Graduate Fellows Show at Marin Headlands

2009/2010 Graduate Fellows Exhibition, Headlands Center for the Arts, Building 944, May 9 - June 6, 2010

Congrats to SFSU Alum Tyson Washburn on his great work in the Graduate Fellows show at the Headlands Center (this is his Headlands Activation, Ink Jet, 2010 on the left). His detailed and lovely black and white landscape photos evocatively capture the feeling of the ruins of this long abandoned military installation returning to nature.

Also in the show are fellow SFSU Alum Michael Namkung, Andrew Witrak, representing Mills Collage, who created what looked like a mattress out of hundreds of paper cocktail umbrellas (loved it!), Michael Arcega (Stanford), Patrick Gillespie (California College of the Arts), Vera Kachouh (San Francisco Art Institute), Aaron Maietta (UC Berkeley) and Joshua Short (UC Davis).

Last Gasp 40th Anniversary Show

Last Gasp 40th Anniversary Art Show: a Who’s Who of Lowbrow Art,111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco. April 1 – May 2, 2010

Although this show has closed, it was such an amazing event that I just have to post about it. The Last Gasp 40th Anniversary Art Show assembled a top-drawer lineup of artists to celebrate this milestone with a party and gallery show. Last Gasp was founded in 1970 by Ron Turner. Last Gasp’s first publication, Slow Death Funnies #1 came out on the first “Earth Day,” April 15, 1970, and has continued through the decades to publish a vast array of art, comics and alternative literature. The show included original art by Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup Glenn Barr, Mark Bode (this is his Self on the left) Robert Crumb, Richard Corben, Guy Colwell, Ron English, Tony Fitzpatrick, Christopher Felver, Camille Rose Garcia, Justin Green, Bill Griffith, Rick Griffin, Ed Hardy, Frank Kozik, Joe Ledbetter, Carol Lay, Adrian Lee, Michael Manning, Chris Mars, Scott Musgrove, Junko Mizuno, Liz McGrath, Laurenn McCubbin, Mitch O’Connell, Annie Owens, The Pizz, Mark Ryden, Michael Rosen, Trina Robbins, Spain Rodriguez, Dori Seda, Winston Smith, Eric White, Robert Williams, Attaboy, Aye Jay, and others.

The 111 Minna Gallery is a large (recently expanded) space encompassing what used to be two large high-ceilinged retail spaces in downtown San Francisco. This popular gallery space is also a nightclub and bar, so people going to see this show could view it in style. The opening night party was so packed with artists, local celebrities and assorted weirdos that it has started to slip into local legend, or as Jon Longhi said in his review for NBC Bay Area, “The event was one of the most impressive gatherings of artists I've ever seen. It's a good thing there wasn't a terrorist attack because a bomb going off in that room could have wiped out alternative culture as we know it.” Here are more photos and commentary on the opening on the blog of artist Isabel Samaras.

Immediately on entering the space, the visitor was greeted by a tribute wall to Ron Turner that included many vintage photos, a large print of Robert Williams’ surrealist piece In the Pavilion of the Red Clown and R. Crumb’s painting Leaving Home. Throughout the exhibition, the walls of the gallery were not only packed with framed artwork, but the upper walls above the art were covered with large banners printed with the covers of books Last Gasp has published over the last 40 years. It’s a show that might have felt claustrophobic in a traditional gallery space, but it worked in a large urban nightclub with high ceilings. I have heard complaints about the lighting in this space in past shows, but the gallery seemed to have made a special effort here, as every piece seemed to be carefully lit to its best advantage.

