Artists' Roundtable Review, "FOUR-SQUARED", August 27th

Last Friday I was the only one sketching at the 4th Street Bridge, on Mission Creek. So it's a good thing I picked a place I really wanted to work. I love the 3rd Street and 4th Street bascule bridges. I've painted them a few times over the years but that area has never been as pleasant as it is now.






The weather was lovely and I got a nice spot to sit but once again, 2 hours was way too short. I think I'm going to have to spend a whole day here real soon. Great natural & city views, Philz coffee and the public library (bathrooms) nearby - really, it's an ideal spot. Plus, you get the "Wild Kingdom" action going on in the creek. A Great Blue heron was working the rocks near the bridge when he got a big rat that was almost too much for him. You could hear the rat squealing while the heron repeatedly bludgeoned him on the rocks then held him under water and the gulls inched closer. The heron eventually flew off upstream with gulls in pursuit and rat still wiggling, so I didn't see the outcome of that drama.






After sketching, Dave & I met Marianna & Xiaojie at Philz. Xiaojie told us a harrowing tale about transporting one of her paintings to the gallery where she's showing. The painting was too big to fit in her car, so she tied it to the top, but it blew off on the freeway, landed painted-surface down, in the opposite lanes and then got run over. Amazingly, it survived to make the show, which opens this coming Friday at Driftwood Salon.






After a quick little dinner at the Iron Cactus, we headed over to the FourSquared opening which was obviously THE place to be this Friday. We ran into dozens of friends and associates at this event. The SF food carts lined the sidewalk and the placed was packed. I think this was the best group show I've ever seen in an artist-run gallery.











Someone had the brilliant idea of assigning the artists the task of making 16 small works which were hung in a discrete block. This gave viewers a clear idea of each artist's style, oeuvre, and current subject. Plus the works were all affordable (under $500.) Upstairs, several artists had their studios opened and the MKSF space had a small group show of super high quality printmaking by local artists.


My favorite of the evening was my friend, Sandy Yagi, who really knocked herself out, painting 16 of her ultra realistic/surrealistic original creatures. She said that she tried to combine characteristics of different species from the same ecosystem. The titles are a play on words as well as a description of the hybrid beings. After this show comes down, the unsold work will most likely end up in L.A. At her main gallery, Bert Greene Fine Arts, where she has a solo show opening in January.


Another group of work that was getting a lot of attention was the grouping of plain wood panels by Mitchell Confer titled "IOU or not" At first it seemed to be a conceptual installation, and in a way I guess it was. On the side there were two painted panels and a printed page. It was a message from the artist that explained his experiences since he was accepted into the show. Shortly after starting his panels, he received a diagnosis of kidney cancer and entered the hospital for surgery and other treatment. His statement read, in part, "Those who purchase a panel may, upon my recovery, exchange their IOU for a finished panel based on a series of finished sketches. If I do not recover, you have purchased and own a piece of my last work of art. Which one is more meaningful?"