Tofu's Art Blog

In the Mail

2012-02-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

In the Mail, mixed media on canvas, 36”x24”

Two months ago I put out a call for postcards to make the first piece for 2012. I had a fantastic response and the first piece of the year is now complete.

Nearly 100 people sent me postcards and many of you sent more than one and, in a few cases, a large horde. At some point I incorporated postcards from all the individuals who sent them. Quite a few artists sent me printed postcards with their work, and those were included as well. Then there was the handful of amazing, handmade postcards I received from a few artists. How could I cut these up? I didn’t want to cut them, but I wanted to use them. For those cards I made color copies and added them to the piece. And I keep finding more postcards in my post office box. Keep sending them! The cards will turn up in various pieces during the coming months. A big Thank You to everyone who helped make this piece possible!

A detail image is below.

Work in Progress

2012-01-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

At the end of November I put out a call for postcards with the idea that everything I received would be used in the first piece of 2012. The response has been great and cards keep coming in. The blues in this postcard from Pearl Harbor (received yesterday) will be added into the piece today. It's a very labor intensive piece, but give me a few more days. It should be done soon.

A Zoo Habitat for the Art Museum

2012-01-24T12:39:00.001-08:00

A few years ago the SFMOMA built a garage behind the museum. Instead of putting more cars on the roof, they did something terribly smart. They built a rooftop garden, installed sculpture and added an enclosed café space. It’s a great space and good place to rest and recaffeinate in the middle of a museum visit. One accesses the rooftop via a glass walled passageway from the fifth floor. Or, if visitors are meandering through the fifth floor galleries, they end up in a glass walled room a few steps elevated above the rooftop garden. This is where I found myself on Saturday.

As I gazed through the glass into the garden I had the feeling that I was in one of those modern zoos — the kind where you look through the glass at various habitats. It reminded me of the type of habitat display where monkeys or lions enjoy a fairly undisturbed recreation of their natural homes while we all peer in. This room at the SFMOMA that looks into the rooftop garden feels just like one of those spaces.

Would the SFMOMA be so daring as to let me curate this big window with the sort of signage that marks this as a habitat? The signage could explain the typical and varied species of museum visitors. For example, the exhibit would include the art student, the visiting mom from Kentucky, the Eurotourist, the all-in-black art aficionado, etc. I saw them all on Saturday.

Visitors to the rooftop garden might not even realize they are part of the art — especially if they bypassed this room on their way in. My intent would not be to mock visitors, but rather explore how the public interacting with and viewing art becomes part of the experience. There may be an occasional museum visitor put off by being put in a “zoo” but is this idea any more invasive than art installations that capture visitors with video cameras?

Conceptual art can be as simple as installing fictitious signage to an architectural feature.

Well-Aged Art

2012-01-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

French Map, mixed media on canvas 24”x24”

Now that the I am no longer making a piece of art every day for the 2011 Project, I am taking advantage of the time to clean, reorganize and get my studio in order. Every few years this needs to be done. I am uncovering all sorts of things, including art I did and I sort of forgot about. One such piece is this French Map from 2006.

I have friends who spend every summer in France with family. I miss them when they’re gone, but they come home with all sorts of good things at the end of every August. One year they brought back a huge stack of French road maps for me.

I imagined that my friends spent the summer going on evening walks in that little French town. They kept an eye out for unlocked cars. That autumn everyone in the town began to realize their maps were mysteriously missing from the glove box, yet nothing else was taken from their cars. It could lead to a winter filled with suspicion, gossip and speculation throughout the village. No one would have believed that the nice couple that lives in San Francisco swiped all the maps for an artist named Tofu. Well, it makes for a good story.

The result was a map of France made from France. I remember being disappointed with the results at the time. Now, that the piece has aged for over five years I am seeing it in a different light. I found it buried behind other work this week. I think I like this one.

A Fantastic Response

2012-01-10T15:41:00.000-08:00

About six weeks I put out a call for postcards and announced that my first piece for 2012 would be made up of all the postcards I received by the end of the year. I have received a fantastic response — new cards, antique cards and a number of really creative ones from artists all around the world.

I have been finding some of the artists who sent me cards online. Here are some of the links:

I received a few cars from New Zealand including the artist Erin Fae.
Ann Tracy sent a card from Maine.
Karen Wood is A Southern California artist who’s cool postcards I first saw on tumblr.
Chris Day sent me a card from exotic Kentucky.
Serse Luigetti sent me some great cards from Italy. You can see a video of his work here.
The Spanish artist Pedro Bericat sent me a card with what might be squished chorizo embedded in the plastic. How did that ever get though customs? I am glad it did.
And sometimes the cards are more anonymous. I can’t make out the riding, or there is just a first name, like an artist named Roberto who sent beautiful card from Puerto Rico.

I have been sorting through all the postcards and starting to think how I am going to incorporate them in a piece. I also have been reorganize my studio and am just about ready to get out the glue and put things under the knife. In the meantime, you can still send a postcard to:

PO Box 170681

San Francisco, CA 94117 USA.

Maps and Mapping

2012-01-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Some of my map pieces will be appearing in a show opening this weekend in Sacramento at Tangent Gallery.

