Just down the street from its original location at 14th and Guerrero, the Kiki Gallery--by all accounts a tiny, interdisciplinary space--has been resurrected by artist Colter Jacobsen and writer Kevin Killian at Ratio 3. Comprised almost entirely of works shown at Kiki, during its short yet fervent 18 month run, the exhibit chronicles Kiki owner, Rick Jacobsen’s vision and devotion to the arts in San Francisco. Opened in 1993, Kiki played host to a number of interestingly themed shows (the first titled Caca), while also supplying a venue for experimental theater and writing, opening in the evenings for performances. Perhaps the grandfather of what the Mission District has become, Kiki seemed to set the stage for experimentation, throwing commercial gain by the wayside.

In Kiki: The Proof Is In The Pudding, works by Yoko Ono, Rex Ray, Nayland Blake, Catherine Opie, D-L Alvarez, Scott Hewicker and Chris Johanson, amongst many others, were drawn exclusively from the collections of the artists and individuals who experienced Kiki in its heyday. Part gallery retrospective, part memorial to Jacobsen, who died in 1997 after a long battle with AIDS, the exhibit begins with a diminutive oil portrait titled Rick (2008) by artist Keith Mayerson. Mimicking many of the photocopied images of the gallery impresario, pictured in the two ‘zines made by the exhibit’s curators, the likeness conveys the jolly, spontaneous attitude which Jacobsen’s endeavor seems to have represented. From the entryway, he surveys the show, which combines a hodge-podged display of wall-to-floor sculptures, photographs, scrappy pre Mission-school sketches, along with a case of official Kiki gallery correspondences and ephemera. Although the show has a bit of a melancholic twinge, ripe with remembrances of Jacobsen before his death, the revival of Kiki casts a shade of potential change over the consumer driven climate of the art world today.

--Ava Jancar

(*All Images: Kiki: The Proof is in the Pudding, June 27 - August 2, 2008; Ratio 3, installation views, photos courtesy of Ratio 3, San Francisco.