How I spent February 5th
By: Pete Ippel – Bay Area Art Cynic
So once again like every great monthly tradition; menstruation or paying your credit card bill, the public are invited to the �First Thursday�s� at 39 Geary. It�s not that I don�t like the idea of seeing the contemporary art scene in San Francisco, but honestly if this is where you�re going to see what�s really �shaking� in this community, this is NOT the place.
It�s like there�s a clich� magnet buried under the building, pulling everything from paint covered combat boots and destroyed jeans to black turtlenecks and berets�sadly there is no discrimination of this horrid subterranean device for artwork either.
As you may or may not know, art is territorial, I mean there can only be one �first� person to do something. Everything else is just an imitation, and usually pales at comparison. This was the only theme running through all the galleries at 49 Geary; nowhere did I find work progressive, intriguing, or even remotely interesting.
�so says the cynic.
That said, I am very much in favor of appropriation, quoting, and derivation, my main point of contention is that the artists displaying in these galleries, neither produce an ironic copy, nor say something culturally through parody. The work seems to be completely devoid of content, and produced to sell.
Don�t get me wrong, I have no romantic view of art, I�m very much in favor of being able to live off being an artist, showing and selling work, but as a creator, it�s important to consider intent as well as the pocket book.
So, rightly or wrongly hopefully we can agree, there can only be one Jean-Michel Basquiat, one Jackson Pollak, and one Ellsworth Kelly; simply because they had a style and everything else is a derivation of that work, and utilizing the same vocabulary as a means to an end, qualifies me to dismiss it as insignificant.
Not to beat a dead horse, but much as you think color field painting is dead, it�s alive and well on the third floor of 49 Geary with the exciting new twist that it�s color field with encaustic. In that same gallery, the artist decided to show very abstract works, masonite globbed and smeared thickly with paint. It looked like their palettes were selling more then the pieces on canvas, as there were red dots a-plenty on the side with the gooey paintings.
As far as sculpture goes, Brancusi must be flipping over in his grave for the blatant rip-off of bird. Basically it was another bronze penis called �Cloud�; a masculine form 3 times the scale of the original �bird� demanding a good many US dollars, complete with an artist statement which I found laughable.
Personally, my interest in the Bay Area art scene lies in that mysterious world of new genres / video / performance and tech. The San Francisco Art Institute was the first art school to offer such a program and there is a history of weird things in the bay area from the 60�s on. And you�d think with the proximity to Silicon Valley, there would be many great digital installations and video work. No such luck.
The only redeeming work I found was in photography, a breath of fresh air from the painting, installation, and video crap. I know taste is subjective, but remember I am the Art Cynic.
Anyway, the prints were lush, big, shiny, colorful, and there were lots of them. And that was the same gallery! The photo galleries all had good shows, ranging in scope from traditional small black and white landscapes to contemporary Gurskyesque color-mammoths. Small to large, portraiture to landscape, quazi affordable 600.00 to a whopping 17,000 for a 36×42� c-print, there was something for every taste.
The repetitions and redundancies of the non-photographic work, are geared for an art buying public. While popular, they don�t really convey any grand revelations about the artist who created the pieces, nor have any content at all really, but I bet they�d look great in the reflection of a 52 inch plasma TV over the leather couch.
If you�re not getting the point, I would contend it�s pretty evident that the people who are present on this evening of �face-time� are not the artists themselves, nor the �art buying public�
49 Geary exists because of the wannabe�s. Artists go because they can see who is getting shows, and bitch about how their work is better (me) and maybe they can talk to curators, and gallery directors. The general public goes to see how �the other half� lives, and this is their excuse to dress up in their best beret, prance around with artists (not the ones who did the work) and feel important.
If you could put all of the work into one word it would be disappointing, as much fun as I�m having bashing this night, I emphasize that this is probably, if you�re a �career� artist, a very, very important experience, as it lets you know not who the art buying public are, but who they wish they were.
My honest opinion is that because the 49 Geary venue is such a well known event the very people who would most likely purchase a high ticket item wont be there because if they truly appreciate luxury, they�re not coming to an overcrowded meat market filled with so many people that they can�t investigate the work�so the question is why do we as artists or john Q. Public go to first Thursdays? Bottom line, it�s fun, there are two kinds of refreshments: whine for the artists, and of course wine for everybody else.