Clifton LemonSF Station Writer |
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 | A Collaboration of Artists and Poets "Braided Lives" is a show of paintings and other artworks and the poetry they inspired, currently on exhibit at SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco. It's the result of intimate dialogs and collaboration between visual artists, mainly from Taos, New Mexico, and writers from various locations around the U.S. Originally a fundraiser organized by the Taos Chamber of Commerce in 2002, the show now appears in San Francisco. Painters and other artists were asked to select certain pieces that became the subjects of poems written by selected poets. Most of the artists and poets collaborated over the internet, sharing feedback and insights. More » |  |  | A Different View from the Middle East When was the last time you attended an art opening at a small independent gallery that included both uniformed and plainclothes security guards? At "Made in Palestine", an exhibit of Palestinian art now at the SomArts Gallery in San Francisco, they were there in force, a precaution against the controversy that the show has generated across the country. Were we in danger of attack by an anti-Palestinian extremist group? Could violence follow the art and the artists from Palestine and erupt in our fair city? It gave the event a strange and unsettling aura, and somehow magnified our awareness of the work. More » | |  | at The Exploratorium This quirky show at San Francisco's exuberant Exploratorium is a special exhibition of over ten artworks made from stuff not normally associated with "fine" art, or with art at all for that matter -- things like styrofoam, carbon, duct tape, retreads, recycled plastic, mayonnaise jars and cupric sulfate, for starters. More » | |  | Frolicking in the Fertile Fountain of Fabulousness So what are you wearing right now? Wait, let me guess: jeans, t- shirt, hoody, sneakers, mostly in dark shades. I know I’m right. That’s what we all wear in this country, the only difference in San Francisco is that everything’s usually in shades of gray or black. For a city that the rest of the country thinks is hip and cool (well, they used to think that at least) our collective fashion sense now seems to be located somewhere between Nihilistic Schlump and Generic Gap. What happened to our flamboyance, joie de vivre, and iconoclastic freedom? Vivienne Westwood wants to help. More » | |  | Pliés with Ch'i In one of this superb works’ most simple and beautiful moments (and there are many such moments) Alonzo King delivers the goods straight up: two young men share the stage, each masters of radically different disciplines of motion, and the stark aesthetic contrast is as amazing as the joyful way in which they discover and explore the richness of their common ground. Western ballet as practiced by the LINES ballet, and martial arts as practiced by the Shaolin Monks could hardly be more different in their history and purpose, yet in this world premiere work, Mr. King manages to go far beyond a superficial East-meets-West juxtaposition. More » | |  | Lost in Translation Federico García Lorca was by all accounts a complex, gifted, but deeply troubled character. Like Rimbaud and other hardcore romantics, his flamboyant and brief life (he was executed by Nationalist Fascist troops at the age of 38) still allowed him plenty of time to churn out enough poetry and plays to earn a spot in the pantheon of Western Art. More » | |  | Exotification by Decoupage One of the key themes explored by this modest show of pieces by local Asian American artists it that of Asians themselves as the object of a fetish. Walk down the street anywhere in San Francisco or the Bay Area , and you’ll spot several instances of what are uncharitably referred to as “rice kings” (or queens) -- tall, handsome and rich white guys with Asian girlfriends (or boyfriends). This phenomena does excite strange emotions in otherwise fair-minded people... More » | |  | Chekov’s Gun Control (Or Lack Thereof) David Denby, writing in [b]The New Yorker[/b] on March 5th of this year, commented on the recent trend in films of deploying increasingly complex, overlapping, fractured narratives. Think [b]Memento[/b], [b]Pulp Fiction[/b], [b]Babel[/b], and [b]Amores Perros[/b]. It’s not only a film trend though, and it’s actually been going on for several decades -- or more if you look back to the early twentieth century. More » | |  | It Can’t Happen Here Slavery in California? I’m reminded of the Frank Zappa and the Mothers song "It Can’t Happen Here", which, in its 60's impressionistic way, is about our innate ability to block certain concepts from our image of everyday reality. One of the big shockers (and there are many shockers) about [b]Slavery: InHuman History[/b], currently at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco, is that it did indeed happen here. Slavery in California was not widespread as in other states, but documents recently located by scholars give definite proof of its existence. Two of these rare documents comprise part of the exhibition. More » | |  | Magnificently Mounted Masquerades of Metaphor I don’t remember exactly when or where I first encountered Carrie Mae Weems’ work, but she left me with a distinct impression. It was like the first undiluted moment of recognition you have when you meet someone who will eventually change your life -- a teacher, a friend, a lover, or an enemy. I don’t have much use for most art or most artists these days. I’m so over piles of dirt in corners, post-religious art object worship, and the narcissistic, academic, post-structuralist prattle about “gendering” that’s been inflicted upon us for the last generation or so. More » | |
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