Experience the beauty of San Francisco's flora and sights through the eyes of Michael Kerner.
Food and beverages will be served. Be entertained with a surprise performance.
For more information, please call us at the Castro Country Club at 415.552.6102
Artist's Statement:
In this show you’ll see a lot of new growth. Earlier this spring, we had tons of rain – and all the pink flowers sprang into bloom. Dolores Park was remodeled and reopened and there are new views and landscapes to be se...
Experience the beauty of San Francisco's flora and sights through the eyes of Michael Kerner.
Food and beverages will be served. Be entertained with a surprise performance.
For more information, please call us at the Castro Country Club at 415.552.6102
Artist's Statement:
In this show you’ll see a lot of new growth. Earlier this spring, we had tons of rain – and all the pink flowers sprang into bloom. Dolores Park was remodeled and reopened and there are new views and landscapes to be seen for the first time. Construction cranes. A cruise ship terminal. The new Bay Bridge. The new Doyle Drive. As I was looking for inspiration for this show, it was right in front of me – framed by one of my favorite subjects: Pink Flora. As a 20-year Fog City resident, a lot has changed.
There’s also a lot of personal new growth in this show. For years, I hid the secret that the pink flora photography series was just to cover up for the fact that I’m also a water color artist. I minored in it in college when I got my BFA – but then it was more of a poke in the eye to the Cowboy Culture I’d come from than an authentic expression of my creativity. I hadn’t put paint to paper in about 25 years. Painting again is definitely a gift of my recovery.
And there’s emotional and spiritual growth. As I did a lot work on my internalized homophobia – I let go of a lot of shame. Shame that wasn’t mine. One day I was out in the Botanical Gardens after a big rain storm, and it hit me – the plants were all growing like mad. And no one was standing there telling them that they were doing it wrong, or looked stupid, or that they weren’t doing it right – or how they were turning out was wrong in some way. That’s the black and white photography series in the Café. #plantsknownoshame
My work is an example of new growth, too. A friend asked me if my HIV was a factor in my work. It had been only in metaphoric ways, but it got me to wondering. Ode to Truvada Blue is the first time I’ve openly included reference to my HIV status in my art. It’s been kind of liberating. The Truvada pill is a shade of Prussian Blue – which also happens to be the first man-made pigment. Go figure. I’ve taken enough Truvada to be a Smurf by now – and wouldn’t be here without it – so when you see a blue sky in my work, it’s a Truvada blue sky.
In 1989, I earned my BFA from the University of Idaho College of Art & Architecture and have worked in the creative fields in some way or another for my entire career. Thanks to the help of some good friends, I was recently published nationally in A&U Magazine – America’s AIDS Magazine, (Arts & Understanding). I am single, and available, and I’m proud to be a member of the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band. I live here in the Castro with a cat named Jabu.
Please consider buying some art and helping this artist and the Castro Country Club -- helping turn lives around for over 30 years, including mine. Thank you for your interest in my work!
Michael