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My Picks for This Thursday

Artist: Group Show
Gallery: The Lab
Title: Subversive Complicity
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 1, 2008
Exhibition Dates: May 1-24, 2008
Address: 2948 16th Street




Subversive Complicity brings together a group of artists whose work inhabits the interstices of contemporary life – physical, temporal, and conceptual gaps within existing structures – in order to subvert everyday systems and raise social awareness in subtle, humorous, and radical ways. link



Artist: Betsy Walton
Gallery: Rare Device
Title: Sacred Spring
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 1, 2008 from 7-9 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: May 1 - June 1, 2008
Address: 1845 Market Street





Ms. Walton's new body of work---Sacred Spring---depict iconic characters experiencing quiet moments of transcendence in settings inspired by forests, backyard swimming pools and grassy riverbanks. Walton uses an experimental approach to rendering the narratives, loosely incorporating diverse formal elements such as collage, hand drawn patterns, pencil drawings, and layered brushwork.




Artist: Michael Katakis
Gallery: Bonnafont Gallery
Medium: Photography
Opening Reception: Thursday May 1, 2008 from 6-8 p.m.
Address: 946A Greenwich Street





A man who captures strong contrasting black and white images from around the world. Above is titled, "Roof Tops In Morocco."



Artist: Daniel Tierney
Gallery: Steven Wolf Fine Arts
Title: Ghost Hesh
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 1, 5:30 – 7:30
Exhibition Dates: May 1 – May 31, 2008
Address: 49 Geary Street, Suite 411




His artist statement:

"They all started out picturing a real. A geometric space imagining its opposite.
The abstract bends concrete.
Here, outside of time, everything always is and everything is always visible.
Over touched and all at once.
A horizontal system of organization, compressed and with no divide.
A new library. A new fiction.
Structures walk on the backs of their hands and grandmothers never die.
A method of production formed by repetition and mutation.
One landscape built of thousands giving rise to thouands more
The lost inhabitants? Their luddite knuckles drag right through their future.
The mighty drift their only hope."

Interview with Alexis Mackenzie on Fecal Face Dot Com

Interesting interview with San Francisco based collage artist Alexis Mackenzie by Jessica Cusik. Great questions and images!

A Glimpse from Mission Open Studios

I didn't make it to as many open studios as I anticipated, but definitely enjoyed what I saw. Here's a bit, there's more on my Flickr page.

Chatting with Mike Davis

Mike Davis' first tattoo is an old design off a piece of Indian pottery. When I asked him, he pointed to his upper right arm, described it, and gave this smile, like yeah, I wanted a tattoo and that seemed right. Because of his interest in history, period art, old movies, etc I was expecting his response to be more detailed and elaborate. But he is more likely to show things than explain them.

I recently met Mike at White Walls, for his latest solo show in San Francisco. He's shown at White Walls three times now among other galleries such as: 111 Minna, Canvas Gallery, Laguna Art Museum, and in New York for the inaugural show at Joshua Liner Gallery. He is self trained and paints out of love for art. He paints daily and getting some good money back. Most of his art maintains a semblance of Danish and Flemish painters. They are creepy, setting a dark mood, with little surprises and puzzles throughout. While his paintings maintain the older form, their content is changed and challenges your expectations.

After moving to California from Ohio he began working at Everlasting Tattoo under Aarron Kane. Kane is now living elsewhere and Mike has taken over this now nationally known tattoo shop. Much of his tattoo art contains the lines and shading seen in his fine art.

Mike's work reminds me of the inner intentions people possess, mostly the darker ones we often try to hide. Which I would rather see than images that are pleasant and easy to accept.

Interview with Whitney Lynn

Whitney Lynn is San Francisco based artist with a graduate degree from SFAI who exhibits regularly in the bay area at galleries such as, LoBot, Red Ink Studios, Intersection for the Arts, Swell Gallery, and Diego Rivera Gallery. She is a studio artist at Root Division in the Mission. Her work is true art. She creates sculptural pieces that cause us to reexamine our surroundings and perceptions on life.




