art

Art listings are compiled by Sarah Han. Because of space limitations, new art shows are listed the week they open (thereafter, shows are listed on a rotating basis), and we cannot list café exhibits. For information on how to submit listings to this section, see 8 Days a Week. Reviews are by Lindsey Westbrook.

museums

Asian Art Museum 200 Larkin; 581-3500, www.asianart.org. Tues-Sun, 10am-5pm (Thurs, 10am-9pm). $10, $7 seniors, $6 for ages 12 to 17, free for 11 and under. "Warrior Kings and Divine Jesters: Indonesian Puppets from the Herbert Collection." More than 200 puppets from Indonesia. Through Sun/31. "AsiaAlive." 'Indonesia Now!,' artist demonstrations and hands-on art activities (daily, noon-4pm). Through Sept 7.

California Palace of the Legion of Honor Lincoln Park (near 34th Ave and Clement); 863-3330. Tues-Sun, 9:30am-5pm. $8, $6 seniors, $5 for ages 12 to 17, free for 10 and under (free Tues). "Treasures of a Lost Art." Italian manuscript paintings from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Through Sun/31. "Black and White: Prints from the 1970s and 1980s." More than 20 prints by Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud, Chuck Close, Ellsworth Kelly, Brice Marden, Bryan Hunt, and Robert Arneson. Through Sept 28.

Cartoon Art Museum 655 Mission; CAR-TOON. Tues-Sun, 11am-5pm. $6, $4 students and seniors, $2 for ages 6 to 12, free for members and children five and under. "Alternative to What? Comic Art of the Free Weeklies" When the Village Voice launched the nation's first major alternative news weekly in 1955, it included a comic strip called Feiffer, which ended up running for 42 years and inspiring an entire genre of alt-weekly cartooning. This exhibition features Feiffer and 13 other respected strips. Weekly cartoonists have the freedom to be more political, more intellectual, and less concerned about offending their readers than their daily-paper counterparts; many of the strips on display are almost dauntingly text-heavy, with nary a cute animal or little kid to be seen. As with any Cartoon Art Museum show, it's exciting to get so close to the original drawings and examine the evidence of the artist's hand and working process. Through Oct 5. (Westbrook) "Great Comic Cats." An exhibition of original cartoon art featuring cat characters, including Garfield, Krazy Kats, Bill the Cat, Hobbes, Sylvester, and Mooch. Through Oct 26. "From off the Streets of Cleveland Comes American Splendor." Works by comic book writer Harvey Pekar illustrated by five underground comic book artists. Through Nov 23.

Chinese Historical Society of America and Chinese American National Museum 965 Clay; 391-1188. Tues-Fri, 11am-4pm. $3, $2 seniors, $1 for 6-17, free for 5 and under. "Cultural Fragments." An interactive installation by Amy Lam. Through Sun/31.

Exploratorium 3601 Lyon; 563-7337. Tues-Sun, 10am-5pm. $10, $7.50 students and seniors, $6 youths, free for three and under. "Seeing." Though the title of the show is "Seeing," you'll probably be most surprised at what you don't see in some of the installations. Change Blindness is a huge computer screen showing a quiet storefront-sidewalk scene. Every few seconds the screen goes black for a moment, then flashes back to what appears to be the same picture. It actually changes significantly each time, but the intervening black screens prevent your eyes from perceiving the differences. Dozens of other installations explore the social aspects of seeing. Paul Kaiser's Inkblot Perceptions analyzes the ways in which interpretations of Rorschach-like blots vary with age and cultural background. For more information go to www.exploratorium.edu. Through Mon/1. (Westbrook) "Animal Magnetism." An exhibit focusing on our relationship with animals through displays and artworks from the 19th century to the present. Through Sept 28.

