Event
Not Much to Look AtPost an Event »
Royal NoneSuch Gallery
January 30 - March 1, 2015Info
4231 Telegraph Avenue Oakland, CA 94609 Google Map »
New ugly paintings by Brian Brooks, Amanda Curreri, Matthew Gordon, Maggie Haas, Kelly Lynn Jones, Robert Minervini, Maysha Mohamedi, Jennie Ottinger, Erik Parra, George Pfau, Sarah Thibault, Ben Vilmain, Emily Wick and Jake Ziemann.
Opening Reception: Friday, January 30, 7-10pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4pm
Group Discussion/Artist Talk: Saturday, February 21, 2-4pm
About the Exhibition
Is an ugly painting the same as a bad painting? What qualities constitute unattractiveness in contemporary painting (or, by contrast, what exactly makes a good painting good)? Not Much to Look At is a group exhibition of newly-commissioned works by 14 Bay Area artists that offer up some responses to formal and conceptual questions used to evaluate painting today. Representing a range of painting styles and approaches, participating artists were asked to create new paintings based on a loose set of constraints. This included not sharing their works-in-progress to reduce the opportunity for outside feedback before they arrived at compositions they truly deemed ugly.
At the gallery, intention, perception, and individual subjective preferences for certain formal or material qualities of paint are explored within a salon-style installation that references the display methods of permanent collections of museum masterworks. During the opening reception on January 30 and throughout the run of the exhibition, visitors will be invited to cast their votes for the ugliest painting with prizes awarded at the close of the exhibition. A group discussion on contemporary painting featuring artists from the exhibition will also take place during gallery hours on Saturday, February 21 from 2-4pm.
About the Gallery
Royal NoneSuch Gallery is an artist-run alternative art and event space located in the Temescal district of Oakland, California. The gallery is co-directed by Elizabeth Bernstein, Carey Lin, Zoë Taleporos, Hillary Wiedemann and Susannah Magers. We are dedicated to creating community around art-based experiences that are thought provoking and conceptually rigorous, while also being accessible and fun. Through a framework of monthly exhibitions and related programs, we strive to maintain a dynamic schedule in which the gallery is continuously reinvented to reflect the spirit and process of an artist, specific program series, or collaboration. The Royal NoneSuch Gallery is not motivated by commercial interests, but instead by working with other artists and creators to facilitate experimentation and social engagement through monthly exhibitions and events. We encourage artists to translate their studio practice, not only into a month long installation, but into a social cont ext that allows the public to actively connect with the central concepts and ideas of the exhibition through opportunities for participation. We take active responsibility for being part of an emerging art scene in Oakland by encouraging an atmosphere of creative risk taking from artists and participation from the community, aiming always for public experiences that are inclusive, innovative, and educational. Visitors to Royal NoneSuch can expect to see, hear, learn, experiment, and participate.