Tucker Nichols: New Paintings feature in SF Gate

January 24, 2015

Tucker Nichols 'New Paintings’ exhibit in full bloom
Published Wednesday, January 21, 2015
By Kimberly Chun
Tucker Nichols’ worlds are colliding these days, in the most positive way possible. Since the Bay Area artist was diagnosed in 1998 with Crohn’s disease (a type of inflammatory bowel disease), now in remission, he has become well acquainted with the halls of UCSF, receiving a drug infusion every eight weeks. But his next big project, after his Gallery 16 exhibit, sees his art and health spheres aligned: It’s a commission for the UCSF Mission Bay Children’s Infusion Center of 40 framed flowers in vases that hover between abstraction and calligraphy.
“What I like about flowers and vases is they’ve been a vehicle for people to convey inexpressible ideas,” says Nichols, 44. “It starts with something on display and then drifts.” Uncommon blooms, unlike the ones that usually crop up in hospitals, these will pop up in unorthodox spots throughout the waiting areas. We spoke to Nichols from his home not far from his San Raphael studio.

Q: Has Crohn’s disease affected the work?
A: In a way, it certainly has. Dealing with Crohn’s disease has pushed me to dedicate myself to a career as an artist. I was always drawing and painting, but only when I was saddled with the disease did I realize I only have so much time.
Q: How did you come to develop your painting and drawing style?
A: I don’t know how I came to do this. I saw at a certain point the thing in any art that I respond to is a sense of purpose. This thing has to happen. Whoever made it, even if you don’t know who they were, you sense a sense of urgency. That’s so important to me when I can tap into a sense of urgency. As for my style, I couldn’t describe it any more than I can describe my handwriting.
I’m very prolific. I make a lot, a lot of work, and I do a lot of harsh editing. The drawing process involves destroying things, and the painting process is about painting over things. For the show, there are between seven to 10 paintings underneath each one.
Q: You’ve said these flower paintings are for people who’re too busy to nurture the real thing — do you fall into that category?
A: I’m definitely not a great gardener, which my wife will attest to, but I do like to care for plants in pots. It’s really about the ability or the attempt to freeze a moment. A moment in the studio can be so fluid or unpredictable, and if a painting can capture that or turn it into something else, that’s an element of looking at art or making art that I’m really fascinated by. The futility of capturing anything that’s of real substance.
If you go
Tucker Nichols: New Paintings: Reception 6-9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23. Through March 6. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Gallery 16, 501 Third St., S.F. (415) 626-7495. www.gallery16.com.

Published Wednesday, January 21, 2015

By Kimberly Chun

Tucker Nichols’ worlds are colliding these days, in the most positive way possible. Since the Bay Area artist was diagnosed in 1998 with Crohn’s disease (a type of inflammatory bowel disease), now in remission, he has become well acquainted with the halls of UCSF, receiving a drug infusion every eight weeks. But his next big project, after his Gallery 16 exhibit, sees his art and health spheres aligned: It’s a commission for the UCSF Mission Bay Children’s Infusion Center of 40 framed flowers in vases that hover between abstraction and calligraphy.

“What I like about flowers and vases is they’ve been a vehicle for people to convey inexpressible ideas,” says Nichols, 44. “It starts with something on display and then drifts.” Uncommon blooms, unlike the ones that usually crop up in hospitals, these will pop up in unorthodox spots throughout the waiting areas. We spoke to Nichols from his home not far from his San Raphael studio.

Q: Has Crohn’s disease affected the work?

A: In a way, it certainly has. Dealing with Crohn’s disease has pushed me to dedicate myself to a career as an artist. I was always drawing and painting, but only when I was saddled with the disease did I realize I only have so much time.

Q: How did you come to develop your painting and drawing style?

A: I don’t know how I came to do this. I saw at a certain point the thing in any art that I respond to is a sense of purpose. This thing has to happen. Whoever made it, even if you don’t know who they were, you sense a sense of urgency. That’s so important to me when I can tap into a sense of urgency. As for my style, I couldn’t describe it any more than I can describe my handwriting.

I’m very prolific. I make a lot, a lot of work, and I do a lot of harsh editing. The drawing process involves destroying things, and the painting process is about painting over things. For the show, there are between seven to 10 paintings underneath each one.

Q: You’ve said these flower paintings are for people who’re too busy to nurture the real thing — do you fall into that category?

A: I’m definitely not a great gardener, which my wife will attest to, but I do like to care for plants in pots. It’s really about the ability or the attempt to freeze a moment. A moment in the studio can be so fluid or unpredictable, and if a painting can capture that or turn it into something else, that’s an element of looking at art or making art that I’m really fascinated by. The futility of capturing anything that’s of real substance.

If you go

Tucker Nichols: New Paintings: Reception 6-9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23. Through March 6. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Gallery 16, 501 Third St., S.F. (415) 626-7495. www.gallery16.com.

Tucker Nichols : New Paintings at Gallery 16

January 22, 2015

We are very pleased to have Tucker Nichols up on the walls again since it's been almost 4 years! In conjunction with the new exhibition, we have created a catalog which can be viewed here. Please direct all inquiries about pricing and availability to Hadley@gallery16.com.
Below is the official press release for Tucker Nichols current show, New Paintings, which is on view through March 6th:

Gallery 16 is pleased to present a show of new paintings by Bay Area artist Tucker Nichols, his fifth solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition is made up of more than 30 paintings and framed drawings, mostly of vases with flowers, a long-favored subject for the artist. “Flowers are a near perfect subject for a painting,” Nichols says. “They offer a bit of content but they can really look like anything. They’ve also been used as a stand in for inexpressible ideas since humans first started talking.” The new paintings explore more abstracted forms as well, in some cases resembling smokestacks or disheveled cakes.

Earlier this year, Nichols began making small flower paintings on paper to send by mail to sick friends. These evolved into a permanent commission of 40 framed works at the new UCSF Hospital at Mission Bay opening in February. This fall he began making the larger paintings for this exhibition “for people too busy to take care of real plants.”

Unlike previous installations in which Nichols combined many works into larger pieces, this show is composed exclusively of stand-alone paintings and drawings. “I like playing with context and location in installations, but it’s good to make things that can live on their own too,” Nichols says. “These paintings don’t need anything, not even water.”

After several years in the Marin Headlands, Nichols recently moved his studio to a former campaign headquarters above a tuxedo rental shop in downtown San Rafael. His work has been featured at the Drawing Center in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Denver Art Museum, Den Frie Museum in Copenhagen, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

His drawings have been published in McSweeney's, The Thing Quarterly, Nieves Books and the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times.

Reed Anderson: HOUSE OF YES reviewed by Square Cylinder

December 29, 2014

Reed Anderson: HOUSE OF YES reviewed by Square Cylinder

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition, defines “yes” as a function word. Meaning, one that establishes grammatical relationships between words, rather than content. Thus, if function is a form of process, then Reed Anderson’s work is the acme of yes. It consists of two resplendent bodies of work that appear under the title House of Yes. They showcase Anderson’s interest in embodied forms of production, using his hand to cut, paint, fold and layer stunningly beautiful works on paper. His work is very much part of the expanding practice of artisanal concerns evident in such museum shows as Labour and Wait at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 2013 and Fiber: Sculpture 1960-Present, currently at the ICA/Boston.

The rich materiality of Anderson’s work on paper accrues its presence through an accumulation of acts. After screen or woodblock printing sections of mostly primary colors, he cuts out hundreds of circular openings ranging in size from the head of a pin, to a standard hold punch, to the top of a soup can. He then folds and repaints or stamps pigment through the holes, allowing the blots and Baechleresque squishes to remain.

Given Anderson’s skilled use of line, edge, shape, and color it’s obvious he has formal facility. But in permitting “mistakes” to remain, he builds up a history and creates pentimento, giving his work an undeniable visceral charge. This also suggests that he doesn’t want to know what his next move or line will be and that he embeds himself within the making of the work.

Anderson draws upon a variety of sources. One body of work uses floral imagery to suggest bouquets or mandalas or muddied pieces ofscherenschnitte, the Swiss folk art of paper cutting. I am also reminded of the late cut paper paintings of Irene Pijoan (1954-2004) who taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, and where Anderson received his undergraduate degree. Like Pijoan, Anderson offers generosity and respect for the power of formal craft. The flower pieces are unbridled odes to beauty and the ceremonial rituals of birth, death and achievement.

