The South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk is resurfacing, safely but surely in compliance with current COVID-19 safe practices. In this newsletter, you can find current in-person and online art exhibitions and cultural happenings that you may attend and or view beginning First Friday, May 7th. We look forward to seeing you downtown. Stay healthy, happy and strong and keep an eye out here as our culture finds new and creative ways to help keep us all inspired.
MAY In-Person EXHIBITIONS
ANNO DOMINI // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map
galleryONE: INVENTARIO exhibition by Pablo Martín (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Pablo Martín’s series of works on paper are small and full of seemingly cryptic mysteries. Innate shapes take the form of symbolic language–most often “Cabecitas” (small heads in Spanish) – like talismans imbued with esoteric knowledge never meant to be spoken, but only viewed and understood intuitively.
INVENTARIO by Martín consists of 50 original works on various papers used intentionally for their sense of age or different utility. The use of only black (ink, acrylic, watercolor and natural pigments) keeps the focus on the image while avoiding emotional distraction one may have to color. His visual narrative in each image stands powerfully alone, yet it reaches even greater depth when seen in close proximity to other images adding more possibilities to its meaning limited only by our imagination.
“What moves me to work is the search for what I understand as the human factor. For that I am nurtured by the art of native peoples, popular art, outsider and African art. Although I feel that my roots are there, they are also in the present, which allows me to bring those resonances to a contemporary practice that includes objects, installations, graphics, as well as ceramics, murals, painting and drawing.
“I paint and draw using small sticks, on found papers and wood. I choose to use tools and supports that bring me closer to the primal and visceral, to nature, to what is marked by time.
“A recurring image is that of the Head. For years I have been investigating the complexity within that archetypal form, which is mask, face and object. The collective is ruled by ritual, and I am interested in making it visible: human relationships with deities and with our natural environments. Geometry takes the form of imaginary symbologies that build spatialities, links, and hierarchies.” ~ Pablo Martín, Buenos Aires, May 2021
About the Artist:
Martín is a graphic designer and a self-taught painter having studied with such notable artists as Eduardo Stupía, Marina de Caro and Matias Duville in studio workshops. He has exhibited in public venues in Argentina such as Centro Cultural Borges, CC Paco Urondo, La Casona de los Olivera and Museo de Arte Popular José Hernández. In 2009 he created Periódica, Grupo de Gestión along with his partner Florencia Fernandez Frank, producing shows, fairs and publications for underrecognized artists. He’s been an active member of Proyecto La Estrella – a socially inclusive project based in providing artistic tools to marginalized children from Buenos Aires suburbs. He was invited to participate in art residencies in Mexico DF and Oaxaca (México), Tilcara (Jujuy, Argentina) and Salta (Argentina). In 2015 he obtained recognition under Drawing category at Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales, Palais de Glace. He exhibited internationally in Mexico, Austria, Germany, France and United States.
Martín lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Opening reception: First Friday May 7th, 5–9pm.
Free admission, all ages, mask required.
Exhibition dates: May 7–June 12, 2021
Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design is proud to present:
galleryTWO: Play is Soul Food (b. 1984, Mexico City, MX)
Mexico City based master experimental printmaker, Ivonne Adel- Bureos, aka Play is Soul Food, shares her intimate and unique body prints and drawings created insitu at Anno Domini in March 2021.
Printmaking with bodies: Play Is Soul Food (PISF) and Anno Domini have teamed up and created an exciting new mixed medium body printmaking exhibition, with full sized direct body prints and drawings. The collection of more than 10 large, medium, and smaller scale works, created insitu at Anno Domini will be presented in the show, also titled Play Is Soul Food.
During her visit to California earlier in February this year, Play Is Soul Food spontaneously organized a rare performance with Cherri Lakey and Brian Eder, owners of the internationally known artspace, Anno Domini. These distinctive, one of a kind creations are the artifacts of that performance presented as a cohesive exhibition accompanied with a short documentary video which gives the viewers an introspective/impression of the actual live performance which took place late March 2021.
Play Is Soul Food, and Brian Edar, co-owner of Anno Domini, worked together for the first time during this secret performance to create this selection of elegant, provocative, and playful mixed medium paper based art pieces. With their instinctive spirit and the perfect mixture of trust, communication, precision and respect needed, the two created an impressive collection of raw, touching and delicate artworks. The outcome of this unique performance is now forming the key elements of Play Is Soul Food.
Play Is Soul Food invites the viewer with her Play Dirty performance and artworks to explore the impact and power of Play. The artist strongly understands playing as an activity for all ages, way beyond being a child. The exhibition reveals and elevates specifically the importance of Adult Play.
In this new collection of raw, fine art prints and drawings, Play Is Soul Food takes us into a visual journey to question, rethink, and nurture the true importance of play in our daily lives, not just with the people who surround us, but also the relationship we have with ourselves; confronting our insecurities, celebrating our imperfections, experimenting with our sexualities, and finding balance within our physical and cosmic realities.
About the Artist: Ivonne Adel- Bureos (a.k.a Play Is Soul Food) has created works that challenge the senses and broaden the understanding on what ‘Play’ really means in todays societies and cultures through experimental printmaking.
Play is a powerful tool in creating bridges, refining skills, using the imagination, and invention. It’s how we evolve and develop on our own and with others as teams. In collaborations, we create new languages and stories. Creating our own history with the materials we leave behind.
“Play is so important in our lives, and has been ever since we were born. It’s how we learn, develop, grow, evolve, motivate and inspire ourselves and others…”
Raised in Scotland, and worked and lived in many cities around the world, Play Is Soul Food returned to Mexico to explore further the meaning and understanding of printmaking in todays society.
Formerly a fine art printmaking technician at top print workshops like Pace Editions, New York (now know as Pace Prints), and STPI, Singapore (Singapore Tyler Print Institute), Play Is Soul Food has also collaborated with some of Mexico’s most exciting street artists, painters and designers such as Said Dokins, Satterugly, Raul Pardo & JIS (just to name a few). Her experimental limited edition prints and unique artworks are created and published at Ugly Food House in Mexico City; an international Fine Art printmaking studio & workshop she co-founded with Satterugly in 2016.
Opening reception: First Friday May 7th, 5–9pm
Free admission, all ages, mask required. Artist will be in attendance.
Exhibition dates: May 7–June 12, 2021
Gallery hours: Thursdays & Fridays Noon–7pm, Saturdays Noon–5pm
Art Ark Gallery – 1035 South Sixth St. map
“The Persistence of Yearning” by Al Preciado
A showcase of sculptures, paintings, drawings and watercolors by Al Preciado including new works from last month.
Exhibition on view through May 9th
Special Literary Event with Gary Singh, Mike McGee and friends: May 8th 6-8pm
FUSE presents at the Citadel Art Gallery- 199 Martha St. map
Inner Visions: Spotlighting Rayos Magos
supported by 20 of his fellow FUSE artists.
Opening reception Friday May 7th, 5 – 9pm
Inner Visions is a show about internal dialogue and external projection. The series captures a variety of human experiences through imagery portraying one’s inner reality made visible to the viewer. The series looks to illuminate cognitive processes and one’s search for reality. We are the storytellers and dreamers of our lives. Inner visions looks to bring us closer to these internal realities.
The gallery will also be open on Saturday – 5-9pm and Sunday 1-5pm.
KALEID Gallery – 320 South First St. map
Occasional Optimist by resident artist Katie Gutierrez
For years, I have kept a “Year of Fun” list. A chronicle of all the positive things that had transpired during the year, as well as planned escapades that I was looking forward to. The list took a turn in early 2020.
This is a collection of new work inspired by some of the things I have worried, daydreamt, laughed and cried about, been comforted by and endured during the pandemic, from the silly to the downright traumatizing. It would be easy to drown in the awful, but the Occasional Optimist in me is hopeful that going through these extraordinarily difficult times can force real growth and change for the better.
About the Artist:
My work tends to revolve around CHANGE – good, bad, or otherwise – and its effects. I paint my feelings, and I love the meditative and sensory experience of working with wax. Texture, depth, and color (or lack of) are very important aspects of my work, and my paintings are typically created from a combination of encaustic paint, paper, fabric, cold wax, ink, shellac, bronze powder, mica, watercolor, and acrylic. My experience has been a mix of learning how to do things properly while simultaneously experimenting in practices that would most likely result in epic failure – and as a huge fan of the “happy accident,” something I have learned not to worry about.
Opening reception: First Friday May 7th, 5–9pm.
Free admission, all ages, mask required.
Artist will be in attendance.
Refactor recent tech art by Lucidbeaming
Combines modern microcontrollers with found objects, rusted tin, and rice paper. Explores glitch aesthetics and the emotional dissonance of interfacing with machines.
About the Artist:
Lucidbeaming is an art and technology project of San Jose artist Joshua Curry.
