April 28 - May 14, 2012

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 5, 7-9 pm
Music and Dancing by La Familia Peña-Govea

Galeria Agave Rojo and DeSilva Imports has converted our gallery space into a Mercado of Mexican Folk Art! Additionally, Gracias Madre…Mercado Sin Fronteras is joined by Bay Area artists Juan R. Fuentes, Ester Hernandez, and Emmanuel C. Montoya with 2-dimensional artwork on the walls.

Steve Thompson of DeSilva Imports mans the gallery during the exhibit and sale’s run, and is eager to share his expertise and the history of each object’s acquisition in his travels through Mexico.

Preview Week: April 28 through May 5. Shop early for the best selection!

Perfect Mother’s Day Gifts abound in the form of exquisite Mexican Folk Art, traditions handed down through generations. What better gift for your own mother, wife, or loved one!

Back to the Picture Latin American Gallery
934 Valencia Street @ 20th Street
San Francisco, California 94110
(415) 826-2321

Visit Gracias Madre…Mercado Sin Fronteras on Facebook, and RSVP for the Opening!

Martin Freeman - Jerry Frost - Joel Hoyer

Ken Jones - Matthew McHale

Background Image:  Cheers by Jerry Frost
Image Courtesy of the Artist - All Rights Reserved

April 2 through May 5, 2012

Opening Reception:  Thursday, April 5, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Back to the Picture/SoMa Gallery
83 10th Street (betw. Market & Mission Streets), San Francisco, CA  94103
(415) 558-9901

Thriving Resilience features works by 7 Bay Area artists living with HIV/AIDS, curated to include artwork by people who are thriving, despite the fact that they are positive.  Meant to be a beacon of hope to those who are newly diagnosed, those who suffer with depression regarding their status, or just anyone who wants to see a positive, uplifting exhibit, we invite you to dig deep, find your inner unabashed joy, and view the resiliency of an HIV positive life.

A portion of the sales of Thriving Resilience will benefit the AIDS Emergency Fund.

Artist Statements

Richard Bollingbroke

Chance Carstensen

Chance
Opportunity
Melody
Memory
Choice
Action
Love
Truth
Perspective
(Friend, Partner, Relation)
Passion
Purpose
Learn
Teach
Time
Living
Food
space
Balance
Trust
Chaos
Order
Clarity
Loss
Edit
Play
Flow
Efficiency
Party
Motive
Home
Foundation
Experience
Control
Survive
Natural
Heal
Mentor
Rhythm
Believe
Fulfillment
Accept
Engage
Consistency
Dream
Contribute

Martin E. Freeman

Martin from Martinez.  Born and raised in Martinez, California, I had very little exposure to the arts.  Sure we would go on a field trip in school, but that was it, except when out-of-town company visited and we would take the two-lane road from Martinez to the big city, San Francisco.  On the way we would pass the Emeryville mud flats where artists had created sculptures from what had washed up.  Next trip:  old work gone, and new work in its place.

In 1978, I became obsessed and started painting.  Within a year, I had started sculpting out of my childhood momentos.  And on I continued.  About 13 years ago I started cutting up my old paintings and creating new work.  A little from that painting; some from that one, and so on.  Fooling the viewer’s eye.  What are they seeing; glass tiles, coppered enameled epoxy?  No, just paper or canvas, and lots of medium.  My old paintings have almost run out and I am down to scrapes, but continue to use old or re-purposed material to create new work.

The pieces in this show are old canvas re-stretched, re-painted, and covered with strips of old canvases.  It is called the Broken Fences series.  Breaking personal barriers and moving forward.  The oil paint had to dry seven years before I could move on and finish the pieces.  Many of the pieces in this series are my very first canvases.  Created, moved, moved, moved, cut off the stretchers, moved, and moved again, re-stretched, and moved some more, then repainted and then streips of other canvases applied over the surface of the paintings.  Looking Through & Sunset are the titles of these pieces.

Jerry Lee Frost

I am a local artist that has been living with AIDS since 1985, I have to say it has been an interesting journey.  All through this journey I have managed to keep doing my art, in many ways I believe art has kept me alive.

