Long Business Description

Profile: Artseal Gallery, San Francisco Reprinted from CHURN - AN ART MAGAZINE Spring / Summer 2002 Volume 1 / Issue 5 San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood gallery Artseal Gallery stands alone at the co er of Larkin St. and Pacific Ave, at the edge of the ever changing "Upper Polk" district. Hidden behind the stone facade lies a salon style gallery featuring collectible vintage photographs and emerging contemporary photography.Vintage works span the first half of the 20th century including: American Salon photographers of the 1920's, 30's & 40's, Alfred Stieglitz's “Camera Work” (1903-1917), Califo ia & Weste Landscapes, Figurative Pictorialism, NY Photo League (1936-1951) and Photojou alism; with an emphasis on figurative, portraiture, social documentary and children in photography, as well as Bay Area notables such as Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Ruth Be hard, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, Consuela Kanaga, ect,. A recent showing of works by New York "street photographers" Jim Steinhardt (b.1917) and Martin Elkort (b.1929); both of New York's Photo League Era, captured with wonderful spontaneity and innocence images of post World War II New York. “Both men exemplified the Photo League's ideal to seek a pure vision of the social landscape of New York, bearing witness to subjects moving through their environments, hoping to excavate their hidden truth.” states Artseal Gallery Director, Adam Gendell. Also referred to as documentary photographers, “street photographers” would roam New York packing Rolleiflex or Leica cameras documenting every day life - children's games, men working, daily shoppers, their work was based in the tradition of photographers such as Lewis Hine, Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Berenice Abbott.Today the tradition of “street photography” continues with Artseal Gallery contemporary photographers Ananta Dasa (b.1960) and Wayne Schoenfeld (b.1950). Bo in Moscow, Russia, Ananta Dasa's photographic jou ey began in 1983 after graduating from Moscow University. Early photographic assignments with publications such as Sigma, Vogue and Geo led to extensive travels through-out Algeria, Spain, France, Germany, Thailand, Malaysia, Greece and South-East Asia - eventually settling in a village of “5,000 Temples” in India called Vrindavana, from 1988-2000.Dasa describes his approach to photojou alism or “street photography” as “Walking Meditation” - “The Sanskrit term dhyana or meditation offers perspective into the many layers of meaning and sources of influence in my photographs”. Dasa's current project “LaLa” now being exhibited at Artseal Gallery, captures the spirit of the children of Vrindavana, India - “where the innocence of youth is contrasted against an environment of religious servitude, economic despair, structural decay and natural beauty”.Adventurer and artist, Wayne Schoenfeld's recently published “Brittle Glory: The Face of Change” is a collection of intimate street portraits taken in Cuba and Turkey. “There's a certain something that you can observe in people” explains Schoenfeld, “that isn't quite definable but that reflects their fears, angers, hopes about forthcoming cultural change. Both Southeaste Anatolia, in Turkey, and the island nation Cuba share the inevitability of significant political and economic change. At the moment both nations are at peace. The gove ments are stable. But, forces are already in motion that will forever alter the landscape of people's lives. For me the story, the emotion is simply told in the faces of the people”. Images from “Brittle Glory” are currently on view at Artseal Gallery. Artseal Gallery also represents San Francisco contemporary figurative pictorialist Hugh Holland (b.1942). Holland's images evoke a late 19th and early 20th century aesthetic associated with the pioneers of male figurative imagery such as Wm. Von Gloeden and F. Holland Day. Composed of images created during his 15 years of travels through Latin America, Holland has transformed his photo archive or palette of landscapes, street scenes, interiors, religious ritual, mythology and native laborers into a surreal, narrative and sensual collection of images. Artseal Gallery features a salon approach to exhibiting works, so that while certain themes or artists are highlighted throughout the year, there are always representative images by the gallery's photographers on view. Working with both experienced collectors and those new to collecting photographs, the gallery assists collectors in understanding a particular images “place” or “reference point” to photographic history, and typically recommends books to help broaden the collector's knowledge base. Artseal Gallery welcomes all customers. Be sure to tell them DiversityBuilder sent you.

Business Phone Number
(415) 567-3523
ZIP Code
94109
Business Address
1847 Larkin St @ Pacific Ave
City
San Francisco
Customer Since
2005-03-03
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