“My work combines old and new technology to explore human experiences. It is modern folk art, pulling from the new natural world of machines and screens. It explores our struggle to co-existence with them and retain our humanity. I use a diverse background in machine tinkering and computer programming, along with a foundation in fine art. My recent work seeks to find an integrated path forward, combining these disparate contexts into something unified.”
Opening reception: First Friday May 7th, 5–9pm.
Free admission, all ages, mask required.
Artist will be in attendance.
Meet You Halfway by resident artist Julie Meridian.
An artistic call and response brings new life to fast art. This show of newly re-painted landscapes picks up where paint nights leave off to interpret the same scene through another lens. See how social, guided art expresses itself in ways that veer towards abstraction when compared to carefully rendered realism. What’s different that rings true to make it a sense of a place? What’s the same that may have only been hinted at in the original art? Each one honors the way life continues, in often subtle ways, all around us.
About the Artist:Julie Meridian captures the essence of people and places through representational art that reveals impressionist details. Her art often highlights moments of contemplation and peaceful solitude. Natural and unassuming poses create a pervasive sense of being truly present. This solemn eye for truth is brightened with glimmers of gentle optimism.
Opening reception:
First Friday May 7th, 5pm–9pm.
Free admission, all ages, mask required.
Artist will be in attendance.
Exhibition dates: May 7–28, 2021
Gallery Hours: Thursdays & Fridays Noon–7pm & Saturdays Noon–5pm
Free admission. Social distancing and mask required at all times in the gallery.
MACHU PICCHU Gallery of the Americas, Est 1974 – 199 Martha St. map
Art & Folk Art of the Americas
Featuring Contemporary & Traditional Art from Latin America:
Marisol Velez Aquino from Puerto Rico
Hector Urquidi from Bolivia
Elvin Arroliga from Nicaragua
Andean weaver from Peru
Huichol yarn painting artisan from Mexico
Wooden toy trucks from Mexico, Costa Rica & Colombia
Ceramic Water jugs from rain forest of Peru
Open First Friday May 7th 6–8pm
Gallery hours: Fridays 2-5pm or by special appointment, and first Fridays 5-8pm.
SoFA Market – 387 So. First St. map
Graffiti Art In Urban Culture by Akeem Raheem
Akeem Raheem is a Bay Area native graffiti artist with ties to Detroit, Michigan. He transformed from illegal graffiti-art on walls to graffiti-inspired art on canvas. Akeem is very vocal about the irony and humor he sees in life, and advises you to laugh at life too. This is graffiti art that you normally see on walls and trains on a take-home canvas.
Exhibition dates: May 7 – June 3, 2021
San Jose Jazz windows- 300 South First St. map
San Jose Jazz’s spectacular 35-foot video wall, outside its new popup venue The Break Room, hosts the work of artists that participated in the City of San José’s “Holding the Moment” exhibition at Minetta International Airport. The exhibition was famously taken down last year when one work, Eric Bui’s “Americana” proved controversial. Eric’s work and nine other pieces will be shown, accompanied by artist statements and links.
Exhibition dates: April 1–May 31, 2021
ONLINE Exhibitions & Events
San José State University’s Digital Media Art BFA Class of Spring 2021 is proud to present their Senior Exhibition Digital Autonomy, hosted on New Art City.
Exhibiting Artists:
Aaron Arthur Mapaye, Andrew Barrios, Clay Bedinger, Noor Bondogji, Alicia Breinke, Rachel Centinaje, Sabrina Chan, Lauren Chun, deana desilva, Tamaki Fujino, Steven H. Nguyen, Mona Kaji, Sabrina Kwong, Meghan Landry, Matteo Leva, Jason Lin, Vanessa Mora Méndez, Ranz Ocampo, Jessica Prakash, Kaicong Tang, Emily Tran, Marc Velayo, ASRA, elizn, and VD .
Friday, May 7th 4–6:30pm
Register here for Zoom Opening Link
“For Mr. Floyd, Ms. Taylor…”
Works’ online exhibition that opened Juneteenth 2020 continues and invites artists to add new work in the wake of the verdict in the trial of the former officer who murdered George Floyd. Visit the exhibition at https://workssanjose.org/online-exhibits/mr-floyd/ and click on the link for the re-opened call for art. More than 70 local to national artists are presently in the online exhibit, which will remain up indefinitely as an artistic response to injustice against Black Americans under the guise of authority.
www.workssanjose.org/member-art/
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The South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk is produced by Two Fish Design in partnership with the participating art organizations and independent businesses.