You’ve got to keep your finger firmly on the pulse of the San Francisco art scene to keep pace with everything that’s happening there at the moment – and that pulse is quickening with the announcement of three major converging events.

First up is the relocation of two linchpins of the Frisco gallery circuit; White Walls and Shooting Gallery have upped sticks and moved to new, and enormous, premises at 886 Geary Street. Not only is there 5,000sq ft of space to play with, the venue has two dedicated project areas for exhibiting less conventional art forms. Such a big move demands a suitably grand opening event, and providing the visual fanfare are solo shows by Charmaine Olivia (Shooting Gallery) and Chad Hasegawa (White Walls).

Olivia’s collection Muses showcases her renowned oil paintings, and in this latest body of work beautifully recreated female faces are surrounded, sometimes engulfed, in wilder brush strokes of vivid colour and uncertain form, representing the artist’s emotional response to the original image’s expression. Muses is on display until March 2.

Hasagewa’s work under the title Abstracts From stands in marked contrast to Olivia’s more painterly approach in style and subject. A tribute to MOMA’s Abstract Expressionist New York exhibition, Hasagewa re-imagines revered works from the 1950s by some of the 20th Century’s greats, such as Rothko and Valledor, all brought back to life in the form of his signature grizzly bear and a deliberately mis-mixed colour palette. The exhibition of Abstracts From also ends on 2nd March.

Charmaine Olivia
Horizon
Oil on Panel, 18×24″

Chad Hasegawa
Rothko
House-paint on Canvas, 108×114″

Charmaine Olivia
Fiora
Oil on Panel, 30×40″

Chad Hasegawa
Diebenkorn
House-paint on Canvas, 60×60″

Charmaine Olivia
Azalea
Oil on Panel, 18×24″

Chad Hasegawa