SF Appeal

Aimee Le Duc, writer and SFAC staff member writes a small event announcement about Lending Library on SFAppeal.com

Lending Library

Lending Library is a group exhibition curated by Dena Beard featuring tools, materials, and resources from artists Amy Franceschini, Colter Jacobsen, Kevin Killian, Tom Marioni, Emily Prince, Stephanie Syjuco, and Christine Wong Yap.

Exhibition dates: May 28, 2010 - July 2, 2010

Opening reception: Friday, May 28, 2010, 7-9pm

We browse the bookshelves of the Lending Library as cross-sections of artists’ studios or as a medium for us to consider how we navigate and reclaim information in our own research practice. Experiencing the scribbled margins of a Xeroxed essay alongside modified found photographs changes their context, allowing for more dynamic images and learned connections to arise. Although the originals cannot be borrowed, scans of the artists’ materials will be available to takeaway and appropriate. Nestled in the back of Adobe Books this, the second iteration of Lending Library, develops some of the ideas brought forward with Oakland artists last February at the Royal NoneSuch Gallery. As such, Lending Library joins the landscape of open-source, browser-friendly experiences available in the Bay Area, expanding the idea of how an exhibition, or a library, can respond to a personal, anarchic search for knowledge.

Best Gallery Renovation

7x7 San Francisco Magazine's Kimberly Chun picks Adobe Books Backroom Gallery as 2010 Best Gallery Renovation. Last year's gallery expansion was made possible by the generous support of local artists who donated their work to Adobe's 20th Anniversary art auction in March 2009. The Backroom Gallery renovation was achieved by artists and friends of store including Randy Colosky, Andy Vogt, Chris Corales, Kyle Ranson, and Phil Crumar, and accomplished under the direction of Gallery Director, Devon Bella.

Everything Must Go?

Nicolas Torres' installation draws attention to the survival of independent bookstores and Reyhan Harmanci, Culture Editor/Writer at the Bay Citizen speaks with Andrew McKinley about the future of the store. SFist inquires further and calls out to readers to stop by Adobe and buy a book...

Nicolas Torres: Neighborhood Watch

Neighborhood Watch opens Friday, May 21, 7-9PM and runs through June 20, 2010.

In Adobe Books Parlor, an exhibition venue in Adobe Book's storefront windows, Nicolas Torres presents Neighborhood Watch, an installation by the artist exploring – and exploiting – the accretive motion of a city’s attempt to eliminate urban blight.

In a city where rigid class and racial borders once prevented individuals from traveling through certain neighborhoods, you now have many neighborhoods where culture and demographics can shift with the crossing of a street. Along with the changing visual characteristics of neighborhoods, you have changing ideals. While one may see urban renewal as an attempt to beautify and improve previous conditions, another may feel that the benefits of urban renewal are disproportionately shared among its renewers. In any case, there are many stories to be told, and more importantly there are many stories being disposed of permanently. In his new installation, Nicolas Torres attempts to capture a few of the endangered ones.

Nicolas Torres was born in San Francisco in 1981 and has lived throughout the Bay Area. Torres received a BA in philosophy from UC Berkeley in 2008. His parents and their struggles, have been the fodder and inspiration for much of his work.

The Adobe Books Parlor is part of a long-term curatorial project that commissions artists to explore how the bookstore locates itself within the constant flux of the 16th Street environment. The series seeks to animate the intersections between private and public narratives, and among Adobe Books’ social and commercial spheres.

Adobe Books Parlor is curated by Devon Bella.

RGB Forever featured on Artslant

Parker Ito's solo exhibition, RGB Forever is featured on Artslant's gallery hop. Read Ava Jancar's review.

Multiple Interaction: One night exhibition curated by Susannah Magers

Multiple Interaction: A one-night only exhibition of multiples from the collection of Steven Leiber

Sunday, May 16, 2010, 6-8pm

Multiple Interaction is a one-night only exhibition exploring the potential of five multiples from the collection of Steven Leiber. These include: Relationships (1991) by Damien Hirst, A Collection of Rooms, parts 1 & 2 (1997) by Dave Muller, Interview Game (1996) by Heather Lenz, Dyke Deck (1996) by Catherine Opie, and Magnet Ball (1996) by Uri Tzaig. The curator, Susannah Magers, has filmed the activation of each of these works and will present her five films along with the five multiples.

The art term multiple can be defined as a work of art created for mass production, which can be produced in unlimited numbers without loss of quality or dilution of content. A multiple is commonly understood to be a small sculpture (an object) rather than a print or photograph. The multiples in this exhibition share this identity as smaller--but no less significant--extensions of their makers’ practice.

Multiple Interaction was inspired by the text that accompanies Dave Muller’s multiple which states: “This piece is not considered finished by the artist until it has been built (preferably by the owner).”

Curated by Susannah Magers

For questions please contact Susannah Magers at (831) 334-2178 or susannahmagers@gmail.com

Fritos & Champagne Part III: DESSERT by Dori Latman

Opening event: Wednesday, May 19, 2010, 7-9pm

Exhibition dates: May 17- 23, 2010

Participating artists include Colby Claycomb, Elinor Domol, Steffi Drewes, Josh Keller, Dori Latman, Cathy Lu, Michelle Morby, Hilary Schwartz, Heather Van Winckle, and The Center for Experimental Practice.

Dessert is the moment of the meal when everyone is full. It is the time when conversation takes open-ended directions. Dessert is an opportunity for those who couldn't make it to dinner to stop by for a visit. It is a time of excess, pleasure and storytelling.

For Dessert, each participating artist has taken up a different aspect from taste to etiquette to preparation to service. Artists will show a range of work including public reading and presenting, sculpture, installation and drawing.