Aimee Friberg, The Art of Summer

August 19, 2010 in EXHIBITS/REVIEWS, MISC/ART STUFF

Aimee Fribergis exactly the kind of curator I have always wanted to work with; curation is a service and a passion and she does it with such honesty and joy, with a little smile on her face, that it becomes completely infectious. I spoke with her yesterday about her major show “SHOW AND TELL: MY SUMMER FANTASY” which opens on Friday at Gallery Extraña.

The show info below is followed by the interview and a few pics of some of my favorite pieces from the show.

Gallery Extraña & Cosmic Debris Present:

SHOW & TELL: My Summer Fantasy
an eclectic melange of desire and daydream by 20 west coast artists

August 20 – September 23, 2010

Opening Reception Friday, August 20, 7- 10 pm
with summer beats by DJ FELINA

Tim Biskup
David Bornfriend
Lon C. Clark
Veronica de Jesus
Brian de Roo
Steve Ferrera
Aimee Friberg
Matt Gonzalez
Jake Huffman
Sarah Jane Lapp
Brian Lucas
Masako Miki
Emily Nathan
Rob Reger
Emilio Santoyo
Gareth Spor
Brian Strang
Tallulah Terryll
Emily Wick
David Wien

Obi: How did you originally come to work with Gallery Extraña?

Aimee: When I left SFMOMA, in May of 2008, to pursue some independent photography and film projects, I went through a little bit of shock around 1) having free time and 2) being separated from the never-ending flux of projects and people. At around this same time I moved from the city to the east bay and wanted to find a way to connect these different communities I had with each other. I didn’t have some long term goal or dream of opening a gallery and yet, there was open space in the building where my boyfriend Rob Reger runs his design company Cosmic Debris…. so we pulled resources (my time, his space) & just jumped into it. We turned the space that had been used for cutting and sewing previously into what is Extraña now. Our first show open to the public showcased the illustrations of Nicomi Nix Turner, then a few months later we featured work by the San Francisco Collage Collective— Matt Gonzalez, who has a collage in the current show, was in that early one, as well.

Obi: Where did the concept of this show come from?
Aimee:The idea simply came from the work I wanted to exhibit, make myself, and was attracted during this last particularly dark and wet winter we had— so i guess it came from my own spring fever. Looking at all the work that’s up, I can’t help but see 20 inter-personal narratives — it’s like each piece is a little document of one’s interior world— a little sneak peak into the fantasy life of 20 different artists, myself included.

Obi: How has the process been of putting together this show?
Aimee: Certainly the large shows mean a good amount of coordinating, but it’s been a pleasure to work with everyone involved. It’s an extended group of friends, so there’s a lot of stories to tell around the works and their makers. Several have exhibited with us before, others I’ve known personally for a while— Sarah Jane Lapp, for example. I assisted her back in 2001 or 02, when i was a fledgling filmmaker and artist, just out of school and starting to exhibit. I’ve appreciated her gouache and ink drawings, her paintings, and her very intimate filmmaking style for nearly a decade now. It’s certainly an eclectic mix of people and work—Emily Nathan has a very painterly photograph taken through a windshield, into a torrential, tropical rain storm. LA based, Bryan de Roo and Lon C. Clark have work from a new series of theirs in which they photograph original silkscreen plates from 80′s porno tapes. Tim Biskup contributed a small acrylic character abstraction. I’m certainly looking forward to the conversations in the gallery and thrilled to bring these artists together in our little space.