Maps and Mapping

Tangent Gallery

2900 Franklin Boulevard

Sacramento, CA 95818

Opening Reception

Saturday, January 14^th, 2012 6-10 p.m.

Gallery hours, Saturdays 12-3 or by appointment.

Five of my pieces have gone up for the show including a map collage inspired by Japanese textile patterns, my icon of the Virgen de Guadalupe made out of maps and a piece titled American Jesus Horse which is an image of a dinosaur made from maps of the bible belt. “Jesus Horse” is the term used for dinosaurs by anti-science, religious fanatics.

The Littlest Pissarro

2012-01-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

Having just seen the Legion of Honor’s exhibit Pissarro’s People one might assume my title of this post refers to a painting of one Camille Pissarro’s small children. Well close, the title refers to a small painting of one of his children. The show is a well curated, thorough retrospective focusing on Pissarro’s world through works depicting family, friends, colleagues and servants. But, the Little Pissarro I am referring to is the portrait of his son Rodo. His son was a young man of about 21 when this portrait was completed. The “little” refers to the rather small size of the painting, about 4” x 6”.

The show at the Legion of Honor is large, filling most of the special exhibit space with nearly 100 works of art. And the painting I lingered on the most, by far, was this little one titled Portrait of Rodo Pissarro Reading. At the end of the show I even avoided the exit through the gift shop in order to go get one more look.

I often find myself drawn to smaller works, particular of better-known artists. The Legion has quite a few little gems; there is van Gogh’s little Shelter on Montmarte and Daumier’s Un Wagon de Troisieme Classe both of which they keep on display upstairs. One of my favorite pieces in the entire building is a tiny Rembrandt etching titled Sleeping Puppy. It’s barely 1.5” x 3.5”.

As an artist there is something quite liberating about working small. Depending on one’s medium and style, particularly for painters, small pieces often can often indicate work that is completed relatively quickly. And for some artists, small works requiring less time are also a sign of a smaller commitment. That lack of artistic commitment can be quite liberating. A “quick” work on paper, board or small canvas has none of the weight that comes with a large-scale painting. Small allows an artist to be far more experimental. When an artistic experiment is small and requires a lesser investment of time, it can produce some impressive results. And when the experiments fail, as they sometimes do, the “wasted” effort is relatively small.

These rules for working small can apply to any artist. But, when you have the opportunity to see the small works of giants like Pissarro, it can be more informative than just seeing the larger works that appear in art books and on museum walls. When museums and exhibits include studies and smaller works as the Legion of Honor has done with Pissarro’s People they present an exhibit for the art lover and the artist.

Paul Nordlund

2012-01-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

About 30 years ago I was with friends at a country auction in Sweden. One of the things they bought was a folio with four woodcuts on vellum. They were all similar to the one shown above. All four were portraits of well-dressed men in typical attire for the 1920’s. They gave me this one, which I misplaced years ago. It turned it up this week.

The artist was Paul Nordlund and is a bit of a mystery. He was active in the 1920’s and the only information I can find online was that he did woodcut, illustrations for some books at the time. The print I have is signed and dated in pencil. But considering the poor quality of the paper and lack of numbering, I am wondering if these were done solely for the purpose of being reproduced in print.

Another art mystery where I need more information…

Map of Guadalupe

2011-12-12T10:20:00.000-08:00

Today is the feats day for the Virgin of Guadalupe. Back in 2007 I made this image of Her entirely out of maps from many of the place she watches over. It’s 12”x24”. There are also prints available of this piece on Society 6.

When Creating Art is an Act of Historic Preservation

2011-11-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

Over the years, while working on collages, I began to see how using source material from a certain period could “date” a piece. I do not mean to imply that by “dating” a piece it’s somehow out of fashion. But rather I am using the term “dating” in the sense of freezing time. When I use older source material in a contemporary piece, I am creating something akin to a time capsule. So much of the material I use is destined for landfills and recycling bins. When I repurpose the material for a work of art, it in turn also becomes preserved in a way other than the placing it in a drawer or mylar envelope.

A collage can be a way to preserve various ephemera. Even after a little cutting, you are setting the material in some sort of glue for the ages. But when I start cutting, there is usually little of that kind of preservation going on. I tend to work with small pieces — thousands of small pieces. But even after I cut material into little pieces and reconfigure it, what I still do preserve is the color. And color can really change over time. Some shades of a color are very distinct to a certain time.

For example, when you see a distinct shade of a color it can trigger a memory. The color may bring an image to mind or specific point in time. It happens when you see a color like the original blue on a classic car and immediately realize that particular blue was only used on cars during the 1960’s. Memory triggering color may also be associated with clothing, household objects, old photos or printed material. It might be the shade of baby blue or pink that reminds you of a vintage telephone. There are distinctive shades of red and blue that were used as backdrops in advertising photos in the 1950’s. The olive green and harvest gold kitchen appliances of the 1970’s are unmistakable. Dig deep in the closet and something in a very bright yellow or purple (or both) might fall out. It’s probably a shirt that hasn’t seen the light of day since Daddy Bush was president.

As I cut up things like old maps, atlases, vintage postcards and discarded magazines and books my first purpose is just to make a work of art. I work in the present. But, I also understand that I am preserving color palettes that are disappearing.

