South FIRST FRIDAYS

JOIN US for the South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk
First Friday FEB 3rd from 7–11pm RSVP
SoFA District (& beyond) downtown San Jose

The South FIRST FRIDAYS art walk is a self-guided, nighttime tour through galleries, museums, and independent creative businesses featuring eclectic art exhibitions and special performances.

All Art Walk venues are FREE and open to the public.

NEW EXHIBITS…

Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design – 366 South First St. map

HEADS by Bohdan Burenko (Kiev, Ukraine), solo exhibition

For me, a human being is the focal point and the pièce de résistance of the arts, that is why I do portraits and “headshots.” The Face is the unique part of the human body. Destruction of a human face evokes strong emotions both in real life and in painting. I do not draw specific people so it’s impossible to identify a person in my works. I think that it is the absence of references to specific people that makes it possible for an observer to see an image properly, without any prejudice.

The current “Heads” series is inspired by human anatomy charts of 17th and 18th centuries. These graphic illustrations created before the advent of cameras made a strong impression on me. I was also inspired by the Victorian photography and the Early Renaissance portraits.

My painting is not about reproducing reality or existing forms, and not about developing new forms, it is about capturing forces. Forces which inexplicably act on observers, like magic. ~Bohdan Burenko
Art Ark Gallery – 1035 South Sixth St. map

44.4 Seconds: Recent Works by Stephen Whisler

Stephen Whisler’s drawings, sculptures and performances reference the surveillance state and the invention of weapons-of-mass-destruction in the face of human frailty. His timely work is darkly humorous and insightful.
Higher Fire Clayspace & Gallery – 499 So. Market St. map

Cupid couldn’t have asked for anything sweeter than a gallery full of cups made with love! We celebrate the month of February & Valentine’s Day with a member show of “loving cups”. Coffee mugs, tumblers, tea-bowls, sake sets, and pour-over kits… a cup for every occasion.

Visit Friday night, Feb 3 from 7-11pm and check out what’s been cookin’ in the studio since the new year began. There’s new work on the racks, mad potters working on their latest designs, and a BIG kiln to peek into. Take a quick studio tour or even a test drive a pottery wheel.
KALEID gallery – 88 South Fourth St. map

KALEID Gallery is pleased to present two new feature exhibitions by KALEID Gallery resident artists Mariana Barnes (painter), and Joe Decker (photographer).

“MERAKI” new works by Mariana Barnes
Meraki: to do something with soul, creativity, or love; to put something of yourself into your work.

Mariana Barnes is a self taught artist. Her scientiﬁc and music backgrounds, as well as her love of travel and ancient cultures, have found their way into her art. Originally from Argentina, she has been exposed to a so-phisticated Latin American culture, whose color and energy nourish the paintings she creates. Her unique and recognizable style has appeared in numerous galleries and venues, including museums and TV shows. She has won various awards, and has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. Her art has been collected by people in the US as well as internationally. Barnes has been represented by KALEID Gallery in San Jose since 2008.

“Southern Exposures” by Joe Decker

Massive icebergs, powerful glaciers, magical light, and incredibly adorable penguins highlight these beautiful photographic images of the Antarctic. Joe has travelled three times to Antarctica and the surrounding islands to document this communicate the power and beauty of this powerful, fragile environment.
Works San Jose – 365 South Market St. map

Mi Cholito Hasta la Muerte by Felix d’Eon

Chafismo: An Introduction to New Forms of Art Post-Rasquachismo

Curated by Angelica Muro and Hector Dionisio Mendoza, this exhibition features work by Sita Bhaumik, Felix d’Eon, Karla Diaz, Monique Islam, Prole Arts Collective (Nosfe and Rarotonga), Isaías D. Rodríguez, and Arnoldo Vargas.

Chafismo re-examines social based-phantom culture by sampling sources linked to both high and low culture through materials that convey social-economic and political class, race, gender, and sexuality. The exhibition highlights work that moves towards the current dialogue surrounding the complexity within ChicanX practices. This often means artists giving a critical voice to prevailing theoretical paradigms that frame arte y cultura as issues that should be expanding our understanding of positionality, value, and worth. By questioning established tenets, a new approach and visual language emerges to probe the conventionality of what is considered broken, irreverent, or complacent.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library – 150 E San Fernando St. map

“Futuristic Relics & Motherboards Sacred”

The Timestream Authorities have allowed Christina Springer to manifest the artifacts on display as an experiment. Given a clue about an alternative future, can the persons of our era alter our collective Emotional Reality to invest in Unified Wholistic Redirection? The relics on display are from circa 3017 when White Plight swept across the world causing the extinction of all persons considered White. What kind of society would emerge? What about technology? How would Black people survive when the digital divide of the early 21st Century is taken into consideration?

Christina Springer will perform poems and transmissions from future Egunographers about the relics on display.
Phantom Galleries at Pho69 – 321 South First St. map

“Leftover True Things” by Lydia Rae Black

These paintings are an attempt to commemorate the things that were once wanted, and through that process, recall the people that we once were. With these works on abandoned and disused buildings, the past lays exposed, stripped of context and dignity. In a way, they are an autopsy that is at once personal and anonymous. They expose the line between waste and want, and the curatorial process of what is precious and kept instead of discarded.
PhantomGalleries at The Pierce – 2 Pierce Ave. map

“Aesthetic Meditations” paintings and beach art by Brandon Anderton.

I began creating as a sort of necessary mindful meditation in dealing with chronic pain, depression, and anxiety.

Through the creation process, i have caught glimpses into what i see as humans possible purposes here on this earth, this realm of physical existence.

Rather than we are currently, the self proclaimed triumphant rulers and shapers of nature, i find that we were meant to be the shepherds and tenders or a garden we inherited from a long sense forgotten source.

We can each show examples of this through creating through whatever process and medium we chose while benching the self critic as well as disregarding the reflections of others whose motivations may just be to tear down anything that threatens their own paradigm of self validation.

I prefer to create for the sake of creation and for creation’s sake. In this way, i’m free from the judgment of others or myself to validate my exchange of time or measuring it in any way.

In this way it enables us to create more, by receiving fulfillment from our own creations and as with any craft, with time and attention, it becomes more honed by which no standard can be measured.
Psycho Donuts – 288 South Second St. map

art work by DonBon

“EVOL/LOVE 2017”

Our second annual anti/pro Valentines Day show featurings many wonderful gems by: Christine Benjamin, Nic Caesar, Kori Thompson, Jared Kanopitski, Julie Meridian, Michael Foley, Don Bon, John Hageman, David Mejia and Valery Milovic.
Social Policy – 200 South First St. map

See (Me)

A mixed media group show from local Bay Area femme artist.

Participating artists: Wenzdai, Aaron Coleman, Lola Saba, Sabrina Coleman, Sabrina Canoy, Alicia Ruble, Anna Rose, Alma Davila, Kelly Beach, Saluzdina Banderas
Vyne Bystro – 110 Paseo de San Antonio Walk map

Group exhibit featuring: Eric Saint Georges, Eliane Davidovich and Norma J. Fries

Eric Saint Georges is a french emerging artist based in Los Gatos, California. He creates striking work focusing on the human form. He uses clay for his sculptures and charcoal, ink and watercolor for his drawings, these medium allowing him to work quickly, and from life, his interest being to capture the moment, the mood, the movement, the energy, in as spontaneous and raw a manner as possible.

Eliane Davidovich sculpts from within and let the moment lead my way and so I invite my viewers to connect and feel to those figures and let their imagination complete their own story. Sculpting in clay provide me a space to express all those feelings, emotions and thoughts that accompany my life experiences by integrating human figure elements into imaginative, somewhat childish, figure.

Norma J. Fries photographs wild horses. Her goal is to show the emotion of their beauty, power, and grace.

CONTINUED EXHIBITS…

MACLA Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana – 510 South First St. map

In the visual gallery: MACLA’s 6th Chicana/o Biennial.

Join us for our second artist talk for our 6th Chicana/o Biennial, MACLA’s most visible and popular juried exhibition that “takes inventory of the critical edge and aesthetic interventions within contemporary Chicano art” and was co-curated by guest jurors Melanie Cervantes, artist and activist (Dignidad Rebelde), Eugene Rodriguez, artist and lecturer, and Joey Reyes, Curator of Engagement & Dialogue at MACLA. Artists exhibited in the biennial will be visiting us to discuss the meaning and influences behind their practice and artwork.

In the Castellano Playhouse Theater: First Friday Fiesta with Sambaxé Dance Class 8-8:30pm, Performance 8:45-10pm

Sambaxé (pronounced sahm-bah-shay) is a Brazilian-inspired music and dance company led by artistic director Raffaella Falchi and musical director Alfie Macias. Their mission is to create a fun and safe environment in which to explore Brazilian dance, music, culture and tradition, through classes and the stage.

In the DMCStudio:  First Friday Monthly Youth Showcase & Open Mic, 6-7pm

Come experience MACLA’s DMC Youth sing, MC, and perform slam poetry. Watch the public premiere of their short films, and view their insightful photography on display throughout the evening! We will have youth slam poetry, live music and a showcase of downtown San Jose, CA photography. All performances are free; no reservations or tickets required. Must be ages 13- 21 to perform in the Open Mic.
Caffé Frascati – 315 South First St. map

First Fridays is Caffe Frascati Opera Night presented by First Street Singers, with the Bay Area’s finest opera singers performing your very favorite classical arias and duets live in the cafe! for the South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk.

Upstairs gallery: “Fortunates” by Marvin Garcia and Jamie Gaspar

“Fortunates” is an ongoing interactive installation by two up and coming artists. This collaboration came to be through a shared interest in textiles and public art. The audience are invited to this participatory installation, to inspire others to write and share a recollection of memories, confessions, and omens or, simply an inspirational quote/s and poem/s to uplift someone’s state of being.

These colorful fabric pockets are suspended from the ceiling or tree branches. Each sewn piece contain a written note or message by previous participant, waiting to be unveiled by future ones. Their whimsical display serves as an open platform for dialogue and invites the public to participate and contribute to this ongoing project (project goal is to amass a large amount of written messages for SubZERO 2017 installation.)

About the artists/collaborators: Jamie Gaspar is a multidisciplinary designer and artists who focuses on the nature of patter and repetition. Marvin Garcia is a sculpture, printmaker and arts educator who focuses on the notion of “power in numbers,” as a means for social change.

Downstairs gallery: “The Iconography of an Expatriate” by A. Sarabia

The pieces in this collection are a series of serigraphy prints that attempt to capture the cultural visual language that connect the artist to his beloved homeland, Mexico. Each picture corresponds to a fragments of a memory or a specific image seen growing up, or a ubiquitous cultural icon. Each picture, like the artist, is an amalgam of different styles and artistic techniques, including pen drawings, linocuts, digital designs, and silkscreen printing.

About the artist: Antonio Sarabia is a graphic artist, photographer and writer based out of Sacramento, California. He is a freelance designer who specializes in digital graphic art, serigraphy and photography. He mixes modern and traditional graphic art techniques, creating designs in pen and pencil, translating them to digital designs in Adobe Illustrator and back to prints through a serigraphy process. He was born in Mexico City and migrated to California in 1993 .
Downtown Yoga Shala – 450 South First St. map

Visions of the West; Paintings on Silk by Danny Goldberg

Presenting a collection of visionary landscape paintings using traditional Japanese Sumi brushes with dyes on crepe-de-chine silk. Danny’s paintings are inspired by the natural world and invoke a sense of peace and an emotional connection to the elements. Danny works in a wide variety of media and styles and has been painting on silk for over 25 years; showing his work throughout the U.S. as well as internationally. Danny received a Bachelor in Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. and studied printmaking and textile design at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. Danny has taught art at many levels from elementary to college, offering courses in Textile Design, Life Drawing, Fashion Illustration, Color Theory and more. Danny shares his art with the world in hopes of sharing the magical and mystical beauty of nature.
SoFA Market – 387 So. First St. map

“15 Journals” by Gianfranco Paolozzi
Works on canvas, paper, and wood from 1970-2016
Studio Climbing Gym – 396 South First St. map

Archetypes by Jake Fouts

Pieces from a personal project Fouts started purely to entertain his own imagination.
TechShop San Jose – 300 South Second St. map

Plankton Explorations; An installation by Michele Guieu

Just a few more days to visit “Plankton Explorations”, the last exhibition before Tech Shop San Jose moves to its new location!

Michele Guieu’s installation looks into plankton, a key element in marine ecosystems and an important provider of precious oxygen for the planet. These little organisms, on top of being vital, are also amazingly beautiful. During her art residency at Tech Shop San Jose she used different recycled and recyclable materials to create an ensemble of shapes evocative of the great variety – and fragility – of plankton species.

The invisible world of plankton — its organisms are, for the most part, microscopic — represents food for a very large number of marine species. And phytoplankton, in particular, contributes up to 70% of the world’s oxygen to the atmosphere. As humans, we are largely unaware of the world of plankton and the critical foundation it serves for our present and future. Yet plankton needs our attention: climate change is disrupting these foundational organisms, endangering the marine food web and beyond.

Michele Guieu is an artist and an art educator passionate about science. Her installations address environmental issues linked to water (fresh water and sea water). She created an art and design integrated project (adaptable grades K – 9): The Water project, from Our Watershed to the ocean, that she teaches in schools in the South Bay.

“We need to respect the oceans and take care of them as if our lives depended on it. Because they do.” ~Sylvia Earle, marine biologist and explorer.