Although the show generally seemed to focus more on paintings than comic art drawings, one standout was a series of Zippy splash pages by Bill Griffith, including a time travel story, and Zippy’s first meeting with aliens. I found myself staring in fascination at an incredibly detailed collage by Winston Smith, reconstructing Velazques’ Las Meninas (1656) as an advertisement selling the young princess as a commodity. Another striking piece was a large painting by Mark Bode (Self, 2010) in which he shows his cartoon alter ego in tears, used as some sort of Matrix-like living battery. Rick Griffin’s 1989 drawing Art and Death (on the left) also seemed to be a self-portrait, as it portrayed a biker dude in shades defending himself with pen and ink as a skeleton stands at his shoulder, playing the violin. While viewing it, I couldn’t help thinking of how haunted Griffin looked whenever I would see him in the late 1980’s, and how this drawing evoked a feeling of eerie loneliness.

Seeing this large and eclectic mix of lowbrow, highbrow and just plain odd artwork, I marveled at the different forms of expression on display, and was very grateful to Last Gasp for making it possible. The 111 Minna web site still has many images from the show available on-line at http://www.111minnagallery.com/2010/04/last-gasp-40th-anniversary-art-show/ .

Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames

Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames, curated by the Korea Society at the San Francisco Public Library (March 13-June 13, 2010)

This exhibition, hung in the library’s large Jewett Gallery (lower level), displayed 83 framed works by twenty-one Korean cartoonists (based in both North and South) to give library patrons insight into contemporary Korean culture. The works shown were all printed pages or reproductions published since the mid-1950’s (no original drawings). I didn’t view the lack of original artwork as any sort of handicap, and felt that seeing the printed pages lent a sense of immediacy to the show. The works explored a wide range of topics including social commentary, historical dramas, fantasies of personal empowerment, action stories, fairy tales, feminist characters and political propaganda. The example on the left is a panel from the newspaper strip Kobau by Kim Seong Hwan.There were many media represented such as newspaper comic strips, political cartoons, children’s magazines, comic books and compilation novels. Throughout the exhibition, reproductions of the panels with English translation were available (and greatly appreciated).

On entering the gallery, one immediately encounters a large cover drawing from Chumŏk Taejang (Fist Boss, published 1958-1994) created by Kim Won Bin (b. 1935, China), depicting a young girl energetically brandishing a huge Popeye-like fist, ponytail and school girl skirt swinging. Possessed of supernatural mental and physical abilities, Kim Won Bin’s young characters were iconic symbols of personal empowerment. Also on display were some panels from the epic serial Four Daughters of Armian (1986-1995) by Shin il-Sook (b. 1962, Korea) whose stories challenged the tradition of preferential treatment of sons and discrimination against daughters. I found it interesting that many of her key characters are drawn as Western style blondes, which she explains as “a way for female readers to indulge their voyeurism.” Also borrowing from the Western style was Park Bong Seong (b. 1949, Korea), whose action adventure works include such titles as Two Year Old Emperor (1983) and A Man Called God (1995-2000). In these stories average people become strong and influential though success in business or government and have James Bond-like adventures.

In contrast to these South Korean stories of personal exploration and power, The Great General Mighty Wing (1990’s), by Cho Pyŏng-Kwon (story) and Lim Wal-Yong (art) is a story of personal sacrifice for the greater good written and published with the encouragement and resources of the North Korean government. In this lavishly illustrated (cover illustration on the left), full color comic series an army of anthropomorphic Socialist bees protect “The Garden of One Thousand Flowers.” The title character became iconic within N. Korea in the 1990’s as a symbol of loyalty to the government and their brand of communism.

Also included in the exhibition were Park Ki Jeong, Kim Seong Huan, Kim Yong Hwan, Shin Mu Su, Kil Chang Deok, Yoon Sweng Un, Kim Soo Jung, Kim Tai-Kwon, Hwang Mina, Kim Hyeong Bae, Park Soo Kong, and others. I was please to see that the library had available a handout with an extensive bibliography highlighting the Korean graphic novels, manga, comic books and other comics reference works in their ever-growing collection. Concurrently, the library also had a comics themed film series Beyond Superheroes (screening Ghost World, Persepolis, Chasing Amy and Dick Tracy) and an exhibition entitled Coloring Outside the Lines: Black Cartoonists as Social Commentator, curated by Kheven LaGrone, who recently produced SFPL’s well received Morrie Turner retrospective. This show featured original drawings by Darrin Bell, Stephen Bentley, Cory Thomas, Jerry Craft, Keith Knight, Morrie Turner, Nate Creekmore, Brumsic Brandon Jr., Barbara Brandon-Croft and Makeda Rashidi.