Some examples of some Palette Preservation can be seen above and much more is at tofuart.com.

The Big Pink Dinosaur

2011-11-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

How can you not love a big pink dinosaur? I went down to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to have a second look. This time I took along my neighbors, 4 and 6 years old. They agreed — the dinosaur is cool. The dinosaur is made out of hundreds of recycled pink plastic bottles. The installation is the work of the team of Indian artists Thukral & Tagra. It’s my favorite part of YBCA’s current show The Matter Within: Contemporary Art of India.

International Mail Art Exhibition

2011-11-11T18:55:00.000-08:00

It’s time for another show up in Vancouver at the Richmond Art Gallery. Last year it was Artist Trading Cards, this time the theme is mail art. The three 5”x5” mixed media pieces above are from the Trailer Series that was mailed up to Canada

More about the show is below and on the gallery website.

Richmond Art Gallery

7700 Minoru Gate

Richmond BC, V6Y 1R9, Canada

November 18, 2011 – January 15, 2012  

Opening Reception: Thursday, November 17, 7–9 pm  

Artists from all over the world have contributed their work for the Richmond Art Gallery’s International Mail Art Exhibition and Swap. This exhibition is intended to be a cultural exchange, where artists exhibit their works and receive new works as part of a swap. This shared enterprise is free from the rules of the art market, and yet we asked artists to respond to the theme of “economy” in all its forms.

Mail Art (aka Postal Art) is an art form where artists exchange artworks and correspondence through the mail to one another. The historical roots of Mail Art can be traced back to the artist Ray Johnson and his New York CorresponDANCE School that formed in the 1960s. Based on the principles of barter and equal, one-to-one collaboration between artists, Mail Art has become a worldwide cultural movement for artists to share visual art, poetry, or any other art form through the postal system.

Below is an image from the show's opening

Meatyard

2011-10-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

One of the roles an art museum can play is exposing the public to artists and work that they are unfamiliar with. The blockbuster shows with the big names we all recognize serve a different purpose. When the Picassos are packed up and take a trip around the world, it’s an opportunity for everyone who can’t make it to Paris to see famous works of art. At the same time, as an artist, I often find myself truly appreciating a museum when I get exposed to something completely new to me. Yesterday I went to the de Young and saw a show of work from the photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard. It is a good example of why I visit museums.

Meatyard died young n 1972 and his work has remained somewhat obscure. The show at the de Young has over 50 photographs and is titled Dolls and Masks. He staged his photos. Many contain dolls and the models often wear masks. He usually used his wife and children as models for the masks. The photos are typically set in overgrown gardens and ramshackle, decaying buildings. If one was to classify his work, the term Southern Gothic immediately comes to mind. Some of the photos feel as if they are meant to illustrate the works of writers like Carson McCullers or James Purdy.

Dark images of broken dolls and rubber masks on children could be a recipe for a disturbing body of work. At first glance, the first word that comes to mind is creepy. But that reaction quickly evaporates as you look closer at the work. Perhaps because he worked with his own family, there is something innocent about Meatyard’s work. It’s hard for me to express why, but this work comes off as oddly pleasant. On the other hand, I can imagine if Meatyard’s contemporary Diane Arbus had come down to Kentucky. If she taken photos of the same subjects. I am certain I would have had that uncomfortable reaction I usually do to her work.

Even though I just discovered Meatyard yesterday, I keep going back to this photo I took a few years ago. It's of an abandoned doll down the street from my apartment. That day I may have been channeling. The Meatyard show runs until February 2012 and it’s one I need to see a few more times.

Finding The Art of Wayne Quinn

2011-10-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

Last month I went to the annual sale put on by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. I usually avoid this, as some of the book buying and hoarding public can be pretty vicious. Some volunteers advised to come on the last day when things would be more mellow. They were correct, by Sunday everything was priced at one dollar and there were still plenty of books. There was a crowd, but in general it wasn’t too crazy. And I did find some more atlases for further adventures in map art.

I think the real reason I was meant to go to the book sale was to find this one overlooked book titled The Art of Wayne Quinn. The book was published in 1977. It was from a San Francisco publisher house called New Glide Publications. Online there is no reference to New Glide except in listings for books for sale – all published in the 1970’s. Probably their most notable book was Word is Out, a companion book to the documentary of the same name.

The Art of Wayne Quinn has 95 pages of excerpts from the artist’s journal with color images of about 20 oil paintings, including detailed images. Quinn was a realist. The clothing and hairstyles in some the portraits are clearly from the 1970’s though there is an out-of-time quality to much of his work. Clearly ignoring many of his art contemporaries, Quinn worked in a style that seems more in place among America’s Regionalist Artists of the 1930’s. It’s work that brings to mind such artists as Andrew Wyeth and Grant Wood. One can imagine if Grant Wood had lived to a ripe old age and finally fled Iowa for San Francisco, these would have been the sort of paintings he would have been doing in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Finding the book, made me curious to learn more about Wayne Quinn. The book itself offered little biographical information other than that he was born in 1941 and raised in Upstate New York and had lived in San Francisco since 1963. 35 years after the book was published, the internet would provide me with some answers. Wayne Quinn was nearly nowhere to be found except for this one brief blog posting.