In your statement, you say, " I hope to highlight the role visual elements play in forming cultural values." What role(s) do you hope to highlight in particular? I haven't spent much time around Air Force bases. Can you explain what the culture of the bases was like where you grew up? How does that play into your life today?

When I wrote that statement, I was specifically thinking about how formal visual elements such as shape, line, color and pattern influence the way objects are perceived. For example, Persian or ‘Oriental’ rugs are overwhelmingly viewed in the context of their decorative elements, or how well they fit into an interior design scheme. However, the rugs have this rich and complicated history hidden beneath their swirling colors and patterns. I read that carpets are actually the number two export out of Iran after oil, and there have been numerous tariffs and embargoes placed on them. As a result, the production of Persian rugs has been pushed out to factories in places like China, although the design of the rugs continues to reflect patterns originated in Iran.





I’m drawn to how a simple thing like a rug reflects not only taste, but global issues and market shifts. When Marco Polo first started exporting Persian rugs to the west, there were immediately demands for changes in the traditional patterns, colors and sizes. Today, you can easily pick up a cheap ‘Oriental’ rug at Ikea or Target or Macy’s, but with that cheap, mass-produced object, you’re also inadvertently buying into this complicated political history.





As far as Air Force Bases are concerned.. I don’t think that growing up on a base is much different than growing up in any suburban community (except for the fact that many of them are now abandoned or repurposed). My friends all lived on the same street, and we played on the swing set.. or made blanket forts, or played Battleship, or messed around with GI Joes, or playacted ‘war’. If anything, I was a bit of a tomboy, but I honestly think that my and my friends’ infatuation with military games was pretty typical. I think that’s maybe part of my interest in going back and looking at those sorts of games, to show the similarities between civilian and military culture, to make the differences less distinct.





Traveling in Argentina I felt a huge amount of creativity among the buildings, people, cultural interaction, etc. I loved all the surprises. What do you consider to be "familiar or neutral?" How do you think they come about to be this way? How do you see this in the US and abroad?

I think any typical or everyday experience becomes familiar or neutral. Anything that is repeated. Anything that becomes ‘naturalized’. Anything that just doesn’t seem strange, or unusual. I think a big part of my work is trying to make everything strange or unfamiliar again.





I don’t have a lot of experience with countries outside the US, other than brief tourist encounters, but I imagine that most places face the same situation. It’s almost necessity, a way of staying sane, but I think it can also be productive to turn things over and reexamine what is believed to be true.





You are originally from VA. What brought you to San Francisco and has kept you here? What are your thoughts about the artist community in San Francisco? Do you think ever of moving to New York or other larger cities?

I moved back out to San Francisco for graduate school, but I lived here previously in the late 90s. A lot about the city has changed, but I still think it’s a great place to live. I love being so close to the coast, I love not having to own a car, I love the food, and I love that there are so many different views and vantage points because of the hills. I also think the size of the city is great - big enough to offer major cultural attractions, but small enough to randomly run into friends on the street. That’s also one of the things I like about the art community here, it’s a decent size, yet totally accessible. Of course, it is WAY too expensive to live here, but it’s also expensive to live in New York, or Boston, or Paris, or London, or Tokyo, or really any major city.





With that said, I moved around a lot as a kid and I love new experiences. If the right opportunity came up, I’d move anywhere.. but for right now, I’m really content here.

You have been in a good amount of shows recently. What are your thoughts on the current gallery world in San Francisco? What keeps you showing your work? Apart from gallery/studio exhibits, do you contribute to any small publications or zines?





