Artsource Blog

Check back here from time to time to get updates on what we like, exhibits to see, and art related ideas. If you’re interested in more information about what you see here, please email us.

To Do List: June

L: Isaac Julien “Black Madonna / New Negro Aesthetic” Inkjet print on Canson Platine Fibre Rag R: Jeffrey Gibson “I DON’T WANT TO LOSE YOUR LOVE” Cold press watercolor paper, studio ephemera, archival pigment prints on cotton, acrylic paint, two vintage beaded panels, vintage beaded belt buckle, vintage silver charm, glass beads, nylon thread and muslin. Images courtesy of Jessica Silverman Gallery.

June 1 to July 22 – Isaac Julien: Once Again…(Statues Never Die) and Jeffrey Gibson: Once More with Feeling at Jessica Silverman Gallery:  Isaac Julien’s exhibition is inspired by the historical relationship between Alain Locke, a Harlem Renaissance philosopher, and Albert C. Barnes, a philanthropist known for championing African material and visual culture. Jeffrey Gibson will premiere nine new collages, incorporating found objects and images, beadwork, and textiles into intricate arrangements. Drawing on his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage throughout his varied practice, Gibson has turned to collage as a medium towards both self-discovery and inquiry into consumption, empowerment, and non-Western modes of relating to one another. The artist collects offcuts, paper scraps, objects, and imagery and stores them over decades in his studio. He assembles these disparate items to create new works, relating forgotten materials to the fractured history of Native peoples. Jessica Silverman Gallery is located at 621 Grant Avenue in San Francisco.

 

L: Eamon Ore Giron “Infinite Regress CXV (study 1)” mineral paint and flashe on linen, C: Libby Black “Chanel”  charcoal and paint on paper, R: Teresa Baker “Two”  oil pastel on paper. Images courtesy of Anthony Meier Gallery.

June 1 to August 1 – What’s That About curated by Saif Azzuz at Anthony Meier Gallery:  This group exhibition curated by artist Saif Azzuz includes Bay Area artists whose practices have intersected with Azzuz’s during his time in the region. As evidenced by its title, the exhibition pushes back—through a direct and somewhat humorous acknowledgement—against the all-too-common practice of asking artists to explain what their work is about. By foregrounding the work’s physical properties and eschewing its conceptualization, Azzuz  invites a more personal approach to the works on view, prompting viewers through the very absence of an ideational conceit to look more closely, think more deeply, and directly engage with the materials, processes, and emotional effects that cohere in each piece.  Anthony Meier Gallery is located at 21 Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley.

 

L: Rex Ray “Cyphellae” painted and cut paper on oil. R: Zuzana Licko “Intersecting Figure #33” jacquard weaving. Images courtesy of Gallery 16.

June 2 to July 22 – Rex Ray and Zuzana Licko at Gallery 16: In the early 1990s, the San Francisco Bay Area was the epicenter of computer-based design. These two artists helped shape the future while straddling the fields of fine art and graphic design. Zuzana Licko founded Emigre magazine with her husband, fellow typographer and graphic designer Rudy VanderLans, in 1984. Emigre set the standard for digital typography and design and led to the creation of the Emigre Fonts type foundry, which is credited for being the first digital type foundry. Rex Ray (1956-2015) began his career as a graphic designer but soon devoted his studio practice to the making of handmade fine art. Ray was a beloved San Francisco artist and designer and major cultural force in the Bay Area. He was recognized worldwide for his distinct compositions, saturated colors, and unapologetic devotion to beauty. Gallery 16 is located at 501 3rd Street in San Francisco.

 

Guests bid on artwork at a previous auction.

Tuesday, June 6, 6 to 10 pm – Headlands Center for the Arts Benefit Art Auction at Fort Mason Center: Headlands’ Annual Benefit Art Auction features work by emerging and established artists and Headlands Alumni as well as unique, only-at-Headlands experience packages. With a silent auction culminating in the live auction and gala on June 6, this fundraising event supports the big ideas and innovative work that Headlands makes possible. Purchase tickets to the event here.

 

Gordon Parks “Untitled, Harlem, New York” archival pigment print. Image courtesy of McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.

