Bay Area Now 4 July 15, 2005

July 16 will mark the opening of the much anticipated fourth installment of Bay Area Now. This triennial survey of local talent has attracted international recognition for Bay Area artists in the past, helping launch the careers of many of its participants. Similar to the three surveys that came before it, Bay Area Now 4 is committed to displaying the most compelling work being produced in the Bay Area arts community today. More than thirty artists and arts collectives are included in this year?s survey, their work undertaking widely varied approaches to the creative process. Many of the artists? visual explorations are driven by an effort to make sense of complex realities, whether through mapping geographic networks, exploring community connections, diagramming belief systems or translating nature?s forms to mathematical equations.

The exhibition will be divided into two separate sections. Work on view in the downstairs galleries will run from July 16 through November 6 while the upstairs portion of the exhibition will close September 25, thereby initiating the cycle of interlocking openings and closings that we are pursuing in our Visual Arts program schedule. The downstairs section will be based on individual artist works while the upstairs will explore group activity, and highlight process based projects that involve the public. In addition to exploring vital contemporary work being produced in the Bay Area, the upstairs section will kick off a year?s worth of exploration into themes of artist group activity that often solicit and engage direct audience participation.

Bay Area Now 4 Visual Artists:
Chris Ballantyne
Tommy Becker
Libby Black
Liz Cohen
Adriane Colburn
Robert Gutierrez
John Hattori
Marisa Jahn and Steve Shada
Xylor Jane
Jim Jocoy
Helena Keeffe
Frederick Loomis
Michelle Lopez
Ari Marcopoulos
Christian Maychack
Keegan McHargue
Apollonia Morrill
Neck Face
Sasha Petrenko
Kate Pocrass
Emily Prince
Ted Purves
Christine Shields
Josephine Taylor
Margaret Tedesco
Hank Willis Thomas
Edie Tsong
Anna Von Mertens
Anne Walsh and Chris Kubick

Artist Groups:
Gestalt Collective
Hamburger Eyes
Mail Order Brides/M.O.B.
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