MacArthur b arthur is pleased to announce Top Ten:
Casey Kasem, Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Forbes all had “Top” lists that created the sense that if you made first, second or third, when you grew up your name might be in a Top Ten. At the same time the authoritative voice of mass media was being diluted by ubiquity, David Letterman was applying the top ten list to pop trivia, chipping away at it through Irony. It eventually lost all authority.

Reading wRiting and aRithmetic, and neatly ordered rows of folding top desks were part of the idea that life should have a regular order- and the Top Ten list used to be about success within that order. On April 2nd at MacArthur b arthur 10 artists will turn order on it’s head and give authority to the idea of Top Ten once again. Their lists might not be a competition- all 10 items could be a number 1. The list does not have to be a list- it can be any 10 units of light, time, space or words.

Artists:
Andrei Boutyline
Kevin P. Clarke
Beth Alice Cook
Erica Gangsei
Lori Gordon
Carrie Hott
Colter Jacobson
Ashley Neese
Zachary Royer Scholz

OPENING: Friday, April 2nd : 6-10pm
EXHIBITION: April 2nd to April 30th, 2010
Curated by Kevin P. Clarke

LOCATION:
MacArthur b arthur
4030 Martin Luther King Jr Way
Oakland CA
94609
http://www.kevinpclarke.com/projects/macarthur-b-arthur

APRIL GALLERY HOURS: Wednesdays, 5-10pm and Sundays 1-6pm and by
appointment. t: (510) 219-0774

Show Runs April 2 – May 15, 2010

Reception on April 2, 5-8pm

Johansson Projects presents The Velveteen Order, where powder and paint mask flesh in favor of fiction, serving up Rococo thrills yummier than brioche.  

Christina Corfield crafts moving dioramas which flaunt the brush of a gaze and the stroke of a sword. Her videos hyperbolize the Old Regime’s pretend-sion, ignoring distinctions between historical documentation and fairy tale musings.  Redundancy and stripped down actions append significance to the subtlest minutiae.  Keer Tanchak’s aluminum glamscapes, which mix 1800’s lackadaisical malaise with the 2000’s self-awareness, quietly invite circumspection of modern wealth and frivolity. Tanchak’s exploitation of Old France’s artificial flavoring sweetens the modern epidemic dubbed “bourgeois ennui.” With seductive visuals and witty commentary, absolutism was never so liberating.

A 2003 MFA graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Tanchak completed her BFA at Concordia University in Montreal in 2000.  She has exhibited extensively in Canada and the USA as well as London, Kuwait, Puerto Rico and Mexico City.  Tanchak has received recognition and acclaim from publications such as UR Chicago, Montreal Mirror, and Vie Des Arts.  Christina Corfield received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute along with a BA from the Glasgow School of art in 2003.  She has exhibited in London, Glasgow, San Francisco, Berlin, and Chicago and her work has been written about in The Sunday Times and The Glasgow Herald.

KAGAMI

work by Kana Tanaka

Kana Tanaka, Mirror Surface, detail

April 2 – May 15, 2010

Art Murmur opening: Friday May 7, 6-9 PM

KAGAMI (“mirror” in Japanese) includes an extensive range of Tanaka’s beautifully executed glass-based artworks.  Tanaka’s works draw attention to the nature of light, glass and the interplay between them, as well as to our own perception of light’s dynamic presence and effects.  Mirror Surface and Morning Dew are site-specific installations comprised of numerous suspended glass droplets or spheres. They represent one of the unique directions this innovative artist has explored and for which she has become recognized over the past decade. In these mesmerizing works, she uses glass in unlikely and sometimes seemingly impossible ways, such as mimicking raindrops or filament.

Winter Night Sky is comprised of simple materials with a magical result. Glass fragments on a sheet of mirror are arranged and lit in such a way that a mirage-like image of an angelic figure appears on the walls of an otherwise dimly lit space. In smaller wall-mounted sculptures Aqueous and Petal Stream, Tanaka isolates sculpted glass forms within rectangular Plexiglas and mirror panels. Even these discrete objects encourage the viewer’s physical interactivity by offering changing reflections from various perspectives.

In addition to presenting these studio explorations, images and models of Tanaka’s large-scale public art projects will be on view. The Spirit of Camelback was commissioned for the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts in Scottsdale, AZ. This glass and fiber optics wall installation inspired by the region’s topography, extends from the building interior to exterior, creating an intriguing constellation-like element at the entry. Optical Streams Part 1 & 2 is installed on the children’s activity deck at the Lafayette, CA Library and Learning Center. In this outdoor project, Tanaka incorporated dichroic glass disks suspended overhead that cast colored shadow patterns on the deck below and portholes in which glass optical lenses invite children to examine the distorted reflections of their surroundings and themselves.  These are just two examples of Tanaka’s unusual ability to translate fascinating discoveries of the controlled studio/gallery environment into the public realm.

During a week long residency at MacArthur b Arthur the Social Evolution Research Gang will present The Friendship Centre. This Centre will serve as a place for people to share stories, relax, hangout and create projects together. Over the course of the residency SERG hopes to connect with Bay Area residents in a variety of fun and meaningful ways.

The Social Evolution Research Gang (SERG) explores numerous aspects of art and life. As a research gang, they are interested in the small, intimate nuances of daily life: napping, lunch, daydreams, love letters and reading – these social fragments are examples of what they investigate. Oftentimes the moments which are inherently important, in order for life to have a sense of completion and fulfillment, are frequently the ones taken for granted and allowed to fall by the wayside. Working as unconventional researchers, SERG artistically examines daily life in contemporary society.

Current schedule of events:

** Pease note: Attendees for the Closing Event/Slumber Party must please RSVP here: weareserg@gmail.com.

Sunday March 21: 5-7pm, Tea and Letter Writing Workshop
Monday March 22: 12-5pm, Ongoing activities/projects
Tuesday March 23: 7-9pm, Reading
Wednesday March 24: 7-9pm, Record listening party
Thursday March 25: 12-5pm, Ongoing activities/projects
Friday March 26: 9-11am, Breakfast and 7-10pm Off to the Movies (Movie info TBA)
Saturday March 27 (Closing Party): 8pm – 8am, A Slumber Party and Documentation of the Friendship Centre

Ongoing activities/projects: Friendship Bracelets, Napping, Letter Writing, Spirograph Drawings, Reading, Drinking Tea and Listening to Records.

For more information please email us! weareserg@gmail.com