I think there are a lot of great alternative spaces in San Francisco (Queens Nails Annex, Intersection for the Arts, Mission 17, Triple Base, Ping Pong Gallery, etc..) . I’d love to see more open up, but the expense of real estate in SF makes it difficult to sustain non-commercial galleries. (Or commercial ones for that matter..) Lately I’ve had some opportunities to show in Oakland at the LoBot gallery and that has been a great experience. It’s a huge space and you are really free to do whatever you want. They also have a history of supporting sound/music and they’re just a really great, funky, alternative space.





I actually haven’t contributed to very many small publications or zines, but it’s definitely something I’m interested in. I also recently started thinking about some bookmaking ideas, and it’s something I’m going to pursue in the next few months. I really like working with as many different mediums as possible, because each has a different way of communicating.





Apart from the Air Force bases, where does your inspiration for your work come from?

Well.. I feel compelled to make work from tiny discoveries, sometimes it’s from walking down the street, other times it’s from reading something. I have a job where I’m on the computer most of the day, so I’m a bit of a political blog junkie.




As far as visual reference points, Google image search is definitely my friend (although I hope the NSA isn’t keeping tab of all of my searches for ‘bunkers’, ‘fortifications’ and ‘survivalists’)! I really love exhibition and archive displays, artists who blur disciplinary boundaries like Trevor Paglen, and minimalists like Agnes Martin and Eva Hesse. Oh, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres. He was – and still is – the best.

My Favorites from Varnish's Current Exhibit

Silverman Gallery's Hypnotic Show

Artist: Group Show curated by Raimundas Malasauskas
Gallery: Silverman Gallery
Opening Reception: Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 8 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: April 22 - April 28, 2008
Address: 804 Sutter Street at Jones



A friend just introduced me to Happenstand.com, a San Francisco art site. It's the most resourceful I've come across, as far as layout, content, and depth. I recommend visiting it, maybe frequenting it.

They had this opening posted there and I thought it would be good to reiterate.



Other artists included in the show:

Julieta Aranda, Deric Carner, Asli Cavusoglu, Torreya Cummings, Gintaras Didziapetris, Cerith Wyn Evans, Michael Fliri, Loris Greaud, Joachim Koester, Jennifer Di Marco, Nicholas Matranga & Francesca Bennett, Piero Passacantando, Yuval Pudik, Gareth Spor and Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough.


A good Q&A dialogue on Blow de la Barra about the concepts behind the show.

Adam Flores at Gallery 3

Some photos from the opening last Friday.




Fantasy Fairy Tales Fiction

What another site has to say

Interview with Ryan McGavin

I met Ryan McGavin at 111 Minna's Sketch Tuesdays in March and ended up buying one of his drawings. He works with collage to create layers and is beginning to create more painterly complex compositions. I was excited to be able to ask him some questions to find out more about where he connects with his artwork.

I'll let him explain the rest.





We met at Sketch Tuesday's at 111 Minna. How many have you been a part of? What is the experience like for you? Do you prepare drawings ahead of time or let it all happen there? Do you do other interactive art events like this?

I believe this is my sixth time participating at this event. For four of these events I have worked at the ‘featured artist’ table which is a much different experience than working on one of the side tables around the space or, sometimes even on the floor.

working at the featured artist table you get the perks and yum, the drink ticket is always appreciated. Sketch Tuesday has really grown and become a sort of cult following in the area; some amazing artists that are not featured will show up, get down and sell work almost effortlessly. It’s sort of feels like my church.





I always prepare my first few works before the event because of the amount of layering and pasting. I have had a couple disasters at Sketch Tuesday working with light colored and black paper at the same time, which bleeds when wet. So, yeah, usually the backgrounds and shapes are prepared at home.

If the prepared work sells out then I start working with whatever I have and sometimes that sells too without a lot of homework put into it. Sometimes the work is bought before the pieces are finished. This is the only interactive event I am participating in at the moment.





In your bio you say, "I look at my work like a giant 'thought' puzzle, full of shapes, mythical icons and layers," which is very much how I see your work. Even with your new pieces the layering and shapes are present. What about the concept of a puzzles and layers is important for your art?

