Gerald Cannon's code-based works play with our need for aesthetic satisfaction when presented with abstract or representational imageries. Jerry, as he is familiarly known, believes an image possesses a number of expected strengths: visual narrative, color, balance, masterful execution and good ideas ... but, as is so often and unfortunately the case, these qualities become trumped by our compulsion to understand (and validate) the art-making process. In a short essay entitled, 'The Uncertainty Principle,' Jerry defines his work as addressing questions of our visual reality - by questioning the essence of visual perception, and whether we can be certain of the truth of our perceptions, Jerry challenges us to view his artworks from a wholly satisfied aesthetic, encompassing novelty and irony, and question whether anything more can please the viewer. When his ideas are affirmed, Jerry considers his work successful, and, nevertheless continues to push, provoking the viewer's sensibilities by revealing 'the way the art gets made.' Producing unique multiples, Jerry states he 'makes sincere work that intentionally collapses under the weight of its own sincerity.'
This isn't really a novel approach. We experienced the almost exact same tender-tough in your face attitude of I'm-smart-beyond-cool-and-do-you-get-this approach with Roy Lichtenstein when his first collection of paintings was reviewed in 1964, and (in)famously repeated by Andy Warhol and his Factory. The question then, that sometimes repeats itself now, is/was whether using mechanics to create art demeans a work by the potential facility of reproduction, and is that art or is it reprographics? Is it fine art? Well, I guess that depends on you, the viewer, and you, the artist, on integrity, on formal adherence to fine art principles, and on what you like to view, etc. Lichtenstein and Warhol are unquestionable American art icons, as a by-product of American history, newsprint, advertising and graphic design, they resonated strongly with a population tired of the lofty refined exclusions of 'fine art.'
While Jerry's work isn't advertising or newsprint based, it is definitely in step with our contemporary history with his use of digital technology. His artwork process, based on sets of unique algorhythmic codes he created and developed to generate unique, or limited editions of images, narrates stories of natural beauty (that might quickly vanish), of movement and a wild universe of saturated colors, of universal communications, of a boy and his dog. When paralleled with Lichtenstein's grids or Escher's pencil or Rembrandt's brush, one quickly understands Jerry's process, his use of uniquely personalized codes, is merely another tool to manifest his particular vision of the world.
David Yun examines how photography and video alter the content and manner of our memories. Three intertwined, unique bodies of work comprise his study, and mirror the three stages of memory: "Encoding", "Storage", and "Recall".
"Encoding" examines the first stage of memory making. David erases most of the background in select photographs, allowing the photo's subject and a hint of where they are to remain, suggesting our reliance on photographs supports our memories. In "Storage", David isolates single frames from found VHS home movies, and uses the premise that we assume our memories are eternal (but our lives inevitably change and our relationship with the memories change as a result). For example, why would a home movie of a wedding or the birth of a child lose its value? David creates a visual metaphor to memory by exploiting the low fidelity and short lifespan of found VHS tapes, and using selected, photographed pieces of the tapes where information began to degrade. His choices and retention of select parts of the original tape, become, like a memory, remnants of the original event. The images impart an illusory feeling of something universal and familiar, like a common memory. Finally, with "Recall" David studies the idea that organic, unadulterated memory is impossible to achieve, because anything we recall from our past is inevitably colored by experience. He seems to say, "We store memories, that change over time, and are affected by the relationships we create from one memory to the next." David illustrates this process of recall with a video installation of a floating screen, that could be viewed from all sides.
David's strength in video lies with his choices of imagery. He consistently shows beautiful and lyrical images (previous videos: "Hug", "Flowers") that flow seamlessly one from the other, creating a strong visually pleasurable experience. His successful achievement of this experience is repeated with "Recall" - a quiet video, a collage, of images that could have come out of anyone's family archive. And while the floating screen seems a gimmick, it's minimal and sensitive to the slightest movement of air. The result is a video presentation of sweet, softly moving images pendent on the environment - much like our memories.
