Macro | Micro: Site to Psyche
Avenue 12 Gallery presents Macro | Micro: Site to Psyche, a group exhibition of three award winning San Francisco ArtSpan artists: Elizabeth Ashcroft, David Avery, and Beth Davila Waldman.
Beth Davila Waldman’s “Mollendo” series is the result of six odysseys to the site of her maternal homeland Arequipa, Peru including the former capital town of Mollendo. Once a vibrant and prosperous port town, today it is mostly a ghost town of colorful ruins existing with a few present day homes. This juxtaposition of shifts in time, culture and economy was Waldman’s inspiration for the series.
Elizabeth Ashcroft refers to herself as an “altered book artist” and calls her latest series “The Dissected Library”. The duality of the book as both a visual object and a conduit for ideas is a source of constant inspiration.
David Avery is a practitioner of traditional black and white copper plate etching and has long been drawn to the works and techniques of the master etchers and engravers of the past 400 years as well as their literary counterparts.
Minooish Zomorodinia: Colonial Walk
In the Media Space
About “Colonial Walk (21h:9′:3″)” video:
As an immigrant investigating the self in the natural environment, Zomorodinia borrows ritual to picture her dreams. Using walking as medium, and recording her path with an app, she creates a pilgrimage that belongs exclusively to her. Individual videos taken along the route are structured together into moving images within each frame by the use of sophisticated software. The final artwork contains movement within movement, mapping land that does not belong to her, thereby addressing the notion of power and ownership in relation to technology.
Jeff Petersen: Entranced |Current State of Being
Now in our Media Space
Avenue 12 Gallery is delighted to present Jeff Petersen: Entranced | Current State of Being. The exhibit has paintings, sculpture, wood cut prints, and installations by Jeff Petersen that explore our absorption with the glowing digital device, sometimes at the expense of that which surrounds us.
The exhibit revolves around a central character loosely based on Noppera-bō, a Japanese spirit who pretends to be someone you know, only to reveal itself as a faceless spirit. This character is clearly captivated by the digital world, perhaps absurdly so, and is juxtaposed with the natural world to which it has lost connection.
In Petersen’s paintings the external environments, lush and dreamlike, beckon for inclusion in the character’s current state of being. Yet the internal landscape of Being may be disconnected from humanity, the world, and even itself.
Our Summer of Love and Resistance
Summer 2017
Avenue 12 Gallery presents Our Summer of Our Love and Resistance, a group exhibition of Bay Area artists on view July 8 to August 31. As part of San Francisco’s 50th year commemoration of the Summer of Love, Avenue 12 Gallery is proud to provide a place where Bay Area artists can connect with the community by showing their work in response to the current political environment. As was true of the 60’s, it is our belief that now is the time for art to provide an emotional release, the energy to move dialogue forward, and provide a sense of meaning to hope and struggle. Original artwork in a variety of mediums, as well as fine art prints, will be available.
Artist Talk with Jenny E. Balisle, Christopher Mangum and Philip Long Saturday, August 19
As part of San Francisco’s 50th year commemoration of the Summer of Love, Avenue 12 Gallery is proud to provide a venue where Bay Area artists can connect with the community by showing their work in response to the current political environment. As was true of the 60’s, it is our belief that now is the time for art to provide an emotional release, the energy to move dialogue forward, and provide a sense of meaning to hope and struggle.
Jenny E. Balisle’ work for this show are various commercial signage that are repurposed by altering function to explore identity, ideology, and equality. As a multi-disciplinary artist, her practice incorporates drawings, sculpture, site-specific installations, objects, video, and audio. As she says, “Art translates when words become inadequate.”
Christopher Mangum has several paintings in the show with acrylic or oils that confront and compel with their emotional pull. His explorations of the Truth and the roles of the Insider and the Outsider invite closer examination.
Philip Long creates poetic surrealist works in leather.
