Opening Saturday, August 7th, 3pm-5pm
& TNT Traysikel SideCaraoke With Michael Arcega and Paolo Asuncion @ 4:30pm-onward in from of Minnesota Street Project. Read about TNT Traysikel
About "The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Tree, Artists and Their Children, Together"
We are delighted to present a show with Artists, that are parents, alongside their childrens’ artwork.
A group show with: Eleanor Harwood, Persephone Cree-Harwood, Lee Materazzi, Mia Blumenberg, Brook Blumenberg, Kelly Carambula, Quinn Carambula, Tana Quincey Arcega, Michael Arcega, Ramona Arcega, Balint Zsako, Gus Zsako, David Bayus, & Camille Louise Smith.
All children developing in a neurotypical way start making marks. It is our universal first attempt at written language. As Dr. Melodie de Jager writes: “If a child is not aware of a windmill, he does not draw a windmill. If a child doesn’t know fish, he doesn’t draw fish. The world the child lives in and the experiences he has in that world all find their way onto paper in an attempt to make sense, and give meaning to what has happened or is happening at the moment.”
By including works by children that are constantly exposed to the professional artworld; visiting exhibitions, their mother’s gallery, museums, their parent’s studios, homes full of art, we are pulling from an interesting subset of children. These children already have a sophisticated eye and some understand abstract art. A great example is the simplicity of Brook Blumenberg: Pipe Cleaner in Straw, 2021. Brook is six and considers a straw with a pipe cleaner in it, pinned to the wall with a thumbtack, a piece of art. It’s a complete sculpture to her. The home she has grown up in is full of abstract sculptures and her mother’s artwork is full of formal concerns. Lee has involved her children in her practice for years. The kids get pulled into painting her body, helping with props as she composes the sets in her studio for her photographs. Her children have highly evolved senses of what “art” is. They have seen a “fish”.
Children bring a beginner’s mind to mark making.They are not concerned with the originality of their images, whether they are copying someone else’s work, if they are referencing a particular style too specifically. They are freed from those concerns. With a more educated, and sophisticated eye developed from exposure they make works that are quite compelling. The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. The children in the show range in age from five to nine.
About the Artists
Eleanor Harwood, Gallery owner, climber and sometimes painter
Persephone Cree-Harwood, age 7, lover of color.
Mia Blumenberg, age 9, makes art, because…. its fun.
Brook Blumenberg, age 6, Likes to make things to “copy you mommy”
Lee Materazzi, a contemporary artist who explores body politics through hue, texture and composition. She tries to make art like Mia and Brook, because…. its fun.
Kelly Carámbula is a San Francisco-based artist and sculptor. Her work explores elements of acceptance and control, often incorporating surprises that encourage the viewer to look closer, longer, or from a different perspective. She is continually interested and inspired by the tactile relationships between color and form— using clay, wood, and metal as her primary mediums.
Quinn Carámbula, age 5, loves unicorns, the color purple, and making things.
Tana Quincy Arcega Born in Nebraska in 1977, Tana Quincy Arcega obtained a BFA from the University of Nebraska and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art where she studied figurative painting and sculpture. An illness altered her methodologies over the course of several years to evolve her practice into one of material exploration, mark-making research, and abstract painting. Her mouth paintings were featured in Her Living magazine in the story, “Overcoming Obstacles.”
Ramona Arcega Ramona is an intuitive maker who enjoys visual art, performing arts and fashion. She loves to create obstacle courses and tell knock-knock jokes. Sometimes figurative, her colorful work is intuitive and expressive. A true mix-media artist, she indiscriminately makes marks with traditional and non-traditional methods. At 5-7/8 years old, Ramona is a native San Franciscan. She makes her work at home and at Phoebe Hearst Preschool with her peers and amazing teachers. She recently shed 4 teeth to make room for her permanent ones as she prepares for Kindergarten.
Michael Arcega is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. His research-based work revolves largely around sociopolitical dynamics. His investigation of cultural markers are embedded in objects, food, architecture and vehicle metaphors.
Michael has a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from Stanford University. His work has been exhibited at venues including the Asian Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Orange County Museum of Art, The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Cue Arts Foundation, and the Asia Society in NY among many others.
Arcega’s work has been discussed in publications including Art Forum, the New York Times, Art Practical, Art News, X-TRA, SF Chronicle, Artweek, Art Papers, and Flash Art among others. He is a recipient of an Artadia grant, Joan Mitchell MFA Award, Murphy Cadogan Fine Arts Fellowship, among others. He has been an Artist in Residence at the 18th Street Art Center, Montalvo Arts Center, Headlands Center for the Arts, the Fountainhead Residency, Artadia Residency at ISCP, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Al Riwak Art Space in Bahrain, and the Recology Artist Residency Program. He was awarded a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts.
Michael was born in Manila, Philippines, and migrated to the Los Angeles area at ten years of age. He relocated to San Francisco to attend college. He currently lives and works in San Francisco, California where he is an Associate Professor at San Francisco State University.
Balint Zsako, Artist. Balint Zsako was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1979 to a sculptor father and a textile artist mother. He works in collage, painting, sculpture and photography.
Often including wild animals and multicolored figures bound or fettered together, his erotically charged works possess a shamanistic quality. Working in mixed media, collage, painting, sculpture, drawing, and photography, Zsako has recently focused on watercolors that feature intertwined naked figures. The artist’s practice also involves soliciting audience participation.
His art was featured in Phaidon’s Vitamin D2 anthology and Sarah Polley’s film Take This Waltz. Balint received his BFA in photography from Ryerson University in Toronto, and now lives and works in Los Angeles.
Prominent collection include: MONA, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Seneca College, Toronto, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, an Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt Collection, Toronto
Gus Zsako, 6, Inventor.
