SOBREMESA GROUP EXHIBITION
January 26 – March 18, 2023
Sobremesa Group Exhibition
On view January 26 – March 18, 2023
New tables unveiled on Thursday evenings from 5:30 – 7:30pm, with cocktail reception and artist talks
Schedule for Sobremesa (openings and “hard hat” tours on Thursday evenings, 5:30 – 7:30pm):
January 26: Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin
February 2: Amy Trachtenberg
February 16: Arleene Correa Valencia
February 23: Wanxin Zhang
March 2: Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet
March 9: Reniel Del Rosario and Johany Huinac De Leon
San Francisco: In 2023, Catharine Clark Gallery celebrates its second decade at 248 Utah Street, with major announcements about exhibitions and programming in the weeks ahead. As the gallery begins an important new chapter, we also take this moment to reflect on the core value of sharing space, and the ways in which we build creative community through gathering. In this spirit, the gallery opens its 2023 program with Sobremesa, an exhibition that takes the form of a dinner table that will expand through the space across seven weeks. Sobremesa unfolds in the style of an exquisite corpse: each week, an artist or artist team will “reveal” a new table conceived in response to the one before.
Director Anton Stuebner writes that “the dinner table for many of us is an important site where we can come together, exchange ideas, debate, laugh, cry, and open ourselves to one another. The title, Sobremesa, derives from a Spanish word that describes the experience at the end of the meal when we linger over the last bites of food or near empty glasses of wine so that we can hold that moment of sharing space just a bit longer. In this time of extraordinary growth at the gallery, we also acknowledge how art – like food – centers and nourishes us, providing us with greater capacity for empathy and meaningful connection.”
Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin | January 26, 2023
FOWL WEATHER
FOWL WEATHER, a collaborative project by Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin is inspired by artifacts of charred food excavated at Pompeii. Oropallo and Goldin’s darkly surreal installation considers climate change and drought conditions, and their impact on agriculture, livestock, and our shared food supply.
FOWL WEATHER INSTALLATION, 2023
2 feet 5 1/2 inches x 8 feet x 4 feet
Plywood, sawhorses, burned tablecloth, fourteen bread and resin ducks, three tree roots, three marble eggs, dried pomegranates and branches, and ash
2 feet 5 inches x 8 feet x 4 feet
Duck 1, 2023
Bread and resin
7 x 17 x 7 inches variable
$350
Deborah
Duck 4, 2023
Bread and resin
7 x 17 x 7 inches variable
$350
Deborah
Duck 13, 2023
Bread and resin
7 x 17 x 7 inches variable
$350
Root I, 2023
Tree root, marble, resin
19 x 23 x 19 inches
$650
Deborah
Root II, 2023
Tree root, marble, resin
18 x 19 x 20 inches
$650
Deborah
Root III, 2023
Tree root, marble, resin
21 x 24 x 10 inches
$650
Deborah Oropallo & Michael Goldin
Ducks 1 - 14, 2023
Bread and resin
7 x 17 x 7 inches variable
$350 each
Deborah Oropallo & Michael Goldin
Roots I, II, and III, 2023
Tree root, marble, resin
19 x 23 x 19 inches variable
$65
Amy Trachtenberg | February 2, 2023
I have two names and at least two languages––– for dreaming
Amy Trachtenberg's I have two names and at least two languages - for dreaming is a multi-part installation that centers on four new collages - drawn from materials that reference the writings of Mahmoud Darwish, Marcel Proust, and Franz Kafka, as well as posters torn from streets in Italy - posed against each other and set up to form two peaks. Artist-made seating elements surround the table with a hint of lava flow, a syncretic work that responds to Deborah Oropallo and Michael Goldin's table from the previous week.