My artistic journey is a process which allows me to express many levels of my life through color, texture and illusion of atmosphere on a two-dimensional surface.  Pushing and pulling the paint to a place of comprehensive completion is always my goal.

My palette evolves with each series.  Color expresses the here and now for me.  As life progresses, my color choices unfold.  The work is abstract, suggestive, and always emotional.  As I work the surface I simultaneously see a sense of direction, and yet I feel as if some other force is at hand and if I am open to the experience the magic will go through me.  When a painting is unsuccessful, I realize that I was fighting the flow and trying to control it.  When this dichotomy occurs I can play it back in my mind and see the struggle.

Oil on canvas is my medium.  My tools are putty knives; smudge rags and an occasional pencil.  The only brush strokes seen in my work since the eighties are in my signature, however the signature is usually scratched into the surface of the paint.  Putty knives seem to be more economical and thinners are not needed so the earth gets a little break.  Hope you enjoy the works.

Joel Hoyer

In 1968 I began to incorporate water gilding in my egg tempera paintings and sculptures.  From 1970 to 1997 most of my art work centered around these two mediums.  Since 1998, I have been focusing primarily with the gilded surface, both water and oil gilding.  I am currently experimenting with, and abstracting this classic and historic medium.

Preparation for my panels:  The wood is sized with rabbit skin glue, then covered in linen soaked in rabbit skin glue (and) at least 9 coats of traditional Gesso.  Gesso is made from bolted whiting, water and rabbit skin glue.  The gesso is coated with gilders clay mixed with rabbit skin glue.  Gold is applied with a liquor of water and alcohol, when this has dried the surface is burnished with a gilders agate.

Ken Jones

Ken Jones has been an artist since childhood, his father was a commercial artist. Kenneth is accomplished in mixed media, using pen and ink, pencil, watercolor, and other mixtures. He calls his style “primitive and introspective” with some material coming from his dreams. Ken says, ” I paint when I’m feeling low, and sing when I’m happy.”

Matthew McHale

I may be considered many things and have many labels attached to myself, however I am first and foremost an Artist.  Born & raised on Long Island, New York, I was drawing and sketching people before I could talk.  Drawing is my first language.

My parents heavily encouraged my gift and I was inspired by my maternal grandparents, both of whom were painters.  I am a classically trained illustrator and received my BFA from The Philadelphia College of Art / University of the Arts in Illustration and Design in 1991.

I moved to San Francisco in 1993 and have worked as a waiter, shop-boy and furniture maker, finally settling in the design profession.  I have worked for several Fortune 500 companies and tech firms throughout the Bay Area.  I currently own my own design firm, Design Mark Studio, specializing in graphic and web design.  We mainly focus on social marketing issues (such as) Green Technology, Holistic practices, HIV education and prevention, health initiatives, and recovery.

The life drawings I produce are mainly influenced from the expressionists movements of the early 20th Century including the Nabis, the Fauvists, cubists and Pop Art of the 1960’s and 70’s.  I am inspired by artists such as Jules Cheret, Georges Braque, Oskar Schlemmer, Gluck, Andy Warhol, and Alex Katz, all influenced my use of colors and line in how I choose to translate the male form.

I believe that bold contrasting colors can replace detail and shadow to express what we feel as opposed to what we see.  Color is the movement and life of my work.

Thriving Resilience is curated by Derek Hargrove.

February 11 to March 10, 2012

Opening Reception:
Saturday, February 11, 2012
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Love isn’t always clean, cookie cutter, chocolates and flowers, and all that mushy pink fluffy stuff; love is also dark and tormentuous, silly, odd, embarrassing and sad.  On this Valentine’s Day, Back to the Picture would like to give you an escape from all the mass-produced pink fluff and present to you a collection of artists each with their own unique interpretation of love and the things love does to us.

Join us in welcoming artists Jesse Aguirre, Hethur Babka, John Fair, Diane Flick, Brandon Fung, Morgan Fung, Jenny Jenks, Anastasia Kuba, Daniel Lorenze, Chloe’ Rose, Todd Rutherford, Ryan Sivertsen, Heather Wilder, and Terry Wolfinger at the Opening Reception to StrangeLove…and, bring someone you love!