Museum of Craft and Folk Art Fort Mason Center, Bldg A, Marina at Laguna; 775-0991. Sat, 10am-5pm; Tues-Fri, Sun, 11am-5pm (first Wed, 11am-7pm). $4, $3 seniors, free for 18 and under (free first Wed and Sat, 10am-noon). "Revealing Influences: Conversations with Bay Area Artists." New work by 20 Bay Area artists including Amy Berk, Frank Haines, Jason Mecier, Charles Linder, Rigo 03, Jarrett Mitchell and Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough, Midori Harima, and Becky Schaefer. Aug 27-Nov 15.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 151 Third St; 357-4000. Fri-Tues, 10am-6pm (Fri, 10am-9pm); Thurs, 10am-9pm. $10, $7 seniors, $6 students, free for 12 and under and members (free first Tues; half price Thurs, 6-9pm). "ROY/design series 1." Works by architect Lindy Roy. Through Sept 7. "Philip Guston Retrospective." More than 100 paintings and drawings by the artist. Through Sept 28. "Marc Chagall." Paintings and works on paper by the artist. Through Nov 4. "Reprocessing Information." Works using information as primary subject and medium. Aug 30-Feb 8.

San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum 401 Van Ness, fourth fl; 255-4800. Tues and Thurs-Sat, 11am-5pm; Wed, 11am-7pm. Free. "Hirschfeld: A Centennial Celebration." drawings, paintings, and lithographs from the Hirschfeld Archives. Through Dec 19.

Seymour Pioneers Museum 300 Fourth St; 957-1849. Wed-Fri, 10am-4pm (also first and third Sat, 10am-4pm). $3, $1 seniors and students. "Ore to Opulence." An examination of the history of silver from the discovery of the Comstock Lode in 1859 through the following three decades. Through Oct 4. "The City Rises: Etchings of a Revitalized San Francisco from the Drum Collection." Works by George Taylor Plowman, Lawrence Norris Scammon, and Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt. Through Dec 19.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 701 Mission; 978-ARTS. Tues-Sun, 11am-6pm (first Thurs, 11am-8pm). $6, $3 seniors, students, and youths, free for members (free first Tues). "To Protect and Serve: The LAPD Archives." Black-and-white crime scene photographs taken between the 1920s and 1970s, artifacts, logbooks, and paraphernalia. "out of bounds (from near and afar)." Site-specific projects by Yunhee Min. "Pocket Atlas." Works by Nick Ackerman, Dean Byington, and Clare E. Rojas. All exhibits through Oct 5.

Bay Area

Oakland Museum of California 1000 Oak, Oakl; (510) 238-2200. Wed-Sat, 10am-5pm; Sun, noon-5pm (first Fri, 10am-9pm). $8, $5 seniors and students. "Reflections in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography." An examination of the history of African American photographers from 1840 to the present. Through Sun/31. "Iconic to Ironic: Fashioning California Identity." More than 100 articles of clothing and accessories. Through Sept 21.

San Mateo County Historical Museum 777 Hamilton, Redwood City; (650) 299-0104. Tues-Sun, 10am-4pm. $1-2. "Ledesma and His Disciples." watercolor paintings by Ralph Ledesma. Through Sept 22.

UC Berkeley Art Museum 2626 Bancroft Way, Berk; (510) 642-0808. Wed-Sun, 11am-7pm. $8, $5 seniors and youths, $4 members and UC Berkeley students and faculty (free Thurs). "Matrix 207: Anna Von Mertens Suggested North Points." Handmade quilts by Anna Von Mertens. Through Sept 7. "Gene(sis): Contemporary Art Explores Human Genomics." Almost 100 works by contemporary artists on the topic of genetic engineering. Aug 27-Dec 7.

galleries
Opening

Academy of Art College Galleries 410 Bush; 567-3606. Mon-Sat, 9am-5pm. "Fine Art Faculty Show" (reception Sept 4, 5:30-7:30pm). Sept 2-Oct 1. 625 Sutter; 274-2229. Mon-Sat, 9am-5pm. "MFA Photography Show: Woo Suk Kim (reception Sept 4, 5:30-7:30pm). Aug 28-Oct 1. 688 Sutter; 931-5892. Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm. "Fine Art Faculty Show (reception Sept 4, 5:30-7:30pm). Aug 29-Oct 1.

