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Robert Armstrong: A Conjunction of Punctuative EmunctoriesPost an Event »
Opening reception: Friday, May 30, from 7 to 9 pm
Artist talk with Robert Armstrong: Sunday, June 29, at 4 pm.
In the Main Gallery, Robert Armstrong amazes and delights with his mixed media sculptures, paintings, and installations in a show titled A Conjunction of Punctuative Emunctories, curated by Philip E. Linhares. The East Gallery presents artwork from the San Francisco Veterans Art Guild, and in the West Gallery, the Art Guild of Pacifica gives free rein to the imagination in Artistic License. Music will be provided by the Jazz Cats during the opening reception.
Armstrong uses found objects modified into new forms to surprise, delight, challenge, and charm. The exhibition title may sound daunting, but his work is innovative and open-ended in scope and intent, with a sense of fun and exploration that is infectious. Armstrong found the term emunctory in an old dictionary, where it was defined as any body part that gives off waste products. The physicality inherent in the term seems part and parcel of Armstrong’s process as he reworks found materials such as dried kelp, wool, straw, paper pulp, vinyl records, and bits of metal and plastic into works of art. Examples include his modified vinyl records enhanced with pattern, color, and added materials, or a collection of kelp-wrapped pieces he calls “hardware and tools.” These works also give a definite nod to the burden of “stuff” humankind continues to place on planet Earth. One might say that Armstrong’s work aims to stir up as much as possible w ith a big spoon.
The show’s title also suggests language, and indeed Armstrong is deeply involved with pattern and the shifting geometries of meaning, as shown in his large paintings that seem like hieroglyphics from some combined past/future. As curator Phil Linhares comments, these works “hint at the unbridled creativity that he is capable of. One simply has to experience his work in person to really get it and enjoy it.” Armstrong has exhibited at the San Francisco Art Institute, the Garage Gallery in Berkeley, the Wiegand Gallery in Belmont, and the Barbara Anderson Gallery in Berkeley.
The Veterans Art Guild (VAG) at the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center is a group that meets weekly to work on self-determined art projects. Creating art and sharing in this group setting helps veterans improve physical stamina and dexterity as well as improve social and problem-solving skills. These artists work in a variety of media, including oils, acrylics, watercolor, marker, pen and ink, photography, mixed media, clay, and wood. Recent exhibitions for the Veterans Art Guild have been hosted by the Granada Hotel and the Veterans Community Media Center in San Francisco, as well as at the San Francisco VA Medical Center.
In the West Gallery, the Art Guild of Pacifica’s group show titled Artistic License opens the door to any and all artworks, especially those that push the boundaries of expectation and convention, or that challenge assumptions. Expect fun!