Art Beat Bay Area

The new BAMPFA building, which melds the 1930s Art Deco UC Berkeley printing plant with a new construction.

The huge news this week is the opening of the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive this Sunday in its stunning new location. Designed by internationally recognized architectural firm Diller Scofido + Renfro, the museum occupies what had been the UC Berkeley printing plant integrated with a new structure. The space is refreshingly light-filled and welcoming, and, importantly, shows off the artwork well. The inaugural show, “Architecture of Life” well establishes the museum’s role in being encyclopedic and academic, while also being accessible: the show features over 250 works spanning two thousand years and explores the idea of architecture both as a practice as well as a metaphor. The show succeeds in drawing well-thought and highly enjoyable connections to a broader concept of architecture without being so steeped in academia as to require vast background knowledge. It also incorporates well-known artists with those lesser known or more obscure, showing the wide breadth of the museum’s curatorial reach and expanding the viewers’ breadth of experience, and the quality throughout remains consistently high. This is a truly gorgeous and engaging exhibition, and it shows off well in this beautiful new home.

A couple other shows I’m really enjoying right now . . .

“Dumbballs: David Ireland and His Circle,” at Gallery Anglim Gilbert, San Francisco (through Feb. 27): As mentioned in my last post, there is a David Ireland love-fest going on around the opening of 500 Capp Street (as well there should be): in addition to the opening of the house museum are two exhibitions featuring Ireland’s work. It’s an amazing time to become immersed in the work of this highly influential artist. This show at Anglim Gilbert not only includes some important work by Ireland, but by featuring pieces by conceptual Bay Area peers as well as younger artists he has had an impact on, further establishes him as a central and innovative figure in conceptual art.

Leo Villareal, “spacetime,” at fused space, San Francisco (through March 21): Widely known here for his enthralling Bay Area lights project, Villareal presents a show of smaller-scale works that are at moments dynamically engaging and at other times soothingly meditative. They provide an opportunity to experience a wider offering from this internationally acclaimed light sculpture artist.

Upcoming!
Happening tonight! The inaugural exhibition by CTRL+SHFT, an Oakland-based women’s artist collective, with the group show “Soft Serve.” Opening is from 6 to 10 p.m., and the show runs through February 19. The group was recently a recipient of Southern Exposure‘s Alternative Exposure grant.

Opening January 30, Berkeley: “Here, Part II: What Cannot Be Said,” curated by Natasha Boas, at the Berkeley Art Center. An opening reception will take place Saturday, February 6, 6 to 8 p.m. An talk curator Boas and BAMPFA director Larry Rinder, titled “What Does It Mean to Think about Abstraction?” will take place Wednesday, February 24, at 6 p.m.

Opening February 5, Oakland: Sheila Ghidini, “A Fleeting Grace,” at Chandra Cerrito Contemporary. An opening reception will take place Friday, February 5, 6 to 8 p.m. An artist talk with Ghidini and Randy Colosky, moderated by Kevin B. Chen will take place Thursday, February 25, 6 to 7:30 p.m.