48 Pillars 2023

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February 25 - April 8, 2023

Catalog design: Michael Yochum

Logo design: Priscilla Otani

Arc Gallery © 2023

48 Pillars was inspired by a chance encounter at Flax with a close-out sale of deep

vertical panels, 48” x 12” x 1 5/8”. 24 local Bay Area artists will produce two pieces each

on these identically-sized panels that will exactly ring the gallery – 48 works total.

This is the 7th Annual iteration of this exhibition at Arc Gallery. Along with our iconic

FourSquared exhibition, this is essentially an exercise in "structural constraint". In both

exhibitions, the artists are unconstrained in subject matter except to the extent that

works need to be a series; but they are constrained in format. One might expect that

constraining format would constrain creativity. Our experience has been the opposite -

creativity has been unleashed. The results have been visually stunning.

Michael Yochum, Curator

Exhibition Statement

OPENING RECEPTION:

Saturday, February 25th, 7-9pm

ARTIST TALK & LIGHT BRUNCH RECEPTION:

Saturday, April 1st, 12-3pm

Participating Artists

Carlo Abruzzese

Afatasi the Artist

Ali Blum

Richard Bolingbroke

Jessica Dunne

Annie Galvin

Daniel Galvez

Jordan Herren

Soad Kader

Hope Kroll

Jeff Long

Bao-Khang Luu

Stephen Namara

Linda Raynsford

Fernando Reyes

Wendy Robushi

Luz Marina Ruiz

Harumo Sato

Siana Smith

Anne Subercaseaux

Rachel Tirosh

Victoria Veedell

Hilary Williams

Holly Wong

48 Pillars

February 25 - April 8, 2023

Carlo Abruzzese

website: www.abruzzese.net

email:

carlo@abruzzese.net

Building on his varied interests in geography, culture,

colors & patterns, and the world of ‘data sets’, Carlo

Abruzzese creates paintings that combine the

disparate worlds of fine art and quantitative

information. The ‘maps’ he creates are not only of a

location, but of the human content: diversity, culture,

immigration, religion, poverty—topics that define our

modern world.

Using simple materials (pencils, acrylic paint and a

drafting table) he creates complex, information-rich art

that goes beyond computer-generated designs. The

artwork diligently portrays the data accurately, but also

brings a deeper understanding of the people populating each location.

For West Bay / East Bay, each panel is an abstracted map. The left panel is the western half, and the

right panel is the eastern half of the Bay Area. Together they represent the 9 counties that surround the

Bay. Census data regarding population size & ethnic diversity is compiled for each area. The colors

& abstracted graphics taken from city/county flags and government seals & websites become scaled

shapes to map the quantity of diverse populations in the counties and the largest cities within the region.

With deep blue as water, brown as adjacent land and white as the caucasian population, each of the

other colors/shapes is scaled to represent the amount of people of color in the different cities/counties.

(1 inch = 10,000 people)

acrylic & graphite on wood panels

48" x 12" each

SOLD

West Bay / East Bay

Afatasi The Artist

website: www.afatasi.org

email:

afatasitheartist@gmail.com

Afatasi The Artist is a worlds-building visual artist, futurist

and counterstory teller, investigating the nexus of being

a proud generational San Franciscan of Black-American

and Sāmoan descent. Her work is informed by her deep

concern of the continued population decline of Black-

Americans in her hometown over the course of her life

time. Navigational modalities include wearable art, fine

art textile/tapestry creation, and recycled metal sculpture

as vehicles of disruption, exploration, and pathways of

envisioning speculative futures for her marginalized

communities.

recycled steel

48" x 12" each

SOLD

The Gates of Io

Ali Blum

website: www.aliblumart.com/

email:

alexandrablum68@gmail.com

My interior world of memories of childhood, books,

songs, and stories steer my work. In this exhibit I

continue with my Nature Makes a Comeback series

with volcano and ocean spirits. The environment and

natural world are increasingly central to my work.

Folktales and myths have always been integral to

my understanding of the world. Overtime, hybrid

creatures and genetic engineering have blended with

the spiritual world of my childhood and have resulted

in these elemental guardian figures. I work in oil paint,

gouache, printmaking, and mixed media.

I received my BFA from Cornell University in Painting

and my MFA in Printmaking from Washington

University in St Louis. I have had residencies at

Curtiduria print studio in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the de Young Museum in San Francisco. I actively

exhibit, including shows at the de Young Museum, Cornell University Hartell Gallery, San Francisco

Public Library, Museo de la Filatelia de Oaxaca, Mission Cultural Center, and San Francisco

Jewish Library. I enjoy teaching which informs and inspires my artmaking. Select workshops and

live art demonstrations include SFMOMA, de Young Museum, The California Academy of Sciences,

and The Contemporary Jewish Museum. My work is in public and private collections.

mixed media on wood panels, finished with resin

48" x 12" each

SOLD

Guardians: Water and Fire

Richard Bolingbroke

website: rbolingbroke.com

email:

richardbolingbroke@gmail.com

In my observations of the physical world, both man-made

and natural, I find myself fascinated with the patterns,

rhythms and structures I see all around me. From beach

sand rivulets to the ridged metal siding of a building, these

surfaces, shapes and textures contain a rich and detailed

narrative that is the essence of life. Their beauty is in their

simplicity, and their power is in their ability to create a cos­

mos. The smallest part, the fragment, the microcosm, con­

tains many stories about the incomprehensible vastness in

which we live.

