re-grouping

the shock of the first year review is subsiding under a pile of woodcarving chips and the thick odor of oil. I spent some days under the sweatshirt hood, moping around. But I am ready to refuel. I went west for the Ann Gale opening at Hackett Freedman last week. After navigating SF traffic to retrieve my spouse, we parked in the rainbow-levelled parking lot, and elevatored up to a brightly lit gallery. Ann's work is intriguing on an lcd screen thumbnail, but captivating in-person. The varied marks are gestural, loose yet deliberate. Like giacometti's drawings & paintings, Ann seems to hone in on her sitter's face. As she approaches the head, brushstroke vary into delicate hatches or cuts, and a judicious application of stronger hue draws attention to an ear, neck, or chin. Up close, the faces are all texture, but from a step or two back, there is palpable presence. And I didn't tire of searching through the greys, blues and browns in the background. The tone of the paintings was sober (bordering on morbid) and beautiful. The interplay of these qualities left me sad, happy, and inspired to paint.

underneath

Pix from the day
Wandered around Potrero Hill with camera. Using the lens as a sketchpad to frame bits of sky and city. I have simple abstractions in mind for clay and glaze. But while I was out, also keep finding panoramas for paint. Clumsy with the camera, but loving how close I can get to some surreal collisions of metal & cement.
Continuing to think of city as nature. SF holds appeal due to its scale and variety - in the smallest slice, theres an ecology of commerce, persuasion, and inhabitation. Place is created by the contributions (both conscious and un) many people over time.

replenished-gallery field trip in SF

An out-of-town visitor motivated me to cross the bridge for a SF Gallery field trip. Haven't bumped into too much exciting (to me) work in the past, so have skipped repeat outings. But, Sharon kindly let me join her on a tour of her favorite galleries. As hoped, we saw some great spaces with varied types of representational paintings and drawings.
It's infrequent that I pass north of Market Street into the better-heeled shopping part of town. On the way, I passed a lady in all pink suit with matching pointy toed pink shoes. Arriving early, I had a chance for a small walk. Under the Chinatown arch (a place I arrive upon only by accident) I walked slowly past the couples photographing each other by the ornate entrance. Last year I visited the SF Earthquake Show at the Oakland Museum. In a lapse in judgement, firemen used dynamite to "control" post-earthquake fires, causing much of Chinatown to burn. There were hopes of a land grab by outside developers. Equal to the scale of the devastation by fire, is the tenacity of the folks who held onto this land for Chinese (a few prominent Chinese families and business-people) during the rebuiding stage. Now, its a narrow steep road lined with tourist goods, neatly stacked t-shirts, parasols, and knick knacks. Up above, week's worth of laundry hangs from windowsills and porch railings. My 7 minutes afforded me a couple block walk up and back into the traditional shopping district.
There are lots of gallery and collectible shops at eye level. Today we started upstairs. I passed my first destination 1.5 times before figuring it out. Dolby Chadwick gallery is tucked on the second floor of a nice office building. Each floor has tall ceilings with ornate detail. While it seems strange to seek out commerce on upper floors, once in, the light is beautiful, and you get a nice vista of the window detail on the cross-street building.
Some highlights:
* Ben Aronson - cityscapes
* Nancy Switzer - her metal can still lifes were great
* Ann Gale - portraits
* Marc Trujille - having a show at Hackett Freedman in a few weeks.
* Stephen Simons
* Jim Phalen
* Katina Huston
* Shelley Hoyt - i met her in the monterey market checkout line - views of from the berkeley hills through fog.

And, to aid my memory for future outings. We went to:
* Jenkins Johnson Gallery - :)
* Hespe Gallery
* Dolby Chadwick (my fav... neat retrospective show up now)
* John Pence Gallery (secret boon is room of drawings in the back)
* Hackett Freedman
* Frey Norris

Slides Begone!

Last one!,
originally uploaded by robin kibby.

Backpack loaded with 19 slides in a tray, $45 of transcripts , and an optimistic essay on my future art, I boarded a southbound BART train. San Francisco State University is my final MFA application for 2007. My enthusiasm for their program made me wait till the last minute. Very Kib-Style. Left the house at 1pm, application needed to be in at 4 pm. I tried to drum up the normal nervous agitation, but with 3 hours at my disposal, I could only enjoy the ride. Out of Berkeley, the BART train rises up above street level, and our neighborhoods turn into a sea of grey trapezoids topped with "the Dish" and pipes edged with tar. I ride backwards past the highway I normally take to the studio. The train descends into a tunnel under the Bay. It picks up some speed screeching over the tracks. SF passes underground. The suits get off the train at Embarcardero, normal folks exit in the Mission. We rise back up to street level.Homes back right up to the tracks so close that it looks like they've been sliced in half to make way for the train. We stop and I am on the lookout for the free shuttle to SFSU. I wait in line with folks who appeared to be a median age of 23.
We board the bus. I ask the lady next to me for help with the bus stop I should get out at. When I mention Art Department, the lady in front turns around
"So which department are you applying to?" she asks, smiling. Perhaps she's in the program now.
"Painting" I answer.
"Oh Painting" she smiles again, "You must be amazing then."
"You don't have to be amazing to apply. Anyone can apply." I respond.
"You're right. These days, they'll let *anyone* apply," her tone soured, implying that the contents of my backpack could erode the integrity of contemporary art as we know it.
"Well, anyone can apply" I clarify "You just have to be amazing to get in."
"I hope you applied to some private schools as well," she said turning back around to face forward.
The lady next to me smiled "this is the stop, you'll want to go left." I thank her and head off to relieve myself of my final burden.