Considering Wayne Quinn was nowhere to be found online, lived in San Francisco, and was born in 1941, I assumed the worst. I found Quinn’s 1987 obituary from the Bay Area Reporter on the GLBT Historical Society’s database. The obituary was brief with few details. Two of his friends have recently added a few remembrances of Quinn.

Further searching on his full name, Wayne Douglas Quinn, these items online:

A reference to an honorable mention award he won at an art show in Palm Beach in 1973.
I did find reference to another book of his work called Fourteen Line Drawings published in 1973.
He also did a painting of Mt. Sutro.
His work was shown at the Jehu-Wong Gallery. The Upper Market gallery operated from 1971-83. Some documents from the gallery as well as two of Quinn’s paintings are listed in the Smithsonian’s archives of American Art.
One of his paintings is at Cornell University’s Johnson Museum of Art.

All said there was not very much information out there. If you come across this blog entry and have things to share about Wayne Quinn, please let me know. The book was a real find, and I’d like the opportunity to preserve Wayne Quinn’s memory. He is an artist who should not be forgotten.

Don't Step on the Cracks

2011-10-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

Superstition & Exquisite Corpse is the show I am in this month at the Tangent Gallery in Sacramento. I have the piece called "Don't Step on the Cracks" in the show. It's a 12"x12", mixed media photo collage (see above).

Tangent Gallery is at 2900 Franklin Blvd. in Sacramento. The opening reception is Saturday, October 8 from 6-10 p.m. The gallery is open Saturday's 12-3 (or by appointment).

Art at A.P.E. - 2011

2011-10-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend is one of San Francisco’s better art weekends. It is time for the annual Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E) in San Francisco. A.P.E. gets bigger every year and might be reaching the point where it is too big. It’s filling most of the Course Exhibition Center now.

I always get some new art at A.P.E. and it’s good opportunity to meet the artists too. Officially A.P.E. is am alternative comics and graphic novels shoe. But the event would be better described as being a show for artists who do alternative comics and graphic novels with an emphasis on the art and artists.

I found quite a few things that I like including some of the artists listed below:

Jenny Parks had some of the best cat art and clearly takes the prize for cats meet Dr. Who with her Doctor Mew series. You’ll like it, even if you don’ t care for Dr. Who.

I love sushi art and I love glitter art. And when you can bring them together. I met Charlene Kelley who works in glitter and even had a few pieces of glitter sushi art.

A new letterpress printing company called the Oakland Printing Company was showing some beautiful work including some hand-bound books with covers from retired army blankets.

We met Los Angeles artist Lonnie Millsap selling his very funny books My Washcloth Stinks and the new I Hate my Job!

I bought a copy of Fuck You Sun from the artist Rigel Stuhmiller. She illustrated the hilarious book by Matt Cole. If you’re out all night and never say goodnight to the moon, this is the walk-of-shame storybook for you really bad kids.

My favorite find had to be Casey Storm’s very demented zombie hats. I am pretty much over knitting. But then there is this incredibly creative and hilarious work. The hats have an eyeball that pops out and hangs by a sinewy red yarn tendon from the eye socket. Guaranteed to scare the more sensitive kids on the playground.

A.P.E. is all weekend and if you haven’t had your fill of art, open studios begins this weekend as well. If you’re finding this blog after the fact, go to A.P.E.’s website and be sure to mark your calendar for 2012.

Urban Repurposing – Sunday Streets as Conceptual Art

2011-09-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Fulton Street - Sunday Streets - September 11, 2011

I have to confess that I had a lack of enthusiasm for Sunday Streets when it started back in 2008. I kind of assumed it was just another street festival. San Francisco loves its street festivals. You can find one happening just about every weekend for nearly six months of the year. And while they vary by theme and neighborhood, they all begin to feel the same after 20 years. Actually, that was my reaction after living five years in San Francisco.

Sunday Streets is a very different thing altogether. With Sunday Streets you get a whole piece of a neighborhood closed-off to traffic. Usually about 20 blocks are emptied. Street Festivals are much more compact and usually very crowded. It’s a different energy at Sunday Streets. While there are small crowds of activity at different spots, there is none of that get-me-out-of-here feeling most crowds give me.

A few friends have asked me “What’s there to do?” It’s hard to answer. It’s more just about hanging out and enjoying the space. Running into friends and neighbors. There are tables here and there from different community groups and there are some fun activities for kids. There is some music and dancing. But unlike the street festivals, the bands that choose to play, might find their biggest crowds come from toddlers. Yesterday, across from the police station on Fillmore Street a band called Rin Tin Tiger was playing (good band name). Their Facebook Page indicates they often get hassled by the police for playing on the street. It was nice to see them getting to perform without trouble across from the station. It’s kind of the essence of what Sunday Streets is all about — repurposing the streets for play.

If you have ever perused the library’s historic photo collection, one thing you quickly notice is how empty the San Francisco’s streets used to be. I live on a busy street with three lanes of traffic. It’s one of San Francisco’s one-way, “freeway” streets. Photos of the street from the 1920’s show a street with plenty of parking spaces and few cars. Could the City of the past be the City of the future? Not that I see Sunday Streets as being anti-car — it’s more about showing us an alternative. Streets without cars.

