Chain Reaction XI
Exhibition Dates: February 12-May 14, 2010
Locations: Main Gallery, Grove St and City Hall

Since launching a quarter century ago, Chain Reaction (the 11th exhibition of this kind at the SFAC Gallery) mimics the format of a chain letter. For this Chain Reaction, ten artists will be selected by a group of advisors, curators and luminaries; those artists will then each choose an artist and then those artists will choose an artist. Works by thirty artists will be exhibited at our three locations: the Main Gallery in the Veterans Building, our window installations site at 155 Grove Street and our exhibition space at San Francisco’s City Hall. Chain Reaction 11 takes the pulse of the current Bay Area art scene and allows us to get inside the artists’ minds to see what they find most compelling.

The ten chains include the following artists: (Initial choosers are not exhibiting work.)

SFAC Staff – Anne Colvin – Ginger Wolfe-Suarez – Lordy Rodriguez

SFAC Advisory Board – Walter Logue – Alexander Cheves – Paul Clipson

Glen Helfand – Christine Wong Yap – Pablo Guardiola – James Tantum

Enrique Chagoya & Kara Maria – Justine Lai – Emily North – Angie Wilson

Desiree Holman – Joshua Churchill – Jasmin Lim – Cameron Soren

Judy Moran – Michael Arcega – Suzanne Husky – Amy Balkin

SFAC Gallery Window Installation Site at 155 Grove St.

Kamau Amu Patton – Chris Bell – Elaine Buckholtz – Floor Van Herreweghe

SFAC Gallery at City Hall, Ground Floor

Abby Chen –  Hui-Ying Tsai – James S. Kang – Scott Polach

Rupert Jenkins – Gabriela Hasbun – Karna Kurata – David Paul Morris

Kari Orvik – Robyn Twomey – James Chiang – Josh Kirschenbaum

Chains in Main Gallery at 401 Van Ness

Chain:  SFAC Gallery Staff – Anne Colvin – Ginger Wolf-Suarez – Lordy Rodriquez

The SFAC Gallery Staff selected Anne Colvin

(The SFAC Gallery full time staff consists of Gallery Director, Meg Shiffler and Gallery Manager, Aimee Le Duc.)

Anne Colvin is a Scottish artist known in the Bay Area for her work as a curator (TART, New Langton’s Colony Room, I Am Curious Orange at David Cunningham Projects, and her upcoming L@TE night series at BAM) and the publisher of the acclaimed journal Skank Bloc Bologna. With a long history of exhibiting internationally, Anne has had far too few opportunities to show her remarkable videos locally. We’re so proud to support her studio practice and share a recent work in Chain Reaction, which coincides with her participation in SFMOMA’s exhibition Long Play: Bruce Connor and the Singles Collection.

Anne Colvin selected Ginger Wolfe-Suarez

In Ginger Wolfe-Suarez's words she is 'an artist, writer, teacher and kind of organizer." I am interested in artists who come up against and break down boundaries within their practice. Through her studies in sculpture, text, performance and ephemeral events, one gets the sense that Ginger is engaged in an ongoing experiment rooted in a deep exploration of life and art.

Ginger Wolfe-Suarez selected Lordy Rodriguez

Lordy's work prompts us to re-imagine the criteria of our physical and social boundaries. Both witty, thoughtful, nuanced, and complex-  the work transgresses the space between real and imagined, inviting viewers to imagine a world unlike this one-within this one.

Chain: Judy Moran – Michael Arcega – Suzanne Husky - Amy Balkin

Judy Moran selected Michael Arcega

(Judy Moran is currently a Project Manager for the SFAC’s Public Art Program. She served on the SFAC Gallery’s Advisory Board from 2006 – 2008. In 1986 she exhibited artwork in Chain Reaction 2.)

I selected Michael Arcega for Chain Reaction because his artwork explores serious cultural issues with humor, elegance and hands-on dexterity. We are initially engaged by the unique beauty evident in his artwork; further scrutiny reveals deeper references with complex implications. I appreciate Arcega’s respect for the intelligence of his audience and I always look forward to seeing his next project.

Michael Arcega selected Suzanne Husky

I first saw Suzanne Husky's work at Southern Exposure in 2003. I was immediately drawn to the awkward representations of people, objects, and plants. I have been following her work ever since. Her subject matter is subversively political in nature. The charming objects distort the socio-political and environmental issues that trouble us. She transforms them into a poetic and surreal alternate that might be more truthful.