StrangeLove is curated by Crystal Dent.

November 5 to November 27, 2011

Opening Reception:
Saturday, November 12
7:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Music by Miguel Govea & Family

• Adalberto Pérez Meillón of Ensenada, Baja California, México, Paintings, Prints, and Mirrors
• Mata Ortíz Ceramics, by the artisans of Mata Ortíz, Chihuahua, México
• Oaxacan Wood Carvings, by the artisans of the Oaxaca region, Oaxaca, México

Nahual (nah -WAHL) - A spirit being or animal entity closely associated with humans

Among Mesoamerican communities, it is assumed that humans have an animal counterpart to whom their life force is linked; a protective spirit.  Nahual is also associated with the pre-Hispanic shamanistic practice of shape shifting.

Back to the Picture Latin American Gallery extends heartfelt thanks to curator María V. Pinedo, artist Adalberto Pérez Meillón, and Steve Thompson and Louis Rodriguez of DeSilva Imports, Los Angeles, for their phenomenal exhibition, Animales y Nahuales:  Spirit Guides and Companions.  This year’s incarnation of our annual exhibit of Mata Ortíz ceramics and the work of Adalberto Pérez Meillón was themed around the animal kingdom, and was joined by fine wood-carved animals from the Oaxaca region of México, presented by DeSilva Imports.

Special thanks to Miguel Govea and Family, who played Mexican Folk Songs at our Opening Reception and had people dancing, and Jesús Sosa of Oaxaca, who demonstrated the wood carving techniques to several classes of children who visited the exhibit on school field trips.  Jesús, the children loved you!

Special thanks to our dear friend, artist Adalberto Pérez Meillón, who demonstrated his fine brush painting techniques during the first week of the exhibition.  Adalberto, thank you for exhibiting with us!

But especially, we thank the various artists of Mata Ortíz, Chihuahua, México, for their dedication to the ceramic medium, and the carvers of the Oaxaca region, Oaxaca, México, for continuing the tradition of the nahual and animal carvings.  Thanks to the San Francisco SPCA for their hard work and dedication to protecting the animals among us, and to the stewards of Rancho El Uno, Chihuahua, for maintaining the natural habitat of the Chihuahua prairies.

And of course, to all the guests who came to view the exhibit, and those who purchased pieces to add to their collections.  ¡Muchisimas Gracias, y muy felices fiestas a todos!

Meet Visiting artists from México:

Adalberto Pérez Meillón of Ensenada, Nov. 5 - 12, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Observe the artist as he creates his incredible fine line work, a brush technique learned from the Mata Ortíz potters.

Jésus Sosa Calvo of Oaxaca, Nov. 8 - 20, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm

Enjoy the experience of watching Jesus carve and paint his whimsical cats, dogs, skeletons, and angels.

Bay Area Wildlife and Animal Care Day:  Saturday, November 26, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm

A portion of the proceeds of Animales and Nahuales benefited the San Francisco SPCA and Rancho El Uno, a nature reserve in Chihuahua, México

Animales y Nahuales was curated by María V. Pinedo of Galería Agave Rojo, San Francisco, in collaboration with Galería Pérez Meillón of Ensenada, Baja California, and DeSilva Imports of Los Angeles, California.

Grand Reopening Sale Event

Save 40% Off Custom Framing & Decorator Mirrors, now through November 23!

Save 30% Off Custom Framing & Decorator Mirrors, from Black Friday through Christmas Eve!

Save 20% Off Custom Framing & Decorator Mirrors, December 26 through January 31, 2012!

We’ll see you on 10th Street!

Offer valid only at Back to the Picture/SoMa, 83 10th St., SFCA, 94103.

Call (415) 558-9901 for more information.

Parking is metered Monday through Saturday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in front of our store; 9:00 am to 6:00 pm across 10th Street.

