Another first week of a month = another batch of exciting things to see.
The Highlight Gallery is launching its new space in Downtown SF this week, and it looks as if they will be starting strong with work from Belgian artist Benoît Platéus. Paule Anglim has a pair of Tonys, Oursler and Labat, and we're excited to see what their new work will be.  All around this week, lets hope we find ourselves surprised and engaged.

Also of note are several of Andrzej Zulawski's films screening at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Wednesday Szamanka (The Shaman) (1996) will screen, and Sunday May 6th the highly regarded Possession (1981) will also play, with three more films to follow next week. We're excited to familiarize ourselves with his work, having heard and read great things.
 
NOTE 
We here at Art Cards are about to start producing new and exciting content for the Art Cards Review page, starting with a pre-review post about an intriguing event coming up at the Berkeley Art Museum in collaboration with the Kadist Foundation... More info soon, and if you are interested in contributing writing in the future, let us know.

Curiously Direct Picks
Altman Siegel//Nate Boyce: Knockdown Texture= Excellent solo show in varied media. Known primarily for his video work combining analog and digital methods, here the lines between 2 and 3D are blurred intriguingly. Here there is a refinement, a focus on a particular set of concerns which still allows for a signature style but expands upon the possibilities inherent therein. 
 
Steven Wolf//Bessma Khalaf: Re-Enchanter= Solo show of videos, sculpture and photography. Drawing a strange series of parallels between religious sects, witchcraft, and Jedi knights; a sort of generalized mystic ceremonial aesthetic pervades the work in a consistant and at times silly way. Its an odd show that could have benefited from either a paring back or a more maximal display. I'm interested in seeing more.

Tuesday:

+ Panel Discussion: Abigail De Kosnik "You Don't Have to Say You're Sorry: Screen Cultures, Public Apologies, and Private Guilt" at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries)

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Thursday:
+ Screening: Andrzej Zulawski "Szamanka (The Shaman) (1996)" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
+ Tony Labat "New Work" at Gallery Paule Anglim
+ Benoît Platéus "Backpages" at Highlight Gallery
+ Lin Yilin "Golden Journey" at San Francisco Art Institute
+ "Are We There Yet?" curated by Larry Morace at Creativity Explored

Friday:
+ Auction: "ATA Art Auction FUNRaiser" at A.T.A.
+ Closing reception: Robert Minervini, Tadashi Moriyama "Hymns to the Moon" at Johansson Projects

Saturday:
+ Open Studio: Members of the Berkeley Potters Guild "Spring Sale" at Berkeley Potters Guild

Sunday:
+ Screening: Andrzej Zulawski "Possession (1981)" New 35mm print! at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
+ Angie Wilson, Bean Gilsdorf, Evan DeSpelder, Jerome Reyes, Narangkar Glover, Paul Taylor, Sohyung Choi "Last Line of Defense: Graduate Fellow Exhibition" curated by Dena Beard at Headlands Center for the Arts

Tuesday, May 1

+ Panel Discussion: Abigail De Kosnik "You Don't Have to Say You're Sorry: Screen Cultures, Public Apologies, and Private Guilt" at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries) Potrero Hill: 1111 Eighth Street, Free, 7-9pm

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Thursday, May 3

+ Screening: Andrzej Zulawski "Szamanka (The Shaman) (1996)" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, YBCA Screening Room, $8 Regular/$6 YBCA members, students, seniors, teachers, 7:30 -10pm

Tony Oursler "top-down-bottom-up" at Gallery Paule Anglim
Downtown: 14 Geary Street, floor 2, Free, 5:30-7:30pm

Lee Friedlander "Mannequin" at Fraenkel Gallery
Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 4, Free, 6-9pm

+ Tony Labat "New Work" at Gallery Paule Anglim
Downtown: 14 Geary Street, floor 2, Free, 5:30-7:30pm

+ Benoît Platéus "Backpages" at Highlight Gallery
Downtown: 17 Kearny Street, Free, 6-8pm

Tom Lieber "Wired" at Dolby Chadwick Gallery
Downtown: 210 Post Street, floor 2, Free, 5:30-7:30pm

+ Lin Yilin "Golden Journey" at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Walter and McBean Gallery, Free, 5:30-7:30pm

+ "Are We There Yet?" curated by Larry Morace at Creativity Explored
Mission District: 3245 16th Street, Free, 7-9pm

Friday, May 4

Performance: Daniele Girardi, Michael Shiono, Silvia Girardi "To The Artist" at Kunst-Stoff Arts SOMA: 1 Grove St, 7-9pm

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Performance: Daniele Girardi, Michael Shiono, Silvia Girardi "To The Artist" at Kunst-Stoff Arts SOMA: 1 Grove St, 7-9pm