The removal of cars and emptying of streets for other purposes, even occasionally, transforms the space. San Francisco has many people who feel they are quite clever heading up to the Nevada desert and installing an urban space called Burning Man every year. For me, the real act of art is creating open space out of urban streets.

The Monster Pals

2011-09-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Some Collage Monsters I created earlier this week for the 2011 Project have inspired a bigger piece, this one is 10"x10". Prints are available from Society 6.

Zine Fest 2011

2011-09-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

The annual Zine Fest that happens in San Francisco is becoming an event that is getting a permanent spot on my calendar. It’s growing, yet is still small enough to feel accessible and manageable. I am not a fan of massive events. Labor Day Weekend is one of my favorites in San Francisco. It feels like half the City is at Burning Man. The rest of us have the place to ourselves and get to have this really cool event.

There were some familiar artists at this year’s Zine Fest but quite a few I had not seen before. Some of the highlights of this year’s event include:

The disturbing and very wrong (and hilarious) work from Poopy Lickles.
After recovering from that, at the next table was the cool mail art from Jennie Hinchliff.
I really like Charlene Fleming’s work. She is filling small sketchbooks with beautiful San Francisco illustrations. A few are available as prints. Hopefully there will be an art book in the future that is essentially a reproduction of one of her sketchbooks.
I couldn’t tell if Ray Sumser had crashed the event. Not that anyone seemed to mind. He was set up outside with his rather obsessive and wonderful work titled The Comicosm. (But I am never one to criticize obsessive behavior when it comes to art).
If I were going to select a Best in Show award it would go to Josh Ellingson. I just loved the image (seen above) from his BART poster series. You can buy a print from his website.

Have I Invented a Glue?

2011-09-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

This all started with a visit to SCRAP back in 1997. Among the treasures in my bag was a piece of Plexiglas. I decided to play around with it and started by doing a collage front-to-back so the final piece had this embedded feel. Typically collage is all about building from the back to the front, layers on top of layers. I was reversing the process. When one paints and collages on Plexiglas or regular glass it goes front-to-back. The mixed media process was a fusion of Victorian glass painting and collage. I called it Reverse Collage.

That one experiment with Plexiglas led to a whole series of work. It included over 100 reverse collages. Most were small, 6”x6” and usually installed in a grid pattern. They were shown in a few galleries, sold many of them and I even did a demonstration at the de Young Museum as part of an artist in residence series.

Okay, I confess, I do google myself. It’s interesting to see who is linking to my website and where I am turning up. About 10 years back I started coming across a few word origin websites that credited me with inventing the term Reverse Collage. I was bemused and a bit flattered. Now, when you google Reverse Collage, I still come up. But it seems the idea has spread through the world of crafters. There are websites, youtube videos and instructions all over how to do reverse collages. But wait, there’s more…..

Last week I came across a product called Reverse Collage Glue from a craft supply company called Aleene’s. I was simply amused. What an unnecessary product. Any clear drying glue will work just fine, products like Golden Medium or GAC or even plain old Elmer’s.

As the “inventor” of Reverse Collage I can say there is no need for any special glue.

Ray Turner and Long Beach

2011-08-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Recently I wrote about seeking out smaller museums when on the road. Well I have to add the Long Beach Museum of Art to the list. Last weekend I visited Long Beach for the first time. The setting of the museum itself is a winner. It was warm and sunny (definitely not San Francisco in the Summer). The museum sits on a bluff overlooking a beach and the expanse of Long Beach Harbor with the Pacific as a backdrop. It’s a two building museum with an historic Arts & Crafts house and an architecturally appropriate contemporary museum building that houses most of the collection.

The current highlight of the museum is an exhibit called Ray Turner: Population. Long Beach artist Ray Turner has a created a series of portraits of the people of Long Beach. They are all done on thick plates of glass and installed in a grid. Phenomenal painting plus a grid — I was in heaven. If this show was up in San Francisco, I’d have to see it three or four times before it left town. Like so much great painting, photographs just do not do the work justice. The show is only up in Long Beach until September 11^th. From there it travels to a museum in the Midwest. This is a work in progress and I hope it can make a stop up in the Bay Area sometime in 2012.

Favorites at the Museum

2011-08-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a regular museum visitor all my life. One of my habits is always to “visit” my favorite paintings on each visit. I can’t go into the de Young without saying hello to Elmer Bischoff’s Yellow Lampshade. I have a handful of must sees every time I pop into the de Young. I miss Charles Burchfield’s Spring Flood. They haven’t had it up since the new museum opened. If they don’t want to display it, I would gladly give it a home.

I have a few favorites at pretty much any art museum I regularly visit, even museums beyond the Bay Area. I was just down in Los Angeles at the LACMA. I took the opportunity to introduce my nephew and young cousin to a few of my friends at the museum. Thomas Hart Benton’s The Kentuckian is a perennial favorite.

If I wasn’t an artist, I’d want to be a curator. I would love an opportunity to curate some museum shows. I have a head full of ideas. Maybe one day the world will come to see Tofu’s Favorite Works and then everyone can endlessly analyze why I chose what a chose for the show. But I am getting ahead of myself, I haven’t even designed the coffee mugs for the gift shop.

