"As They See It" Exhibit, Our Favorite Picks, 941 Gallery

Posted here are some faves from the gallery's second and current show, As They See It, which opened Saturday night. Shooting Gallery and White Walls owner- Justin, just opened 941 in the Tenderloin. You enter thru a long narrow hall, past the bathroom and bundled art to a nice large and open space. Many of the pieces were familiar from previous exhibits. 

I really loved the 3 bunny/kangaroo pieces floating in their urban environs by the pretty Jessica Hess, not to mention the fantastic little neckpiece she created out of 3 vintage ties.

She graciously let me check out  the stitch work on the underside and wow, this was an art piece by itself!  

Isabel Samaras has a hilarious new painting of a Victorian woman getting serviced under her ballgown.

Scott Hove's new chandalier "cake" piece dominated the huge space with his usual sweet ferocity.

Akira Beard had a nice wall full of his wonderful mixed media portraits, some of the best stuff there. 


And here are a few other wonderful pieces... 

The artists contributing were Kevin Cyr, Jessica Hess, Isabel Samaras, Shawn Barber, Aaron Nagel, Eric White, Robert Burden, Coro, Dave Schubert, Jonathan Darby, Morgan Slade, Pedro Matos, Akira Beard, Danny Heller, Michael Forbes, Adam Caldwell, Scott Hove, and Derek Weisber.


Gallery Link

Christine McDonald's Bird of Prey

Visited the Arts Guild of Sonoma to gaze. The best piece in the house was this bird painting by artist Christine McDonald. Very commanding. The constraining collar or halo? - is a great addition, don't peck me! For house music they were spinning some Jesus and the Mary Chain which was a blessing to my ears.
Nice piece, Christine!

Claire Raymond's Art at Barking Dog

Why is it you seem to stumble upon the best art when you aren't looking for it? I have driven madly around towns, to galleries and museums on many a trip, only to find a few pieces that really stood out. But walk into a coffee shop and wham, great art hits you in the face. Realistically it probably has something to do with the fact that the business doesn't have to rely on the art sales to pay their rent. They can take a chance on non-Hallmark imagery, they can exhibit new talent - expressive art that speaks out. Even most established galleries (newbrow and lowbrow) seem to have to depend on "art stars" with a proven sales track record. The real world.
Went on a week-end trip to Sonoma recently. While I was on my usual out-of-town search for coffee (that will even come close to Peet's) I found Barking Dog Roasters. They make a damn good cappuccino and I was a happy girl.

The killer art on the walls made me even happier. Not a single image of a winery in the place! Paintings by local artist Claire Raymond filled the space. Every single one of them was kick-ass, some funny, some intense but all were riveting eye-candy. Mostly they were portraits of interesting imagined (or not?) characters. The mustard colored walls and poor lighting didn't help the art, but Claire's bold, expressive strokes and colors overcame the garish gold. Hard to take good photos of all of them, so here's the best of the lot. The one directly below is a collaboration with Nichol Gonzales.

Big kudos to Barking Dog for giving Claire and others a place to show their works. The pieces are very reasonably priced, down-right bargains, so if you are in the hood check out her work and pick up a piece for yourself. Couldn't find a website for her but if you do- please let me know!

Barking Dog Roasters Link

Right Some Good, Visit Arabella Proffer's Art Sale!

Arabella makes some killer art and needs a little help. From an email she sent me-


"As some of you may or may not know, I was diagnosed with cancer (an aggressive version of lipo sarcoma) a few weeks ago.
So to celebrate the fun cancerous tumor poking out of me, and help pay for those odd things insurance won't cover, I'm having a one-day super sale on over 20 original unframed drawings for only $30! These will be various sizes, colors, materials and subject matter. This gives me a great way of unloading lots of sketches and drawings that don’t get exhibited or are sitting in a box doing nothing.

I’m not one to ask for charity of any sort, but reality has set in, and because of my unpredictable treatment schedules I am working on commissions at a much slower pace as well as unable to teach or do personal instruction until late fall. So I thought a sale of drawings gives you good people something original and affordable, while at the same time, doesn’t make me look like a total mooch! Win-win for all!

The sale will open on Wednesday, July 28th beginning at Noon EST. I will be listing everything with a title, description and PayPal button at http://arabellaproffer.com/sale.html The price includes shipping. At Midnight the sale will end and everything taken down. So there you have it!"

Check it out, buy some cool art and do a good thing!

