Ektor Garcia “Untitled (butterfly stack)” 2021, cast bronze, copper wire.  Image courtesy of Rebecca Camacho Presents.

Ongoing to December 17 – Ektor Garcia: Rehacer at Rebecca Camacho Presents: Mexico City based Ektor Garcia takes inspiration from traditional Mexican craftspeople and the crocheting practice of his grandmother. Garcia’s works suggest an embedded past and future in each object. Simultaneously raw yet refined, Garcia mines personal and cultural histories, refracting this inheritance with a potent mixture of irreverence and a deep respect for all people using their hands to create objects of beauty and resourcefulness. The artist’s fluid transition through seemingly disparate materials only echoes his nomadic process, one defined by constant movement from place to place, his hands however remaining fixed in eternal activity, wrapping wire, smoothing clay or weaving fibers. Eschewing the idea of finality, garcia’s sculptures hover in time, snapshots of a moment, prone to alteration at a later date depending on the artist’s whims.

A Study for ‘In Place of Light,’ Sherwin Rio, 2022, digital image. Image courtesy of 500 Capp Street.

December 3 to February 25 – Sherwin Rio: As Above, So Below at 500 Capp Street: Sherwin Rio is an interdisciplinary artist working in San Francisco who makes site-specific and research-based work in sculpture, installation, video, performance, and audio. For his exhibition at 500 Capp Street, Rio is inspired by David Ireland’s affinity for enclosure, particularly his deep interest in the House’s basement, a space he called “The Grotto” where he sourced dirt for his work and spent many hours in solitude. Framed by David Ireland’s dual relationship to architecture above and below, Rio is creating works that provide alternative, inverse ways of experiencing a house—indebted to the past, the unseen, and the underground. For tours of the exhibition, please reserve tickets here.

Heesoo Kwan “Mago Leymusoom” (still) 2022. Image courtesy of SFAC Gallery.  Image courtesy of SFAC Gallery.

December 9 to February 11 – Sowing Worlds at SFAC Main Gallery:  The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) Main Gallery, in partnership with Alternative Space LOOP in Seoul, present Sowing Worlds, an international group exhibition featuring works by five artists based in the Bay Area alongside five artists based in South Korea. The effects of climate change have become ever clearer: massive wildfires, record breaking temperatures, floods, increasingly powerful storms, droughts and other calamities are taking place all over the world. The exhibition brings together artists who are thinking expansively and critically about living with climate change. The works in the exhibition explore sustainable agriculture, the intertwining legacies of colonialism and its effects on the land, and ancestral connection to a place in flux. Featuring work by Binta Ayofemi, Cristine Blanco, Heesoo Kwon, Emma Logan, Sun Park, Eunbi Kwon, Nayoungim & Gregory Maass, JongHeon Bae, Da-Seul Lee, and Go-Eun Im and was curated by Jackie Im, Sun Mi Lee, and Ji Yoon Yang.

Installation View of “The Sinking Ship/Prosperity” by Jota Mombaça. Image courtesy of KADIST SF

Ongoing to January 28 – Jota Mombaça: The Sinking Ship/Prosperity at KADIST SF: Jota Mombaça is the current artist in residence at KADIST SF. While in residence, Mombaça plans to visit the Port of San Francisco, study shipwreck records at the Maritime Research Center archives, and take a diving lesson on how to sink. These activities are part of a body of research the artist refers to as The Sinking Ship/Prosperity  which considers speculative memory, the dynamics of excess, and grieving time, among other water-related subjects. This exhibition continues a cycle of work that Mombaça began earlier this year: in the tired watering (2022) and expands on and makes material connections to this body of performance works.

Thursday, December 8, 2022, 6–7:30 pm: Performance by Jota Mombaça and debut of waterwill (2022)

Top Row: Cathy Lu, Maria A. Guzmán Capron, Marcelo Pardo Ariza. Bottom Row: Binta Ayofemi, Gregory Rick.  Images courtesy of SFMOMA.

December 17 to May 29 – 2022 SECA Art Award Exhibition at SFMOMA:  Since 1967, the SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art) Art Award has honored more than seventy Bay Area artists, supporting them at early stages in their careers. The award distinguishes Bay Area artists whose work has not, at the time of nomination, been accorded substantial recognition from a major institution. The 2022 SECA Art Award Exhibition celebrates Bay Area artists Binta Ayofemi, Maria A. Guzmán Capron, Cathy Lu, Marcel Pardo Ariza and Gregory Rick.

Lhola Amira “IRMANDADE: The Shape of Water in Pindorama” (detail), 2018. Image courtesy of the de Young Museum.

December 17 to December 3, 2023 – Lhola Amira: Facing the Future at the De Young Museum:  This exhibit launches a new program of special exhibitions that will interpret the African art collection as a living and evolving practice through the lens of contemporary art. This solo exhibition features the newly created, site-specific spiritual portal Philisa: Zinza Mphefumlo Wami (2022). Philisa are unique portals, sacred spaces for the cleansing of wounds, honoring ancestors, and fostering connection. Visitors are invited to enter this sacred grove with support for whatever may unfold.