SPIRIT BOARD

On November 5th the Articulated Gallery in San Francisco opened the Spirit Board group show, curated by JL Schnabel. The show features a wide variety of artists all taking inspiration from the Ouija Board. Back in 20o8 Copro Gallery hosted Chet Zar’s “Taking Board” show and like many shows in Southern California, I wasn’t able to see the show in person. However, I do feel that the Ouija Board itself merits a few shows dedicated to it, so I was very happy to hear that Articulated would be hosting this show. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the reception night; I heard that many artists were in attendance and it was quite a night. I did stop by he next day so I could see the show, and took some photos and made another video walkthrough.

Just a few of the benefits of visiting the Articulated Gallery, aside from seeing some amazing art, is the ability to check out the Loved to Death storefront, and take advantage of some of the restaurants in the area. There’s nothing quite like spending a day looking at art, grabbing a slice of pizza, or sandwich from Say Cheese right around the corner. It was raining off and on for a bit when we arrived at the gallery, so this gave us a chance to check out the art and film a walkthrough without too many people in the gallery.

The gallery space is pretty small as you can see by the video, but unless it’s packed like a reception night, each show seems to have the right amount of work in it. There is enough to make it a successful group show, and not too much that it becomes overwhelming. The show has some outstanding artist in it such as Jennybird Alcantara, KuKula, Edith LeBeau, Liza Corbett, Jeremy Hush, Paul Romano, Kristen Ferrell, Elizabeth Levesque, Monique Ligons, Karyn Crisis, Caitlin Hackett, Jessica Ward, Buddy Nestor, and many more. I liked the idea that not every piece was made to look like a Ouija Board, such as the works by Monique Ligons and Buddy Nestor. Here you are instead seeing a figure use the Ouija Board, and in the case of Ligons piece In Search of Zozo, conjuring up some pretty nasty looking creatures (seen below).

Out of the Ouija Board styled pieces, I really enjoyed the works by Liza Corbett, Paul Romano, and Jessica Ward (seen in video). Jennybird Alcantra created this amazing multi-layered work that was breathtaking. Her style is very powerful and has the ability to stand out no matter what type of work it is shown alongside. Edith Lebeau and Elizabeth Levesque both focused on the planchette in their works, and with the very painterly style they both have it was a good choice. The show runs until the end of November, so you still have some time to check out the show. The works should be online soon as well.