Amy Sillman at SFAI, Crown Point Press

O & N, Amy Sillman 2007

Amy Sillman

Amy Sillman gave an artist talk at San Francisco Art Institute Monday night and on Tuesday night, her show Amy Sillman: New Etchings, opened at Crown Point Press.

There were ecstatic fans, like Jarrett Arnest, pictured below in his own homemade AMY SILLMAN t-shirt (complete with glitter) who said, "If people show up for Britney Spears in their fan shirts, somebody better do it for Amy Sillman."

Jarrett Arnest at the San Francisco Art Institute Lecture

Between the talk at SFAI and the new work at Crown Point, Sillman has offered San Francisco a well lighted window into her process. In her choice of slides at SFAI (and she did use slides) Sillman showed everything. She was kind of on fire - she offered us extra large helping of her interests and influences. For influences she mentioned David Hammons, Jean Arp, Joan Jonas, Louise Bourgeois, Phillip Guston, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Rachel Harrison, Martin Kippenberger, Jutta Koether --

She said, "You know how sometimes you're at a party and somebody says something that effects you for the rest of your life? Well - this guy said 'At the end of the century things get smooth and fussy and at the beginning everything gets chopped up and rough.' I was like YEAH I wanna be part of that!"

The opening at Crown Point Press on Tuesday was packed, and the visitors were thrilled with the unusual opportunity this show offers to see proofs as well as finished prints.

Visitors: Artist Julie Mehretu and San Francisco Art Institute's Brett Reichman

Linda Geary and Mari Andrews with Amy Sillman's working proofs

Since this is a blog post, I should mention that Sillman was emphatic in her talk that painting must be encountered in person. She said "IT - WON'T - GO- THROUGH - THE - INTERNET." So come out and see her work IN PERSON. The show at Crown Point Press runs through December 29, 2007.