Start Soma

 

SF FACES 2.0

 

 

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT...

FREE ADMISSION

GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY

FREE FOOD. FREE DRINKS. FREE MUSIC.

FREE PEOPLE WATCHING. FOR VISUAL AID!

 


 

SF FACES 2.0

 

DECEMBER 1, 2004

WORLD AIDS DAY / DAY WITHOUT ART

SAN FRANCISCO CITY HALL ROTUNDA

 









This is a pretty straightforward art show.  We simply invited top local photographers to submit their favorite pictures of the FACES OF SAN FRANCISCO.  Most of the subjects were photographed exclusively for SF FACES 2.0, although several photographs featured in the exhibition were taken over the last 50 years!

 

Over 100 of the selected images are going to be on display at City Hall in a special one-night only preview + silent auction. 

SF FACES 2.0
wednesday - december 1 | 5:30 - 8:30 pm
San Francisco City Hall Rotunda

Hosted by Mayor Gavin Newsom, this art show promises to be a lot of fun for a GREAT cause.

 

We have some delicious food generously provided by our friends at Loft 11 (who are also hosting the afterparty!). Drinks from our friends at J. Lohr, Stella Artois, Le Vin, Mondavi, and MetroMint. Bartending services donated by Elixir Bar Services + Elixir: The Neighborhood Saloon. Superstar DJs Tom Thump + Kramer spinning in the Rotunda.  Singer / Songwriter Shawn Snyder performing in the North Light Court. And befitting a show called SF FACES, some AMAZING people watching! This is going to be a VERY interesting crowd, with LOTS of special guests...

 

All in support of one of our favorite non-profit organizations in San Francisco, Visual Aid.









The ENTIRE show opens in January in the HOTEL DES ARTS.

 

40 of San Francisco's top photographers. Over 300 AMAZING pictures in all.

 










 

SF FACES 2.0 opening night preview

silent auction to benefit VISUAL AID

 

wednesday | DECEMBER 1 | 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm | San Francisco City Hall Rotunda

MAP TO CITY HALL

 

afterparty from 9 until 11 at Loft 11!

316 11th Street | between Folsom + Harrison

rsvp via john@STARTsoma.com

 



Visual Aid

 

 

The special City Hall Preview of SF FACES 2.0 will benefit Visual Aid, a top-notch local non-profit that encourages artists with life threatening illnesses to continue their creative work .

 

Visual Aid helps produce, present, and preserve the work of professional artists whose careers are challenged because of a life-threatening illness.

 

The organization serves professional artists from the Bay Area, providing artists with direct services - from art supplies to exhibitions + career development.

 

100% of the proceeds from the silent auction will go directly to VISUAL AID, and there are nearly one hundred amazing photographs for your bidding pleasure. Including a dozen photographs taken by Visual Arts students in Larry Rosenberg's photography class at the School of the Arts (SOTA), a public arts high school. Students from all over San Francisco audition and present portfolios in hopes of being accepted to study at SOTA, where classes in Theater, Dance, Music, Media and Visual Arts are taught.

 

So bring your checkbooks checks will be made directly to VISUAL AID, and by all means please BID HIGH and BID OFTEN...

 

Kindly visit http://www.VisualAid.org for additional information...

 


 

SF FACES 2.0 photographer - David Johnson

 

There are nearly 40 photographers participating in this year's SF FACES exhibition, and their work is absolutely stellar. We would like to call your attention to one of them.

 

SF Faces 2.0Although most of the photographs for SF FACES 2.0 were taken over the last several months specifically for this show, one of our photographers has chosen to include several SF FACES that were photographed over 40 years ago!

 

We are honored to include the work of David Johnson.

 

Mr. Johnson's photos add a profound historical dimension to our second SF FACES art show, and it is particularly fitting that the show opens in San Francisco's City Hall...

 

The picture to the upper right was taken by Mr. Johnson at a civil rights rally on the steps of City Hall in 1963, and is one of the showpieces of the SF FACES 2.0 preview!

 

The picture to the upper right was taken by Mr. Johnson at a civil rights rally on the steps of City Hall in 1963, and is one of the showpieces of the SF FACES 2.0 preview!

 

David Johnson

 

David Johnson, born August 3, 1926, has been an established Bay Area photographer for over five decades. He arrived in San Francisco in 1944 for a three-year term in the US Navy, and it was then he first visited the historic Fillmore district while on military leave.

 

After finishing out his service and returning to his native Jacksonville, Florida, Mr. Johnson made a personal appeal to the legendary Ansel Adams, who at the time was leading a photographic class at the California School of Fine Arts (now known as the San Francisco Art Institute). Although Adams had yet to enroll any "Negroes" in his program, he accepted Mr. Johnson and began to teach him how to "paint with light". After graduating the program in 1949, Mr. Johnson settled in San Francisco as a self-proclaimed artistic fixture with no personal agenda, but rather with an aspiration to "photograph the world around me without any preconceived ideas and capture more of an emotional response."

 

Boy With Cart PhotoDavid Johnson's work presents a vibrant photographic retrospective of San Francisco's African American community throughout the 1940's, 50's and 60's. His photographs document a community's activities during a seminal era in California and national history. During the 1940's, the African American population in San Francisco increased by 800% due to the westward migration for employment during WWII. Migrants continued the tradition of previous settlers by creating institutions that met their interests and needs, including those related to education, enterprise and entertainment.

 

Man Playing the Trumpet PhotoMr. Johnson set his gaze on the civil rights and local political movements of the 1950's and 1960's. His photographs captured historic images of prominent leaders and civil rights demonstrations, along with Jazz and Blues musicians of local and national acclaim, entertainment events, and everyday portraits of African Americans in San Francisco. Mr. Johnson's photographs vividly document this transitional period and present us with a compelling and historic Afro-centric perspective, a slice of life from days gone by.