Happy 75th Birthday Joshua Tree

2011-08-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Joshua Tree National Park celebrates its 75^th Anniversary today. I still tend to call it “The Monument” recalling that it was only recently changed from a National Monument to a National Park. I’ve been visiting once or twice a year for nearly 20 years now. And it’s nice to acknowledge the 75^th Anniversary, but the place is timeless. So much of my inspiration emanates from Joshua Tree. My artwork would not be the same without Joshua Tree National Park.

Art Museum Road Trips

2011-08-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

I am a road tripper. I have traveled all over the Western United States on numerous road trips. It’s a style of travel that I enjoy. It gets me to national and state parks as well as many historical sites. My other interest when I travel is art. Unfortunately many travelers only think of art museums when visiting the biggest cities. I know plenty of people who will visit national parks, but they only think about going to art museums when they are in cities like San Francisco, New York, London, etc. When you’re on the road, I think it is important to seek out art museums.

Most of my favorite “road trip” museums are smaller than big city museums. Many of them are located in smaller cities. I would never advise anyone to take a trip to Reno or Boise for the purpose of just going to the art museum. But, I would definitely say you don’t want to miss either museum if you find yourself in Reno or Boise These are both small city museums with solid regional collections. It’s an opportunity to see work by artists that often have been overlooked by big city museums. Smaller museums also get traveling shows that usually feature less well known and emerging artists. The big cities get the blockbusters, but some of the most interesting art I have seen has been in these far flung museums.

Sometimes these small cities are not that small. Many large cities are normally not thought of as destinations to visit art museums. Portland, Phoenix and El Paso all have solid art museums worth taking a look at. Many people pass through El Paso on their art pilgrimages to Marfa, Texas. Marfa is amazing, but it’s a shame more art lovers don’t spend a few hours in the El Paso Museum of Art. It’s also a striking architectural space in a converted Greyhound Bus Terminal.

Often the small museums are in small cities known for their wealthy retirees. Museums in places like Palm Springs, Palm Beach and Santa Barbara all have collections of big name art donated by wealthy local patrons. Because these museums usually only have one piece by a major artist, their collections are often overlooked when large traveling shows are curated. The collections in these smaller museums rarely find their way into art books as well. Santa Barbara has quite a few treasures of this kind, and you’re going to have visit if you want to see paintings like a fantastic George Belllows streetscape.

Finally, many of these small city museums are in cities that are near or even adjacent to bigger cities. Museums located in cities that are overshadowed by bigger cities are usually overlooked. Only the most determined by art travelers seek them out. Tacoma shares an airport with Seattle but few visitors to Seattle take the time to visit Tacoma’s two art museums. Sacramento and San Jose are cities with good art museums that are both overshadowed by San Francisco. And right across the Bay in Oakland is one of the West Coast’s best art museums. Many San Franciscans have never been, even thought it easier to reach the Oakland Museum on public transportation than many San Francisco museums. In Southern California one my very favorites is the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Already overshadowed by the bigger museums in Los Angeles, then when art lovers do trek to Pasadena they are more likely to seek out the better-known museums in Pasadena. Having visited all the museums in Pasadena, it’s the PMCA that has me returning and going out of my way when I am in Southern California.

Below is a list of the museums mentioned above with links to their websites:

Why Maps?

2011-08-06T18:24:00.001-07:00

Why do you like maps?

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that question….

I have always incorporated old maps into my mixed media work. in 2001 I started making pieces that were exclusively made of maps. People are always curious about my “obsession” with maps. I just like maps. Well no, I love them. It’s a simple answer, and I find that anyone else into maps usually just nods with approval.

Below are some details about my relationship with maps.

How long has this been going on?

Even as a child, I was attracted to maps. It’s hard to remember a time when I did not own an atlas. I could spend hours at the library looking at the collection of atlases. Even my interest in history is connected to maps. By the time I was eight I began drawing imaginary maps. I spent hours of leisure time through my teens drawing imaginary maps.

It’s hard to say where this interest in maps originates. I am definitely a spatially oriented person. I have an innate sense of direction yet am terrible when it comes to remembering names and faces. My spatial memory is quite strong. For example, I could draw an accurate floor plan of the apartment I lived in between ages two and four.

There is a natural relationship between maps and travel and I have always been drawn to travel. Before I had the opportunity to extensively travel, I travelled through maps. One might even say I approached maps as works of conceptual art.

What are some of the reasons you like using maps in art?

There are a number of ideas that emerge in my work and there are some basic reasons that I prefer maps as a medium:

I like the “control” of the work when I exclusively use maps as a collage source.
I like using the places on the maps for their symbolic significance. Many times I choose specific places in a piece.
The recycled/repurposing nature of using old maps has a great deal of appeal. Often maps, particularly road maps, can be infused with a great deal of energy from the previous users.
The impermanence of the information on maps fascinates me. Names change, borders move, small towns disappear or get swallowed up by bigger towns, small towns become cities in a matter of a decade or two. And even the physical features are not permanent. Rivers dry up, coasts erode, volcanoes blow their tops. When I use an out-of-date map in a work of art, I am taking that former-reality and giving it a permanent place in time.
There are universal and similar patterns that appear in traditional art throughout the world. I use maps to express the patterns in an alternate medium. Many of the patterns I use in my work are influenced by and can be found in the art of different and diverse cultures around the world. I have been influenced by everything from American Quilts to Japanese Textiles to Native American Rugs. Some of my pieces are non-traditional mandalas.
Working with maps in the way that I do is personally very beneficial. The reaction that I usually hear, is that my works of art are very calming. Personally, my entire creation process can often be a very calming and centering experience for myself. Preparing and cutting then gluing down one small piece after another is, at times, nearly trance inducing.