Small Packages: A Selection of Small Works by Local Artists

November 11, 2011 through December 2, 2011

Opening Reception & BttP SoMa Grand Opening Party:
Friday, 11/11/11, 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Participating Artists:

Jesse Aguirre
Dan Arcos
David Avery
Christine Cariati
Sevilla Granger
dk haas
Jennifer Holmes
Alice Kelmon
Doug Poloway
Andy Stattmiller

With today’s focus on downsizing, effiency, and simplification, Back to the Picture\SoMa Gallery re-opens at our new 10th Street location with an exhibition of small works. A group show including artwork of many media, Small Packages illustrates that good things do indeed come in small packages.

We welcome back artists Dan Arcos, David Avery, Christine Cariati, Sevilla Granger, dk haas, and Alice Kelmon, and welcome artists Jesse Aguirre, Jennifer Holmes, Doug Poloway, Mark Powers, and Andy Stattmiller for the first time.

Please join us in the Grand Opening of our new space, and welcome the eleven artists of Small Packages, as they share their artistic vision with us!

Back to the Picture/SoMa Gallery
83 10th St. @ Mission St., San Francisco, CA
(415) 558-9901

Small Packages is curated by Randy Figures.

The 10th Annual Day of the Dead Art Exhibition, 2011

October 25 through November 2

Artists’ Reception & Celebration of El Día de los Muertos:
Wednesday, November 2, 2011

934 Valencia Street @ 20th Street, in San Francisco’s Mission District

Skull, Marsha Shaw, 2011, All Rights Reserved

• Blessings for our departed loved ones, by Antonio Chavez
• Sand Painting by Grupo Culturál Pitao Cocijo de Oaxaca
• Poesía por los bohemios del barrio:  Alfonso Texidor, Walter “Huracán” Gómez, y amigos.

In memory of Maria Marcelos, John Ross, Alejandro Robles, Eric Quezada, LeRoy Looper, and to all our dear ones who have passed away.

Join us in celebrating Día de los Muertos at Back to the Picture, and enjoy artwork inspired by this traditional festive holiday.

Participating Artists:

Alejandra Aguinaga
Adrian Arias
David Avery
Alexandra Blum
Eric Bushee
Raul Fernandez Berriozabal
Martha Castrillo
Antonio Chavez
Jose Islas Colin
Layla Durrani
Juan R. Fuentes
Gato
Art Hazelwood
Antonio Huerta
Ana Hurka Robles
Fernando Martí
Emmanuel Montoya
Gloria Morales
Rich Nyhagen
Veronica Orozco
Connie Ortega Oliver
Romeo G. Osorio
Patrick Piazza
Elizabeth Reiff
Arnoldo X. Rodriguez
David Sanchez
Marsha Shaw
Alice Sladek
Carolina Stankiewich
Kurt Stoeckel
Jill Storthz
Mayo Tobita
Luis Vazquez
Jungshih Wang

Back to the Picture Latin American Gallery
934 Valencia St. @ 20th St., San Francisco, CA  94110
(415) 826-2321

The 10th Annual Day of the Dead Art Exhibition, 2011 is curated by Calixto Robles.

Armonía, Calixto Robles - courtesy of the artist, All Rights Reserved

Join us in welcoming Calixto Robles in his solo exhibition Símbolos de Páz.  Recognizing that visualizing peace is the first step toward achieving it, Calixto displays new paintings and prints intended to put Symbols of Peace in the minds of the viewer.  Símbolos de Páz includes paintings, overlayed silkscreen imagery and paint on canvas, traditional prints in varying techniques, as well as a selection of ceramics.

These works were created with the intention of bringing joy and a luminous hope to the people who see them. -Calixto Robles, 2011

Calixto is on ArtSlant’s San Francisco watchlist.  Learn more about him here.

Visit Calixto Robles’s website here.

Gallery hours:  Monday through Saturday, 10-6; Sunday, 12-5

Símbolos de Páz is curated by Randy Figures.

Reception & Silent Auction:  Saturday, August 27, 7:00 to 10:00 pm

Exhibition runs from Wednesday, August 24 through the Silent Auction

El Tecolote has been informing the bilingual Mission Community on newsprint for 41 Years. Their newspapers are always free, providing our diverse community with news that affects them for over four decades.

