What stood Before

 An artist’s view of the Bay Area’s demolished past

Art Opening party October 8, 6 to 9pm

Show runs September 23rd 2016, through November 13th

It was a simple time – when we always packed a camera, and always had black and white film at the ready. Every artist photographer did, yes, maybe not. What stood before is the work of four Bay Area artists who accidentally documented the San Francisco Bay Area’s demolished past while having fun. Jumping over fences with latte in hand, trying not to drop the camera in order to capture to an interesting image, or even balancing on an inflatable raft in the bay, to find that different perspective. The work includes, long gone freeways, bits of the Bay Area’s industrial past, now lofts and condos, abandoned Muni buses, and old San Francisco skylines, work shot between the mid 1980’s to 2000’s.

Artists:

Jan Watten

Jan Watten spent the mid-80’s wandering areas of Oakland and San Francisco photographing the quiet streets and warehouses that were devoid of people, an absence weighted with meaning - an elegy for places that used to be thriving working communities. Equipped with a medium-format camera with black and white film, she captured the scenes by walking the streets and documenting what she encountered in the moment. Attracted by the simplicity and elegance of the urban landscape of East Oakland and South of Market, these photographs are also a reminder that we cannot halt gentrification, but merely record it. Her images are captured with film and are archival traditional darkroom prints. Image above: “Bay Two” photograph by Jan Watten. janwatten.com

Janeyce Ouellette

Janeyce Ouellette will often hear feedback about the noticeable absence of people in her work. Their very absence, however, notes, like negative space, their presence. Implied, anthropomorphized, or subject matter touched by human hands, now long gone, individuals are indeed present, spiritually, if not physically.

Craig Riedel

San Francisco based professional photographer, showing his hand processed black and white photography.

Allison Allison

Native San Francisco Bay Area artist and activist, showing hand processed black and white Images of San Francisco between the late 1900’s and 2000.

"Burst", Art by Ange McLane

Art Opening Karaoke Party Friday August 26th, 6 to 9pm

Show runs through September 17Th, 2016

noun

an instance of breaking or splitting as a result of internal pressure or puncturing; an explosion

inspiration: Magic Realism

baseline: the mundane

uniting factor: explosive color

Ange McLane

Born in Mexico City to a Mexican mother and an American father, Ange spent her early adulthood in Texas, and relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006. She started photographing a myriad of subjects when she was eight years old, and has been painting, drawing, and writing poetry and short stories ever since. Ange studied Liberal Arts at the University of Saint Thomas, Human Resources Management at Rice University, Fine Art Photography at the MFAH Glassell School of Art, and Digital Photo-Montage as well as Experimental Film at the San Francisco Art Institute. She has participated in multiple photo exhibits, and directed short film projects. Ange is currently collaborating with Dimitri Moore in multiple short film projects and a web docuseries. Ange’s mission in life is to remain incorrigibly curious and never stop expanding her knowledge base, to encourage and inspire others to be the best version of themselves, and to promote compassion, kindness, and understanding in order to create a better world. casiopeanin.tumblr.com, instagram.com/casiopeanin

Reflections of a Beast

Yvette M. Buigues & Karl Hauser, Drawings and Sculpture

A Benefit for Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS) 

We raised over $900 for the shelter!!!!!!!!!!!!

Artist Opening Party Saturday May 21st, 6 to 9pm

Closing exhibit Party Saturday July 30th, 6 to 9pm

Show runs from May 6th, through July 30, 2016

What's in a scribble, where does it come from, and why are we drawn to draw? Come explore the work of two brilliant Bay Area artists who challenge you to look at what we find under the bed. Don't fear the cheeky beastie.
This exhibit is a benefit for FAAS, FLOAT Gallery will be donating the galleries sales percentage of art sales to the shelter:
Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS) shelters and finds new homes for more than 1,200 homeless Alameda animals a year. It relies greatly on donations from the public to help ensure that each adoptable animal gets a second chance in a new loving home. Find a new best friend at
www.alamedaanimalshelter.org