I continue to create map-based work and am exploring new patterns and configurations. This year I also am working on an ongoing piece called the 2011 Project. Many of the mixed media pieces include maps. The project is also giving me an opportunity to experiment with new media beyond maps including vintage postcards, photos and other ephemera. Examples of my map work can be seen on my site, tofuart.com

The Map of San Francisco – 10 Years Later

2011-08-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

10 years ago this summer my living room was a mess. A large canvas (50”x40”) was on the easel. The floor was a sea of small bits of map. I was in the middle of creating a new map of San Francisco.

I had decided to render the City in a detailed map where each city block would be represented by a piece of map from someplace else. I wanted the piece to reflect the immigrant nature of our City. To that effect, certain places dominate various parts of the map. For example there are a lot of pieces of China in Chinatown, the Mission contains pieces of Latin America, Bayview has pieces of the U.S. South. True to San Francisco, there are pieces of all sorts of places throughout the map. There are also hidden little messages. For example, the block where the Transamerica Pyramid stands is represented by Cairo. And if you’re a serious history buff, you’ll know where to look for a piece of Sydney to represent the notorious Sydney Ducks.

In 2001, when I was in the middle of this piece, I realized that I never would have undertaken the task had I truly understood the amount of effort that would be involved. Often when I am the most pleased with my results, they are the pieces that that end up being far more involved and a greater challenge than I had anticipated.

The Adventure People get their own poster

2011-08-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

I've been been working on this series of photos for about a year now. There is a poster available that includes 20 of the images.

The Adventure People were Carter-Era, Fisher-Price toys that looked suspiciously like the Village People. Action figures from the days when toys saved endangered species, joined the Peace Corps and put up solar panels. It was an era when Barbie learned math and GI Joe had a beard. This couple was lost in an East Coast attic since the 1970’s. They finally made it to the Bay Area where they can go hiking in their sensible shoes and have, well, adventures. Trying to figure out MUNI or what’s the difference between a latte and a macchiato, San Francisco has plenty of excitement for these two.

California Postcard Prints

2011-07-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

In between road trips, during the Summer of 2009 I created a series of handmade postcard booklets. Each made of individual, hand-painted postcards. From the series a poster/print is now available that features nine California images.

Elephant Magazine, Issue #7

2011-07-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

Issue #7 of the British art publication Elephant Magazine is out. Two of my map pieces are featured in an article about artists working with maps.

Summer at Pier 24

2011-07-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

There is a new exhibit up at Pier 24, so it was time to go back. I still am in awe of the show I saw last winter. The current exhibit is another stellar offering from their collection. I am beginning to think San Francisco can boast the best museum for contemporary photography on the West Coast and one of the best in the world.

There is a nice series of the Eadweard Muybridge Victorian images of San Francisco. They were taken before the 1906 earthquake and fire. Below each image is a corresponding, more recent, photo by Mark Klett. They help provide some orientation, but as nearly everything in the Muybridge photos was destroyed, there are few similarities between the sets of images. The Muybridge prints are pristine and amazingly clear. San Francisco looks stunning. It took me a moment to grasp that part of the effect is that these photos were created at a time when we truly were a Victorian city. Every bit of trim and bric-a-brac is intact. Even though I live right below Alamo Square, Victorian San Francisco is not quite what it once was. The exteriors of about half the remaining Victorians have been altered in significant ways — everything from Art Deco, stucco “modernizations” to the sacrifices of front yards for parking garages to some really tragic asbestos or aluminum siding.

The show also includes a new series of work by Larry Sultan. Perhaps best described as landscapes. They show the intrusion of mcmansion subdivisions into wild California. Like so much of his work, far into the future it will be used as a document of our current era. Sultan is one of the Muybridge’s of the current Turn of the Century.

One of the reasons I go to see work in person is to expose myself to new work and new artists. I am wondering how I have gone so far without knowing the work of Henry Wessel.

You have to plan to go see Pier 24, reserve it in advance and maybe play hooky from work. Right now, it is still a local treasure that we can take advantage of before it really gets discovered.

Craft Renegades Invade San Francisco

2011-07-11T17:53:00.001-07:00

The Renegade Craft Fair came into town this past weekend. They are one of these “alternative” craft fairs that are traveling around. We also have a few local variations on this theme. All of these fairs like to make you think they are doing something new and cutting edge, but craft fairs have been around for a long time. The real difference is that these newer versions tend to appeal to a younger demographic of the self consciously hip. There are some really cool and creative things at these shows, but the attitude behind these fairs is a little silly. The items may be different, but the experience is the same with these alternative fairs. Another generations sand candles and macramé abound.

