escapewindow | saturday (Reply)

[i: open studios] I went to Fort Mason today since a bunch of this weekend's artists' Open Studios were being held there.

This batch was mostly prints and photos; nothing quite as exciting as 1890 Bryant last time. Two of my favorite artists from this batch weren't even part of the Open Studios; they were part of an SFMOMA exhibit at Fort Mason. Susan Parker's style was more than a little bit mind boggling, and made me decide to try something in that vein at some point. It'll definitely turn out different than hers, and may spark something interesting. Glad I saw those.

I liked Lorrie Fink's paintings: lily ponds mostly. Peter A Doolin's abstract and comic-esque prints held my attention for quite a while. I quite liked Robert Jones' photos: his black and whites were really well done and his color skyscrapers were solarized or otherwise colored in a sort of otherworldly way.

One artist, whose name I didn't get, printed her digital photos on all sorts of different textured paper: watercolor paper, rice paper, etc. which gave them a more organic look. Quite nice.

I'm quite intrigued by The Nocturnes, which is an informal group of nighttime photographers. Some of their photos were amazing.

Still, I left feeling that I could have viewed all these photos and etchings and prints online without having lost very much. It's paintings and sculptures that tend to lose something when photographed. Ah well, there's still a bunch of other artists this weekend that I haven't seen yet, so I'm planning on driving around tomorrow to do just that.

[ii: speaking of night photography] It was unnaturally hot today in SF. So much so that when I got back from Fort Mason, I stayed in an hour or two til the sun had set before heading over to the East Bay for errands, packing up my rig for Tuesday's show, and a photo walk 'round Lake Merritt. I think the photos turned out better this time. (See: 10 months ago.)