As stated earlier in the week with the White Walls Studio Visit, Aaron Nagel’s solo show “Marks” will be opening at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco this Saturday, March 6th. This is Aaron’s largest and most cohesive body of works; “The eleven oil paintings in this series use imagery of youthful women in the nude, often impaled by archery arrows. These figures embody Catholic martyrs such as St. Sebastian, offering atheists and skeptics an alternative to traditional religious symbolism. Although the women are naked and impaled their facial expression and body language is unaffected. Standing tall with transfixed eyes, the figures’ hands are often dripping with black paint to represent a guilty and nefarious past. As Aaron is inspired by the contrast between power and the fragility of the human body, Marks is infused with imagery that is at once calm and violent.”

If your in the area, make sure to stop by, these paintings deserve to be seen in person.
Shooting Gallery SF

Opening up this Friday, March 5th is the 13th installment of the “Everything But the Kitsch ‘N Sync” group show at La Luz de Jesus. These shows are packed with art, there is over 150 artists and 300 pieces to look at. This year features a great mix of well known artists, and some up and comers. Bob Dob, Apricot Mantle, Adam Strange, Bonni Reid, Heather Watts, JAW Cooper, Jessica Ward, Jon MacNair, Leslie Ditto, Patrick “Star27″ Deignan, Nathan Ota, Scott Holloway, Trevor Brown are just a few of the artists you can see in this show.

Check it out here: “Everything But the Kitsch ‘N Sync” Volume 13 @ La Luz de Jesus

Coming this March 6th to the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco is a solo show of new works from Aaron Nagel. The show is entitled “Marks” and will feature 11 paintings by this exceptionally talented artist. This is going to be an amazing show, and for those like myself that can’t wait the Shooting Gallery has posted some preview images and short video of a visit to Aaron’s studio. Not only do you get a peek at some of the work that will be shown, but you also get a look inside the artists working process, inspiration, and preparation for each painting.

Aaron Nagel Studio Visit @ Shooting Gallery News

Aaron Nagel Studio Visit from White Walls Gallery on Vimeo.

Opening tonight, February 5th at the Cave Gallery in Venice is the latest solo show from Paul Chatem. “The Death of Big Head” features some more of the amazing “clockwork” inspired works we saw at the Shooting Gallery last year (Featured). Looking at the preview images of the show, the integration of the clockwork elements is seamless with the amazing colors and aging effects that Paul does with his work. These are paintings that are meant to be seen up close, not only to enjoy all of the subtleties that he adds to each piece, but the see the works in motion. I really hope some videos show up soon. Here are a few images from the show, head on over to see the rest. It looks as though most of the show pieces have sold.

Paul Chatem @ Cave Gallery

Opening this Saturday, January 9th at the SF location of Gallery 1988, Kirsta Huot’s latest solo show will open. This new exhibition is entitled “Nepenthe”, which is a Greek word that means “one (drug) that chases away sorrow”. It’s a great title for a show and fits Krista’s style and feel perfectly. Looking at the full preview (Here), the show is very strong. I absolutely love her color palettes and the way she handles that acrylic paint. The drybrushing technique she uses really helps to add depth to the work, and even gives her characters a glow. I can’t help but look at these paintings and wish that an animated movie by Krista was in the works. Along with the paintings there are also some drawings, studies for the paintings really. The drawings look great as well, you can see that she is not only talented with paints but pencils as well. If your in the area make sure you stop by the reception to see the works and possibly talk to Krista, I believe she will be there.

Head on over and check out the full show: Krista Huot “Nepenthe” @ Gallery 1988 SF

Thinkspace Gallery will open “A Cry For Help” benefit show this coming Friday, January 8th. The show is presented by Born Free USA, whom along with the Animal Protection Institute helped Thinkspace with the “Fight For Flight” exhibition back in 2008. The theme for this years show is animals, endangered as well as thriving species, and supporting the ethical treatment of animals and making sure current and future generations understand about habitat loss and how important animals are for all of us.

