3 Bay Area Photography Exhibits to Visit This Week
Author:Lindsey ShookFinished nibbling on leftovers and making returns? Step away from the stores and experience a little culture. Here are a few brilliant photography exhibits to peruse in San Francisco and beyond this week.
1991: The Oakland-Berkeley Fire Aftermath
Photographs by Richard Misrach
After the catastrophic firestorm that struck the Oakland and Berkeley hills in 1991 (which killed 25 people and destroyed nearly 3,000 houses), celebrated local photographer Richard Misrach roamed the devastation with his 8″x10″ view camera recording the stark vistas and intimate details of the destroyed homes and neighborhoods. Out of respect for the victims, Misrach has kept this dramatic photographs in storage until now, the 25th anniversary of the fire. The exhibit presents 40 images from the series, including 14 large-format compositions, one of which is shown above.
BAM/PFA, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, 510-642-0808.

Photo courtesy of Carl Corey.
Tavern League: Portraits of Wisconsin Bars
Photographs by Carl Corey
Public photographic studio RayKo Photo Center in SoMA presents selections from Midwestern photgrapher Carl Corey’s award-winning book, Tavern League: Portraits of Wisconsin Bars, through Jan. 11. Spotlighting watering holes throughout the Badger State, Corey’s photographs, shot with medium format film and a Hasselblad, are perceptibly eerie yet warmly inviting. Lingering with cigarette smoke, studded with gritty floors and oozing with the glow of cold beer, the images, one of which is shown above, are vivid with a sense of place and the people who love them.
RayKo Photo Center, 428 Third St., 415-495-3773.

Photo courtesy of John Martin.
Timescapes
Through Jan. 25, Collaborate Studio and Art Gallery in Oakland unites the work of seven artists from the Bay Area Photographers Collective. A study of time, the photographs capture fleeting moments on rocky shores, in vibrant green fields and over Venetian canals. The works, including one shown above by John Martin, include photogravures, archival pigment prints, and more.
Collaborate Studio and Art Gallery, 431 13th St., Oakland, 510-451-1776.