artspot

FINDS! THE UNUSUAL OBJECT

2012-01-27T17:47:00.000-08:00

Fellows of Contemporary Art

Invites you to

Finds! The Unusual Object

The Fellows of Contemporary Art
Curator’s Lab Exhibition presents

Curated by Joshua Aster and Kristin Calabrese

FOCA Gallery February 18 - April 21, 2012

Opening reception:

Saturday February 18th, 6-9pm

Looking around, we’ve noticed a lot of group exhibitions organized in various ways that are not the way this exhibition is organized. The artists in this show all make work that is unusual, even when considered within all the possible objects artists make, which are usually unusual. These artists lift content from wildly divergent sources and fuse them into entirely different and new, whole art objects. Their individual concerns have informed the decisions that have forged their artwork in a way that is similar to a tree that has to grow around a fire hydrant.

Juan Martin del Campo Jr.’s glass objects are a reaction to his Catholic upbringing in suburban Los Angeles. He uses glass to transform light into interpretations of his thoughts and ideas. Iconic cultural elements, like images from vintage pornography, phrases from pop culture, and portraits of his personal superstars, are taken out of their context and transformed into moments of enlightenment.

Linda Stark’s emblematic paintings look embossed, almost scarred onto canvasses with paint (applied over time with tiny brushes), the texture resembling some sort of mold making process.

Joyce Lightbody plumbs the depths of thrift stores to find old cookbooks and coffee table travel books. Like a hippy Martha Stewart, she uses the images to obsessively decorate folders, which she then uses in her day-to-day life. Every surface of everything is decorated, like living in an impressionist painting, where the dabs of paint are objects and words. A dried glue circle, a cube of marble, a shiny stick, and things that she’s covered with stamps are all raw materials, like a painters’ palette. She writes phrases on her objects in phonetic spelling, such as “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

One of the defining concerns of Holly Lane’s work is the framing of artwork, how it’s usually something that contains the work but is not the work. This caused her to incorporate the frame into the artwork, which, over time, has become as important as her paintings within. She intricately carves elaborate, tiny frames that contain classically painted, often metaphorical paintings that refer to the nature of the human condition as well as the important issues of today, including global warming and feminism.

Chris Finley and Anna Simson are married. They are both artists. They’ve been working in the same studio recently and have started to make work that responds to one another’s work, almost in a collaborative way. Chris uses all sorts of found objects and does things to them like wrap them with thread, organize them in boxes, carve them, and cover them with other found and decorated objects. His process is something of the artists’ way of thinking unleashed from any overarching idea other than obsessive art making. Anna’s part of their effort is a more traditional painting, except it’s made with fabric and based on a drawing that she and her stepson made. About their work for this exhibition, Anna writes, “If our artworks were a band, I think of Chris’s piece as the lead singer and mine as the wall of sound behind it.”

Jeni Spota blends traditional religious painting with a built up, almost sculptural surface. She paints dozens of characters through a dense application of oil paint.

Mark Babcock makes drawings on the computer (in photoshop) and prints them onto bi-axially oriented polystyrene plastic that he shrinks in the oven. The finished objects are gorgeous little lumpy paintings that fit in the palm of your hand. They are attached to the wall with neodymium magnets.

Francesca Pastine combines journalism (ARTFORUM magazine), sculpture (cut ARTFORUM), and drawing (The act of cutting is like drawing with an X-acto blade) to make startling objects that no longer function as anything other than art.

Marcia Binnendyk’s ceramic decorated concrete chair sculpture is sheer joy. We wanted it for the show because we thought it would ground the exhibition. It’s meant to be sat on. Other objects in the show are interactive as well. Joyce’s folders may be looked through and/or purchased for $25 each. With the help of the gallery attendant, Chris Finley’s sculpture can be taken apart.

Building on FOCA’s investment in publications, we have created an 81-page color catalog that can be ordered in print form from lulu.com for $20.50 or downloaded for free. We think of this catalog as both a companion to the exhibition and as an exhibition in itself that can be carried in a backpack or given to a friend. Here’s the link to the catalog: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/finds-the-unusual-object/18811501

There will be an informal artist talk on Saturday March 24^th from 2 – 5 pm

Artists Anna Simson, Chris Finley, Joyce Lightbody, Linda Stark,
Marcia Binnendy, and Mark Babcock will be present.

"FINDS THE UNUSAL OBJECT" Catalog

2012-01-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

Click here to purchase a catalog to FINDS: THE UNUSUAL OBJECT:

AQUA MIAMI 2011

2011-11-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

My work will be at Aqua Miami 2011. Yeah!

FINDS THE UNUSAL OBJECT at FoCA in LA

2011-11-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

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

2011-09-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

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

++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

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

2011-07-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

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

watercolors

2011-04-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

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

NEW WORK!

2011-04-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

three new artforum pieces done April 2011

DAGBEELD BLOG

2011-04-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-04-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

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

the flop box

2011-03-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

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

Art Buisness photos of Opening at Harwood

2011-03-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

Opening photos.

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

2011-03-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

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)

2011-03-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

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

2011-03-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

kenneth baker review in the chronicle

more on scope

2011-02-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

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

Installations views of In the Dark: Three Considerations

2011-02-23T14:23:00.000-08:00

DRAWING CENTER VIEWING PROGRAM

2011-02-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-22T21:54:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

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

Review of Fresh Work

2011-02-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

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]

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Related Events

Fresh Work @ Kala Gallery and Art Institute
- Through Feb. 19

In the Dark:Three Considerations

2011-02-10T20:28:00.000-08:00

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

blast from the past

2011-01-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

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

New American Paintings

2010-12-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Coast Issue of New American Paintings , which features my work and is curated by Larry Rinder, is now on the news stands.

art exhibit at the whitney (just silly)

2010-11-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

my dad's railroad drawing

2010-11-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

shadow shop link

2010-10-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

shadow shop blog page

URBAN CUTOUTS

2010-10-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here is my project, Urban Cutouts, that will be included in Shadow$shop in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Artwalk NY

2010-10-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

My work will be in Artwalk NY 2010

CO-CHAIRS

ALEC BALDWIN

RICHARD GERE

CAREY LOWELL

Invite you to the

SIXTEENTH ANNUAL

ARTWALK NY

JAMES ROSENQUIST

ARTIST HONOREE

GAIL & AL ENGELBERG

PHILANTHROPY HONOREES

Presented in collaboration with

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010

LIVE & SILENT AUCTIONS | COCKTAIL PARTY

SKYLIGHT STUDIO | 275 HUDSON STREET | NEW YORK CITY

6:30 PM SILENT AUCTION | 8:00 PM LIVE AUCTION

View Artworks in the Auction

Purchase Tickets to ARTWALK

New American Paintings

2010-08-18T13:03:00.000-07:00

My work will be published in the next Pacific Coast edition of New American Paintings.

capitalism is over.... if you want it

2010-07-12T15:59:00.001-07:00

I participated in Capitalism is Over... If you Want it on July 23 at 3:00, on Market Street in SF. Recently I have been reconstructing Section A of the New York Times, the above piece "Blackout" is the finished product of the "Action." It was recently shown at Eleanor Harwood Gallery in the exhibit, In the Dark: Three Considerations.

