Karyn and Her Major Arcana

Local artist Karyn Crisis has a whole new body of works based on The Major Arcana, a suit of 22 cards in the tarot deck. From the looks of the show announcement and the progress shots (below)-  it will be a fierce body of work. The show is at Sacred Rose Tattoo's gallery - SR2 in Berkeley and it opens on Oct. 1st, just in time for our much loved haunting season. The opening reception is from 6-9 PM and the exhibition will be up until Nov. 1st. See you all there!

From Karyn's blog:

 "I've found that in learning about Tarot, there are cards which have been misread by people no matter what time period they are speaking to or being used in. So with my deck, I would say my clairvoyance is taking me to the core of each card. Here is where, in updated symbolism (or symbolism that speaks to me and my inner language) I am "updating" cards with codes that carry the information in a way that speaks to me the story."

Jonathan Darby and Adam Caldwell at White Walls

Jonathan Darby

Dropped in to see the "Intersection" show at White Walls gallery, a moving and politically charged look at two very different yet similar social realities.

In the front half of the gallery, Adam Caldwell's work takes a colder, calculated look at American lifestyles and advertising, juxtaposing it with images of poverty. Some famous images are painted in, advertising slogans and female models, symbolic monuments and world landmarks.

Adam Caldwell

Adam Caldwell

Adam Caldwell

This painted transition wall (above) between the two bodies of work was painted by Adam, really loved the looseness and Depression era feel. Simpler than his canvases yet just as moving, if not more so. 

Jonathan Darby

Detail from above piece

In contrast - Jonathan Darby's works focus on the poverty and humanity of the street children living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The artist has built a very involved "shanty town" in which to display his works, dark and tucked away in "alleys", in the back half of the gallery. This was a very moving installation and group of paintings, beautifully rendered faces, heart breaking in their plight - with lots of textural elements and found objects. Children's laundry was strung up on clotheslines in between worn plywood walls and broken windows. Then a huge beautifully somber, child's face peering at you from the dark, with collaged photos and symbolic advertising clips layered in. From the artists statement:

"Some of the children that have been painted in this show have lived and perished in extremely violent circumstances. Roney was one of them. All proceeds from the 'Roney, 2008" print run will be donated to the Children at Risk Foundation, CARF." 

Jonathan Darby

Jonathan Darby

Jonathan Darby

Jonathan Darby

Detail from above piece, showing chest and shoulders


Jonathan's Site LINK

Adam's Site LINK

New Eclectix Interview With Owen Smith

Owen is a master fine artist - a painter, muralist, mosaic artist and a sculptor. A local husband and father, whose lively works were featured in the last Eclectix “Flesh” issue, he is currently working for the San Francisco Arts Commission and teaches at the California College of the Arts.  His illustrative and fine art works have graced many editorials, CD covers and magazines - permeating pop culture for at least the last 20 years. They have a vibrant, lusty feel to them, conjuring up 1940’s Los Angeles, vintage detective stories and film noir ....

For the rest of the interview and a gallery of Owen's works, go here.

For the current Eclectix issue on "Paper & Art" go here.

Pulp Fashion Exhibit at the Legion of Honor

The current exhibit "Pulp Fashion" at S.F.'s Legion of Honor is beautifully executed and laid out. All the costumes are created out of paper by the artist Isabelle de Borchgrave and her minions. For info and more photos of the garments, as well as some of Isabelle working, click here.
Isabelle hand-makes the paper, manipulates the pulp, stretching, crinkling and puckering. And then she tears, sews, wrinkles, folds and pleats. If you look closely you can even find the inner structures of cardboard boxes - as in one of the intricate lace collars. Spotted some shredded packing materials in there as well. Multitudes of textures abound- delicate rice papers for gauze veils and petticoats, shiny satin-like papers and matte hued thicker papers. She paints detailed patterns and backgrounds, paying historical homage to the likes of the Medici family, Coco Chanel and Marie-Antoinette. From buttons to bows, beads to lace, corsets to belts (even the coolest little Aladdin-like slippers) no detail was left out. Many of the mannequins were also layered in paper bringing a tactile uniformity to the displays. Every outfit is an incredible assemblage, really makes one wonder just how many hours it took to complete this huge collection.

Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave, 
February 5, 2011 - June 5, 2011

Our Top Picks From "Light/Dark" at the Berkeley Art Center

Eclectix visited the packed opening of "Light/Dark" at the Berkeley Art Center. There are a large number of really nice pieces in this show, we selected only our favorites here. ( Of course, favorites are once again edited by the ability to get a good photo.) From the Center's info for the show - "Chosen from a submission pool of nearly 100 members of the California Society of Printmakers and selected by renowned Bay Area printmaker Enrique Chagoya, this exhibition features 53 works from 53 artists encompassing a range of styles and approaches based in the print medium." There were images representing almost all printmaking techniques - etchings, woodblocks, mono prints, lithographs, silkscreens and so much more. This eclectic and worth-seeing show is up thru May 29th, check the website for hours.

Artists Exhibiting: David Avery, Peter Baczek, Priscilla Birge, Karen Brussat Butler, Gary Comoglio, Noriko Constant, Jessica Dunne, Beth Fein, Peter Foley, Barbara Foster, Linda Fribley, Dan Harrison, Art Hazelwood, Maj Britt Hilstrom, Nif Hodgson, Jack Jacobson, Elizabeth Jameson, Debra Jewel, Mike Kimball, K. Kuster, Dixie Laws, Anthony Lazorko, Peter Leone McCormick, Roberta Loach, Leslie Lowinger, Janet Mackaig, Valerie Magee, Maggie Malloy, Luz Marina Ruiz, Barbara Milman, Julia Nelson-Gal, Russell Pachman, Adam Pitt, Carrie Ann Plank, Pat Prosek, Jenny Robinson, Deborah Sibony, Robynn Smith, Maryly Snow, Sylvia Solochek Walters, Herlinde Spahr, Barbara Strikker, Toru Sugita, Elizabeth Tana, Susana Terrell, Jerry Theobald, Susan Trubow, Fran Valesco, Katherine Venturelli, Peter Villasenor, Mark Welschmeyer, George Woodward, Mark Zaffron.

New Art: JennyBird Alcantara's Glass House Girls

Had to share this friggin' utterly fantastic new piece by JennyBird Alcantara. It is for the upcoming La Luz de Jesus Gallery, 25 year anniversary show in Oct. and Nov., 2011. They will be creating a book of all the work for this extraordinary show and Eclectix thinks this should be the cover! What do you think?

It is oil on wood and titled 'Glass House Girls Make Good Warriors" The unframed size is 15"x23" Please contact the gallery if you are interested in this work.

http://www.laluzdejesus.com/

Our Top Art Picks: From The Warhol Reimagined Exhibit in San Francisco

Dropped in to the opening of the Warhol Reimagined show in SF. This is the first show at Warholian's new gallery- Project One, a combined bar-club-gallery (a smart way to pay the rent now-a days). Nice large gallery space, hopping youngish crowd and plenty of parking- due to it being off-the-beaten track a little in the "design district".
Nice show with lots of solid pieces, a very fun theme, re-doing Warhol. Many superb local artists I recognized and some new to me. Really enjoyed the creative idea behind the "soup can" wall, where artists re-did their own Campbell's soup can imagery.
Couldn't find the images on their site, so thought I'd share photos of our favorite ones with you here. (sorry for the blurry ones...) The exhibit is up until April 19th, so check it out!