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Closing reception: Amy Muller, Cole Evans, Dan Humke, Dustin Kinsley, Jaynee Watson, Kevin Jaffe, Kyle Alexander, Matt Barnes, Sarah Newcomb, Wyatt Amend "Week 16" curated by SSU Sculpture Collaborative at Make Hang
North Beach: 450 Green Street, floor 1, 6-9pm

Chris Brorsen "Flashbacks A Collection of Unpublished Rock-n-Roll Photography" at Canessa Gallery
Downtown: 708 Montgomery Street, Free, 5-10pm

"FAX" at SF Arts Commission Gallery Civic Center: 401 Van Ness Avenue , at McAllister Street, 6-8pm

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+ Auction: "ATA Art Auction FUNRaiser" at A.T.A.
Mission District: 992 Valencia Street, Admission donation: $5-$20, 6:30 - 10 pm

Brian Caraway, David Allan Peters "Super Optic" at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary
Oakland: 480 23rd Street, floor 1, Free, 6-9pm

Donald Mitchell, Franna Lusson, John Hiltunen, John Martin, Ray Vickers, Terri Bowden "HOME 2012: Natural Selection" at Creative Growth
Oakland: 355 24th Street , Free, 5-9pm

Bryson Bost, Cyrus Tilton, Donald Fortescue, Elisa Bongfeldt, Hannah Keefe, John Ruszel, Jon Gariepy, Luana Coonen, Luke Heimbigner, Mari Marks, Maru Hoeber, Morgania Moore, Nancy Genn, Natalie Cartwright, Sakura Haru, Sanjay Vora, Walter James Mansfield "Vessel 8: Charting the Waters" at Vessel Gallery
Oakland: 471 25th Street, floor 1, Free, 6-9pm

Carol Inez Charney, Daniel Backman, Elizabeth Williams, Joanne Devereaux, Joseph Jurson, Kathleen Carol Smith, Roy Berkowitz "Urban Information" curated by Danielle Fox at Slate contemporary
Oakland: 473 25th Street, floor 1, Free, 6-9pm

+ Closing reception: Robert Minervini, Tadashi Moriyama "Hymns to the Moon" at Johansson Projects
Oakland: 2300 Telegraph Avenue, at 23rd Street, Free, 6-9pm

Saturday, May 5

Paul Schiek "dead men don't look like me" at Stephen Wirtz Gallery
Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 3, Free, 4-6pm

Adam Fowler "Hide/Reveal" at Brian Gross Fine Art
Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 5, Free, 4-6pm

Marc Katano "Penumbra" at Stephen Wirtz Gallery
Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 3, Free, 4-6pm

Pard Morrison "Recent Work" at Brian Gross Fine Art
Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 5, Free, 4-6pm

Stanislav Szukalski "SZUKALSKI" at Varnish Fine Art
Downtown: 16 Jessie street, suite 120, 5-7pm

Paul Chatem "Another Man's Hero" at Shooting Gallery
Tenderloin: 839 Larkin Street, Free, 7-11pm

Martin Machado "Too Far Gone" at Gallery Hijinks Mission District: 2309 Bryant Street, at 21st Street, floor 1, 6-10pm

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Paul Morin "Modern Portraits" curated by Steven Lopez at ArtZone 461 Gallery Mission District: 461 Valencia Street, 5-8pm

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+ Open Studio: Members of the Berkeley Potters Guild "Spring Sale" at Berkeley Potters Guild
Berkeley: 731 Jones Street, free, 11am-5pm

Sunday, May 6

+ Screening: Andrzej Zulawski "Possession (1981)" New 35mm print! at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, YBCA Screening Room, $8 Regular/$6 YBCA members, students, seniors, teachers, 2-4 pm

Artist Talk: Clare Szydlowski "Buy American" at Compound Gallery Oakland: 1167 65th st., Oakland, CA 94608, Ground floor, 4 pm

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+ Angie Wilson, Bean Gilsdorf, Evan DeSpelder, Jerome Reyes, Narangkar Glover, Paul Taylor, Sohyung Choi "Last Line of Defense: Graduate Fellow Exhibition" curated by Dena Beard at Headlands Center for the Arts
Marin Headlands: 944 Fort Barry , off Bunker Road, floor 1-4, Project Space, Free, 2-5pm

Angie Wilson, Bean Gilsdorf, Evan DeSpelder, Jerome Reyes, Narangkar Glover, Paul Taylor, Sohyung Choi "Last Line of Defense: Graduate Fellow Exhibition" curated by Dena Beard at Headlands Center for the Arts Marin Headlands: 944 Fort Barry , off Bunker Road, floor 1-4, Free, 2-5pm

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Artcards San Francisco is a weekly email publication led by editor Jackie Im and Aaron Harbour. Email event submissions to sfinfo@artcards.cc or use our submission form. New: you can now add an image to your listing by using the submission form.

+ = Editor's pick
? = Opening not confirmed - check site for updates.