 

Willie Group Photo

 

His work has been regularly exhibited in various art shows and galleries. His photographs appeared in Ken Burns' PBS Jazz documentary, were featured prominently in KQED's documentary "The Fillmore", and graced the cover of Black Scholar magazine. Most recently, his work was exhibited in the Oakland Museum of California, in the company of Life Magazine's famous photojournalist Gordon Parks and Mr. Johnson's personal mentor, Ansel Adams. David Johnson is recognized as an important figure in San Francisco's history and to this end his name was etched into the plaza on the side of Rasselas Jazz club, alongside longtime friend and former San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown.

 

Boy Sitting Photo

It goes without saying that we are absolutely honored to showcase the work of David Johnson within the context of our second SF FACES art show. Several one-of-a-kind photographs by Mr. Johnson are included in the City Hall Preview + Silent Auction, and 18 pieces will be exhibited at the Hotel des Arts in January.

 

We hope that you like his work as much as we do!

 

Meet David Johnson at the City Hall preview!

 


Man Playing Guitar

Lady with Sign


featured photographers in SF FACES 2.0 include:

 

Alison Bank | Freda Banks | John Branscombe | Valerie Britt | Andrea Brooks | Jaroslav Brych

Lindsey Byrnes | Norma Cordova | Angela DeCenzo | Jason Roberts Dobrin | Melissa Dodd | Eve Eckman

Kevin Epps | Richard Felix | Magdalena Ferreira | Michelle Gibson | John Groshong | Eric Hiss | Daniel Homsey

David Johnson | Marianne Larochelle | Amanda Lopez | Manta Ray | Maria McLaughlin | Amir Mortazavi

Linda Nguyen | Susan Palladino | David Potes | Ray Potes | Lubomira Raykova | Isaac McKay-Randozzi

Khalil Robinson | Lone Mørch Schneider | Nadim Sabella | Susan Scherrman | Tonya Silver | John Trippe

Kenny Wardell | Jenna Zabin

 





PAINTED ROOMS 2.0

 

Hotel Des Arts Lobby

DECEMBER 9

HOTEL DES ARTS

 

This past June, START SOMA launched an art gallery in HOTEL DES ARTS a boutique 51 room art hotel in the heart of Union Square.

 

Over the past several months, some of the premier emerging artists in the world have been painting rooms in the Hotel des Arts. Floor to ceiling, and pretty much everything in between with full autonomy to do whatever they wanted...

 

In September, we unveiled the first six painted rooms, and the response was pretty positive:

 

San Francisco Chronicle | San Francisco Examiner | painted rooms 1.0 information + photos

Art Business | Wooster Collective 1 | Wooster Collective 2 | PAINTED ROOMS WEBSITE

 

On Thursday, December 9, we will unveil TWELVE additional painted rooms by some absolutely stellar emerging artists:

 

Hotel Des Arts Rooms

Hotel Des Arts Rooms


 

PAINTED ROOMS 2.0 opening night

THURSDAY | DECEMBER 9 | 6 pm - 11 pm | 447 BUSH at GRANT

 

kindly email info@STARTsoma.com to be added to the guestlist - space is VERY limited...

 





Ashkan Sahihi Photos

ASHKAN SAHIHI

Women of the Israel Defense Force

 

THROUGH DECEMBER 15th

HOTEL DES ARTS

 

The Women of the IDF art show is on public display on the main floor of the Hotel des Arts (447 Bush at Grant), where it will remain through December 15. The hotel galleries are open daily from 8 am to 11 pm.

 

This is a REALLY good art show. The Jewish News Weekly included an exceptional overview of the exhibition, the SF Weekly observed that "the visual tension is definitely worth a look", and the San Francisco Examiner felt that "Sahihi's controversial photo portraits shed a compelling light on the enigmatic female enlistees of the Israeli armed forces embroiled in the ongoing West Bank conflict."

 

In January, the entire Women of the IDF exhibition moves to the Akureyri Museum in Iceland.

 


David DeRosa After Image

AFTER IMAGE

      new art by David DeRosa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

opening february 2005 in the START SOMA mission gallery

 


 

David DeRosa Commissioned Portraits...

make great holiday gifts!

 

David DeRosa is a top-notch talent who had the first public exhibition of his paintings at START SOMA earlier this year.

 

His work resonated. He quit his day job and has been painting around the clock ever since...

 

Over the past months, David has completed commissioned portraits in his signature after image style for a whole host of decidedly interesting characters...

 

 

Perhaps someone YOU know would like one?

 

We have a limited number of commissioned portrait sittings available in time for holiday delivery...

 

Interested in learning more? Kindly contact info@STARTsoma.com.

 


David DeRosa Portraits

 

David DeRosa Commissioned Portraits...

for FREE?

David DeRosa's art hangs on the walls of several musicians with only one name. Nas. Snoop. Diddy. Kanye. Nelly.

 

But you don't need a Bentley to commission David DeRosa to paint a picture for you particularly if you are an emerging San Francisco musician or band...

 

David will paint a FREE picture for local performers. With special preference given to local punk + metal bands.

 

Album covers. Flyer art. Whatever you need. FOR FREE.

 

No catch. Royalty free. We want to support emerging performers the same way we have supported emerging artists.

 

Just drop David an email via DavidDeRosa@STARTsoma.com to set up a meeting...

 





If you'd rather not receive future e-mails from us,

simply click: UNSUBSCRIBE

 

Want to invite someone else to attend this show?

Forward this email to a friend!

 

Thank you!

info@STARTsoma.com

 



Sponsors



 


Start Galleries, Inc.

672 South Van Ness Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94110