Caldwell Snyder Gallery 341 Sutter; 392-2299. Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm; Sun, noon-5pm. New acquisitions by Piotr Strelnik. Sept 1-30.

Canvas Gallery 1200 Ninth Ave; 504-0060. Sun-Thurs, 8am-midnight; Fri-Sat, 8am-2am. "Celebrating California's Coastline," works by Laura Blair, William Henry, John Hylton, Dong Kim, Kathryn St. Clair, Richard Mooi, and Jennifer Kane (reception Thurs/28, 6pm-midnight). Aug 28-Sept 23.

Capobianco Gallery 1841 Powell; 296-9110. Call for hours. "Painting ... Interrupted," works by Jennifer Foxley. Through Sun/31. Recent paintings by Guy Colwell (reception Fri/30, 7pm). Aug 30-Sept 30.

Don Soker Contemporary Art 49 Geary; 291-0966. Tues-Fri, 10:30am-5:30pm; Sat, 11am-5pm. Recent photographic-based installations by Heidi Struble (reception Sept 6, 2-4pm). Sept 2-27.

Live Art Gallery 151 Potrero; 552-5875. Sat, 1-5pm, and by appt. "Mount," a group show by the gallery's studio artists (reception Sept 6, 7-11pm). Sept 1-27.

National Product 1845 Market; 255-1920. Wed-Sat, 11am-7pm; Sun, noon-5pm. "Highjinx and Shenanigans," art by Nathalie Roland and Jess Wilks (reception Fri/29, 8-10pm). Through Oct 4.

Southern Exposure 401 Alabama; 863-2141. Tues-Sat, 11am-5pm. "Loophole," recent work by Birgit Gehrt; "Between Existing Things," recent acquisitions of the Archive of the Synapse by Alex Kahn; "Rush Hour," new work by Kathryn Kenworth. (reception Fri/29, 6-8pm). Aug 29-Oct 12.

Triangle Gallery 47 Kearny, fifth fl; 392-1686. Tues-Sat, 11am-5pm. Selected paintings by Louis Siegriest. Through Sat/30. Recent paintings by Max Hein (reception Sept 4, 5:30-7:30pm). Sept 2-27.

UC Berkeley Extension 55 Laguna; 252-5221. Mon-Thurs, 10am-10pm; Sat-Sun, 10am-4pm. "Patricia Tavenner: A Retrospective," 100 sheets of stamps. Aug 28-Sept 16.

Bay Area

Pacific Art League of Palo Alto 668 Ramona, Palo Alto; (650) 321-3891. Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm; Sat, 10am-4pm. "Close Up," artists explore the beauty in common objects (reception Sept 5, 5pm). Sept 1-24.

Ongoing

Andrea Schwartz Gallery 525 Second St; 495-2090. Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm; Sat, 11am-5pm. "Silver Gelatin Prints," work by Nick Czap; "Chromogenic Prints," work by Belinda Gray; "Mixed Media and Resin on Panel," work by Jon Gregory. Through Fri/29.

Atrium 600 Townsend; (650) 851-3754. Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm. "One of a Kind," clay and glass art exhibition, juried by Sandy Simon and Robert Brady. Through Sept 5. "Pacific Rim Sculptors Group Summer Outdoor 2003 Member's Exhibition," 28 outdoor sculptures. Through Sept 8.

Baxter Chang Patri Fine Art Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason; 397-2000. Tues-Sat, 11am-7pm. and by appt. "Masters of Modern Art," works by Bacon, Calder, Chagall, Clemente, Diebenkorn, Haring, Hockney, and others. Through Thurs/28.

Big Pagoda Company 310 Sutter; 296-8881. Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm; Sun, noon-5pm. New works by John Smiddy and Jeanette Bokhour. Through Sat/30.

Brian Gross Fine Art 1 Post; 788-1050. Mon-Fri, 8am-6pm. Recent paintings by Chad Buck. Through Sept 5.

