Isn’t It Obvious? San Francisco Artists Consuming the Banal January 21, 2011

January 21 – April 2, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, January 21, 6 – 8pm

The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery is pleased to present, Isn’t It Obvious? San Francisco Artists Consuming the Banal an exhibition of newly commissioned work by Aurthur Allan, Matthew Kennedy, Kristina Lewis, Jasmin Lim, Daniel Nevers and Lindsey White. This open-ended curatorial premise allows these artists to create new work that repositions everyday subject matter and commonly used, iconic images in ways that may at first seem obvious but upon a second look, might have something else at work.

By using video, photography, performances, sculpture and site-specific installation, the exhibiting artists are reconfiguring banal objects and images as well as iconic images that stand in for a cultural understanding of place to create unusual, clever and wryly humorous work that challenge viewers own basic definitions of the everyday. The work included in Isn’t It Obvious? incites the viewer to bring meaning to the included works as well as the overall exhibition. By re-using common materials, re-photographing the common landscapes of the day – these artists are looking at the obvious in a less than obvious way. They are critically examining how we organize and visualize our common activities and in turn asking us to consider in what ways we consume the banal.