San Francisco Art Fairs May 19-22nd 2011

artMRKT San Francisco 2011

Having taken a hint from cities like New York, Miami, Los Angeles and many others worldwide, San Francisco has stepped up to the plate with a trifecta of contemporary art fairs this year. Three fairs : San Francisco Fine Art Fair (SFFAF), SF artMRKT and ArtPadSF representing galleries and artists worldwide for a concentrated and slightly overwhelming three days. I have been to similar art fairs in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Italy and for the most part these fairs in San Francisco held their own. I was most impressed with artMRKT and ArtPadSF for their energy and focus on emerging and mid-career contemporary work. The SFFAF felt to me like it needed a sip of Redbull or a shot of Tequila, or perhaps both would have been best. The work seemed, with exception to a few, slightly predictable in comparison to the other fairs, which left my excitement at bay (pun intended).

It is no secret that the San Francisco contemporary art world has been attempting to depart from the seemingly inescapable love child that is The Bay Area Figurative Movement from the fifties and sixties. Don't get me wrong, I love the work of artists like David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, Wayne Thiebaud and others that were involved in the subsequent "generations" of the movement, but that work was then, not now. And while San Francisco will always be associated with this movement, it is fairs like these that help to open the door for San Francisco as a destination for new and noteworthy artwork. The city is packed with incredible artists, galleries and arguably some of the best art schools in the country. This short weekend may have provided a long overdue recognition that San Francisco has still got it as a center for contemporary art. I am excited to see what next year brings...




Below are some photos of the experience:


-artMRKT-


artMRKT San Francisco - The Contemporary and Modern Art Fair from Arbiter Productions on Vimeo.

Jenny Morgan, 'All This Time' at Like The Spice



MORE PHOTOS AFTER THE JUMP...

'Stand Beside' - Paul Roux and Leighton Collier Roux @ Anderson Art Collective Opening May 7th, 2011

 Leighton Collier Roux

Wrapped (Navinki) - Resting

1 inch wide satin ballet ribbon, me (5hours).  Minsk, Belarus, 2007

Archival ink-jet print. 27" x 18". Edition of 10. 

Photo Documentation by Chuck Chaney.

** Wrapped originated as an image in my mind with the influence of my own love of dance as well as the

     social connotations that are attached to the materials which are lavish and often associated with the 

    feminine and a freedom and power that one holds as a dancer.

Anderson ART Collective presents Stand Beside a two-person show by Leighton Collier Roux and Paul Roux, two artists who have come together over the past few years to stand beside one another as friends, partners and collaborators.  Though they come from different countries and experiences, they find that their work, when placed together in the same space, engages in captivating dialogue around contemporary humanity and society.

The show is comprised of oil paintings, sculpture, photography, video and a special performance by Leighton Collier Roux during the opening reception on Saturday May 7 from 6pm to 8pm.

Leighton Collier Roux, a native of Southern California, received an MFA from Tufts University in 2008. In 2010 her work was commissioned by the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum and will be featured in their upcoming Call for Entries 2011. Paul Roux, a South African native, graduated in 1998 from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town and was one of the six artists that were featured last year by the Anderson ART Collective at Red Dot Art Fair @ Art Basel Miami Beach.

According to the artists' statement, "In this rapidly changing world, we look to engage viewers in an urgent celebration of the beauty that is our natural heritage, a celebration consciously tempered by acknowledgment of the consequences of the prevailing separation between humanity and the planet."

"I'm very much looking forward to having this work engage the public at our space. The work speaks largely of the relationship between humanity and nature in a very forward thinking way, asking questions of the viewers with the intent to skew our positions on how we interact with nature," states gallery curator Benjamin Anderson.

Anderson ART Collective is located at 410 Palm Avenue, A2, in Carpinteria, CA and is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon until 5pm and by appointment. Stand Beside will run through May 29.


