The Eureka Fellowship Awards

These days, the drive to San Jose can be a grueling endeavor (Where's that Super Highway we were promised?). However, a trip to the San Jose Museum of Art's current exhibition showcasing new work by fourteen Bay Area artists awarded Eureka Fellowships between 1999 and 2001, the effort is well worth undertaking. The show demonstrates that the artists selected clearly deserve the honor bestowed on them by the Fleishhacker Foundation, which grants $17,500 to each beneficiary. The most recent round of recipients includes: Jim Campbell, Geoffrey Chadsey, the collaborative team of De La Torre, Morales + Nuño, Lewis deSoto, Frederick Hayes, Todd Hido, Terry Hoff, Joyce Hsu, Jason Jägel, Young Kim, Lisa Kokin, and Stephanie Syjuco. The work reflects a diverse range of cultural, stylistic, and historical influences, as well as mediums - photography, painting, drawing, sculptural installation, and new media. Todd Hido's haunting photographs (all shot at twilight) of residences devoid of human presence leave an inviting and ineffable impression of suburban blight. Borderlines and landscapes are eloquently explored in Young Kim's sheetrock panels, tracing the boundaries of a universal geography. In contrast to these quieter works, a pop playground of clear plastic, adult-size hoppity horses are set against a wall of bubblegum pink in Joyce Hsu's "Moo Ge Gae (1120SW-12)" installation. This romper room for grownups nods at our infantilized culture with its ever-increasing impatience and ME ME ME attitude. On the other hand, the suspiciously sweet adolescent boys in Geoffrey Chadsey's beautifully executed drawings are perfectly content to linger and wait. A subtle creepy tension permeates the mood of these works and almost leaves one feeling the need to shower after viewing - for one reason or another. Directions for getting to the Museum are available on the SJMA website:http://www.sjmusart.org/.

San Jose Museum of Art
110 South Market Street, San Jose
Tues. – Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Thurs. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Admission: $7 general, $4 seniors/students with I.D./6-17;
free for children 5 and younger. Free the first Thurs. of every month;
half-price from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m., Thurs.
(408) 271-6840 (Megan Wilson)