Tag: MFA Thesis Exhibitions

To Do List: May

Apr 26, 2018 In: To Do List Tags: Adrian Rosenfeld, BAMPFA, Dionne Lee, Doug Hall, Embark Gallery, Emil Lukas, Emily Budd, Fort Mason, Fraenkel Gallery, George Bures Miller, Hosfelt Gallery, Janet Cardiff, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Neil Mendoza, Ragnar Kjartansson, Recology San Francisco, Rena Bransten Gallery, Richard- Jonathon Nelson, Robert Koch Gallery, SFAI, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Wyatt Kahn By: Kerri Hurtado, Curator

Wyatt Kahn, “Untitled”, 2017. Image courtesy of Adrian Rosenfeld Gallery.

Ongoing to June 16- Wyatt Kahn at Adrian Rosenfeld Gallery: Kahn pushes the boundaries between painting, sculpture, drawing and print-making in his latest body of work, which functions as a sort of musing on life in the studio and the weight of art history. Kahn constructs paintings from hand-cut panels individually wrapped in materials like raw linen and milled lead. He employs this process with a series of forms abstracted from the world around him, while simultaneously narrowing in on a group of figurative elements – a pair of glasses, a telephone, a hand, a foot, a tube of paint – that relate to his studio practice. Kahn has developed a distinct vocabulary in merging representation and abstraction, often times with an anthropomorphic and humorous gesture, that is in full range for this exhibition. Adrian Rosenfeld Gallery is located at 1150 25th Street.

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, (left) “The Poetry Machine”, 2017. (right) FOREST (for a thousand years…), installation view, 2012. Images courtesy of Fraenkel Gallery and UCSC.

May 3 to July 5- Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller: The Poetry Machine and Other Works at Fraenkel Gallery: The exhibition, consisting of multiple installations, features Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s interactive tribute to Leonard Cohen. The Poetry Machine is made from a vintage organ, a collection of speakers and recordings of Cohen reciting dozens of poems from his Book of Longing, many of which have never been publicly released. Road Trip is an installation of slides made by Bures Miller’s grandfather in the 1950s, during a drive from Vancouver to New York City. Projected from a computer controlled carousel onto a standing screen, the slides show mostly empty landscapes, their color often changed by time. Accompanying them is a two-speaker recording of Cardiff and Bures Miller. In Sad Waltz and the Dancer who couldn’t dance, a robotically controlled marionette appears to play piano while a long-haired puppet dances erratically to music by Armenian composer Edward Mirzoyan. Fraenkel gallery is located at 49 Geary Street, 4th Floor.

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 3, 5:30- 7:30pm

Ongoing to June 30- Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller also have an audio installation, titled “FOREST (for a thousand years…)”, on view in the redwood grove of UC Santa Cruz’s Arboretum and Botanic Garden. UC Santa Cruz’s Arboretum and Botanic Garden is located at 1156 High Street in Santa Cruz.

Doug Hall, “Still from Song of Ourselves (After Walt Whitman)”, 2018. Image courtesy of Rena Bransten Gallery.

May 5 to June 16- Doug Hall: Song of Ourselves (After Walt Whitman) at Rena Bransten Gallery: The two-channel site specific video installation situates a video of high school students reciting Whitman’s text with a projection that washes across the gallery walls. Following the 2016 election Hall felt that “something ugly and malevolent slithered out of the dark recesses of the American psyche. In the shadow of this misanthropy it is easy to lose sight of the alternative, democratic ideals that this country was founded on, ideals that, while not fully realized, were passionately expressed most clearly and beautifully by Walt Whitman in Song of Myself from his epic poem Leaves of Grass.” The exhibition proposes that a humanist tradition can provide an antidote to the venom seeping into the American conscience. This work brings forth the positive spirit that resides within Whitman’s words. By assembling a group of diverse students reading selections from the poem, the ‘I’ of the poem becomes not the voice of the single, male poet but the voice of us all, summoning the poem’s original, inclusive intent. Rena Bransten Gallery is located at 1275 Minnesota Street.

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 5, 5- 7pm

(left) Dionne Lee, “collage_1- of yard or field or hand or concern and promise”, 2018. (right) Richard-Jonathan Nelson, “Rnelsonprint: In a verdant eddy, I remembered I lost you”, 2018. Images courtesy of Embark Gallery.

