Visual Arts

Participants in the Night Owl Ceremony outside the de Young Museum. (Jonathan Ross/Special to S.F. Examiner)

Enjoying the weirdness of San Francisco that remains

The instructions were to meet some “distributors of magic” at the corner…

Participants in the Night Owl Ceremony outside the de Young Museum. (Jonathan Ross/Special to S.F. Examiner)
San Francisco artist Kristine Mays, whose sculptures expressing the human form through hundreds of individual pieces of wire are featured at the African American Arts and Culture Complex in the display "Brutally Soft" through March 24, at the complex's Sargent Johnson Gallery in the Fillmore District. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

An artist wired for humanity

“I love San Francisco,” wire sculptor Kristine Mays laughed, realizing she had…

San Francisco artist Kristine Mays, whose sculptures expressing the human form through hundreds of individual pieces of wire are featured at the African American Arts and Culture Complex in the display "Brutally Soft" through March 24, at the complex's Sargent Johnson Gallery in the Fillmore District. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
“Weeping Willow” (1918–19) in "Monet: The Late Years," loaned from Kimbell Art Museum in Texas, displays Monet’s ability to conjure emotion. (Photo courtesy Robert LaPrelle)

Monet as modernist: Impressionist master changes style in final years

Having helped change how artists depicted the world in the late 1800s,…

“Weeping Willow” (1918–19) in "Monet: The Late Years," loaned from Kimbell Art Museum in Texas, displays Monet’s ability to conjure emotion. (Photo courtesy Robert LaPrelle)
Artist Kurt Schwartzmann, whose unique take on Muni drivers and Muni-centric artwork is being featured at the LightHouse for the Blind Gallery on Market Street, discusses his work at the gallery on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

Formerly homeless man sketches art gallery tribute to a Muni act of kindness

One moment is all it took to inspire artist Kurt Schwartzmann for…

Artist Kurt Schwartzmann, whose unique take on Muni drivers and Muni-centric artwork is being featured at the LightHouse for the Blind Gallery on Market Street, discusses his work at the gallery on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
Curator Kathy Zarur at the California College of the Arts San Francisco main campus on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

For a roving and well-traveled local, there’s no place like home

“I spent my entire adult life trying to run away from here…

Curator Kathy Zarur at the California College of the Arts San Francisco main campus on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
Toyo Miyatake’s 1944 photo “Three Boys Behind Barbed Wire” 1944 is on view in “Then They Came for Me” at Futures Without Violence in San Francisco’s Presidio. (Courtesy Toyo Miyatake Studio)

Winter 2019 Arts Preview: Museums and Galleries

Monet, Calder and kimono fashion are on the winter exhibition slate. OPENING…

Toyo Miyatake’s 1944 photo “Three Boys Behind Barbed Wire” 1944 is on view in “Then They Came for Me” at Futures Without Violence in San Francisco’s Presidio. (Courtesy Toyo Miyatake Studio)
Joan Jonas, pictured in a 2015 performance of “They Come to Us Without a Word II” in Italy, appears this weekend at Fog Design+Art.(Courtesy Moira Ricci/ Joan Jonas/Artist Rights Society)

Fine art assembly at sixth Fog Design+Art

Designed with the adventurous nature of Bay Area art lovers in mind,…

Joan Jonas, pictured in a 2015 performance of “They Come to Us Without a Word II” in Italy, appears this weekend at Fog Design+Art.(Courtesy Moira Ricci/ Joan Jonas/Artist Rights Society)
At Untitled, Art, Los Angeles gallery Garis & Hahn is showing works by Karen Margolis, whose watercolor and gouache works signify emotional states; “Expulsion (blue),” a 2017 work, is pictured. (Courtesy Garis & Hahn)

Untitled, Art gathers exhibitors from across the world

Untitled, Art, another haven for fine art and design lovers, is in…

At Untitled, Art, Los Angeles gallery Garis & Hahn is showing works by Karen Margolis, whose watercolor and gouache works signify emotional states; “Expulsion (blue),” a 2017 work, is pictured. (Courtesy Garis & Hahn)
The 1894 oil “Reclining Tahitian Women” is a centerpiece of the deYoung Museum exhibition. (Courtesy Ole Haupt © Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen/ FAMSF)

Gauguin’s changing styles reflect a spiritual journey

Paul Gauguin, the French post-impressionist painter and rule-breaker whose flattened imagery, bold…

The 1894 oil “Reclining Tahitian Women” is a centerpiece of the deYoung Museum exhibition. (Courtesy Ole Haupt © Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen/ FAMSF)
Huang Yong Ping’s “Theater of the World” and “The Bridges,” installations originally with living animals that prompted protests at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, are on view in “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World” at SFMOMA. (Courtesy Huang Yong Ping/David Heald)

Contemporary conceptual Chinese art urges inquiry

Provocative and conceptual Chinese artists from three turbulent decades address globalism and…