List of Images:Blackout, Section A, graphite on New York Times (very top: this piece was the result of the action);
(above) Erased, Section A of The New York Times;
(middle) Who's in Control: Advertisements excised from Section A of the Times;
(bottom) Red Ink, cut Section A of the Times, red marker, fishing line, acrylic rod.

Kala Fellowship Honorable Mention

2010-07-12T13:52:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that I recieved the Kala Fellowship Honorable Mention and I am looking forward to progressing my work using the facilities at the Kala Institute.

Unbound: A Brief Survery of Book Art

2010-07-12T13:43:00.001-07:00

I am in an exhibit at the Bedford Gallery that opens on July 15 between 6 and 8pm: Unbound: A Brief History of Book Art

Unbound
A National Exhibition of Book Art
July 11 - September 19, 2010

Sir Francis Bacon said, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” The artists in our summer exhibition Unbound: A National Exhibition of Book Art have other ideas in mind. This show features 65 artists who tear, paint, puncture, and sew the pages, covers, and spines of books to create new two and three-dimensional works. Some of the artists recreate the book form in ceramic or fabric and others create one-of-a-kind books that pop up, fold out, or hang on the wall.

Regardless of the popularity of the electronic book, Kindle, iPad, etc., the traditional book form of paper between covers has a protected place in the hearts of readers. The book has been the body of human thought for many centuries and those who cherish the written word also cherish the book. Many artists in Unbound have produced books that are creatively hand-built and bound, while others have embraced the book as medium to repurpose its shape and content into meaningful objet d’art.

Although the work in this show is extremely diverse, the artists all seem to be borrowing the intimacy and profundity of the book into their personal works. At times the objects might be barely recognizable as book parts, but they still provoke nostalgia for those portable, private companions we love to hold in our hands. Unbound includes artworks in every media from drawing, painting, and printmaking to ceramics, photography, and video.

Bedford Gallery presents Unbound concurrently with the grand opening of the new Walnut Creek Downtown Library. The library will house several art works purchased and commissioned by the city including Christian Moeller’s Portrait in 12 Volumes of Gray, Marta Thoma’s Journey of a Bottle, and other works by Lorene Anderson, Jennifer Bain, Amy Blackstone, Catherine Courtenaye, Guy Diehl, Don Farnsworth, Sheila Ghidini, Peter Goldlust, Susie Grant, Joyce Hsu, Norie Sato, Gina Telcocci, and Peter Tonningsen. Guided tours of the library art will be offered by Bedford Gallery docents beginning in July. The Walnut Creek Downtown Library opens to the public with a celebration on Saturday, July 17th.

- Carrie Lederer, Curator of Exhibitions

This exhibition has been generously funded by a Lesher Foundation grant and Diablo Regional Arts Association. Thank you as well to our media sponsor, Contra Costa Times.

artists

Kim Anno • Richard Baker • Kelly Ball • Cara Barer • Michael Bartalos • Tony Bellaver • Doug Beube • Squeak Carnwath • Macy Chadwick • Julie Chen • Sas Colby • Claire Dannenbaum • John DeMerritt • Carl Dern • Marie Dern • Lauren DiCioccio • Arián Dylan • Marcel Dzama • Daniel Gonzalez • Susannah Hays • Lisa Hasegawa • John Hersey • Charles Hobson • Lisa Kokin • Richard Lang • Hung Liu • David Mamet • Mary Marsh • Emily McVarish • Tucker Nichols • Abner Nolan • Catie O'Leary • Lisa Onstad • Francesca Pastine • Pamela Paulsrud • Nora Pauwels • Emily Payne • Stan Peterson • Nigel Poor • Maria Porges • Laura Raboff • Ehren Reed • Jim Rosenau • Luz Marina Ruiz • Ed Ruscha • Dickson Schneider • Ward Schumaker • Nancy Selvin • Tim Sharman • Richard Shaw • Helen Stanley • David Stein • Inez Storer • Travis Summerville • Erin Sweeney • Robert The • Peter & Donna Thomas • Andie Thrams • Jina Valentine • Andy Warhol • Allison Weiner • Gail Wight • William Wiley • Alison Yates

IMAGES FROM MANIFEST GALLERY EXHIBIT

2010-06-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Review in the Shepherd Express, Milwaukee

2010-05-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Dean Jensen Gallery, located near the theater district on Water Street, presents “Big Bangs, Small Bucks 2”

By Peggy Sue Dunigan

This eclectic exhibit displays a variety of mediums from artists all around the world, including Ireland, the Netherlands, France and Sweden, as well as stateside artists from Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, along with several Milwaukee favorites.

Erie, Penn.’s Suzanne Proulx sends an intriguing sampling of her inventive sculptures in the form of Dust Bunnies. Seven life-size bunnies, each with its own personality and carefully constructed from dryer lint, wire and thread, come to life in Jensen’s front window. On another table Proulx casts 14 evocative hands from new and used soap resembling marble. All of the hands have been modeled from people in her own family, including a newborn’s tiny fingers. In a separate work close by, Proulx presents baby birds wriggling from oranges in realistic sculptures titled Hatchlings, another artwork that tweaks the familiar into fantasy.

Paintings appear on the gallery walls with acrylics by Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design graduate Huey Crowley and watercolors by the Netherland’s Pi eter

Kusters. Milwaukee’s Santiago Cucullu and Kevin Giese provide unique watercolor and graphite images while San Francisco’s Francesca Pastine delicately cuts the mutual funds page from The New York Times. These fragile newsprint webs may be positing an opinion on financial success or ruin.

Jensen’s back gallery features a photographic essay worth studying. The alcove displays Susan Worsham (Virginia), Wendel A. White (New Jersey), Susana Raab (Washington, D.C.) and Wisconsin’s own Sonja Thomsen, who displays sensitive suites of miniature digital C-prints in shadow boxes.

The “Big Bangs” exhibit impresses and entices viewers with a wide array of celebrated artwork, regardless of whether the viewer is a casual shopper or serious art collector.

“Big Bangs, Small Bucks 2” continues through Jan. 30, 2010.

http://npaper-wehaa.com/shepherdexpress/2009/12/29/#?article=706955

2010-05-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

I am in a show opeining on May 28 at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio http://www.manifestgallery.org/about/schedule.html

GuideBook
Contemporary Collage and Assemblage

Creativity and cultural expression find sources of inspiration in surprising places, and within unexpected materials. One might say that the truly creative life is one lived in such a way that ordinary things, or those not commonly considered ‘artful’ are suddenly seen as being sublime. Certainly many types of art can provide a glimpse into this creative way. But works of collage and assemblage might do it best. So, with GUIDEBOOK Manifest sets out to assemble an exhibit which explores such work - an exhibit that may in fact serve as a guidebook to a creative, enlightened way of seeing and being in the world.

