Summer is in full swing at the South FIRST FRIDAYS ArtWalk SJ! Join us on First Friday August 4th 5–10pm for new exhibitions in the gallery venues and 50 STREET MRKT artists as they transform So. 1st St. in SoFA District into an outdoor urban arts faire.
All ArtWalk venues and Street Mrkt are free admission (spend it with the Artists!) and family friendly.
SoFA District
ANNO DOMINI // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 S. First St. map
Opening reception: Todos Tenemos una Calavera / We All Have a Skull
DENO (Madrid, Spain) solo exhibition
Pablo Vázquez, aka DENO (b. 1977), is an accomplished artist whose creative journey began in the lively graffiti scene of Madrid in 1989. Formerly a member of the renowned KR2 crew, Deno honed his skills and artistic expression through urban art, giving him a unique style that would serve him well as he transitioned into the tattoo arts after earning his degree in Philosophy from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid of Madrid 2002.
Deno has contributed his talents to some of the most prestigious tattoo studios in the world, including Ed Hardy’s Tattoo City in San Francisco, Tattoo Paradise in Washington DC, and Seven Doors Tattoo in London.
Drawing and painting have been an essential part of Deno’s life since childhood, and as he matured, his travels became a significant source of inspiration for his work as well. The profound questions about the fragility of life and the inevitability of death, as well as the diverse ways different cultures express these contemplations, intrigue and inspire the artist.
The skulls, animals, hands, and other ritual symbology present in this body of work constitute Deno’s personal imagery language, developed from firsthand experiences of the various cultures he has observed. Deno finds that the particular works in Todos Tenemos una Calavera enjoy a freedom and spontaneity rarely experienced in tattooing.
The paintings and ceramic sculptures were created during his travels to Madrid, San Francisco, London, Oaxaca, and New York City, among others. This series represents the culmination of all his interests and experiences, weaving together the worlds of graffiti, the ancient art of tattooing, and deep philosophical contemplation into a mesmerizing body of work that defies a singular genre description.
DENO currently lives and works in Madrid, Spain and London, England.
Todos Tenemos una Calavera / We All Have a Skull at Anno Domini is DENO’s debut solo exhibition in the United States.
KALEID Gallery – 320 S. First St. map
Artist’s reception: Be Weird Have Fun
Kyle Harter solo exhibition
What would an artist create if they felt no need to seek approval or to extract profit–but only the desire to express joy and amusement? Come and see Kyle Harter’s answer to this question in Be Weird, Have Fun, their newest show of paintings, prints, blankets, tapestries, and apparel. Each piece created for fun, and fun alone. Full of glee and whimsy and in some cases, unabashed weirdness. Maybe you’ll laugh. Maybe you’ll shudder. But you’ll definitely witness an awakening of the inner child. That of the artist’s, and perhaps also of your own.
All of Kyle’s proceeds from this show will fund future artworks exclusively.
Kyle Harter (they/them) is an artist living in San José, California. their techniques and mediums range from pen & ink line drawings, to prints, paintings, murals, comics, zines, and art books. Embodying themes like humor, queerness, self-care, and empowerment—it’s clear that Kyle’s goal is to cultivate happiness with their audience.
MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 S. First St. map
Breaking Bread group exhibition
Breaking Bread explores the creation of safe spaces through community and how marginalized communities seek refuge from moments of danger, destruction, and isolation. The artists’ work reimagines and recreates a world where women, children, immigrants, and refugees can thrive freely, both individually and as a community. This exhibition recognizes how this community’s physical and psychological experiences have affected their reality as well as their dreams.
Featured artists in this exhibition are Brittany Bravo, Jonathan Christensen Caballero, Kristen Huizar, Alma Leppla, Hector Dionicio Mendoza, Valeria Olguin, Vanessa Palafox, and Daisy Velasco.
Natural Do Salon – 613 S. First St. map
Hollywood by Fuquan Divine
My interpretation of actors and singers in private thought
PhantomGalleries at The Pierce – 2 Pierce Ave. map
Artist’s reception: Pouring My World a series of fluid landscapes by Sandra Murphy
In a playful dance of colors and emotions, this Landscape Series unveils tales spun over the last several years, capturing both the tangible beauty of the world and the intangible realms of my imagination. These canvases are more than just depictions; they are heartbeats, resonating with tales of growth, exploration, and a yearning to paint the world in a hue that defies convention.
Allow yourself to be swept away by the symphony of abstraction peppered with notes of realism, urging you to challenge the ordinary and embrace the extraordinary. The subjects of these paintings? Not landscapes, not objects, but raw, unfiltered feelings. Whether sparked by a fleeting moment captured in a photograph or a lingering emotion from daily life, each stroke is a testament to my journey.
Take a moment to immerse yourself in this world where skies are not just blue; they may blush in shades of pink or gleam golden-yellow. The ebullient color schemes mirror my moods – some days bursting with joy, and on others, painted with the profound depth of dramatic oranges, purples, and reds, representing life’s challenges and the undeniable beauty of every path we walk.
