As Demolition Nears, Artist Still Trying to Save Yerba Buena Signal Room
Up at the summit of Yerba Buena Island, at the top of a lone tower, sits the Signal Room. It’s a treasure hidden in plain sight that boasts sweeping views of the very heart of the Bay Area. Built in...
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Burning Man Artists Bid Farewell to Treasure Island’s Building 180
“Cheers,” said one party goer to another. “To the beginning of the end.” The party — a warehouse rave for about 2,000 people — was called Terminus. It was a farewell party — a Baby Burning Man to mark...
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Meg Allen’s ‘BUTCH’ is Urgent and Celebratory and Everything in Between
Oakland photographer Meg Allen didn’t set out with a particular goal in mind when she started BUTCH, a collection of San Francisco-based portraits celebrating the Bay Area’s queer community. In fact,...
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Too Much Technology Can Spoil Your Warhol Experience
Looking at art is the core museum experience. I remember, when I was a kid, seeing Van Gogh’s Starry Night for the first time. I stood for what seemed like hours, staring at the thick paint and...
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So Much More Than ‘Ten Paintings’ in Laura Owens Show at Wattis
If we trust exhibition names, Laura Owens’ solo show at the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art claims to be just ten paintings. But go looking for those paintings in the airy main space or the...
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Artists Take Path of Most ‘Resistance’ in Fight Against Displacement
The sight across the street from SOMArts Cultural Center’s building encapsulates the gallery’s newest show to a T: a throng of rickety tents are propped up in the parking lot under the Interstate 80...
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A Peek Into the CIA Art Gallery Reveals [REDACTED]
A new oil painting has just arrived in what may be the world’s most clandestine art gallery — the fine arts collection at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. This commissioned work...
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For 70 Years, a Mug In Auschwitz Held a Secret Treasure
From the outside, it looked like any of the other mugs in the Auschwitz museum. But on the inside, this one had a secret — faithfully kept for seven decades. A false bottom concealed a gold necklace...
View ArticleMassive Redevelopment Underway for Treasure Island
Construction has begun to bring 8,000 new housing units to San Francisco’s Treasure Island, along with hotels, parklands, new infrastructure and a ferry service. At the same time, billionaire filmmaker...
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Get Jazzed About Q-tips with Christian Marclay’s ‘Six New Animations’
On May 14, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art reopened its doors for the first time since June 2013. Before they closed, the museum held a four-day-long marathon of being open continuously. In...
View ArticleEx-Education Secretary Duncan Named to Lucas Museum Board
Former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has been named to the board of directors for the museum that “Star Wars” director George Lucas hopes to build along Chicago’s lakefront. Duncan’s appointment...
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Beat the Crowds: Visit Visual Art on a Smaller Scale this Summer
Summer isn’t just for blockbusters. Sometimes all the sun and free time and lemonade and backyard barbecuing and hanging with friends and/or family can make you yearn for a more isolated, intimate...
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SFUSD Hires Oakland School of Arts Director to Lead Growing Arts Program
The San Francisco Unified School District announced last week it hired Donn Harris, currently director of the Oakland School of the Arts (OSA), to be its new executive director of art programs. Harris,...
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Giant Sand-Dwelling Skeletons Descend on the Exploratorium
“The floor is very slippery here,” said Theo Jansen, helpfully positioning his foot against a flailing leg of Animaris Suspendisse as it uncannily propelled itself across the floor of the...
View ArticlePlay With Your Food: Ferris Plock Makes Art Out of Dinner in ‘Food Faces’
San Francisco artist Ferris Plock is that amorphous age between grown-up kid and adolescent adult. The longtime staple of the Bay Area’s skate art scene paints and illustrates tableaux that are both...
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Artful Dodger: Jump into June with Visual Art Happenings
Apparently this is the first month of summer, but in much of the Bay Area (at least, pre-global warming) we know that doesn’t equal summery activities. Summer equals fog, carting around more layers...
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Bust Out of the White Walls, Visit Art in the Great Outdoors this Summer
If you’re like me, you spend most of your time indoors, hunched in front of a computer in a pose definitely non-OSHA-approved. And when you go see art, the only time you spend out of doors is the span...
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Murdered Artist’s Family Filing Claim Against ICE Over Stolen Firearm
A lawyer representing the family of an Emeryville muralist who was fatally shot last year announced Thursday that he was filing a claim against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the fact...
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Paper is the Star at San Jose’s Institute of Contemporary Art
Starting June 5, San Jose’s Institute of Contemporary Art showcases three different exhibitions exploring paper as art, in all its forms: bent, broken, cut, glued, sewn, painted, photographed,...
View ArticleNPR Photographer, Interpreter Killed in Afghanistan
David Gilkey, an NPR journalist who chronicled pain and beauty in war and conflict, was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday along with NPR’s Afghan interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna. David and Zabihullah were...
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