For this exhibit 207 artists submitted 470 works for consideration. Eighteen works by the following 13 artists were selected for presentation in the gallery and catalog.

Mary Snyder Behrens

Terrence Campagna

Brian Christensen

Jonas Criscoe

Alisa Henriquez

Janalyn Hubbell

M.A. Papanek-Miller

Francesca Pastine

Billy Renkl

Margaret Suchland

Cheryl Wassenaar

Margaret Whiting

Michelle Word

ICA Monoprint Marathon

2010-03-29T21:51:00.001-07:00

The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art held their Monoprint Marathon Auction Saturday. Above is my contribution.

Creative State, a video produced by SFSU for Depth of Surface

2010-03-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

Check out the video at the opening of Depth of Surface at San Francisco State University:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nQtE0J1wfs&feature=youtube_gdata

Untitled piece in Independencia

2010-03-20T23:02:00.001-07:00

Here is one more piece in the Interdependencia exhibit consisting of several New York Times pages, graphite, and erasure.

Detail:

LAB Auction

2010-03-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

My ArtForum Excavation piece, Pray, is in the Live Auction at the LAB tonight, so thinking of heading down there, but then again, it's always tough to see ones work on the auction block. http://www.thelab.org/events/426-auction2010.html

Interdependencia | Interdependence

2010-03-20T18:07:00.001-07:00

Here are Images from my Current Exhibition at the Mexican Consulate, Interdependencia | Interdependence:

Depth of Surface opening

2010-03-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

A Younger Me

2010-02-19T10:36:00.000-08:00

Me and my aunt Carol at the Legion of Honor, date unknown

Link to Non*Mart opening (scroll down to fine show)

2010-02-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.artbusiness.com/1open/images/11060943.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.artbusiness.com/1open/110609.html&usg=__bpngJnhNW8bJFZgvmCIY2Asssg4=&h=459&w=648&sz=54&hl=en&start=13&sig2=2wKNN9OzvJjrEXYJfClCNw&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=DnBCx-cgotQIQM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfrancesca%2Bpastine%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUS274%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1&ei=Fkh8S_-YDKjutAOg64XLCA

Interdependencia | Interdependence

2010-02-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

I am in a three person exhibition opening at the Mexican Embassy in San Francisco on March 11, 2010:

Depth of Surface

2010-02-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

I am in an exhibition opening February 27th at the Fine Arts Gallery at the San Francisco State University.

DEPTH OF SURFACE

Exibition dates: February 27 - March 25, 2010
Opening reception: February 27, 1:00 - 3:00
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 11 am - 4:00 pm

featuring the work of Northern California artists exploring the language of textiles through various media. The exhibition includes Julie Chang, Victor De La Rosa, Jennifer Ferré, Dustin Fosnot, Taraneh Hemami, Andrea Higgins, Ernest Jolly, Katie Lewis, Mung Lar Lam, Victoria May, Ali Naschke-Messing, Francesca Pastine, Anthony Ryan, Jeremy Chase Sanders, Lisa Solomon and Jina Valentine. Organized by the Fine Arts Gallery with Assistant Professor Victor De La Rosa, and presented in association with “Reinvention,” a national conference about surface design and contemporary textile art held on campus March 19 -24, 2010

The Fine Arts Gallery is located in Rm. 238 of the fine Arts Building on the main SFSU campus, 19th and Holloway Avenues, San Francisco. For more information, please visit www.gallery.sfsu.edu or call 415 338 6535.

Pollock Krasner Foundation Award

2010-02-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to my work on the Pollock-Krasner website:

http://64.124.30.150/html/artistresults.asp?artist=2883&testing=true

The Year in Food: 2009

2009-12-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

Considering that I lost my sense of taste for six months, stopped eating, and almost wasted away, I still managed to pack a lot of good food in this year. Here are some good food moments saved through the miracle of digital photography:
Thanksgiving antipasto:

Simple but good:
scallop, Brussel sprouts and fresh languini

Leonie putting together a snack of Maple Honey Carmel Spread, parmaggiano reggiano cheese and perssimons:
More antipasto, Albert's specialty. He likes to say that he didn't go to five years of art school for nothing:

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup: The beginnings of a really good gnocchi

interesting link

2009-12-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

found an interesting blog that featured my work: http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:KDX_JNtsZX8J:www.designboom.com/weblog2/index.php%3F%26start%3D120%26num_record_tot%3D204+francesca+pastine&cd=202&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

auction

2009-11-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Apparently, my art was just put on the auction block and sold for over the estimated price. Found on http://www.artdaily.org/

LOS ANGELES, CA.- Bonhams Butterfields’ Made in California auction on November 17, 2009 did especially well, signaling that the market for California art remains strong. Regardless of the auction’s regional theme, telephone bidders from around the globe vied for works by the golden state’s leading modern and contemporary artists. The sale, which was simulcast from Los Angeles to San Francisco, established world record prices for works Gregory Kondos, Raimonds Staprans and several other California artists.

Robert Graham’s "Neith" (Duke Ellington Figure) and Gregory Kondos’s "Beach Girl", exceeded pre-sale estimates and sold for robust prices. Neith, the top lot of the sale, brought $103,700 (est. $50,000 - 70,000), while "Beach Girl" sold for $51,850 (est. $10,000 - 15,000) and established a new world record for the artist at auction.

“The cover lot, "Beach Girl", by Sacramento artist Gregory Kondos created quite a stir. Bidders from the east and west coasts competed for the California beach scene. Excited bidders occupied the telephone lines in the San Francisco and Los Angeles salerooms. "Beach Girl" sold for $51,850, more than triple the pre-sale estimate, and established a world auction record for the artist,” said Holly Sherratt, Director of the Made in California Department at Bonhams & Butterfields.

Wayne Thiebaud’s "Third Street Avenue Store" also highlighted the sale. The oil painting from 1956 sold for $85,400. “'Third Avenue Store' was one of Thiebaud’s earliest paintings dedicated to consumer culture. The work was created in 1956 when the Pop Art movement was beginning to emerge,” said Sherratt.

Works by Ruth Asawa and Robert Therrien led the sculptural offerings. Ruth Asawa’s tied wire sculpture came from the collection of the family and sold for $42,700. Robert Therrien’s wall-mounted sculpture was exhibited at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 1984 and also sold for $42,700.

Bidders also competed for several works by Raimonds Staprans, Robert Arneson, James Weeks, John Altoon and Sam Francis. Arneson’s portrait of the artist William T. Wiley sold for $35,380 and Staprans’s White Top Boats from 1972 brought $39,650 – a new world record for the artist at auction.

The sale also included several works from the Heller Ehrman Collection. James Weeks Gallery Song Recital sold for $24,400 (estimate $15,000-20,000); Omar Chacón’s Asiatica sold for $4,880 (estimate $1,500-2,500); Francesca Pastine’s Spoondrift sold for $3,050 (est. $1,500-2,500).