Another group of work, from Anderson’s ongoing project The Papa Object, is based on images appropriated from fine art and furniture auction catalogues. Anderson grew up with art and antiquities in his family home. But rather than reject the materialism of these objects, he uses them as a springboard for layered works that refer to African textiles, Russian Constructivism, Modernism and decorative arts. There is also a performative component to this work. Some of it has been installed in private homes, offices, and even a research vessel in Antarctica, for the express purpose of being photographed in place. These multiple references, along with Anderson’s reproduction of reproductions, create emblems for endless scenarios about art, craft, commerce, trade, decoration, culture and history.

–JULIA COUZENS

Reed Anderson: House of Yes @ Gallery 16 through December 31, 2014.

Fall Updates

October 11, 2014

FALL NEWSLETTER

We have very much enjoyed having Jered Sprecher : Stacking Stones on exhibit since September. Stacking Stones is now approaching its last week, so please come see it while it's up! If you are far away and won't be able to visit, you can check out the exhibition catalog that we put together for the show here! Complete with installation shots, pricing and information about Jered and his work.

Jered Sprecher is keeping busy this fall! His second solo show this fall, Here & There opens today, October 10th at Tops Gallery in Memphis. Congrats Jered!

The talented and witty Tucker Nichols has recently collaborated with Pop-Up Magazine and made some Topic of Conversation napkins. Suggested Topics of conversation: “Seriously benign confessions,” “What I know about cheese,” “For the last time how daylight savings works” and more. You can buy them here!

Amy Franceschini + Futurefarmers and are currently on view at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. The Land Grant: Flatbread Society will be on view through this Sunday, October 12 and in conclusion there will be a number of workshops and parties. If you’re in the East Lansing area this weekend, please check it out!

SHORT BITS:

Alice Shaw's new body of gilded black and white photos of the California landscape are currently on view in her solo show Heavy Metal at Dominican University. On exhibit through October 25th.

Lauren Davies is a part of the current group show Shoebox Orchestra at the newly re-opened ampersand international arts. On view through November 14th.

Michelle Grabner is unstoppable this year, with a new solo show that just opened at James Cohan Gallery in NYC, and was recently asked to be juror for the 2015 Northeast issue of New American Paintings. She has also been popping up all over the web lately for her writing, interviewing, contributing to the new Klein Artist Works webinars, and was named no. 27 of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the Art World!

Fall Updates 2014

October 11, 2014

FALL NEWSLETTER

We have very much enjoyed having Jered Sprecher : Stacking Stones on exhibit since September. Stacking Stones is now approaching its last week, so please come see it while it's up! If you are far away and won't be able to visit, you can check out the exhibition catalog that we put together for the show here! Complete with installation shots, pricing and information about Jered and his work.

Jered Sprecher is keeping busy this fall! His second solo show this fall, Here & There opens today, October 10th at Tops Gallery in Memphis. Congrats Jered!

The talented and witty Tucker Nichols has recently collaborated with Pop-Up Magazine and made some Topic of Conversation napkins. Suggested Topics of conversation: “Seriously benign confessions,” “What I know about cheese,” “For the last time how daylight savings works” and more. You can buy them here!

Amy Franceschini + Futurefarmers and are currently on view at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University. The Land Grant: Flatbread Society will be on view through this Sunday, October 12 and in conclusion there will be a number of workshops and parties. If you’re in the East Lansing area this weekend, please check it out!

SHORT BITS:

Alice Shaw's new body of gilded black and white photos of the California landscape are currently on view in her solo show Heavy Metal at Dominican University. On exhibit through October 25th.

Lauren Davies is a part of the current group show Shoebox Orchestra at the newly re-opened ampersand international arts. On view through November 14th.

Michelle Grabner is unstoppable this year, with a new solo show that just opened at James Cohan Gallery in NYC, and was recently asked to be juror for the 2015 Northeast issue of New American Paintings. She has also been popping up all over the web lately for her writing, interviewing, contributing to the new Klein Artist Works webinars, and was named no. 27 of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the Art World!

Jered Sprecher Stacking Stones

August 26, 2014

Jered Sprecher Stacking Stones
On view: September 5 – October 17, 2014

Reception: Friday, September 5 2014, from 6-9pm

Gallery 16 is pleased to present Stacking Stones, an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Tennessee-based artist, Jered Sprecher. The exhibition will be on view from September 5 – October 17, 2014 with an opening reception Friday, September 5, 2014, from 6-9pm.

The title, Stacking Stones, pays homage to the basic human act of placing stone upon stone. “Sometimes each stone is chosen and thoughtfully nestled into its proper place, while other times stones are haphazardly piled one on top of another. Some stacked structures have lasted for centuries, yet others have crumbled. There is a simple elegance to each one. Rock upon rock, stone upon stone. Piling, filling, locking into place through friction and gravity.”

