++ Randy Colosky's Fiat Lux at MoCFA ++

Our friend, and Musical Chairs participating artist, Randy Colosky opens his show at Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, this Thursday, November 10th. I'm a big fan of Randy's elegant and formal, yet ruddy and accessible works. I love how Randy knows his materials intimately and manages to engage a dialogue between the form, the space, the physicality and the viewer, without seeming self-conscious or pedantic. In the interview excerpted below, Randy and curator Natasha Boas, discuss his use of and relationship to his materials, his intended economics of narrative, and how one of the pieces relates to (and is titled after) Axis Mundi, the axis that connects Heaven with Earth.

NB: You have some central themes in FIAT LUX—can you address some of them? Modular repetitions, tension, optical qualities of materials, use of empty space?

RC: Well, the elements in your list are for me poetic design tools to get at something more elusive. Fiat Lux is more an overall theme of the show, which directly translates to "Let light be made." This concept for me is my way of attempting to find ways of aligning myself with what I see is the larger creative force that is our existence-- and then exploring ways to share the inspiration I feel working on art. So utilizing concepts like iteration, fractals, quantum mechanics, chemistry, biology, physics, scale (and the list goes on and on) help me try to understand, in a more intimate way, the nature of what we are. By creating physical manifestations of these ideas, however awkwardly, helps me move toward this concept of Fiat Lux.

NB: There is a strong spiritual element to the work. Axis Mundi is a direct reference to the cosmic axis in religion or mythology, the connection between Heaven and Earth, the higher and lower realms. The image appears in art history in both religious and secular contexts. You have expressed to me that it is important that art engages spirituality as a central part, not in a religious way, but in the largest humanist way.

RC: Well first off, to be honest, I didn't know what Axis Mundi was when I was making the piece (laughs). The concept for the piece started around the idea of how rain falling for some can cause a catastrophic situation but for others rain falling can be a solution to a catastrophic situation --but in the end the rain is rain either way. The overall idea was based in Buddhism and how natural elements function in our world.

Read the full interview here & see you Thursday~

Shown above:Simpsons in the XYZ Axis, 2010
36" diameter 7" off wall
Simpson Foundation straps and steel

San Francisco Collage Collective art opening tomorrow::

Month Year WestSide Art House & Jazz Club Art Opening & Live Jazz Party Friday Oct 21st 5pm-10pm Exhibit by S.F. Collage Collective "Ekstasis" Live Music With WestSide Jazz Club Free Admission Drinks by Donation Show Title "Ekstasis" The San Francisco Collage Collective is a group of local collage artists who have been working together since 2006. It is a loose knit group of artists from a variety of disciplines and varying degrees of formal art training, who gather together to make collage works. The primary idea is to democratize art by inviting anyone to participate. Since 2006, over 50 artists have worked with the collective. This current show at the WestSide Art House is the collective's first show in San Francisco in 2 years. This show includes works by artists who have previously exhibited with the collective including Gustavo Rivera, Rob Reger, Kathryn Kain, Aimee Friberg, Aung Aung Taik, Chuck Gonzalez, Matt Sullivan, Matt Springman, Rod Ciferri, and Matt Gonzalez. Artists showing with the collective for the first time include Karen Imperial, Danielle Rathbun, Tony Hall, Gary Birnbaum, Mark van Proyen, Roberta Scott, and Joe Engler. Some of the artists work with figurative elements, while others work purely abstractly. There are a variety of different methods employed to construct each piece. Some of the artists utilize magazines, album covers, found materials, and cardboard. Others use textile samples, paint chips, and painted pieces they themselves have created. Exhibition invites, original photographs, and colored paper are among the varied sources these artists employ. To learn more visit our website at http://sfcollagecollective.wordpress.com/ Aimee Friberg Gustavo Rivera Rob Reger Danielle Rathbun Karen Imperial Matt Springman Matt Sullivan Mark Van Proyen Kathryn Kain Matt Gonzalez Aung Aung Taik Roberta Scott Chuck Gonzalez Gary Birnbaum Jim Dorenkott Rod Ciferri Tony Hall Joe Engler Stephanie Vernier -------------------------------

