SAN FRANCISCO'S SIGNS ARE A MAJOR PART OF ITS VISUAL APPEAL
SIGNS OF THE CITY
Signs Of The City are part of the pastiche of visual information that informs our perception of San Francisco's visual appeal at the street level. They are also the images that speak to the unique features of San Francisco - places in San Francisco where people gather, lives overlap and neighborhoods are defined.
Curator: Matt McKinley
Featuring:
HILARY WILLIAMS, JOHN BERGHOLM, CHARLOTTE KAY, BLAKE TUCKER, METHANIE DEMPSAY BINDER, NICOLE FERRARA, AINDRILA, MARIUS STARKEY, JACK FREEMAN, JEANNE HAUSER, BERYL LANDAU, JAMIE STOBIE, MICHAEL BELL
ARTISTS RECEPTION:
Wednesday FEB 10, 6 - 8pm
69 Green St. (x. Battery) SF
hours: M - F 9am - 5p
On exhibit through APR 16
NOIR - 15 artists explore dark spaces, shady characters and mysterious narratives.
NOIR
From dark humor to dark corners, the concept of 'noir' refers to a dark vulnerability palpable in the atmosphere of a scene that is experienced by the characters and felt by the viewer and speaks to pregnant moments full of complex emotions. A 'noir' presentation relies heavily on a viewer's own vulnerabilities (fear, apprehension, curiosity with the macabre) to fill the mood of the scene based on cues given by the artist, as if both parties are complicit in leading each other down a path with an indeterminate, potentially unpleasant, outcome...
Curator: Matt McKinley
Featuring: KAREN LUKE
Also featuring: VICTORIA Q. LEGG, CATHERINE SMALL, TINA CASPER, CHRISTINE CIANCI, NICOLE FERRARA, JAMIE STOBIE, X. P. CALLAHAN, CHARLOTTE KAY, JENNIFER MACK, LISA SIMONSON, LORI KREIN, BARBARA LANDIS, DAN COPE, DANNELL POWELL
VIEW IMAGES
ARTISTS RECEPTION: Wednesday Nov 4, 6 - 8pm
curator comments 6:45pm
69 Green St. (x. Battery) SF
hours: M - F 9am - 5p
Karen Luke (featured artist, Lower Level Gallery):
"I love the process of learning and constantly challenge myself to see the world in new ways. It’s not the subject itself, but the essence, or core nature that matters. That’s what I look for in my paintings. However my interests are quite varied as I’m most drawn to psychological, mysterious and evocative imagery. Growing up with a mixture of Chinese philosophy, folk practices and western religion, I was influenced to explore various religions and beliefs. I’m intrigued with the concept of spirituality and our place in the universe. Is there another dimension(s) or other world? The “what if…?” These are some of the profound, interesting questions, the billions of possibilities life poses which inspires me to investigate, explore and capture."
COLORFUL CHARACTERS
Colorful characters – everyone knows at least one! Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are always memorable. This exhibit focuses on figures that are colorful from literal, persona and imaginary points of view.
Curator: Matt McKinley
69 Green St. (x. Battery) SF
hours: M - F 9am - 5pm
FEATURING: Heather Hanan ALSO FEATURING: Michael Fram, Richard Herring, Rolando Rosler, AnneKarin Glass, Clay Vajgrt, Anna Seven, Dannell Powell
view images and artist statements >>
Heather Hanan (featured artist, Lower Level Gallery):
Drawing upon a wealth of imagination and a highly developed empathic sensitivity that expresses itself in a diverse chromatic palette, Heather Hanan’s work is paradoxically playful and serious. Each work brings, on a superficial level, something for the viewer’s eye to engage with: figures hidden within the composition that reveal themselves only with repeated or prolonged viewing. It is not uncommon for her compositions to be multi-directional, a portrait in one orientation and a landscape in another. Deeper, however, is where the connection Ms. Hanan feels to her subject matter resides. Expressing connections through color association allows her to muse on weightier concerns about family, society, gender roles and individual significance, to name a few of her themes. In her mind’s eye, what she paints is what is there: subject, aura and presence.
A MOMENT'S PEACE
Visual presentations of how 'inner peace' can be achieved internally and externally.
When you think of ‘A Moment’s Peace’, what comes to mind? A specific location, meditation on an object, time with loved ones, or a newly primed canvas with loaded brush in hand? In seeking a variety of interpretations of a moments peace, this exhibit also seeks to show how diverse conceptualizations all contribute to illuminating the possibilities of how inner peace can be achieved.
Whether created internally or manufactured externally, finding inner peace is necessary for achieving the balance required to navigate the complexities of modern life. A moment's peace is a moment of being truly present: it is the flow that allows for optimal performance, it is the calm that clarifies thinking, it is the feeling of contentment that comes from being in sync with the universe metaphysically. It is also a personal space. A moment's peace is created from personal experience, preferences and psychological need that initially relies on syncrhronicity with location and emotional state to create the optimal combination for experiencing a feeling of 'wholeness'.