June 16 to September 2 – What Are Words Worth? at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts: This exhibition explores the expansive holdings of artworks in the McEvoy Family Collection that engage language, literature, and typography. The exhibition’s title, borrowed from lyrics in the Tom Tom Club’s 1981 song “Wordy Rappinghood,” references the poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Expanding upon this playful reference to poetry, the modern and contemporary photographs, paintings, and prints on view examine the many fascinating ways that words can stimulate imagination and creativity. McEvoy Foundation for the Arts is located at 1150 25th Street in San Francisco.

 

L: Alicia McCarthy “Untitled” acrylic and spray paint on panel. R: Muzae Sesay ”Rare Salmon” oil, oil pastel, vinyl emulsion, acrylic, and colored pencil on canvas. Images courtesy of Pt.2 Gallery.

June 24 to July 29 – Alicia McCarthy and Muzae Sesay at Pt.2 Gallery: Pt.2 Gallery is featuring two solo shows by Oakland based artists. Alicia McCarthy engages with the immediate world around her and uses a decidedly focused color palette on mixed-media panels. Sincere and intense but also playful, McCarthy transforms found wood surfaces into bursts, geometric blocks of color and woven patterns that are often emphasized by text and spray paint. Muzae Sesay’s artistic focus derives from a relentless commitment to understanding our collective relationship to space, memory, community, and the perceived truths within them. His current work connects with the feelings that arise from testing the absoluteness of the strict and rigid aspects of physics and pragmatism found in architecture, design, and our built environment. Utilizing skewed perspectives of space and shape collapsed into two-dimensional planes of color, he creates surreal geometric interiors, exteriors, landscapes, and structures—presenting a situation in which to be experienced and explored. Pt.2 Gallery is located at 1523b Webster Street in Oakland.

 

Amy Elkins “Mishopshno/Carpenteria, Coastal Bluffs” photograph. Image courtesy of SF Camerawork.

Ongoing to August 5 – Forecast 2023 at SF Camerawork: This is SF Camerawork’s annual survey exhibition. Each year SF Camerawork invites an esteemed jury of artists, curators and critics to select and showcase the work of emerging imagemakers, with an eye toward current movements, trends and concerns in contemporary photography. This year, Bay Area artists Ashima Yadava and Minoosh Zomorodinia have selected the work of Mary Campbell, Harvey Castro, Amy Elkins, Shao-Feng Hsu (Juror’s Choice Award), Kei Ito, and Helia Pouyanfar from over 180 entries from around the world. SF Camerawork is located at  Fort Mason Center for Arts, 2 Marina Blvd, building A in San Francisco.

 

To Do List: May

Sarah Blaustein “Present Vessel” 2022 acrylic and ink on canvas. Image courtesy of Berggruen Gallery.

May 5 to June 10 – Sarah Blaustein: Recent Paintings at Berggruen Gallery:  Sarah Blaustein’s Vessel works are imbued with a distinctive focus on painting our innermost feelings, delving into the realms of creation, reflection, and blissful joy. Recent Paintings showcases a collection of twenty-two new works that survey the intricate nature of the inner vessel as a creative focal point. Blaustein seeks to explore the rich and complex interplay between the individual and the collective psyche, weaving a tapestry of emotions and thoughts that are at once deeply personal and universally resonant. Through her lush, otherworldly paintings, Blaustein invites viewers to experience the immediacy, intimacy, and unmitigated humanity of her artistic expression. Berggruen Gallery is located at 10 Hawthorne Street in San Francisco.

 

Lee Friedlander “Cincinnati Ohio, 1963” silver gelatin print. Image courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery.

May 6 to June 24 – Lee Friedlander Framed by Joel Coen at Fraenkel Gallery: An exhibition of Friedlander’s photographs curated by the widely acclaimed filmmaker. Rather than focusing on a single subject or period, Coen’s selection concentrates on Friedlander’s singular approach to composition. Through the approximately 45 images in the exhibition Coen surveys the range of Friedlander’s 60+ year career, bringing many lesser-known images into the equation. The selection evidences an unexpected affinity between Friedlander and Coen, both of whose work explores the sly power of images. Fraenkel Gallery is located at 49 Geary Street in San Francisco.

 

Art Kala 2023 Honorees, Pantea Karimi, Gregory Rick,  and Jos Sances. Image courtesy of Kala Art Institute.

