art show: emily prince at eleanor harwood gallery

we went to four solo art shows on saturday.

the first was emily prince at eleanor harwood gallery.



emily prince is a conceptual artist with a pencil. her contribution to bay area now 4 was a map dotted with portraits of us military casualties from the current iraq war. she updated the map as the exhibit, and war, continued. [update: this large work is now in the venice biennale] another project - at jack hanley - was generated from post cards people sent in identifying a line color and their birthday.

this show - titled familiar - has bicycles.


and scissors.

(the white spots are my flash - which did not get along with emily's pencil work)

and glasses.


the kinds of things a person might find comfort in.

the illustrations remind me of cartoon background illustrations, only more earnest and rendered solely in pencil. they are not the hyper-realism of ed loftus or rosana castrillo diaz.

view the 15 picture slideshow or set?

the show runs to oct. 6. the gallery is in sf's outer mission (1295 Alabama Street at 25th). i think the gallery is open thurs/fri 11-7. (eleanor's contact info may provide more guidance).

collector's notes

i think emily prince is doing well in the academic/museum art world. in addition to the last bay area now show at yerba buena, she was one of 30 who had studio visits by sf moma's seca this past year (she did not win but will likely be considered again). i think her bigger conceptual projects resonate with art's academia. success in this world often leads to exorbitant pricing.

this gallery - brand new - is also one to watch. eleanor has demonstrated curating success with her work at adobe book's backroom gallery (from late 2002).

i think emily will be known for the bigger conceptual projects like those cited above. this show - a coherent body of work - is more accessible. user-friendly. easily integrated into a home.

at $650 [now $950] for 18x24 (or thereabouts), it is also a great value.
06.07 update: you can still find available work by scrolling down here

my favorite piece was this one: