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Joan Brown Was a Singular Painter — of Dogs, Cats and Richly Symbolic Spaces
It’s evident from the very start that the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Joan Brown retrospective is going to be a bit different. It could have something to do with the painted walls that greet...
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At OMCA, Angela Davis’ Influence is Felt Through Generations
Her iconic afro silhouette. The recognizable cadence of her voice: both urgent and patient. Oakland-based activist and educator Angela Davis is a cultural icon whose life’s work has influenced so many....
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Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Lesser-Known Identity as a Painter on Display at...
Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s identity was well known to me — as a world-renowned poet, supporter of the Beats, member of the San Francisco Renaissance, owner of City Lights Bookstore and unwavering...
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Trina Michelle Robinson Looks to Make Her Mark on the Art World
For Trina Michelle Robinson, it all began when she picked 10 pounds of cotton. Not the pristine puffs available at a fabric store — raw cotton. Still in the boll, with seeds and everything. It’s the...
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The Best Art I Saw in 2022
It’s truly an honor to write this roundup every year. There’s so much I don’t get a chance to review, let alone see in the Bay Area’s voluminous visual art scene. (Believe me, I keep a running list.) A...
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At SOMArts, ‘The Indigo Project’ Weaves the Threads of Black History
The leaves from indigo trees have been used to dye fabric for ages. Through this one plant, one can tell the story of royalty, enslavement and the African diaspora. The use of indigo dye reportedly...
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‘It’s Not Art, It’s Our Lives’: Iranian American Women Put Protests at the...
On Nov. 30, Iranian authorities arrested the creators of a defiant viral video, who stood silently without headscarves in solidarity with the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. Two weeks later, a...
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Art to See at the Start of 2023
I have few predictions to make about the coming year in Bay Area visual arts, which is actually a good thing. Exhibitions and spaces that were backlogged due to the pandemic seem to have cleared their...
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Jordan Jimenez’s Path to Viral NBA Photos Has Been Years in the Making
Growing up, Jordan Jimenez told his mom that he hoped to make history as a Filipino American player in the NBA. And though he didn’t achieve that lofty goal, the 25-year-old, born and raised in the Bay...
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SECA Brings the Refreshing Art of ‘Here’ and ‘Now’ to SFMOMA
One of the smartest moves the San Francisco Museum of Art has made in recent years coincides with its 2022 SECA Art Award Exhibition, on view through May 29. For the duration of that five-person show...
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‘No Straight Lines’ Traces Transformation Through Comic Books
Pop culture, by definition, is disposable mass entertainment, yet it frequently tackles crucial subjects. Horror movies, for example, express the latent fears of a society. Comic books, especially gay...
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Tattoo Artists Keep the ‘Year of the Tiger’ Roaring in New SF Exhibit
Over the weekend, the Lunar New Year transitioned the world from the Year of the Tiger — a period of action and strength — into the much gentler Year of the Rabbit, a time of peace and reflection. Not...
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How a Passion for Graffiti Led to the Opening of San José’s New Gallery,...
Just across the street from San José’s City Hall, the epicenter of local political power, real estate broker Andrew Espino has opened 1Culture, a new gallery with a vision that represents his lifelong...
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Migrant Women Will March With Flags of Resilience in SF’s Chinese New Year...
In preparation for her latest endeavor, Bay Area artist Christine Wong Yap had to brush up on her self-described “terrible” Spanish. She knew she was about to embark upon something ambitious: a...
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A Trip With Davey D Back to 1984, When Hip-Hop Was Still Undefined
Davey D is pictured here hosting his radio show on KALX in 1990. In the very early years of Bay Area hip-hop, Davey D says, the world was still trying to comprehend the culture, which had yet to be...
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Why We’re Spending a Year Covering Bay Area Hip-Hop History
‘That’s My Word’ drops new stories each week throughout 2023. (Illustration by Shomari Smith) There is nothing in the world like Bay Area hip-hop. Our hip-hop is multicultural, flamboyant, political,...
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‘It’s Bittersweet’: The Story Behind RBL Posse’s ‘A Lesson to Be Learned’...
Editor’s note: This story is part of That’s My Word, KQED’s year-long exploration of Bay Area hip-hop history, with new content dropping all throughout 2023. RBL Posse’s debut album A Lesson to Be...
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The Bay Area Was Hip-Hop Before There Was Hip-Hop
Clockwise from upper left: Women of the Black Panther Party (BAMPFA/Pirkl Jones Foundation); the Black Resurgents (artist photo); Ntozake Shange (John Kisch Archive/Getty Images); Sun Ra in ‘Space is...
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House of Seiko’s Inaugural Show Revels in Subtlety and Process
It’s easy to point to the losses in the Bay Area visual arts scene. But for as many closings as we’ve experienced, there have been — and hopefully always will be — inaugural shows, expansions and...
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Step Into the Shimmering World of Amalia Mesa-Bains at BAMPFA
Sometimes I forget my own advice, which is to never accept a photograph of an artwork as a substitution for the real thing. Even the flattest painting has a different impact in 3D space, whether that...
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