20% of the proceeds of the sales will go to Born Free and A.P.I, as well as 100% of the proceeds from the limited editions that will be released the night of the reception. A great cause with some amazing art. What a perfect way to start out 2010. The list of participating artists is nothing short of spectacular. Paintings from such artists as Allison Sommers, Amy Sol, Andrew Hem, Andy Kehoe, Buff Monster, Catherine Brooks (Featured), Charlie Immer, Chet Zar (Interviewed, 2), Dan May, David MacDowell, Fred Harper, Heiko Müller, Jennybird Alcantara, Joao Ruas, Kelly Vivanco (Interviewed), Luke Kopycinski (Featured), Martin Wittfooth, Nimit Malavia, Rory Kurtz, Sarah Joncas (Interviewed), Scott G. Brooks, Tran Nguyen, Travis Louie, Van Arno and many more will be on view. If you are in the area there is no reason to miss this show, there is just too much good work to pass up seeing it all in person. Here is a small preview of works, keep your eyes open for the full list of art to show up on the galleries site.

Thinkspace Gallery

Copro Nason Gallery will be opening three exhibits this Saturday, December 12. “IO Saturnalia” a group show featuring work by Yoko d’Holdbachie, Naoto Hattori, Rachel Bess, Mari Inukai, Mark Covell, Erik Alos, Alex Garcia, Michael Page, Leslie Ditto, XNO, Kieth Weesner and more. Then in gallery 2 will be “Gold Dust” by Tiffany Liu and gallery 3 will have “Reflections” with new works from Chris Peters. The previews for all three shows is now up on the site, so after you see these images go and check out the rest.

Copro Nason Gallery

One of the shows that I have been waiting to see for the past few months is the upcoming solo exhibition of Chris Mars. The show, In Preparation of Barrier Transcendence will take place at the Billy Shire Fine Arts this coming December 12th and will run until January 2nd 2010. As Chris states in his bio ““It is my intent to instigate the viewer to look beyond surface attributes be they attributes of my paintings or of society at large. I seek through my work to break down the tendency that exists to prejudge and to move away from xenophobia..” One of the things that draws me to Mars’ work is that he doesn’t shy away from the social and political issues that we are currently dealing with. Art is an effective way of showing the viewer what the world around them might actually be like, the truths no matter how scary they might be. Creating imagery that is so enjoyable to look at makes digesting these truths effortless. The show has over 20 paintings, a nice variety of larger and smaller 9″ x 11″ portraits, one of which entitled “The Upriser” (shown first) reminds me of the iconic photograph of Sharbat Gula on the cover of National Geographic in 1985. I am a big fan of his smaller portrait work, and do hope that he one day decides to release a limited edition run of one of them.

Check out the full show here: Chris Mars @ Billy Shire Fine Arts

Coming this Saturday, December 12th to the Jonathan Levine Gallery is the latest show exhibition from Audrey Kawasaki entitled “Hajimari. a prelude.” The show will feature 20 new works and from the preview images Audrey posted on her blog, this is going to be an amazing show. A majority of the work looks like she has continued with some of the more “filled” works such as those seen at show at Copro Nason a while back. I was also happy to see some of the more erotic works of hers making a comeback. She has a very elegant way of adding a little eroticism without it seeming trashy. One of the preview shots as seen below, features some skeletal and anatomical figures, which I was very happy to see. Looking at her graphite and oil works, one can see that Audrey has keen understanding of the figure and her unique style of displaying them is what makes her art so addicting.

Head on over for a full look at the preview images: Audrey Kawasaki Preview

Opening this Friday, November 13th Lebasse Projects will open two very exciting shows. “Natural Wonders” will take place in the main room and features art from James Roper, Jeremy Asher Lynch and Kevin Taylor. In the project room will be “Hollywood Ambassador”, a solo show of works by Eric Davison. I’m posting the statements for both shows after the jump, they give great insight into the goal of these works.

I really love the idea behind James Roper’s work. The contrast of the color explosions with the beautifully rendered figures in graphite looks amazing. Each figure in the series of “The ecstasy of…” is dedicated to a porn starlet, but the identity is really only known by the name that is given. In this respect I think the viewer focuses more on the energy in the piece, as opposed to “who” the painting features.
I was also very taken with the series by Eric Davison. All of the works are watercolor and ink on paper, and man does he know how to rock those watercolors. The content on of the paintings in a way can be depressing, but with the skill and execution of the work the artist has given these people a very dignified presentation.

For the full preview of the show, head on over to the gallery: Lebasse Projects