Opening Reception: Thursday, Oct 6,

5pm till late

* sounds by Electroleum and Freemountain Pulsewave

Show runs from October 6 - 29

111 Minna Gallery

111 Minna Street (at Second)

San Francisco, CA 94105

Below, Rob describes his process of the three states of materiality that his collaged forms take in this show:

“Select areas of imagery are first dissected, then carefully brought back to life one connection at a time through the surgical practice known as collage. This life, as these frankensteined “originals,” is similar to childhood- finite in time that it exists, given the nature of the materials used. That childlike existence is then captured and brought into adulthood when I create a second life as these “characters” are re-imagined and printed and painted on wood. Finally, if their Creator is inspired enough by their previous existences, they make it into the spirit-world through film and animation. It is here they are finally allowed to move and have everlasting life. I am interested in taking these collages to a “larger than life” place by physically reproducing them on a large scale, and animating and projecting them. In the past, similar collage works have only been shown in small frames with a magnifying glass. Now the work will be accessible from anywhere in the room.”
-Rob Reger, artist

collage with Matt Gonzalez, view works by Schwitters

On Sunday, Aug 14 the Berkeley Art Museum is hosting a collage making session with SF artist and progessive politician Matt Gonzalez. The collage session is in conjunction with their Kurt Schwitters exhibition which opens August 3. Various members of the San Francisco Collage Collective (including Gallery Extrana co-founder Rob Reger & myself) will join Matt and the public in a collage making session inside the lovely BAM galleries-- it's been a while since we've had an official SF Collage Collective public gathering -- I'm excited to see what materials everyone brings to work with : ) Come find us at 2pm in Gallery B! Also on display at the Berkeley Museum is our friend Desiree Holman's AMAZING show Heterotopias which investigates our fascination with real and fictional personas in fantasy play -- her avatars make me wanna dance!

XO: aimee friberg

Kurt Schwitters, Magic, Tate Collection, circa 1936-40

greetings from comic con! we're here helping our friends Emily the Strange with a gallery next to their booth -- a little calm spot to hang and see art -- someone said we were a respite in the storm of the crowds and aggressive imagery --- we agree. : )

We are featuring Emily's creator Rob Reger's personal work and his Emily inspired fine art, along with Buzz Parker's detailed illustrations, work by cut-out artist Turo Scissorhands and Reger's collaborative prints with punk photographer Jenny Lens.
Our living room set up is much cozier thanks to our friends at Boomerang for Modern, a beautiful mid-century design store in San Diego's Little Italy. Thanks Boomerang! If you're at the con, come visit us! Booth #4637
XO

fave photo of the week.

My favorite photograph of this week, perhaps this month is this image, Edifi by Argentine photographer, Fernando Maubecin. Fernando has been working on his Double Exposure Series for a decade now, and I've been consistently impressed and really taken aback by the luminosity, depth and resonance of the work.
I love how the gold buildings in the center seem to be a nucleus for the unfinished architectural shell that fills the frame. I can't help but think this is the soulful, light-as-god work of Andreas Gorsky's antagonist; the potential emotional side of Gorsky's twin psyche. Light. Structure. Texture. Form.

I don't know the story behind this image in particular, however, in his earlier series, I know he was interested in making a mini-narrative composite of time, space and the elements. This image, Luziwet was exposed as a full roll in Seattle of water images, then exposed again on the streets and interior public & private spaces of New York City. Can anyone recognize that light source?

Both of these 35mm images were shot on his Nikon F4 (the all metal parts, big ton of tool, single lens reflex) a camera that was introduced in 1988 and for anyone still shooting 35mm (Is Anyone Else?), it's still a totally amazing and capable camera. Obviously, Fernando is an old school, technical and yet intuitional photographer. He sees light. He plans for the composition in his mind. With this Double Exposure Series, he has two processes: one is to shoot a whole role of 35mm film often choosing to focus on texture and the materiality of light, then he re-exposes the film, frame by frame, keeping in mind the amount of light exposure that has already saturated the film in the first take. His other process, made possibly by the Nikon F4's exposure lock button, allows him to plan the image, shoot, and then re-shoot immediately. I can't tell you just how pleased I am that Fernando continues with this series. Take a look at what's come before and some of his recent work on his flickr site. And keep your fingers crossed that we'll be able to bring him from Valencia, Spain for a show.

