of hours embedded in the archives of the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Anthropology in Washington DC, searching for visual evidence of the Philippines and Filipinos in the official American archive. Syjuco’s presentation expands on the artist’s research into the problematic construction of American history and concurrent histories of photography that inform deeply biased structures foregrounding whiteness as a normative subject. Borrowing from the visual language of photography, anthropology, and museum archives, Native Resolution examines how these disciplines go hand-in-hand with producing and proliferating images and documents of exclusion, generating a skewed collection that mirrors an American imagination built on ethnographic record and cultural Othering. Catharine Clark Gallery is located at 248 Utah Street. To view the exhibition please schedule a visit here.
Ann Meade, Untitled, watercolor on paper. Image courtesy of NIAD Art Center.
Saturday March 6, 1 – 3 pm – WIN WIN 9: NIAD Art Center’s Annual Benefit Fundraiser: NIAD Art Center is a progressive art studio working with artists with disabilities to create art, located in Richmond. For the annual fundraiser WIN WIN you can participate from anywhere. When you purchase a ticket, you will receive one 6×6″ work of art randomly selected for you (shipped). Also included in the event is a silent auction featuring works from more than 20 NIAD artists, and a live auction featuring works from other contemporary artists from the Bay Area and beyond who support NIAD. For tickets and registration, visit here.
Terri Loewenthal, “Psychscape 34 (Galena Creek Falls, NV)” archival pigment print. Image courtesy of Southern Exposure.
Friday March 26, 7 pm, Shine Together Southern Exposure’s Annual Art Auction: This year’s livestream event features silent and live auctions showcasing over 125 pieces of artwork from some of the Bay Area’s leading new and established artists, entertainment from local performers, and a joyful online gathering of the SoEx community. Participate to celebrate the continued vitality and radiance of experimental art in the Bay Area. Reserve your ticket here.
Clare Rojas “Tulips” Color sugarlift aquatint etching. Image courtesy of Paulson Fontaine Press and Kala Art Institute.
March 11 to May 16 – Art Kala 2021 Auction Benefit: Celebrating Kala’s 47th year, Art Kala 2021 brings together Kala’s creative community and features the inventive and meaningful art being made here in the Bay Area. This year Kala honors Demetri Broxton, Jordan Ann Craig, and Carissa Potter as the 2021 recipients of the Master Artist Award. The exhibition will include work by Kota Ezawa, Jim Melchert, Masako Miki, Kelly Ording, Steuart Pittman, Clare Rojas, Ron Moultrie Sanders, Seiko Tachibana, Tara Tucker, Ryan Whelan, Lena Wolff, Chelsea Wong, and many more. On Friday, March 12th the show will be visible on Artsy.com and open to the public. The show will remain open through Sunday, May 16th by appointment to maintain social distancing. Purchase VIP preview tickets here. Kala Art Institute is located at 2990 San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley.
SFAI News, Jay DeFeo and Hayward King, October 15, 1962. Image courtesy of San Francisco Art Institute.
Friday March 19 to July 21 – A Spirit of Disruption in the Walter and McBean and Diego Rivera Galleries in the San Francisco Art Institute: The San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2021 with A Spirit of Disruption, an exhibition that reflects on the school’s profound and sustained influence on contemporary art and highlights the contributions of generations of diverse artists and individuals often overlooked in the historical narrative of SFAI. Curated by Margaret Tedesco and Leila Weefur, A Spirit of Disruption includes the work of more than thirty alumni and faculty from the 1960s to the present; a dynamic media installation drawn from SFAI’s vast archive; and a section dedicated to artist model Florence “Flo” Wysinger Allen, the subject of countless paintings, sculptures, and drawings made at the school from 1933-1997. Also launching in conjunction with the March 19th exhibition opening and anniversary day is a 10-episode podcast and web series, created by the exhibition’s curators, that reveals new stories and old gleaned from the archive. SFAI is located at 800 Chestnut Street in San Francisco and open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 am – 6 pm.