Suzanne Husky selected Amy Balkin

Amy Balkin's work 'combines cross-disciplinary research and social critique to generate ambitious ways of conceiving the public domain outside current legal and discursive systems.' Amy's work addresses issues, sometimes similar to those I work with, in ways completely opposite to mine.

Chain: Desiree Holman – Josh Churchill –Jasmin Lim – Cameron Soren

Desiree Holman selected Josh Churchill

(Desiree Holman was the 2005 recipient of the SFAC Gallery’s Construct Award. Her resulting solo installation Breath Holes, curated by Mary Ceruti, was accompanied by a catalogue.)

I chose Joshua Churchill because his work, especially the site-specific installation work, provides an experience that is beyond words for me. Though I'm aware of the technical craft involved, the deep, guttural, limbic sensation is what is so remarkable about his work.  It's pure experience.

Joshua Churchill selected Jasmin Lim

Jasmin Lim has the unique ability to create photographic works that function simultaneously and seamlessly as documents, sculptures, and actions. Her use of abstraction in the composition of her photographs is both thoughtful and poetic - through the process of re-photographing original images that have been distorted using light (to either highlight or obscure) or by folding or bending them, she achieves a dimensionality in her work that is not usually present in an ordinarily 'flat' medium.

Jasmin Lim selected Cameron Soren

Cameron Soren's work comes in codependent parts where meaning is produced in the conceptual space between pairs, drawing attention to how we understand things through a process of editing. The two parts are characterized by cultural reference, appropriation, and experimentation with form and material.

Chain: SFAC Advisory Board – Walter Logue – Alexander Cheves – Paul Clipson

The SFAC Gallery Advisory Board selected Walter Logue

(2010 SFAC Gallery Advisory Board members: Heather Holt Villyard (Chair), Noah Lang (Co Vice-Chair), Lauranne LoSpalluto (Co Vice-Chair), Marcus Keller, Mario Lemos, Alice Shaw, Ellen Shershow-Peña, Jessica Silverman, Brian Singer, Helen Wills and Robyn Wise)

Walter Logue seemed an ideal selection for the Gallery Advisory Board. His deceivingly simple work plays with humor, charm, text, symbolism and popular culture. Additionally, we felt like it was important to recognize an artist who has such a strong presence in the Bay Area art community, and has never exhibited at the SFAC Gallery. We were excited to see what artist he would pick to follow him in the chain, and were very confident that both Walter and his selected artist would each bring unique and vital elements to Chain Reaction.

Walter Logue selected Alexander Cheves

I’ve been a close friend and artistic collaborator with Alexander Cheves for over 10 years. I’m an admirer of his paintings and sculptures. I think he’s a brilliant and innovative colorist and has developed a lexicon of recurring shapes in his work that are enigmatic and emotionally moving. The pieces seem familiar yet strange, a eulogy for the slow disappearance of the rural farming based way of life in California’s central valley. Looking at his work makes me feel the way I feel when I listen to old Neil Young albums, a kind of sweet sadness that I ultimately

find uplifting and transcendent.

Alexander Cheves selected Paul Clipson

I chose Paul for his breadth of understanding and intelligence for and about art.  He makes lush films, articulated cinema sculptures and has the gift of collaboration. His willingness to go “there” artistically, and when “there” to stay cool, fosters a lot of respect.

Chain: Kara Maria & Enrique Chagoya  - Justine Lai – Emily North – Angie Wilson

Kara Maria & Enrique Chagoya selected Justine Lai

(Kara Maria and Enrique Chagoya are Bay Area artists that have each left their mark on the SFAC Gallery’s past. Kara Maria curated the exhibition The Meat Show in 2004 and contributed a limited edition print to the Commission ’02 fundraiser. Enrique Chagoya exhibited work in the following exhibitions: Great Gifts in Small Packages in1984, Chain Reaction in1985, Tableaux Vivant in1989,

Funny Show in 1989, When Borders Migrate in1998.)

We chose Justine Lai because her work contains both witty political content and a sly sense of humor. Justine was one of Enrique's best student's in Standford's undergraduate program. She is a skillful painter who shows great promise and deserves our support.

Justine Lai selected Emily North

I chose Emily because I was curious about trusting a virtual stranger. Emily and I emailed back and forth after she came across my work online. We've never met, spoken, or seen each other's work in person. But her JPEGs resonated with me, and as a relative newcomer to the scene, I wanted to embrace the risk and serendipity of the situation. For once, it's about whom you don't know.

Emily North selected Angie Wilson

I chose Angie Wilson as we worked together for Alison Smith in Oakland. She uses similar themes of negation in her textile work.

Chain: Gelen Helfand – Christine Wong Yap – Pablo Guardiola - James Tantum

Glen Helfand selected Christine Wong Yap

(Glen Helfand began working for the SFAC Gallery as a graphic designer, and then went on to curate What’s Wrong with this Picture in 1989, Real Tears in1992 and Celebrity/Self in 1996. He was also an active member of the SFAC Gallery Advisory Board. Glen is currently an educator and writer in the Bay Area.)

The Chain Reaction show always seemed like such a wonderful means of revealing various communities and emphasizing how their art thrives with dialog. Christine Wong Yap, whose work I got to know during her graduate studies at CCA, has a background in community activism, and has recently organized an exhibition of her own tapping into a network of like-minded artists, seemed like a perfect choice. Her artwork is about all of us, as she creates barometers of public mood, and usually aims to spread some good vibes with astute visual choices-- skills I knew she'd apply to the chain.

Christine Wong Yap selected Pablo Guardiola

Pablo Guardiola's idiosyncratic ouvre includes installation, sculpture and photography. His work is rigorous, humorous and thought-provoking. Primero La Caja, his recent exhibition at Galería de la Raza, examined who is responsible for the construction of meaning in artworks. I'm fascinated by how his work is both formally resolved and conceptually open-ended. As a fellow artist, I sense a kinship in his regard for viewers' intellectual experiences of looking.

Pablo Guardiola selected James Tantum

I have always respected the honesty behind James Tantum's work.  Honesty is not an adjective frequently used within the art context, but I think is a great one to describe his work.  It even works when it is dishonestly honest. His art work always departs from strict ontological concerns that, while totally immersed in "everyday life" (as in within a social context), it creates its own and unique cosmogony.

Chains in City Hall, ground floor

Chain: Abby Chen – Hui-Ying Tsai – James S. Kang – Scott Polach

Abby Chen selected Hui-Ying Tsai

(Abby Chen organized an extensive exhibition of photographs from the Chinese Artist Network for the China Today exhibition at City Hall in 2006. She also exhibited her work in 2003 at City Hall in the exhibition Something in Common.)

Kite, umbrellas, suitcase and raindrops are drawings Hui Y Tsai incorporated into her photographic work, creating a surreal and often playful landscape that blurs reality and fantasy. Her obsession with the gloomy sky and darker milieu leads the viewer into somewhere obscure that is imperfect and fragmentary.

Hui-Ying Tsai selected James S. Kang

Sung Yoon Kang's (aka James S. Kang) works suggest points of view to the viewers related to their relationship with the environment they are in. His works creates a space that bridges imagination and reality based on everyday life scenes. The moment/encounter in his works suggest something that might/might not happen. The ambiguous quality of his works resonates with my artistic focus and has always interested me. Sung Yoon Kang is an insightful and skillful photographer of contemporary urban life.

James S. Kang selected Scott Polach

First of all, he is not only a photographer but also a thinker. That is why I like seeing the agony and serious wit in his subject matter. In some ways, my work resembles his work. He tries to construct images that show the viewer question marks. Asking the viewer what is real or not? Whenever I see his work, I have a lot of questions and impressions. But it doesn’t mean that his work is far from the aspect of aesthetic or beauty. His pieces are still beautiful.

Chain: Rupert Jenkins – Gabriela Hasbun - Karna Kurata - Eros Hoagland selected David Paul Morris

Rupert Jenkins selected Gabriela Hasbun

(Rupert Jenkins was the SFAC Gallery Director from 1996 – 2005. He founded the Art at City Hall program.)

I chose Gabriela Hasbun for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the City Hall space is a terrific venue for her type of investigative photography. It’s important for the city’s administrators to see their constituents and to feel their presence in the building; I like to think that photo series’ such as this one jog the institutional conscience of a city. Where better to do that than in City Hall, where decisions affecting neighborhoods and residents are made every day?  Secondly, I chose her because she works in the time-honored tradition of documentation. In the early 1980s I saw a photographic survey by Janet Delaney of the South of Market redevelopment (I think it is at Camerawork again right now as part of their own anniversary exhibitions). Gabriela’s Polk Street series documents a more gradual process of redevelopment, one that perhaps impacts residents less dramatically but nevertheless forces change onto people. Some of whom can cope, others not. Polk Street is just a block away, and so are these people.

Gabriela Hasbun selected Karna Kurata

Karna’s commitment to developing a long term body of work in Mongolia is truly inspiring. She has traveled with nomadic families under freezing conditions and gone underground to document the illegal coalmines outside the capital of Ulaan Baatar. The images in the series ‘Living Underground’ are my favorite because they are a stark and captivating look at the street children in Mongolia. Karna has also worked tirelessly to support other documentary photographers in the Bay Area. I am very excited to exhibit my work next to hers.

Eros Hoagland selected David Paul Morris

(David was selected by Eros Hoagland, who was originally selected to be in the exhibition. Eros is a photojournalist who is currently on assignment in Afghanistan and Iraq. Due to current conditions, Eros was not able to make it back in time to participate, but wanted to share his thoughts on his selection of David Paul Morris.)

David Paul Morris' photography spans such a wide array of subject matter, I think him a fine example of a man truly fascinated with the human spirit. Many photojournalists are glued to the drama of war and disaster, David is not. David photographs people, not events. His visual style and thematic ideas range from simple and elegant, to multilayered and humorous. I chose him for the chain reaction exhibit for all of these reasons. I am proud to be both his colleague and friend.

Chain: Kari Orvik – Robyn Twomey – James Chiang – Josh Kirschenbaum

Kari Orvik selected Robyn Twomey

(Since 2002, Kari Orvik has coordinated the annual international juried exhibition Insights presented by San Francisco’s LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the SFAC Gallery’s Art at City Hall program.)

As a photographer, my bias towards portraiture is no secret. When asked to begin the chain of artists to celebrate the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery’s 40th year, I imagined the range of possible faces that could be shown in City Hall. From celebrities to less-celebrated citizens, photographer Robyn Twomey’s portraits offer a lush assortment of personalities to choose from. Her photographs invite viewers to focus on each individual, making her a natural choice to exhibit on these walls.

Robyn Twomey selected James Chiang

I chose photographer James Chiang for this show because of his commitment to work that is rooted in a sensibility of intimacy and soulful intellect. Through both his documentary and portrait work, Chiang relinquishes the safe and familiar composition for a more uncharted and complicated visual experience. Chiang's gift of creating whimsical and spontaneous moments is the true gift of photography itself: revealing life's magic beyond human control. Chiang serves it with grace, while thoughtfully carving away its boundaries.

James Chiang selected Josh Kirschenbaum

It is an oft-shared opinion of mine that Josh Kirschenbaum is unequivocally one of the most innately gifted contemporary artists today. The reason lies within Josh himself – his charisma and conviction are in harmony with, and yet contrapuntal to, the empathetic and human way that he connects to his subjects. It is his own vulnerability that emboldens his subjects and yields something so visually arresting.

Chain at 155 Grove Street

Chain: Kamau Patton – Chris Bell – Elaine Buckholtz – Floor vahn

Note: The Chain Reaction artists at Grove Street decided to collaborate on a single work rather than exhibit works side-by-side as is the case in the two other SFAC Gallery locations.

Kamau Amu Patton selected Chris Bell

(Kamau Amu Patton was the exhibitions curator for the SFAC Gallery window installation site at 155 Grove Street from 2004 - 05. He also created a site specific installation for this site in 2004.)

My interest in Chris Bell’s work centers on his ability to improvise with space and materials in an incredibly open-ended way. Because of this, it seemed to me that his practice would lend itself to collaboration. His work often centers on installations and sculpture that incorporate light, sound and images.  The sculptural elements of his installations are really layered and generally also include the intricate and crazy mechanisms he builds in order to produce the effects he desires.

Chris Bell selected Elaine Buckholtz

Elaine Buckholtz, has been a friend and colleague to me since my arrival to the US 4 years ago. I admire her poetic sensibility and aptitude within her work. Her latter works with kinetic projections of colour and form are excellently suited to architecture. As this gallery is a shadow box, to be experienced only from outside through glass, I know Elaine will make it head-turning and captivating. I know I will also learn much from working with her.

Elaine Buckholtz selected Floor Vahn

I chose Floor Van Herreweghe as a collaborator because I admire the musical scores that I have heard her perform live over the last year as both a Composer and DJ. I was fortunate enough to collaborate with her on my latest piece for Triple Base Gallery / SFAC entitled Wandering Night House. She made a 17 minute music mix loop that played through speakers in the back of a pick up truck while I drove people around the Mission projecting moving light onto the architecture on 24th street and down the dark interstitial allies along the way. Her score was a hit!!

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