Berkeley Museum Fun

Like a moth to a flame, I saw the photos online from Masako Miki’s Matrix 273 and had to BART over to Berkeley to have a look.  Some wonderful wackiness.  I half expected Pee-wee Herman to jump out from behind one of the sculptures.  There was more to see at BAMPFA  including a really good exhibit Dimension: Modern Art in the Age of Einstein. There were quite a few gems including the Calder sculpture pictured here.

I have to mention the young fellow in the background of the photo. I was right behind him and his parents into the gallery.  A deadpan voice with a touch of sass and sarcasm, he said, ”Abstract art, oh look.”   I discretely followed, eavesdropping.  He is fortunate to have cool parents who want to engage him with art.  I just wanted to catch even more of this little mister’s critique.  

I’ll be going back soon for the big Hans Hoffman  show opening this week.  You could peer over the velvet rope and peak in from the café above the gallery, but they wouldn’t let you in — yet.

Happy New Mail Year

Here are some of the latest pieces of mail art to arrive in my mail box.  New Year’s greetings, both lunar and regular, valentines, rubber stamping, zines, super tactile pieces form Turkey and New Zealand, postcards from Canada that survived the polar vortex and signs that Gregg Biggs is channeling George Grosz in the new year — I do approve!  The list includes the following:

1. Maureen Forys– California
2. Margarete Miller— California 
3. Alice Lin – California
4. Jennie Hinchcliff– California
5. Taidgh Lynch —Canada/Ireland
6. MiM– Virginia 
7. R.F. Côté— Canada
8. William Mellott– Taiwan 
9. Gregg Biggs — California
10. Jennifer Utter – California
11. Meral Agar– Turkey 
12. Melissa Wand— Wisconsin
13. Peter Müller — Germany 
14. Robin Sparrow— New Zealand 
15. Cuan Miles– South Africa
16. Ryosuke Cohen– Japan

Happy Year of the Pig

Or, the Year of the Boar if you prefer — either way it is a lucky year. So popular is the year, that here in San Francisco every post office, within a few days, was sold out of the Lunar New Year stamps.  I had to order my stamps online and wait for them to arrive so I could send out Year of the Pig mail art using some hand carved rubber stamps.  Happy Lucky New Year!

Mail Art Breakfast

Is possible to send scrambled eggs in the mail?  What can one do when there is an art call for egg-themed mail art?  How about painting a scrambled egg landscape onto a postcard. This one is on the way to Hungary.

Does the world need another book about van Gogh?

I love art books and have a substantial personal library myself.  They are costly and my space is limited, so I really take advantage of the award winning San Francisco Public Library.   It is the best!   

The other day I spotted a new van Gogh book on the shelves — Vincent's Portraits Paintings and Drawings by van Gogh by Ralph Skea from Thames & Hudson.  I asked myself, does the world need another book about van Gogh?  

The answer is yes!  This is the book.  

This rather small volume is well written with details that are both concise and organized focusing on van Gogh’s portraiture.  But the true reason I have taken the time to post about this book is the images.  With most art books about popular artists, you tend to see the same images over and over. Even though van Gogh’s body of work is limited due to his sadly short life, I have always had the feeling, you’ve seen one book, you have seen them all.  The brilliance of Skea’s book is that he has included so many portraits that rarely if ever appear in other books.  Our library has another book by Skea, I have requested it.  I suspect I will be asking the library to acquire his other art books as well.  If you don’t have access to a good library, go to your local, independent bookstore and get a hold of this one.