Tony Labat has produced art dealing with identity, labor, violence, and marginalization. He has constantly posited ideas about the artist as an intentional fool and risk taker, as exemplified by his appearance on The Gong Show in 1978 with performance partner Bruce Pollack, and the transformation of his studio into a functional gym in 1980–1981. Works in this exhibition reveal the artist’s interest in implied and realized acts of expression and agency, including Blanket Policy, 1989, a tent made of found paintings; the video Peace Roll, 2006, featuring a performer rolling a giant peace symbol across the streets of San Francisco; and Elevations: Platforms, Stages, & Catwalks, 2012, recent drawings of proposed structures.

Tad Savinar has worked as a visual artist, urban planner, playwright, and director. His works in various media focus on the relationship between the individual and notions of officialdom, be they governmental, religious, or parental. In Man, 2006, an internal and likely unspoken set of feelings about home life, work, and driving are therapeutically announced. Graphic works including Champ, 1983, and Characteristics of a Third World Country, 2008, offer lessons in national pride, economics, and civics. For Savinar, language often functions best as image, where it can slip from spoken to seen, toying with the senses and complicating the everyday.