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Introduction

Posted on 01.20.08 by Webmaster ||

Patricia Correia Gallery is pleased to present The Book Club at Van Kleef’s, an exhibition and innovative collage work composed by The Book Club. The Book Club is a loose association of Northern California artists who have met, drank and discussed artistic practice at Café Van Kleef's, an Oakland bar. The exhibit is curated by the Book Club's own Robert Hernandez. Hernandez emphatically champions the egalitarian nature of the collage medium mirrored in the group's credo that all artists are welcome to attend it's weekly meetings on Thursdays at 5 PM. After three successful years of holding these meetings, the exhibition serves as a testament to the dynamic visual ideas that can be launched from a foundation of cameraderie and shared experience. Hernandez' curation takes as its point of departure from the groups mentor, the late Peter Voulkos, an internationally established Bay Area ceramicist who challenged younger artists to find their medium and their voice as one. As a tribute to Voulkos, Hernandez has chosen a broad array of collage styles from the Book Club's Vast output, each serving as a testament to the possibility of artmaking and a commitment to exploration epitomized by the social communication among artists that takes place out of the studio in casual establishments of drink and conversation

- Matt Gleason,

Los Angeles, CA,

June 2007

A Look at Van Kleef's

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< And now, the annual Absinthe night at Van Kleef's

< The 2007 Annual Book Club Petanque Tournament

Take a look!

The origins of the group

In the tradition of the Cedar Bar and Max's Kansas City in New York, Barney's Beanery and Al's Bar in Los Angeles, we present the Book Club at Van Kleef's, in Oakland California. As long as artists have gathered in various watering holes to share stories, ideas, and their art experiences a cameraderie exists. The Bookclub has been meeting every Thursday evening since 2005. It has been a time-honored commitment, and a way for artists to communicate with one another

- Robert Hernandez

List of presenting artists

Contact

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