Build 483 Guerrero; 863-3041. See www.buildsf.org/mybrary for hours. "Mybrary: A Pro-Literacy Project," a collaborative exhibition by Elliot Lessing, Jennifer Schmidt, the Internet Archive/Bookmobile and the public at large. Through Sept 12. See 8 Days a Week.

Chatter Box 1185 Church; 647-0900. Tues-Fri, 11:30am-6:30pm; Sat, noon-5pm. Work by Mike Cappozola, Kelly Kerslake, Larry Lowell, and Jenne Giles. Through Sun/31.

Chinese Culture Center 750 Kearny, third fl; 986-1822. Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm. "Animal Spirit," paintings by Raymond Hu. Through Sat/30.

City Art 828 Valencia; 970-9900. Wed-Sun, noon-9pm. "Naked in August," works by various artists. Through Sun/31.

Crown Point Press 20 Hawthorne; 974-6273. Tues-Sat, 10am-6pm. "Summer Group Show," etchings and wood-block prints by William Bailey, Tony Cragg, Brad Davis, Francesco Clemente, Shoichi Ida, Anish Kapoor, Alex Katz, and others. Through Sept 6.

Crucible Steel 2050 Bryant; 648-7562. Daily, 10am-10pm. "Stencils: The Art of Negative Spaces," stencil art from the world-wide underground street art community. Through Sept 6.

871 Fine Arts 49 Geary; 543-5155. Tues-Sat, 10:30am-5:30pm. "General Idea," various works. Through Sat/30.

Eleonore Austerer 565 Sutter; 986-2244. Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm. "Still Life Portraits," work by Roberto Azank; art jewelry by Nandiz Jewelry Design. Through Sat/30.

Focus Gallery 2423 Polk; 567-9067. Wed and Fri-Sun, noon-6pm; Tues and Thurs, noon-9pm. Recent metal sculptures by John Cowan. Through Sun/31.

Gallery 16 1616 16th St; 626-7495. Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm, and by appt. New works by Andrew Romanoff. Through Sun/31.

Grind 783 Haight; 864-0955. Sun-Thurs, 7am-11pm; Fri-Sat, 7am-10pm. "Caught Moments: Paris, Rome, London," street photographs by Terry Carroll. Through Sept 13.

Hackett-Freedman 250 Sutter, fourth fl; 362-7152. Tues-Fri, 10:30am-5:30pm; Sat, 11am-5pm. Selected works by Paul Resika and Robert de Niro Sr. Through Sat/30.

Hang 556 Sutter; 434-4264. Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm; Sun, noon-5pm. "Standard Pack," painting by Marianne Kolb. Through Sun/31.

Hang Annex 567 Sutter; 544-0610. Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm. "Four in the Foreground," painting and mixed-media work by Rosie O'Gorman, Beth Howe, Gregg Cassin, and Diane Rollins Feissel. Through Sun/31.

Harvey Milk Photography Center 50 Scott; 554-9522. Tues-Thurs, 3-10pm; Fri-Sat, 11am-5pm. "The Faces of Blues, Jazz, and R&B," photographs by Michael Shea. Through Sun/31.

Hespe 1764 Union; 776-5918. Mon-Sat, 11am-6pm; Sun, noon-5pm. Works by Mitch Temple. Through Sun/31.

Jack Hanley Gallery 395 Valencia; 522-1623. Tues-Sat, 11am-6pm. "Your Shits Stuff," work by Simon Evans. Through Sept 13. See Critic's Choice.

Limn Gallery 292 Townsend; 977-1300. Wed-Sat, 11am-5:30pm; Sun, 9am-3pm. "Post Magnetic North," works by Dean DeCocker; "Modular Living," works by Michael Burns. Through Sept 6.