This body of work began during the summer of 2013 while Sprecher was an Artist-in-Residence at The Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. “My time in Marfa last summer was highlighted by the presence of rocks and stones. The vegetation there is incredibly sparse. Rocks are not hidden by the plants or deep topsoil. You notice the stones, you start to pick them up and collect them, sliding them into your pockets, feeling each one in your hand.”

Many of the paintings in this exhibition are based on a single stock photograph of three doves nesting on a cliff. This photograph was on the cover of Sprecher’s family photo album. “The image is both completely mundane and fascinating at the same time (like a stone). That single image forms the underlying DNA for many of these paintings. Or rather it provided the stones for stacking. Some stones are stacked for piles, some to mark a grave, some to show the path, some to set a boundary, some are mysteries, some are walls.” The exhibition also includes “stones” such as windows, the fireplace, diamonds and the passionflower, which have become a familiar part of Sprecher’s vocabulary of forms.

Sprecher is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He was the recipient of a Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 2009, and was an Artist-in-Residence at The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas, in 2013. Sprecher’s exhibitions include shows at The Drawing Center, New York, the Weatherspoon Museum of Art and the Nerman Museum of Con- temporary Art. Sprecher has been an artist in residence at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation, the Irish Museum of Modern Art. His galleries include Steven Zevitas in Boston, Jeff Bailey Gallery in New York City in 2013. Sprecher’s work is held in numerous private and public collections.

Virgil Shaw's Hipraiser // Summer of Evel at The THING

July 23, 2014

Two events this week not to be missed!

Virgil Shaw Hipraiser

This summer our good friend Virgil Shaw will have a total hip replacement.
To help offset his medical bills we are throwing a party!
Don't miss this amazing night of music. This Friday evening!

Concert, art auction & fundraiser, July 25, 6-11 PM

Location: Gallery 16: 501 3rd St., SF, CA 9410&
Date/Time: Friday, July 25, 6-11 PM
Minimum donation: $20
Cocktails: Beer and wine (open bar)
Musical performances: Virgil Shaw, Sonny Smith, Marc Capelle & the Casuals
Artwork by: Alice Shaw, Alicia Mccarthy, Richard Shaw, Todd Francis, Torin Brandborg, Chris Johanson, Whitney Shaw

Summer Newsletter 2014

July 17, 2014

Things are shaping up pretty nicely this summer at G16, and we've got some updates to share:
CURRENT EXHIBIT...

First off, we've extended our show with Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam, GRABNER KILLAM 2014! It's a fantastic show, so we are very happy to have it up for the entire month of August.

ArtSpace recently put Michelle Grabner’s silverpoint works at the top of their list 6 Artworks to Invest in this June. Also on the list were Jasper Johns and Boris Mikhailov! Not bad company..

UPCOMING SHOWS...

Coming up the following Friday, September 5th, we will be opening with a new group of works by Jered Sprecher, who just finished a show Beat/Breaks at Staple Goods in New Orleans.

In October we will be opening our first ever show with Reed Anderson, an artist based out of Brooklyn, NY.

From the artist's website:

My practice draws from a background of printmaking, popular culture and painting. The heart of my current body of work uses large pieces of intricately cut paper as a stencil, which is folded and painted upon itself multiple times to create an image. Paper that has been cut out of these drawings are further embellished and collaged into the larger drawing, while smaller artworks arise from detritus. This growing organic mass, with interconnections and offsprings, is both a map of how I work and the product of the work itself.

We are very excited for the new work coming in from both artists - it's shaping up to be a spectacular fall program!

ARTIST UPDATES...

If you couldn't make it to his show at G16 this past April, Rex Ray's work will be on view in Beauty Reigns at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio along with twelve other talented artists. On view through August 17.

Amy Francescini recently discussed Futurefarmers' project over the past year, The Flatbread Society, with blog cum art commission programme Situation. The project, which originated as a permanent project in Oslo and has developed installments in other locations within Europe - first in Vivre, a group site-specific exhibition located at a chateau in Chamarandes, FR and now in Bristol, UK. Check out the interview.

Tucker Nichols, a regular contributor to the New York Times op-ed arts and newly appointed creative director and designer for Plumb Goods, showed recently with ACME in Los Angeles. The exhibit, OK Great THANKS this is SO RIDICULOUS, was on view from June 7 - July 12.