“We were especially pleased that the property from the Heller Ehrman Collection sold at or above Bonhams & Butterfields’ presale estimates. Many of these artists were new to auction and we were pleased to see competitive bidding for their work,” said Sherratt.

Made in California auctions will continue in May 2010.

Group Show at Dean Jensen Gallery

2009-11-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

I am participating in the second Big Bang Exhibition at Dean Jensen Gallery. They will be showing work from my Spiderweb Project and Supermarket Cart Project. http://www.deanjensengallery.com/bb2_index.php

Pollock Krasner Foundation Award

2009-11-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

I have just been awarded a Pollock-Krasner Froundation Grant! http://www.pkf.org/

Auction at San Jose

2009-09-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am participating in the 29th Annual Fall Art Auction at the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Jose:

560 South First Street San Jose, CA 95113 tel (408) 283-8155 fax (408) 283-8157 http://www.sjica.org/index.htm

Exhibition: October 2 - October 24, 2009
Opening Reception: Friday October 2, 6-8 PM
Auction: Saturday October 24, 7 PM

NEXT Chicago Art Fair

2009-03-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that Dean Jensen Gallery in Milwaukee is taking my work to NEXT, an art fair in Chicago.

NEXT:
The Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art

More than an art fair, NEXT is a showcase for the world’s talents and an adventure in cutting-edge culture. An opportunity to redefine the relationship between art and its public, NEXT is a portal to seeing contemporary art in new, innovative, eye-opening ways. NEXT will include works from both commercial and non-commercial arts organizations--galleries, project spaces, art publications and key private contemporary collections from around the world.

NEXT will be located at:
The Merchandise Mart
222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, 7th Floor
Chicago, IL 60654

NEXT 2009 Opening Preview takes place Thursday, April 30

Show Hours:
Friday, May 1, 11am - 7pm
Saturday, May 2, 11am - 7pm
Sunday, May 3, 11am - 6pm
Monday, May 4, 11am - 4pm

New Work

2009-03-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is a new piece from my Spiderweb series. The webs are cut from full sheets of financial section in the New York Times. They measure 22" x 13.5"-- below is a detail:

Opening at SFMOMA Artists Gallery

2009-03-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

SFMOMA ARTISTS GALLERY
FORT MASON, SAN FRANCISCO
SOLO EXHIBIT OF ARTFORUM EXCAVATION SERIES

Above, I am walking into The Artists gallery at Fort Mason for my opening. Albert was assigned to take pictures, but once people started showing up he forgot. He did get some installation shots below.

SFMOMA ARTISTS GALLERY

2009-02-23T21:38:00.001-08:00

click on the "Z" for details

Front + Center opening

2009-02-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos taking by Amy Wilson Faville of the opening at the Headlands Center For the Arts last Sunday. Above is Albert Carrying my coat. Below are some folks looking at one of my pieces:

Me and Leonie Guyer

Leonie Guyer and Mary King chatting as I rest in the only chair

Headlands Photos: Front + Center

2009-01-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

I went to the Headlands on Sunday to install one of the ArtForums. The light can be described as still. Like the Artforums, the galleries are a stratum of time and memory. I am very happy to have the work in that space. Kimberley Johansson curated the exhibition and, along with Jessica Brier, installed the show in creative and unexpected ways. Beautiful!

Urinals on the ground floor of the Headlands Center for the Arts

Interview by Christine Brenneman in the Marin Independent Journal

2009-01-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here is an Interview by Christine Brenneman in the Marin Independent Journal in connection with Front + Center at the Headlands Center for the Arts:
Working artist: Pastine focuses on physicality of objects
Christine Brenneman
Posted: 01/07/2009 07:16:07 PM PST

Francesca Pastine's ArtForum series of excavated magazines will be displayed at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito.
To hear local artist Francesca Pastine tell it, her artistic life began practically at conception. Her mother and father were both working artists, and her childhood was spent immersed in a milieu of paintings, sculpture, art studios and constant talk of the creative process. Pastine, a multimedia artist and painter, now lives and works out of her home in San Francisco's Mission district. There, she creates paper-based sculpture and realistic paintings, often using ordinary materials in her artworks.

This month, Pastine and 19 other California artists will be featured in a group exhibition, "Front + Center," at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito.

Each participant applied for the center's prestigious artist-in-residence program for 2009; though these applicants did not get the residency, their work was chosen for the annual kickoff exhibition, which showcases up-and-coming artists in a variety of visual media.

Four pieces from Pastine's ArtForum series of "excavated" magazines will be on display.

Q: There's an overarching theme in your work of calling attention to the physical nature of your materials - whether you're painting shopping carts used by the homeless, cutting snowflakes out of the New York Times or chopping into an ArtForum magazine. Can you talk about why that's important to you?

A: In those specific bodies of work, I wanted to work with things that were immediately at hand. I'm interested in the physicality and materiality of objects:
Advertisement
the object-ness of the shopping carts, for example, the piles of things, the ways in which they were covered and piled with blankets. That theme runs through, wanting to deal with what's at hand, things that I'm engaged with on a daily basis. With both the ArtForum and the New York Times, I like how the pages feel, and all those little peripheral marks on the edge of the pages. I'm interested in all of these things as physical objects.

Q: The hand of the artist, and clear evidence of that,
Francesca Pastine's ArtForum series of excavated magazines will be displayed at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito.
seems paramount in your work. Why?

A: I was very inspired by the women's art movement of the 1970s, which emphasized craft. I got into paper-cutting and paper crafts, and I liked cutting into them and trying to have the trace of my hand in the actual object. This brings the viewer to the present, into a richer experience of seeing. The viewer can have an embodied, visceral experience with the physical act of making when I bring that aspect forth. That's the reason I don't want to laser-cut them.

Q: Can you talk about the pieces you'll have in the "Front + Center" show?

A: There will be four of my ArtForum works (in which she cuts into the venerable art magazine). I consider them an archeological excavation, a dig. I'm digging through the current history of art making and stripping it and exposing it in a physical way, not an abstract way. The reason I was attracted to them was that they are square-shaped. A rectangle represents a portrait or landscape. But with a square, your eye kind of stops, it reads more as a real object.

Q: You teach art at the college level, and have done so for much of your career. How does that feed back into your own art practice?

A: I think it's important to get back to the fundamentals of art, to touch base with that all the time, so that you don't get too far into the conceptual realm. Through teaching, I go back to the reason that art's exciting for me in the first place. It's really gratifying to open up the possibility and potential of art on all levels. People get so much out of this experience; it's gratifying to see how people connect with creativity.

Q: What's your favorite color?

A: That I don't have - but I do love orange.

Q: What is your most prized art possession?

A: The art I have that was made by my parents.

Q: What's the most inspiring thing you see daily?

A: My first cup of coffee.

Q: What one word best describes you as an artist?

A: Dedicated.

Q: What you would do if you didn't make things?