All these images are based on photographs of building sur­

faces. They are laser-etched onto wood panel and colored

with pastel, charcoal and white chalk. The surfaces are

fixed and protected with several different archival UV var­

nishes.

mixed media on wood panels

48" x 12" each

SOLD

Surfaces # 27 & # 28

Jessica Dunne

website: www.jessicadunne.com

email:

info@jessicadunne.com

I spent the last three years staring at The Great Highway from

my window. When we first moved here 35 years ago, I was

reluctant. I thought this was the gloomiest place. After years of

looking and painting, I learned to see it.

The Great Highway is impractical as a street. It is built on sand

dunes and borders Ocean Beach. The sand wants to reclaim its terri­

tory. The city transit folks are forever clearing the pavement to make

way for cars, especially in the spring when the offshore winds blow.

In the lockdown of March, 2020, they threw up their hands and

let the sand stay and the cars go elsewhere so people could

be outside and safe. The highway became a temporary park

for joggers, bicyclists, strollers, strollers with strollers, dogs, and

people skating backwards. The sight of revelers comforted me.

Some people hated the impromptu park and wanted cars back

on the highway. More people loved it. Nonetheless, the city eventually reopened the highway to cars on

weekdays—sand permitting--and to bipeds and their four-legged besties on weekends.

When I decided to paint these two overviews of the Great Highway, one with cars and one with pedestrians,

the neighbors rallied. Jeff Daniel introduced me to surfer Alex Fang who dispatched his drone up to take

source photos. Lots of photos. I’m grateful to them both.

oil on wood panels

48" x 12" each

$2,800 each; $4,000 diptych

The Great Highway

The Highway

Annie Galvin

website: www.3fishstudios.com

email:

hello@3fishstudios.com

This pair of paintings depict a dreamy and fictional

San Francisco you can get lost in. I emigrated here

from Ireland more than half my life ago and the

patterned hills and ever-changing panoramas of the

City never fail to make me swoon.

After 30 years in San Francisco, my husband and

I moved to Sierra Nevada foothills in 2020, so

revisiting my favorite subject armed with a tiny

paintbrush and a rainbow of acrylic paints was a joy.

Painting like this is a meditative exercise for me; I

listen to audiobooks as I paint, these two endeavors

using different parts of my brain. (I listened to almost the entirety of Barbara Kingsolver’s wonderful

novel Demon Copperhead as I completed my pillars.) I love to create illustrative worlds that reward

close looking - nothing made me happier when I was a child than poring over intricate storybook

illustrations and finding new details each time; it allowed me to create my own stories - and tell my

own tales.

acrylic on wood panels

48" x 12" each

SOLD

City of Hills

Daniel Galvez

instagram: info@danielgalvezart

email:

galvezart@comcast.net

I began my career as a muralist in the 1970’s during the

contemporary mural movement, which pioneered the

process of collaborative public art. My work spans a diverse

exploration of content, materials and theme, but the over

arching goal in many of my commissions is a celebration

of the spirit of individuals and the strength of community. I

weave together elements of landscape, culture, and most

importantly, individuals into a cohesive visual narrative.

My work is in neighborhoods, schools, colleges, libraries,

justice centers, museums and other civic institutions through

out the U.S. In 2014 along with my original team of artists I

restored my iconic Carnaval Mural (1983) above the House

of Brakes on 24th and South Van Ness in the Mission.

I have completed two projects that resulted from winning national design competitions. The first, com

missioned by the City of New York, was for a mural honoring the life of Malcolm X which is installed in

the Audubon Ballroom where he was assassinated. The second was for a pair of interpretive murals at

the headquarters of the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington DC on the 150th anniversary of

the founding of the Department.

Currently I am working in my studio on a mural for the Washington State Arts Commission to be

installed at the high school in Shelton, WA on the Olympic Peninsula. For 48 Pillars I have painted

a detail of the central section of the mural showing two students as the Controllers of their Destiny.

The mural is a reimagining of Diego Rivera’s Man at the Crossroads (1934) to focus on contemporary

students and the 21st century challenges they face as they prepare for their futures in the world that

awaits them.

acrylic on wood panels

48" x 12" each

$3,600 diptych

Controllers of Their Destiny II

Jordan Herren

website: www.jordanherren.com

email:

jherren1@gmail.com

Growing up in San Francisco, I was always inspired by the city

skyline. Tall buildings and iconic structures symbolized

opportunity. As an artist painting for the past 11 years, the city

remains an inspiration. As my practice has evolved over the

years, so has the skyline.

This is my latest rendition of the city, and my first time creating a

diptych of this dimension. I wanted to make a versatile painting,

so both panels can be displayed on either side of each other or

separated, offering a different perspective with each view. Using

a full-spectrum palette of acrylic and spray paint, my intention is

to highlight the diversity and energy of the city. One panel

contains the modern skyline with newer skyscrapers while the

other panel contains the classic skyline—hence the title,

SF Now & Then. Above the city is a gradient of a sunrise or sunset,

depending on one’s interpretation. Further above the skies

are the cosmos.

Jordan Herren is a mixed-media artist and muralist born and raised in San Francisco. He obtained his

Marketing degree at SF State. It was during college when he discovered a passion for painting, which he

continues to pursue today. His work is featured in galleries and murals around the city. His latest mural

can be seen inside San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building.

acrylic and spray paint on wood panels

48" x 12" each

SOLD

SF Now & Then

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