Miles of Art to See: Art Market SF 2015

Last Friday I visited San Francisco's annual Art Market.  I had heard about it but had never been, so I didn't really know what I was getting in to.  Art Market SF reminds me of other expo type events.  If you have ever been to the Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco or an event like WonderCon (I use this as an example because I used to attend it when it was still at the Moscone Center), it's that same kind of experience.  It's a full immersion in the subject, with people who are excited about the same subject excitedly talking about it and snapping pictures.  Purely on appearance, though, it is more like a really large gallery.  And in essence, I suppose that is what it is.

There was quite a lot to see and I am dismayed to realize I did not see all of it.  It is a whirlwind of art that I would have loved to appreciate and contemplate on, without the seas of people.  But there is a certain energy in the room when everyone is interested in the same thing, and are excited about that thing, so that was interesting too.

Electric Works, San Francisco, CA.

There were white gallery-esque walls that were erected in the space, creating cubicles for each gallery.  The galleries at the event were from all of the major art center of the United States, and some from other countries.  In the center of the large building was a lounge area and in the back, a bar.

Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

Most of the gallery spaces were organized in a very typical way, sometimes with a theme but often not.  However, I was really impressed by the space pictured above.  Though the works were by different artists and were in different mediums, they were all somewhat color-coded which I thought gave the space an interesting synergy.  I would be interested in visiting the gallery to see if this sort of creative placement of the works carries to the actual gallery space.  It is also interesting to think about whether or not this kind of organization detracts from the individual works of art.  Personally, I find it compelling and my mind wants to take these art objects and puzzle them together. 

Brett Amory, Johnny at Hollywood Center Hotel, 2015.

It's hard to miss Johnny, pictured above, since the installation is placed right next to the bar, creating a sort of interaction between the art and life in the room.  The installation seems to recall Edward Hopper's imagery, but instead of the flatness of paintings, Amory creates a compelling three dimensional scene.  The walls of the outside of the hotel room are made from wood panels that expand back into the space and the portion of the work that shows the inside of the room is painted on a flat piece.  The formal concepts of the work add to the theme of isolation.  Johnny is both in our world and not.  

Lalla Essaydi, Les Femmes du Maroc: Harem Beauty #1, 2008.

I was also drawn to Lalla Essaydi's work and the allusion it draws to the work by Shirin Neshat.  If there is a link between these artists I am interested in the connotations of the combination of this woman being written on and over with henna, a common wedding tradition in Moracco, the title of Harem Beauty and the feminist themes of Neshat's Women of Allah.  Very much like Neshat's Women of Allah series, this work is from a series titled Les Femmes du Maroc, or The Women of Moracco.

Lalla Essaydi, detail of Les Femmes du Maroc: 

Harem Beauty #1, 2008.

Chris Dorosz's Stasis pieces from the Scott Richards Contemporary Art Gallery in San Francisco were fascinating.  The pieces consist of small plastic rods with drops of multi-colored acrylic paint on them that when shown together create small scenes of people.  It's incredible how lifelike and real the figures look, like they are actually in stasis on these plastic shelves.  When looking at them from different angles, the figures seem to go from full bodied and life-like to barely-there which brings up questions of permanency and even human existence.

Chris Dorosz, Stasis 08 and Stasis 97, 2015.

Below are a selection of photographs by Albert Delamour from the Michele Marimaud Gallery in New York.  These photographs are very whimsical in nature and bring up themes of freedom.  The entire selection in the gallery's space was whimsical.  Projections of fairies hovered in jars, robots made up of famous landmark buildings and puffy cartoon-like metal clouds covered portions of the walls.  It was definitely a fun space to be in. 

Michele Mariaud Gallery, New York, NY.

I very much enjoyed the time I spent at Art Market SF and I will gladly return next year.  I only wish that I was able to see everything there was to see and really look at the works like I wanted to.