A: There's really nothing else I can do. I'm hopeless at anything else.

IF YOU GO

What: Front + Center, a group exhibition guest-curated by Kimberly Johannson with featured artists: Francesca Pastine, Tamara Albaitis, Brice Bischoff, Todd Bura, Matty Byloos, Ajit Chauhan, Joshua Churchill, Lori Esposito, Mayumi Hamanaka, Taro Hattori, Rachel Mayeri, Jennie Ottinger, Erik Parra, Alison Pebworth, Tara Tucker, Paul Urich, Lindsey White, Noah Wilson, Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough and Ayelet Zohar.

Where: Headlands Center for the Arts, 944 Fort Barry, third floor, Sausalito

When: Noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and Sundays, Jan. 18 through Feb. 22. Public performance and reception Feb. 8, time TBA.

Information: www.headlands.org

Front and Center + Headlands Center for the Arts

2009-01-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

Here is an upcoming show that I am in at the Headlands Center for the Arts:

Front + Center

Francesca Pastine, Erosion, ArtForum Excavation Series, 2008, 10.5 x 10.5 x 5 inches

Date: 1/18/2009 - 2/22/2009
Location: 944 Fort Barry, 3rd Floor

An exhibition featuring new and recent work by: Tamara Albaitis, Brice Bischoff, Todd Bura, Matty Byloos, Ajit Chauhan, Joshua Churchill, Lori Esposito, Mayumi Hamanaka, Taro Hattori, Rachel Mayeri, Jennie Ottinger, Erik Parra, Francesca Pastine, Alison Pebworth, Tara Tucker, Paul Urich, Lindsey White, Noah Wilson, Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough, Ayelet Zohar

Headlands Center for the Arts is pleased to present Front + Center, a dynamic group exhibition featuring cutting edge artwork by California artists working in a range of mediums who applied for the 2009 residency program. After six successful years launching its residency season with an annual exhibition, Headlands, in collaboration with Kimberly Johansson, reimagines the show and calls critical attention to noteworthy California artists from the applicant pool.

Front + Center reflects diverse interests among contemporary, emerging artists at both aesthetic and conceptual extremes. While some of these artists embrace blankness, or the void, others relish the notion of horror vacui, or "fear of empty space," illustrated on the canvas, page or gallery wall. Others pay particular attention to Headlands' physical space, focusing on architectural surroundings as subject matter. Front + Center also traces a trend among some artists in responding to history; they borrow and freely remix tropes of Surrealism, Dada and traditional portraiture, seemingly in reaction to their art historical ancestors. Many revisit antiquated techniques and favor the low-fi over the high-tech. This fascination with history and its relationship to current artistic production again underlines the significance of Headlands as an exhibition site.

The exhibition's title is borrowed from the military lexicon, alluding to Headlands Center for the Arts' campus as a place of rich military history. Moreover, Front + Center reflects the position of Headlands as both historic and contemporary, off the beaten path yet central. While physically located in the hinterlands of the Bay Area, Headlands is at the center of creative innovation. At the core of Headlands' mission is the importance of promoting and supporting artists as cultural producers who actively shape the world. Front + Center supports this mission while showcasing a specific group of artists to kick off the new year.

Members Reception: Sunday, February 8, 1-2PM (Please RSVP)
Public Reception: Sunday, February 8, 2-4PM

Big Bang, Small Bucks at Dean Jensen Gallery

2008-12-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

I am participating in a show in Milwaukee this month at Dean Jensen Gallery:

Big, Big Bangs / Small, Small Bucks: An Exhibition for the Post-Bust Economy
December 5, 2008 - January 24, 2009
exhibition photos

Opening Reception: Friday, December 5 from 6pm - ?

Here is some of the work in the show:

Press!

2008-10-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

Following is a review of my Iraqi Casualty Series which is currently in Art of Democracy at the Meridian. Also reviewed are Enrique Chagoya and Fernando Botero. I found it on the KQED website: http://www.kqed.org/arts/performance/article.jsp?essid=23522

Art Review

Art of Democracy: War and Empire

By Jennine Scarboro | Oct 12, 2008

Politics are not subtle, political communication is necessarily fast, strident, and goal oriented. The best art on the other hand has a subtlety and an ambiguity that inspires contemplation and allows for multiple interpretations. I am very interested in the possibilities offered by the intersection of politics and art but, because the two practices are best formally presented in contradictory ways, it requires immense skill to balance the demands that each bring to a work. Art of Democracy: War and Empire at the Meridian Gallery had plenty of pieces that did not succeed, but among these I discovered works that did. As I looked I became aware that the work that most impressed me put art first and politics second.

The best pieces in the show are Fernando Botero's painting Abu Ghraib #54 and Enrique Chagoya's litho and Chine-colle codex The Ghost of Liberty. Both of these works exhibit the inspired formal mastery of their makers.

Botero's piece could at first seem to be an obvious illustration of the Abu Ghraib torture that horrified many in the US, and the world, in 2004. His painting however imbues the depiction with a sorrow and a livingness that invokes a powerful and different emotion from the one the photos evoked. As Kimmelman points out, "The photos of Abu Ghraib imply no outrage about what's happening. In fact, the intent of the pictures is precisely to compound the humiliation." These photographs of atrocities were taken by the instigators of the atrocities, and as a result our contemplation is focused on the barbarity of a viewer who will witness and record horrible acts without considering the humanity of his subjects.

In opposition to this, Botero's work forces one to consider the humanity of this narrative's subjects. His figures are fleshy. The tender squishiness of their flesh emphasizes the brutality by which this flesh has been damaged making us feel them as fellow humans that suffer. I feel empathy for the sorrow of their pierced flesh, for their forced blindness, for the bindings that cut into their soft bodies. In Abu Grhaib #54, two figures are bound together in a dark barred cell. The cell that contains them has a strange slanting perspective. The way this warped perspective slides us down and out of the picture destabilizes the space emphasizing a strangeness and horror that adds to the painting's power. The figures are sympathetic, the space, the situation in which they exist, wrong. There is something about hope here too, a distant hope implied by narrow strip of light glowing in the oppressive darkness beyond double sets of cell bars. The omnipresence of hope is necessary for survival of dire and mundane trauma, and this slender strip speaks to me of the resonance of hope in human experience.

Enrique Chagoya's The Ghost of Liberty differs in its approach both to content and to formal investigation. Rather than focusing on a specific event, Chagoya's piece is thematic. He creates a magical pastiche of oppression by giving us a sampling of "imperialist intervention" and "arbitrary exercise of violent power" as they occur in different places and at different times.

While Botero utilizes the compositional manipulation of space and a sensitive rendering of the figures that instills them with symbolic meaning, rhythm, scale, color, and image complexity are the formally compelling aspects of Chagoya's work. Jesus-headed dinosaurs, Chinese-baby astronauts, Mayan gods, and Buddha heads, are printed in brilliant hues and collaged into a landscape of changing conflict. His hybrid forms are as inventive and delightful as his subject, the omnipresence of cultural violations, war, and political violence. The tension that holds these opposites together results in a very exciting piece.

