That's the birthday girl in the middle.
Come on down to FOG and wish Jeanie a happy birthday. During our Fog Family music session today we will pause to sing Happy Birthday and have some bubbly and treats - so please join us from 5 to 6.
Richard Kamler Remembered
Kamler with (left) "Last Statement," 1998, graphite, oil stick on paper, 61 x 31 inches; right: "Boy Warrior," 1975, graphite on paper, 75 x 36.5 inches
by Robert Atkins squarecylinder.com
The artist Richard Kamler, who died on November 1, a day before his 82nd birthday, was unusual: a conceptualist and social practice artist before the terms existed. He was trained as an architect and to say he was unconcerned about conventional disciplinary categories is to be guilty of understatement. His first museum installation, Out of Holocaust (1976), was as close to architecture as he would get again — it was a life-sized replica of a barracks at Auschwitz, produced for the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley. After that his work eschewed history for more contemporary concerns expressed in more hybrid idioms. He assembled a nationwide network of artists, for instance, to create visualizations of the concept, Seeing Peace, on unused billboards across the US. But it was the violence, racism, and wasted human potential typifying US prisons that became his signature subject. Continue reading.
Richard Kamler's Opening
Richard Kamler's (1935-2017) artist statement begins: In 1963 I had just graduated from UC Berkeley and had gone to New York to begin an apprenticeship with Frederick Kiesler, the visionary painter, sculptor, theater designer and architect. I was climbing the stairs to his studio and heard voices. He had left the door ajar for me and was talking to a museum director from Switzerland. He was saying that "through art we can change the laws of the world.”
This idea that art can engage in worldly affairs–“can change the laws of the world” –is what has driven my work these past 40 years. That art is a catalyst for social change and cultural transformation.
Read the rest of his inspiring statement here.
Tears,
Laughter.
photo by Cheryl Cooper
photo by Cheryl Cooper
Peter Munks, Jeanie Bertrand, Tim Thurman
Hanging Richard Kamler's Show
The show opens this Saturday, April 7, 12-6 pm. Talk at 2 pm.
We're In!
Art Market San Francisco 2014 photo via
FOG is honored to have been accepted into Art Market San Francisco.
A Personal Note: Highs and Lows
19th and Alabama, deep in the Mission and early in the morning, 7:00am. Carmen’s cardiologist rechecks her ex-rays and confirms her diagnosis - respiratory heart failure with enlarged heart and irregular beat. We go to our favorite cafe, The Atlas at 20th and Harrison, have a great breakfast and commiserate.
On the way to our car we see a flat file sitting out on the the street. We nab it and inside is a trove of fabulous colored paper. Anne is way happy, she has wanted a flat file for years.
Back to Carmen: She is now on four medications and has to curtail her exuberance (not easy). We rescued Carmen when she was a year and half, and have loved and lived with her for over 10 years, and our journey continues. Come by and give her your good wishes. -Peter
Color Coordinates
Sydney (above) and Jenny of Sweet Passion Bakery (below)
Tamsin Smith's Poetry Reading
International Women's Day
Connie Harris's Opening
Connie Harris
Friends talked and laughed – and took a good look at the art, too.
Connie gave an inspiring talk. She not only spoke about herself and her art, but stressed the importance of our (her audience) being creative.
And then of course we had lots of questions for Connie about her art.
p.s. The day of the opening just happened to be Connie's birthday!
Hanging Connie's Show
We are so excited to be hanging Connie Harris's show!
Please join us this coming Saturday, 12-6 pm, for the opening. Connie will give a talk at 2.
Behold the Sea
After the Storm II, 2018. Oil on canvas. 30 x 40 inches
Step outside FOG and to the west sits our glorious Pacific in all its splendor. Its grays and blues and clouds and fog form the leitmotif of our existence here in the Sunset. Now step inside FOG, and here is our Pacific rendered expertly in oil paint by local artist Jeffrey Nemeroff. The scenes are all familiar and the varying moods are exquisitely realized. For those of us who cherish the sea, this exhibit satisfies that primal connection we feel. This is the last weekend to catch this exciting show, and you can meet Jeff this Saturday between 3 and 6. –Peter
Celebrating the Year of the Dog
We have many talented neighbors. This is Diana’s dog (at the Sea Bee next door).
The Dog Whisperer
Mamade Kadreebux
One of our singular experiences at FOG was meeting Mamade Kadreebux and his subsequent show with Anne in November 2016. Born on the tiny island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, he embarked on an epic worldwide journey that ended in Berkeley.
It is with great sadness that we learned of his passing at the end of last year. He was the real deal - and spending time with him was a miraculous and enlightening experience. The month of his show was extraordinary - his one of a kind photos and paintings, his five books, his lovely entourage from the Berkeley community he led, and his irrepressible presence. He was a true spiritual leader and an inspiring artist - he touched us all and left the world a better place. -Peter
Mamade and his pals Ibrahim and Munir Jiwa outside the gallery in November 2016.
email of the day
(from Starr Sutherland)
noticed a few red dots today at the gallery.
congrats
xo
p.s. my fave red dot art
Jeffrey Nemeroff's Opening
A magnificent afternoon ...
The fog horn signals time for the talk.
It's a captivating talk. Lots of questions, lots of laughs.
And another red dot goes down on the list.
Hanging out back.
Hanging Jeffrey Nemeroff's Show
Jeffrey Nemeroff's seascapes are inspired by the San Francisco coastline where he resides and are the culmination of an eighteen-month investigation of the subject. The word ephemeral describes the moment when the relationship between the sea, sky and other elements will never be the same again. Nemeroff uses this brief interaction and his fleeting memory of it as inspiration in the studio. Ephemeral Seas portrays the impermanence of the ocean and the natural world as a whole.
Over the past twenty years, Jeffrey Nemeroff has shown in the United States and Asia and is in private collections throughout the US, Europe, Britain and the Middle East.
Opening: Saturday, February 3, 12-6 pm
Artist's Talk at 2 pm
A painting, a book cover
Threshold oil on canvas 24" x 30" 2016
Anne's hauntingly beautiful painting Threshold is now a book cover – her second cover for Andrew Ramer. Here is the first.
Artists Never Stop Creating
Looking back over two years of shows at FOG, a remarkable fact becomes clear: artists never stop creating. Among our stellar artists shown, Harry Cohen (who brought along his magnificent Bagel Boys) was 93, Dottie Weintraub was 88, Richard Kamler, Bill Aiken, Tom Akawie were all in their 80s – and many more were in their 70s.
Harry Cohen
Dottie Weintraub
Tom Akawie
Bill Aiken
Richard Kamler
In some of my last talks with Richard, he said he always tried to make art every day, even if it was just a mark on paper. He was passionate to the very end about “inserting” his art in the world.
Richard will be having a posthumous show at FOG in April.
A wonderful article in the NYT about Harry Bertschmann is a perfect illustration. After showing with Frank Kline and Mark Rothko, New York School artists of the 50s and 60s, he fell into obscurity as he did design work to make a living with his wife in New York. He is now attracting serious interest and people are rediscovering his art. Mr Bertschmann is now 86, and “continues to put pencil to paper with such single-minded focus that he doesn’t see his own career arc, or plan for the future.” I am profoundly moved and thankful that these artists never stop. –Peter