November 1st – December 28, Idris Khan: New Photographs, Fraenkel Gallery, 49 Geary Street, 4th Fl: British artist Idris Khan is most recognized for his multi-layered photographs that draw from sources as wide-ranging as musical scores, literary texts, and the history of art and photography. Khan transforms the conceptual art of appropriation into an elegant and substantial meditation on the act of creativity. Appropriating icons of literature, music, and art, Khan methodically layers his material, whether it is Beethoven’s symphony, Milton’s Paradise Lost, or Bernd and Hilla Becher’s stylized sculpture of water towers. The process allows the artist to tease out certain areas adjusting the source material so that the soul of the piece is manifested in Khan’s accreted interpretation.
Four Minutes and Thirty Three Seconds, 2012, digital c-type print. Source: Fraenkel Gallery
Installation view at Fraenkel Gallery.
November 8th 6-9pm Kalassal Art Sale to Benefit Kala Art Institute, 2990 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley: This is the 2nd annual art sale event at the Kala Art Institute featuring prints, works on paper and photographs by affiliated artists at 50% off. The opening night is free, and if you can’t make it, the sale continues through the weekend 11/9 – 11/10 noon to 5:30 then Sunday 11/11 noon to 4:30.
Images from Kalassal 2011.
November 9 – 11 Cinema by the Bay at New People Cinema, 1746 Post St, San Francisco: The San Francisco Film Society’s Cinema by the Bay festival celebrates the passion, innovation and diversity of Bay Area filmmaking, the intelligence and probing spirit of local directors and the incredible depth and breadth of America’s film and media frontier. The three-day festival will feature new work produced in or about the San Francisco Bay Area and provide a compelling window into Bay Area film culture and practice at its best.
Cinema by the Bay: Casablanca Mon Amour, Amity, Jason Beck: Not Dead Yet, and Shorts from Headlands Center for the Arts.
On-going through December 9th Dance Rehearsal: Karen Kilimnik’s World of Ballet and Theater, Mills College Art Museum, 5000 MacArthur Blvd, Oakland: Dance Rehearsal features works from 1988 to the present, encompassing all the notoriously diverse styles and mediums in which Kilimnik has worked—from figurative drawing and painting to mixed media mise-en-scène installations, collage, photography, and video, as well as more recent forays into set and costume design and choreography. Kilimnik first became known for vignette-littered drawings and sprawling theatrical installation works that reimagine historical figures and times and parallels them in contemporary pop culture. Archetypal themes drawn from Swan Lake and other legendary works—often spliced with present-day dramas found on-screen and in the news—play out in the artist’s narratives and iconography.
Sleeping Beauty and Friends, Gelsey Kirkland, and Dusk
December 4- 9 Miami Art Fairs: If you’re thinking about going to Miami for the December art fairs let us know, we’ll be there. In addition to the main art fair Art Basel Miami Beach, there’s NADA, Scope, Pulse, Aqua, and the new Miami Project fairs along with many others to check out. Book your flights now!
Art Basel Miami Beach fair goers taking a break in 2011.