Swell Gallery

03/10/2016

Reception:
Thursday, March 10, 2016

7 pm - 9 pm

Exhibition Dates:
March 7 - 25, 2016



The Swell Gallery presents RELATIONAL ARCHIVES, a group show featuring work by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Paula Morales, Juan Pablo Pacheco, and Aaron Wilder.


RELATIONAL ARCHIVES is an exhibition that explores the different ways of constructing, interpreting, and re-interpreting an archive in an era of intangibility where the physicality of documents and images is no longer a priority. How can we understand our relationship to the past when traditional archives start losing their authority, and the boundaries between the simulated and the real become increasingly blurred? How do we understand the impulse to record in a time where space and time are shattered through the digital and its relationship to global environmental, social, and political crises? Our common understanding of the archive is interpretative, meaning that it is based upon our own relation to the objects and information displayed. RELATIONAL ARCHIVES plays with fiction, reenactment, and imaginative intervention to engage with the meaning of the images/objects, not necessarily with the factuality of the events that these are supposed to speak to. Each artist in the show will be accessing, interpreting, and curating the archive of a different artist in the show. Through this collaborative exercise, we seek to open a dialogue about limitations of partiality and the subjectivity of authorship.



The Swell Gallery is located on the second floor of SFAI's Graduate Center at 2565 3rd street. Enter from ground level on 22nd street and the gallery is the first door on the right after arriving at the second floor from the stairwell.




Check out the artists online:

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: http://zaliartandphotography.com

Paula Morales: http://www.paula-morales.com

Juan Pablo Pacheco: http://www.juanpablopacheco.com

Aaron Wilder: http://aaronwilder.com



Image Credit (postcard): Paula Morales. Relational Archives, 2016.

02/25/2016

01/31/2016

The Swell Gallery presents BORDERLESS, a group show curated by Yueqi Chen featuring work by Weijue Wang, Shisi Huang, Yan Huang, Di Hou, Sai Li, Shihan Xu, and Chuhe Yan.

Non-white artists are often identified, categorized, and stereotyped by their race; their non-Western backgrounds are emphasized and expected to be shown in their works. BORDERLESS pushes this situation further by questioning what art should be considered as non-white art and who should have the power to make such distinction between white and non-white art. This exhibition features all Asian artists, and will be shown in a time close to the Asian Lunar New Year. The artists invite the audience to experience their struggles as non-white artists, especially as Asian artists in this context, in both the aesthetic and conceptual processes of art making as well as each artist’s individual voice confronting the oversimplified stereotype. Using the space of the Swell Gallery, this show incites reflection, destabilizes general perception, and avoids an easy read regarding Asian identities.

The Swell Gallery is located on the second floor of SFAI's Graduate Center at 2565 3rd street. Enter from ground level on 22nd street and the gallery is the first door on the right after arriving at the second floor from the stairwell.

Image Credit (postcard): Shihan Xu.

01/15/2016

The Swell Gallery presents RECONCILING MADNESS, a group show featuring work by Tom Colcord, Rebecca Kaufman, and Emily McPeek.

Reconciling Madness features three artists who subconsciously record their feelings and emotions in physical sublimination. They cannot help but intuitively illustrate their insecurities. Using optics, patterns, and unique color palettes, they capture and record their personal fears and psychological issues. Reconciling Madness creates an overwhelming and uneasy experience for the viewer through the lens of inherited so-called mental illness.

The Swell Gallery is located on the second floor of SFAI's Graduate Center at 2565 3rd street. Enter from ground level on 22nd street and the gallery is the first door on the right after arriving at the second floor from the stairwell.

Check out the artists online:
http://tcolcord.wix.com/tomcolcord
http://rebeccakaufman.tumblr.com/
http://www.emilymcpeek.com/

12/24/2015

Check out the review by Valerie Thompson of our final show of the year at the Swell Gallery! Thanks everyone for attending and making this year so worth while.

THE GREAT ASSEMBLAGE – SWELL EXHIBITION REVIEW By Valerie Thompson The Great Assemblage, a show spanning the works of nine artists, is nothing short of a visual feast. Upon entering the gallery,...

12/24/2015

A group of people making a group of things. Come see these things and these people at our opening on Thursday 12/3 from 7-9pm.

Works by:
Caitlin Petersen
Dana Morrison
Devon Lach
Jeff Johnston
Kevin Corbett Hill
Lauren Shaw
Neil Enggist
Ryan Van Runkle
Sebastian Ortiz

Photos by Paula Morales

11/02/2015

Check out some photos of the opening of Creātricēs at The Swell Gallery, featuring artworks by Becca Levine, Cristina Velazquez, Elisabeth Kohnke and Iris Ergul. Curated by Rose Lou.
Photography by Paula Morales