#somarts

[letmeoutofshadowbanjail]

a gift for my frienddd :)

[somo4]

autism quigley

[somlkyi]

I laugh, I cry, I weave

I feel like I'm changing

[moonilit]

Me: I don’t think i care that much about genshin anymore…

hoyo drops a cryo herald then add it to the first floor of the abyss:

I, play for 4 hours, forgetting my dailies, stocking it attack patterns to compare them frame by frame with kaeya’s and giving it all my three brain cells:

[reasoningdaily]

The Black Woman is God - Wikipedia

The Black Woman Is God is a recurring group exhibition of Black women artists curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green, which started in 2013 and in 2016 and 2017 has been located at the San Francisco city-owned nonprofit art space SOMArts. The exhibitions challenge a popular western mindset of God as a white male and instead explores new images showing "The Black Woman is God".

2013 Exhibition at the African American Art & Culture Complex edit

The first iteration of The Black Woman is God was intended as a solo exhibition for Seneferu, curated by Green, at the African American Art & Culture Complex. Seneferu agreed to participate in the exhibition only if other black female artists were included.[1] The exhibition included 20 visual and performance artists. The opening reception also included a performing arts show as part of the exhibition and was called "vibrant and magnificent".[2][3][4]

2014 Exhibition

The 2014 exhibition was held at the San Francisco Public Library in the African American Center from March 1 to May 15, 2014.[5]

2016 Exhibition

The next expanded exhibition, The Black Woman is God: Reprogramming that God Code, opened with 60 artists on July 7, 2016, and ran through August 17, 2016 at SOMArts.[6]

Art critics called it as "timely", "organic",[7] and "vivid".[8] Sheila Bapat of Bitch wrote "The exhibit intentionally turns the historic devaluation of Black women and their contributions—social, political, economical—on its head. This exhibit asserts Black women’s power and beauty and does not seek to devalue any other group in the process..... It applies pressure to the beliefs and values undergirding the laws and policies that exclude Black women’s lives from economic policymaking and their labor from economic value and protection."[9]

2017 Exhibition

The next exhibition, The Black Woman is God: Divine Revolution, also curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green, returned to SOMArts on July 20, 2017, and ran through August 26, 2017. The exhibition had the work of 80 artists on view.[10][11] SOMArts, the California Digital Library and Art Practical held a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon on July 22 in conjunction with the exhibition "to raise the online visibility of Black women artists and challenge the gaps in art history that erase or minimize Black women’s contributions as artists, activists and social change-makers."[12]

[gapefart]

me as a cool englist teacher: you guys like rap huh... you know... shakespear was kind of the "OG" rapper... (shows my students some shakespear poems and stuff)

my class (now astonished): what!!!!!!!! mrs gape your somart and now i have an apprication for english history!! thank yuo mrs gape i will nevr fdorget this class!! now we are all fans of shapespar... as you call him... the "og rapper!!!"

i just thot of this in tehe shower... my students will flip when i show them how trhat old coot (shapespeare) can rhyme it up like Kendric

[abwwia]

Portrait of Essence Harden, photography by Julia Johnson.

Essence Harden (Oakland, CA) works at the intersections of blackness, art, and cultural history.

Essence is a Ph.D. candidate, independent curator, writer, and artist. Her visual work has appeared at Good Children Gallery, Black Portraitures III, SOMarts, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA). Her writing has appeared in Performa Magazine, SFAQ: International Arts and Culture, Everyday Feminism, Palmss Magazine, and Acres. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Essence graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History from UC Berkeley in 2011. She received her Master of Arts from the department of African American Studies at UC Berkeley in 2013 and is currently a Ph.D Candidate in African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley. Her dissertation explores post Black Power constructions of black masculinity, queerness, and fashion. Via Their's Website

Read: Essence Harden is Everything and Everywhere, All at Once: https://elephant.art/essence-harden-is-everything-and-everywhere-all-at-once/

#EssenceHarden #JuliaJohnson #artherstory #womensart #palianshow #artbywomen #contemporaryart #contemporary #art #femaleartist

[skowhegan]

John Walter (A '12)

Node Mulch SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA 94103 July 26–July 30th, 2023

[abirpothi]

Tomorrow We Inherit the Earth: Through Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s lens

COMO Museum of Art in Lahore, Pakistan is the country’s first ever private museum; it centres around the exhibition and promotion of contemporary and modern art. Their latest solo art exhibition by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto under the title ‘Tomorrow We Inherit the Earth: A Study in Textile’ has been showing from the 28th of February, 2023, and will continue till the month of June.

