About

Wessling Contemporary was founded in 2018 in San Francisco's gritty SoMa District as Radian Gallery, with a mission to bring the best artistic work  of North America's West Coast to The World, and bring some of the best bits of the Artistic World to the West Coast. Now located in the Union Square District, the gallery has showcased the talents of scores of emerging and re-emergent artists, primarily from the San Francisco Bay Area.  Just as pioneering Napa Valley wineries caused a tectonic shift in enotechnical perception, Silcon Valley innovators caused upheaval in the socio-technical sphere, and Northern California culinary mavericks spilled onto the international food scene, the bold actions of pioneering  San Francisco galleriests of the 60s and 70s fomented the introduction of such now universally-revered Bay Area artists such as Ruth Asawa, David Park, Stephen de Staebler, Nathan Olivera,Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, and Robert Arneson, among others, who  rocked the East Coast art establishment,  Wessling Contemporary is pursuing a vision that continues this West Coast tradition of jarring the status quo, injecting startling new ways of thinking about art and meaning and beauty into the conversation, and promoting a whole bunch of weird Left Coast ideas that blow people's minds and yes, changes the way  world sees.

  • Gallery Contributors

    Anthony Wessling, Founding Director
    Anthony Wessling, Founding Director

    Anthony Wessling

    Founding Director

    After three decades and several successful entrepreneurial endeavors in the advertising and design industries, Anthony  (Tony)  Wessling returned to his roots in the fine arts by founding Wessling Contemporary (originally known as Radian Gallery) at his longtime studio space in San Francisco's SoMa District in 2018, moving to the current space at 39 Grant Avenue  in Union Square in 2025.  Wessling was trained as a photographer, printmaker, and painter at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art, where he studied under Joanne Leonard, Takeshi Takahara, and Louis Marinaro, among others.

     

    In addition to running the gallery, Wessling is a bicycling urban optimist who works with numerous civic groups dedicated to improving the livability of our cities and suburbs. And even though he doesn't look much like a farmer, he also grows olives in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

  • Susan R. Kirshenbaum, Associate Art Consultant

    Susan R. Kirshenbaum

    Associate Art Consultant
    Susan Kirshenbaum is a life-long art student, artist, art administrator, teacher, and curator. 

    From early childhood she was encouraged to pursue art and photography while working and studying at her family’s art school, the Ivy School of Professional Art, in Pittsburgh, PA, where Keith Haring was a student in her first class, Marks on Paper.

     

    Susan is heavily involved with the San Francisco art community, having worked with Artspan, City Art Co-op, Northern California Women's Caucus for Art, and the Sausalito Center for the Arts. She has also served as the SFWA (San Francisco Women Artists Gallery) Exhibitions Director and Chair for the Serenity Art Series at the University of California, San Francisco . 

     

    Additionally, Susan maintains her own studio art practice at Art Explosion Studios in San Francisco's Mission District and is co-founder of The Invisibility Collective, an interdisciplinary intergenerational group of artists around the USA who delve into deep issues of identity and erasure.

     

    When not traversing the art world, she travels the real world extensively with her husband, Jack. 

  • Nate Mahoney, Associate Director

    Nate Mahoney

    Associate Director

    In addition to being a practicing artist, Nate Mahoney is a design researcher with a background in video ethnogrophy. He enjoys collaborating with clients to build compelling collections that communicate their individual narrative.

     

    When not immersed in creative pursuits, Nate spends his time sailing San Francisco Bay.

  • Julie Ann Robertson, Associate Art Advisor

    Julie Ann Robertson

    Associate Art Advisor

    Julie Ann Robertson focuses on working with private collectors to fill their worlds with personally resonant artwork. Formerly SVP of National Wildlife Federation and CMO of Disney on Ice and Ringling Bros, Robertson now  sits on the board of the Atherton Arts Council and is a serial attendee of Art Basel Miami. She has also studied art and art history at Stanford University.

     

    Weekends will find Julie hiking the redwoods of Northern California.

  • Jorge Alzate, Gallery Associate

    Jorge Alzate

    Gallery Associate

    A former director of Pegaso Gallery in West Hollywood, Jorge Alzate has an innate sense of his clients' style and sensibilities, a unique trait that he deploys to help them build stunning collections that speak to their taste and individuality.

     

    If you're lucky, you will get to enjoy some of Jorge's outstanding cooking, one of his (and ours!) favorite pastimes.