Hotels/Motels (Unofficial Art Fair 2018), Rising Tide at SDAI, Bob Matheny - Almost Anonymous

Finally is name is lights!  Congratulation to Bob!

by Patricia Frischer

 I am covering  three different events I attended on December 15 as my last art blog of 2018 before I take off for India and England for a big adventure. 

Hotels/Motels (Unofficial Art Fair 2018) at The Lafayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows (2223 El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, Ca 92104) was Fri. Dec 14 and Dec 15 with a large schedule of programs and over 100 artists.  For more info: Eric Wong  323.350.4980

Alessandra Moctezuma from Mesa Collage, Tony Allard from UC San Marcos and The People’s Opera House Project, and I as founder of SDVAN held a casual discussion in room 116 at the Lafayette on Dec 15, from Noon to 1 pm  about “The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World," written by  Lewis Hyde. The simplified premise of this book is that Art is not just a commodity that has monetary value, but can also be seen as a gift which is always on the move. Art as a gift can be given, can be received and can be reciprocated. When we make art, we don't just make it to sell, but to communicate, to validate and to create community.  We all spoke about the need to define individually why you show your work and how your  art fits into society. 

There was about 15-20 rooms in the hotel showing a wide variety of art and most of the works on view were for sale and the artist paid to show at this site. All Hotels/Motels Room Exhibitors keep 100% sales of their work.  Fallen Tree Exhibitions invited art lovers, artists, collectors, and culture enthusiasts, to check-in to the fourth edition of this Unofficial Art Fair 2018 in  San Diego. Over a hundred artists and curators from all over San Diego and Los Angeles transformed hotel rooms into contemporary art galleries, theatrical stages, and creative project spaces. 

Beside visual arts, there was a series of dynamic performances in redefined hotel spaces with interactive theatrical performances, contemporary interpretive dance (curated  by Patricia Maldonado who also performed) and poetry and spoken word performances. 

Alessandra Moctezuma gets her grove on with Flavor Company Dance Entertainment

John Geary goes big with cats AND dogs

Richard ChauDavis photographed people brushing their teeth as a live performance

James Watts showed this charming little box of building blocks with his familiar nailed tin embellished surfaces.

Sarah Tell's photos of bobby pins was particularly well places in the bathroom

Mikaela McLeish chose to uplift the beds to the walls and reorient the space completely.

Lynn Schuette filled the room with pictures of dead rose in honor of those killed in the Paris Je Suis Charlie terrorist attack. As each series has sold, she created a large single flower to make sure those who died are remembered. 

I included this still shot from Finest City Improv because the actor on the left was playing the part of a painting looking for a home as it was found discarded near a dumpster.

Terrifically skilled renderings by Alexandra Eldridge represented by Legend Nano Gallery. from Santa Fe, NM and Oceanside, CA

Is it a grenade or is it a Faberge Egg? David Krovblit represented by Legend Nano Gallery. from Santa Fe, NM and Oceanside, CA

Hotels/Motels (Unofficial Art Fair 2018) Artists & Curators:

Alexander Salazar, Andre Urbano, Carolyn Brann, Cassandra Schramm, CM Curatorial, Collateral Collective, Colleen Veltz, Distinction Gallery, Edwin Nutting, Ellen Lane, Grace Gray Adams, James Watts, John Geary, Larry Caveney, Lynn Schuette, Michael Walrond, Mikaela McLeish, Nathaniel Clark, Nicole Deline, Patricia Maldonado, Press Works Art, Rebecca Romani, Richard ChauDavis, Maria ChauDavis, Richard Stewart, Stephanie Mansolf, Anna Feil, Nidia Castaldi, Sarah Tell, Thumbprint Gallery, Bryan Ricci, Chris Trueman, Christopher Kuhn, Claudia Morales Mccain, Devon Tsuno, Erin Morrison, Gregory Siff, Jackie Leishman, Julian Lombardi, Mhiachnoiti, Todd Smith,  Niara Eustace, Flavor Company Dance, Mitchum Todd, Victorio Villa, Chris Vannoy, A New High, Elizabeth Ayerle, Blue Buddah, David Lofton, Anqi Liu, Tiange Zhou, Brian and Ryan, Tony Allard, The People’s Opera Project, Marianne Goyette, Eric Wong, Barfo, Bob V, Eyegato, Nonie Cruzado, Chris Trueman, Erin Morrison, Devon Tsuno, Mhiachnoiti, Claudia Morales McCain, Christopher Kuhn, Bill Perrine, Igor Goldkind, Paval Sfera, Denise Lacarra, Pall Jenkins, Legend Nano Gallery Artists: Michael Snodgrass, David Krovblit, Regina Foster, Alexandra Eldridge, Joe Ramiro Garcia, Andrew Holder, Chuck Thomas, Michael Maas, Lucy Schappy, David Rudolph, Conrad Kern, Stacy D’Aguilar, Dan Mcstocker, Kristi L. Stout, Dr. Steven Wade Adams, Andrew Kaplan, Xenia Mateiu, Ashley Binder, Leah Siegal, G. Kim Hinkson, Stu Schwartz, Fred Marinello.

