|
|
|
Sort By:
 |
Galleries
Sight Gags & Slapstick in Contemporary Art
Who among us has not watched a teetering toddler trip and guiltily laughed? Personally, I laugh from the second I see the kid start to go down. But even for those of you who don't, you must admit that there is a moment, after they fall, that is true comedy. The most violent and dangerous part is over, but the kid has only just realized something is wrong and for a moment, as he looks down at his newly smarting hands, you can literally watch as he decides that it is time to cry. The face crinkles, the moan starts, and you laugh at the kid. Even if you are his mother and you have to quietly laugh as you hoist the leaky angel-monster in to the More
|
 |
Galleries
At 66 balmy
San Francisco has no shortage of hidden locales. You know them, those tucked away corners of the city that you (innocently but naively) think only you know about. 66balmy, an emerging gallery and event space in the heart of the Mission, is one of those places. As you walk along the alley, it is easy to miss the gallery and see only the mural that is its face. Stashed behind a metal roller door with "Latino Pride" tagged across its entire surface, the entrance is painted over with the figure of a young Latino man. Only a modest sign bears the address and name of the gallery. More
|
 |
Galleries
Crackdown Clouds at Jack Hanley Gallery
You don't have to be stoned to enjoy Scott Hewicker's neo-hippy cosmic landscape paintings - but it might be fun. His colors are those of Elvis on black velvet, of the fairy glen in your backyard the time you took mushrooms. Hewicker's current show The Crackdown Clouds at the Jack Hanley Gallery presents satisfyingly meaty layers of abstraction that may send you in to a staring trance to rival a hardcore burner. The mostly large-scale works have a vibrant and loud presence but encourage private, even hushed conversation with the viewer. More
|
 |
Galleries
Robert Rauschenberg from the collection of Terry Van Brunt
When I broke up with my boyfriend he burnt, crushed, stomped or ran over everything I had ever made for him. Special delight was taken later in recounting to me how things I had toiled over making met their end. It is truly fortunate that the beauty and deitrous of Terry Van Brunt and Robert Rauschenberg's relationship survived the fireplace’s lure to be hung on a wall for the whole city to see. More
|
 |
Galleries
Substance of Choice at Galeria de la Raza
How do you take it? What's your pleasure? Pick your poison. I like coffee and cigarettes. Ask an artist and they may tell you they're partial to paint or plaster. We all fancy something, desire some substance that we just can't do without. Galeria de la Raza's current exhibition, Substance of Choice is an eighteen-artist meditation on this material world and the choices we all make in relation to it. These are choices that often render us or others helpless, either through addiction, or through enslavement to others' addictions, a Third World apart. More
|
 |
Galleries
The Secret Life of Storage
Bags, the current exhibition from the folks at New Langton Arts, has brought Soma an experience somewhere between a puppet show and the wonderment of a child's first trip to the airport baggage claim - overwhelming, yet intriguing. Bursting with flights of fancy, Bags transforms Langton's gallery into a living, breathing creature full of component parts, referred to by James Bewley, the show's curator, as "bag-based life forms." More
|
 |
Galleries
When the Bitter End Meets the Rainbow Swallow
We've all heard it a million times in the last year, so much that it has all but negated itself through repetition... it is a new era in the modern world. Reactions to this new era vary, as do opinions over whether there is anything very different in this new reality. The only thing that seems constant is the emotionality inherent in people's response to the perceived change in the world order. We need places to go to consider these emotions, to say them aloud and see and hear others say them aloud. And we need to be thankful when we find these places. More
|
 |
Museums
At the Musée Mécanique
Musée Mécanique reopened December 20, just in time for tourists lugging soggy presents to duck in out of the downpours and have a little fun. Having relocated from its previous home at the Cliff House, overlooking Ocean Beach, the Musée Mécanique is now a part of Fisherman's Wharf, one component of what is referred to as the 'Pier 45 Walk', which also includes World World II vessels the USS Pampanito, and the Jeremiah O’Brian. More
|
 |
Galleries
Dirty Work at Ego Park
As a venue whose mission statement is currently the Gettysburg Address (I had to take their word on it, as the website is under construction until late spring), Ego Park seems to be a different sort of arts space from the very get go. Even the name is different, described by founder Kevin Slagle, a creative writing student turned sculptor and painter, as a happy accident that stuck, it describes Slagle's somewhat ironic philosophical take on showing art. Specifically, that a gallery is a place for artists to take their egos for a walk - a dog-park for the ego. More
|
 |
Restaurants
Seasonal Cooking
What have you been finding at the Farmer's Market lately? Asparagus and leeks? That's because we're in between Winter and Spring. Here are a couple of recipes to help you through the transition. More
|
|
