Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

At the point where long-held beliefs fall into decline and once-esteemed notions crumble, questions arise about those belief systems. It is at this point that John-Mark Ikeda begins his exploration of the current economic climate. Ikeda deconstructs the iconic business suit — which he equates with the failed economy — stripping it down to its component parts and pinning it to the wall like a specimen, with accompanying business accessories, in an attempt to reconstitute it as a symbol of power.

Mark Bradford transforms found material – much of it paper from sources such as billboards and newspapers – into large-scale collages and installations. Included in YBCA’s presentation is the large-scale work Detail, an ark-like sculpture reconstructed from components of Mithra, a piece created in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Also on view at YBCA will be Bradford’s socially charged 2011 work, Rat Catcher of Hamelin, which is composed of components of 50 billboards collected from all around South-Central Los Angeles. This comprehensive survey of Bradford’s career to date is co-presented by YBCA and SFMOMA and will be on view at both venues. Please note that there are separate admission policies for each institution.

Presented by Albert Steg
Before VHS players and then the internet rendered hardcore pornography ubiquitous and banal, American stag films, often produced and exhibited illegally and viewed almost exclusively by men, held considerable power to shock, entertain, arouse and educate. Tonight's program, a series of short subjects from the 1920s through the 1960s, will show that they still retain this power. At times drolly amusing, at others appallingly misogynistic, the films are always 100% American and can be usefully viewed as transgressive cinematic monologues suppressed by the moral standards of their day.