Past Exhibitions

Through the use of video, photography, performance, sculpture, and site-specific installation, the artists in Isn't It Obvious? San Francisco Artists Consuming the Banal reconfigure both commonplace and iconic objects and images to create wry and humorous works that challenge a basic definition of the everyday. The exhibition critically examines how we visualize our surroundings and in turn asks us to consider in what ways we consume the banal. The exhibition also hosts an online component, The Clog, a tongue-in-cheek combination of an exhibition catalogue and a blog. The Clog is a site for critical examination of the exhibiting works as well as an outlet for all viewers to answer the question, "Isn't it Obvious?"

Transplanted asks the questions: how long do you have to live in the Bay Area to be considered a local artist? How quickly do new arrivals influence our cultural landscape and help establish defining regional aesthetics? How quickly does the Bay Area influence the artistic production of newcomers? This exhibition celebrates three accomplished artists who have lived in the Bay Area for less than two years with a Main Gallery exhibition by Richard T. Walker, a Grove Street installation by Primitivo Suarez-Wolfe, and a performance by Pawel Kruk, each creating new work that reflects on how living in the Bay Area has influenced their artistic practice.

Transplanted was presented as part of the SFAC Galleries 40th Anniversary season.

This newly commissioned body of work from emerging Shanghai-based photographer Liang Yue features works that highlight the artist's preoccupation with public space. Yue turns her lens toward women on the move in downtown Shanghai and captures, with a snapshot aesthetic, women as they commute, shop and stroll. The candid images intentionally subvert any lingering preconceived notions of Shanghai as an exotic location. The women are contemporary urban dwellers and the cityscape is identical to that of any metropolis in the developed world. In fact, one might think that many of the exhibited photographs were created in San Francisco. This exhibition is presented on the occasion of a citywide celebration of the Sister City status of Shanghai and San Francisco. This exhibition is presented as part of the SFAC Galleries' 40th Anniversary season.

Now & When draws its inspiration from a time capsule project produced by the Arts Commission Gallery in 1990. This previous capsule contained small works by artists such as the Guerrilla Girls and Karen Finley that responded to the actions of Senator Jesse Helms, the NEA, and issues surrounding censorship. For Now & When, twelve artist and a collective were asked to create time capsules. The results included audio archives, documentation from the making of a feature film, the first edition of every contemporary arts magazine that has been produced in the Bay Area, a collection of movie stills depicting scenes in which the characters are forever changes upon the discovery of something from the past or the future, a look at the objects of a child, personal narratives, dinner parties and discussions. Now & When is presented as part of the SFAC Galleries' 40th Anniversary season.