Saturday, May 13, 6 to 9pm – Closing party and live auction for Art Kala 2023:  Celebrating Kala’s 49th year, Art Kala 2023  is an exhibition and art auction that brings together Kala’s creative community and features the inventive and meaningful art being made right here in the Bay Area. This year’s honored artists are Pantea Karimi, Gregory Rick, and Jos Sances. This benefit auction supports Kala’s artistic, cultural, and educational programs. Kala Art Institute is located 2990 San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley.  Purchase tickets to the event here.

 

Julie W. Chang “Lotusaumswords” 2021, acrylic and resin on panel. Image courtesy of Hosfelt Gallery.

May 25 to June 30 – Julie W. Chang: Amulets at Hosfelt Gallery:  Julie W. Chang’s work investigates how identities are constructed and how (mis)understandings of both self and other might be resisted, subverted, and reimagined. Inspired by diverse sources – from wallpaper to weavings to genetic mutations and systems theory – her work utilizes a visual vocabulary that juxtaposes differing perspectives to provoke conversations about race, class, gender, and cultural commodification. Hosfelt Gallery is located at 260 Utah Street in San Francisco.

 

Andrew Sungtaek Ingersoll, Sahar Khoury and Nunca No works in progress. Images courtesy Recology AIR.

May 26 to May 30 – Andrew Sungtaek Ingersoll, Sahar Khoury, and Nunca No (Claire Dunn and Charles Lee) at Recology Art Studios: The Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence (AIR) Program is an art and education initiative that awards Bay Area artists access to discarded materials, an unrestricted stipend, and an individual studio space. These resources, along with comprehensive support, are provided to artists while they create a body of work and host studio visits during their four-month residency at the San Francisco Transfer Station. This exhibition is the culmination of their residencies. The Recology Art Studios are located at 503 and 401 Tunnel Avenue, San Francisco.

Friday, May 26 from 5 – 8 PM
Saturday, May 27 from 12 – 3 PM
Tuesday, May 30 from 5 – 7:30 PM with artist talk by Nunca No at 6 PM (401 Tunnel), Andrew Sungtaek Ingersoll at 6:30 PM (503 Tunnel), and Sahar Khoury at 7pm (503 Tunnel)

 

Installation view. Image courtesy of Jonathan Carver Moore.

Ongoing to June 3 – Black as an Experience, Not as a Color at Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery: A group exhibition of six Black men from throughout the African Diaspora. Artists featured in the exhibition include Aplerh-Doku Borlabi, Christopher Adam Williams, Glenn Hardy Jr.,Odinakachi Okoroafor, Sesse Elangwe and Steelo. This exhibition includes works that depict unique experiences to Black culture, as well as shows Black people in poised moments and statuesque poses asking the viewer to just take in what they see. Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery is located at 966 Market Street in San Francisco.

To Do List: April

 

Ayana V. Jackson “The Rupture was the story” 2019 photograph. Image courtesy of MoAD SF.

April 5 to August 20 – Black Venus at Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD): Curated by Aindrea Emelife, Black Venus is an exhibition that surveys the legacy of Black Women in visual culture – from fetishized, colonial-era caricatures to the present-day reclamation of the rich complexity of Black womanhood by 18 artists (of numerous nationalities and with birth years spanning 1942 to 1997). This exhibition is a celebration of Black beauty, an investigation into the many faces of Black femininity and the shaping of Black women in the public consciousness – then and now. MoAD is located at 685 Mission Street in San Francisco.

 

Zarouhie Abdalian “Flutter” 2010. Image courtesy of Kadist San Francisco.

April 14 to August 12 –  From the Kadist Collection: be here, or even better, be nowhere at Kadist San Francisco: This exhibition brings together artists who employ sculpture, drawing, video, and sound to probe social and historical structures and infrastructures, such as migration, colonialism, carceral systems, and space militarization. The works commune through memory, language, social and religious alliances, and ancestral knowledge, to summon an “elsewhere” as an act of re/construction. Kadist San Francisco is located at 3295 20th Street.

 

Scene from last year’s auction. Image courtesy of Southern Exposure.

