{"id":4868,"date":"2014-04-11T11:46:08","date_gmt":"2014-04-11T19:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/?p=4868"},"modified":"2018-11-30T17:35:05","modified_gmt":"2018-12-01T01:35:05","slug":"gary-francis-fine-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/2014\/04\/11\/gary-francis-fine-art-4868\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Francis Fine Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on April 11, 2014 in The Alamedan<\/a>. Michele Ellson, editor. Reprinted with an additional image.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Gary Francis Comoglio, and throughout my whole lifetime, my last name has been butchered,\u201d the artist-turned-gallerist said. So he decided to go with something \u201ceasier and more concise\u201d when he launched his gallery, Gary Francis Fine Art. His image makeover coincides with that of his venue.<\/p>\n

Have you been to Pillow Park lately? After 40 years of being a furniture store, the front gates closed while \u201cPillow Park Plaza\u201d\u2014now simply \u201cPark Street Plaza\u201d\u2014was completely remodeled. In addition to Gary Francis Fine Art, the space is now home to a collection of boutique shops: Clothiers Aphrodite’s Closet (displaced from their previous location by a fire) and Lanvie, Dandelion Flowers & Gifts, Artistic Home Studio & Boutique\u2014co-owned by JaYing Wang, who taught art to a generation of Alameda\u2019s children\u2014mobile caf\u00e9 Gotham Harbor Coffee, and Bonne Vie Fine Spirits & Cigars.<\/p>\n

\"John

John McNamara, “Encroachment”<\/p><\/div>\n

Nestled down a long corridor on Park Street between the defunct Bonaire Bakery and Hong Kong seafood, many passersby are unaware that anything has changed, and “I didn’t even know this was here” is something Comoglio hears on a weekly basis. Debbie and Frank George own Bonne Vie, and the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’ve done a tremendous job transforming this building from the furniture store,\u201d Comoglio said.<\/p>\n

Comoglio is not only a working artist himself\u2014a painter and printmaker\u2014but brings extensive curatorial experience to his gallery, having put together nearly 30 exhibitions for the California Society of Printmakers (CSP) in his capacity as its director of exhibitions. That experience taught him how to make art exhibits \u201cengaging with the public,\u201d Comoglio said. He has hosted five exhibitions since opening Gary Francis Fine Art in October 2013 with his wife Kavita, who handles the marketing side of the business.<\/p>\n

\"Fernando

Fernando Reyes<\/p><\/div>\n

Gary Francis Fine Art has begun the process of shaping its own identity among the half dozen galleries already established on the Island, starting with its selection of artists. \u201cWe definitely want to make sure that we’re establishing a vibe or a look for our business,\u201d Comoglio said. Artists who have shown in Alameda before and continue to show in Alameda are “something that we\u2019ve shied away (from) a little bit,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We really represent Bay Area artists. And that’s really our focus,” Comoglio said. “We have shown several Alameda artists in the past, but we don’t want to create anything that’s a replica of any other gallery. We want to have our own voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Francis will further differentiate itself from other Alameda galleries by adding a publishing arm to its business. \u201cWe want to be known as a gallery that not only specializes in printmaking but that we publish prints. We’re looking forward in the future to being the next Crown Point Press,\u201d Comoglio said, referring to San Francisco\u2019s fine art print shop. \u201cThe Bay Area has such a rich history of printmaking, and we want to be the next in line when people think about printmaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sherana

