(happy to be back on our regular schedule)

What a weekend. I'd like to revisit the topics discussed last week. First, Art Market... I didn't go. Maybe you did? Please contact me with impressions of this, our longest running art fair at mrharbour@gmail.com. I've talked to quite a few people about this subject over the weekend both before they went and after and have heard mixed things. I'm very curious what you thought of it.

Second, the MFA shows. I made it to Berkeley, CCA and SFAI. Berkeley was the most consistent with all of the artists showing work that when even in a genre/style I'm not particularly interested in still managed to feel well made and installed. Three of the artists had very good video pieces, especially the work by Jason Fritz and Elizabeth Keegan, but here installation failed a bit - its hard to watch a video with headphones on for too terribly long with a huge gallery of art and people behind your back. This isn't so much a comment on these artists as it is about gallery video in general; I'd love to see each of these pieces screened sometime in their entirety. 

CCA was, well, fine. There were few standouts... I can't wait to see more work by Diedrick Brackens whose practice was noted by many people I talked to after the show. And here and there there were appealing pieces by Kristine Eudey, Jonas Taylor and Brittany Nichole Watkins. But all in all it felt like a small show, less ambitious than years past.

SFAI once again contended with a terrible novelty venue, with artists scrambling to use all manner of sticks and strings and wires to suspend their work without nails, preparing them I suppose for a future hanging art in châteaus and castles but certainly not helping them present their practice here and now. C Franco Maldonado and Stephanie Rohlfs shared a room with their peculiar sculptures and (Rohlfs') paintings which harkened back to last years awesome 'Thin Mints' group show idea, and Marshall Elliott managed to create a body of work impossibly suited to its environs, but beyond that it was slim pickings. 

All in all, a quiet year of MFA shows, perhaps signaling some sort of transition. After all of that excitement, its a slow week around town. Catch an MFA show or two and see what you think (except SFAI, which already opened and closed!). In Berkeley Saturday at Martina}{Johnston is David Snyder: The Other Interview. And for the adventurous, there's a show at tmoro projects in Santa Clara on Saturday of Evan Reiser's paintings

And a quick conflict-of-interests-shameless-plug, your art cards editors have curated a show at The LAB opening Friday, we're glad to see the space alive again.

Friday:
+ Brad Killam, Michelle Grabner "Grabner Killam 2014" at Gallery 16
+ Brion Nuda Rosch, Erin Jane Nelson, Honza Hoeck, Jason Benson, Puppies Puppies, Sara Cwynar "That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is" curated by Aaron Harbour, Jackie Im at The Lab

Saturday:
+ Screening: "2014 MFA Thesis Exhibition: "Stage and Screen"" at California College of the Arts (CCA)
+ Evan Reiser "Just Deserts" at tmoro projects

Wednesday, May 21

Book launch: Nancy Calef ""Peoplescapes -- My Story From Purging To Painting" -- book release & art exhibition" at Meridian Gallery
Downtown: 535 Powell Street, free, 6-9pm

Thursday, May 22

Reuben Wu "Infinite Sustain" at Lot 21 Gallery Dogpatch: 933 20th Street, 6-9pm

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Ames Kanemoto, Annie Leonard, Aviva Knox, Barrie Rokeach, Daniel Healey, Donna Anderson Kam, Hopi Breton , Julia Goodman, Kate Rhoades, Kathryn Kenworth, Kristin Cammermeyer, Marie-Luise Klotz, Michael Kerbow, Patrick Lydon, Paul Taylor, Sara Kraft, Scott Constable, Trent Davis Bailey "Reimagining Progress: Production, Consumption, and Alternative Economies" at David Brower Center
Berkeley: 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 , Ground Floor, free, 6:30-9pm

Friday, May 23

+ Brad Killam, Michelle Grabner "Grabner Killam 2014" at Gallery 16
SOMA: 501 Third Street, 6-9pm

+ Brion Nuda Rosch, Erin Jane Nelson, Honza Hoeck, Jason Benson, Puppies Puppies, Sara Cwynar "That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is" curated by Aaron Harbour, Jackie Im at The Lab
Mission District: 2948 16th Street, Free, 7-10pm

Rudi Molacek "“malen wir”" curated by Alexandra Holly Fouladi at Fouladi Projects Hayes Valley: 1803 Market Street, 6-8pm

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Claire Lynch, Jamil Hellu, Matthew Gottschalk "Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Exhibitions " at Recology San Francisco Art Studio ( SF Recycling & Disposal's Artist in Residence Studio )
South San Francisco: 503 Tunnel Avenue, free, 5-8pm

Claire Lynch, Jamil Hellu, Matthew Gottschalk "Recology San Francisco, Art at the Dump Artist in Residence Exhibitions" at Recology San Francisco Art Studio ( SF Recycling & Disposal's Artist in Residence Studio )
South San Francisco: 503 Tunnel Avenue, 5-9pm

Saturday, May 24

Screening: João Moreira Salles, Kátia Lund "Saturday Screening Series: Notícias de una guerra particular" curated by Marcelo Cidade at Kadist Art Foundation
Mission District: 3295 20th Street, at Folsom Street, 2pm and 5pm

+ Screening: "2014 MFA Thesis Exhibition: "Stage and Screen"" at California College of the Arts (CCA)
Potrero Hill: 1111 Eighth Street , Timken Lecture Hall, 5-7pm

Claire Lynch, Jamil Hellu, Matthew Gottschalk "Recology San Francisco, Art at the Dump Artist in Residence Exhibitions" at Recology San Francisco Art Studio ( SF Recycling & Disposal's Artist in Residence Studio )
South San Francisco: 503 Tunnel Avenue, 1-3pm

David Snyder "The Other Interview" curated by Farley Gwazda, Indira Martina Morre at Martina } { Johnston
Berkeley: 1201 Sixth Street, 2nd , 0, 1-4pm

Artist Talk: The Breakfast Group--Nancy Genn "Jive and Java with the Breakfast Group Artists" at Richmond Art Center
Richmond: 2540 Barrett Avenue, 11am-1pm

+ Evan Reiser "Just Deserts" at tmoro projects
Santa Clara: 1046 Sherman Street, Free, 3-5pm

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 and add an image to your listing here. Powered by phpList.

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