The Richmond Review January 2017
Premiere of New Art Gallery
by Thomas K. Pendergast
Despite recent setbacks in the Bay Area arts community, a new hope for the art scene landed in the Richmond District on Dec. 11.
The Avenue 12 Gallery debuted at the corner of 12th Avenue and Lake Street, and the first exhibition features new work by a well-established local artist, Leslie Andelin.
Vince Meyer, who grew up in the Richmond a few blocks away at Lake Street and 17th Avenue, has renovated, revamped and renamed the gallery, which he has occupied for 11 years. Formerly, it was known as Table Asia Gallery, which specialized in custom tables made from Japanese antiques. He and his partner, Rachel Murray Meyer, have integrated that craft into a new venue that also features contemporary art.
But they have even more in mind for the corner space. “We want to make it more of a community center, more of a community hub where there’s more happening here,” said Meyer. “So, We’re going to have more openings, more artists, and have different events and things here; try to make it a lot more accessible to a lot more people.”
Murray Meyer likes the idea of sharing space with artists.
“We like Bay Area artIsts … emerging and mid-career artists and we sort of see it that we’re sharing this space with artists because sometimes there’s limited exhibition space,” Murray Meyer explained. “A lot of things are online but it’s nice to be able to see something in person.
“It’s kind of nice to be out here. We have people who also want to make it family friendly, in the sense that the art is something that kids can come look at,” she said.
The couple kept the fundamentals of the Edwardian building housing the gallery, while completely moderniZIng the interior by stripping everything down to the studs. It got a seismic upgrade, new, modern, low-voltage halogen lights and a new floor.
“The concept was to mix contemporary details with Edwardian details,” Meyer explained. “The building is from 1911, so, when we remodeled all the details we added this very high baseboard, that’s Edwardian. We tried to make it look as it may have looked in 1911, but the lighting and things like that are contemporary. It’s either brand new or 1911 – that’s the look we were going for.”
And to go along with the new look, the gallery will feature contemporary artists from around the Bay Area creating art with San Francisco themes.
“(Contemporary art) is fresh” Meyer said. “There are new things happening all the time. There’s a big contemporary art scene and San Francisco is one of the centers of the world for contemporary art.”
One of the larger paintings that immediately catches the eye is of an abstract map of San Francisco.
“It’s kind of my ‘goodbye’ to the City because we literally just moved out of the City last week, after 27 years,” said featured artist Leslie Andelin.”1 still have my studio, but now I have to commute. We moved to San Rafael in-part so my daughter could start school over there.”
Andelin said when the gallery owners first approached her about an exhibition during one of her Open Studio events, she did not realize she would be the first artist to have a show at the Avenue 12 Gallery, but it was a case of perfect timing.
“I was at the point right then where I was like, ‘I’m ready to let it go. I’m ready. I’m just waiting for the right people to come along’ and we had a nice conversation.
“Then they gave me a call a couple of days later … and said, ‘hey, would you like a show?’ And I was like, ‘yeah!’ because I really liked them. ‘Let’s do it. I can have a show for you in a minute,'” she said.
Aside from oil paintings, Andelin also does etchings and creates ceramic sculptures. She has a book at the Avenue 12 Gallery showing paintings that go back to 1992, but she has been painting since she was 10 years old.
Murray Meyer is also an artist, specializing in fine art photography. At the south end of the upper gallery, stairs lead down to a lower-level room where some of her work is hanging. Near it is a table with various arts and crafts supplies.
“Here we just created a craft table for kids to be able to come in and make something. We’ve had a number of parents who were able to stay longer because their kids had something to do,” she explained. In the futUre, the space could be used for a second artist’s exhibition.
“The Richmond is a vibrant place, so we want to be part of that,” Meyer said. “It’s really exciting for people because we have a lot of walkers and joggers and bicyclists on Lake Street. So, there’s something new to see all the time. I’ve got a lot of positive feedback, where the neighbors really enjoy being able to see contemporary art in the windows here.”
