"The Big Picture Show" at Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco

**Merg Ross** · 10-Jun-2016, 06:56

Large prints on display at Scott Nichols Gallery, June 2nd through July 14th, 2016.

http://www.scottnicholsgallery.com/e...t-exhibitions/

**tgtaylor** · 10-Jun-2016, 08:40

Thanks for the post Merg. This is one exhibition I have to see - especially the giant WH Jackson print of Yosemite Valley. I wonder if he used an enlarger for that print? "Sun enlargers" were around back then, I believe, but contact printing was SOP at the time. Christopher Burkett's website was refreshing and inspiring to visit and his print prices were a surprise: just $1250 for a 20x24 and only double that for 30x40 - bargains considering that they are handmade cibachromes which is a very labor-intensive and expensive printing process. Also I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Point Molate was open to the public. Back at the turn of the century I was prowling around the area with my Pentax 67II looking for images when I spotted the wine storage buildings which looked old and interesting. But the whole area was closed-off and remained closed for over a decade. Time for a revisit.

Thomas

**Drew Wiley** · 10-Jun-2016, 11:57

Better double-check on Pt Molate, Thomas. I was there not long ago and the buildings were still only accessible to scheduled group tours at night. Not very practical yet for large format or tripods. One beach is already open to the public. I'm eager to get into the cottages, specifically the Admiral's Quarters, to see the quarter-sawn Cassegranian walnut wallpaper we sold him decades ago. The Navy sure had money to waste! All those cottages have been preserved just as they were left, complete with era furnishings and appliances. The military has done a good job of keeping taggers out of there. The marina further down that dead-end road is private property. Hazmat takes a lot of time and patience. But I'd like to see that SF exhibition myself. It's just difficult to get over there and back without destroyed nerves from the traffic on my limited days off.

**tgtaylor** · 10-Jun-2016, 12:16

Take Bart Drew - it's just a short walk from the Montgomery station.

I was somewhat surprised the gallery was still open. The last time I was there - over a year now I imagine - Scott was talking about retiring and moving into a trailer. This was back when the rising rents made it impossible for the art galleries downtown to survive according to the press at the time.

Thomas

**Drew Wiley** · 10-Jun-2016, 12:51

Hmm. There's a BART station not far from me; but it's still very difficult to sacrifice any of my personal "reset" time on my nerves. I really need weekly solitude
and outdoor workouts to do that. Maybe I could take a day off here, but my key assistant is currently on vacation. But actually, I should just look up Chris Burkett in person to compare technique. Last time I was in his neighborhood my father in law was dying, so I didn't have free time. In any event, it is indeed encouraging that somebody is trying to survive the brutal downtown rents. I did some nice gallery gigs myself around Union Square way back in my 30's. Hope the dang techie invasion doesn't utterly destroy the whole ambiance of that side of town, but it's probably already too late. I took my wife over there for her birthday recently, for the restaurants during lunch and dinner, and beach walks in between.

**richardman** · 10-Jun-2016, 13:37

Originally Posted by Drew Wiley

...Hope the dang techie invasion doesn't utterly destroy the whole ambiance of that side of town, but it's probably already too late..

Milk is spilled, cheese has curdled, mold has come in, ... ;-)

**Drew Wiley** · 10-Jun-2016, 14:09

Rats and mice eat the cheese, cats eat the rodents and lick up the spilled milk before mold arrives; but what do you do when greedy pixels start swarming the earth and devour all the real estate? There won't be anyplace to sell you cheese and milk anymore, unless it's fifty dollars per slice atop the escargot which even cats won't eat! All the downtown bookstores are gone, nearly all the galleries, all the locally owned shops. Getting to be a sterile urban desert which even techies
can't afford to live in. I call it the Chips of Wrath, the modern equivalent of a Steinbeck novel: the techies are tying all their earthly belongings atop the roofs of
their BMW's and moving back to Oklahoma to find affordable housing.