I find that layers are a great tool for depth and cultivating what kind of energy I want to express out into the visual wild. At the start of a piece, all of the materials are set out including colors or drawings, but a narrative has not been set in stone.





I studied fashion design in the 90s, constructing garments through pattern making, which got my mind wrapped around the idea that art and design are made of many pieces. You have to assemble all of these small and large pieces together to create a finished product that looks very different than each individual piece and much different than the flat pattern.

I think we are influenced daily by layers of images in the media, which subtly drives them into our psyche telling us how we should try to see or project ourselves through an abstract story.






I like that in your new work I am seeing more depth with some transparency in the layered shapes. Do you see this happening? What is bringing about this change in appearance? Are you excited to be taking on a new direction?


Thanks for noticing that Libby, in fact, I am working in that direction. In any craft we are refining what we are doing and that is exactly what is happening in my pieces right now. I am going through a growth-spurt so I want to make space for other forms of creation in my work (like painting and drawing).

The first step is a sort of wave of transparency through sharper cuts and thinner layers. I am using a larger count of thin layers such as tissue. Introducing paint and ink seems to soften the paper background to feel more like a painting and less graphic, which you would see more of in my previous work. I am excited that this new style is happening; I hope it paves the path for bigger things.





Being a self-taught artist what influenced you largely in the beginning? Are there artists or periods in history or just folks you know that influence you and provide you with direction? How do you or have you developed your skill?

I am pretty sure my father, who is also an artist, was my first spark of influence. When he worked in the paper pulp mill he brought home all sorts of commercial paper plates, some designed for popular fast food restaurants. One in particular, had several compartments for the meat, the potatoes, and slaw. We both drew these plates creating comics, weird looking people, and gag stories. He loved to draw butts farting out a cartoon cloud with the word “poot!” like a thought bubble. A fart bubble!





I spent most of my time in grade school drawing during class and that created a real problem in academia. Around 22, I had some pretty life changing moments with my brother. I found him homeless on the streets of San Francisco strung-out and his losses, made me take a look at my own fate.

I took the artist idea pretty seriously after that point. I started messing around with painting and creating my own stretcher bars out of 2x4’s and stretching denim over that. I am not sure where exactly my technique comes from (maybe latex house paint and knifes) but I spend a lot of time figuring out where it could possibly go next.





You grew up in Sacramento and now are living in Oakland. Have you lived outside of California? Apart from the bay area being an incredible place to live, what keeps you here? Any plans of travel soon?


Ah, Sacramento is a strange place. Many of the homes in the downtown area are over 110 years old. I lived in some pretty haunted houses growing up. One Victorian house I lived in during 7th grade was split into two units and my bedroom closet had a staircase, leading to nowhere. I would sometimes hang out in the closet by day but at night I was terrified of it. I had a poltergeist-like experience as a kid and I think it will sometimes come out in my work.





The Bay Area is great and I seem to come back to it again and again; it’s been my home off and on for 10 years. I lived outside of California in the Pacific Northwest sporadically throughout the last 15 years and a brief sojourn to Hawaii’s Big Island working at a Bikram yoga retreat. I have also traveled through most of Western Europe. Now I am really obsessed with three places (by order): Japan, Russia, and Dubai. Dubai is the least possible right now and the Burj Dubai is not yet finished.. I am listening to Japanese language instructions often hoping that it will propel me to the first destination.

Retrospectroscope

Retrospectroscope, originally uploaded by libbynicholaou.

I caught Kerry Laitala's piece in ATA's window last night in between openings. I want one in my house! Catch it before it comes down at the end of April.

Cut: Revealing the Section

Artforum picked "Cut: Revealing the Section" at the SF MoMa this month as their critics choice for San Francisco. I checked out the Lee Friedlander exhibit yesterday and caught a bit of "Cut" towards the end. Their right, it is impressive.

