The portraitists’ portraitist

In the ’80s, when the California Arts Council budget was far more robust than it is now, Kurt Edward Fishback’s black-and-white portraits of artists lined the state agency’s halls. The eyes of Northern California artists like Robert Arneson, Manuel Neri and Gerald Wahlberg followed you as you walked to the conference room and to the restroom. Now Fishback’s work lines the walls of Appel Gallery, at 931 T Street, until February 3. Shot during a one-month stay in New York in 1982, Fishback’s photos capture the essence of East Coast art dealers, artists and photographers. Underneath each image is an amusing story about the subject and the events of the shoot. That’s how you know that the photo of the beautiful young thing, hanging on the wall behind the spunky, cane-wielding photographer James Van Der Zee, is his wife. For more information, call (916) 442-6014.