To Do List: March

Ongoing to April 5 – Objects of Inquiry: The Office for the Study of the Ordinary at SFSU Fine Arts Gallery: Objects of Inquiry is the culmination of an artist residency with Liz Hernández at SFSU Fine Arts Gallery, sponsored by the Harker Fund of the San Francisco Foundation. For her residency, Hernández has been serving as the lead researcher for the fictional The Office for the Study of the Ordinary. Her office focuses on investigating the everyday, and documenting hidden narratives through the creation of objects, images and writing.⁣ It fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration, vulnerability, curiosity and experimentation. This culminating exhibition on the San Francisco State campus features documentation of the physical office, processes, artifacts, collaborations, and printed material. The office ultimately brings together a group of unconventional researchers trained to understand the poet’s mission: summoning beauty where it holds no right to exist. SFSU Fine Arts Gallery is located at 1600 Holloway Avenue, Fine Arts Building, Room 293 in San Francisco.

 

Ongoing to March 31 – Stacey Beach and Amber Jean Young: Altar at K. Imperial Fine Art: Altar is a multimedia two-woman exhibition featuring the ceramic and textile works of California artists Stacey Beach and Amber Jean Young. This exhibition treats the gallery space as an altar where each artwork is an offering–playful, sometimes solemn, and invariably healing. Many of the pieces are titled “Vessel” or “Urn,” indicating an arm outstretched toward the spiritual realm, and each piece contains a collection of memories, both personal and historic. These florals, still lifes, and ceramics are more pattern than precise representation. They embody the rituals of these objects and their importance to diverse cultures, both recent and ancient. Both Beach and Young participate in these rituals while acknowledging the vast histories contained within them. K. Imperial Fine Art is located at 49 Geary St #440 in San Francisco.

 

Ongoing to April 12 – Sophie Calle at Fraenkel Gallery: For over forty years, Sophie Calle has made work that draws from her life, transforming elements from her public and private relationships into intimate narratives. This exhibition features several series exploring questions about legacy and loss, topics Calle approaches with her typical humor and candor. Making its U.S. debut, catalogue raisonné of the unfinished focuses on projects Calle previously conceptualized but didn’t pursue. Each piece pairs fragments from the project with Calle’s text about its failure. Another series, Picassos in lockdown, comprises photographs Calle made at the Musée National Picasso in Paris during the pandemic. Each shows a painting covered for protection while the museum was closed. This exhibition also features a selection of works looking at death and remembrance through the lens of Calle’s relationship with her parents. Fraenkel Gallery is located at 49 Geary St #450 in San Francisco.

 

March 6 to May 2 – Jesse Schlesinger and Manfredo de Souzanetto at Anthony Meier Gallery: Anthony Meier presents sculptures by San Francisco-based artist Jesse Schlesinger in conversation with paintings by Rio de Janeiro-based artist Manfredo de Souzanetto, underscoring their mutual reverence for material sources and commitment to ecological concerns. Both artists place great emphasis on the cultural and symbolic resonance of their materials, using them not only as physical substances but as carriers of meaning. Schlesinger’s locally salvaged wood and quarried stone, along with de Souzanetto’s natural pigments, are integral to each artist’s philosophy, reflecting the fragile, interdependent relationship between humans and the land. Through Schlesinger’s organic forms and de Souzanetto’s earth-toned canvases, each artist challenges the traditional boundaries of their mediums and invites contemplation of the tension between the human-made and natural worlds. Anthony Meier Gallery is located at 21 Throckmorton Ave in Mill Valley.

 

March 8 at 7 PM – ARTFUL: NIAD’s Gala and Benefit Auction at Minnesota Street Project: NIAD’s inaugural Artful fundraiser aims to celebrate the power of art and inclusivity, and raise crucial funds to support NIAD artists and programs. NIAD is a vibrant community of 80 artists–many of whom have practiced in the studio for decades–united by a shared commitment to creativity, connection, and discovery. The Gala includes dinner; a live auction; a celebration of Marlon Mullen, a NIAD artist whose historic solo exhibition at MoMA makes him the first artist with known developmental disabilities to receive this honor; and keynote speakers Ann Temkin, Marie-Josée, and Henry Kravis, Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Every facet of Artful helps raise funds that directly support NIAD’s artists and mission. Minnesota Street Project is located at 1275 Minnesota St in San Francisco.

 

March 12 at 6:30 PM – Arion Artist Talk: Ala Ebtekar and Kim Stanley Robinson at Bayfront Theater: Arion Press is hosting a genre-spanning conversation between artist Ala Ebtekar and celebrated science-fiction novelist Kim Stanley Robinson. The talk will draw inspiration from Ebtekar’s upcoming edition of Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall which he is creating as the second King Artist in Residence at Arion Press, developing cyanotype prints during the lunar eclipse on March 13th. Their conversation will explore the work of Asimov and the creative connections across science, nature, and both the literary and visual arts. Bayfront Theater is located at 2 Marina Boulevard, Building B, in San Francisco.

 

March 27 to May 10 – Enrique Martinez Celaya: The Wilderness at Gallery Wendi Norris: The Wilderness marks Los Angeles-based artist Enrique Martínez Celaya’s first exhibition with Gallery Wendi Norris. Across nine paintings, The Wilderness explores fragility, endurance, displacement, and longing through an intricate and confrontational interplay between humanity and nature, unfolding across two San Francisco locations: the gallery’s headquarters and a landmarked carriage house directly across the street in the historic heart of Jackson Square. The recurring motif of “the artist” is portrayed in these paintings not as a heroic figure, but as a reflective consciousness. Gallery Wendi Norris Headquarters is located at 436 Jackson Street and Gallery Wendi Norris Offsite is located at 38 Hotaling Place in San Francisco.