While I am most insistently drawn to work in which the formal qualities are most developed, occasionally a more conceptually focused piece will compel me. In The Past as Future, Habermas discusses what has happened, in the media, to depictions of war. He presents the idea that public opinion was affected by media images during Vietnam in a way that created difficulties for US politicians, and that as a result images of subsequent conflicts have been edited to reduce negative public opinion. Several more conceptually focused artworks intersected with these ideas in intriguing ways.

Francesca Pastine's pieces from her series Iraqi Casualty Series were the most interesting of these. Three pages from the New York Times had all the text blacked out with graphite, leaving only barely recognizable images of covered bodies, coffins with a sprinkling of dirt, and a stack of diamond rings. Again the formal qualities are important to the success of the work although the emphasis here is on how they are used to present a criticality interesting idea.

The density of the graphite darkness obliterates meaning, transforming information into unreadable black columns; censorship is an obvious implication and the resulting form speaks directly to ideas that our media, in this case the New York Times, is being edited obscuring truth as it reveals only partial events. The difficulty of identifying the imagery, which has had its surroundings erased by blackness, references the difficulty of comprehension when context is stolen from us.

I was happy to find work in this show, which both compelled me as art and allowed me to ponder political themes in interesting ways that standard political communication does not usually engage.

Art of Democracy: War and Empire is on display at the Meridian Gallery through November 4, 2008. For more information, visit meridiangallery.org.

14th Annual Artwalk NY

2008-10-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

I am participating in the above auction. I donated one of my watercolors of a homeless persons cart which I think is apropos.

Monday, November 3, 2008

ARTWALK NY 2008 takes place on Monday, November 3, and will pay tribute to the visionary artist Robert Rauschenberg. Now in its fourteenth year, we will join with returning Co-chairs Richard Gere and Carey Lowell to remember his unparalleled contribution to the world of contemporary art. All ARTWALK proceeds directly fund the Coalition's life-saving programs.

ARTWALK NY
Monday, November 3, 2008
6:30 PM - Silent Auction + Cocktail Party
8:00 PM - Live Auction
Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18th Street
New York City

ABOUT ARTWALK NY

Each fall, ARTWALK NY unites artists and art lovers in an effort to help our homeless neighbors, and to celebrate the most important artists of our time.

This year, the Coalition for the Homeless will pay tribute to the legendary artist Robert Rauschenberg. Now in its fourteenth year, ARTWALK NY has become one of the City's largest and most anticipated annual art auctions. The event will feature a silent and live auction along with a cocktail reception. Previous events have featured works from artists such as Donald Beachler, Chuck Close, Jenny Holzer, Zhang Huan, Jeff Koons, Glenn Ligon, Brice Marden, Yoko Ono, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, Sarah Sze, Juergen Tellerm and more.

Click here for the updated list of participating artists.

All proceeds from ARTWALK NY help us provide a safety net for the thousands of New Yorkers who arrive at our doorstep every month.

New Work

2008-10-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

IMPERMANENCE

2008-10-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Afternoon Stroll down Mission Street

2008-09-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

Paris Hilton at the Center for Contepmorary Arts, Santa Fe

2008-09-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

I just finished this drawing of Paris Hilton (28" x 36") for the show "You Know How I Feel" at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe which opens this October. I think I may work a little more on the right-hand side of the picture, but the face is done (maybe).

Sid Garrison's San Francisco Studio

2008-09-05T11:42:00.001-07:00

You can see Sid's work at: www.sidgarrison.com

Vierra and Friends

2008-08-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

If you want to know where to get the best hair cut in town, this is it. Vierra and Friends has a relaxed retro decor (new finds keep appearing at every visit;recently glass buoys showed up). Robert Service cuts my hair. I went through a lot of different salons before my friend, Ravenna Taylor, recommended Robert and I have not had a bad hair day since: no hiding under hats anymore!Vierra and Friends is tucked away in Cole Valley: 85 Carl Street, 415.665.9335.

We Be Sushi

2008-08-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

I never wanted to eat at We Be Sushi and have avoided it for years. I tend to eat at immaculately clean-looking sushi restaurants which has something to do, I believe, with an underlying nervousness about eating raw fish. These "immaculately clean" restaurants inevitably translate to spectacularly expensive. Regardless, last week I went with a friend to We Be Sushi and was surprised by its fantastic food coupled with its reasonable price. I went back by myself the following day for lunch (see above). As it turns out, I was also synchronously reading Yasunari Kawabata's Thousand Cranes at the time. Kawabata, by the way, studied to be a painter but published a novel at an early age and consequently became a writer instead. The book reads like a visual poem. The story of an ill-fated love affair is imbued with larger universal significance though the ageless beauty of the ceramic tea cups and bowls used in the tea ceremony.

Similar|Dissimilar

2008-08-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

"Spiegel im Spiegel" ("Mirror in the Mirror")

2008-08-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

I just heard a beautiful piece of music called "Spiegel im Spiegel" ("Mirror in the Mirror") by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt
played by cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Awadagin Pratt. This is an podcast I can't seem to access, perhaps you'll have better luck: http://saintpaulsunday.publicradio.org/artists/artist/index.php?ac=bailey_pratt.

Here is a review by Jane Palmer in the World-Herald, Omaha, Nebraska, April 2008:
Cello-piano duo enchant audience

Heavenly music briefly held an audience in rapt attention Tuesday night at the Holland Performing Arts Center.

Inspired by the clarity of sound in the Kiewit Concert Hall during the first half of their program, cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Awadagin Pratt changed their second half performance choice. They picked the emotional "Spiegel im Spiegel" ("Mirror in the Mirror") by contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

Notes hung in the air. The audience soaked them in as if they were gentle strokes of the hair and sips of luscious wine. Heads were still. Feet were still.

Compared to the complex Mendelssohn and Shostakovich compositions in the first half of the program, this Pärt piece for piano and cello was simple. The impact came from the way a single note, one finger strike on a single piano key for example, could convey a melody and resonate in the hall. The moment was simply perfect.

ordinary|extraordinary

2008-08-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sad frogs, sad dolls, and sad plants

2008-08-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

Sidewalk

2008-08-04T09:43:00.000-07:00

I did not realize that my camera was in film mode when I photographed a broken plate shard. I just went with it and continued filming the sidewalk. I attached a sound track , Six Pack, from the Dirty Projects, and kind of liked the results.

Guarino Guarini + miscellanious sightings

2008-08-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here is Guarino Guarini with his paws lined up:

This is the table setting for a dinner on July 27 at Jamie Brunson and Walter Robinson's place. I was happy to see my painting next to Jamie's on the far wall with Walter's cookie-God over us.Shoes:

Theodora Varney Jones studio in the Mission District

2008-08-02T12:21:00.000-07:00

Marta Sanchez-Vasquez and I had coffee, cookies & cantaloupe at Theodora's bright and infinitely interesting studio space.

