This week I’ve got culture covered with a report on a favorite San Francisco gallery, Modernism, and a wonderfully witty exhibit to catch. Art dealer Martin Muller has a fantastic eye and mind for new talent and fresh ideas. Through June 25 (and via an e-catalog) catch the subversive art of Denver painter, Shawn Huckins, and the wildly imaginative studio ‘portraits’ by Damian Elwes, a British ex-pat living in Santa Monica. I love the irony, artistry and spirit. Come over and discover. SHAWN HUCKINS MRS. GIDEON TUCKER: I MEAN, LIKE, I REALLY CAN'T EVEN 2016 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 44 X 36 INCHES Modernism’s Latest Show I’ve been an admirer of Modernism gallery in San Francisco for some years, and always pay attention to the exhibitions and discoveries of its owner and founder, Martin Muller. Through June 25 (and available for viewing through an electronic file) two new exhibits and collections recently caught my eye. Painterly precision, irony, enquiry, and engagement are evident in the paintings. This new show, featuring new art by Shawn Huckins and Damian Elwes, is one to discover in person if you can. Modernism is just around the corner from SFMOMA. Devote a day to art—or request an e-catalog. DAMIAN ELWES PICASSO'S STUDIO, CANNES 2015 MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS 66 X 66 INCHES "So the easy looking aspect of Elwes’s canvases, the sense of painterly well-being that pervades them, comes from painstaking research. He visited each studio and culled hundreds of photographs of them from the Internet and more traditional resources. These were attached to the walls of his California studio as he worked." — Anthony Haden-Guest About the Exhibits Shawn Huckins EVERYTHING IS HILARIOUS AND NOTHING IS REAL
 Through June 25, 2016 SHAWN HUCKINS RAFTSMEN PLAYING CARDS: EVERYTHING IS HILARIOUS AND NOTHING IS REAL 2016 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 62 X 84 INCHES SHAWN HUCKINS ROBERT E LEE: UGH 2015 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 58 X 48 INCHES SHAWN HUCKINS LAKE GEORGE: LAUGHING OUT LOUD, SERIOUSLY? 2016 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 24 X 36 INCHES Damian Elwes ARTIST STUDIOS: FROM PICASSO TO JEFF KOONS
 Through June 25, 2016 DAMIAN ELWES DAVID HOCKNEY'S STUDIO WHILE PAINTING PAPER POOLS 2016 MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS 66 X 66 INCHES DAMIAN ELWES PICASSO'S BATEAU LAVOIR STUDIO 2008 MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS 50 X 64 INCHES DAMIAN ELWES PICASSO'S VILLA LA CALIFORNIE 2006 MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS, DIPTYCH 66 X 66 INCHES DAMIAN ELWES MATISSE'S STUDIO, VENCE II 2007-15 MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS 58 X 58 INCHES DAMIAN ELWES LUCIAN FREUD'S STUDIO, LONDON 2015 GOUACHE ON BOARD 19-1/4 X 24 INCHES DAMIAN ELWES TWOMBLY'S STUDIO, GAETA, ITALY 2016 GOUACHE ON BOARD 19-3/4 X 19-3/4 INCHES About Modernism Gallery Founded in 1979, Modernism has since presented more than 375 exhibitions, historical and contemporary, in media ranging from painting to photography, sculpture to performance, by an international roster of artists. Historical exhibitions encompass concepts including Dada, Cubism, Surrealism, Vorticism, German Expressionism, and foremost, the Russian Avant-Garde 1910-1930. The contemporary exhibits feature rotating shows, six to seven weeks in duration, of the nearly 50 gallery artists—including various representational and abstract modes, sociopolitical, and conceptual works—presented at both Modernism and Modernism West, as well as at art fairs in the United States and Europe. Modernism publishes collectible books, monographs, catalogs, and fine art editions. Martin Muller is noted for his discernment and collections of art and design books, and for his eclectic gallery publications. His art and design book collection, legendary, is said to include 25,000 books. Martin Muller Throughout its 35 plus years, Martin Muller has keep the gallery's challenging, museum-quality program at the forefront of the art world. Early landmarks included being the first gallery to show Andy Warhol in the Bay Area (1982), and holding the first exhibition on the West Coast (in a gallery or museum) of the Russian Avant-Garde 1910-1930 (1980, 17 more retrospectives have since been mounted). In the 1990s Modernism highlighted n abstract series with the exhibition of "Four Abstract Classicists" (1993), a recreation of the show presented by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1959. Muller introduced the confrontational, and often disturbing, conceptual works of Austrian born artist Gottfried Helnwein (1992). Modernism gallery Martin Muller, President/ Founder Danielle Beaulieu, Director About Martin Muller Swiss-born art dealer Martin Muller opened Modernism in San Francisco’s South of Market district in the fall of 1979, bringing artistic curiosity, rigorous intellectual sophistication, and an enthusiasm for aesthetic risk-taking. Since the seventies, legendary international art dealer Martin Muller was the first West Coast gallery to exhibit Kasimir Malevich. More than 400 exhibitions have encompassed Dada, Cubism, Surrealism, Vorticism, German Expressionism, and foremost, the Russian Avant-Garde 1910-1930. Muller has attracted a superb list of artists (John Register, Peter Lodato, Valentin Popov, Charles Arnoldi, Gottfried Helnwein, Naomie Kremer and over 50 more) as well as a passionate, curious, devoted and loyal clientele and fans around the world. Over four decades Muller’s discernment and prescience are evident. He avoids trends, and often veers far ahead of art collectors’ curiosity. Modernism’s 1982 ground-breaking Andy Warhol exhibition — the first time the Pop artist’s work was shown on the West Coast. The show turned out to precede California’s enthusiasm for Pop art. Only one painting sold, for a minute $20,000. Muller, who has a broad international following, has mounted for than eighteen retrospectives of the Russian avant-garde. Muller, who has always included photography in his roster, was the first California dealer to show the works of architect Le Corbusier, along with fashion photographer Erwin Blumenfeld, and he paintings Viennese conceptual artist Gottfried Helnwein. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

 MODERNISM The Monadnock Building 685 Market Street, Suite 290 (near Third Street) San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 541-0461 www.modernisminc.com [email protected] Modernism is a five-minute walk from the dramatic new SFMOMA, in the heart of the burgeoning San Francisco art scene. Note: for an electronic catalog of the paintings of these two artists contact Modernism. CREDITS: All photographs courtesy Modernism gallery. SaveSave