SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Untitled, San Francisco is pleased to announce details of special artist projects for the 2018 edition of the fair, which will take place at the iconic Palace of Fine Arts, 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco, CA, January 12 – 14, 2018.
Celebrating its second edition, Untitled, San Francisco continues its commitment to presenting an ambitious and diverse program of special projects that highlight in particular a number of Bay Area artists, artist-run exhibition spaces and cultural institutions. Curated by Juana Berrio, this sector provides a unique opportunity for exhibitors and exhibition spaces from the Bay Area and beyond to present special projects outside the scope of booth presentations. Visitors to Untitled, San Francisco will encounter a number of compelling artworks and site-specific installations throughout the fair’s dynamic layout, designed for the second time by award-winning San Francisco-based firm Orgydziak Prillinger Architects.
“We are excited to present this diverse selection of special projects for the second edition of Untitled, San Francisco. These projects offer visitors the opportunity to encounter works throughout the venue in new and unexpected ways. The artists represented in this sector of the fair work in various media and approach a number of relevant subjects, reflecting only a glimpse of the Bay Area’s visual arts community. We are very fortunate to be able to collaborate with a number of outstanding galleries and organizations to present these works.“ ---Juana Berrio, Curator of Special Projects
Full details of Untitled, San Francisco’s Special Projects are as follows:
Summer Mei-Ling Lee’s site-specific installation, Pieta (2017), presented by Untitled, San Francisco exhibitor re.riddle (San Francisco), is inspired by the arduous journeys immigrants often endure whilst traversing across geo-political borders (both real and imagined). The work comprises two opposing video projections, one in the form of Mary and the other Jesus, that pass through each other and cast singular images on opposite walls. The two projections meet in the middle of the installation space on moving diaphanous fabric panels where a pieta-like image is formed.
Synthia (2000 – 2002), by Lynn Hershman Leeson, is a networked sculpture modeled on Thomas Edison’s stock ticker, that personifies changes in the stock market in real time. Instead of ticker tape, the miniaturized stock ticker houses a small monitor that projects the environment of a female character named Synthia. Guided by 2% changes in stock market trading, Synthia reacts in real time to changes in the Down Industrial Average, NASDAQ, S&P 500 and Russell Cap indexes. Synthia is presented by Untitled, San Francisco exhibitor Anglim Gilbert Gallery (San Francisco).
In the spirit of the archetypical dance floor, Raque Ford’s Karafun 2 ( 2017), is a celebration of identity through the highly codified movement of dance. Its reflective surfaces reaffirm each movement, mimicking the dancer above it. Feelings of desire, adoration, longing, despair, jubilation, possession and domination are enacted on the floor and etched and laser-cut onto its surface. Karafun 2 is presented by Brooklyn-based 321 Gallery and San Francisco-based CAPITAL .
Lauren McKeon’s The Dirt Inherits the Day (2017), presented by Untitled, San Francisco exhibitor Interface Gallery (Oakland), is the third iteration of this sculpture. The work is comprised of a face down prop door. These doors, meant to outline the movement of bodies entering and exiting, are rendered useless through gravity, conjuring the dark humor of our times and the myriad ways in which bodies are systemically denied.
The San Francisco-based CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art presents three works by Seth Price: Traditional Masculinity (2004), Japanese Blues (2005), and A Small Voice (2016). These three sound pieces are digitally manipulated audio tracks combining the artist’s interest in music, computer technology, and information processing. Price is the current focus of the Wattis’ year-long research institute focused on the work of a single artist.
Hadar Kleiman’s Mall Wall (2017), is a monolithic interpretation of a storefront, encasing a faux-marble torso, Borax-concocted ‘crystal’ skull, and miscellaneous found paraphernalia. Its illuminated display evokes Dutch still lifes and gilded jewelry store displays, and is embedded in mismatched faux stone slabs, to suggest that Capitalism may be culture’s most deeply embedded ideology. Mall Wall is presented by Untitled, San Francisco exhibitor R/SF projects (San Francisco).
Charlie Leese’s Stumps (2017), presented by San Francisco-based 100%, are sculptures which toe the line between public art and public utility. They have no utilitarian function but masquerade as objects which could – like a fire hydrant, bike rack, or electrical box. Their vivid, saturated color stands out anywhere but their mysterious forms cloak them from recognition.
Judith Scott is a visual artist who was isolated from outside influence due to development disabilities. She was independent and self-directed and never repeated a form or color scheme in her multi-media textile sculptures. Crafting armatures from discarded materials, Scott wrapped her forms with knotted cloth, yarn, thread, cord, wire, and paper towels. Three of Scott’s untitled sculptures are presented by Creative Growth Art Center, an Oakland-based non-profit that serves artists with developmental, mental and physical disabilities.