Jenna North came by a couple of nights ago, to discuss her recent work in detail. She’s very casual when discussing her work, as if she takes it for granted that because she's lived with it for so long, and knows it so well, we will too as soon as we see it. Her work has such drama and effect, that people love it or hate it, and it's been my case that explaining her process is vital to understanding and appreciating her work. My first experience with Jenna’s work was a series entitled ‘Gray Tones’ which we represented in 2007 at our first art fair in Miami and at a group exhibition with Gerald Cannon and David Yun, entitled ‘Digital Divide.’ The 'Gray Tones' were meticulously hand painted and based on algorithms generated by an antiquated computer program called Mathematica. In the series, Jenna’s premise represented a variation of the patterns generated by sound, as defined by Mathematica. Her process was very controlling, and the resulting paintings, Jenna’s representation of sound waves, was surprisingly effective, drawing the viewer in with mesmerizing effect. 
Jenna’s new work, ‘The Weather Pattern’ series is a product of the ‘Gray Tones,’ where control of color and form are still shown with strict, hand painted lines of enamel; organized according to her particular rules for painting. The new element is Jenna’s decision to allow chance, expressionism, and the physicality of the paint to enter her work. She takes on almost every painterly tool available, acrylic, enamel, encaustic, glitter, gravity, heat, and oil paint – for elements of texture and expression - with explosive effect. Her new choice is a big movement away from her earlier study of control, although control remains strongly present in her compositions, use of variegated shades of gray, and collage. Her latest two works in the series, ‘Paleomagnetism’ and ‘Wet Spell,’ are almost wholly expressionistic, showing practically none of her previous control, and her work seems to become purely ruled by chance. Our discussion impressed me with Jenna’s ideas of chance, expression and the physicality of paint, their importance to her in relation to her current work, and how she visually manifests them. While the direction may be founded on modern ideas, as employed by Pollock and Gilhooly, the work is purely Jenna North’s, contemporary and compelling.
This evening, I went to a 'private' reception hosted by a new gallery in town. Happy to welcome the newcomer (I will do anything to encourage art business - if its good for my colleagues, it will be good for me), when the (elegant) invitation was personally delivered at our gallery a couple of days ago, I looked forward to meeting my new colleague.
The new gallery is beautiful (galleries are supposed to be beautiful), and this one didn't disappoint, really. Fresh white walls, open windows overlooking a busy street, the work was spare, minimal (surely there was a message somewhere), the pseudo disco ball made from chocolate was unusual (... a lot like your realtor putting chocolate chip cookies in the oven to entice a buy, you know?), but what really threw me was the awesome cold shoulder from the new gallerist after introductions and 'Hello'. Wow, I don't think I've ever been so obviously or thoroughly examined from head to toe, and made to feel so wanting. So, dear new colleague, thanks for the invite and graceless reception. I think I'll pass on the next invite.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
Opening Party & Reception - "Decoding Identity: I do it for my people" at MoAD (Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco) - Friday, January 23rd from 6:30-10:30 pm. DJ, drinks, hors d'oeuvres, and mingling with the artists and curators!
AFTERPARTY: 10:30 pm - 2:00 am at the W Hotel (181 Third St.) Special pricing on a MoAD cocktail ALL night!
Who: Featuring: 20 locally and internationally known artists
Description of the exhibition:
Forging a personal identity gives rise to a unique voice that transcends stereotypical barriers. The works of 20 diverse artists challenge cultural and ethnic prejudices and question issues of religion, sexuality, race, and gender. Ultimately, Decoding Identity heals the dynamic tension between individual and collective identities. MoAD Members Free. General Admission $10.
Includes works by: Lorraine Bonner, Ed and Linda Calhoun, Christopher Carter, Lalla Essaydi, John Yoyogi Fortes, Chaz Guest, David Huffman, Clint Imboden, Stephanie Anne Johnson, Annette Lawrence, Kelly Marshall, Wardell Milan, Ramekon O’Arwisters, Adrienne Pao, Jefferson Pinder, Dario Posada, Danny Ramirez, Manuel Rios, Blue Wade, and David Yun
About the Museum of the African Diaspora: The mission of the Museum of the African Diaspora is to connect all people through the art, history, and culture of the African Diaspora. Through public programs and exhibitions, MoAD invites you to share in the celebration of our common heritage. MoAD opened in December of 2005 in the heart of San Francisco’s arts district.
image credit: MoAD and with our regrets, unknown
Today, the culture of America has a new face. It is young, hopeful and energetic. It is the face of your neighbor, of the kids in your kids' schools, of immigrants, of your colleague at work, of the new chairman of the board. It is the face of Barack Obama and everything he represents - change, hope, and progress.
