LastNight: The Sims: In the hands of Artists

(Photo courtesy of Angel Strickland Fahy from last night's opening reception. Click for a brief slideshow.)

If you've spent like a minute downtown, you've probably seen a black Academy of Art bus carrying a load of sullen students and wondered, "Field trip?" Hardly. There's a staggering 27 locations in the academy's hive, and those 9,000 students have to shuttle between them somehow (those easels are just so unwieldy for city bus travel). Last night was your chance, though, to penetrate the slick façade of the private art school and see what's doing at the opening reception of "The Sims: In the Hands of Artists." The show featured student art based on the game, which is entirely appropriate, as living a simulation of real life seems to be the call for many who pay tuition (but of course this doesn't apply to these talented artists). The work dipped into the genres of fashion, interactive media, physical computing, three-dimensional designs, and "machinima," which means using a game engine to produce animation. Now you can stop wondering if the academy is just a huge real estate business (they have suspiciously great locations, don't they?) or if there's some truly fine art coming out of there.

"The Sims: In the Hands of Artists" runs from 9am-6pm, until July 19, at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, 79 New Montgomery (at Mission); call (415) 724-2200, or visit www.academyofart.edu for more info.

--Michael Leaverton