MODERNISM GALLERY, 25TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
Thursday, September 09, 2004
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Modernism Inc.

In October of 1979, Modernism Gallery opened its doors in San Francisco's South of Market district, commencing a run of exhibitions of contemporary, modern, and early-century avant-garde art which continues today, in its current location in the Monadnock Building at 685 Market Street. The gallery moved from South of Market in 1986, but owner Martin Muller never waivered from his dedication to a museum-quality program of exhibitions: in 1980 he curated the first west-coast exhibition of the Russian Avant-Garde (an effort seconded in 1981 by the L.A. County Museum of Art with its exhibition of that movement).

Dedicated to the correlations between the ground-breaking movements of the early century and contemporary developments in art, however, Muller, far from confining his program to historical works, has mounted three hundred exhibitions, of these the greater part devoted to contemporary shows of American and western European artists.

Architecture [Richard Meier], Abstract Classicism [Hammersley, Benjamin, Feitelson, McLaughlin], Cartoon Art [R. Crumb, Aloys Lolo, Ken Price, Glen Baxter], Ceramics [Marek Cecula, Peter Shire], Conceptual Art [Joseph Kosuth, Gottfried Helnwein, Jenny Holzer, Alexis Smith, Jonathon Keats], Gestural Abstraction [Charles Arnoldi, Naomie Kremer, Sam Tchakalian, James Hayward], Minimal Art [Tony DeLap, David Simpson, Erik Saxon, Peter Gutkin, Peter Lodato], Narrative Painting [Mark Stock, John Nava, John Register, Guy Diehl, Deborah Brown, Robert Yarber, Patti Oleon, Margaret Caldwell, Duncan Hannah], Neoplasticism [Robert Slutzky, Charles Hess], Photography [David Levinthal, Hans Bellmer, Elena Dorfman, Robert Stivers, Bill Kane, Lew Thomas, Hans Namuth, Laurie Simmons], Photorealism [Charles Bell, Gus Heinze, John Baeder, Cesar Santander, John DeAndrea, Shirley Pettibone, Douglas Bond, Robert Cottingham], Pop Art [Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Tom Wesselmann, Mel Ramos], Post-Pop [Jerry Kearns, Sheldon Greenberg], Theater [Robert Wilson], Video [Peter Sarkisian, Max Almy, Naomie Kremer], and European trends [Arnulf Rainer, Hermann Nitsch, Jean-Charles Blais, Jacques VilleglŽ, George Koskas].

Primary Abstraction; Los Angeles [James Hayward, John M. Miller, David Trowbridge, & others], New Art [40 New York Artists], California Drawings [50 California Artists], Beyond Just Words [Beuys, Borofsky, Robert Wilson, Marinetti, Schwitters, & others].

Sources from the early century, the fount of the above, have been well-illustrated by 23 exhibitions of the avant-garde artists of Russia [Malevich, Rodchenko, Lissitzky & many others], Britain [Vorticism/David Bomberg], Germany [Dada/Hannah Hoch, German Expressionism], France [Cubism/Picasso, Gleizes, Georges Valmier], Switzerland [Le Corbusier]. Other exhibitions such as ÔFotomontage'; European and Russian Collage, and Early 20th Century European and Russian Collage 1920-1950 group the works of many seminal artists, lending rhyme and reason to the art of today.

By way of celebration and memorial of this effort of 25 years, Modernism is pleased to present, in the fall of this year, a two-volume publication illustrating more than 600 works from the exhibitions. Included in this effort will be: a scholarly text and glossary on the Russian Avant- Garde by John Bowlt (the foremost English-language expert on that area), biographical texts on each artist, and complete information on the shows. And, for those interested in the audience, collectors, and the society of suppporters, candid photography of some of those in attendance to the events. This publication should provide an excellent and handsome reference to American and western European art from 1900 to the present, as comprehensive as the program itself.

The public is invited to attend the opening reception, on Thursday, Sep 9, from 5:30-8PM.

www.modernisminc.com