Curated by Sean Anderson and Benjamin Anderson

Http://www.paulroux.net 
Http://www.leightoncollierroux.com
Http://www.andersonartcollective.com
 

 Paul Roux, 'Looking for Teddy' (Pastoral) - oil on canvas  - 48" x 118" 2011

Paul Roux, 'Interlude # 19' -oil on canvas - 46" 2010

 MORE IMAGES AFTER THE JUMP--->

Art in The Streets @ MOCA Los Angeles

After much controversy, criticism and name calling, 'Art in the Streets' opens at MOCA. Like a sucker fish trailing a shark, Street Art will always have criticism at it's back. Fortunately, this disparagement is what drives the work of so many artists that use the street as canvas. Here lies an art form that needs no galleries, dealers, white walls or good critique to be seen or praised. Recent transplant Jeffrey Deitch and Associate Curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose have created here, the first major museum survey of street art from the 1970's to today. Enjoy...

RETNA

MORE IMAGES, TEXT AND VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP....

Florian Maier-Aichen / Henry Taylor @ Blum & Poe, Culver City

I went down to LA to check out some shows yesterday and wanted to share some photos etc. Blum & Poe have created such a beautiful space that you get the idea they could probably show anything there and make it look worthy of your time, but after spending the time with the work on display, one realizes that the beautiful gallery space is merely a frame for the carefully picked roster of artists they represent. The space is a veritable artists dream space to show (at least one of mine). Below are some images of Florian Maier-Aichen and Henry Taylor's exhibitions...

-Florian Maier-Aichen @ Blum & Poe April 9 - May 14, 2011 -

 Florian Maier-Aichen Untitled, 2011 C-print
85 3/4 x 109 1/2 inches framed courtesy of Blum & Poe

More text and images after the jump...

My picks - Exhibitions to go see...March-May 2011

Just a few of the exhibitions I would recommend seeing in the next month or two, I won't be able to see them all (they are from galleries and museums all over) but I hope you can pick a few close to you and go check them out...or at the very least will lend your eyes and mind a little something they haven't seen before...Enjoy

-links below images-


GLENN LIGON @ Whitney Museum of American Art March 10-June 5 2011

NAOMIE KREMER @ Modernism March 3-April 23 2011

AL FARROW @ Catharine Clark April 9- May 28 2011




KENNETH NOLAND @ Mitchell-Innes & Nash March 17-April 30 2011

MICHAEL EASTMAN @ Barry Friedman Mar 04 - Apr 30, 2011

JUAN USLÉ: Desplazado @ Cheim & Read March 31-May 7 2011

RICHARD SERRA @ Gagosian Geneva April 1 - May 14, 2011

GLENN BROWN @ Max Hetzler April 08 - May 28, 2011

FOLKERT DE JONG 'Operation Harmony' @ James Cohan April 1-May 7

Alex Katz to Dirk Skreber, influences on my work as an artist

Here are just a few of the artists that I find myself returning to, all of which have had their own influence to my work over the years...

Alex Katz, Anna Wintour, 2009

Ed Ruscha, Lion in Oil, 2002

Maurizio Cattelan, The Ballad of Trotsky, 1996



Peter Doig, Figures in Red Boat, 2005-07



Will Cotton, Monument, 2009



David Salle, Tennyson, 1983



Dana Schultz, Frank as a Probiscus Monkey, 2002


Charles Ray, Tractor, 2004



Benjamin Anderson, 66 Chevy, 2005



Zak Kitnick, The Person Behind the Product, 2010



Dirk Skreber, Dazzled, 2009

New Sculpture: 'Influential Pigment'

Thought I would give you a peak at some new work I have been up to recently...I have been working on this series 'Influential Pigment' for the last 12 months or so. I started the series with my paintings and after looking at everything hung in my studio, I felt like I needed something else in the space to work with. After countless hours of sitting and staring and contemplating in the studio, I was sifting through a plastic materials store online and I came across these fluorescent plexiglass sheets that blew my mind. After working with them and figuring out their qualities (a few failed attempts later...usually a sign you are doing something right) I made my own miniature huts out of wood and paper and constructed the plexiglass into a cube to surround them. In the process of changing the medium with which I was working, I found myself discovering even more about this series of work I had started.

Installation view: Sean Anderson 'Influential Pigment I' and 'Influential Pigment II' 2011

The process of creating in 3 dimensions brought me closer to the subject matter I had been painting. The wood and materials used to make the huts are taken from nature, and conversely, the world they are inhabited in is purely artificial...It is my hope that this equipoise of subjects is what gives the work life after being viewed. Enjoy. More to come soon...

Sean Anderson 'Influential Pigment I'

Sean Anderson 'Influential Pigment III'