Art Makes Such Weird

2008-07-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

ART MAKES SUCH WEIRD

This is an experimental film in the true sense (meaning I am playing around with a concept that may not be realized here.) I scanned the surface of the New York Times with my camera in movie mode blurring the text and images so that the structure of the paper reveals itself. The music is by Benoit Pioulard. It is a project that is still in progress. I have recently cut it down and I need to finesse the end.

Amplified Riley and Two New Invisible Women

2008-07-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is an ArtForum piece consisting of 35 ArtForums with Bridget Riley on the cover. Click on it to see the larger image size (which works better). Also below are two of my newest Invisible Women from my Invisible Women series.

ArtForum in progress

2008-07-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

I want to find this issue of ArtForum so I can recreate this piece. It's March 2001 and I used it in my "ArtForum 2001" piece (see below).

Dinner July 25, 2008

2008-07-26T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is our dinner with Isabel, Sean, Lucy, Theodora, Don and Marta. Menu: Borsht with sour cream; Antiqua pasta with a cream sage and tarragon sauce; lamb chops with mashed potatoes, gravy, and cucumber salad; custered or walnut ice cream and fresh fruit for desert. I also shot a short video of Albert putting the dinner together. (I will post recipes soon.)

Pasta Antiqua with Sage and Tarragon Sauce:

1 package of Antiqua pasta (long hollow tube pasta)
6 cloves of garlic sliced very thin
1 bunch of tarragon chopped
12 small sage leaves chopped
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup sauted Locatelli Romano Cheese
1/2 cup white wine (San Gimignano)
2 egg yokes

6 large mushrooms

Boil Pasta.

Slice and saute mushrooms in oil, set aside.

Very lightly brown the garlic in oil. Add white wine, tarragon and sage, then bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Beat egg yokes with 3 tablespoons of half and half and add 3 tablespoons of above garlic, tarragon and sage broth while still hot. Put rest of broth in egg yokes and stir continuously until well blended.

Pour over hot pasta and serve garnished with mushrooms and Romano and Locatelli Cheese.

Borsht with Sour Cream

3 medium fresh beets
2 medium yellow onions
3 carrots
2 cups chicken or beef stock
1/4 head of red cabbage
sour cream

Cut the cabbage in 1/4" widths and set aside.

Peel beets, carrots and onions. chop into chunks using a knife then put through food chopper (mine is a hand crank); put into a skillet and cover with stock then simmer for 20 minutes. Season to taste.

Add the cabbage and additional stock or water and simmer for another 15 minutes.

cool in the refrigerator for a day. Serve in bowls with a dollop of sour cream.

Lamb Chops and Mashed Potatoes with Clove/Rosemary Dressing

4 tablespoons of olive oil
6 large cloves of garlic sliced very thin
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
3 sprigs of rosemary finely chopped
1/2 cup of chicken stock
1/2 cup of white wine
2 egg yokes
3 tablespoon of half and half

Sauce:
Partially brown garlic in oil then add stock, cloves, and rosemary and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season to taste.

Beat egg yokes with 3 tablespoons of half and half and 3 tablespoons of above stock misture to eggs stirring continuously.

Slowly add egg mixture into the rest of stock mixture stirring continuously.

Lamb Chops:
Put cast iron pans in oven for 1 hour at 500 degrees. Rub lamb chops with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in hot pans and put back in oven. Check to make sure it's done.

Serve with mashed potatoes and sauce.

Nancy White's studio in Palo Alto

2008-07-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Nancy White's studio in Palo Alto

Domestic Sculpture

2008-07-07T15:45:00.001-07:00

This photo is from my continuing investigation of random domestic occurrences that carry the weight of sculpture.

Introducing Guarino Guarini

2008-07-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

This is my cat, Guarino Guarini.

July 5 dinner

2008-07-06T15:39:00.001-07:00

This is before our dinner guest (Robert and Kathrine Dunlevie, Lucy and Hugo Traeger, and Nancy and Larry White) arrived. Afterwards, I am too busy to take photos.

The Menu

-Tomato Soup
-Fettuccini with an Anchovy cream sauce
- Chicken Mole, Caramelized Carrots, and an Arugula Salad with caramelized red onions and sautéd red pepper slices.

RECIPES:

Tomato Soup with Zucchini:

8 roma tomatoes
half a can of Italian plum tomatoes
2 medium zucchini
2 cloves garlic
3 teaspoons of olive oil
1 cup of chicken broth
1 bunch of tarragon
salt
pepper
1 tablespoon of sugar

Peel zucchini and blend. Quarter tomatoes and sauté in pan until brown. Add sautéd and canned tomatoes to the zucchini in the blender with the garlic, chicken broth, tarragon, oil salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Reheat in saucepan. Serves six to eight.

Fettuccini with Anchovy Cream Sauce:
1/2 cup milk
1" butter from stick
2 tblspns flour
2 1/2 mashed anchovies
1/2 cup chicken broth
2oz holland goat cheese
shaved Locatelly (Ramano) cheese

Melt butter n sauce pan with flour adding butter if too pasty; brown stirring constantly. Add milk slowly stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until it forms a smooth sauce. Add anchovies, cheese and chicken broth as needed to create a smooth consistency. Cook fettuccini aldanté; toss with sauce and place on small plates, garnish with freshly grated Romano cheese flakes. Serves six to eight.

Chicken with mole sauce

3 chicken breasts cut into 1 inch square cubes marinated in white wine and garlic (3 large cloves) with salt and pepper.

sauce:
1/2 can of of tomatoes
1" square cube or more of chocolate
1/2 cup of chicken broth
10 sections of white peaches
6 cloves of garlic
2 tspns of paprika
salt and pepper to taste
4 tblspns of olive oil

Put all above "sauce" ingredients into a sauce pan and simmer for an hour or more, adding broth to control thickness.

Toss marinated chicken in a very hot pan with olive oil until brown cooking through. Place chicken onto plates and cover with mole sauce.
Serve with caramelized carrots and arugula and onion salad

Carrots: cut carrots with tops still attached horizontally in half, caramelized in brown sugar in a hot pan.

Onion Salad: caramelize red onions, roast red pepper strips and arrange on plate with arugala. Dress with an herb, olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Serves six to eight.

Opening at the Lab on May 28

2008-07-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Opening at the Lab of the Invisible Women, Iraqi Casualty and Artforum Excavations

I was happy to get a few good reviews. This one was in the SF Chronicle:

"Congratulations to Francesca Pastine for making Artforum involving again.

Decades ago, in simpler times, people actually looked forward to reading the magazine, when it served as the New York art world's journal of record. Since then, Artforum has followed the trajectory of the art market itself, retailing moneyed glamour and the atmospherics of contemporary art. Meanwhile, most of the intellectual substance has shifted to its outrigger, Bookforum.

Each issue of Artforum now boasts slab-like bulk and a power like kryptonite to drain the strength of any art professional who tries to face it.