Born on 1st August 1990 in Damascus, Zulfikar is complex and delightful, funny and subversive, and through his art shatters many clichés about who we are and who we are permitted to be. He obtained his MAH in History of Art from the University of Edinburgh in 2014 as well as an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2016. As dynamic and versatile as he is, Zulfikar does not restrict himself to one artform; he employs performances, videos, printmaking, textile, embroidery, quilting and storytelling to bring life to his art.

He shares the same name as his grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister and President of Pakistan. So, it comes as no surprise that he is intererested

‘Pull ups’, archival inkjet print and embroidery, 2016 Courtesy: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto website

in the politics of the world and inculcates this in his art; his work examines the intricate identity politics created through centuries of colonisation and made worse by the current global politics. He investigates the politics of queerness in his performances, as well as how it sits with Islam and the transitional relationship they share. Zulfikar performs drag under the moniker Faluda Islam and addresses sensitive topics of sexuality, religion, and identity.

Zufilkar is a selfless artist who through his initiatives tries to give a voice to the queer community and give them representation; he was one of three curatorial residencies for the year at SOMArts Cultural Center, where he co-curated the exhibition The Third Muslim: Queer and Trans Muslim Narratives of Resistance and Resilience in January and February 2018. During the month-long series of events, The Third Muslim brought together 16 gay and trans-Muslim artists, performers, and intellectuals.

As per his website, Zulfikar’s latest exhibition ‘Tomorrow We Inherit the Earth: A Study in Textile’ is “an investigation into histories of popular resistance, guerrilla warfare and anti-imperialism in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia that are then re-interpreted into an archive of an imagined revolution in a post-utopian and post-human world.”

‘Setting Sun’ by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Courtesy: projectartdivvy The series is created through a three-part process, utilising live performances, videos, and installations made of textiles. Drawing on Shiite Muslim martyrdom and saint worship customs, the tapestries were created “to honour real and imagined queer guerrilla fighters and the weapons they used.”

Zulfikar is unapologetic in his lifestyle and art; which makes his whole being as well as his work even more so genuine and beautiful. So, make sure to pay a visit to the COMO Museum of Art. Better yet, the exhibition is free to everyone so head on over to the museum for an immersive experience with Zulfikar’s work; it will definitely be worth your time.

For More Visit on: Art News

[visualandpublicart]

JOIN US ON THURS., February 16, 2023 FOR VPA’s VISITING ARTIST SERIES | FEATURING Felix Quintana!

Lecture date: February 16, 2023

Time: 6-8pm

Location: VPA Complex, Build. 70

Free & Open to the Public!

Register for Event: Advance Registration/Self-Attestation*

For ADA Accommodations: Carol Silveira at casilveira@csumb.edu 

Lecture Title: Cruising Below Sunset: Mapping Everyday Hustle

Lecture Description: Quintana will discuss his ongoing photographic series Los Angeles Blueprints and his strategies for mapping contentious public space through reclaiming and remixing surveillance imagery. Quintana will also discuss his recent projects, Cruising Below Sunset and Love is the given of the place, where he uses collage and installation to weave his unique visual vocabulary of the everyday vernacular of Los Angeles.

About Artist: Felix Quintana (b.1991, Lynwood, CA) is a first generation Salvadoran-American visual artist and educator. Quintana’s multidisciplinary work spans photography, digital media, installation, and collage. He received an MFA in Photography from San Jose State University and a BA from Cal Poly Humboldt. Solo exhibitions include Residency Art Gallery, Cypress College, and SOMArts Cultural Center. Select group exhibitions include LAXART, Vincent Price Art Museum, Center for Photography Woodstock, San Jose ICA, and SFSU Art Gallery, among others. His work has been featured in The Guardian, NPR, Los Angeles Times, KCET, and Hyperallergic, among others. Quintana’s work is in the permanent collections of Oakland Museum of California, Altamed Art Collection, and Cal Poly Humboldt. He lives, works, and teaches in Los Angeles.

Artist’s Website: https://felixquintana.com

[imsbb2018]

I'll be vending at SOMA'S Holiday Market with some examples of my prints. Please come order a print or two! The vendor fair is 12-5pm at SOMA ARTS IN SF. The location is tagged. (at SOMArts Cultural Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cl75X6qOZem/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[somo4]

i think they wouldn't let kaoruko drive a motorcycle with hikari on a backseat because it would most likely lead to a big accident in kyoto

[somlkyi]

🧠🙏

[sfartenthusiast]

Congratulations to this year’s 17 recipients of the Murphy and Cadogan Awards! Don’t miss this important local annual exhibit curated by Kevin B Chen on view at @somarts through October 1: #murphyandcadogan #sfart #somarts #painting #sculpture #installationart #multimedia #sanfrancisco #sfartenthusiast #artaward. (at SOMArts Cultural Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2sOwX1AQ1N/?igshid=1ct7ghsq6jrcb

[tu-tienda-azteca]

These are taking a long time to finish but since it's the last bunch from the closed ceramic shop in Tonalá...I'm taking my time and adding a lot of details to these Muertitos...like a proper goodbye. I sculpted some leaves, painted flannels, given their faces plenty of details. They SHOULD be ready for Oct.11 at @somarts dia de Los Muertos reception (I'll post more details on the event) #diadelosmuertos #oakland #sf #Oscarcisneros #mexicanfolkart #chicanoart #dayofthedead #tutiendaazteca #somarts #tonalajalisco https://www.instagram.com/p/B27_iAuAp_W/?igshid=nlgiov3h7o01

[jonfarreporter]

Surreal Artist Cynthia Tom resonates the autumn season with soul with Open Studios.

As the year slides to its conclusion, the season of autumn is a special one for artists, especially for this reporter who began a journalistic venture more than 25 years ago, covering the Open Studios event in San Francisco’s Sunset District. 

Among my first articles about artists in the neighborhood at that time for The Sunset Beacon Newspaper, back in the fall of 1993 was surrealist Cynthia Tom. 

Her work was then and still is in my mind a touchstone. Back then, I was entering my 30s and her work, as I now realize, opened a door to me. My article about the Open Studios via ArtSpan was my third article or so, for the Sunset Beacon which serendipitously brought me to it. 

Yes, there were other artists I covered, like the eclectic and at times whimsical Murai. But, even in spontaneously playful art pieces, Cynthia, even back then always express a purpose. 

Over years I have had the privilege to witness her work grow and become more profound with each step of her own inner-journey. Cynthia has continuously illustrated how important it is for art to help the community in which it is expressed. 

Whether she was uncovering her immediate family’s past in her art or trying to unlock the secrets of a culture’s ideas and social mores, Cynthia has remained true to herself. 

As a philosophy major in college, as I struggled with academia, I clung to the saying of Blaise Pascal. “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of... We know the truth not only by the reason, but by the heart."

And from that saying, I recognized that the subconscious made conscious is what a surrealist is all about. But unlike Salvador Dali and others, Cynthia’s surrealist art only wants to illuminate the human and restore its sanity, not pull it a part and leave it on the floor. 

At least, that is how I understand her work, especially now. Cynthia emphasizes healing, restoration and empowerment. Whereas, Dali mostly shocked people. 

That’s not to say that some of Cynthia’s work is not thought-provoking, it is! But  for me, her work has always emphasized the key elements in humanity, which is the soul or spirit. That aspect is what brought her into doing retreat-workshops and conferences, like “A Place of Her Own,” utilizing art and art skills, that promote healing. 

It intrigues me that Open Studios occurs in the autumn when celebrations like Halloween and Day of the Dead are in full swing. “The lifting of the veil” or the time of the year when the divide between the physical tangible world thins and gets close to the etherial or “other side” is what autumn brings. The entire season hints as it were that there is something much more to life than what we encounter day to day on the surface level. 

To me, it seems that Cynthia’s surrealist art and sensibilities, while universal and for all seasons, coincide very much with the autumn. She has participated in Day of The Dead celebrations and art installations over the years, either as one who has presented an art installation or helped other artists in their works. 

Busy as she is Cynthia is not resting on any laurels as she says. “I have so much more work to pour out of my soul.”

In addition to her annual Open Studios this coming Nov. 10th and 11th, she has been be participating in the 2018 SOMArts Dia de Los Muertos Group Exhibition, a multicultural community celebration of inclusion and strength, which will conclude on Nov. 9. 

Cynthia's piece entitled: Hungry Ghosts: Our Ancestral Patterns is partly based upon the research and study she conducted delving into the complex history of Angel Island - often referred to as ‘The Ellis Island of the West Coast.’ And, it has been on display since Oct. 6. 

“To Heal, Grow Strength and Power Cynthia says, you must explore your ancestral patterns. What happened to twist your family's coping mechanisms? What historical event reshaped your family forever? You can change the trajectory, she says. Wake Up!”

To learn more about Open Studios and to visit her space at 1890 Bryant Street, visit the 1890 Bryant Street Studios website.   By Jonathan Farrell, photos courtesy of Cynthia Tom.