In the City and in the mood for a little art? Summertime is the perfect time to check out the new and exciting exhibits offered around San Francisco. Here are a few that will scratch that artistic itch.

Courtesy of the California Historical Society

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco – Legion of Honor 

Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism

July 14, 2012 - October 14, 2012

Marcel Duchamp: The Book and the Box

July 14, 2012 - November 11, 2012

René Bouché (1905–1963): Letters from Post-War Paris

July 14, 2012 - October 14, 2012

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco – deYoung Museum

The Art of the Anatolian Kilim: Highlights from the McCoy Jones Collection

September 10, 2011 - July 29, 2012

Sacred Images and Chiefly Works from Central Polynesia

November 30, 2011 - August 30, 2012

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

March 24, 2012 - August 19, 2012

SF Museum of Modern Art

ContemporaryPaintings, 1960 to the Present

Selections from the SFMOMA Collection

May 18 – August 12, 2012

Stage Presence:Theatricality in Art and Media

July 14 - October 08, 2012

Cindy Sherman

July 14 - October 08, 2012

Paul Klee andJosef Albers: Parallel Construction

June 07 - October 08, 2012

Asian Art Museum

Phantoms of Asia, Contemporary Awakens the Past

May 18 – September 2, 20102

Contemporary Jewish Museum

Do Not Destroy:Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought

An Exhibition and The Dorothy Saxe Invitational

Through September 9, 2012

California Dreaming

Jewish Life in the Bay Area from the Gold Rush to the Present

Through October 16, 2012

California Historical Society

A Wild Flight ofthe Imagination

February - October 14, 2012

Image courtesy of The Huntington Library

And for those of you in Southern California, may we recommend…

The J. Paul Getty Museum – Los Angeles

Gustav Klimt:The Magic of Line

July 3 – September 23, 2012

Drama and Devotion:Heemskerck;s “Ecce Homo” Altarpiece from Warsaw

June 5 – January 13, 2013

Heaven, Hell,and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages

May 29 – August 2012

The Huntington –  San Marino

Roger Medearis:His Regionalism

June 16 – September 17, 2012

Royals,Courtiers, & Confidants

July 28 – October 29, 2012

Timkin Museum of Art – San Diego

Object Lessons:Goya’s Self- Portrait with Dr. Arrieta

May 10 – September 9, 2012

Printmaking: A Continuous Dialogue

Sorbum
Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1567)
From De Historia Stirpium
Basel: 147
Hand-colored woodcut engraving

On Tuesday, February 23, 2010, Arader Galleries in San Francisco had the pleasure of attending “Art Sandwiched In,” a series of noontime luncheons held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which presents prominent members of the art community in panel discussions on a myriad of art related topics. “Printmaking at the Heart of the Creative Process,” a discussion on the history and current practices of printmaking, featured a panel including Kathan Brown, founder of the Crown Point Press artist Laura Owens, Griff Williams, owner of Gallery 16/Urban Digital Color, artist Darren Waterston and was moderated by the SFMOMA’s curator of painting and sculpture, Janet Bishop.

An informative video, filmed at the Crown Point Press, introduced the process of printmaking. Viewers witnessed the different steps to making prints and saw as Laura Owens, an artist-in-residence at the time, carefully created her works. Kathan Brown and Griff Williams spoke about their interests in printmaking and how their respective workshops and galleries have developed the process with modern technology while using the same skill, dedication and preciseness as artists in the 15^th century. Laura Owens spoke about her influences in printmaking, the images and ideas she uses and her process and how they may relate to, but become far removed from her other formal paintings and works.

Griff Williams and Darren Waterson also discussed their interests in using digital technology to create images which are then engraved and printed. In their collaborative book, “The Flowering,” thirteen images by Waterson were inspired by the experience and readings of St. Francis of Assisi and produced through relief printing, digital pigment printing and hand-coloring.

The dialogue between original and contemporary printmakers is still strong, as the process and desire for originality remain the same. Arader Galleries is proud to have numerous printmaking artists in its collection including Leonhart Fuchs’s woodcut herbals from the 16th century, Giovanni Battista Ferrari’s copperplate engraving from the 17th century and Pierre-Joseph Redoute’s botanical stipple engravings, all of which are meticulously created and expertly hand-colored.

Collecting in Today's Market

The Sense of Sight, John the Elder

"The purchase of art in periods of economic uncertainty represents a logical fulfillment of mankind’s deep need to preserve a sense of stability. In the absence of consistent monetary value, what could be more reassuring than to play for very different stakes—so that money becomes linked, not to some arbitrary standard like gold or the dollar, but to another human activity which implies a level of sensibility and high intelligence, both functional and concrete?" (Pierre Restany, Art Aktuell)

It comes as no surprise that the present economic environment encourages careful analysis of the art market in order to understand the unique buying opportunities that occur when the markets are down. As part of our efforts to better serve our cliental, members of the Arader team attended Collecting in Today’s Market at the SFMOMA. Janet Bishop, curator of painting and sculpture at the SFMOMA, lead a panel which included respected gallery owners, chairmen of established auction houses, art advisors and prominent Bay Area collectors. The panel addressed the way economic shifts affect the art market and the speakers’ respective strategies for collecting in today’s market.

Most notably, respected gallery owners revealed insightful feedback regarding collectors’ attitudes about the market. The feeling is that collectors are less interested in the buzz and more focused on art that has historical, personal, or simply even aesthetic value. Indeed, the fastest way to destroy art is to make it part of the profit-making setup, so corrective periods such as these are needed to remind collectors and artists: ars gratia artis! Nonetheless, a serge of optimism revived dealers on Monday, as the auction of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s Collection pulled in over $266 million. The result shattered the record for a single-owner, single-session sale and almost all pieces sold for well above their estimates, indicating that collectors have returned. Indeed, the results will be a huge boost for the nervous art market and collectors alike.

All in all the discussion left us informed but, most importantly, inspired about the opportunistic climate. True collectors will continue to love art and will continue to make smart investments in quality art pieces. Fortunately, current market conditions allow collectors more art to choose from, allowing them to acquire pieces previously unattainable. Collectors should in fact be rejoicing! Indeed, as the art market experiences a time of correction, now is the time for scrutiny but also for enthusiasm and appetite. We invite you to visit us on Jackson Street and to view our collection online at www.aradersf.com.