But in an ingenious series showing at the Lab, Pastine has found in the magazine the makings of memorable art, by means connected incidentally to Villeglé's practice.

In "Artforums 2001: (Artforum Excavation Series)" (2008), she has meticulously carved a crater in a stack of 2001 issues. At one corner of the top cover - December - we can make out the remains of a tone-deaf banner: "Best of 2001."

The hole Pastine has cut in the magazines, stratified with color from their glossy pages, irresistibly brings to mind the physical and emotional voids left by Sept. 11 massacres.

In a related piece without obvious topical reference, she has cut an irregular hole - again looking something like a comic-book strip mine - into a single issue of the magazine, exposing a page apparently empty of all but a soft gray glow.

In two other series here, Pastine has selectively effaced pages from the New York Times to expose not very deeply underlying contradictions, such as the collision of values in advertising and war news or fashions' real and ostensible values to the women who model them and those who covet them." Kenneth Baker

housework

2008-04-04T12:29:00.001-07:00

I am cleaning house. I have moved the refrigerator and stove to clean under them, taken down curtains, and wiped down surfaces. I have removed and individually cleaned every light bulb in the chandelier. The house has taken on a crisp character which is heightened by the clear Spring day. Standing back and admiring my efforts, I suddenly feel my grandmother in the room; she is everywhere by virtue of cleanliness. The cleansed room infused with bright light has invoked my memory of the annual introduction of Spring through my Grandmother's household ablutions. I marvel at how the ritual of housework evaporated the threshold between the living and the dead.

supermarket cart photographs

2008-04-03T14:11:00.001-07:00

Here is a smattering of carts that I have been photographing with my cell phone.

work in Progress

2008-03-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is a piece in progress. It's part of my Artforum Excavation Series. I have cut small rectangles out of the disco ball painting on the cover of an Artorum magazine. I am now in the process of turning a page into a cut spiral and pulling it through each rectangle on the cover. It's a time intensive process and it takes me about five hours to pull through ten pages. The piece is less than half done. Some of the pages spiral out to about eight feet long! The spiral section should be very full by the time I'm finished. As you can see, I'm only pulling spirals through the bottom third pf the disco ball. I like the way the spirals cascade to the floor! You can see the piece on my desk as I work on it.

Sunday Bike Ride

2008-03-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

We went on a bike ride. The day was bright with a crisp wind, like one of those transitional days that have a residue of Winter bite in the air but with a joyous Spring light. We went East on 25th Street and over the overpass to Cezar Chavez, North on Illinois to China Basin, then West on Townsend. We had lunch at Atlas Cafe. I want to know where that guy got his orange crocheted-hat!

Corrections!

2008-03-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

I just want to let folks know that the photos and my comments do not match up on my first blog. I am still learning!!!

This photo is of me and Albert in Florence last Christmas. My image is doubled in a mirror and Albert is facing me and wearing a fedora. We are about to catch a train to Rome. We're having coffee in a cafe that is trying hard to be American hip.

Random Photos in the Mission District in San Francisco

2008-03-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

I am, at this moment, sitting in the dark. I have turned off my lights in observance of the "black-out" event to stave off global warming.Sadly, when I looked out the window I observed that most of my neighbors still have their lights on. Is it that I live in an ethnic neighborhood that is predominantly Hispanic? Nope. I noticed that all the yuppies who live in Bernal Heights have their lights on too. Apparently the event worked better in Sidney, Australia last year.

So.... I have a blog. I'm am now indoctrinated in the blogosphere. What to write about? Actually, what I think I want to write about is my amazing neighborhood. I've seen it all, including someone getting shot right in front of my house two weeks ago. The place is plagued with problems, nevertheless, I revel in it's eccentricities. I have been doing watercolors of the supermarket carts that them homeless people in my neighborhood carry around and thought this might be a good place to post them. People often leave furniture and mattresses in the streets (I have some interesting photos of those. In fact, I love the texture of the neighborhood, the poster-covered walls, the peeling paint, the odd detritus spewed about. Visually, you can't beat this neighborhood. Oh, I forgot to say where it is. It's the Mission district, 25th and Shotwell Street in San Francisco.

Ok. To illustrate how great my neighborhood is, here are a few photos that were taken during a typical afternoon when we walked a few blocks down to get chinese food. You can see me in the photo on the right holding my camera up to take a picutre in the mirror.

Nextdoor to the restaurant is this beautiful window. Inside, people are playing cards:

This is a new bar:

Then, on are way home we run into a procession of people bearing poles with a draped blanket and singing:

The Mission district in cloaked in the inexplicable encounter, the odd juxtoposition, and glimpses of the visual sublime.

artspot

FINDS! THE UNUSUAL OBJECT

"FINDS THE UNUSAL OBJECT" Catalog

AQUA MIAMI 2011

FINDS THE UNUSAL OBJECT at FoCA in LA

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

PAPERQUILT PROJECT AT BERKELEY ART CENTER

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

KALA FELLOWSHIP

watercolors

NEW WORK!

DAGBEELD BLOG

FLOOD BLOG

BLOGGED!

mu**see*um

review by DeWitt Cheng

curate

the flop box

Art Buisness photos of Opening at Harwood

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)

kenneth baker review in the chronicle, March 6, 2011

more on scope

Installations views of In the Dark: Three Considerations

DRAWING CENTER VIEWING PROGRAM

Scope NY 2011

In the dark opening

Review of Fresh Work

East Bay Express

The Works

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

Related Events

Fresh Work @ Kala Gallery and Art Institute

In the Dark:Three Considerations

blast from the past

New American Paintings

art exhibit at the whitney (just silly)

my dad's railroad drawing

shadow shop link

URBAN CUTOUTS

Artwalk NY

CO-CHAIRS

ALEC BALDWIN

RICHARD GERE

CAREY LOWELL

Invite you to the

SIXTEENTH ANNUAL

ARTWALK NY

Presented in collaboration with

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2010

New American Paintings

capitalism is over.... if you want it

Kala Fellowship Honorable Mention

Unbound: A Brief Survery of Book Art

IMAGES FROM MANIFEST GALLERY EXHIBIT

Review in the Shepherd Express, Milwaukee

ICA Monoprint Marathon

Creative State, a video produced by SFSU for Depth of Surface

Untitled piece in Independencia

LAB Auction

Interdependencia | Interdependence

Depth of Surface opening

A Younger Me

Link to Non*Mart opening (scroll down to fine show)

Interdependencia | Interdependence

Depth of Surface

Pollock Krasner Foundation Award

The Year in Food: 2009

interesting link

auction

Group Show at Dean Jensen Gallery

Pollock Krasner Foundation Award

Auction at San Jose

NEXT Chicago Art Fair

I am pleased to announce that Dean Jensen Gallery in Milwaukee is taking my work to NEXT, an art fair in Chicago. NEXT:The Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art

I am pleased to announce that Dean Jensen Gallery in Milwaukee is taking my work to NEXT, an art fair in Chicago.

NEXT:
The Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art