The layers of architecture really fascinate me. Looking at blue prints and seeing floor plans, they're like a puzzle. I tried to take an auto cad class once, thinking if I like to draw I could do architectural drawings. Not so much the case, the whole math to it was way over my head. While I don't have the patience to learn it, I appreciate its calculated complexity.

Space Gallery

Hooray for robots and space aliens!

I was taking some friends to see the "Oral Sect II" exhibit at Space Gallery, but found "Attack of the B-Movies." They change their exhibits so fast, I am impressed with all the energy that must take.

Some of the pieces in this exhibit had grabbing concepts but could be rendered more complexly. Fun stuff though!

Hamburger Eyes Opening Photos

Skateboarding is really sexy. There is some allure that hits whenever I am around skateboarders (surfers too).

A. I want to be able to cruise down the street myself
and
B. I suddenly have this great desire be enmeshed in their culture.

Maybe it's because I don't really know what subculture I fit into and like to think it is one that requires some guts.






I would equate the Hamburger Eyes opening to a family gathering. If you've been around enough you will find yourself in a photo on the wall.

Saturday's Openings

Artist: Greg Lamarche
Gallery: White Walls
Opening Reception: Friday April 19, 2008 from 7 - 9 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: April 19 to May 7, 2008
Address: 835 Larkin Street







Exhibit: Group Sects
Gallery: Giant Robot
Opening Reception: Saturday April 19, 2008 from 6:30 to 10 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: April 19 - May 14, 2008
Address: 618 Shrader Street






Exhibit: Five Year Anniversary Show
Gallery: Varnish Fine Art
Opening Reception: Saturday April 19, 2008 from 7 - 10 p.m.
Exhibition Dates: April 14 - May 31, 2008
Address: 77 Natoma Street






Exhibit: Welcome to CardBurg "End of The Ages"
Gallery: CELLspace
Opening Reception:
Exhibition Dates: Ending April 19, 2008
Address: 2050 Bryant Street

Friday's Openings

Below are openings I am definitely going to catch tomorrow night.

I also hear there is a evening to morning opening party for Pete Doolittle's installations somewhere in SOMA. I'll keep you abreast on details as I figure it out.


Artist: Adam Flores
Gallery: Gallery 3
Opening Reception: Friday April 18, 2008 from 7 to 10 p.m.
Exhibit Dates: April 18 - May 20, 2008
Address: 66 6th Street




Adam was in a group show at Shooting Gallery, parent gallery to Gallery 3, this past fall. I like his use of color and fairy tale/ medieval scenes.



Artist: Karin Smith
Gallery: Mission 17
Opening Reception: Friday, April 18, 2008 from 6-9 p.m.
Exhibit Dates: April 18 - May 23, 2008
Address: 2111 Mission Street, Suite 401




"A garden is a sign of purpose and a sense of place--no one plants one with the intention of leaving it. With this insight as her point of departure, Smith reconsiders the image of the People's Temple as a death cult, whose members were merely helpless victims of the church's leader. Instead she presents this predominantly African American institution as a product of longstanding racial inequalities in the United States, which worked to redress the legacy and persistent trauma of slavery."(from their site)

Hamburger Eyes Tonight

What: Basically a party with art or art with a party
Gallery: Hamburger Eyes
When: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Address: 26 Lilac Street off of 24th and Mission




Hamburger Eyes is a gallery, photo processing center, publisher, and more. Exhibiting art from emerging artists and people who are outspoken when it comes to expressing themselves. Honesty, here folks.

Greg Lamarche at White Walls

Artist: Greg Lamarche
Gallery: White Walls
Opening Reception: Friday April 18, 2008 from 7 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Exhibit Dates: April 19, 2008 to May 7, 2008







New York based artist, Gregg Lamarche, plays with the variety of text, color, and shape in collage. Each piece is a blend of street graffiti and pop images.





Juxtaposing words and images he creates new meanings and highlights themes in American society. He has been featured in several publications and been able to exhibit widely in New York City as well as around California.

