AQUA MIAMI 2011

My work will be at Aqua Miami 2011. Yeah!

FINDS THE UNUSAL OBJECT at FoCA in LA

Upcoming Group Exhibition - Fellows of Contemporary Art

"Finds!" The Unusual Object
FoCA -Curator's Lab
Los Angeles, CA
Feb. 18 - April 21, 2012

Curators: Kristin Calabrese and Joshua Aster

Artists:
Mark Babcock
Marcia Binnendyk
Juan Martin del Campo Jr.
Chris Finely & Anna Simpson
Holly Lane
Joyce Lightbody
Francesca Pastine
Jeni Spota
Linda Stark

MY ARTIST TALK ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, AT KALA ART INSTITUTE

I AM GIVING A TALK ON MY WORK AT KALA ART INSTITUTE IN BERKELEY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, AT 7.PM

PAPERQUILT PROJECT AT BERKELEY ART CENTER

I am collaborating with artist Kathryn Van Dyke in the Paper Quilt Project which is opening at the Berkeley Art Center on October 15.

PAPER QUILT PROJECT: Collaborations in Contemporary Craft
October 15 – December 4, 2011

Opening receptions:
Saturday, October 15, 3-5pm – Traywick Contemporary
Saturday, October 15, 5-8pm – Berkeley Art Center

The Paper Quilt Project is a collaborative project conceived of by Bay Area artist Lena Wolff in partnership with other artists and the Berkeley Art Center. For the project, Wolff and BAC are inviting multiple artist teams from around the nation and the UK to create collaborative paper quilts around the theme of interdependence and inter-connectivity. The nearly 30 artists involved include celebrated paper cut artist and children's book illustrator, Nikki McClure, artist and feminist icon Tammy Rae Carland and sculptor and social practice artist Allison Smith among others. To learn more and to see a complete list of artists involved, please visit here.

A special addendum to this exhibition is an exhibition at Traywick Contemporary of work by exhibition curator Lena Wolff and several of the artists in the Berkeley Art Center exhibition. Entitled Visitors, this exhibition opening will take place just before the Berkeley Art Center opening and our membership and the general public are invited to attend both!

BAY AREA CURRENTS AT PRO ARTS IN OAKLAND

Bay Area Currents 2011

Selections by Julio César Morales

Exhibition: July 19 - September 2

Artists' Reception: Friday, August 5, 6 - 8 PM

Artists' Talk: Friday, September 2, 6 - 8 PM

Selected Artists

Matthew Cella
Pablo Cristi
Dana Hemenway
Julie Henson
Amy Ho
Emily Hoyt
Gregory Ito
Jeanne Lorenz
Cathy Lu
Fiamma Montezemolo
Francesca Pastine
Suzy Poling
Maggie Preston
Lisa Rybovich Cralle
Surabhi Saraf
Sunaura Taylor
Linda Trunzo
Chris E. Vargas

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Pro Arts
150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland
(at Oakland Art Gallery)
Phone (510) 763-4361
Fax (510) 763-9470

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Juror Bio

Julio César Morales is the Adjunct Visual Arts Curator at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. He is an artist, education and curator. His curatorial projects include the PAUSE II Practice & Exchange series at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and various exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Morales is also founder and co-curator for Queens Nails Projects, an artist-run space in San Francisco.

Press Release

KALA FELLOWSHIP

I am a recipient of the 2011 Kala Fellowship at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

watercolors

new watercolors that reflect the condition of homelessness in my Mission District neighborhood:

NEW WORK!

three new artforum pieces done April 2011

DAGBEELD BLOG

I was featured on Dagbeeld

http://www.digezine.nl/digezine/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3809:dagbeeld-789-francesca-pastine&catid=40:sea-hear-perviews

Tegenwoordig zien we weer geregeld het opnieuw toepassen van andermans werk of design in nieuwe creatieve uitingen, zoals dat overigens ook al jaren geleden opzien baarde (Marcel Duchamp). Bij Francesca Pastine komt daar in dit geval nog een extra tussenstap bij te pas - zij neemt namelijk oude exemplaren van ArtForum, een van de toonaangevende art-magazines die op grote schaal werk van kunstenaars publiceren, weer als basismaterialen voor haar papiersculpturen.

Door dan ook nog eens overduidelijk van 'For the Love of God', een fameus werk van Damian Hirst op de cover gebruik te maken voor haar intrigerende sculptuur is er in feite sprake van een drietrapsraket (of misschien wel meer trappen als we de uiteenlopende geruchten over de diamanten schedel mogen geloven.

Met deze via glamcult.com gespotte Francesca Pastine tonen we voor dit DAGBEELD een van onze favoriete media - papierknip- of snijkunst - ook weer eens op een heel andere manier dan we toonden van designers als Jerome Corgier en Yulia Brodskaya of bekende kunstenaars als Karen Sargsyan en Ton Zwerver welke laatste haar qua materiaalgebruik nog het dichtst benadert.

