Art Shmart

Westside:

Tonight in the Bay Area there are two art openings worth catching.

Ratio 3 is a gallery owned and curated by Chris Perez, a true visionary in the contemporary art world. Over the years, his gallery has brought some of my favorite contemporary artists such as Ben Peterson and Ruth Laskey. Tonights show Mrzyk & Moriceau: The Man With The Golden Gun is brought to us by a french couple. This work is seriously fun and hot. Referencing comic books and pop culture while remaining refined and minimal. And you know we love us some black and white graphics!

6 to 8

Ratio 3 •1447 Stevenson Street • San Francisco

Hailing from Oakland CA,  Troy Bayless' show In Disguise is opening at the Forthrite Gallery. His photography unusually blends the composed with the natural. His work has an effortless, ethereal quality, while at times bordering on Lynchian with dark, dreamlike overtones. This is his first show in some time and I'm sure it'll be great.

6 to 9pm

Forthrite Gallery • 5857 San Pablo Ave. • Oakland, CA

Eastside

And last but not least, I had a chance to catch the John Baldesarri retrospective, Pure Beauty, at the Met today. His work nods at ads from the 60's, Renaissance art and minimalism yet has an aesthetic arc that is all his own. A thread of humor runs through his work but it all still looks good, like the first piece pictured below, which is absolutely cool looking and then when you read the title  "The Artist Hitting Various Objects With A Golf Club", you can't help but laugh. If you're interested, get in gear, because this show closes 1/9/11.

The met is just one of my all time favorite museums and the added bonus of central park in the snow made this outing classic and romantic. The park looked perfectly lovely and don't forget about my sick new boots!
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