Linc Real Art 1632C Market; 503-1981. Wed-Sun, noon-6pm. "La Machina." Dave Puck's "pounded-metal" poems are punched into found pieces of sheet metal with a hammer and awl. Puck, best known for his short stint on MTV's Real World San Francisco, is an old friend of Linc Real Art owner Charles Linder, whose penchant for battered, shot-up road signs seems to have exerted a strong influence on the former bike messenger's venture into the world of visual art. The poems have a kind of overpowering, manic energy that definitely reflects the character of their creator. Some even seem surprisingly sentimental. Puck's metalwork shares the gallery space with Gerhard Nicholson's collection of homemade cameras, created over a period of more than 25 years. Each one is unique and takes unique-looking pictures. Their insides are constructed from old-fashioned camera parts, and their outsides are an eclectic assortment of antique machines: a vacuum cleaner, a meatball maker, some that resemble metal diving helmets, and others so esoteric that they are totally unidentifiable. Through Sept 7. (Westbrook)

Robert Koch 49 Geary; 421-0122. Tues-Sat, 10:30am-5:30pm. "Concealed Identity," photographs by various artists. Through Sat/30.

Rx Gallery 132 Eddy; www.blasthaus.com. "The Art of Machines," a group show featuring works by machine artists, sculptors, and roboticists. Through Oct 4.

San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery 401 Van Ness; 554-6080. Wed-Sat, 11am-5:30pm; Tues, by appt. "Murphy Fellowships Award Exhibition," work by the 2003 Murphy Fellowships recipients. Through Sat/30.

San Francisco City Hall 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl; 252-2568. Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm; Sat-Sun, noon-4pm. "Insights," works by artists who are legally blind; "Portraits from Cuba," photographic portraits by Halle Merrill; "Crosscuts/Tagli Trasversali," woodblock prints by Marco Flavio Marinucci; "Snapshot: San Francisco Children and Youth Today," photographs by Brian Moore and Lisa Zimmerman. Through Sept 7.

Scott Nichols 49 Geary, fourth fl; 788-4641. Tues-Sat, 11am-5pm, and by appt. Photographs by James Nicholls and from the Gallery Collection. Through Thurs/28.

Shooting Gallery 839 Larkin; 931-8035. Call for hours. "The Gun Show," works by David Perry, Anthony Augang, the Pizz, Marco Almera, and others. Through Sept 6.

SomArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan; 552-2131. Tues-Sat, noon-4pm. "The Cafe Show," art exhibit and daily performances. Through Wed/27.

Bay Area

African American Museum and Library 659 14th St, Oakl; (510) 637-0200. Tues-Sat, noon-5:30pm. "Belonging: Photographs and Words from Gang Members," works by inmates of the Challenger Memorial Youth Center rehabilitation facility. Through Sat/30.

Bedford Gallery Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; (925) 295-1417. Tues-Sun, noon-5pm (also Thurs-Sat, 6-8pm). "The Big Tree Project," works by more than 100 artists. Through Sun/31.

Gallery 555 555 12th St, Oakl; (510) 238-2200. Mon-Fri, 7am-6pm (Third Thurs, 7am-8pm). "Thither." Julia Latané's supersized sculptures seem right at home in the vast glass-and-steel lobby of 555 12th St., an office building across the street from Oakland's Civic Center in which the Oakland Museum of California organizes rotating exhibitions of works by contemporary, and usually local, artists. Latané presents four sculpture installations: Shoot is comprised of 13 eight-foot-tall bamboolike cylinders. Blade consists of 31 gigantic blades of grass, all curving gently in the same direction, as if stirred by a gentle breeze or water current. Hills and Eyelash Cups is also based on natural forms, but not on any one specific type of plant; its biomorphic shapes and vivid colors suggest space creatures or fantastic underwater life. There aren't any museum guards to warn you against getting too close to the art, so you're free to wander through the forest of bamboo and really feel like Alice in Wonderland. Through Oct 1.

Joyce Gordon Gallery 406 14th St, Oakl; (510) 465-8928. Mon-Sat, 11am-6pm; Sun 1-6pm. "Summer Group Show," work by 15 artists. Through Sept 30.

A New Leaf 1286 Gilman, Berk; (510) 525-7621. Wed-Fri, 11am-5pm; Sat-Sun, 10am-5pm. "Sculpture and the Four Elements: Earth, Fire, Water, and Air," contemporary sculpture. Through Sun/31.