Het doorklikken naar het 'artforum excavations' portfolio van Francesca levert een aantal zeer mooie composities van re-re-used art op die allemaal ArtForum tijdschriften en Jaarboeken als uitgangspunt hebben. Meer werk van Francesca Pastine via de Eleanor Harwood gallery (o.a. 'Iraq casualties') of haar eigen website bearclaw.rexx.com

FLOOD BLOG

My work is mentioned on THE FLOOD blog.

http://ledeluge.wordpress.com/?s=francesca+pastine

http://ledeluge.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/art-blasphemous-cut-outs/

BLOGGED!

I've been blogged on Glamcult

"When I laid my eyes on this pieve of art, they kept looking for a while. After a few minutes they came to the conclusion that the work of FRANCESCA PASTINE is outstanding and has to be blogged. Stunning!

When Pastine noticed that ARTFORUM magazines were familiar fixtures in her friends’ home, she began using them for her work. Because of their glossy nature, nobody wanted to throw them away. While their sqaure format intrigues Pastine, she began asking her friends for their unwanted magazines.

She began using ARTFORUM magazines as a medium for her work. She started with the covers. She cut, bend, manipulate, pull and dig her way trough them, revealing a visceral topography of art trends."

Source // ArtForum Excavations

mu**see*um

It's amazing how horizontal the world is these days. Hurray for toppling hierarchies! Here is another blog, mu**see*um, that features my work.

"Francesca Pastine is good, really good, but her series “Iraqi Casualties” had us freaking out today. Some of the most beautiful lo-fi work we’ve seen in AAAAAAAGES made using some issues of the New York Times and a 9b pencil."

review by DeWitt Cheng

Here is a review of In the Dark by DeWitt Cheng in Visual Art Sources

http://www.visualartsource.com/index.php?page=editorial&pcID=26&aID=794

One of the first lessons in Drawing 101 class is that the “negative space” between objects is as important as the shapes of rendered objects. With the discovery of dark matter we might now nervously joke, whistling, that the visible universe is merely what is left over, excluded or extruded from the dark. That conclusion is partially verified by three artists — Joseph Bender, Francesca Pastine and Niall McClelland — who eschew color, preferring the blacker shades of dark. Once your eyes adapt to being “In the Dark,” the subtle joys of tone, texture and context become more important; and maybe your hearing improves, too. . .

Bender’s dark oils or oils/alkyds on 36 x 36” aluminum squares call to mind Ad Reinhardt’s 50”-square black cross paintings of the 1950s. “Addition is Not Subtraction” even employs the familiar cruciform composition; in other works, however, Bender is more severely reductive and monochrome — and ironic, considering titles like “Fabricator of Hidden Riddles,” “Where Dogs and Vultures Meet,” and, of course, “Crepuscular Predilection.” They vary in brushstroke and finish, if not in hue, asserting their materiality as we peer into their opaque “confrontational but contemplative” depths. Pastine works with printed newspaper and graphite in her “Iraq Casualty” series. New York Times cover pages from 2006 to 2008 are obscured with metallic 9B lead strokes, burying most of the type and imagery so that poignant slices of reality — body bags, coffins, a mourner — can expand to assume larger importance. In “Blackout, Section A Series,” she completely coats the paper, suggesting both censorship and mourning. McClelland’s “Tapestry” pieces are arrays of black page-sized rectangles with worn white creases, folds and puckers. They resemble astronomical charts without stars, or maps without geographical features, and reflect, darkly, both 1960s Minimalism and 1970s Process Art.

curate

Curate, a blog with a nice format, is carrying my work.

the flop box

I discovered that I am posted on The Flop Box blog: is that good or bad?

Art Buisness photos of Opening at Harwood

Opening photos.

Joe Bender, Niall McClelland, Francesca Pastine, In the Dark: Three Considerations, 2/12/2011 - 3/26/2011 at Eleanor Harwood Gallery - Happenstand

Joe Bender, Niall McClelland, Francesca Pastine, In the Dark: Three Considerations, 2/12/2011 - 3/26/2011 at Eleanor Harwood Gallery - Happenstand

Fanzine Does New York Art Week 2011 (day 4 finale) | FANZINE (Art)

Fanzine Does New York Art Week 2011 (day 4 finale) | FANZINE (Art)

"I can really only see two ways to approach the next fair I attended, Scope. There are galleries which make it work, who take what they are doing seriously and have preferential placement that allows them to function with a certain autonomy. And it’s a testament to the art, that it is strong enough to demand your critical attention. San Francisco gallerist, Eleanor Harwood does an utterly professional job showcasing Gareth Spor’s Dream Machine (inspired, of course, by Brian Gysin) and Francesca Pastine’s surprisingly solid sculptural landscapes, made from carved-out ArtForums. Station Independent, too, has a good go at taking this fair straight-faced, with Letha Wilson’s unique photographic work and Pierre St. Jacques’s adeptly produced videos."

kenneth baker review in the chronicle, March 6, 2011

kenneth baker review in the chronicle

more on scope

click here for more info on Scope New York-- and click here for even more ...

