Gallery Wendi Norris
Gallery Wendi Norris is a high value art gallery in San Francisco, California. It is unique for representing both modern and contemporary artists from surrealist artists (Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, and Wolfgang Paalen) to contemporary artists (Ana Teresa Fernandez, Chitra Ganesh, Val Britton, and Firalei Báez). The gallery remains an art world standout for its programming, which amplifies the voices of women artists of color whose art is concerned with protest, immigration, colonialism, and globalization.
At Gallery Wendi Norris I performed condition inspections of artwork and prepared them for restoration, photography, exhibition, sales, loans, and shipment. I maintained our Salesforce database and handled certificates of authenticity. In preparation for receptions, exhibit turnover (every six weeks), and purchases, I tracked press to create PR packs for our artists and clients. Additionally, I compiled data for works slated for travel to art fairs such as Frieze and Basel. To solidify gallery voice and strengthen our web presence, I created a style sheet for all in-house written material and edited artist biographies and CVs accordingly. As part of my editorial responsibilities, I proofread and copyedited material for exhibition catalogues. Lastly, I researched international working artists for large-scale, public commission consideration.
christine elfman - even amaranth, 2016
Christine Elfman uses nineteenth century photography practices to examine the ephemeral. A modern day Anna Atkins, Elfman creates anthotypes by growing pigment-rich botanicals, making photosensitive dyes, and exposing her photographs by sunlight. Choosing not to chemically fix her prints, Elfman’s embraces impermanence in both process and subject matter. In Even Amaranth, Elfman extracts vivid pinks, reds, oranges, and browns from home-grown hopi amaranth. She refers to her dyes as “fugitive,” suggesting that they escape even their creator and the images they create. The subjects in her photographs exact their own power over the viewer, subverting expectation to remain fixed forever.
val britton - reverberations, 2016
Val Britton’s intricate works on paper charter mental and geographical cartographies. Britton’s work resembles landmasses, clouds, even neural networks. Some appear frenetic and others static, representing global separation and communication in the digital age. The San Francisco native reacts to information and technology, which are central to the changing city around her.
ana teresa fernandez - erasure, 2016
Ana Teresa Fernandez creates hyperrealistic paintings that can be difficult to distinguish from photography. Her imagery is striking and generally responds to borders, immigration, restriction, separation, and belonging. In this series of self portraits, Ana Teresa Fernandez responds to erasure of immigrant communities and identity. Each canvas depicts a moment before erasure. Fernandez’s mouth, hands, back, neck, legs, and face are almost completely indistinguishable from a surrounding black void. Only parts remain uncovered, leaving us to assume that we are witnessing her last moments before she is gone entirely.