Huang Yong Ping’s “Theater of the World” and “The Bridges,” installations originally with living animals that prompted protests at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, are on view in “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World” at SFMOMA. (Courtesy Huang Yong Ping/David Heald)
San Francisco Symphony’s Michael Tilson Thomas is among many Bay Area arts leaders stepping down in the not-too-distant future. (Courtesy Art Streiber)

Bay Area arts organizations see changes at the top

After years, sometimes decades, of steady leadership, major Bay Area arts organizations…

San Francisco Symphony’s Michael Tilson Thomas is among many Bay Area arts leaders stepping down in the not-too-distant future. (Courtesy Art Streiber)
Wesley Tongson’s 1993 “Red Plums Over the Earth” is on view in "The Journey" in The City. (Courtesy Chinese Culture Center)

Wesley Tongson’s evocative ‘finger’ paintings at Chinese Culture Center

Continually exploring the possibilities of ink, Wesley Tongson created exquisite pictures of…

Wesley Tongson’s 1993 “Red Plums Over the Earth” is on view in "The Journey" in The City. (Courtesy Chinese Culture Center)
Poet-writer-activist Chinaka Hodge appears on Saturday at the 2018 YBCA 100 Summit, a gathering of people and groups dedicated to making change and social justice. (Courtesy YBCA)

Activists unite for change at YBCA 100 Summit

For each one of the 100 people and organizations being honored at…

Poet-writer-activist Chinaka Hodge appears on Saturday at the 2018 YBCA 100 Summit, a gathering of people and groups dedicated to making change and social justice. (Courtesy YBCA)
Anna Lisa Escobedo, an executive assistant at the California Historical Society and an artist who chairs the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District's Cultural Assets and Arts Committee in the Mission District, on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)

Bernal Heights artist Anna Lisa Escobedo thrives in a painter’s paradise

“I didn’t grow up with art on the walls or art around…

Anna Lisa Escobedo, an executive assistant at the California Historical Society and an artist who chairs the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District's Cultural Assets and Arts Committee in the Mission District, on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018. (Kevin N. Hume/S.F. Examiner)
Eritrean-American artist Ficre Ghebreyesus' vivid “City With a River Running Through” is on view at the Museum of the African Diaspora. (Courtesy Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus)

Colorful abstracts at Museum of the African Diaspora

Paintings by Eritrean-American artist Ficre Ghebreyesus, whose colorful landscapes reflect life in…

Eritrean-American artist Ficre Ghebreyesus' vivid “City With a River Running Through” is on view at the Museum of the African Diaspora. (Courtesy Estate of Ficre Ghebreyesus)

Galeria de la Raza to lose main art space after major rent hike

A major rent hike is forcing longtime Latino art gallery Galeria de…

Dulari Devi’s 2015 “Prime Minister Modi arriving in a village via helicopter” is among the eye-catching works in “Painting Is My Everything: Art from India’s Mithila Region.” (Courtesy Asian Art Museum)

Lively Mithila village art graces museum walls

Qamar Adamjee laughed when asked how much travel was involved in her…

Dulari Devi’s 2015 “Prime Minister Modi arriving in a village via helicopter” is among the eye-catching works in “Painting Is My Everything: Art from India’s Mithila Region.” (Courtesy Asian Art Museum)
“Kusama: Infinity” details the life and work of Yayoi Kusama, pictured in the Orez Gallery in the Hague, Netherlands in 1965. (Courtesy Harrie Verstappen / Magnolia Pictures)

A colorful portrait of art legend Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama, the painter, sculptor, installation maker, performer, provocateur and 89-year-old art-world…

“Kusama: Infinity” details the life and work of Yayoi Kusama, pictured in the Orez Gallery in the Hague, Netherlands in 1965. (Courtesy Harrie Verstappen / Magnolia Pictures)
Collages by Kytana Winn are among the works in "The Black Woman Is God: Assembly of Gods" at SOMArts through Oct. 2. (Courtesy Nye' Lynn Tho)

Artists of color reclaim heritage in ‘Black Woman is God’

Having established firm roots, defying gravity, resisting withering and growing in leaps…

Collages by Kytana Winn are among the works in "The Black Woman Is God: Assembly of Gods" at SOMArts through Oct. 2. (Courtesy Nye' Lynn Tho)
Frédéric Bruly Bouabré’s 2007 pencil and ink “Untitled (Les merveilles du monde)” is among the works in “Defying the Narrative: Contemporary Art from West and Southern Africa” opening in September at Ever Gold [Projects]. (Courtesy Ever Gold [Projects])

Expanded gallery, dining, cocktail options in The City

Ever Gold [Projects], a gallery at 1275 Minnesota St., is on summer…

Frédéric Bruly Bouabré’s 2007 pencil and ink “Untitled (Les merveilles du monde)” is among the works in “Defying the Narrative: Contemporary Art from West and Southern Africa” opening in September at Ever Gold [Projects]. (Courtesy Ever Gold [Projects])