Saved by Raimonds Staprans

At some point, we all get to have at least one horrible job.  Most of us end up with a few.  If you have only had good jobs, count yourself lucky.  Hopefully all my bad jobs are in the past.  In the early 1990s, when I first arrived in San Francisco, I ended up working for a small company in the financial district.  The firm was very small at first and had all the hallmarks of dysfunctional family, with the name partners being the parents, we had an eccentric “aunt” and there was me stuck in the middle between two, let’s say erratic, personalities.  In the seven years I worked there, the company grew and the stress and tension escalated in the office.  The best I could say was, at least I was not in the New York office.  After I left, I did a bit of temping and was stunned by how accustomed I had become to working in such a toxic environment.  The various downtown offices I ended up temping in, with few exceptions, were decent places and far more relaxed and, dare I say, normal.

I still do not know how I lasted for seven years.  But one thing that I liked about the job was one of the partners was a serious art collector with a very good eye.  When we rearranged the art, we were always encouraged to select pieces we liked for our offices and work areas.  My favorite piece was a beautiful painting of a big orange chair by Raimonds Staprans.  I spent most of those seven years next to that painting.  It was my workmate, my companion and it helped keep me sane.  A second Staprans hung above the copy machine.  When I was occasionally chained to that machine, I had a view of some calm, blue boats.  He painted many chairs, the painting featured in the exhibit (show here) is a different one.

Twenty years later, I finally had an opportunity, my very first, to see a retrospective of Staprans work.  Full Spectrum: Paintings by Raimonds Staprans has been up all summer at Sacramento’s Crocker Art Museum.  Galleries filled with his stunning, vibrant paintings that show Staprans is a genius with light and color.  The work can appear deceptively simple at first glance but his paintings are far more complicated.  And while examples can be found online and in books, no photo or jpeg can possibly do justice to Staprans’ paintings.  At over 90 years old, it is time that his work gets even more recognition and needs to be exhibited even more.  I am grateful that the Crocker Museum has put on this exhibit, but it is mind boggling that he has not been given more museum shows in the Bay Area.  I believe the only other California museums to feature his work so far are San Jose and Pasadena. 

If ever I get to meet Mr. Staprans in person, I will be sure to thank him for helping me survive office hell.

Keeping an Open Mind to Meissen

Last week I had a day trip up to Sacramento that included the Crocker Museum.  Currently most of the special exhibits are Japan-focused, including two shows of contemporary ceramics. Japanamerica — Points of Contact explores the role and influence Japanese art on the United States through a century of international expos and world’s fairs. There is also an exhibit with the photography of Ansel Adams from the Japanese-American internment camp at Manzanar.  They are beautiful and stunning photos from an ugly, sad and shameful chapter in American History.

There was one exhibit that I knew I did not need to see.  Forbidden Fruit – Chris Antemann at Meissen.  Sure, as an artist I can appreciate the craftsmanship.  But from my point of view, Meissen porcelain is at the high end of the spectrum of old lady knick-knacks.  Starting at the bottom with the offerings of the Lillian Vernon catalog, to Hummel, to the Franklin Mint to museum-worthy Meissen.  It is one big yawn.

As I passed by the sun filled room, I was like, okay, sure, I might as well have a look….

I love them.  Technically the sculptor Chris Antemann has created beautiful work.  At a quick glance yeah, Meissen — at second glance, what, wait a minute….   They are so naughty.  I can’t resist saying it, but she put the bone back in bone china. 

I was tempted to camp out and wait for a few of the ladies-who-do-lunch to come and have a look and be all, well, titillated. 

The show is in Sacramento until June 25, 2017.  You can get a video preview here. 

Pink Week at the Crocker Art Museum

This year’s Pink Week in Sacramento is not just about the Pink Mail Art Show.  Last night the San Francisco Correspondence Coop travelled up to Sacramento to make some mail art with local artists and museum visitors at the Crocker Art Museum.  Pink Postcards were made and will be mailed out soon.  We also worked on an exquisite corpse piece.  It will be cut up into individual postcards and mailed to participants. 

Armin Hansen might be the best artist you have never heard of

Shark Fishers, Armin Hansen

Yesterday a friend and I paid a visit to one of the cities with the most happening art scenes in California.  No, sorry L.A. it wasn’t you and yes San Francisco, we know how much you love yourself, but no, you’ve been pushing all the art out.  But a 90-minute drive away is Sacramento.  We took some time to explore some of the open studios at the Verge Center for the Arts.  This weekend was Sacramento’s big open studios event and we barely scratched the surface.  Sacramento still has room for working artists to have studios to make and show art.  I also got see the new space that will be hosting this year’s Pink Week show as well as the upcoming Pink Mail Art show I am curating in November.

Our main goal was to get to the Crocker Museum to see the exhibit Armin Hansen: The Artful Voyage.  I had read the book before seeing the show and familiarized myself with Hansen’s work.  The catalog is beautiful, yet the printed pages cannot really do his work justice.  He was one of those artists whose work you truly have to see in person.  The museum website has a few images and the review in the Sacramento Bee has some additional images to give you an idea (the image shown above is from permanent collection and not part of the special exhibit).

One could describe Armin Hansen as the west coast’s Winslow Homer.  It would give you an idea of what to expect if you were unfamiliar with his work.  But it might be better to put Hansen in a league with Herman Melville. Melville could write about life on the sea so well, in part, due to his experiences as a crewman on merchant ships and a whaler.  Like Melville, Hansen was able to approach the sea as someone who had worked it – as a fisherman.  Many of his seascapes were not painted with a view from the shore but instead from how it would look far out in Monterey Bay.  I kept looking at them from across the room and they almost started to move.  It took me me back to being out in a small boat on rough water – something I have not experienced for decades.    The most surprising thing about Armin Hansen is that he is not more famous.  After seeing his work, I would expect he would be one of those American artists that most everyone has heard of — a name in a category with Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, etc..  Yes, he is that good.  But alas, the bias against West Coast artists by the New Yorkerati has been going on for over a century.

There is always art to see in Sacramento, but if you want to discover Armin Hansen, you have go to get up there before the show closes on October 11.