Modern Eden Gallery Grand Opening Exhibit

The new Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco's North Beach is somewhere to visit and support. Checked out their grand opening exhibit and was impressed by all the pieces. Some of the artists were shown in a number of past Eclectix exhibits, some were new to me - but all were high caliber choices with eclectic themes. Moody landscapes, mythical portraits, pop-surrealist pieces, gothic images and so much more! So happy to see artist Bradley Platz open this space, a much deserved venue and studio for his art, as well as for the other great artists. Michael Ryan has a number of his fantastically gloomy, classical works here and Leilani Bustamante and Marco Mejia's works are  newbrow must-sees as well. Alphonzo Solorzano and Miquel Felipe's works have a religious, folk-art-Latin feel to them with a warm, gritty street edge.

The clean, new space is purrfect - large, different bends and alcoves to it, with a number of ideal spots for sculpture display as well. It has a nice grace and flow to the overall ambiance. You might catch Bradley at work on his easel in the back area. There is handmade local artisan jewelry and fine crafts in a side store section. This exhibit is one of the best to be seen in SF right now, so get on down and see it before it closes July 14th!

Modern Eden Link

Best of New York Art, June 2010 - Judith Schaechter's "Beauty and the Beef"

This show tied with Greg Simkin's show, ranking top-of-the-mark on recent NYC art offerings. Seeing Judith's work in person, after viewing it on a computer all these years, was a revelation. Most art is always better in person but glass works benefit especially from the glistening light and the bare eye. Judith's art is vividly saturated with the glorious colors only stained glass can emit. Juxtapose that with it's subject matter and you get killer art. No typical church art here, just pure beastly beauty. Painterly and dripping, scratched and rubbed - the glass becomes layered worlds upon worlds under her labors. Darkly human, innovative, emotive and lustrous.
Way too many beautiful images to post them all here, so just a select few, some cropped and some showing just the devil in the wondrous details.

The exhibit was at the Claire Oliver Gallery which is a nice space, however the peeps there were full of attitude. Refused to let my tired kid lie down for a second on their un-upholstered bench. I mean, come on... it's not like we were setting up a homeless encampment or even taking a nap. The snotty ambiance in some galleries really goes a bit too far, showing a little humanity sometimes can be a good thing. Judith's art made the rudeness all worthwhile.

"Another major reason I stick with stained glass is because I think the raw material is pretty. The uncut sheets of colored glass are really seductive, awesome, and unarguably lovely things. Naturally, the temptation to cut and damage all that pristine beauty is too much for me to resist."- Judith Schaechter, excerpt from a great statement, well worth a read, to be found here.

Schaechter's "Late Breaking Noose" here.

Isabel Samaras and Her Beautiful Beaver Boobs

Isabel just completed this great pair for a great cause. This piece is now on it's way to the Tiki Oasis 10th Anniversary Extravaganza in San Diego, the original "Tiki Weekender",  a three day, non-stop, jam-packed celebration including the Keep-A-Breast art show organized by Baby Doe von Stroheim and featuring over 24 artists, creating painted and multi-media breast casts. The proceeds go to The Keep-A-Breast Foundation. www.keep-a-breast.org. This looks like a fun little vacation if you're in need of a little paradise and some good karma.  Go pick up a nice rack for yourself and support a good cause!

Best Of New York Art, June 2010 - "Inside The Outside" with Greg Simkins

After bopping all over New York for a week and seeing various art shows, I have to conclude that Greg "Craola" Simkins show, "Inside The Outside" was the best of the bunch. It was a nicely large solo exhibit at the Joshua Liner gallery. Beautiful paintings and graphite drawings with animals and pop culture items all mixed together. His drawings may have been "roughs" for various paintings but they are fantastic all on their own. Every piece was eloquent with respect for the fauna world they inhabited. Graceful compositions that floated on the surface with complete artistic mastery. Greg has a way of merging remote items together that make them seem  more related than they are. A goldfish transforms into a hammer head shark, a jellyfish floats upward out of a vintage tea cup and a deer sits on an overstuffed armchair crowded with a menagerie of others. A perfect amount of works, hours of enjoyment. Take a look for yourself and enjoy!

Greg also has some work in the upcoming show "Lead Poisoning" at Last Rites Gallery in New York, if you missed the show at Joshua Liner. The Last Rites show looks to be a killer group exhibition, so check it, if you can.

Joshua Liner Gallery 
ImScared.com.
Last Rites Gallery
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