OPENING JULY 18th

We are very excited to be a part of this years’
Bay Area Now 7 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Participating as art workers, members of Bay Area Art Workers Alliance :
(in no hierarchal order)

 

Josh Minkus
Andrew Chapman
Rebecca Ariel Silberman
Greg Ito
Auburn Leigh
Thorson Kahn
Julia Goodman
Em Meine
Alex Dangles
Lauren Hartman
Cal Volner-Dison
Haegen Crosby
Stijn Schiffeleers
Carrie Sinclair Katz
Michael Berens
Monika Jones
Joshua Churchill
Jessica Tully
Neil Rivas
Ace Lehner
Kelsey Thorne
Nicola Buffa
Daisy Wong
Justin Hurty
Dana Hemenway
Nicolas Torres
James Cordas
Marisa Prefer
Chelsea Wills
Jeremy Ehling
McIntyre Parker
Rebecca Ebeling
Raphael Noz
Bink Galbraith
Jennifer Galipo
Derek Frech
Paul Clipson
John Foster Cartwright
William Emmert
Collin McKelvey
Derek Gedalecia
Dan Allende
Ian Cox
Jesse Walton
Elisabeth Ajtay
Joey Enos
Elena Lyman
Steven Garen
Jesus Landin-Torrez III
Maggie Wong
Binta Ayofemi
Benjamin Echeverria
Lisa Rybovich Crallé
Nicolaus Chaffin
Liz Judkins
Terrance Graven
Rico Solinas
Samuel Lopes
Dave Kim
Gibson Cuyler
Jason Rogowski
Eric Bodine
Jefferson Eisenberg
Erik Mortensen
Matt Walker
Scott Schryver
Daniel Healey
Jemima Farwell
Sean Howe
Leo Knapp
Edward Setina
Henry Witecki
Douglas McDonald
Teilor Good
Susana Cortez
Reuben Telushkin
Gina Acebo
Torreya Cummings
Nancy Arms Simon
Kimberly Walton
Crow Cianciola
Brian Barreto
Kate Rhoades
James Chronister
Lex Non Scripta
Devin Trainer
Andrea Pinal
Lee Embrey
Aurora Crispin
Scott MacLeod
Saif Azzuz
Jen Hing
Alex Wang
Steve Briscoe
Sasha Petrenko
Helen Grace Lanier
Justin Limoges
Sara Kerr
Susannah Dotson
Mike Rothfeld
Monica Raden
Benjamin Vilmain
Kyle Herbert
Jonathan Runcio
Ian Dolton-Thornton
Justin Wyckoff
Dustin Clark
Chris Edmunds
Danny Grody
Jf Swartz
Blake Gibson
Jamie Healey
Travis Kerkela
Bryan Morello
Charlene Tan
Mads Lynnerup
Nico Colon
Matt Lopez
Dana Cohen
Rainen Knecht
Hillary Wiedemann
Brandon Drew Holmes
Chelsea Pegram
Ian Treasure
Dallas Kavanagh
Ryan Jones
Christo Oropeza
Kait Mooney
Alexander Jackson
Marcelo Gutierrez
José Luis Íñiguez
Zach Houston
Ven Voisey
Emmett Ramstad
Dimitra Skandali
Casey Oneal
Mark Shunney
Amy Cancelmo
Erin Allen
Evie Leder
Amanda Curreri
Jen Pearson
Brooke Valentine

——————————————–
Bay Area Art Workers Alliance Presents

“Invisible Labor”

at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for Bay Area Now 7

July 18th-October 5th

Opening Reception July 18th 8pm-11pm

Bay Area Art Workers Alliance presents an exhibition of works by preparators addressing the invisible labor, aesthetic vocabulary, and materials that art workers use when they install and care for the precious objects that give value to institutions like YBCA. ‘Invisible Labor’ speaks to the nature of the art preparator’s work, tasks that when proficiently executed, are rendered invisible. With this show we aim to highlight those sights and subtleties, and the fleeting tableaus that we, as art handlers, encounter daily, yet remain unseen beyond the profession.

Each of these 50 new art works are constructed using on-the-job materials informed by vantages of the preparator — behind the painting, during the paperwork, inside the crate, from truck to office to gallery — that happen between, in proximity to, and in spite of the finished exhibition.

In the collaborative spirit of the profession, BAAWA will present works generated by preparators with a strategic focus on the collective work of a community rather than one single author. As such, you won’t find artist names associated with individual pieces. This way, instead of a series of individual pieces “Invisible Labor” refers to a powerful and invisible force of workers. The anonymity not only signals the existence of a network of workers with unexpected tactics of mutual aid, it also serves to value all work by BAAWA art workers equally– whether that work is professional/un, visible/in, paid/un, discursive/silent, or art/work.

Over the course of the exhibition there will be a rotation of artworks and installations by several artist-preparators in gestures emphasizing process over result, and as a public performance of labor. Participating artists involved in the exhibition are currently working as preparators–the physical installers, facilitators and fabricators of art exhibitions–in major bay area institutions such as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Berkeley Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, de Young Museum, Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art, Asian Art Museum, Southern Exposure, Kadist Art Foundation, Mills College Museum, Creative Growth, as well as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and many more.  The project aims to acknowledge and celebrate this diverse community of working artists so vital to the Bay Area arts ecology.

About us:

The Bay Area Art Workers Alliance (B.A.A.W.A.) was conceived as a means of bringing together and promulgating the labor, efforts, and artistry of the art handlers of the Bay Area. BAAWA fosters a mutually supportive relationship between these art workers and their contractors, facilitating open dialogue, and providing educational resources regarding best practices for the installation, transportation, storage, and archiving of artworks. BAAWA is particularly interested in advocating for the contributions and needs of workers who have little institutional security, those who are temporary or on-call– the independent contractors, freelancers, and project-based workers.

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