El Tecolote Newspaper to Celebrate 41 Years of Publishing

Come celebrate the 41^st Anniversary of El Tecolote newspaper at a reception and silent art auction to be held on Saturday, August 27, from 7 to 10 p.m., at Back to the Picture Gallery, 934 Valencia Street. There will be food, music, refreshments, and an opportunity to meet the Tecolote staff. The exhibit opens August 24.

Gallery hours are 10-6 p.m. Admission is free.

El Tecolote is the biweekly, bilingual newspaper based in the Mission District.

For information call (415) 648-1045.

Special thanks to Juan Gonzalez and Acción Latina for organizing this exhibition.  Proceeds support free speech in the bilingual community.

Ronald Breeze - Multimedia Photography

Sevilla Granger - Ink on Silk

Irene Stauffer - Photography and Encaustic Mixed Media Mosaics

Opening Reception:  Saturday, July 23, 2011
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Trees surround us, growing wild wherever their seeds take root, or planted intentionally in urban settings to provide shade and respite.  Humans have short lives in comparison to our arboreal counterparts, yet we often take our oxygen-producing trees for granted.

Join us in welcoming three artists who take note of and inspiration from the trees around them.  Ronald Breeze, Sevilla Granger, and Irene Stauffer render the arboreal subject in photography, ink on silk, and encaustic mixed media, and invite you to share their enthusiasm for the most important life forms in our ecosystem, the trees around us.

Hug a tree, it just may hug you back!

Ronald Breeze

As a young man, I majored in Art and practiced drawing and painting using a variety of mediums.  I used a camera to record scenes I wanted to draw or paint at a later time.

Most of my young adult life was spent working for a corporation and supporting my family and the camera was my one creative outlet that I had time for, so I practiced photography as an avocation.  Eventually, the avocation became a vocation as I began to apply many of the techniques I had learned from other photographers as well as develop and apply my own.

I have never specialized in one type of photography as I see images everywhere, from the hustle and bustle of city life, to the stillness of nature.  I’m at home photographing a lone tree in the solitude of a forest or a lone individual on a crowded street.  Around the corner or around the world, in color or black and white, I see no limits in how images can be captured and represented.

My fine art prints are Giclée using pigment base archival inks printed on either Hahnemuhle Photo Rag or Museum Etching papers made from recycled materials.  All of my prints are titled, dated, and signed.  I do not sign mats as they are not the original work.

My work has won numerous contests and has been represented in Life Publications, Images That Inspire by Wily Press, 2008, Land Rover Owners Magazine and Leica Fotografie International, to name a few.

Portfolios of my work can be viewed here:  http://www.behance.net/RonaldBreeze.

“It’s heartening that trees are more and more appreciated for their integral part they play on Earth, but it’s high time we also appreciated their noble nature as the Ronald Breeze Grandeur of Trees photographic collection does.

These stunning black and white images capture their stark beauty and even artistic expressions of these living things.  The Ronald Breeze Grandeur of Trees portfolio forces you to look beyond the necessity of trees.  It compels you to think about them as natural works of art that are not just necessarily for sustaining life, but also for nourishing our souls.  Enjoy this gallery and next time you step outside, make sure you appreciate your surroundings.”  -From TrendHunter ECO

Sevilla Granger

Painting trees is my creative connection to ancient wisdom, my expression of grounded exuberance, my meditation.  While the work is not religious, I am inspired and challenged by the spirituality of nature and the nature of spirituality.  The exclusive use of trees for this exploration provides an archetypal structure, and frees my imagination to focus on the challenge of translating this ancient wisdom into graphic form.

While I have always had a profound respect and love of trees, using them as a spiritual theme in painting came into focus on Paletine Hill in Rome.  Even though I have been painting my whole life, it’s only been in the last 7 years that I’ve been studying the process of transforming canvas and paint into a meditative experience.  In those 7 years, that magical process has become surprisingly more difficult.  The deeper I go into them, the more I see there is to represent, and ironically the greater the need for simplicity.

Painting these trees fills me with a satisfaction of integrity and presence, and has proven a formidable challenge for channeling the inner vibrant peace I see in them into the eyes and hearts of my audience.  To do this, I paint for the inside out.  Though I work quite deliberately, the work is best when I’m able to remove myself and let the paintingevolve through and guide my hands.  My unconsciously aware heart is pulling the strings, pushing the paint.

