Many of us are settling into the first full week of work after the holidays…while adhering (or at least thinking about adhering) to New Year’s resolutions. Reward yourself for a job well done by indulging your creative side at five new art exhibits. Eleanor Harwood Gallery re-opens after a fall hiatus, Gallery Paule Anglim kicks off 2014 with stunning film stills, and Fraenkel Gallery shocks visitors with sex...

Nathaniel Dorsky: Film Stills, at Gallery Paule Anglim

This dreamy collection features images from Nathaniel Dorsky’s short, silent, experimental films: Hours for Jerome, Triste, Variations, Arbor Vitae, Love’s Refrain, Song and Solitude, Winter, Aubade, Pastourelle, The Return, August and After, April, Song and Summer. The striking depth, pattern, shadow and light featured in each photograph are hallmarks of Dorsky’s work.

Film Stills runs through February 8th at Gallery Paule Anglim, 14 Geary Street, San Francisco. The opening reception 
will be hosted on Thursday, January 9th, from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m.

Four artists: Figure Ground, at Eleanor Harwood Gallery

After a three-month break, Eleanor Harwood Gallery is unveiling the first show curated by Gideon Chase, an artist known for his playful aesthetic. The works – ranging from large acrylic paintings on canvas, to small graphite drawings on printer paper – establish the importance of a subject and a context in the creation and interpretation of art.

Figure Ground runs through February 8th at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, 1295 Alabama Street, San Francisco. The opening reception 
will be hosted on Friday, January 10th, from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m.

Laeh Glenn: Ordinary Objects, at Altman Siegel Gallery

Laeh Glenn is a master of simplicity. The paintings in this series are consistent in size, composition and minimalistic style; however the subjects vary from geometric abstraction to still-life renderings. 

Ordinary Objects runs through March 1st at Altman Siegel Gallery, 49 Geary Street, Fourth Floor, San Francisco. 

Fritz Chesnut: Purr Valley, at CULT

Fritz Chesnut employs a technique that's analogous to geological evolution, where natural forces dictate form. Acrylic, oil paint and water are poured and sprayed on canvas. As the substances coalesces, the artist lifts and tilts the canvas, creating pools, ravines and fields of color. The enamel and acrylic paint form skins and shapes that drift and float on top of wet paint underneath. 

Purr Valley runs through February 22nd at CULT | Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, 319 Mission Street, San Francisco. The artist’s reception will be hosted on Friday, January 10th, from 7:00 until 10:00 p.m.

Peter Hujar: Love & Lust; Nan Goldin: Nine Self-Portraits, at Fraenkel Gallery

Peter Hujar’s work is bound to make you uncomfortable. The nearly 30 black-and-white photographs in this exhibition, made between the years 1967 and 1986, depict men in the highest pitch of orgasm and an uncompromising view of the human body. 

The sexually explicit images inspired many photographers, including Nan Goldin, who wrote in the 1994 catalogue, Peter Hujar: A Retrospective, “He was a magician, he hypnotized his subjects. He never forced exposure, he seduced people to want to reveal all to him.” Fraenkel Gallery hosts Goldin’s debut exhibit with Love & Lust.

Love & Lust and Nine Self-Portraits run through March 8th at Fraenkel Gallery, 49 Geary Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco.