July’s Art Walk was filled with activity and excitement–perhaps due to the coming Fourth of July holiday paired with the exceptional weather. All the galleries exhibited visually enticing works. It was tough to choose just a few!
Vic20 (aka Daood abu Jacoob) at Flatcolor Gallery
This month Flatcolor features another graffiti and street art inspired artist—Vic20. Vic20 is defined by Flatcolor as a “Bay Area Icon” who, in his first solo show, is “transforming his notoriety in the graffiti world to works on canvases and paper in the gallery.” The exhibition coincides with a Vic20 mural recently placed in Pioneer Square, cementing the union of gallery and street. The works created for the show, entitled Hooked on a Feeling, with their sense of permanence deny expectations and conditions of graffiti and street art. Vic20 retains the essentialism of graffiti and street art through playful and almost satirical artworks in marker and spray paint in the style of throw-up lettering. It’s a fun foray by the artist into a gallery setting that tests the dichotomy of fine art versus street art.
Fabrice Monteiro at Gallery MIA
Fabrice Monteiro’s Gorean Summer is a poignant documentation of summer in Cap Vert Presqu’île—a region that encompasses many small islands, including Goree. Monteiro’s photographs elegantly capture beach activities spurred along by the rain reason. Monteiro “focuses on in this Africana way of life, a lifestyle full of joie de vivre. He captures the exhilaration of the moment and crystalizes instants of life at the beach. A first swim, a dive, a dance or a kiss. Bodies are decked out in the latest fashion, posing in nonchalant manners, undisturbed by Monteiro’s curious eye.” The aesthetic of these black and white photographs transform running along the shore, skim boarding, sun bathing and dancing into a deeper reflection. While culture and society differ, Monteiro’s work captures the essence of joy and freedom that lies at the base of these activities.
Casey Curran at Roq La Rue
Casey Curran makes another appearance at Roq La Rue gallery. This show, Indeterminate Apotheosis, proceeds with Curran’s existing style—“a series of wall mounted works, hyper-baroque pieces that drip with golden flora and fauna.” The pieces engage the audience, as small cranks allow one to animate the artworks. The ability to touch and experience a work of art is something quite rare in visual arts and Curran’s work was clearly cherished by the crowd at Roq La Rue.
Scott Kolbo at 4Culture
Scott Kolbo’s layered work for Our Alley fuses drawing and film. Complex, documentary sketches are overlaid by video sequences of the same scene, providing movement and energy. The pieces have a beautiful, iridescent quality—the lit canvas emanating an enticing glow. “Kolbo’s drawings freeze the figures in the space and time, while the video footage focuses the viewer’s attention on momentary fragments of the narrative.” Kolbo’s work is the outcome of a collaborative process with neighborhood kids, in order to create short vignettes about what they imagine happens in the transitional spaces of alley ways. The drawings exist simultaneously with the film, but each tells its own story.