10 min in North Beach

After dropping off some work in North Beach at the Paolo Mejia Art Gallery & Design Studio for an upcoming group show I'm in, Chop-Sueyed: Against All Odds, I made some time to pay a quick visit to the Paul Thiebaud Gallery. If you're not familiar with Thiebaud, he was an art dealer and the son of Wayne Thiebaud, a Bay Area artist who is known for his high saturated palette, luscious application, and confection subject matter. If you're on this end, you can see his work at the De Young (last time I was there they had some, not sure now) & SFMOMA. If you're in the east coast, I think the Whitney? There's also gooooogle images. 

It was a 10 minute walk from Paolo's space to the Thiebaud.  I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had to run back to beat traffic. I apologize in advance for the crummy photos. I used my phone, which usually develops great photos, but lately I think I spilled something on it? Or something got inside and is interfering. Basically it's just dirty and I haven't cleaned it. There are these weird spots (look like oil stains?) and a foggy lens. There's moisture or something trapped in there that's making my photos all hazy.

Tom Birkner, Rocket Riders

These couple images are from Tom Birkner. He's the main artist showing at the Thiebaud gallery. He uses wild saturated palette as well. Very colorful. His work reminds me of film compositions. The long panels, the isolation, and the dynamic perspectives. The one's I'm showing are the most illustrative in comparison to the rest of his work. An eccentric dream. 

Tom Birkner, Cocktail Christmas

Stephen Coyle, Disconnected

Grace Munakata, Bushtit

Michael Tompkins, And a Bowler in the Trees

Again, please excuse my poor photo skills and quality. It's not tilted, I just have bad form. Anywho, Grace Munakata is a current professor at CSUEB, where I attended. Her husband, Michael is also an artist. They are both represented by this gallery. I never got to see any of his work in person until today. I've always heard Grace talk about them and I'd see pictures. If you are at all into trompe loeil paintings, then here is one of them. Though, I've heard Grace said that Michael doesn't really refer to his work under trompe loeil. Anyway, the point is, they are a joy to look at. 

It's one long panel of random items consisting of cups, toilet paper rolls, balls of thread, fruit. A bunch of household items. I feel like each section deserves to be its own painting. However, it's very much more appealing to see it as a whole.

detail 1

detail 2

detail 3

Michael Tompkins
Grace Munakata
Stephen Coyle
Tom Birkner
To see more artists from the Paul Thiebaud Gallery, check them out below.
Paul Thiebaud Gallery

Here's a reminder about the upcoming show in North Beach at the Paolo Mejia Art Gallery & Design Studio in October. Details below
Show Dates: Oct 2-23rd
Reception: Oct 2nd 6-9pm
1317 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA