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My
Return to the City by the Bay 2001, or...
The "My Beautiful Sister" Exhibition Tour
(check out the Michael LaBash poster here) 1.Artists Television Access- June 4th through July 3rd. "Opening" reception with Tony: June 28th, 7:30-11:30 PM. Artists' Television Access (low-cost video production place, with video screenings and art on the walls), 992 Valencia Street (at 21st) San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 824-3890. The show was actually hung on June 4th and will stay up until 3 July after which it will go to Ardency Gallery in Oakland to prepare for their show in August. ATA is not a specialised gallery space, it is probably better set up as an alternative cinema and a workspace for filmmakers and this caused some tension when the show got taken down without notice to make way for a film night. The environment is also very moist and some of my mounts started to come apart. When my friends Alexi, Corey and Theresa were setting up the show before my arrival there were objections to the two bondage images of Ruth. Kent, our liaison with ATA, asked the collective to vote on keeping the show up and there was overwhelming agreement in our favor. The opening reception on Thursday the 28th was very pleasant. A small group of friends turned up for support, another reasonably-sized crowd wandered in off the street and seemed to like the work. We even had a group of filmmaking students making a movie outside on the street and using us as a backdrop.
Artist's Television Access, 992 Valencia Street I got lots of questions and even a couple of offers to model... but no sales. I don't think most of the crowd even realised the work was for sale. On the 30th I took the show down, with Kent's help, and carried it back to Gio's on foot down 24th Street. 2. Discord Aggregate- June 17th 7PM. The web-site and e-mail: http://www.discord-aggregate.com/tdai/ and tdai@discord-aggregate.com. The Discord Aggregate Intersection is a three-weekly salon for artists and those that whirl about them - patrons, lovers of the arts, critics, press, managers et al. Here is an overview: Arrival of people - schmoozing and nibbles. Presentation of art, discussion of art by 1 to 2 artists. Q&A Open mic/jam session/rampant improvisation Schmoozing & nibbles. We're hoping to have the salons every 3 weeks - right now Sunday evening at 7:00 seems to work best. Please note: You will need to make a reservation if you wish to attend TDAI. They really are limiting it to 20 people and want to make sure that you have a spot to sit. They're in Berkeley, near downtown. For more info or to reserve a spot, please contact tdai@discord-aggregate.com" The DAI presentation was small but intense and a great benefit to me as it required me to clarify my ideas and principles in a way I could explain to others. My thanks to Pamela Zero and friends. 3. Passion Flower 4 Yosemite Ave. Oakland
Having just agreed to pose for me, Pamela meets Jesse at Passion Flower opening (510) 601-7750. June 21 through July 29th. Opening reception with Frank Moore doing a performance - "The Cave": Saturday June 30th, 7:30 - 10 PM. We actually hung the show on the 19th and it remained up until the 29th July. Thanks to the long-suffering Wally for letting us do this (though I suspect he was too tired from looking after the triplets to resist). Having the show at Passion Flower and Frank's involvement was my idea because it seemed to work reasonably well last time. Well the opening reception was a bit of a disappointment - not much of a turnout at all. This is a worry because I can't see what else my excellent team of helpers could have done to promote the event. I was consequently in no mood to take part in the Cave ceremony and I suspect the Luvers rather resented that. 4. Photography Retreat, Nevada JULY 1- JULY 7, 2001, St. Mary's Art Center, Virginia City, Nevada. Organised by photographer Saelon Renkes (http://www.saelon.com). I had to withdraw from the workshop due to various pressures including time and a very unfavorable exchange rate (52c US to the Oz dollar).However I DID get to meet Saelon on my second last day in town.
