SomArts Cultural Center (934 Brannan St.) SF Open Studios Sat., Oct. 7 – Oct. 29 (Tue.-Fri., 12-4 p.m. / Sat. & Sun., 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.) This is a must-do, everyone! Every October, ArtSpan produces SF Open Studios, the country’s largest, longest-running free visual arts event and a model for open studios throughout the country and the world. During the event, over 800 local, practicing and emerging local artists open their art studios throughout the city to showcase their work for the public. So put on your tennis shoes and hit the pavement, because this year is going to be incredible! (Hint: pick up the San Francisco Bay Guardian each Wed. for a map of the weekend's open studios) more ›

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In this second part of our 49 Geary coverage, we stumble drunkenly through crowded hallways to bring you the best of the best so you can avoid wasting your precious time at shows like this (can someone please tell us what Fraenkel was thinking? Did they run out of art?). more ›

Opening Benefit Reception: Fri., Aug. 25, 6-9 p.m. more ›

We here at the SFist are big fans of all things fist-y, and when we heard about the De Young’s latest acquisition, appropriately titled Fist, we had to go see what it was all about. In short, the bronze sculpture by Surrealist artist Enrico Donati has to be about the fugliest thing we’ve ever seen. It’s big and green and has two very creepy glass eyes attached to it in a way that makes the giant hand seem like it’s looking right at you. We didn’t want to be too quick to judge, however, and the more we gave it a chance, the more it became sort of endearing. The “face” appears to be jovial, like it’s just having a good laugh after one too many at the bar. Sort of like us at Thursday night happy hour. And that's why we've decided to adopt the creature as our unofficial mascot. more ›

at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. We freely admit that our first response to the show, billed as “contemporary artists exploring trance … through exaggerated color, mind-altering patterns and morphing forms,” was more or less, “Whoa, trippy, man!” However, we quickly snapped out of it, and pen and paper in hand, made the rounds albeit slightly dizzy and nauseous the entire time. Five hours later we emerged, vomited on the sidewalk and are feeling much better now, thanks. more ›

, opened at SFMOMA at the end of June, we were stuck in Los Angeles (a tragedy in and of itself) with no way to get back home and trying to explain to our non-enlightened friends there exactly who this absurd yet highly meticulous artist is and why we love him so much that we teared up at missing his opening (ok, maybe it was just from the smog). (From a distance, we consoled ourselves by rereading contributor M.C's piece on DR9 when he saw it at the SFIFF, but we needed to see it for ourselves. You understand.) more ›

accomplished something momentous Friday night; not only did he manage to convince us to travel down to City Hall for the first time since we spent four hours trying to register a business name (all the good ones are taken by the way), he brought back former Supervisor and slain gay rights legend, Harvey Milk as well. more ›

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Heading into 111 Minna on Friday for the West Memphis Three benefit auction, we were excited at the prospect of seeing some of our punk rock heroes in attendance. Lo and behold, once past the five foot tall photographs of the WM3 staring mournfully at us as we entered, stood Henry Rollins casually chatting with about six or seven adoring kids and clutching a cup of coffee. Could this be? After all, Rollins has been a leading force in raising awareness about the WM3 for the last five years, but here he looked so approachable and adorable in his blue USO fleece pullover. It took us about 30 minutes and more than one drink to get up the nerve to go talk to him, but we were there to find out more about the case and he was definitely a man in the know. more ›

Growing up in public schools, we never bothered to learn Latin, but we hear that Caesurae translates to “cutting,” and this aptly titled group exhibition at Urbis Artium is not for the faint of heart. The show opens with Jordan Eagles’ series of luminous resin pieces that from far away look like the cross section of old-growth Redwood with their deep red, cracked concentric circles. Upon closer inspection, you find that the red color is actually blood combined with copper powder, the element which gives the work its incandescent glow. The blood and metal is then absorbed into cheesecloth and layered in resin. more ›

Blame it on the nice weather earlier this week, but we got antsy and just couldn’t wait for First Thursday to get out and see some art; so we stopped by 77 Geary to take a peek at the Vik Muniz show at Rena Bransten Gallery that we keep hearing so much about. more ›

Artist-owned and managed, Varnish Fine Art is one of our favorite places in the city to sip sake and do some good, old-fashioned gallery gazing. So of course we were there this weekend to help them celebrate their three-year anniversary of providing a cozy artspace for everyone from seasoned collectors to those fresh out of their art school studio. more ›

While we’ve been stuck inside our stuffy apartment in the Tenderloin, nursing a nasty cough amid empty tissue boxes and cartons of Chunky Monkey (hey, we have a sore throat), we’ve started to feel a touch of the cabin fever. Despite our frail and sickly condition, we’re determined to get a little fresh air and check out the following shows starting tonight. We hope to see you there, just don’t stand too close. more ›

show at Southern Exposure, we knew we had to rush out and catch it. more ›

show at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Friday. Spoken by one of the 19 teenagers from YBCA’s Young Artists at Work, they set the tone for the evening. The opening attracted an unusually diverse crowd, and while mingling among the black leather and activists, we felt as if we had stepped back into 1968. That is, until we shelled out $6 for a crappy Cabernet in a plastic Dixie cup, and were abruptly brought back to the present. more ›