XO,

gallery extraña

Edifi, Fernando Maubecin, 2011.
Luziwet, Fernando Maubecin, 2003-4

Heat, Sarah Jane Lapp, Ink and Gouache, 2010

I love this image by artist / photographer / designer Alia Penner. Her images evoke a surreal dreamland that is visually compelling and makes me want to get out my scissors and gluestick.

Time for collage night, I'm calling my friends ~

Graduate students in the UCSC Digital Arts and New Media (DANM) program and the UCSC Arts + Physics Research Lab (APRL) have been working collaboratively with sonicSENSE to develop and create the design, content, and conceptual framework of the interactive art exhibition. TRANSMUTATIONS: Opening Reception: Date: March 26, 2011 Time: 7pm -12am ... New GAFFTA Location: 998 Market Street @ Taylor St San Francisco, CA 94102 Exhibition Open hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4pm-7pm Exhibition Description: TRANSMUTATIONS by sonicSENSE at GAFFTA is a site-specific information ecology, consisting of a complex series of sound sculptures, machines, video projections and sensors. Two systems drive this project: user interaction and data visualizations. User interactivity produces a wide range of soundscapes, data projections and mechanical sounds that collect and distribute media into the exhibition space. Data content for TRANSMUTATIONS consists of, data parsed from auscultation libraries, audio from the California Library of Natural Sounds at the Oakland Museum of California, data collected from the UCSC Arts and Physics Lab and on-site data in the gallery space. By taking data out of archives, pie charts and graphs and giving it a physical form through sculptural, audio and visual means, we aim to build a compelling experience synthesizing scientific research with new media as a method of engaging community participation. We believe in the concept of learning by doing, that material exploration is an important part of the understanding process and that explaining through tangible tools, where people can actually touch, explore and play with information, is essential to collaborative communication and visual thinking. TRANSMUTATIONS is the most recent iteration of the sonicSENSE platform created by Barney Haynes and Jennifer Parker in collaboration with Mechatronics graduate students in the Digital Art New Media program and the Arts + Physics Lab at the University of California Santa Cruz.SonicSENSE created by Barney Haynes and Jennifer Parker in 2008, is an expandable and evolving site for art, culture, new technologies, digital media, collaboration, and participation. SonicSENSE uses the creative diversity of computational media and traditional visual art practices to cultivate space for sharing, questioning, and exploring interdisciplinary frameworks, methodologies, and experiences. Each exhibition of the platform is a new iteration consisting including artists, composers, scientists and programmers. With support from UCSC Arts Research Institute, UC Institute on Research in the Arts, California College of the Arts, The Oakland Museum of California, and UCSC OpenLab Network.See More

Review of Gallery Extraña artist / curator Aimee Friberg's show with Tabitha Soren at Branch Gallery

Staff Pick

Dreamtime

The New Young, Aimee Friberg, 22 x 16, archival inkjet print, 2009

Through April 1

Originally, Dreamtime referred to Australian aborigines' notion of Creation: the descent of totemic beings from spiritual realms into plants, animals, and humans tasked with maintaining the cosmos through ritual song, dance, and art. East Bay photographers Aimée Friberg and Tabitha Soren explore a contemporary vision of art as dream with their fragmentary, softly focused views of poetic subject matter: cinematic images that hint at mysterious narratives à la Cindy Sherman and Ralph Gibson. Friberg's views of water and trees ("This Autumn I Swam"), foggy landscapes, horse's haunches ("The New Young"), and decollated factory worker ("Shipyard February [From Lost Film Stills]"), and Soren's nocturnes, either unpopulated ("You Come to Mind") or featuring enigmatic activities ("You Call That Dark?"), posit a universe that is radiantly beautiful even if no spiritual authority spills the esoteric beans for us. Dreamtime runs through April 1 at Branch Gallery (455 17th St., Oakland). 415-577-7537 or Branch.Bayvan.org.