Sherana Frances<\/p><\/div>\n

Each of the gallery’s exhibits thus far\u2014group shows averaging 18 artists\u2014was cohesive and excellent as a whole, while featuring some individual contributions that truly exceed expectations for a new gallery. In \u201cThe Art of Giving Art,\u201d a holiday gift-oriented show late last year, Sherana Harriette Frances unwrapped the Playboy bunnies she painted in 1965, which had been hanging in her studio in Marin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was quite a special find,\u201d said Comoglio, who stumbled upon them while visiting the artist\u2019s studio to purchase printmaking supplies. \u201cThey really hadn\u2019t been shown outside of her studio since the early ’80s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Viewing Frances\u2019 paintings, one can easily imagine them hanging in the Oakland Museum right next to those by pop art master Mel Ramos. \u201cThey are the type of paintings that I think stun people when they come into the gallery, because they expect to see art work but they don’t expect to see … real museum-quality pieces,\u201d Comoglio said. \u201cWe\u2019re fortunate to have so many contacts with different age groups, mostly through the society of printmakers, that we can reach out to some artists that have had careers for 40 and 50 years and get some really exceptional works of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frances\u2019 work was so popular that Comoglio plans to exhibit it again in next month’s show, \u201cImage Hungry.\u201d According to Comoglio, the show will reference some images of pop art from the past, “but it\u2019s really going to be a modern take of what pop art has grown up into, since it\u2019s so different from its origins in the ’60s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bar was raised high, and Gary Francis continued to deliver. In January\u2019s \u201cUrban Grit\u201d show, John McNamara\u2019s oil landscape, \u201cEncroachment,\u201d boggled the mind and blurred the boundaries between painting and viewer; Vanessa Marsh\u2019s collaged process-centric photograms in February\u2019s \u201cUnique Surfaces – A Collage\u201d show were both clever and haunting. The gallery’s current exhibit, \u201cThe Figure: A Bay Area Legacy,\u201d includes complex yet balanced figurative nudes by established artist Fernando Reyes.<\/p>\n

\"Nathaniel

Nathaniel Evans<\/p><\/div>\n

As the former printmaking studio manager at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Comoglio discovered \u201chow rich the<\/p>\n

talent was amongst our young artists,\u201d and Reyes\u2019 pieces are juxtaposed with \u201cInk,\u201d a photorealistic portrait by newcomer Nathaniel Evans, capturing a dark intensity reminiscent of James Whistler.<\/p>\n

In June, Comoglio will open the gallery for Pro Arts\u2019 open studios, with space allotted to six of the artists who have exhibited there previously or who are scheduled for exhibitions there in the future.<\/p>\n

Gary Francis seems to have hit upon a winning formula with these large group shows averaging 18 artists each. \u201cEvery single time we open the doors on second Fridays we are amazed to see how many people come through the doors and how many new people there are each month,\u201d Comoglio said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s always encouraging for us because leading up to that time, from the time that we hang a new show going right up to the second Fridays, the opening reception, it\u2019s a very nervous time for us. Because pretty much the whole success of our business relies on how well those opening receptions are received by the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

After getting a feel for the public response to the gallery\u2019s offerings, Comoglio has planned a shift to \u201csmaller group shows and more artist-based shows,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we will never completely throw away the group show. We want to make sure that we are always discovering new artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a bit of a gamble, Comoglio is planning his gallery\u2019s first solo exhibit in September, small works by Sandy Walker. \u201cNot only is it a two-month exhibition, but it\u2019s also a solo exhibition, so we won\u2019t be bringing in a massive crowd with all the artists on the opening night like we’ve had in the past,\u201d Comoglio said.<\/p>\n

He said the gallery usually attracts about 200 people to its three-hour opening receptions but with Walker’s work, “we\u2019re expecting that we’re going to be reaching out to a crowd who are art collectors already, or people who already know Sandy\u2019s work through different museum exhibitions or different art exhibitions that they’ve seen his work in San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vanessa

Vanessa Marsh<\/p><\/div>\n

This shift in paradigm is a calculated risk, and part of carving out Gary Francis’ own niche as a gallery that attracts established art collectors, while at the same time, \u201ccultivating new art collectors, especially within our Alameda community.\u201d The gallery seeks to do this by offering affordable work, including a bin of works priced $200 and under, and by educating its visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to engage every person that comes in, because we know there\u2019s a big educational gap in art with the public. A lot of people don’t even know how to approach art, or how to look at it, or even how to respond to it sometimes,\u201d Comoglio said.<\/p>\n

Comoglio said that Alan Bamberger, the Bay Area art consultant who maintains the ArtBusiness.com website, \u201ctold me a long time ago that in order to understand art, all you have to do is enjoy it. And a lot of people forget that if they enjoy it, they understand it, and there’s not much deeper than that sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary Francis Fine Art is located inside Park Street Plaza at 1419E Park Street. The gallery is open Sundays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 629-1175.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Singman-Aste
\nPostdiluvian Photo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article originally appeared on April 11, 2014 in The Alamedan. Michele Ellson, editor. Reprinted with an additional image. \u201cMy name is Gary Francis Comoglio, and throughout my whole lifetime, my last name has been butchered,\u201d the artist-turned-gallerist said. So he decided to go with something \u201ceasier and more concise\u201d when he launched his gallery, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pPxQO-1gw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4868"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5559,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4868\/revisions\/5559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.postdiluvianphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}