An hour is a vessel, 2023
Mixed paper on rag board
And wild vetiver on the tongue, 2023
Mixed paper on rag board
18" x 22” paper
21-7/8” x 25-7/8” x 1-3/4” framed
$3,800
Duck
Repurposed foam, dolly, and string
19 x 34 x 22 inches variable
$250
Duck Bill Ottoman II, 2023
Repurposed foam, dolly, and string
18 x 34 x 22 inches variable
$250
Arleene Correa Valencia | February 16, 2023
Mesa: Nuestra Madre Tierra / Table: Our Mother Earth
Sobremesa continues Thursday, February 16 with Arleene Correa Valencia’s installation, Mesa: Nuestra Madre
Tierra / Table: Our Mother Earth in which the artist unveils four new embroidered textile works. Divided into four sections, each of which faces its appropriate cardinal point, Mesa: Nuestra Madre Tierra honors the four elements Huehueteotl (Fire), Tlaloc (Water), Ehecatl (Air), and Tlalnantzin (Earth) The textile works depict each of the Correa siblings - including the artist herself - rendered in thread on vintage tortilla napkins. Correa Valencia’s material choice invites reflection on inherited traditions, as well as the displacement that families in diaspora all too often feel, and the ways in which food can return us to ourselves and our sense of home.
Paint,
$4,200
*textiles sold separately
$3,200
$3,200
Arleene Correa Valencia
Tlalnantzin (Earth), 2023
Embroidery on vintage hand embroidered tortilla napkins
23 1/4 x 20 1/2 inches
$3,200
Wanxin Zhang | January 26 – March 18, 2023
Excavated Dumpling Platters in 2203
Wanxin Zhang’s ExcavatedDumplingPlattersin2203 continues the Sobremesa exquisite corpse, opening on Thursday, February 23, 5:30 – 7:30pm. Playing with the Chinese time-honored cultural sustenance the dumpling - Zhang’s formal porcelain place settings (each includes a plate, penis teacup, cell phone, and dumplings) are centered around the remains of a cargo ship spilling out a sea of dumplings, signaling the transfer of culture and traditions across the world.
The artist writes: “When we think about Chinese food, it’s impossible to ignore dumplings. Beyond its fillings and flavor, there is a rich history and cultural significance that dates back to 1800 years ago. Legend has it that Zhongjian Zhang (coincidentally also a likely ancestor of mine, as my family also originated from the HeNan province long ago), a village doctor and writer from the Han dynasty, invented the dumpling as part of his medical practice. The filling contained a variety of meats and Chinese herbs that not only provided sustenance and cured ailments, but also increased physical strength and sexual vitality. Considering that to today, though dumplings are no longer eaten for that purpose, the topics of sexual vitality, family, and strength remain steadfast in our daily conversations, (often coming up during sobremesa). My installation is a response to the globalization of culture. Dumplings have been enjoyed by people for thousands of years and continue to be a popular dish worldwide. My table represents an excavation site in the Pacific Ocean in 2203, where people will see an example of what made a community today. By looking to the past and at the present, I believe we can better guide our future.”
Wanxin ZhangWanxin Zhang
Excavated Dumpling Platters in 2203, 2023
45 1/2 x 96 x 48 inches
Paint, plywood, sawhorses, eight high-fired stoneware plates, eight teacups, eight cell phones, cargo ship containers, and 500 dumplings
$108,630
*teapot sold separately
Wanxin Zhang
Placesetting #1, 2021 – 2023
High-fired ceramic with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches
$7,630
Wanxin Zhang
Placesetting #2, 2021 – 2023
High-fired stoneware with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches
$7,630
High-fired stoneware with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches $7,630
Placesetting #4, 2021 – 2023
High-fired stoneware with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches
$7,630
Placesetting #5, 2021 – 2023
High-fired stoneware with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches
$7,630
Wanxin Zhang
Placesetting #6, 2021 – 2023
High-fired stoneware with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches
$7,630
Placesetting #7, 2021 – 2023
High-fired stoneware with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches
$7,630
Placesetting #8, 2021 – 2023
High-fired stoneware with glazes and decals
Three pieces: Plate: 2 x 12 x 12 inches; Cup: 4 1/2 x 7 x 4 inches; iPhone: 1/2 x 6 x 3 1/2 inches
$7,630
Wanxin Zhang
Antique Plate #1 with spoon, dumplings and small toy, 2022
Antique Chinese plate, high-fired ceramic with glazes and decals
3 x 10 x 9 inches
Price on request
Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet | January 26 – March 18, 2023
Marriage
On Thursday, March 2, artists Elyse Pignolet and Sandow Birk unveil Marriage,2023, a collaborative installation that reflects on marriage laws. Pignolet’s hand-built ceramic “marriage plates” are supported by Birk’s painted vessels and tablecloth, with each setting commemorating an historical event, from the first recorded marriage on American soil (1565) to the first legal gay marriage on record (1970s). Pignolet and Birk work at the intersection of craft and storytelling to reflect on how marriage has been “defined” across time, and how the laws that govern it are tied into the struggle for civil rights. Isabella and Anthony, 2023 (image pictured at top) references the marriage of two enslaved Africans who arrived on the first slave ship, the “White Lion”, which landed in Virginia in 1619. The two were captured in Angola Africa and onboard an English ship heading to the Caribbean, which stopped in Jamestown, Virginia, with “twenty and odd” enslaved people on board. They were bartered with colonists for goods, thus the first African slaves to arrive in the future USA. Pignolet and Birk’s table responds to Wanxin Zhang’s Sobremesa table, which also explores the tension between freedom of expression and ideas of “family heritage” through ceramics.
Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet
Marriage, 2023
Ceramic vessels (six), candle holders (two) and vase with underglaze, glazes, and gold luster, hand-painted tablecloth, plywood and sawhorses (two)
36 x 96 x 48 inches
$34,000
Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet
1565, 2023
Ceramic vessel with underglaze and glazes
13 x 13 x 2 1/4 inches
$4,500
$4,500
Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet
Loving, 2023
Ceramic vessel with underglaze and glazes
13 1/4 x 13 1/4 x 2 inches
$4,500
13
$5,000
Until
Candlestick Holders, 2023
4
$850 each
Reniel Del Rosario and Johany Huinac De Leon March 11 – 18, 2023 | Food Desert
On Saturday, March 11, 1pm – 3pm, collaborative team Reniel Del Rosario and Johany Huinac De Leon open FoodDesert,2023, the last installation in Sobremesa . Food Desert features armatured ceramics and textiles and is based on roadside vendor signs in rural areas alongside California and Nevada interstates attempting to attract passersby to various establishments. The installation connects directly to Birk and Pignolet’s Marriage table by the idea of marriage as an industry. Del Rosario writes: “Las Vegas, being the marriage capital of the world (114,000+ weddings per year), is located statistically in the middle of nowhere. To go towards and to leave Vegas, folks travel through any one of a few interstates, many of which bear road-sign attractions and pit-stops that advertise via large cutouts off the side of the road for things varying from signature pea soups, date milkshakes, salvation through Jesus, local produce, and more. ‘Food Desert’ serves as that interstate bearing those signs and attempting to lure people in on their way to Marriage (Birk and Pignolet) or FOWL WEATHER (Oropallo and Goldin).” Del Rosario and Huinac De Leon are the final table in Sobremesa, which closes on Saturday, March 18 at 6pm.
Ceramics
52 x 96 x 48 inches
23 1/2 x 13 x 10 1/4 inches
$1,300
Sushi, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches
$400
Pizza, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
19 3/4 x 18 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches
$1,000
Caviar, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
18 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches
$500
Pie, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
7 x 17 x 9 3/4 x 7 inches
$400
Reniel Del Rosario
Ham, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
18 3/4 x 19 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches
$1,200
Reniel Del Rosario
Deviled Egg, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
7 3/4 x 5 1/2 x 6 inches
$400
Reniel Del Rosario
Ice Cream Sundae, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
19 1/4 x 16 1/2 x 14 inches
$1,000
Johany Huinac De Leon
Silk Plates, 2023
Silk satin, polyfil
Small: 1 x 6 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches
$70 each
Large: 1 x 9 3/4 x 9 3/4 inches
$100 each
Burger, 2023
Ceramics, glazes, wood armature, spray paint
8 1/2 x 8 1/4 x 10 inches
$400
$400
11
$400
15 1/2 x 16 x 11 1/2 inches
$800
