“Odd, Inspired, & Sublime: A 2024 Culmination”
473 25th Street, Oakland
On view through December 14, 2024
Never before had I seen paintings displayed mere inches from a gallery floor, but that’s just where four of Juan Carlos Quintana’s pieces are hung at Fourth Wall Gallery for its current group show, “Odd, Inspired, & Sublime: A 2024 Culmination.” The works by 14 Bay Area artists are indeed odd, and their positioning in the gallery is just as peculiar. But this strange curation lends to the exhibit’s whimsy and playfulness; nearly all the works in this salon-style show are small and delightfully eccentric and bizarro.
Truth be told, the main reason my partner and I arrived at Fourth Wall—in advance of the opening reception, in order to view the exhibit without the distraction of crowds—was to see Cate White’s paintings. We’d discovered her hilariously fantastical art at George Adams Gallery at Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco this past June, a west coast pop-up of George Adams’ gallery in New York City. And so hers were the first works we gravitated towards. “Luncheon on the Grass,” above, was my favorite. A 12”x 9” painting referencing Edouard Manet’s famous 1863 piece “Le dejeuner sur l’herbe,” White’s version is a simple rendering of a reclining nude male in a grassy, wooded setting, a hot dog with mustard floating near his open mouth. It’s funny and outlandish and I felt my mouth curl into an involuntary smile. (In keeping with the show’s engagingly unique arrangement, one of White’s paintings is perched atop one of the gallery walls’ ledges.)
But all the works on exhibit are quixotic in one way or another. “Rumors of War” by Greg Rick is amusing whilst also unnerving: a mixed media on canvas work that features incongruously arranged figures along with an upturned sedan with what might be bank robbers’ arms hanging out of the windows, hands clutching bubblegum pink bags of loot.
Other pieces are more abstract, like Carlo Ricafort’s “ASCO.” An arrangement of abstract shapes and patterns dominated by a humanoid-type creature in the foreground, its mouth open is in the devouring of something the same rosy color as its body. There are others mouths in the painting too, yet it manages to retain ambiguity by the many moving parts of its busy composition.
Other standouts included paintings by Ivan Bridges (pictured at top), figurative but cryptically undefined where portraits of faces and one reclining figure. They are made intentionally muddy and indistinct. Eerie, especially as they are hung slightly above the average person’s head, they peer down at the viewer almost menacingly.
In addition to the many two-dimensional works are also a few sculptures by Maria Porges, and in contrast to most everything else exhibited, they are the most traditional. A trio are displayed along one wall, the middle piece featuring protrusions that resemble bunny ears. They’re lovely.
Because we were at the gallery before the opening reception, I was only able to chat with two of the artists: Heather Wilcoxon and Anthony Grant. Wilcoxon had two pieces hung at the end of the hallway, outside the gallery proper. She told me that “Black Feet,” which is oil and graphite on paper, was inspired by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. The other, “Flight” is oil on paper, one I found deeply beautiful for its mysterious, ghostlike figure. She told me the original title was “Fly,” but that she didn’t want the art to be associated with the insect, and that she wanted the viewer to make up their own mind about her work.
However, I think I may have offended Anthony Grant a bit when I remarked that his collage works resembled 1980s punk flyers. He seemed a bit put off by my comment, but they really did call to mind underground rock show art for me.
There isn’t space here to go into all 14 of the artists’ work. But “Odd, Inspired, & Sublime” is a fun exhibition. Gallery director Susan Aulik told me that she subtitled the show A 2024 Culmination “because it features some of my favorite artists that I've shown recently, all of whose work is exceptional.” If you like droll, creepy, strange, and quirky art surrounding you from all heights and angles, you can’t go wrong with this show. It is a delight.
Odd, Inspired, & Sublime: A 2024 Culmination
Featuring: Cate White, Maria Porges, Gregory Rick, Carrie Lederer, Heather Wilcoxon, John Yoyogi Fortes, Juan Carlos Quintana, Kristen Wong, Brett Amory, Marilyn Levin, Anthony Grant, Ivan Bridges, Carlo Ricafort, and Susan Aulik.
