Paper Rock Scissors

San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

May 3 – June 10, 2000

Art Papers Magazine

Carol Ladewig

November / December 2000

pp.53-54

The works in Paper Rock Scissors (San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, May 3 – June 10), an exhibition curated by Cheryl Coon, a former writer for this publication, provided an opportunity to examine the work of artists who develop their thoughts and perceptions in a variety of media to create visual forms for non-verbal communications. The works in the show are, in Coon’s words, “…like relics that show the accumulated moments spent: first in gathering preserving, and contemplating these materials, then in the time spent in the studio incorporating the materials into art.” In contrast to the collecting of artist to create work, curators create temporary collections to be encountered in a particular space and time. The collection then disperses and returns to the studio or to another collection. The curator/collector’s sensibility in gathering and displaying works by various artists adds a new dimension of meaning to the works as they visually interact.

Coon has drawn from 14 artists working in a variety of materials: video, paint, sculpture, assemblage, woven paper, printing, and photography. There is a sense of fragility and mortality here which focuses on the commonplace elements of our lives. There is a delicate sense of detail and color in the works presented; the overall palettes in the exhibit, sepia, muted blacks and whites, occasional touches of red and blue, evoked and contributed to the quality of quiet memory and reflection. These artists used materials, objects and text taken from everyday – photographs, motorcycle parts, wax, paper, spoons, and a cup – and transformed and combined them to form new objects which are both surprising and thoughtful examinations of the ordinary elements of our lives: family, gender, race and identity and language.

Virginia Ray’s Stone Necklace is in many ways emblematic of the show, composed using found stones and ordinary fishing line. Each stone is tied simply and elegantly, all hanging at the same level, it is a quiet piece which is surprising, beautiful and visually arresting. The passage of time during which this piece was composed was recorded by exposing the stones to the sun on paper which left behind images of the stones.

Jason Tannen’s work is on a CD-ROM, accessed through a computer located in the gallery. The project has three segments, Scissors Paper Rock, and each segment has three components, a narrative text, photographic portfolio and video. Scissors is inspired by film noir, tapping into the darker side of human nature. The world of dissolute streets, all-night diners and empty telephone booths populate this section. Paper refers to records and documents and is an impressionistic view of family history and immigration. Rock describes the geography and substance of Fort Point, a Civil War-era military fort in San Francisco. This work is an interesting paradox and contrast to the pieces in the show in that is has transformed the commonplace materials of scissors, rock and paper into electrical impulses rather than an actual physical object.

The work in this show also covers a wide range of materials and processes from traditional to new media. The thread of memory runs through each of these artists’ works. In assembling this ephemeral collection, Coon has provided us with the works of artists that are engaged in a thoughtful and thought-provoking process, a skilled exploration of materials, the process of making and thinking thus elaborating on fundamental aspects of our lives.

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Paper Rock Scissors Artists:

Julia Babiarz

Lynn Beldner

Mardi Burnham

Kirsten Cole

Pamela Cooper

Christel Dillbohner

Nicholas Fedak II

Christine Heinitz

Diane Jacobs

Christina La Sala

Gretchen Mentzer

Virginia Ray

Shawn Smith

Jason Tannen