Bay Area Now 8 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Bay Area Now 8 (BAN8) is the signature triennial exhibition for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), and this year’s exhibition marks the eighth edition for the center and coincides with the YBCA’s twenty-fifth anniversary. The collective exhibition is made up of “existing and newly commissioned works by nineteen Bay Area contemporary artists and six architects and designers.” The common theme of this eighth exhibition’s exhibitors  is nuance, and the inclusion of architects and designers (and possibly some rocket scientists) is unique and is a response to growing social changes such as gentrification, growing inequities, xenophobia, climate change, and other serious social conditions. The center has used an inquiry based approach in its survey of artists and to address public concern.

Jamil Hellu, Hues, 2018

BAN8 has no overarching thematic agenda in showcasing artists individual and personal histories and a message from its director states, “..although our context has changed, the Bay Area continues to be a place that cultivates new meaning and understanding between what is known and what is not known, what is seen and what is not seen.” The curators of BAN8 believe the works exhibited reflect optimism “in a period marked by extremism, fearmongering, opposition(alism), and loss of institutional trust.” The artists, designers, and architects all express the importance of meaningful dialogue and negotiation among a broader community of cultures and identities, and human experiences as they create and share their works.

Taravat Telepasand, Westoxicated, 2018

I was glad to have found this exhibition at the right time as I was looking to do some study of Bay Area artists. I visited the YBCA aware that it is an art center that serves the community in which it is located, and realizing that, unlike a museum, there should be at least a few artists exhibited who were specifically representing the Bay. I could not have picked a better time as the BAN8 exhibition was on display, to my surprise. I really had no idea what to think and imagined I would see a bunch of sculptures.

 As I entered the exhibition through the spacious lobby of the center (which is like a small museum) I first saw the work of Jamil Hellu which was a series of boldly colored photographs depicting people of LGBT images and various cultural symbolism such as a deer. In close proximity and of similar style there was also the work of Taravat Telepasand depicting an ethnic Persian woman in some modern attire and surrounded by neon lighting. She seemed somewhat seductive but distracted by a visitor, perhaps. Though the image is a depiction of a Persian woman, I easily got the idea that she was set in an urban setting in the U.S., waiting for a client. The juxtaposition was not the least bit unusual in today’s current state of culture. There was also a rug with a seemingly abstract pattern, but upon closer inspection it was actually the face of current U.S. President Donald Trump.



Afterward, I entered a large spacious gallery filled with bright images and sculptures. Directly to my left was an installation workshop of a young black man sewing garments in what is described as a slave ship, by the artist Andrew Wilson. The installation contained a narrative about slave labor and the aim of the working in making a quota of pinafores. I seemed a bit ironic because at first glance I saw a young man working in a fashion operation, but apparently it wasn’t so peachy. I felt a feeling of cheerfulness in looking around at the various portraits on the walls featuring young people in some social and intimate poses. I was glad to see an exhibition of large-scale photography that contained engaging images. I noted descriptive items of physical, temporal, queer.

Andrew Wilson, Stowage of the British Slave Vessel Brookes Under the Regulated Slave Trade Act of 1788, 2018

In the next gallery there was an assemblage of highly technical works by a collective called the Urban Works Agency title “A Seat at the Table” and was quite interesting as it was an array of iPads, blueprints, and architectural models. At that point thought, ‘Okay, these artists are, like, really technical and scientific’. The theme in their works address space, urbanism, gentrification, bartering, climate change and so forth. On a nearby wall was a work by artist Darell W. Fields, titled “Pod Caste” which is a strange and phonic wordplay on a wary issue. A wooden frame of a house was the artwork of artist Caleb Duarte, which I thought was very thought provoking as it is made by a Latino artist addressing immigration and exploitation, but does not romanticize the idea of immigration and juxtaposes children with the idea of “forced immigration”. It is definitely contemplative and a good reference for discussion. These artists mentioned above are a good segue into the topic of urban life and climate change as they feel that the “now” is less than ideal and has a more serious than satirical tone.

Along with society the body is repeatedly explored as an object of form to be considered in its employment, exploitation, care, and building. The tech designer Rhonda Holberton says that technology can create trauma in the body and she aims to remediate and balance energy, claiming that “reality is becoming fractured by those in power.” As a designer she likes to design and use technology in a way that is healing, and hopes to help people to recycle negative energy into positive energy through her works. As I stepped away from Holberton’s work I encountered a laboratory assemblage by Hyphae Design Lab. The mixed media installation addresses environmentalism and is particularly indicative of the growing septic quality of city streets. The intent of the HDL is to get people to be thoughtful and use a little consideration. I lament that thoughtfulness and consideration tend to be more cultural than instinctive.

Marcela Prado Ariza, Julie & Lu (1989-2018), 2018

Though I was expecting to see many sculptures I was actually quite happy to see some contemporary figurative painting. I found the paintings of Cate White to be engaging and relatable in a number of ways. Though the paintings palette of colors are fairly upbeat, the messages are not quite so. White uses her work to address the fact that the American Dream has become less-and-less attainable, and this is what the artist refers to as an effect of “class slippage.” White and several others hint at a middle ground and in-between, which sounds like a threshold or space for negotiation.  The idea is interesting and hints at maybe a renewal or embarkation.

Urban Works Agency, A Seat at the Table, 2018

Caleb Duarte, Untitled, [Urgent Art], 2018

In all BAN8 was a rather impressive exhibition of contemporary art that is in-depth and informative. I particularly like the brochure’s inclusion of several essays and biographies. It was very useful in understanding and comparing one’s own ideas and perceptions. In many ways, the art speaks. As a historian and researcher I consider how my being within the history is what makes me informed of what the art represents and is saying about contemporary issues. YBCA’s inclusion of architects, designers, and scientists also says a lot about the changing demographic of the Bay Area and whether people are really in touch with the societies they are in and near. Though this contemporary artwork is exhibited at a triennial, I feel we need to see more of such works in a more permanent or frequent space for the sake of its social and contemplative value.

Hyphae Design Lab, P Prophet, 2018

Cate White, Rory and His Mother and His Z, 2017

MODEM, Eureka 2,492 items..., map 2018

Urban Works Agency, A Seat at the Table, 2018