Happenings

The Untitled

Gallery Exhibition

Dates:

March 6 through April 23, 2008

Opening Reception:

Thursday, March 6, 2008, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Location:

3245 16th Street, San Francisco CA 94103

This exhibition features the work of more than 15 studio artists in a gorgeous and moving exhibition dedicated to abstract, nonfigurative bursts of color, line, and states of mind.

Curator Miranda Putman is an artist instructor at our second studio in Potrero Hill where studio artists generally have more severe or multiple disabilities, including physical disabilities such as blindness or extremely limited mobility. Much of the work of these artists is abstract, and many have been experimenting with and refining their personal artistic gestures, patterns and marks for years. Putman proposed the exhibit as a way to shine a light on their work. “I think these pieces show how much people can do with constraints,” she says. “For some of these artists making one piece can take months of sustained effort and exertion. What I’ve found though is that constraints sometimes make you more powerful in what you express.”

One such artist is Thanh Diep who contributes a large 4’x5’ canvas that glows with colorful glazes. Allura Fong, who works with an avid intensity, juxtaposes large stains of ink with delicate lines. Taneya Lovelace uses a softer color palette to create landscapes of floating, luminescent bubbles. Richard Pimental works all by feel creating highly textural pieces on wood panels.

Putman also wanted to challenge some of the artists to move beyond their artistic habits and try out new materials and dimensions. She gave artist Tony Gomez, whose tendency was to make small circles and flower patterns, a wall to work on with a brush at the end of a long pole. The resulting works are big and bold and reveal an entirely different sense of control. She turned artist Toby Calonico’s habit of folding and tearing apart his work into a layering experiment. The piece he created is a large paper collage of shimmering transparencies.

The show also features a number of handmade one or two color abstract prints and a number of sculptural pieces. Laron Bickerstaff creates three dimensional shapes from old library catalog cards, while artist Norman Ballou capitalizes on his Beatles obsession with a monumental sculpture of woven shreds of Xeroxed images of John, Paul, Ringo and George.

The opening reception will feature saxophone and bass by local musicians Nick Rous, and Seth Ford-Young.

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