— DeWitt Cheng

Branch Gallery

• 455 17th St. Ste #301

Call for submissions: Photo and Cinema

Noorderlicht Photofestival 2011, The Netherlands

METROPOLIS, City Life in the Urban Age
Deadline: 31 March, 2011

11 September through 9 October 2011, Groningen
opening on 10 September

"On May 23, 2007 the world celebrated the beginning of the urban millennium. It was on this date that, worldwide, for the first time in history more people lived in cities than in the countryside: 3.3 billion people, on 3 percent of the earth's surface. This development has far-reaching implications. Is a decent, humane life possible in a modern megalopolis that is bursting at its seams? And how can the countryside survive the economic, demographic, cultural and ecological clear-fell that urbanisation brings with it?"

The main exhibition of the Noorderlicht Photofestival 2011, METROPOLIS, City Life in the Urban Age, deals with the role of the city as the nerve centre of modern global society.
It is the second part of a diptych, a follow-up to the 2010 theme LAND, Country Life in the Urban Age, which looked at the shrinking role of the countryside worldwide.
The city, as a phenomenon, has an almost schizophrenic character; its many personalities are constantly encountering one another. It is our intention that these multiple personalities will emerge in the structure of the exhibition, running the gamut from utopia to dystopia.

Call for submissions
Noorderlicht calls on photographers, curators and photo agencies to submit work or proposals for METROPOLIS, City Life in the Urban Age.
Deadline for submitting is 31 March, 2011. Please read our conditions and technical details first.- http://www.noorderlicht.com/en/photofestival/submitting-for-the-2011-photofestival/

We are looking for photo series that present a distinctive, even idiosyncratic vision on the character of the modern city. Economic, social or urban planning aspects can each play a role; the series may be literal or metaphorical. We are striving for a global picture; the group exhibition as a whole will be a journey through cities in all parts of the world.
The precise sub-themes will be set out in a following stage of the project. We list several possibilities as examples:

Symphony: The city as the effervescent economic and social nerve centre of modern society, a place for progress, interaction and infinite possibilities;
Mutability: Space that is the product of urban planning, with architectonic dreams of the good life for all the city's inhabitants; from old ideals of equality to modern technology and sustainability;
Expansion: The urge for unbridled expansion in the name of progress, creating new chances but also pushing the old into oblivion; a place of migration, on the way to a better future, even if that means a life in the chaos of the slums;
Seduction: Where massive economic differences exist and everyone is seduced by a mass media landscape to seek greater wealth, where millionaires live next to the homeless;
Fear: Places where the individual can be swamped in a mass of strangers; where the demands of the rat race for success stand in the way of authentic living; where criminality lurks, security demands control and Big Brother is always watching;
Home: Small societies, seeking a place of one’s own in the large, anonymous world around one, or the excessive separation from that wider world; the creation of suburbs where affluent urban life can again appear rural; the shift of the social environment from the real to the virtual world.

Deadline for submitting is 31 March, 2011. Please read our conditions and technical details first. - http://www.noorderlicht.com/en/photofestival/submitting-for-the-2011-photofestival/

Tips from colleagues are also very welcome. Do not however wait too long; the curatorial process begins as soon as work comes in.

We are using a special email address for submissions: pandora@noorderlicht.com. Our ftp server is also open at all times.

Correspondence regarding the theme can be sent directly to the curator Wim Melis, at his email address: wim@noorderlicht.com.

Noorderlicht Photography Akerkhof 12 9711 JB Groningen The Netherlands
http://www.noorderlicht.com/en/

happy valentine's day!





Image by Sarah Jane Lapp

Dreamtime

Tabitha Soren & myself have a two person show at Branch Gallery, starting on the 11th of this month-- for those of you who want a sneak preview, come by during Art Murmur from 6-9pm. Artist Reception is February 25th, show runs through April 1st.

www.branch.bayvan.org