Untitled, 2009; wood, sand, and string. Courtesy of Ratio 3, San Francisco. All of Mitzi Pederson's work in "I'll Start Again" is untitled, and walking throughout the main space of her show at Ratio 3, it is hard to distinguish if each piece should be viewed individually or if the artist is more interested in creating something of a gesamtkunstwerk. Utilizing such common materials as wood, paper, and string, the very floor of the gallery plays to Pederson's advantage. The tension she captures with the string and wood sculptures, each hanging somewhat precariously upon the walls, is striking. Unlike... Read More

. "I'll Start Again," installation view, 2009. Courtesy of Ratio 3, San Francisco. Quotidian materials similar to those that have appeared throughout Mitzi Pederson's oeuvre dominate the work in this show. The works exhibit a unified sensibility, but are at times disjointed--succeeding only in fits and starts. The strongest pieces are the wall sculptures in the main space. In two of them, long sections of lathe are pulled into graceful arcs against nails by threads anchored to rectangular pieces of plywood. Another elegant work consists of a multi-stranded rectangle of thread stretched between four nails, over which a ribbon-like section... Read More

The Pilgrim's Progress, a series of drawings in ink and graphite by Ben Peterson currently on display at Ratio 3, forms a kind of puzzle. Part of the pleasure of the show is taking an inventory of the objects that appear across the drawings - golf club bags, colored thread, tiny orange flags, strips of turf (often buckled up into little hillocks), articles of Puritan clothing, sections of houses, bits of nautical debris - and figuring out why they've been brought together. Marry Merry, 2008. Ink and graphite on paper, 22 x 30 inches There aren't any final answers, but... Read More

Lutz Bacher's 1993 aptly named Butt Photo--for that is what it is, an oversized black-and-white image of two clenched and dimpled cheeks--has pride of place in Kiki: The Proof is in the Pudding, on view at Ratio 3 through August 2nd. Placed well above eye level on the far wall of the gallery's main room, it sets the proper tone for the show: a sort of insouciant provocation. Catherine Opie's portraits of the performer Justin Bond and the artist Jerome Caja (also from 1993) most effectively convey this sensibility. The latter does an aggressive number on the viewer/object relationship.... Read More

First off, for those who have never been there, Ratio 3 is one of the hidden gems of San Francisco. Tucked away on the edge of the mission at 903 Guerrero, it is located up the steps of an apartment building on the corner of 21st.. It consists of two rooms at the front of a flat and a third room as an office/storage in the back. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in intimacy. Ratio 3 is run by Chris Perez who has booked a museum-worthy show in what could be your friend's house (a rich... Read More