Bay Area Now debuted in the summer of 1997 as a much needed platform for assessing the state of the visual arts in the San Francisco Bay Area region, and to bring to the public’s attention the work of exceptional artists active in the local art scene. Throughout the triennial’s almost fifteen-year history it has continued to be the barometer of what is happening in the arts by placing new work into the limelight making it available to the general public. At each historical juncture, Bay Area Now has played a significant role in providing a platform, by marking the interplay between contemporary art and other innovative activities that have come to define the region.
The eighteen participating artists in Bay Area Now 6 investigate such subjects as the relationship between humans and nature, whether it involves environmentalism, geopolitics, nineteenth century romanticism, or artificial landscapes; Americana, including the rural South and colonial history; and contemporary culture, specifically ethnofuturisms, and the politics of marijuana in the Bay Area. Many also find inspiration from ideas and movements that gained currency in the 1960s and 1970s. Chris Fraser’s light installations are reminiscent of the California light and space movement, Tammy Rae Carland’s photographs of female stand-up comedians are fueled by the energy of 1960s-era feminism. Like the early Bay Area conceptualists, Brion Nuda Rosch and Chris Sollars embrace the potential of discarded or banal materials and objects. Sean McFarland blends concepts borrowed from the New Topographics photographers with the formalism of 19th century American landscape photography. Reaching further back in time, Allison Smith’s deconstructions of early Americana and Ben Venom’s fusion of quilting and heavy metal music, which had its rebirth in San Francisco, provide fresh views on familiar histories. A few artists also look to the future, including David Huffman, with his afrofuturist canvases and Ranu Mukherjee with her self-described neofuturist hybrid video works. Whatever period of time these artists are influenced by, they provide a new vision to themes that resonate with what the Bay Area now offers in its mélange of communities and micro-cultures.
