Mixed Use, a curatorial collective currently composed of Amanda Schneider, Jessica Shaefer, and Francesca Sonara, is pleased to present an eponymous summer group exhibition featuring work by eight California-based artists: Carolyn Janssen, Joel Frank, Lukas Geronimas, Maggie Preston, Matthew Abbott, Matthew Craven, Rachelle Reichert and Randy Colosky. 

Characterizing urban centers that centralize our daily activities, mixed-use construction has quickly become the go-to framework for development initiatives in San Francisco and beyond. Expectations for all-purpose living dominate the landscape and, by design, many of us live, work and play in circumscribed, often affluent, oases. Whether this is a net positive on society’s desire for community-building is yet to be determined. But the question arises: what is the role of the arts in the mixed-used environment? This exhibition showcases the distinct ways the featured artists utilize the sensual and saturated properties of their materials to explore the nature of hybrid practices, both in the studio and the world outside.

Carolyn Janssen creates mural-sized digital works that exist as photographic and painterly portrayals of fantastical über-universes, referencing the sublime landscape, digital kitsch, miniaturized science fiction tableaus, and religious morality tales.

Joel Frank’s large-scale sculptural work explores the existential side of perception in both natural and built environments, inviting viewers to consider how things change around us, often imperceptibly, and our ongoing need to reconcile a multiplicity of experiences and viewpoints.

Lukas Geronimas’s works demonstrate his affinity to recognizable sculptural materials like wood, plaster and graphite powder, bringing together elements of craft, invention, DIY design, and reuse.

Maggie Preston uses analog and digital photographic processes to create abstract, lushly monochromatic works on paper; her new series of steel sculptures mimic the content of her 2D compositions, showcasing the multitude of ways that exist to capture an image.

Matthew Abbott’s bold, abstract paintings contain geometric shapes and text inspired by a range of various sources, including crossword puzzles, Islamic symbols, and record covers.

Matthew Craven produces collage works that speak to the relationship of material to history, using only original (never photocopied) source materials as well as highly specific methods of adhesion and types of paper stock, including old movie posters.

Rachelle Reichert depicts entropic processes such as crystallization and corrosion, molding graphite and salt to create structures whose precarious states of transformation are recorded and amplified through photographs, sculptures, and drawings.

Randy Colosky uses quotidian materials in new, unexpected ways, creating mainly sculptural work that is often reductive, conceptual, and at once familiar and foreign.

GALLERY HOURS
Wednesday - Saturdays: 12pm-5pm
and by appointment