Welcome to America. Welcome, Obama.
image by Shepard Fairey
Group Exhibition: Gerald Cannon, Jenna North, David Yun
Opens January 20, 2009. Exhibition through February 28, 2009.Opening Reception: Thursday, February 5 from 5 to 7.30 pm.
Saturday night, I decided to attend another gallery's opening reception because my gallery neighbors, John and Chris Windle introduced me to a friend of theirs, Alex Schneiderman, a photographer from London whose work was newly featured at Chandler Gallery. John and Chris are the kind of people that can only be described as lovely. They are gentle, articulate, happy and enthusiastic. In their manner, they spoke about Alex' work and showed such devotion to their friend and his work, I had to attend the reception. The image on the left is one of Alex' works on exhibition.
On my way Alex' reception, I bumped into Alan Bamberger at the Sculpture Site Gallery. Alan asked if I was checking out the competition ... and frankly, no, I wasn't because I admire Sculpture Site's work so much, I can't consider it competition. Alan is an intrepid writer who attends almost every single art opening in San Francisco and comments about them on his website. He's amazing. And so, when I asked him if he knew where Chandler Gallery was, he suggested we walk together since he was on his way there too. He asked what sent me in that direction, knowing photography is not exactly my forte, and when I told him about John and Christ, he told me they belonged to the same club of antiquarian dealers. Ah, what a small world this is.
Thomas Scoon creates figures from sequences of stone and cast glass. Arising from the external landscape where he lives, which is filled with remnants of stone walls and random boulders too large for men to move, he gathers stones from quarry rubble and from New Hampshire neighbors and friends who allow him to choose stone from their land. His sculpture, combined with these “found objects,” suggest human figures and evoke the feeling and gesture of human forms. Thomas claims he does very little to the stones, and that is probably true, but his choices of rock - to find the pieces that most resemble a human head or torso - prefaces his sculptural vision, as he emphasizes qualities he believes are already naturally present. Use of kiln-cast glass around the stones allows for qualities of light, and a certain spiritual element, to pass through the forms.
In contrast, Ron Starr takes a freestyle approach to his work, enjoying the organic nature of sand and its 'magical' transformation into glass. Ron's work - highly gestural - results from years of study with high-fired ceramic methods. Exuding fluid energy, Ron exploits the properties of glass under intense heat to produce richly decorated surfaces that are imbued with particular dark attraction for their shape, color, and organic texture. Inspired by nature's trees, and perhaps in response to global concerns of our forests, Ron's work can be read as allegorical to ancient tree forms - illustrative of certain decay, watery light - and possessing mythical power and vigor through his expression of gesture, ideas and process.
We close our inaugural Winter Salon 2008 with many, many thanks to all our artists, with pride and a warm au revoir to our new friends at our new home! We look forward to seeing you again, and again, at our new home and abroad!
Look! Yes, I know, we're back 'on' ... thanks to the confluence of puzzled emails from readers asking why a password was necessary to read our blog, it's finally free from the bonds of password protection! Sure, I might like to say our blog is the exclusive domain of those of us who know where to find it (and it is), but it will never be password protected. So, what happened? As anyone close to me knows, I'm a gadget freak. The latest tech toy is putty in my hands - the world could be in meltdown mode while I ply the secrets of the new. My confession: seduced by the promise of Google's new slideshow widget, I embedded it to David Ruth's latest blog entry. Voilà! The &%^*# widget caused the entire blog to acquire password protection status. That widget is gone, and David's new slideshow is up.