Holding my right hand is Amadeo Modigliani, guiding the insightful, figurative side of my work.  Holding my left is Franz Kline, upheaving the literal and inspiring the spontaneous drama.  Above me is the eternal wisdom of the Hamadryads, informing my vision.  Below me is Zen, providing the ephemeral strength and weightless gravity.  The result is a grouded exuberance that both calms and inpires my audience.

Irene Stauffer

I am a photographer, designer, and artist.  I work with ancient photographic techniques, modern technology, and with traditional art mediums, often combining the ancient with the new and vice versa.  My love of simple things in life is reflected in my art, which is minimalist and timeless.

I grew up in Finland, graduated from the University of Helsinki from the School of Pharmacy.  While in Helsinki I got married, gave birth to our three children, and worked as a pharmacist.

A couple of decades ago when my husband’s job took us to the USA, I took the opportunity to fulfill my lifelong dream to immerse myself first in studies of art and later working on art.

Our recent stay in Seattle and in San Francisco took me to the nature, gave the wings to the ‘Tree Sketches’ project.  I started doing simple charcoal sketches of the trees close by in parks and at water front.  Later I came back to photograph the very same trees, and the project of simple drawings to a turn to mixed media project.  I photographed the trees, branches and weeds like I would draw or paint, leaving only the strongest lines.  Later I continued working on my digital drawing board, and printed these images with the artwork with layers of encaustic medium (beeswax and damar resin) on wooden art boards.  Encaustic adds an organic handmade surface interest, and it protects the fragile paper allowing the minimalist presentation.

Leaf and Limb is curated by Sevilla Granger.  See her website at www.villasevilla.com.

Getting to Back to the Picture:

Street parking is metered Monday through Saturday until 6:00 pm, free on Sundays.  Easy parking can be found at the Mission Bartlett Garage, on 21st Street between Mission and Valencia Streets, a short one-block walk from Back to the Picture.

BART to 24th Street/Mission Station, walk one light west to Valencia, cross and turn right.  Walk north four blocks to 934 Valencia Street, between 21st and 20th Streets.

Muni Metro:  J-Church to Dolores Park at 20th, walk three blocks east on 20th Street to Valencia Street, turn right and walk 1/2 block south to 934 Valencia Street.

Muni Buses:  14, 14L, and 49 to Mission Street at 20th, walk one light west on 20th Street to Valencia Street, cross and turn left.  Walk 1/2 block south to 934 Valencia Street.

We’ll see you there!

]]> http://www.backtothepicture.com/2011/07/17/leaf-and-limb-716-81911/feed/ http://www.backtothepicture.com/2011/06/01/2020-twenty-artists-twenty-visions-611-7911/ http://www.backtothepicture.com/2011/06/01/2020-twenty-artists-twenty-visions-611-7911/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:42:28 +0000 rfigures http://www.backtothepicture.com/?p=132 “The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need, but the creation of a need.  The world never needed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony until he created it.  Now we could not live without it.” -Louis I. Kahn

Opening Reception:
Saturday, June 11, from 7-9 pm

Back to the Picture Latin American Gallery
934 Valencia Street @ 20th Street, San Francisco, CA  94110
(415) 826-2321

Back to the Picture Gallery and curator Crystal Dent are proud to celebrate our fourth annual 20/20 art show.  This show brings together 20 different artists from the Bay Area and beyond, each with their own unique vision and style, turning the gallery into an ambitious celebration of art and all the forms it can be created in.  So please come join us, have some drinks, eat some food, and immerse yourself in art.  This year’s featured artists are:

Hethur Babka
Matthew Buford
Nicole Burd
Krescent Carrasco
Eric Dallimore
Max Ehrman
Brandon Fung
Tuvshuu Ganbold
Italo Ganni
Chris Guarino
Jared Gutekunst
Melissa Knowlton
Daniel Lorenze
Bre Schulte
Ryan Sivertsen
Jasper Steven Thomas
Kateri Tyre
Xiau-Fong Wee
Tanya Wheeler
Terry Wolfinger

We look forward to seeing you!