Each creation is a testament to a journey, not just of the hand but of the soul. And as you witness these pieces, know that they are borne of a technique uniquely my own –”layered controlled pour.” Here, tradition melds seamlessly with innovation, every layer meticulously crafted to bring forth my vision.
Come, journey with me through these vibrant works.
Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose – 560 S. First St. map
Altered Perception includes works from three local Bay Area artists: Sarah Hotchkiss, Lordy Rodriguez, and Susie Taylor.
Sarah Hotchkiss explores hard-elements abstraction elements in her artwork. All the while also exploring how abstraction is a powerful communicating language, whether at the level of early human visual development, like pictures for babies or the universal symbols that games like Parcheesi or puzzles provide.
Lordy Rodriguez’s works explore the human urge to locate/define oneself by charting the environment in precise detail. Using the language of cartography, he makes drawings that go beyond map-making into abstracted, imaginary terrain.
Susie Taylor (b.1967) combines her background in Art, Design, and Craft to create abstract and dimensional textiles. She also collaborates with industry to produce modern, functional textiles that reflect the influence of the Bauhaus on her practice.
Rhonda Holberton: A Knotted World
We are on the brink of a technological and biological revolution that will change how we live, work, and relate to one another. In a Knotted World asks us to question the current state of technology that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. The work in the exhibition builds upon four series by Bay Area artist Rhonda Holberton that explores the militarization of land and the technology that both protects the soft animal of our body and extends violence outward to places we cannot see or imagine.
Rudy Lemcke: The Transit of Venus
Commissioned by the Institute for Contemporary Art San José, The Transit of Venus is an installation meant to feel as if the viewer is in a video game with no instructions or controller to navigate their path. It is a game where there is no winning or losing. Rather, the exhibition creates a space that allows the viewer to be on an unsettling threshold between worlds in anticipation of a resolution that never arrives.
The exhibition highlights a video projection based on the Transit of Venus, which happens when Venus passes in front of the bright face of the sun. These transits are among the rarest of observable astronomical events, repeating every 243 years. In the video projection, the yellow sun-like glowing frame is crossed by a red horizontal band of abstract digitally generated animations. A second video loops on a wall monitor that shows the artist walking a tightrope across the frame. Five grid-like paintings span three of the gallery’s walls and are hung in a descending arc resembling the graphics from early 8-bit video games.
Sarah Blaustein: Present Tense
The ICA San José is thrilled to display a series of site-specific, bodily works by painter Sarah Blaustein. Installed in the front gallery, the work creates a full-sensory experience of being surrounded by her paintings. Present Tense, a series of sensuous, lush paintings, is made with permanent materials. The works evoke the feeling of giving life, creation, and the human condition. A viewer can get lost in the use of bold color, the seemingly wet, saturated surface and the push and pull of the picture plane. Using deeply saturated pigments and water, Blaustein paints the sensations she feels but can not see.
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles – 520 South First St. map
Queer Threads
Queer Threads is a traveling group exhibition and coffee-table book exploring contemporary lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer experiences through fiber and textile traditions. This latest iteration spotlights 38 works by 37 artists with roots in the American West, Northwest, and Southwest, as well as work from the museum’s collection. From the impeccably finished to the intentionally raw, many works are fully executed through thread-based processes such as crochet, embroidery, quilting, and weaving, while others interact with animation, clay, light, metal, and photography. Each artist’s use of material choices and technical finishes suggest poetic and subversive intentions.
SoFA Market – 387 S. First St. ma
Opening reception: DAYDREAM by Akeemraheem
Funky, colorful graffiti-art angle on pop culture and good vibes.
Fountain Alley Area
Chopsticks Alley Gallery – 38 S. 2nd St. map
Out of the Box group exhibition
Come join us at our gallery exhibit and meet our artists on Friday, August 4th from 5-9pm.
What does it mean to be Asian in today’s America?
Out of the Box features perspectives about the Asian community’s lived experiences. We face challenges living in a country where the label “Asian” brings expectations about our origins, behavior, and physical self.
The majority of Asian Americans in the United States are immigrants who understand what they have left behind to build their lives here. Now there is a fast growing American-born generation who are navigating their own connections to familial heritage and their own experiences growing up Asian in America.
Featured Artists: Hadi Aghaee, Phillip Hua, Hana Lock, Angelo Lopez, Tanya Momi, Minhquang Nguyen, Vi Son Trinh, and Jiamao Yuan.