Rising Tide at the San Diego Art Institute

I came late to this show curated by San Diego Art Institute’s Deputy Director, Sarah Trujillo-Porter, but was really glad I had the chance to experience it.   This multi-media show features solo exhibitions by Francisco Eme, Jacob Sundstrom, and Jana Brike.  Until Sunday, January 6, 2019 5:00 PM

Jana Brike fills the space with joyful, beautifully executed portraits of real women interacting with the ocean on a sun drenched day. 

Jana Birke's great installation is well conceived to be a total visual experience

Francisco Eme  - this was the most challenging of the works to grasp but this crowd with every mouth open was a tour de force. 

Jacob Sundstrom was for me  the most fascinating work in the show. Evidently it takes about 2 hours to see the entire transformation. "Erasure" is about coral reefs and how the presence of man is destroying them. Pixels of life seem to float off the reef outward toward you but if left alone they move back in the direction of the reef and recreate it. The 5 or so screens are constantly changing and here I show one of the clearest views...sometimes the entire piece is filled with dots of color swarming here and there   

Bob Matheny - Almost Anonymous starts on Dec 15 at the San Diego History Center (1649 El Prado. Ste. 3 in Balboa Park). More info: Kaytie Johnson  619-232-6203 x1. Bob Matheny is one of the SD Art Prize recipients for 2018. Watch for his show at the Athenaeum in May with Anne Mudge

Robert Matheney, now almost in his ninth decade, makes undeniably unconventional art. It is conceptual with a high sense of humor. It is still changing and developing, recycling art works and creating new series. He uses so many different mediums and is constantly challenging us to spend the time to interpret his creations. He seems to take joy in confusing us as a master trickster. 

Watershed Moments: Visiting Works from the Jerusalem Biennale at Leichtag

by Patricia Frischer

I was lucky enough to meet with Ram Ozeri who is the founder of the Jerusalem Biennale now in its third year (in Biennale years, 6 year in real time!). After trying to start a gallery or a museum in Jerusalem he realized that what would work in Tel Aviv would need to be different in Jerusalem. He decided to offer Israelis who might never go to a contemporary art show a Jewish cultural motivation to open themselves up to art. The Biennale was born with a grant from Leichtag (which supports programs in North County SD and in Israel) and with mainly local artists the first year. It grew to include some American artists the second year and the third year with a theme of Watershed Moments, it has gone international The next will occur in Nov of 2019 (proposal are already in) with the title For Heaven's Sake. 

This is a small selection of the works on view of  this traveling sample exhibition  open until Dec 14 by appointment only at Leichtag  Foundation in Encinitas on Saxony Road. Please let Jenny Camhi know your preferred dates/times and she will be in touch to schedule.

Lili Almog presents this quite controversial patch of flesh to an audience that can be perceived to be conservative. In is shown in the context of historical nude figures but it still had to be fought for in the context of Jewish Orthodox Culture

Matan Ben Tulia describes a life outside of arduous study within traditional classrooms. 

Eliad Landau enlarges the knots of remembrance that are part of the Jewish tradition worn by males during religious ceremonies. 

Eliad Landau takes those same knotted strings and illustrates them in triplicate.

On the other hand, Tamar Paley has created a brand new possible tradition for women wearing those knots along with sacred text in adornment. 

Tamar Paley - detail of the above jewelry worn on the model.

Yehudis Barmatz moved toward a more religious life and in the process burned all her old work. However, this still from the video and the video itself is testimony to her ongoing involvement in the art process. 

Arik Weiss limited edition (100) Kiddush Cup which takes its inspiration from a syraform coffee cup. These are not for sale, but are a gift for those joining the Jerusalem Biennale Circle of Friends. 

Cannon Gallery 2018 Juried Biennial

by Patricia Frischer

The Cannon Gallery Biennial is open to all San Diego County artists. This year’s jurors are Maria Mingalone, Executive Director of the Oceanside Museum of Art, and Robert Pincus, Art Critic, professor and writer so the turn out of applications was great. I saw lots of artists that I know and just like the jurors, I discovered some talent new to me.  The show runs until January 13, 2019, so go and discover a new artist of your own and start the new year right!

Maria Mingalone with Chantal Wnuk

Robert Pincus with Ruby Geisler painting

Heidi Rufeh

and her daughter Jiela Rulef

Duke Windsor

Julia San Roman

Viviana Lombrozo

Dan Adams

Kim Emerson

Ellen Dieter

Kirsten Francis - loved these new collage works

Alexia Markarian

Aaron Garretson

Philip Petrie

Stephen Frank Gary

Pie Stern