Known for her minimal interventions in public spaces, creating subtle shifts in environments, either visually or with sound, New Orleans-based Zarouhie Abdalian has garnered significant acclaim. With four components considering the concept of work, “To History”...

“Knock-Kneed and Bow-Legged,” on view at Oakland’s Johansson Projects, stakes out territory in a harsh but brilliant realm where contradiction is the order of the day, and logical assumptions must be checked at the door. The works of painter Matt Kleberg imply a...

If Lauren DiCioccio’s chosen materials of fabric, thread and found objects at first appear playful and lighthearted, a closer look reveals the disturbing little works assembled in “Comfort Objects” as apropos of the collective mood of wariness, of the persistent...

In this era of information overkill, one may absorb endless volumes, yet the impact of each tale remains a solitary and private event, each word soaking in, one at a time, to imprint its distinctive mark on one’s being.A somber family legend took root in the mind of...

While earlier exhibitions used horse racing as a point of departure and a metaphor, perhaps, for the handicapping aspect of the art world, “FROM HERE,” recently on view at Jenkins Johnson Gallery in San Francisco, focuses on artist Sadie Barnette’s impressions of her...

With multimedia and hybrid disciplines on the rise, photographers, and artists who incorporate photographic materials and techniques into their work, continue to find ways to step further outside the boxes of camera and frame. Los Angeles–based Owen Kydd, who has...

Human beings are genetically programmed to respond positively to the face, no doubt a survival instinct, as babies bond with their nurturing parents. Perhaps not coincidentally a fairly recent dad himself, Boston-based Josh Jefferson has tapped into this universal...

Our experience of the natural world is mediated through filters both internal and external. The scientific term “Haptic Rendering” refers to a robotic interface that allows users to “touch” virtual objects. Francesco Igory Deiana, who recently presented a series of...

Cultural anthropologists have traditionally brought assumptions of Eurocentric superiority to their studies of “primitive” societies, using language and presentations that cast the subjects in a dismissive light. Turning the tables on this practice, Michael Arcega,...

Harkening to the grace of bygone days when those who wished to communicate with one another would do so by putting pen to paper, East Bay-based artist Gail Tarantino’s “Hand Written” draws content from letters written by the artist to astronomers, naturalists and...

Last fall Patricia Sweetow relocated to Oakland’s vibrant Uptown district, where Spun Smoke, her new venue, combines fine art with high-end, high-fire ceramics and a few skeins of her very own hand-spun, hand-dyed wool. Spun Smoke recently presented work by...

Originally from the East Coast, San Francisco-based artist Richard Hoblock displays a palpable joy in the process and materials of painting, his second career. Previously immersed in the film and arts communities of Los Angeles, he obtained an MFA in 1998 from UCLA’s...

Factories are not settings that usually inspire meditative or poetic work, but for artist Surabhi Saraf, the connection makes perfect sense. Saraf, who was born in Indore, India, grew up playing around the machinery and workers at her parents’ pharmaceutical factory....