Last week, Linda Goldstein, Randy Strong and Susan Longini led a fabulous visit from about 20 members of GLANC (Glass Alliance of Northern California) to our Winter Salon 2008. Present to speak about their artwork were David Ruth, Michelle Knox, Gary Clemenceau and Scott Kildall. I am happy to write that members were impressed with discussions presented by our two artists present who don't work in glass - Gary Clemenceau and Scott Kildall. A recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Art and Technology Studies, Scott discussed his video, Future Memories, and his work intersecting media culture with human memory. Using appropriated material to bend rules of consent, his artwork depicts collapse between what is simulated and real, and expresses desire for human connections by changing media landscapes. Scott employs Second Life - an online world with simulated physical space - for artistic inquiry by remediating iconic performances and realizing 'imaginary objects' as paper sculptures, the resultant collision of traditional and new media become hybridized into a new artform where human emotion and memory are expressed in a new topography.
and yes, Hillary Clinton was confirmed as Secretary of State by our Senate.
Last night was an opening reception evening for many of our neighbor galleries (our building hosts openings on the first Thursday of the month regularly - making it easy for everyone to find the party!). As a result, even though we weren't hosting a reception for our current exhibition, we love a party and want to be good neighbors, so we stayed open a little later than usual ... wow ... what a crowd! Is it the après-holidays effect, or is everyone just tired of groaning about the economy? It was neither ... just lots of lovely, lovely crowds of art aficionados browsing every beautiful artwork by every gallery on every floor of our gallery-packed building!
Kristiina Uslar's work was a consistent favorite with its visual play of exquisitely delicate appearance (it looks like lace) and obvious industrial inspiration. Working in pâte-de-verre (literal translation: Fr. glass paste, it is actually a very fine grained leaded glass medium), Kristiina sculps her forms in a classic manner: creating a wax sculpture, a mold, rendering the wax, and pouring the pâte-de-verre into it before kiln-firing the work. The resulting sculpture, in the refined hands of this Estonian artist (yes, she lives and works there), is an object that is immediately recognizable as an industrial turbine of some sort, but has such fragility one wonders if a breath of air will make it move, or blow away ...
Michelle Knox is a New Jersey native who relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1997. She attended and graduated from The California College of the Arts in 2000. Michelle won both the Saxe Family Scholarship for Pilchuck Glass School and the Richard Ritter Scholarship for Penland School of Crafts. Most recently, Michelle was nominated for the Corning Award from Pilchuck Glass School, after a session as an Artist Assistant in the summer of 2007. Over the past several years, she attended other glass institutes such as Public Glass (San Francisco), Urban Glass (Brooklyn), and BAGI (San Jose). In 2008, she won her first Public Art grant with the Richmond Art Center, to produce a permanent public art piece in the city of Richmond CA. Michelle is currently the Executive Director at Public Glass in San Francisco. She is emerging into her career and shows locally throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Some of her venues include the Oakland Museum, The Museum of Craft and Design, and the National Liberty Museums’ annual auction, along with other fine art galleries. Trained classically as a glass blower, Michelle has recently ventured into sculpturing and painting on glass. She has several different bodies of work that have multiply ranges of topics and materials. She states, "The motivation behind making my artwork comes from a deep-rooted desire to affect my world and create a positive sense of self. I completely enjoy the feeling that creating something unique brings to me. I choose glass as a medium because it is so alluring, so fragile and so representational of the human condition. The combination of material in my work allows me to play on the tension and fragility of glass as a metaphor and the rigidness of metal as a foundation to balance that fragility."
Born in Japan and now a San Francisco resident, Naoko Okabe's porcelain sculptures carry a fascinating appeal, imbued as they are by their maker's philosophies of life. In her statement, Okabe states she is the destroyer and healer, using classic teddy bear forms because of their inherent representation as messengers of our childhood memories. For reasons that seem very personal to the artist, she perceives the act of art making as a redemption from the 'bad' aspects of her life for which she suffers guilt. The resulting sculptures, in their forms and in the process of art making (from concept to firing to destruction, and occasionally, the video recording thereof) become a cleansing, soothing and balancing activity.
A newly graduated MFA student from the California College of Art, Okabe's work is fragile, but possesses considerable universal visual appeal, transcending the delicacy and fragility of her sculpture.