May 5 to June 2- Deep Horizon: Richard- Jonathan Nelson and Dionne Lee at Embark Gallery: In the exhibition, Dionne Lee and Richard-Jonathan Nelson investigate the complex relationship between Blackness and nature. Considering histories of violence, the African diaspora, and the perceptions and realities of identity, Lee and Nelson explore the anxieties and trauma associated with the American landscape, and navigate us towards a deeper understanding of who is allowed to benefit from natural environments. The artists stake a claim to the solitude of nature and its potential as a tool for liberation, while acknowledging that at the same time, being alone and Black in the woods means, historically and quite literally, to be at risk for danger. Through video, photography, and installation, this exhibition provides a new cartography for the safe travel of Black bodies through the terrain of modern wilderness. Embark gallery is located at 2 Marina Blvd., Building B (3rd floor), Suite 330.

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 5, 4- 7pm

Emil Lukas, “water ball #1567”, 2017. Image courtesy of Hosfelt Gallery.

May 5 to June 16- Emil Lukas: Twin Orbit at Hosfelt Gallery: Labor-intensive and experimental, playful and poetic, surprising and delightful, Lukas’ sculptures and sculptural paintings grow out of investigations into gravity, perspective, mathematics, color theory and the properties of light. Lukas’ round “paintings” are parabolic bowls with tens of thousands of colored threads stretched across them. The works manipulate our sense of space and definition of color. Chunky, plaster works composed of honeycombs of multi-colored pixels create optically vibrating fields, their convex surfaces disrupting our perception of depth. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a monumental, pixilated, aluminum lens that both restricts and restructures our line of sight. This exhibition is an examination of seeing, where optics is a metaphor for the human ability to derive insight from abstract concepts. Hosfelt Gallery is located at 260 Utah Street.

Announcement cards.

2018 MFA Thesis Exhibitions: The MFA Thesis Exhibitions of the Bay Area art schools concludes the graduate students’ two years of work and marks their transition to the public stage in a professional gallery setting. Throughout their time in school, the artists have expanded the possibilities of contemporary practice. The exhibition is a result of their learning and experimentation across media, their exploration of social, political, and cultural issues as well as personal inquiry. San Francisco Art Institute, UC Berkeley and Stanford all have their exhibitions opening in May:

SFAI: May 10- 17

Opening Reception: Friday, May 11, 7-9pm
The exhibition is located at SFAI’s Fort Mason Campus, 2 Marina Blvd, Pier 2

UC Berkeley: May 11- June 17

Opening Reception and artist talk: Friday, May 11, 6pm
The exhibition is located at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2155 Center Street in Berkeley

Stanford: May 15- June 17

Opening Reception: Thursday, May 17, 5-7 pm
The exhibition is located at the Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, 419 Lasuen Mall in Stanford

(left) Emily Budd, “Artifictions”. (right) Neil Mendoza, “Pretty Rubbish”. Images courtesy of Recology San Francisco.

May 18 to 19- Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Exhibition: Work by Neil Mendoza and Emily Budd at Recology Art Studio: The exhibition, of current artist-in-residence Neil Mendoza and CCA student artist Emily Budd, will be the culmination of four months of work by the artists who have scavenged materials from the dump to make art and promote recycling and reuse of material. Neil Mendoza’s series, Pretty Rubbish brings a variety of common objects to life using scavenged motors, computers, and other e-waste in combination with his own custom-written software. Themes of absurdity, humor, and the surreal are explored in kinetic sculptures and installations that function with a seeming effortlessness that belies the technical skills required for their creation. Emily Budd’s series, Artifictions uses contemporary trash to make objects suggestive of artifacts, gems, or geological forms. Describing her work as “future archaeology,” Budd imagines how our 21st century discards will manifest as a record of our times. Recology Art Studio is located at 401 Tunnel Avenue.

Reception: Friday, May 18, 5 -8pm
Reception: Saturday, May 19, 1- 3pm
Additional viewing hours: Tuesday, May 22, 5- 7pm with gallery walk-through with artists at 6pm

To Do List: May

Apr 30, 2015 In: To Do List Tags: Ben Venom, CCA, David Vera, De Young Museum, Javier Ramírez Limón, Jazzibe Santos, MFA Thesis Exhibitions, Mills College, Mills College Art Museum, Recology San Francisco, San Francisco Camerawork, Sergio de la Torre, SFAI, SFSU, UC Berkeley By: ArtSource Inc.

Ben Venom, “All the Aces”, hand-made quilt with recycled fabric. Image courtesy of the de Young Museum.