Installations views of In the Dark: Three Considerations

DRAWING CENTER VIEWING PROGRAM

I was admitted into the Drawing Center Viewing Program. I have not had time to edit the profile yet-- another task! But I did get five pieces framed and on the truck to New York for Scope. I also had my New York Times Mutual Fund Spiderweb piece laser Cut at Pagoda Arts, run by Alex Thompson. He did a fabulous job with it and I highly recommend him. I am posting the original piece that inspired me to do three multiples. I scanned and printed the mutual fund page on Japanese inkjet paper during my Kala Residency a few weeks ago and just now got around to taking it to Alex.
I originally took the web piece to another laser cutting operation since Alex was out of town for a few days. I realized things can go really badly with the wrong Laser Cutting operation. They destroyed my piece and charged me anyway!

Scope NY 2011

Eleanor Harwood Gallery is taking my work to Scope NY (check out the "Press Highlights" where my piece, Erosion, is featured on the Scope website). The gallery is also taking Niall McClelland, Renee Gertler, and Gareth Spor. Here are a couple new pieces I made for the Fair:

In the dark opening

Opening reception of In the Dark, Three Considerations: Joe Bender, Niall Mcclelland,Francesca Pastine; photos by Brent Hallard

Review of Fresh Work

East Bay Express

January 12, 2011 Arts & Culture » Visual Art

The Works

All you can consume and digest at Kala Gallery's group show.

By DeWitt Cheng

Art writers love chewing on big ideas probably as much as self-indulgent actors enjoy masticating scenery. Remember the 19th-century Fletcherizing fad, the mandatory chewing of food 32 times before swallowing? Big thinkers love those aesthetic/theoretical enzymes, and consequently approach big group shows, with their smorgasbords of miscellaneous offerings, with the trepidation of a gourmet in a mall food court. That's a poor analogy, of course (even discounting the occasional critical pig-out on mere spectacle): The artworks in group shows are or can be as piquant and tasty as the designer delicacies at any gallery or museum. Kala Gallery is hosting Fresh Work, a large show featuring 101 works in all media made by 97 affiliated artists, i.e., members, residents, and staffers, that sprawls across the main gallery into two hallways, an office/storage room, and a conference room. With so many participants it's impossible to list all the names, but art mavens will recognize many names here and discover new ones.

Scan the buffet. Pieces that may tickle your eye-brain palate include: Alex Benedict's digital monoprint abstraction on canvas, "Swarm"; Jamie Brunson's minimalist oil-alkyd painting, "Dome Stupa"; Jessica Dunne's text-and-image book on making surfboards, Craft; Angie Garberina's wood/bronze castor sculpture, "Head Examining Apparatus #2"; Ewa Gavrielov's semi-abstract digital print, "Absent and Present"; Stephen Holloway's mysterious lithograph, "The Third Body"; Josefina Jacquin's bold Pop silkscreen, "La Reina"; Theodora Varnay Jones' lyrical abstraction, "Indistinction #6"; Ellen Lake's witty breakup video, "Seaworthy," featuring a trio of Oakland's steel horses and "old good-timey country music"; Lisa Levine's digital print of natatory sine waves, "Swim #3"; Stephanie Metz's altered found object, "Pink Checkered Dress"; Gary Nakamoto's wry double-ringed sculpture about clogged beltways (?), "Geta 12C"; Francesca Pastine's art-magazine carving, "Artforum 21"; Joanna Poethig's serpentine acrylic landscape, "Slither"; Jenny Robinson's monumental industrial-site drypoint, "Gasometer #2"; Anne Ross' evocative black and white photo, "Shadow"; Ron Moultrie Saunders' digital print, "Dragonfly Wings"; Dickson Schneider's digital print, "Pink"; Maryly Snow's collaged landscape digital photo, "Oh, My California (Before) #3"; Inez Storer's mixed-media painting, "Patriotism"; Youngsuk Suh's wildfire series digital photo, "Bather at Sunset"; Elizabeth Tagliabue's photo diptych, "Pink Series #1"; Othmar Tobisch's surreal sumi ink landscape, "Sentry with Sleeping Woman"; and Mark Zaffron's etching/photo-etching, "Laws of Variation," with its legal-document background.

That's only 23 courses, and everything looks good. Fresh Work runs through February 19 at Kala Gallery (2990 San Pablo Ave., Oakland). 510-841-7000 or Kala.org

The WorksAll you can consume and digest at Kala Gallery's group show.

Kala Gallery [note to ellen: new location needs to be created for gallery at 2990 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, 94702, 510-841-7000, Kala.org]

Related Events

• Fresh Work @ Kala Gallery and Art Institute

  • Through Feb. 19

In the Dark:Three Considerations

My opening at Eleanor Harwood Gallery is Saturday, February 12.

blast from the past

I recently found this review on line from Beholding Beauty at the Bedford Gallery.