In the 21st century artists must balance tech-based interaction with fellow artists, admirers of their work, and their friends with the traditional “IRL” collaborations, support and cooperation, and social get-togethers. ‘In Passing,’ an exhibition of new work from Bay Area based artists Henry Fey, Bryon Christman, Alicia Mccarthy Pablo De Pinho and Oliver Hawk Holden at Good Mother Gallery, examines this at times precarious tightrope walk, placing on view a group of artists within the Bay Area who have successfully been in continued conversation and mutually supportive of each other’s practice for several years, without creating a formal collective, group, or movement. Although inspired by shape, form, color and line in their own highly individualistic way, influence among the group composes a group show that is at once highly unique and also mutually inclusive of several themes, concepts, and ideals.

With access a wide array of artists via social media likes Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat: from the emerging artists starting and gaining momentum to the established perhaps infamous artist celebrating a show at a major museum, artists might find their individual voice lost in the over-saturation, and perhaps risk constant comparison of one’s own career to a polished version of someone else’s. It can also be difficult to navigate that now more than ever artists, enthusiasts, and collectors experience and even purchase artwork from the at times deceiving computer or phone screen. Good Mother Gallery’s group show in many ways begins to quiet this tech noise and gets back to basics by placing a spotlight on those artists who have and continue to collaborate, support, and influence each other in more traditional ways. All with connections to SF Art Institute, and including mid-career artists alongside emerging artists, alumni and current students Alicia McCarthy, Fey, Oliver Hawk Holden, Pablo De Pinho, and Bryon Christman, “In Passing” reminds viewers and enthusiasts of the Bay Area’s strong and diverse art community wherein artists of all backgrounds and experience come together to support and collaborate.