Group Show
This Must Be the Place
October 17 - November 9, 2025
A collective meditation on awareness and the poetics of daily life.
This Must Be the Place was the inaugural exhibition of Nelson Duni. It brought together the first artists with whom we are proud to partner, each rooted in introspection, meaningful subject matter, and a spirit we see in San Francisco at this moment: a powerful optimism grounded in reality. The result was a collective meditation on awareness and the poetics of the everyday.
San Francisco, both literal and symbolic, underpinned the inquiry. The city’s shifting social fabric, layered history, and enduring creative pulse resonated throughout the show. This was felt both explicitly and as an ambient influence, a moment of change and potential.
Mark Sommerfeld, Salinas Swale, 2025. Archival pigment print © Mark Sommerfeld.
Jane Ivory, Sunset Light No. 1, 2021. Archival pigment print © Jane Ivory.
Nancy Mona Russell, Banos, 2009. Acrylic on canvas © Nancy Mona Russell.
This Must Be the Place considered how we locate meaning, belonging, and a sense of arrival amidst flux. The exhibition brought together eight artists: Jerry Ross Barrish, Gary Bukovnik, Lake Heckaman, Gene Holtan, Jane Ivory, Paul Madonna, Nancy Mona Russell, and Mark Sommerfeld. Through sculpture, painting, photography, new media and drawing, these artists engage with the idea of “place” as both fixed geography, and as an evolving psychological and spiritual orientation.
Lake Heckaman, Pollination, 2024. Custom graphics software © Lake Heckaman.
Paul Madonna, Chiang Mai - Fruit Shake, 2025. Ink on paper © Paul Madonna.
Jerry Ross Barrish, At Ease, 2015. Bronze cast of found plastic assemblage © Jerry Ross Barrish.
Gene Holtan, The Incontestable Author, 2015. Acrylic on wood panel, 36 x 48 inches © Estate of Gene Holtan.