Forms & Shapes, installation view, 2009. All works untitled, various dates; left wall: charcoal on paper; right wall and floor: ceramic. Courtesy of Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco. Bay Area sculptor Dennis Gallagher's posthumous survey exhibition, "Forms & Shapes," presents a comprehensive range of work--from massive stacked ceramic sculptures, to smaller maquettes and assemblages, plates, and drawings. Given that the 57-year-old artist tragically passed away earlier this year, the instance of five large, vertical sculptures all produced in 2009 is a testament to his protean creativity. The exhibition is punctuated by the inclusion of earlier work, which hints at... Read More

Marking the degree to which an era can be judged woefully moribund--like an overripe banana, just past its prime--is a tenuous undertaking. Undaunted, artists, writers, philosophers, and politicians have always, and will continue to peer, if not into the looking glass, then the crystal ball. And so it goes with Marci Washington's exhibition, Dark Mirror, an impressive jab at the conscience, currently showing at Rena Bransten Gallery. Escape Into the Woods, Purging the Black Infection, 2008; watercolor and gouache on paper; 30 x 44 in. In a statement tacked to the wall upon entering the gallery--as if to say, I... Read More

Melissa, 2006, C-print, 23.5" x 30.5" On his recent visit to attend the Midnight Mass organized by Peaches Christ, John Waters looked as graceful and entertained as he usually does on public appearances. Seeing him around a truckload of ardent fans, hard-core enthusiasts dressed up as characters from his movies and too many glamorous drag queens, one could not help but wonder for the umpteenth time: Who is this guy? If his movies are any indication he is godfather supreme to all things Porkyesque and Jackassy before there was ever a mainstream version of his outlandish antics. Although he... Read More

My initial exposure to Doug Hall's work came about five years ago. At the time, I was in my first year of graduate school at the California College of Arts and Crafts. In one of my classes we were shown, The Eternal Frame. This satirical film, a collaboration between two collectives, T.R. Uthco and Ant Farm, recreated JFK's assassination. Hall, a founding member of the former multi-media performance group, played Kennedy. For a native San Franciscan, he was pretty convincing with his New England accent. At the time, I wasn't familiar with either collective, but I appreciated the spirit of... Read More