Yvette M. Buigues

Yvette M. Buigues lives and works in Oakland, California. Her inspiration comes from no one place in particular; in her work one can see and feel her exploration of the emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of everyday life. Through bold images she speaks to relationships between people, the state of the world, the human condition. The multiple layers of color and detail often times contain subtle observations and a darker sense of humor. Buigues works most often with acrylic paint. She finds great pleasure and touches base with whimsy in her pen and ink drawings, and experiments in seriography. About the drawings: I have always kept a journal of drawings. Until recently they mostly stayed there, not meant for others to see. At the suggestion of a friend, I began posting them on Instagram and Facebook, the response was inspiring, so here they are. Whimsical yet possessing plenty symbolism and emotion, I find these entertaining with a life of their own. heavyblackline.com, buigues.tumblr.com

Karl X. Hauser

Karl X. Hauser lives and works in San Mateo. He attended the Herron School of Art (BFA) and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA) and has been a practicing artist since 1981. In addition to drawings/prints, he has worked in sculpture (ceramic, neon), video, and performance art, and continues to work in cast glass, cast metal, and ceramic sculpture in addition to drawing, painting, and digital collage. His mother, a self-taught artist who invented blue roses, taught him to draw at an early age so he would not make a mess with her paints. the Architecture of Agony, Facebook.

Karl X Hauser... will be showing his Beast series

"the beasts are the movers in my head, re-arranging the furniture of my thoughts. the beasts give rise to inexplicable motivations and desires, tempting me with unconscious hopes, and convincing me my thoughts are my own. when finally confronted, the beasts are revealed as nothing - and nothingness is the source of not only freedom but also existential horror and emotional anguish " - Karl X. Hauser

YOU Are The ART

For the first time in FLOAT’s 10 years of showing some of the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area’s most eclectic contemporary artists, this show is exclusively about our customers. That said clients are encouraged to draw and write on the walls, leave with an image of your work, or simply sit and draw on a pad of paper. It’s your choice to take it with you, or leave it behind for others to admire. YOU Are The ART

ROAD SCORES

Sudhu Tewari and Carly Hoopes sculpture and photographs

sculpture and photographs

Artist Party Friday, Jan 8, 2016, 6 to 9pm

Show runs December 27th, through March 19th 2016

Sudhu Tewari and Carly Hoopes sculpture and photographs
ROAD SCORES is a project born from the love of collecting treasures found on the side of the road (and abandoned buildings, railroad tracks, freeway underpasses, etc.)

Inspired by the burnt out wreck of an RV found in the Trinity mountains, Tewari decided to create a series of sculptures from objects found in the wreckage after spending several hours watching Hoopes find interesting shots of the untouched remains.

Carly Hoopes is a Bay Area photographer who documents “naturally” occurring compositions as she finds them (without rearranging ANYTHING). You may find her gathering bits of visual treasure on the side of the road, near railroad tracks, freeway underpasses, alleyways, dumpsters, piles of garbage (to some), or going quietly into abandoned structures.

The subject matter of Hoopes’ work is often ephemeral. She composes her photographs in camera from the momentary arrangement of weathered waste, burnt remains, abandoned structures and objects with an awareness that anything and everything could be altered dramatically by the kick of a foot, steady wind, curious hand or work of a demolition crew. While not for everyone, Hoopes has a unique perspective on rust, detritus, and neglected place and matter.

Hoopes’ photographs are honest (sometimes uncomfortably direct) expressions of her empathy for and questions regarding life, death, truths, and the inaccessible horizon as nothing is clearly seen and always in flux.  cargocollective.com/carlyhoopes

Sudhu Tewari has been called a professional bricoleur, junkyard maven and young audio-gadgeteer. Sudhu builds electronic audio devices, electro-acoustic musical instruments, kinetic sculpture, interactive installations, wearable sound art, mechanical televisions, physical models of astrophysical phenomena, lamps, objet d’ art, and sound sculpture.

Highly educated at Mills College in electronic music, Tewari has been seen performing improvised music on the east and west coasts of the US, Europe, and Japan. In 2006 Sudhu was selected to be the Artist in Residence program at the Recology in San Francisco. Since then, Tewari's visual and interactive art has been exhibited at many galleries and museums in the Bay Area and a few in Europe.

Tewari is currently a PhD candidate at UC Santa Cruz in the Cultural Musicology program. Sudhu also teaches youth and adult classes at the Crucible in Oakland and has recently been working with young adults to create interactive, kinetic, and musical public art works.  sudhutewari.com