Surprised by Viola Frey

We escaped from San Francisco today up to Napa for a visit to the di Rosa Preserve .  It’s been quite a few years, and I was looking forward to seeing their vast collection of Northern California art.  Until we began the tour, I hadn’t realized that Gallery 2, their largest gallery space, is currently showcasing a large exhibit of the work of Viola Frey. 

Before today, I was only familiar with some of Frey’s larger-than-life, ceramic, sculptures seen in places like the Oakland Museum.    Seeing a comprehensive exhibit of her work and discovering she was first a painter was a surprise and unexpected to treat.  Once you see Viola Frey first and foremost as a painter, her ceramic work even feels like paintings rendered in clay and glazes.

About once a year, an art exhibit comes through the Bay Area that is truly a don’t miss, incredible experience for art lovers.  It is rarely the most hyped-up, big museum extravaganzas.  We are only about half way through the year, but the show to see in 2019 is most definitely Viola Frey: Center Stage.

Collected Letters at the Asian Art Museum

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum is celebrating its 50^th Anniversary with events and exhibits.  The highlight so far has to be the new piece they acquired by the Chinese artist Liu Jianhua. The work is titled Collected Letters and is an installation of porcelain letters from the Latin alphabet as well as Chinese characters.  The letters are suspended in an alcove on the second floor loggia.  They are adjacent to cases of Chinese porcelain from various periods.  The loggia is one of the areas in the museum that most retains the feel of the public library that was the original purpose of the building.  The upper walls have literary quotes carved into the stonework.  Above Collected Letters there is a proverb from the King James Bible: “A soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger.”  On it’s own, Collected Letters is a great piece, but this particular placement in the museum might be the first time when the  Asian Art Museum has truly installed a work that bridges the gap between an early 20^th Century library and a museum dedicated to Asian art. 

Luke, I am your mother…

Immediately I was amused by Ianna Nova Frisby’s new series of Darth Vader-inspired sculptures.  And that was enough to make me love them.  But the more I looked and the more I thought about it, these are just so delightfully subversive on many levels.

They could be seen as a parody of the collectible Star Wars kitsch sold on the pages of Parade Magazine or the Lillian Vernon Catalog.  I’ve never been in a home with Star Wars collector’s plates hanging on the wall.  I doubt I could keep a straight face.  And then there are all those figurines. For example, there is the one of the scantily clad Princess Leia as a prisoner of Jabba the Hutt.  I had the pleasure of seeing Carrie Fisher’s one-woman show and sat two rows behind George Lucas as Fisher berated him over those figurines (she never received a dime for those). 

I also love the feminization of the iconic villain.  Particularly due to the generally male-dominated, sexist universe depicted in that galaxy, far, far away – there are few females in the Lucasverse and even fewer strong, independent women.  It’s worse than Mad Men.  

You can get a look in person at Luke’s Mother at Axis Gallery up in Sacramento for the 20^th Annual Pink Week happening in November.

Ceramics in Civic Center

I can’t spend the whole day at my table making art, well actually I can.  But on a sunny October day I felt compelled to get out, take a little walk and some fresh air.  I found myself down in Civic Center where I happened onto an outdoor show called Ceramics Annual of America.  It’s free, accessible and out there for everyone to enjoy.  The work of most of the participating artists can be previewed on the event site. 

There was plenty of quality work filling the center of Civic Center Plaza and two outstanding artists caught my eye: 

• Katherine Dube’s work is all about grids, circles and patterns, many of my favorite elements.  If I was to head into ceramics I suspect I might end up in a similar place.  Her wall installation Bloom is shown above and more details can be seen on her website.
• Calvin Ma’s work was my favorite in the show.  He was showing work from his Homebodies Series (they all can been on his website) and two are shown above. 

The CAA show had plenty of well done, but dare I say, predictable whimsical ceramics.  The kind of things that fill galleries in places like Sausalito and Carmel – nice, but nothing I that feels new since about 1974.  What struck me about Calvin’s work is that he is building on that tradition but taking in a new direction fusing in the look of contemporary animated imagery but still creating something unique.  I wish a piece of his work was in my budget, because something tells me it’s destine to be picked up by serious collectors and museums.  If they were giving out awards, it would be the best in show.