At a cafe table outside the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (where the beggars are worse than blowflies at an Ozzie barbecue and constantly interrupted our conversation) I rendezvoused with this charming and delightful lady... and we chatted like old friends.We checked out the Annie Leibovitz show at the Friends of Photography gallery and a great space where I would love to show next year - 111 Minna Street Gallery. I don't like my chances, it's very upmarket. Saelon even raised
the possibility of a joint exhibition next year. In short we will make
every effort to meet again next year. 5. Carmel or Bust On Monday the 25 June the wonderful Jen (whom I photographed last time on Landsend Beach) drove me to Carmel for another shoot and then on to seek out the shrine of Edward Weston. Jen drove us all the way from San Francisco to Point Lobos National Park and scampered nude about Weston Beach while I photographed her - all the time I was waiting for family groups to look the other way or for the police sirens! It was Jen's idea of course. Then we went to visit the home of Edward Weston. His grandson Kim still lives and works there and is an outstanding and unique photographer in his own right. We met the grandson's wife, looked at his work and the Edward Weston exhibits. I stood in the room where Edward shot many famous images and the darkroom where he developed and printed them. Kim has been photographing since he was 8 and is a great printer as well as an original artist - yet he has only been promoting himself for the last 2 years. I saw his own studio and darkroom as well as his finishing room (I'm jealous as Hell!). He shoots 8 by 10 inch black and white exclusively and his prints are superb. His wife is a charming little ball of energy full of ideas on how to exploit Kim's work, the Weston name etc. with workshop's and the web site. Then we had dinner in a restaurant in Big Sur with a perfect view of the sea as the sun set. The restaurant used to be the home of Orson Wells. I slept that night
tired and sunburnt but happy. 6. Underground Vision Radio Tony Ryan on Love Underground Vision Radio, or, LUVeR, http://www.luver.com in streaming RealVideo It will be live on LUVeR, Monday 9th July at 8.00 pm Pacific Time as well as being replayed on some future date in the shaman's den slot (Sunday's 8 PM Pacific Time). So I turned up a few minutes late because it is a fair walk to Frank, Linda and Mikee's place from North Berkely BART. Anyway instead of an interview I got to photograph Frank and Linda nude performing Eroplay live on LUVeR. Then Alexi gave me a lift back to BART. 7. Ardency Gallery
Met the charming Michelle on the 19th June, shook hands with Lou, picked up my framing from the mercurial Pat (and was very pleased with the results)... then we looked at the space and I was very impressed with that too. On the 3rd July we took the prints from ATA to Ardency where they were inspected by Pat. Three of the prints were so badly damaged they had to be cancelled and about half the matts had to be replaced before the remaining prints could be considered for exhibition. On the 10th July Ardency sent out their press release. For the first time the other two photographers were revealed: "David Harris of Oakland uses a Polaroid camera to transform the small-scale format into surprising glimpses into the ordinary. Through color and composition, the traditional still life and cityscape, Harris' inventive handling of the Polaroid creates images that belie the simplicity of the stereotypical "point and shoot". Michael Rizza has been active in the San Francisco music scene since 1989, performing and recording with such musicians as Maria Muldar, Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Les Claypool and many others. Having most recently participated in San Francisco's 2001 Open Studios, Michael Rizza currently travels the California coast as both musician and photographer. Tony Ryan,
born in Hobart, Tasmania, uses both medium format cameras and 35mm.
The former is necessarily a slower and more considered medium, requiring
planning and controlled lighting conditions. Ryan views the 35mm
a faster,
more intuitive way of working. He has exhibited in Australia, Israel
and the United States. His photographs have been published in many
magazines
and published a book of his own works entitled Beauty/Reality, released
in 1996." 8. !Hey! Gallery November 6th through December 30th, 4920B Telegraph Avenue, Oakland. Phone (510) 428-2349. Opening November 10. On the 3rd July we also met the owner of !Hey! who seemed to have only a vague memory of offering me a show there. !Hey! is a clothing boutique with a bit of wall space at the back of the store for exhibitions. It seems I will be one of a group showing in November so I don't think our expectations for this gig will be very high. TONY RYAN Continue on the unauthorised San Francisco tour:
(1)
Home - (2)Sanfrancisco.com
- (3) Luver and Me - (4)Visit
the Tenderloin
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