Saturday, April 29 – PRISMATIC Annual Art Auction at Southern Exposure:  PRISMATIC, is Southern Exposure’s 2023 benefit art auction. The Main Event will feature both a silent and a live auction, showcasing over 130 pieces of radiant art from some of the Bay Area’s most luminous new and established artists. Featuring entertainment from local performers, cocktails from Trick Dog, hors d’oeuvres from Work of Art, and the joy of gathering safely with the vibrant SoEx community. VIP Preview Night: Thursday, April 13, 6:00 – 8:00 PM. Purchase tickets here.

 

Adia Millet “Strata,” 2023. Acrylic on wood panel. Image courtesy of CCA Campus Gallery.

Ongoing to April 28 – Women to Watch 2024: New Suns at CCA Campus Gallery:  Each of the artists in New Suns are grounded in their own specific experiences of heritage, ritual, and belonging. Artists Sofía Córdova, Nicki Green, Cathy Lu, Adia Millett, and Genevieve Quick hold different histories of oppression and joy in tension in their work, while sharing a common commitment to the practice of creative world-building. With radical hope, they imagine different practices of coexistence, crafting propositions for life oriented around different suns. CCA Campus Gallery is located at 1480 17th Street, San Francisco.

 

Anna Sew Hoy “Hard Swamp Ecstatic Return”,2022.  Courtesy of SFMOMA.

Ongoing to July 16 – New Work: Anna Sew Hoy at SFMOMA: Los Angeles–based sculptor Anna Sew Hoy’s Growing Ruins rise from the floor in a mesmerizing tangle of hand-built clay arches, found metal cages, and detritus ranging from charging cords to denim scraps. They recall the ruins of a lost city or shelters assembled from the shiny, tech-laden remains of a land destroyed. Three of these towering forms take center stage in Sew Hoy’s New Work exhibition at SFMOMA, alongside coiled clay vessels that recall giant, cartoonish organs and vast fabric webs created by stripping office shirts down to their seams. Taken together, the sculptures embody Sew Hoy’s interest in turning things inside out to explore the relationship between the exterior world (of bodies, buildings, and objects) and interior space (of psyches, emotions, and souls)—and the inevitable porousness between them.

 

Sarah Hotchkiss “Kai’s Painting” 2021, flashe on panel. Image courtesy of ICA San Jose.

March 31 to August 13 – Altered Perception: Sarah Hotchkiss, Lordy Rodriguez, and Susie Taylor at ICA San Jose: Inspired by the British artist Bridget Riley (b. 1931), who has long been known for her dizzying, vibratory paintings that set the Op Art movement in motion, the exhibition Altered Perception is a tribute to Riley and her life’s work. Altered Perception includes works from three local Bay Area artists: Sarah Hotchkiss, Lordy Rodriguez, and Susie Taylor. 560 south First Street, San Jose.

To Do List: March

Nan Goldin “Falling buildings, Rome” 2004 dye sublimation print on aluminum. Image courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery.

March 2 to April 29 – Nan Goldin at Fraenkel Gallery:  This exhibition includes still photographs as well as the centerpiece Memory Lost, a slideshow in which Goldin explores the darkness of drug addiction through images and recordings from her extensive archive. Projected in a darkened room, Memory Lost presents a haunting and emotional narrative comprised of outtakes drawn from Goldin’s archive of thousands of slides. Depicting scenes from her life and circle of friends, the 24-minute piece recounts the pain and fleeting moments of beauty in life lived through the lens of addiction. Fraenkel Gallery is located at 49 Geary Street in San Francisco.

 

(Left) Georgina Reskala “Untitled #202320″ 2023 (detail). (Right) Arleene Correa Valencia “Querido Hijo” 1991 / Dear Son, 1991, 2020. Images courtesy of SFAC Galleries.

March 3 to April 29 –Crossing Lines/Lineas que Cruzamos at SFAC Main Gallery:  Curated by photographer, curator, and educator Ann Jastrab, the exhibition features the work of Georgina Reskala and Arleene Correa Valencia, both graduates of CCA, who both live and work in California, and who both have an immigration story to share. Arleene Correa Valencia’s textile works draw heavily from her upbringing and her migration to the United States. Her work explores her identity as a registered “illegal alien” through a thoughtful play portraiture. Georgina Reskala seeks to stop transient moments, creating a record of what slips away from history. Her photography and textile-based work involves folds, layers, cuts, and transformation to reveal hidden images and through that investigates how stories get reshaped and how history is written. Opening Reception: Friday, March 3, 6 – 8 p.m.  A special blessing for the exhibition will be offered by Xiuhcoatl Danza Azteca. SFAC Main Gallery is located at 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.

