Acquisitions at BAMPFA to be shown in upcoming exhibition "Way Bay"
We are pleased to announce that the work of two artists whose estates KunstWorks has advised will be included in the upcoming show Way Bay at the Berkeley Art Museum.
Way Bay has been curated from the BAMPFA collection, highlighting the San Francisco Bay Area's artistic legacy across 200 years. These works range from the 19th century to the present, demonstrating the ways artists have engaged with the region's geography and culture over the past two centuries and highlighting dozens of recent acquisitions. Of these new acquisitions, many bring a focus to the ways women and people of color have contributed their voices to historic cultural moments in the Bay.
KunstWorks' efforts have led to the acquisition of two works each by Sonya Rapoport and Ed Aulerich-Sugai. Rapoport's Survey Chart #19 (1971) and Aulerich-Sugai's Ghosts and Demons: Diptych (1989) will be on display at BAMPFA from January 17–May 6, 2018.
Sonya Rapoport, “Survey Chart No. 19,″ 1971. Acrylic and graphite on found antique survey chart, 22″ x 18”. Collection of BAMPFA.
Sonya Rapoport's "Survey Chart" works elaborate on the "Nu-Shu" language of earlier pieces, a collection of feminist stencils representing gendered symbols. Working directly on found, pre-printed papers, Rapoport used vivid acrylics or in other cases, delicate, atmospheric graphite. After discovering a collection of antique survey charts referencing a dam-building project on Idaho's Snake River, she repurposed them as substrates for the series, building on her interest in information, symbolic communication, and visual analysis.
The work—one of two pieces acquired last year by BAMPFA—represents Rapoport’s career at the pivotal point when the artist was transitioning from Abstract Expressionism to Conceptual Art practice and illuminates her interest in the visual dialogue between found surface and painted/drawn shapes.
Ed Aulerich-Sugai, Ghosts and Demons: Diptych, 1989, mixed media on paper, 29.5" x 27". Collection of BAMPFA.
Asian American artist Ed Aulerich-Sugai's works are a unique document of living with HIV and AIDS. For the Ghosts and Demons series, Aulerich-Sugai created symbolic representations of good and evil, drawing from his Japanese heritage to externalize his experience of bodily fragility while visualizing the daring and courage of the Japanese myths.
On March 15, Dr. Alla Efimova will present a talk on Aulerich-Sugai's work as part of the Center for the Arts & Religion's (CARe) program Third Thursdays at BAMPFA. RSVP for tickets on Eventbrite.
The exhibition will be on display at BAMPFA from January 17–May 6, 2018. There will be a curator's talk with Lawrence Rinder and Kathy Gertiz on January 18 at 12:00pm. Read more about Way Bay at the museum's website.
Way Bay is organized by Director and Chief Curator Lawrence Rinder, Film Curator Kathy Geritz, and Engagement Associate David Wilson, with Curatorial Assistant Matthew Coleman and Assistant Film Archivist Jon Shibata. The exhibition is made possible with lead support from Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman. Additional support is provided by Alexandra Bowes and Stephen Williamson, Rena Bransten, Gertrud V. Parker, Janie and Jeff Green, and others.