Interview with Teresa Brazen

Teresa Brazen is an artist who lives in the East Bay. I meet her through work. As most people do when they find out that the person who sits next to them at a computer and goes to business meetings 5 days a week is an artist, I was so impressed. The content of videos deals with inner strength challenges and provides questions and commentary on our society. Her work opens conversations about reflection, which is often overlooked.





And so our conversation begins...

You have a variety of work in your portfolio. Where did it all begin? Where has it been going recently?


I’ve always been into some kind of creative expression or another. I began as a dancer, got into theater for a while, then photography. About 10 years ago I started painting. Video entered my world about five years ago. I find that my tools morph and change; it depends on what I’m exploring and where I am in my life.

A pretty pivotal point in my art making occurred about eight years ago when someone close to me committed suicide. As you can imagine, that experience forced me to do a lot of soul searching, and as a result, I decided to get serious about my work and began to exhibit publicly.









I am especially attracted to your video/film pieces. Do you have a favorite? Were any done as projects for school? Where have you shown them?


Video is my newest love, and that fire just keeps growing. I got into the medium by happenstance; a photographer friend asked me to apply for a public art grant with her.

We proposed a short narrative video called “Gadget Addict”, that explored society’s growing addiction to electronic communication devices. We didn’t think we’d actually get the grant and applied simply for the practice of putting together that kind of documentation.






To our surprise, we got it and suddenly had to figure out how to put together a full-blown video production, complete with actors, script, editors and a crew (which we had to convince to work for free because our budget was so small).

For three months I was completely consumed by that project and the result was a 12 minute piece that was projected onto the side of a 3 story building in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Through that project, I stumbled upon my love for creating moving imagery.







That piece was pretty complex for a first video art project, so thereafter I decided to simplify my process and production, using myself as the subject matter and very simple sets. I liked having that kind of intimacy in my work, and it’s an approach I have stuck to over the last few years as the subject matter of my work has also become more intimate.

More recently, I have been playing with video installation and projection. I’m really interested in creating whole environments that consume. I love walking into a performance or interactive exhibition and losing myself completely in the world the artists are creating; I’d love to be able to create that for others, too.








Focusing on your works around the human body and perceptions of the human body, what in you connects to the subject of personal beauty? I grew up in a community where it was common among females to turn to eating disorders. After seeing watching your piece "Un/Becoming Beautiful," I wanted to send it around to everyone there.


You know, it’s hard to figure out where my fascination with people and our forms began. I suppose it began somewhere within my dancing career.

As a dancer, I spent years learning how to mold my own form into shapes that tell stories. There has certainly been an element of that use of the body in my paintings. For a while, I shot nude photographs of friends and then turned them into paintings. I worked in close collaboration with the models to come up with positions and facial expressions that related very specific, intimate human emotions.





I have always been really fascinated by people, in general. I like them, you know? I know that probably sounds silly, but not everyone genuinely enjoys other human beings. I think a lot of my interest in people has to do with early exposure to different classes, races and cultures.








I was raised in Venezuela in a small village in the jungle; that fact definitely influenced my love of other cultures. I later lived in a lower income black neighborhood while attending a wealthy, primarily white school.

So, I have seen the differences between class and race close-up. I’ve also spent spans of time in Puerto Rico, France and Spain. The lesson that was compounded through each of those experiences is that we are not really so different from one another.







We tend to think we are quite unique, when, in reality, lots of other people share very similar emotions - people, even, who we’d consider nothing like us at all. I’m really interested in talking about those similarities through my work – especially things we feel uncomfortable talking about.

I think if we talk about them, we’ll be surprised to see how many other people feel, think, and do those very same things. I don’t know why our nature seems to be to create division, but I do believe that instinct falls apart when we start talking to each other. I guess my work is my way of having that conversation.







Do you ever feel a pull towards following current trends in the art world? What trends do you see happening right now? How do you keep up with art in the community, country, and world?


