Not Much To Look At: New Ugly Paintings

January 30 - March 1, 2015

Exhibition Dates: January 30 - March 1, 2015
Opening Reception: Friday, January 30, 7-10pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4pm
Group Discussion/Artist Talk: Saturday, February 21, 2-4pm

Artists: Brian Brooks, Amanda Curreri, Matthew Gordon, Maggie Haas, Kelly Lynn Jones, Robert Minervini, Maysha Mohamedi, Jennie Ottinger, Erik Parra, George Pfau, Sarah Thibault, Ben Vilmain, Emily Wick and Jake Ziemann

Is an ugly painting the same as a bad painting? What qualities constitute unattractiveness in contemporary painting (or, by contrast, what exactly makes a good painting good)? Not Much to Look At is a group exhibition of newly-commissioned works by 14 Bay Area artists that offer up some responses to formal and conceptual questions used to evaluate painting today. Representing a range of painting styles and approaches, participating artists were asked to create new paintings based on a loose set of constraints. This included not sharing their works-in-progress to reduce the opportunity for outside feedback before they arrived at compositions they truly deemed ugly.

At the gallery, intention, perception, and individual subjective preferences for certain formal or material qualities of paint are explored within a salon-style installation that references the display methods of permanent collections of museum masterworks. During the opening reception on January 30 and throughout the run of the exhibition, visitors will be invited to cast their votes for the ugliest painting with prizes awarded at the close of the exhibition. A group discussion on contemporary painting featuring artists from the exhibition will also take place during gallery hours on Saturday, February 21 from 2-4pm.