As X Approaches Infinity continues till January 10th. Krowswork will be open for the January 1st Art Murmur.

www.krowswork.com

480 23rd Street – side entrance – look for the sandwich board and hope to see you soon.

Article X
Featuring:
David Trautrimas + Kristina Lewis
Artist Reception Feb 5th, 5-8pm
Show Runs Jan 30th – March 20th

Johansson Projects presents Article X, where functional objects are removed from their usual contexts and placed in zones of ambiguity, absurdity, and anxiety.
Observe Article X, a peculiar specimen, removed from its natural habitat, on the verge of death or banality and given a new purpose by unknown forces. Photographer David Trautrimas dismantles and sculpts rusted household refugees—coffee pots, refrigerators, electric razors, oil cans and waffle irons—which are then digitally re-imagined as top-secret outposts. The Skunkwork structures are situated in Cold War landscapes, channeling the tangled relationships between militarism and consumerism. His experiments hypothesize the fictional origins of appliances and common household goods that defined the zeitgeist of the era. Kristina Lewis frees utilitarian objects from their allegiance to human agendas and gives the materials of our disregarded possessions space to evolve. Emancipated zippers, stilettos, and light switches (complete with their wiring), become indescribable relics that could be machine or animal. Reassembled high heels flaunt their insides: the grosthetics of metal bones, ragged flesh and skinned horns suggest the underlying torture of tottering on heels. Though we recognize the residuals of what was, her creations test the human urge to classify, ridding the shoes of their “shoeness,” as what we would normally recognize evaporates into the idiosyncrasies of its parts. 

Kristina Lewis

Earth Engines
Showing thru January 9th 2010
Featuring works by: Oliver DiCicco and Barry Underwood
Open for First Friday Jan 1st 12-9pm

Johansson Projects
2300 Telegraph Ave


In Earth Engines, the agency of the organic takes shape in staged photographs
and sound sculptures in which technology channels the earth’s electric complexity.

Barry Underwood

Sheila Ghidini, "A Conversation with a Crow"

A Thousand Ways to Kiss the Ground

Mari Andrews and Sheila Ghidini

February 5 – March 20, 2010

Opening Reception:  Friday, February 5  6 – 9 PM

Through careful observation, collecting and re-presentation, Mari Andrews and Sheila Ghidini honor both nature and the man-made.  Andrews gathers multitudes of leaves, stones, seeds, moss and other objects she finds on nature walks in the Sierras and elsewhere.  Working intuitively while surrounded by these specimen-like treasures, she singles out some, combining them with wire, pasta, pipe cleaners or paper to create sculptures she describes as three-dimensional drawings.  Either mounted on the wall or suspended, these delicate juxtapositions recall web-like structures, pods and other fundamental forms.  As in nature, each of Andrews’ works can be seen individually as a subtly complex whole, or it may be viewed as one unique element among a symphonic array of interrelated parts.

Ghidini is also a collector of natural objects and images, many of which she finds at her rural Connecticut refuge.  She closely observes roots, birds, feathers and nests, which she uses as subjects for sensitively rendered graphite drawings that she coats in beeswax.  The man-made is not excluded from these representations, for many bird nests actually incorporate bits of stray string, paper, ribbon, etc.  In Ghidini’s most recent works, she creates drawings directly on the wall and assembles with them found objects such as branches, a chair or an old tricycle to create vignette-like installations.  Encountering one of these is like discovering a succinct and evocative haiku.  Weaving together disparate elements, the works of Andrews and Ghidini invite us to rethink distinctions between drawing and sculpture and to reconsider boundaries between the natural and the manufactured.

Oakland’s Mercury 20 Gallery presents Elemental: New Work at Mercury 20, an overview of recent painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, drawing and mixed media by East Bay artists.

We are especially pleased to present the work of two artists new to the gallery: Patricia Gillespie and Dave Meeker, as well as the work of our continuing members: Julie Alvarado, Jo Ann Biagini, Eric Bohr, Margaret Chavigny, Chela Fielding, Aaron Geman, Peter Honig, Maya Kabat, Kathleen King, Tarra Lyons, Mary V. Marsh, Jill McLennan, Charlie Milgrim, Jamie Morgan, Mary Curtis Ratcliff, Laura Van Duren, Anna Vaughan and Joan Weiss.

The gallery is open Fridays 4-7pm and Saturdays 12-3pm. For more information 510-701-4620  www.mercurytwenty.com