Wandering Artist's Journal

I have a 2 or 3 paintings at the Studio Gallery for this show (although they may not all be hung at once - I hear they have over 100 artists for this one.) Delicious work inspired by food & drink May 5th - June 6th, 2010 opening reception: Sunday, May 9th, 2-6 pm STUDIO Gallery 1815 Polk Street (between Washington & Jackson) San Francisco, CA 94109 415-931-3130 www.STUDIOGallerySF.com Gallery hours: Wed-Fri 11-8, Sat-Sun 11-6, Mon-Tue by appt.

Another spectacular weekend spent visiting artist open studios . . . this time it was in the Mission district which, according to Mission Artists United , "has more artists than any other neighborhood in San Francisco." I hit the big buildings, spent two days at it, still didn't get to see everyone, but here are my top four favorites: Sonya Philip fiber arts www.sonyaphilip.com 1890 Bryant Street, Studio 210 She calls herself a fiber artist, but I think she's more than that. She did have a lot of woven, knotted, sewn, and needled work. Some of it reminded me of Masako Takahashi's work, although Ms. Philip wasn't familiar with her. A mixed media sculpture caught my eye - it was a white dress form filled with little red & white fist-sized creatures which Ms. Philip called "the spleens." She explains here: Diane Komater wire sculpture www.wireist.com Her wire drawings are the best I've ever seen in this medium. Excellent, intelligent grasp of...

I've lived in San Francisco for almost all of the 26 annual " Bouquets to Art " but last night was my initiation into the cult of the art bouquet. The first few times I wasn't interested, thinking, "flower arranging - not my bag." Then, when a friend managed to talk me into it, we tried to attend multiple times, but the huge crowds dissuaded us. Finally this year the stars aligned, another friend invited me to go with her on the members preview evening, we waited in a very long line, and got in. Wow! No wonder this is such a big deal in this town. The creative effort expended on such ephemeral displays was simply stunning. They were beautiful, funny, ingenious, and they smelled good. The crowds were daunting, though. I shot over 200 photos, but didn't get any good ones of my favorite pieces, because there was never less than 10 or 15 people crowded around them. I"m tempted to try again but may not get a chance - The exhibit is only up for 4 days, a...

Sandra Yagi opened her South Beach art studio this past weekend, as part of SOMA Open Studios . She had a large-ish painting on the easel - almost done - of lizards copulating in a human skull. And her new series of ape anatomy paintings were hanging on the wall. She also showed us some of the conjoined twin drawings she's been working on (prelims for a painting commission.) It's always a pleasure to see an artist progress in their work, especially someone you've been following for awhile, and Sandy's work is definitely progressing . But the most exciting news was her new studio space, in the same building, but larger, cooler, and with better light. It also has a (cool) funky fire door on a canted railing and it looks like it coud be used in any number of horror movie scenes (or Sandy's paintings!)

Just a few quick notes about a show I saw today: "Tracing the Past, Drawing the Future - Master Ink Painters in 20th-Century China" at the Cantor Arts Center , through July 4, 2010 I was really excited to see this show. Not only was it a room full (100 pieces) of ink & watercolor paintings, but it built on the things I learned in February at the " Shanghai, Art of the City " show at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. This exhibit at the Cantor was work by four artists, known in China as the "Four Treasures" of 20th Century painting: Wu Changshuo (1844–1927), Qi Baishi (1864–1957), Huang Binhong (1865–1955), and Pan Tianshou (1897–1971). One of the first images the visitor sees on entering the exhibit is a very large portrait of Wu Changshuo, executed by two of his students. the head is painted in photorealistically, the rest of painting is the loose, brushy style more common to traditional Chinese ink paintings. Until I saw a similar piece a...

Last night at the de Young I was pleasantly surprised to see John Koch 's painting, " The Bridge " (circa 1950, oil on canvas, 24" x 20".) His work almost never shows up in public exhibitions, so this was a rare treat. This was one of his classics: a cool, quiet interior, lit with grey window light, but sizzling with narratives. His narratives, if not his style fell somewhere between Fairfield Porter and Andrew Wyeth. This one reminds me more of Wyeth. Since I'm more familiar with his work in reproduction (books) than from seeing the actual paintings, it's always a surprise to notice how his painting is much looser than it seems. In 2002, Robert Hughes wrote a piece about Koch for Time magazine, titled " A World of Grownups :" "Koch had a wonderful eye for nuance. It lifts images that might otherwise seem beautifully rendered but fringed with banality into real, unforced poetry." Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0...

Saw the Shanghai show at the Asian Art Museum yesterday. It strikes me as an historical exhibit, using art to tell the history of Shanghai, one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, and sister city with San Francisco since 1979. Using paintings, prints, posters, furniture, clothing and installations, the show is arranged chronologically, covering the the period from 1850 to present. It's an abbreviated telling - the accompanying catalog is excellent however, and fleshes out many of the political and historical details between/behind the visual art. "Shanghai Style" is on display here - an aesthetic sensibility that grew out of a place that had plenty of wealth, plenty of artists, a long history of cultural pluralism, and pride in local historical art motifs. The resulting innovation is a kind of torrone, with startling surprises like photorealist heads on the otherwise traditionally painted portrait scroll "Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng." (Click images ...