Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation in partnership San Francisco Art Dealers Association (SFADA) is proud to present, "Becoming" (May 19 - August 28, 2021), a group exhibition curated by Saint Joseph’s Artist-in-Residence, Erica Deeman. Featuring artwork by sixteen artists represented by nine distinct SFADA member galleries, the exhibition is the first collaboration between Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation and SFADA. In concert with Saint Joseph’s, Deeman mined the inventories of participating SFADA member galleries. The resulting presentation, including works by artists Miya Ando, Sidney Cain, Vanessa Marsh, Sara VanDerBeek, Lee Materazzi, Leiko Ikemura, and Kimia Ferdowsi Kline, illustrates the subtle possibilities inherent in liminal spaces.
"Becoming," Deeman states, “considers how we mark and measure transformations in our own lives, in the world around us, as well as the spaces between us.” In Sidney Cain’s continuing work Refutations, they explore the parameters of existence, ancestral connections, and imaginative landscapes. These channeled and otherworldly figures speak to and complicate the relationship between the physical and spiritual.
Jonathan Calm’s Body Language, renders life size figures across three photograms. The recognizable gesture of arrest and protest brings us right back to this present moment. Yet, the images also suggest a more ephemeral way of being, transparent yet opaque, representative, and spiritual. Deeman notes, “Becoming is a state of never really arriving. It is a state of being - but never fixed. Transformation of the self, the land, dwelling in the in-between spaces, and holding space together come with notions of becoming.”
Artists Rodney Ewing and Tahiti Pehrson shared partially completed works with each other throughout the COVID-19 quarantine. What grew from this collaboration was a different and new way to make work for each artist. Their pieces grew to envelop the complexity of each other's practices, and the murder of George Floyd impacted the narrative and intentions of their pieces. Deeman further notes, “Delighting in the hybridity, mixed, and plural nature of existence, "Becoming" seeks to find alignment and delight in the undefinable. Perhaps, it is in this multiplicity that we can find empathy and deep-rooted connections and collaborations.”
The new partnership between Saint Joseph’s Arts Society and San Francisco Art Dealers Association was created out of a shared mission and a fierce commitment to support and celebrate the robust San Francisco Bay Area arts community. Through the creation of an exhibition of multi-disciplinary works from SFADA galleries, thoughtfully curated by Artist-in- Residence Erica Deeman, Saint Joseph’s will serve as a transformative site, where communities of artists, collectors, gallerists and more can safely gather and reflect on this timely project.
Artists: Miya Ando, Sydney Cain, Jonathan Calm, Kira Domingues Holtgren, Leonardo Drew, Rodney Ewing & Tahiti Pehrson, Versia Harris, Jordan Holms, Leiko Ikemura, Kimia Ferdowsi Kline, Vanessa Marsh, Christopher Martin, Lee Materazzi, Joel Daniel Phillips, Sara VanDerBeek.
Paricipating galleries: Altman Siegel Gallery, Crown Point Press, Dolby Chadwick Gallery, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Hashimoto Contemporary, Marrow Gallery, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, re.riddle, Rena Bransten Gallery.
Sources: press release, Datebook & Rena Bransten Gallery
Saint Joseph’s Arts Society
1401 Howard St.
San Francisco
saintjosephsartssociety.com