Touring the ArtMRKT
Since May began art lovers have been inundated with a number of international art fairs and exhibitions giving everyone, from über-wealthy patrons to young millenials, a chance to rub elbows with artists and perhaps see something new.
Arts-related events that have recently taken place include the SF Fine Art Fair, ArtPadSF and the San Francisco Art Institute 2012 MFA Graduate Exhibition.
Last weekend, we got a chance to stop by artMRKT at the Concourse Exhibition Center in SOMA and view work being displayed by galleries from all over the United States. With a fair portion of the art priced between several hundred to many thousands of dollars, SOMA seemed the appropriate setting with its gleaming skyscrapers and parvenu savor.
Pictured in the slideshow above is just some of the multitudinous volume of work at artMRKT. Captured by our lens is Margaret Keelan’s uncanny sculpture Dancer in Red Dress, Broken Love by Grisha Briskin and Cirrosa by artist Jessica Drenk who transforms familiar objects into patterns seen in nature.
One of our favorites included Nate Cordero’s naughty mixed media work Puberty/Painting which looked innocuous from far away but recreated the awkward experience of being a horny teenage boy in eye-popping fashion when you got up close.
Also fantastic were Daniel Horowitz’s Drawing of the 365 Day Series, Chad Hyun Ahn’s Tunnel Y, After Dan Flavin, which uses fluorescent lights and mirrors to create the optical illusion of a never-ending shaft, and a piece titled Force Field by renowned local painter Squeak Carnwath.
Goatees made an ubiquitous appearance as well in stereotypical fashion but did not manage to distract us too much from all the creativity going on up and down the aisles. Definitely worth a trip downtown to see the technique and detail that goes into creating the various works by artists trying to precipitate emotion in the viewer and stimulate new ways of thinking about the world around us.
