In a lecture delivered last year at UC Berkeley entitled "The Misadventures of Critical Thinking," philosopher Jacques Rancière proclaimed that there is nothing to be seen behind the curtain of appearances; there is no truth that will be revealed through the process of critique. Instead, there is only what we see and the logic that governs its visibility.... Read More

Pecis constructs collages of seemingly perilous imaginary landscapes, with layers of diamonds, towers of beads, lipstick tubes as buildings, and bright ribbons fluttering in and out of the scenes. Hers are post-apocalyptic vistas: fantastical, colorful, seductive, and yet suggestive of our culture's problem with over-consumption.... Read More

Matthews' adventuresome aptitude across different media suggests a restless fascination with the encounters between artistic materials and content: how they conflict and alter our understanding of one or the other. This exploration, in fact, seems to be the core of the show. ... Read More

An exhibition review can be a potent tool, as it helps shape impressions of the works on view for a broader audience. That said, viewing art is a highly subjective experience, and misunderstandings occur as often as moments of great insight. With that in mind, Shotgun Review strives to frame its reviews as simply the opening statement in a dialogue, rather than the final word. ... Read More

Typically these days, an MFA thesis show is less exhibition than art-fair, with each newly minted graduate almost climbing over one another in order to attract more attention than his or her peers. These shows are crowded and incoherent, and difficult places to connect meaningfully with art. Rejecting all this, Stanford's 2009 MFA graduates opted instead for an experimental and collaborative model that strives for something different. ... Read More

1950s sociologists and novelists such as Vance Packard and Philip Wylie may have censoriously labeled Americans as status-seeking conformists. In De Jesus's overtly humorous drawings, they become masses of overlapping outlined figures engaged in obsessive or irrational behaviors... Read More

In Between the Outside-In presents a series of conceptual opposites demarcating the perceptual thresholds--or limina--between space and place. Qualities such as scale, presence, and permanence are parlayed into ephemeral representations in White's renditions of an 800-year-old oak tree and a humble, wild raspberry shrub, both native to the Sierra Nevadas. ... Read More