Calendar
Past ExhibitsThe Window Gallery presents the work of contemporary makers of unusual and newly invented musical instruments, including emerging artists as well as recognized pioneers. The emphasis is on originality in concept and design, recognizing the seminal role of the search for new sounds in the expansion of musical horizons. Equally essential to the exhibits are notions of beauty, craft, and humor.
The Window Gallery is curated by Bart Hopkin, David Samas, and Kirk Pearson. Located at 55 Taylor Street in San Francisco, the gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9 am – 5 pm, and during performances.
Email the Gallery Manager for information, questions, comments or to propose an installation.
Support the Window Gallery’s one-of-a-kind exhibits by making a contribution to the cause:
ATRIUM EXHIBIT: Moe Staiano’s Bird Line
Thu, Aug 1 — Mon, Sep 30, 2024
Moe Staiano (b.1973, Staten Island, New York)
Moe Staiano is a musician and composer of new music works and angular rock music for various bands including Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Mute Socialite, and currently Surplus 1980. He also runs the Moe Staiano Ensemble which performs his works of composed works for varying degrees of amounts of musicians. He has been performing since about 1995 or so. This little exhibition you see here is not music, but photography, which has been an interest to Mr. Moe since way back. This is his first ever part of an exhibition and his work dive into a photography project. Some of his photographs has graced some of his releases that he has put out over the years and likes to combine the two together. Neat.
If you’re keen to peak your interest, you can check him out at www.moestaiano.com. Thanks.
Artist Statement
I have always liked the angular visual of a geometric composition that comprises an image, whether it be drawn or photographed, there is something that has grasped my interest that is compelling and interesting. I have found that to be the case with my photographs that I have taken recently that consist of telephone lines acquainted with a fellow object. The object, in this case, is a bird (or birds, in some instances). In some of my past photos, I found a simplicity with telephone lines among an overcast backdrop, with endless options to construct an image with other overlapping lines. The overcast backdrop gives me a palette to work with in a way to make the contrasts very sharp in a black and white setting. The shapes of the lines provide an endless chance of possibilities that compose the image, with the bird being the focal point in an abstract fashion that calls out to the art styles of Constructivism and Supremacism while being very minimalist at the same time. Rather than a typical bird on a wire, I like having the challenge of a bird in action, moving between the lines, instantly compartmentalizing it in a frame of wires.
One such feature that made this project more of being at ease with getting very compelling images is due to one avian corvid, an American Crow, who I gave the name ‘Alfred’ (after the photographer Alfred Stieglitz) in my neighbourhood. Alfred is in a majority of the photographs you see here and is easy to spot: launching from a telephone line, with sometimes the illusion of gravity taking over and looking like it is falling down (or flying UP to a telephone line in one case). This is due in part to the likelihood of feeding squirrels in my parking spot at my apartment complex. In some way, a crow made its way to that feeding spot and gave some nuts (shelled peanuts, always unsalted, by the way). Overtime, I would see a crow and drop a nut somewhere where it would retrieve it. As time went on it would fly near me and I would fully acknowledge it and give it a peanut. I was then gifted the privilege of having it be near me on a telephone line, have my cameraphone at the ready with peanut in hand, then throw it away from me. I would then get a series of photos of the crow in action, dive-bombing for its food reward while rewarding me with some wonderful images. I still make the effort to walk around in the morning, search for Alfred to fly to me for his peanut treats.
The prints will be made available to purchase.
CURRENT EXHIBIT: Larnie Fox’s ‘Contraptions’
Sun, Sep 1 — Thu, Oct 31, 2024
Larnie Fox presents ‘Contraptions’ his installation of invented instruments at C4NM’s Window Gallery! A reception will be held on Sunday, September 8th at 4pm. Reception with light refreshments will be followed by a talk/demo by Fox. View the event page at the link below.
Artist’s Statement ~ Contraptions
What I’m doing is fun. It has developed, gradually, over many years, starting in Salt Lake City in the early 80s when we had heard about “performance art”. We didn’t have any idea what it was, but we did it anyway, and had a blast. My instrument building work has evolved from hacking old mechanical devices we used in performances, like 8-track tape players or TVs, to working with more natural materials like bamboo, sticks, and feathers. I like common materials, such as plywood, string, and hot glue and I love to work with recycled materials like coat hangers, rubber bands and found hardware
I’ve never formally studied sculpture, or electronics, or sound, so I always feel like an explorer, discovering things that are already well known, but are new to me. My studio feels a bit like a mad scientists’ lab. My lack of expertise forces me to keep things basic, so folks can see how the instruments work. I approach these things in new ways, so that folks can see the materials and the objects created from them in new ways as well
I am happy if there is a little pathos to my work. Perhaps they look like a child made them, or perhaps they look like they are ready to break. I am happy if there’s a little vulnerability to the work. I have no desire for my work to be polished or slick
I love making things, then turning them over to collaborators to see what they do with them ~ it is always surprising! It is akin to the joy one feels after giving a successful present to a loved one. What I am doing is fun. Deep fun
Larnie Fox
8/10/24
Bio
Larnie Fox is a visual and sound artist known for his large-scale bamboo sculptures, kinetic sculptures, sound installations, performances, and paintings. After earning an MFA in painting from the University of Utah, he taught at Weber State College in Ogden, Utah, and later directed children’s programs at the Palo Alto Art Center. He also served as the Executive Director of Arts Benicia in Benicia, California, from 2010 to 2015
Fox’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions and performances in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally. He created and led the Crank Ensemble, a group that performs on hand-cranked instruments he built. Currently, he is inventing instruments, composing, and performing with the new-music group the Contraption Quartet, a sound art collaboration that explores sound and visual performance using low-tech handmade instruments and sound sculptures
Recent collaborations with his wife, Bodil Fox, include interactive sound sculpture shows at Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland and NY2CA Gallery in Benicia, titled Probability, and Probability 2. Their joint projects also encompass dicewalks, interactive installations, residencies, performances as a duo as well as with the Contraption Quartet and the Crank Ensemble. They recently returned from a month-long residency at Mas de Grape near Aix en Provence, France, where they created installations using found materials at an old farmstead. Their sound installations are currently on view at Zaprice Castle and the Volčji Potok Arboretum as part of the six-month-long, multi-venue art project Dobre Novice in Kamnik, Slovenia
Larnie and Bodil Fox live and work together in an old house near the water in Benicia, California