Jenkins Johnson Gallery

Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco is pleased to present Summertime…, a group exhibition of gallery artists opening Thursday, June 27th, 2013. Summertime… features a compilation of artistic representations in a grouping of paintings, photographs, sculptures, and works on paper, video, and installations. The selected artists stretch the boundaries of perception, creating a discourse on the power of attention and social awareness. The exhibition will run through August 30th, 2013. Participating artists are listed below.

Skip Steinworth drawings from the Minnesota shores offer entrancing compositions “essentially borrowed from nature.” Steinworth’s highly representational imagery emphasizes the illusory aspects of his work. The results of wanderings on a rocky coastline outside a family cabin, Steinworth’s “Beachstone” series captures a sense of mysticism. While their abstract qualities call attention to expressionistic influences, the drawings speak to a more naturalized perspective as Steinworth shapes, frames, and reforms the wave-tumbled stones to fit his own sense of reality.

Iconic photographer Gordon Parks was one of the most significant and important artists of the twentieth century. Having established his artistic presence working as a photojournalist for LIFE Magazine, Parks expanded his art to a more autobiographical narrative. Giving voice to the people of Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks’ novel, The Learning Tree, brought forth new insights that echoed experiences of his childhood in the South. The widely successful novel quickly developed into a movie, making Parks the first black director of a Hollywood film. The film won the U.S. National Film Registry Award in 1989. Drenched in the summer heat, the characters that inhabit Parks’ world carry a heaviness that pushes beyond the harsh humidity. Parks captures the sense of exhaustion brought by their social conditions as it comes out in the stillness of the summer daze. Parks’ narratives reconceptualized the meaning of blackness with his authentic and honest depictions of black life.

Scott Fraser’s miniature still lifes transform isolated elements of everyday life into a new reality. Fraser’s exquisite craftsmanship propels the stylistic properties of each object into a realm of playfulness. This intimate work challenges the mundane qualities of ordinary perception. Fraser’s imagery brings a refreshing perspective and expansive imagination to often forgotten scenes.

Summertime… will highlight the works of: Lynn Aldrich, Ben Aronson, Lalla Essaydi, Tim Etchells, Scott Fraser, Julia Fullerton-Batten, Julian Opie, Gordon Parks, Vanessa Prager, Skip Steinworth, Nancy Switzer, and others.