December 4, 2015 through March 10, 2016

Gallery Hours: Wed & Thurs 1-6pm
Kearny Street Workshop
1246 Folsom St., Suite 100
San Francisco, CA 94103

Kearny Street Workshop presents a new group show featuring transnational and immigrant Filipino-American artists MARCIUS NOCEDA, CARLO RICAFORT, MEL VERA CRUZ, and internationally renowned iconoclast painter MANUEL OCAMPO. Organized with assistance from TJ Basa, Dara Katrina Del Rosario, and Pamela Ybañez.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, December 4, 2015, 7-10pm (concurrent with Kearny Street Workshop presents The Holiday RE/Mix)

***Bring a dish for the potluck.

PANEL DISCUSSION ON MANILA'S CONTEMPORARY ART SCENE: Monday, January 18, 7-9pm

Featuring guest speakers Jenifer K. Wofford and Kimberley Arteche (APAture 2015 Visual Arts Featured Artist)

Moderated by Juan Carlos Quintana

*In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we want to acknowledge the ongoing struggles faced by Black communities in America and the means by which support from these same communities helped create spaces for Asian American art in this country.

CLOSING RECEPTION: Thursday, March 10, 7-10pm

(more info coming soon)

Co-presented by Epekto Art Projects

Kearny Street Workshop's Office Gallery

Manila: Beyond the Envelope

THE ARTISTS

Manuel Ocampo

Mel Vera Cruz

Marcius Noceda

Carlo Ricafort

MANUEL OCAMPO (b. Quezon City, Philippines) composes his paintings using motifs from popular western iconography, religious symbols, Filipino kitsch, art history and literature. Ocampo’s provocative works, which are associated with a grunge counter-culture movement, have been decried as controversial, blasphemous and lewd. He explains: “The strong symbolism in my paintings is presented as empty signs. I want to push the conventions of painting to the point of ridicule…to go beyond thought.” Ocampo’s style is characterized by his use of coarse brushwork and use of vivid colors, in addition to his dark humor and often macabre subject matter.

Like most artists, MEL VERA CRUZ (b. Quezon, Philippines) displays his emotions through his art. Being uprooted twice in life had a profound impact upon him — first he was from an idyllic childhood learning to love art in Quezon to the rude awakening of a 12 year old boy cast adrift in Metro Manila, and later an adult immigrant in San Francisco where he experienced insecurity and prejudice in the world of Western advertising. Born in 1964, the University of Santo Tomas graduate in Fine Arts pulled it together and came to grips with the changes of his adopted country. He left his advertising job, and is now employed as a graphic designer, and does tattoos on the side. With the support and love of his wife and two children, Vera Cruz has reached a happy balance with life and his art. melveracruz.com

MARCIUS NOCEDA (b. Olongapo City, Philippines) moved to the United States when he was 15. He first studied painting in Ventura Community College and graduated with a BFA in painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. He is a part of the Filipino American art collective Epekto Art Projects, and has show in venues throughout San Francisco, Oakland, and Manila. He currently works at the Hunters Point Shipyard Artists Studios. marciusnoceda.net

CARLO RICAFORT (b. Quezon City, Philippines) immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985 where his family invested in a printing business. Self taught in the graphic arts and offset printing, he pursued his BFA in Pictorial Arts from San José State University in 2000. He has since exhibited at museums, numerous galleries and cultural spaces in San Francisco (US), Los Angeles (US), New York (US), San Cristóbal de las Casas (MX), Bangkok (TH), Sète (FR), Hamburg (DE), Manila (PH), and recently participated in the collateral exhibitions of the XII Havana Biennial (CU). He currently works out of San Francisco and is co-founder of the artist-run project space, Random Parts in Oakland, California. carloricafort.com

PANEL ARTISTS

Kimberley Acebo Arteche is from the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia area) and received her B.F.A. in visual arts/photography from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a recipient of the Leo D. Stillwell Jr. Scholarship, the Christine Tamblyn Memorial Scholarship, and the Cadogan Fellowship. Her work has been showns at the SOMArts Cultural Center for the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards showcase, and at Root Division for MFA Now 2015. Kimberley teaches ethnic studies with Pin@y Educational Partnerships, at Skyline College. She is currently a graduate student at San Francisco State University and will complete her M.F.A. in spring 2016.

Jenifer Wofford is a professional visual artist, curator, graphic designer, and illustrator who works both nationally and internationally. Wofford has shown her work extensively in the Bay Area, at venues such as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, de Young Museum, Berkeley Art Museum, and the San Jose Museum of Art. In addition to teaching at USF, she has also taught at UC Berkeley, California College of the Arts, Diablo Valley College, and the San Francisco Art Institute. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute, and her Master of Fine Arts from UC Berkeley.

Juan Carlos Quintana (moderator) is primarily a self-taught artist raised in New Orleans, Louisiana of Cuban lineage. Currently living and working in Oakland, California he has exhibited and participated in artist residencies locally and internationally. He co-founded Random Parts, an artist-run gallery in Oakland, in which they plan to exhibit a few Manila-based artists this year, including Pow Martinez and Gerardo Tan. He has visited and exhibited in Manila since 2008 and witnessed the art scene move from shopping malls into "Chelsea-like" spaces. In February 2016, he will travel to Manila to participate in a group exhibition with mostly transnational Germany-based artists titled Electric Bulalo. In addition, he was a founding member of the collaborative outfit, Artist Formerly Known As Friends (AFKAF) of which 3 artists were based in Manila.