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Home Land Security

Al Farrow

Revelation I and Mosque III (after National Mosque of Nigeria, Abuja)

Bay Area–based Al Farrow’s sculptures are strangely beautiful meditations on the relationship between religion and violence. Combining a draftsman’s precision with an understanding of metaphor, he makes art from spent ammunition and weapons. By fashioning these materials into religious symbols, he forces us to confront the role that religious extremism plays in instigating violence, and how war becomes its own religion, driven by the global arms trade in pursuit of profits. These harmonious assemblages of disturbing materials aim to provoke thought about the hypocrisy of violence exacted in the name of religion, and the irrational faith we place in instruments of destruction as a source of security.

  • Al Farrow, Mosque III (After National Mosque of Nigeria, Abuja), 2010; “tank-killer” missiles, bullets, brass, steel, and trigger; courtesy the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; © Al Farrow; photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Al Farrow, Revelation I, 2009; bullets, guns, steel, polycarbonate, steel shot, and Bible, with facsimile of Dürer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; courtesy the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; © Al Farrow; photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Al Farrow, Revelation I, 2009; bullets, guns, steel, polycarbonate, steel shot, and Bible, with facsimile of Dürer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; courtesy the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; © Al Farrow; photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Al Farrow, Mosque III (After National Mosque of Nigeria, Abuja), 2010; “tank-killer” missiles, bullets, brass, steel, and trigger; courtesy the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco; © Al Farrow; photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Installation Views
Al FarrowAmerican, born 1943

Al Farrow’s sculptures address the intersection of religion and violence with an arresting conflation of imagery and medium — often including spent ammunition. Originally from Brooklyn, he has lived in the Bay Area for more than 30 years and is represented in the collections of the San Jose Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the de Young Museum, which organized a solo exhibition of his work in 2008.

Al Farrow website

Revelation I, 2009; bullets, guns, steel, polycarbonate, steel shot, and Bible, with facsimile of Dürer’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Mosque III (after National Mosque of Nigeria, Abuja), 2010; “tank-killer” missiles, bullets, brass, steel, and trigger. Both courtesy the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Installation view; photo: Robert Herrick

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Sanctuary Salon (February 23, 2018)

Sanctuary Salon (February 23, 2018)

Echoing Sanctuary's ethos of plurality, the "Sanctuary Salon" series weaves together the voices of artists whose practices span creative disciplines, including ...

Brendan Fernandes: Safely (2017)

Brendan Fernandes: Safely (2017)

As part of his commission for "Sanctuary," Brendan Fernandes presented a site-specific durational performance that explored themes of reverence and sacred ...

Panel Discussion: Approaching the Rug as a Critical Form

Panel Discussion: Approaching the Rug as a Critical Form

Panel Discussion "Above the Rug: Approaching the Rug as a Critical Form" February 11, 2018 Historically and traditionally, rugs are a medium for cultural ...

Sanctuary

Sanctuary



Sanctuary Salon (January 26, 2018)

Sanctuary Salon (January 26, 2018)

Echoing the ethos of plurality embodied within FOR-SITE's exhibition "Sanctuary," the "Sanctuary Salon" series weaves together the voices of artists whose ...

Sanctuary Salon (December 14, 2017)

Sanctuary Salon (December 14, 2017)

Echoing the ethos of plurality embodied within FOR-SITE's exhibition "Sanctuary," the "Sanctuary Salon" series weaves together the voices of artists whose ...

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  • It's a full house (er, Chapel) tonight for FOR-SITE's first #Sanctuary Salon https://t.co/ABOANPBfeV
  • Happening now: Free #silkscreening workshops with #SanctuaryPrintShop outside #Sanctuary @FortMasoninSF Chapel https://t.co/4BGs628mct

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  • FOR-SITE visited “Joan Jonas: They Come to Us without a Word” at @fortmasoncenter today and were struck by the installation “Nine Trees.” The work was originally made for the courtyard of the U.S. Pavilion in Venice, and consisted of trunks harvested from Certosa Island, a former military site in the Venetian Lagoon. Fittingly, the piece at Fort Mason incorporates eucalyptus trees from @presidiosf (also a former military site). As with the rest of “They Come to Us without a Word,” the piece speaks to the human impact on nature and existing ecosystems. The Presidio eucalyptus used in the work is a non-native species that was planted by the U.S. Army in the 1880’s, and fundamentally changed the landscape from windswept sand to the existing park forest. 
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Joan Jonas: They Come to Us without a Word” is on view in Gallery 308 @fortmasoncenter Wed. - Sat. Noon to 8pm and Sun. 11am to 5pm through March 10. Admission is free, but reserving tickets in advance via the Fort Mason website is strongly encouraged.

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#ArtAboutPlace #PublicArt #ArtAtTheFort
  • A burst of sun amidst the storm had us running outside to take in the moment of reprieve. And there it was — a lovely rainbow 🌈 Having an office at @fortmasoncenter definitely has its #WorkPerks.
  • Didn’t snag an RSVP to @cheryllhaines’ sold-out talk February 6? Don’t worry — a video of the event will be posted to the @thachergalleryusf’s YouTube channel a week or so later. We’ll be sure to direct you there once it’s available! 
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Bonus: February 6 is also the Community Town Hall hosted by San Francisco Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts where they will share the proposed plan for implementing the new Arts Impact Endowment Fund and father feedback from the public. Make your thoughts known! The event is free, but registration is required. Link in bio. 📷: Jan Stürmann

#ArtAboutPlace
  • Peruse catalogues, check out art, or just have a chat — we’re at @untitledartfair today until 8pm and Saturday and Sunday from noon until 6pm.

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Field Notes

  • Allison Stone talks Art in the Presidio

  • Art in the Parks and “Home Land Security”: A Partner’s Perspective

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