Oh, I absolutely feel the pull of the art world. And I’ve also felt the pull of the business of selling art. Partially for that very reason, I made the decision recently not to put pressure on myself to make art sales produce my core income.







For me, it’s important to be nourished and sustained to produce good work. Stressing about the number of pieces I have to sell to pay my rent doesn’t work for me, especially since I’m interested in making more video art, which has almost no market at all. For me, this setup is giving me room to breathe and create.







I know you have spent a/large portion(s) of your life working purely as a professional artist. Can you talk about what you learned, while being committed solely to your artwork. Any advice for others embarking on that route?


Wow...where to begin? You know, the first thing I’d say is that there is no one path. There are so many ways you can do the whole, “I am an artist” thing.

Maybe that means you make work and give it to friends, maybe that means you perform, maybe you go the commercial art route, maybe you sell directly to people at festivals, maybe you pursue the traditional gallery route, maybe you start an arts nonprofit. It’s not like being a doctor where there is a defined path.







I think the most important thing I have learned is that I can’t do it all by myself. If I were to start over, I would find a way to hire someone to handle marketing, sales, and administration at the onset. My success was hampered significantly because I spent too much energy trying to do everything.







I’d also say that if you want to be a “professional” artist, it’s important to understand that it is a business. Anyone considering becoming a working artist needs to be real about that. You have to talk about your work. You also have to let go of your work when it is sold.

It’s so much more than sloshing around paint. For me, that was actually okay because I wouldn’t be happy just sitting in a room painting 7 days a week. I like interacting with people and the diversity of the life of a working artist.


It’s such a squishy, moldable career path...we all have to figure out for ourselves what that will look like.








You write poetry as well. Do you read poetry often? Who do you enjoy?


Words are very special to me. I love language; I love communicating. Sometimes words do that better, sometimes an image says more. I went to school for journalism, so I definitely am deeply rooted in language.


As for favorite writers, my favorite poet would definitely be Nikki Giovanni. I love the simplicity and directness of her words, and I’d say it has certainly influenced my own style. I think her poems come across as stark and real, and for me, they get right inside. She seems so brave and exposed in her writing. I’ve always been drawn to that kind of bravery.






What is something that is forever in your memory? That makes you smile when you think of it.


That’s easy: the first time I swam in the Phosphorescent Bay in Puerto Rico.


I don’t know how much you know about this phenomenon, but apparently there are these little tiny organisms in the water that glow neon yellow wherever there is motion in the water. So, the waves of the boat, the trail of a fish swimming by, or the water stirred around you when you swim is lit up as if you put a giant florescent light bulb under water. Someone told me that those little organisms are dying when they glow, which is sadly beautiful to me. I’m not sure if that is true or not, though.







When I went to the bay, it was nighttime. A group of friends and I took a guided boat into the middle of the bay. There were no city lights, just stars. We jumped out into the dark water, and the water surrounding our group lit up. I could see my toes as I swam because the dark water was so brightly lit . I laid on my back in the warm water, looked up to the sky and thought, I have to remember this. It’s still a very vivid memory, so I did a good job of burning the details in my mind.






Currently, her videos are nominated to be shown at the J Paul Getty museum in LA.
You can vote on them at these sites:
One Tiny Little Secret, 2 min 52 seconds
Un/Becoming Beautiful, 6 minutes

Art Dealers in San Francisco

Here's a page of galleries in the San Francisco Art Dealers Association. They are linked out to their respected page. Pretty useful. Yes?

Adam 5100 "Formerfunction"

Artist Adam 5100
Gallery: Stussy
Opening Reception: April 12, 2008



I was able to run into Alan Bamberger, while making my gallery run last night. Fortunately, he reminded me of the opening reception at Stussy.





I found the stencils Adam uses to be beautiful pieces of art as well. Their paint residue along with the time and attention it took to create their fine details, makes them seem more valuable than what they are, a stencil.




They must hold some significance to the artist, since he included them in the exhibit.