Alice Shaw finished a new body of work this past year, titled Exalted Landscapes. The work, in which Shaw paints over black and white photographs of the norther California landscape with gold leaf, was recently on view at the SFO Museum from March through June. From the press release, SFO states "Shaw’s recent work centers around humanity’s conscious effort to be less prone to conquer the environment and more determined to actively preserve the planet’s natural beauty. Inspired by how gold and other precious metals were used in Byzantine art to beautify and revere paintings and icons, Shaw enshrines parts of her black-and-white images with twenty-two karat gold leaf to instill a renewed reverence for nature." We've seen the works in person and they are every bit as brilliant as you can imagine. See for yourself.

Amy Ellingson, with whom we produced a remarkable edition, has a show on view at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, titled Iterations and Assertions. The exhibit will be on view through September 15, so be sure to go see it while you can!

IN OTHER NEWS...

Gallery 16 is proud to announce that our gravure edition, Reproduction 1, by Ari Marcopoulos was just acquired by The Whitney Museum of American Art. We recently released a catalog for the edition.

Did you know Griff Williams and Evel Knievel were cousins? Well, they were, and Evel left a number of his belongings to Griff. The Thing Quarterly, upon discovering this bit of information, asked Griff if they could put together an exhibition of these ephemera of the famous daredevil - and so The Summer of Evel (Knievel) was hatched. On July 24th, the Thing Quarterly will be hosting an opening for the exhibit which will include a screening of extremely rare home footage of some of Evel's stunts, filmed by Griff's parents, accompanied by a live score by the revered Kelley Stoltz and Justin Frahm. For the full scoop, visit The Thing Quarterly's page here.

The following evening, we are hosting an art auction hipraiser (hip replacement fundraiser) for our good friend Virgil Shaw next Friday, July 25th. Please come out for some good music, cool art, drinks and general hip-ness!
Music by Virgil Shaw, Sonny Smith of Sonny and the Sunsets, and Marc Capelle & the Casuals.The art auction will include work by Alicia Mccarthy, Richard Shaw, Todd Francis, Torin Brandborg, Chris Johanson, Whitney Shaw, Alice Shaw and more..
Visit the Indiegogo page here! They've already hit $7K: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/virgil-shaw-hip-replacement

Grabner Killam 2014

June 05, 2014

From May 23 - July 30, we will be exhibiting the work of two amazing artists, professors, curators, critics, parents - Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam. Their current exhibition, Grabner Killam 2014, is their sixth show here at Gallery 16. Similar to previous exhibitions, Grabner Killam 2014 is comprised of twenty works on wood panel and canvas, one editioned wall-mounted sculpture, and three major installation sculptures. From the sculptures hang the exquisite silverpoint and flashe work of Michelle, large format photos taken by artist Barry Underwood, gingham, and videos looping footage related to the other components of the show. Also included in the show are Michelle Grabner's silkscreen prints of screen shots taken from Sf 49ers games, which were appropriated from Nancy Holt's body of work, Time Outs. To get a more in-depth review and historical pretext to the show, we invite you to view our exhibition catalog here. And enjoy some installation shots below!

Rex Ray at Gallery 16

May 07, 2014

This April and May. we have been fortunate to have had the glorious work of Rex Ray hanging on our walls. Rex's collages have inspired many designers, artists, craftsmen, and the general public for years, and so it has been no surprise that we've received a lot of positive feedback for the show.

Rex uses the decorative forms and colors of mid 20th century design as inspiration for complicated collaged and painted surfaces. These collages, bursting with color and detail, are astounding from far away but even more so up close, as you can see the detail of the hand-painted and cut paper which is layered meticulously on wood or canvas. Moreover, Rex is a charming, superbly skilled and prolific artist who is capable of creating universal appeal and respect, which is something rare in the art world.

Every day we hear praise and heartfelt enthusiasm of Rex's work from all types of visitors: major Rex fans (like the couple who designed their wedding cake after a Rex Ray painting to the guy who is going to get his first tattoo of Rex's design on his torso), new collectors ( young entrepreneurs of SOMA and first-time art buyers), and those that have just been lured in off 3rd street by the arresting color of his work.

The success of the show (we've sold over 25 pieces!) has given us reason to believe that Rex's name will continue to fill the air long after the show comes down.