articles and reviews

2:00 a.m. May 24, 2009

Vicki Walsh (Fear 6, 2008) is among the local emerging artists on exhibit. (Quint Contemporary Art) -

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego canvassed the local scene in 1985 and again in 1996. There were, by design, 42 emerging artists in the first exhibition and 19 in the second.

No commercial gallery has done anything along these lines. But Quint Contemporary Art decided to give the concept a try. On Friday, a show called "Homing In: An Exhibition of 50 San Diego Artists" opens in its space in La Jolla. And like the two museum shows, it will inevitably generate some controversy for the simple reason that some artists get left out.

But Ben Strauss-Malcolm, the Quint gallery director, didn't set out to create an all-inclusive portrait of the local art scene.

"We included the artists we represent, which is only a few of those we have included, along with younger artists we're interested in," says Strauss-Malcolm.

They also chose a good number of other artists who have demonstrated staying power, such as Brian Dick, Joanne Hayakawa, Louis Hock, Richard Allen Morris, Chris Reilly, Gail Roberts and Lynn Schuette.

"Homing In" will showcase a healthy number of emerging artists, too: Adam Belt, Kelsey Brookes, Lael Corbin, Heather Martin and Vicki Walsh among them. All have exhibited locally, except Brookes.

It's worth noting that a few artists were in both of the museum's exhibitions and will also be in this one. These include Wick Alexander, Kenneth Capps and Raul Guerrero.

And Strauss-Malcolm decided to include two artists who were mainstays of the local scene and are now deceased, Italo Scanga and Manny Farber: "It didn't feel right to leave them out."

There will one work by each artist on view. The exhibition will continue through July 11. Information: quintgallery.com.

"We thought this was a good opportunity to invite a lot of artists and invite the public to see a large cross-section of local work," says Strauss-Malcolm.