 

Rema Ghuloum “4 is a Rainbow Line” 2022, oil and acryla-gouache on canvas. Image courtesy of Et al.

March 4 to April 8 – Rema Ghuloum: 4 is a Rainbow Line at Et al. etc (Mission Street):  Ghuloum paints ethereal, atmospheric abstractions that revolve around and evolve through her process. Beginning on the floor, Ghuloum uses squeeze bottles and buckets to pour, flick, and drip diluted acryla-gouche onto the canvases. Once this layer dries, Ghuloum moves the canvases onto the wall and slowly builds up thin glazes of oil paint, working with and against the initial poured layer.  Moving geologically, Ghuloum continues to build and subtract from the composition, sanding between each successive layer until the work vibrates with an internal tension. The finished surfaces retain the history of this improvisatory and responsive practice, manifesting a resonance between the works and the viewer. Et al. etc is located at 2831 Mission Street in San Francisco.

 

Sky Hopinka, “Teją́. The Sea. It’s neither our name for the great lakes or lesser lakes. It’s the sea, and we said we were from the north and from the salt. It’s too much right now. Too much like learning that my father performed the Breathings his entire life. I have recordings of him, and I heard them when I was little, and I said them myself after his death” 2020. Inkjet print, etching. Image courtesy of  McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.

March 10 to May 27 – Rituals of Devotion at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts: The artists in this group exhibit use a wide variety of methods to externalize the feelings inherent to the powerful connections we associate with faith, family, and community. Together, the artworks demonstrate the possibility offered by ritual to examine how our predecessors try to make sense of the unknown, while simultaneously defining new methods for sharing knowledge and care in our contemporary moment. Opening Reception, Thursday, March 9th at 6pm. McEvoy Foundation for the Arts is located at 1150 25th Street in San Francisco.

 

NIAD

Saturday, March 11, 3 to 7pm – Win Win Eleven at NIAD Art Center in Richmond: NIAD is a progressive art studio for adult artists with developmental disabilities. Through its visual arts studio program, NIAD gives people with disabilities the skills and experience to express themselves, be independent and earn income as an artist. Win Win Eleven is the annual fundraiser and community event. Money raised by this annual fundraiser goes to the NIAD Art Center general operating fund. NIAD Art Center is located at 551 23rd Street in Richmond.

 

Kehinde Wiley “The Death of Hyacinth (Ndey Buri Mboup)” 2022, oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

March 18 to October 15 – Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence at the De Young Museum: American artist Kehinde Wiley’s new body of paintings and sculptures confronts the silence surrounding systemic violence against Black people through the visual language of the fallen figure. It expands on his 2008 series, Down — a group of large-scale portraits of young Black men inspired by Hans Holbein the Younger’s The Dead Christ in the Tomb (1521–1522). Wiley investigates the iconography of death and sacrifice in Western art, tracing it across religious, mythological, and historical subjects. In An Archaeology of Silence, the senseless deaths of men and women around the world are transformed into a powerful elegy of resistance. The resulting paintings of figures struck down, wounded, or dead, referencing iconic paintings of mythical heroes, martyrs, and saints, offer a haunting meditation on the legacies of colonialism and systemic racism. A conversation with Kehinde Wiley will be on March 18, 1–2pm. The de Young Museum is located at 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr, in San Francisco.

 

Ali Dadgar “For Her Hair” 2022, mixed media. Image courtesy of Round Weather Gallery.

March 19 to May 13 – The Other Side of Time at Round Weather Gallery:  Round Weather is a nonprofit art gallery committed to alleviating the climate crisis.  It directs funds raised through the sale of contemporary art to three organizations selected each year for their effectiveness in climate change mitigation. The Other Side of Time features Iranian-American artists Sholeh Asgary, Ali Dadgar, Taraneh Hemami, and Shirin Towfiq. The Other Side of Time is where individual imagination and voices may move with freedom and as collectives, thus gathering strength to build an infinitely less shadowed world. Round Weather Gallery is located at 951 Aileen Street in Oakland.

 

...