A week ago Friday night, Book and Job Gallery in the Tenderloin branched out from their usual photography displays into some installations and mixed-media work by Christopher Burch and John Felix Arnold III in their new show Found in Darkness: Explorations in Personal Mythologies (through Dec 8th). The crowd was smaller than is usual for this gallery, but this was actually a benefit as it allowed more room to view much larger works. A small two-man band played later in the night, but I personally missed this part of the opening.

Downstairs displays both artists, with the right wall occupied by the detailed drawings of Chris Burch's Br'Er Rabbit figure falling down the existential rabbit hole. The subtle transitions from blue to black and white graphite provide a sensuous background for his figure who looks like a terrified or sneaky trickster. While not visually related, the opposite wall holds The Story of Shy, John Felix Arnold III's large mixed media on wood assemblage. This piece, and his other wood assemblage works, look like they were removed from old decrepit buildings. They are painted with what look like Japanese comic book drawings and phrases on top of layers of old graffiti and spray paint. The wood layers, spray paint, and drawings compound upon one another to provide a complex grounding for the drawings themselves. They seem to resemble fragments of a building that if only you could see the whole building, you could understand the whole mythology drawn and painted upon it.

A trip upstairs revealed two very large installations by each artist. To the right, you were shown In Memory of Shy by Arnold, another wall of wood assemblage, but this time, installed to look as if it was the actual wall of the gallery, covered over by smooth drywall finish at a sharp diagonal. The drawings on this piece span the division between wood and drywall and connect the two so that the division doesn't seem as sharp. A mat of grass extends from the wall, on which a skeleton-moped sculpture, called The Great Debate sits. The skull headlight is really beautiful and the cream coloration extends throughout the bike. It as if you can see a ghost riding through the desert on it; eerie, beautiful, and intriguing. The opposite wall holds an altar installation, a clear tribute to a lost friend. The walls are covered with decadent fabric and sitting in front of it are what look like black bottles, reminiscent of those used in Voodoo rituals. In the center of the wall is Portrait of a Trickster, a painting bringing back the Br'Er rabbit from downstairs and compounding the southern Creole mix of mythology of both Voodoo and folk stories.

Overall, the show was a successful break in the photo-heavy schedule of Book and Job. Since it didn't include as many artists, less friends were probably feeling like they needed to come to the actual opening. However, take the time to go and visit maybe even by yourself, so you can get into the work and reflect on its dark subject matter without the talking and laughing of other gallery visitors.

Words and photos: Rachel Ralph, rachel(at)fecalface.com

Br'Er Rabbit and Br'Er Death in the Land of Shadows by Christopher Burch

The Story of Shy by John Felix Arnold III