Three Heads Six Arms

Cell snaps of the installation of Zhang Huan's sculpture Three Heads Six Arms at San Francisco Civic Center Plaza, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Shanghai/San Francisco sister city agreement. The sculpture will be dedicated at a ceremony May 12th, and will be on loan through 2011. More articles: SF Sentinel, More installation photos, SF Arts Commission announcement.

Heroes, Freaks and Superrabbis

Heroes, Freaks and Superrabbis: The Jewish Dimension of Comic Art, is currently on display at the Jewish Museum, Berlin.

It looks fascinating. I haven't seen the full exhibition list, but I know that they have pieces by Kurtzman, Capp and Eisner on loan from Denis Kitchen. The Eisner section would be particularly interesting with many original drawings on display from Contract with God, A Life Force and Heart of the Storm. I wish I could see it.

The site itself (in English) has some interesting info, and I especially like the web comic. There's also a section on the exhibition design (photo on the left: Exhibition view Heroes, Freaks, and Super-Rabbis. The Jewish Dimension of Comic Art, © Jewish Museum Berlin, foto: Jens Ziehe). I would have liked to have seen how the display really worked using these lit, inset panels (Ideal interface, or a distraction?). I'd love to hear from anybody who has seen this show in person.

Bouquets to Art 2010

Cel snaps of the amazing floral designs on display at the de Young's annual Bouquets to Art event, in which designers from around the bay area create pieces based on works in the de Young's permanent collection. April 20-24, 2010.

Quick SF Gallery Notes

A quick note about some art I saw yesterday in a quick tour around a few downtown SF galleries.

First of all, there were beautiful landscapes. From the lush forests painted by John McCormick (Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, this is his Olema Valley, 60 x 48 Inches, Oil on Canvas on the left), to the suburbs of 1980’s Colorado by Robert Adams (Fraenkel Gallery), to the classic New York Street scenes by Elliott Erwitt (Robert Koch Gallery, all at 49 Geary).

There was pop art: A lovely group of etchings reproducing automotive emblems by Ed Ruscha at Crown Point Press, and a show of Mel Ramos’ nudes at Modernism. Ramos is a master of the female form, and I like the juxtaposition of these sleek bodies with commercial products, but I have to admit that I find myself uncomfortable seeing the heads of female celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore stuck on a nude model’s body. I know this isn’t new, yet it still bothers me.

Also at Modernism, in the 2^nd gallery, were the hauntingly luminescent “imagined interiors” by Patti Oleon. Her grand ballrooms, empty theatres, and moonlit rooms were ghostly, yet realistic enough to have you wonder where everyone was, or that you had stumbled into the hush of a great and glamorous empty room by yourself. I wasn’t familiar with this artist, but will definitely watch for her now. Her work Double Curtains, 2009, oil on panel, 55 x 35" is on the left.

I went to YBCA, curious about Death’s Boutique, an installation by Marc Rios and Kara Tanaka (guest curated by Julio Morales). The artists created several interesting pieces on the theme of death, ritual and desire. Tanaka particularly explores the Swedish practice of Promessa (much like New Orleans, the body/and or ashes of the newly dead are mixed in a communal basin with their ancestors). When I think of how much history is discovered by studying tombs, I find her question a good one, “what is left for future study when we move away from individual burial rituals”? The one bone I had to pick with this exhibition, which also seemed to hurt the elaborate interactive installation downstairs (Renee Green’s Endless Dreams & Time-based Streams), is that YBCA didn’t seem to install identification labels anywhere near the work (that I could find, and I truly looked), aside from the main wall text posted outside the gallery. I felt that the materials used in Rios & Tanaka’s pieces were probably rich in symbolic meaning, but there was no way to know.