May 6th – May 31st, Ben Venom: Thrill of It All, The Artist Studio program at the de Young Museum: Ben Venom’s residency at the de Young Museum will expand on his current body of work by completing 9′ x 11′ handmade quilts constructed in part from donated/repurposed material (i.e. band shirts, jeans, etc.). This material, donated by friends, family, and community members, will become the foundation for the quilts. By stitching used clothing into a unified piece, the quilts display a multitude of personal histories. Everyone’s unexplained stains, tears, or rips will be included and when displayed, visitors will be able to see a piece of themselves sewn into a functional quilt. The designs will draw from research in the fields of mythology, the occult, folklore, and motorcycle gang logos. Visit The Artist Studio program Wednesdays–Sundays, 1–5 pm in the de Young | Kimball Education Gallery/Artist Studio. There will be an artist reception at the end of his residency Friday, May 29th 6 – 8:30 pm.

Detail of David Vera, “Sweetbook”, 2014 and installation view of SF Camerawork. Images courtesy of Benjamin Hoffman and SF Camerawork.

Ongoing to May 23rd, Existe Lo Que Tiene Nombre: Contemporary Photography in Mexico at SF Camerawork: A two part exhibit organized by San Francisco-based curator Sergio De La Torre and Tijuana-based curator Javier Ramírez Limón, in conjuction with Galeria de la Raza. The title of the exhibition, Existe lo que tiene nombre, comes from a conversation with the artist Jazzibe Santos, whose photographic project documents her grandmother’s household of labeled objects. Ranging from humorous to disturbing, personal to ambiguous, Santos’ photographs, along with those of the 22 artists featured in this exhibition, are indicative of the current state of contemporary photographic practices in Mexico. SF Camerawork is located at 1011 Market Street, 2nd floor.

Works by Mike Arcega, Eden V. Evans and Ma Li at Recology San Francisco. Images courtesy of Recology SF.

Friday May 22nd – Tuesday May 26th, Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Exhibitions: Michael Arcega, Ma Li and Eden V. Evans: The Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco is a unique art and education program that provides Bay Area artists with access to discarded materials, a stipend, and a large studio space at the Recology Solid Waste Transfer and Recycling Center. By supporting artists who work with recycled materials, Recology hopes to encourage people to conserve natural resources and promote new ways of thinking about art and the environment. During their residencies, artists have scavenging privileges and 24-hour access to the company’s well-equipped art studio. At the conclusion of their residency, Recology hosts a two-day public exhibition and reception for the artists featuring the artwork made during their residency. The current exhibit opens with viewing times on Friday, May 22, 5-9 pm and Saturday, May 23, 1-3 pm. Additional viewing hours are Tuesday, May 26, 5-7 pm with a gallery walk-through with the artists at 6:30 pm at 503 Tunnel Avenue.

San Francisco Art Institute MFA student Dio Chen “Depende”, still from a film, 8 mins 51 seconds. Image courtesy of SFAI.

Bay Area MFA Thesis Exhibitions:

San Francisco State University – Ongoing – May 16th, MFA Thesis Exhibition, 1600 Holloway Avenue: Emerging, prolific artists present new work in photography, sculpture, new practices, painting, conceptual and information arts and printmaking. Showcasing the creativity and diversity in the Art Department’s rigorous, competitive three-year Master of Fine Arts program, these artists all exhibit their works actively throughout Northern California and beyond. Gallery hours: Wednesdays through Saturdays, 11am to 4pm.

Mills College – May 3rd – May 31st, Terra Incognita, 5000 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland: Terra Incognita features work in a wide range of media—painting, photography, sculpture, installation, video, and performance—created by the emerging artists of the Mills College MFA in Studio Art Program. Opening reception is Saturday, May 2nd 6 – 8pm.

California College of the Arts – May 14th – May 23rd, 2015 MFA Thesis Show, 1111 8th Street: The CCA graduate MFA program has an interdisciplinary orientation that supports both the crossing and merging of mediums as well as the investigation and use of content from diverse areas of thought.

San Francisco Art Institute – May 14th – May 17th, Edge Effect, Pier 2 Fort Mason Center: 100 artists from San Francisco Art Institute’s graduate program present eclectic visions at the leading edge of contemporary art. Installations, painting, photography, video, sculpture, printmaking, performances, and hybrid forms come together for an exclusive four-day-only exhibition. Open daily 11 am – 6pm. Opening reception is Friday, May 15th 7 – 9 pm.

University of California at Berkeley – May 15th – June 14th, MFA 2015, 1275 Walnut Street, Berkeley: For the past forty-four years, BAM/PFA has teamed with the UC Berkeley Department of Art Practice to present the work of its graduating MFA students. Because of the closure of the BAM/PFA Galleries in 2015, this year’s MFA presentation will be held at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut Street, Berkeley.

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