courtesy of Shawn Smith and Francis Mcilvean
Not since “William’s Doll” (of the Free To Be You And Me record fame) has art so brilliantly lauded man’s right to be girly. OK, that might be overstating the case a bit, but the new exhibition “Nancy Boy” at City College of San Francisco’s City Arts Gallery is nothing less than inspired. Seizing upon SF’s supply of talented “femmie men who mess with our collective ‘gaydar,’” curator Nancy Mizuno Elliott has collected a diverse group of up-and-coming artists to mediate on our culture’s notion of masculinity. In the mix: Brian Gangelhoff (who makes “cozies” for tools), Andrew J. Phares (who uses bullets to create line drawings of young girls), Curtis Jones (who uses glue to create lacey, pearly, quilty art objects), Shawn Smith (who makes “flowers” out of footballs) and the buzzed about David Hevel (whose unabashedly kitschy sculptures are decidedly “twisted Disney”).
courtesy of Andy Phares
October 1–October 26
City Arts Gallery
City College of San Francisco 50 Phelan Ave., 415-239-3000
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 12pm to 4pm;
Tuesday and Wednesday, 6 to 8pm.