Creating a moment's peace can be a learned behavior. As external cues become associated with internal triggers linked to a state of well-being, focus and calm, with sufficient practice one can learn to activate the internal triggers without the need for the external stimulus. Meditation practice is an example of this behavior. Conversely, a moment's peace can also be experienced as a complete surprise! Some feel it as the aftereffect of having a profound experience or interaction. It may be an image, an object or an environment that completely engages the viewer, overriding the awareness of passing time and eliminating all other distractions not related to being present and connected. To experience well-being resulting from experiencing a moment's peace from either of the aforementioned scenarios is to experience one's optimal state of existence.
In selecting work for this show, my goal was to present a loose continuum of what constitutes 'A Moment's Peace''. Featuring Maeve Croghan's luscious vineyards and coastal scenes representing the restorative and nurturing hand of nature contrasted with Jacquelyn Paull's spiritual landscapes and meditative digital abstractions, each artist in this exhibit addresses what, for them, represents 'A Moment's Peace'.
Curator: Matt McKinley
69 Green St. (x. Battery) SF
hours: M - F 9am - 5pm
FEATURING: Jacquelyn Paull, Maeve Croghan
ALSO FEATURING: Katherine Kodama, Victoria Q. Legg, Jennifer Mack, Daniel Malone, Gurpran Rau, Shawndeya, Anna Seven
card images:
top - 'Cathedral Vineyards' Oil on Canvas 22 x 28 (M. Croghan)
bottom - 'Starry Night' Digital Graphic Print 16 x 20 (J. Paull)
THE ABSTRACT LENS
Abstract photography explores the vast visual possibilities of alternative interpretations of the environment around us. By pulling back the layers of superficial esthetics contained in what we can see with the plain eye (i.e, the visual cues that identify a car, a house, a person, a chair, etc), through the abstract lens we see images that require imagination. Interpretation of (or connection to) an abstract image places a decreased relevance on (and reliance upon) the questions of what, where, when, and who is being shown in favor of exploring the base components that provide visual information: light, color or shade, shapes, perspective, contrast. Curator: Matt McKinley
JANUARY 10 - APRIL 17, 2009
69 Green Street (x. Battery St.)
hours: 9a - 5p M - F
Featured artist, Lower Level Gallery: Pat Koenigsberg
card image: 'Inner Visions 64' 42 x 31 Digital Print 2005 (P Koenigsberg)
Also featuring: Blake Tucker, Ravi Anand, Alis Cummings, Meg Messina, Kirk Brooks, Barbara Landis, JP Fortin
Featured artist, Lower Level Gallery:
Pat Koenigsberg
Abstract nature photography has been my passion in the past few years. Flowers and the natural environment provide an open invitation for me to explore with my camera. “What’s inside?” continually fascinates me. I want to probe deeper and deeper to find the secrets. Using a macro lens, I move in and search among the stems and petals and leaves to see the patterns of color, light and structure—and the little surprises. Random combinations of color, shapes and forms come into focus. I choose the imaginary environments which catch my eye as my lens explores the inner landscape, and I squeeze the shutter. Abstract sculpture and paintings appear among the natural shapes which speak to me. What emerge are the photographs you see here
THERE IS STILL LIFE IN A STILL LIFE
Contemporary variants on the still life genre in iterations from abstraction to realism and all points in between. Curator: Matt McKinley
OCTOBER 4 – JANUARY 10, 2009
69 Green St. (x. Front St.) SF, CA
hours: 9 - 5 M - F
Featured artist: Dannell Powell
Participating Artists: Kim Thoman, Anna Seven, Alla Viksne, Heather Hanan, Kirk Brooks, Jane B. Grimm, Kenna Allen, Terence K. Stephens, Jean-Pierre Fortin, Virginia Garcia
Lower Level Gallery: Dannell Powell
Mannequin Art for the Masses! The Mannequin Chronicles began accidentally. In the course of life, the author came across a mannequin. (Well, you never know when you might need one.) She then came across a head. (Already having a mannequin, she might as well acquire the head.) In the natural progression of things, the author put them in her car and began photographing. To the delight of family and friends, she brought them on outings. She eventually acquired more mannequins and took them on little adventures. (The family was quite pleased to assist.) Many outings, adventures, and photographs later, The Mannequin Chronicles emerged!
HEAVEN ABOVE, EARTH BELOW - Landscape imagery emphasizing the horizon. Curator: Matt McKinley
July 12 - October 4, 2008
venue: Polarity Post Productions 69 Green St. (x. Battery) SF
featured artist: Jack Freeman (solo show, Lower Level Gallery)
participating artists: Sharon Sittloh, Fitz Maurice, Eric Feathers, Jennifer W. Mack, Marika Berlind, Martin de Vore, Tara Verkuil, Olga Kuczer, Dimitri Kourouniotis
Landscape imagery emphasizing the horizon through depictions of transitioning celestial bodies (setting or
rising suns or moons), skylines (urban or rural) or expansive visual perspective.
Images: Top - Pt Reyes, Oil on Canvas, 18 x 48 (Jack Freeman)
Bottom Left - Behind The Clouds, Pastel, 28 x 34 (Sharon Sittloh)
Bottom Middle - Tuoloume River, Digital Print, 11 x 14 (Eric Feathers)
Bottom Right - Breaking Through, Gouache, 12 x 18 (Fitz Maurice)