Special panel discussion with featured artists and LEAD Filipino:
6:45pm-7:00pm: LEAD Filipino performance (Brent Cantillas, Jade Baas and Mia Rios)
7:00pm-7:45pm: Panel discussion with featured Chopsticks Alley gallery artists: Hadi Aghaee, Hana Lock, Angelo Lopez, Tanya Momi, Minhquang Nguyen
7:45pm-8:00pm: LEAD Filipino performance
8:00pm-9:00pm: Meet-and-greet with artists
Works San Jose – 38 S. 2nd St. map
In the main gallery: All for Ray, Ray for All group exhibtion
Ray Ashley was for all of us in local visual arts and that’s what this exhibition is about. To honor this late San José artist, collector, and patron, we asked our community of artists to create a new work in collaboration with the Ray—using one of his many silk screen, mono prints, of other experiments. This exhibition includes 40 artists presenting a wide range of artistic viewpoints working with and inspired by Ray’s art and extraordinary attitude towards life.
Ray Ashley was a joy to know and be around. He was an artist who studied at San José State and an incredible collector of local art. Earlier, Ray suffered severe injuries from a grenade explosion in the war in Việt Nam. After years of surgeries and rehabilitation he made hundreds of silk screen and monotype prints before eventually losing the physical ability to create more. Even then, Ray stayed focused on supporting other artists and arts organizations—especially Works. Ray passed away in 2016 and had willed a portion of his estate to Works. As Works’ largest individual donor, starting a significant fund for the future of Works, Ray is a permanent sponsor of all our exhibitions. Hundreds of Ray’s prints and works on paper ended up at Works, and most of his collection of more than 1,000 works by hundreds of regional artists is now in the collection of the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara.
In the studio hall gallery: Generation Loss by Valentino Loyola
Works presents an extraordinary installation of prints and video by Valentino Loyola for the inaugural exhibition in our studio hall gallery. This contemplative body of work references climate change and local effects of environmental stress through visuals of the Guadalupe River in downtown San José combined with real and imagined scientific mapping techniques.
Martha Gardens District
Art Ark Gallery – 1035 S. Sixth St. map
Human Nature by Martin Fasting
Through paintings, drawings, and video, Martin Fasting explores the paradoxical relationship of humans and nature: the illusion of our separation from the very same nature that we in reality are and always will be an inseparable part of.
MACHU PICCHU Gallery of the Americas, Est 1974 – 199 Martha St. map
MAGICISM by “Magic” Sean Gil
“Magicism” A blend of Ancient Ancestral Art, Scenery Art, Abstract Expressionism, Comic Book Art, Concept Art, Graffiti Art and Esoteric Occult Symbolism
South FIRST FRIDAYS presents:
STREET MRKT an indie urban art faire
5pm–10pm, free admission (spend it with the Artists!).
So. 1st St. between San Carlos & William streets
50 talented artists gather together out on So. 1st St. transforming the SoFA District into a lively outdoor gallery for the evening. We’ll have stunning paintings, unique sculptures, mesmerizing jewelry, chic fashion and even on the spot experiences like custom poems and crystal bowl sound baths. Support our amazing artists and help our local art scene thrive!
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Soloman Acosta
Rebecca Anguiano
Art of Joseph Richardson
Purl Bailey (AKA Marilyn Roaf)
Bay Area Glass Institute
The Blunt Letters / Elle and Micaela
Bolo Vintage
Julianne Bonnet
Bungalow Glow Candle Co.
Arely Cardenas
Emmanuel Cervantes-Mejía + Michael Rogan
Curious Shapes / Bryan Corbin
Crossroads Trading Co.
OaxaCali Studios / Dario Cruz & Steve Gonzalez
Current Tattooing
Jennifer DeChenne
Sharon Diebert
Designs by Maureen
Lorenz Dumuk
Flow State Sound Healing & Arts / Lailani Africa
Force129 & Betty Proper
Jodi408
Faded Visualz
Cynthia Gonzalez
Ali Hall
Hand in Hand Henna
Ken Harmount
Sydney Hessel
Higher Fire Clay Space
KNS Beauty Essentials
Land and Sky Fine Art / Joe Mandrick
The Local Creatives Show by StageOne
Luui Arts /Nhi Nguyen
Frankie Mcfly
Julianne McKay
La Madre Bruja
Ocelote Press / Jhovany De Ala
Jean -Luc Pedanou
Tania Okay + Lotte Van De Walle
Leslie Perez Jewelry
Francisco Ramirez
Random Marks- the Art of Doug Edwards
Mason Roberts Artist
Rene Schilling Sears
South Bay Ceramics
Suha Suha
Eric Vasquez
VG Designs
Heylu Wheat
DJ Basura at S 1st Street near San Salvador
Flipside Crew DJs Dougie, Jswizza, Notorious PIG in the beer garden, plus delicious food trucks!
BEER GARDEN & FOOD TRUCKS
On Tap…
Clandestine Brewing
Fox Tale Fermentation
and more...
plus…
3 Brothers Kitchen
3 Hermanos Mexican Grill
Akita Gourmet Sushi
Chickn Bros.
We’re looking forward to the return of CINEQUEST Film Festival in SoFA District this month!
Join us and purchase your tickets now!
South FIRST FRIDAYS
366 S 1st Street
San Jose, CA 95113
408-271-5155
info@southfirstfridays.com