Engineer's Daughter

equable

"In 1912 I visited Kandinsky in Munich.  He gave me a very warm reception...Kandinsky spoke to me with tenderness, richness, vivacity, and humour.  In his studio, speech and form and colour fused and were transmuted into fabulous, extraordinary worlds.  Across the bellowing and tumult of these worlds, by listening attentively, I could hear the tintinnabulation of the brilliant and gaudy mushroom cities of Russia.  Kandinsky told me that his grandfather had come trotting into Russia on a small steed studded with bells, from one of those enchanted Asian mountains made of porcelain.  Kandinsky's grandfather certainly bequeathed profound secrets."

Jean Arp, 1951: from Collected French Writings: Poems, Essays, Memories, 2001

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soil to site

Sean McFarland

Richard T. Walker

For all the years I lived just over the hill from the Montalvo Arts Center last Saturday was the first time I set actual foot on the grounds.  And what pleasant grounds they are too, with art scattered strategically about.  While I was there I popped into the Project Space to spend some quality time with work by a couple of my favorite Bay Area artists, Sean McFarland and Richard T. Walker, who are featured in a small group show called Soil to Site themed around new takes on landscape art.  McFarland's photographs are famously tricky (I once enthusiastically blogged about his Polaroids without a clue that they are doctored), and his recent "dark pictures" allow only the merest suggestion of detail to shimmer through.  The picture above is much much lighter than it appears in person.  Meanwhile in Walker's video "The Hierarchy of Relevance" the artist begins with a series of wilderness shots and a vaguely pretentious voiceover before transitioning into a gorgeous, wordless song performed directly to the rocks and trees themselves.  I've seen the piece a number of times now, and it never fails to give me shivers at the end.

See also:

• Montalvo Arts Center
• Sean McFarland
• Richard T. Walker

oh, chinese boy... don't be ashamed...

Liu Yin

Liu Yin

Liu Yin

If you're looking for the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco, here's a tip: it's actually on the third floor of the Hilton in the Financial District, just on the edge of Chinatown and across the street from Portsmouth Square.  It's a bit of a treasure hunt to find, but go now and you'll be rewarded with a fascinating exhibit of work by Liu Yin in the first time she's ever shown in the U.S.  Liu's intimate drawings and paintings have a refreshingly sharp bite that lurks just underneath their surface beauty; rivulets of blood and anatomically-correct hearts figure prominently.  She turns cute art on its head.

See also:

• Chinese Culture Center
• Liu Yin

forficate

This is not a Magritte: Magritte in California (n.d)

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i hope i don't fall down

Kirk Stoller

Kirk Stoller

Kirk Stoller

Kirk Stoller takes the bits and scraps other people leave behind and through a few tricks of balance and placement turns them into things of beauty.  I love the way his sculptures can seem to be teetering just on the brink of collapse, and indeed at least one of his pieces currently on display at Romer Young fell over in our recent set of earthquakes.  Stoller is crafting a metaphor about the complexity of existence through his work, but he does it with a sense of humor too.  As he says, "All life is a collection of small, precariously placed pieces that rely on each other for strength, whether that is of actual form or simply memories of past events that may have been experienced."  In Stoller's case, the chemistry is just right.

See also:

• Romer Young Gallery
• Kirk Stoller

approach, transition, touchdown

Hughen / Starkweather

Hughen / Starkweather

Hughen / Starkweather

Each an accomplished artist in their own right, Amanda Hughen and Jennifer Starkweather also create work together that incorporates layers and layers of information ranging from natural topographies to man-made systems.  For their new collaborative show at Electric Works they have taken on the Bay Bridge, local icon that it is, just a couple years before the new span is finally due to open.  I have personally always loved the bald functionality of the Bay Bridge far more than that tourist magnet the Golden Gate, and Hughen and Starkweather capture the beauty of the Bay Bridge's beams and bolts in their work.  They also anticipate the gracefulness of the new span, whose massive tower certainly looked pretty damn impressive when I drove past it all lit up at night last weekend.  Here's to being able to bike all the way to Treasure Island from my house in 2013.

See also:

• Electric Works
• Amanda Hughen
• Jennifer Starkweather

pinstriped

The stuff of art: source material from Picasso's studio

Captions:
a) Ely, a rebel chief
b) the magician Fregoli in the role of Paganini
c) Man at work
d) Malinke girl from West Africa, 1906