That said I really do enjoy these things. You see plenty of new and interesting work and most of it is pretty accessible in terms of cost. Like any of these things, it’s always a mixed bag. There are some ideas that after a few years feel like they have been done to death. Though at least I didn’t see any more jewelry made out of old typewriter keys. That was clever the first or second time I saw it. After a few times, I had the same reaction to typewriter key jewelry as I used to when I saw jewelry made out of old silverware (uh oh, I’m dating myself). The only thing that really disturbed me at the Renegade Craft Fair, were the grossly overpriced vintage globes. They were covered with uninspired collage. Repurposing globes needs to be left to the pros.

There were some real great things. I loved the Tough Chick series. How can you go wrong with a cartoon chick wearing a studded collar? Especially when the target market is for little girls. A nice alternative to the princess set. Black Forest Clockworks is reviving the lost art of souvenir, kitsch cuckoo clocks. If you didn’t inherit that treasure from Grandma, here is your chance.

Don’t let the name Tofu fool you, I am not a vegetarian. I even collect meat art for my kitchen. If I had a large kitchen, I would want all the meat prints form artist Alyson Thomas. Her work is wonderful and I recommend you check it out.

On my easel...

2011-06-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

The current large piece on my easel. It started with the piece (top left) I did in January for the 2011 Project. I've done some more postcard deconstructions since then. Now the biggest postcard piece (so far). It will be 36"x48" (92cm x 122cm)

I have thousands of little pieces cut (approximately 5,500 will be needed). Now it's time to get gluin'....

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June 30 - Now I can see the "light at the end of the tunnel"

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July 8 - "American Adventure" is finished. Addiitional images can be seen on my website.

Heroes with Bling

2011-06-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

The current show at the Market Street Gallery promises to be the highlight of the Pride-related exhibits happening this month. The theme is Heroes with Bling. It’s a showcase of local glamour featuring portraits of some of our preeminent divas, drag queens and faux drag queens. The show includes stunning photography from Jose A Guzman Colon and Marianne Larochelle. The mosaic portraits by artist Michael J. Kruzich are Fabulous (that’s Fabulous with a capital “F”). The award-winning portrait of Miss Anita Cocktail (aka Leanne Borghesi) is a personal favorite (see left). The portrait of Sylvester is best described as an icon. It needs to be acquired by the City and given a permanent home in a prominent space. Perhaps the Ceremonial Rotunda at the top of the steps in City Hall. Sylvester could keep Harvey Milk company.

The gallery is located at 1554 Market between Van Ness and Franklin. Check their website for details. The show continues until June 29.

San Francisco Sidewalks

2011-06-07T16:50:00.000-07:00

San Francisco is a beautiful city, which I hate to admit, has embarrassingly filthy streets. There is the litter, the flotsam of take-away restaurant menus and the assortment of abandoned belongings that includes everything from clothing and shoes to computers to furniture. Amidst the mess one can often find some really cool art.

It may not be legal and the quality varies, but there is often some nice work stenciled on my neighborhood sidewalks. Most of it is temporary. It rarely lasts an entire year. Because of its temporary and anonymous nature, I started to photograph pieces I like a few years back. There are some I wish I had photographed years back. Occasionally we get some cheesy ad agency’s attempt at guerilla marketing (you can see through most of those) and I ignore anything with a .com in the image. Above is a selection of some of my favorites.

Can artists make wine?

2011-05-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

Sure we could have the vineyard, grow the grapes, pick the grapes, etc., etc. But for artists, we can take a little short cut.

We can buy other people’s wine and just make fun new labels. And in spite of what wine snobs will try to tell us, isn’t the best way to pick a wine based on the label? I admit to being a sucker for any $10 bottle of wine with a good lucking label. Should not wine also be a visual experience?

Now, when you repurpose a bottle for your own label, the trick is to choosing the wine. As you’ll probably be gifting the bottle at some smart dinner party, here are three basic rules to keep in mind:

1) Never go for the $2 bottle, because if ever they decided to drink it…

2) Never spend too much. Because what if they don’t drink it, it goes to waste. And why buy some impressive bottle that you’re putting a new label on?

3)The ideal price is $6 on sale. Drinkable but forgettable.

So this recent occasion was for a friend who is a recovering mormon and Broadway devotee who also just finished a thesis on Don Quixote. Start with the iconic Man of La Mancha poster. The one designed by Picasso himself. A bit of image searching and a bit of photoshop and you have this swell vintage called Mormons of La Mancha. It pairs well with jello salad and anything containing a lot of mayonnaise.

So yes, artists can make wine.

5th Annual Artist Trading Card Exhibition – Part II

2011-05-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year I participated in an Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) up at the Richmond Gallery up in British Columbia (see previous blog entry).

One of the rewards is that my cards were traded and sent on to other artists. I received some cards in return from the gallery and am quite pleased with that arrived in my mailbox. A few of the new pieces are seen above. The include a piece from Ian Addison Hall’s series progress as seen through a hole, a simple and beautiful little water color from Preetika Rajgariah, and a collage from Monique Motut-Firth.

Is this the best place to see Modern Art in San Francisco?

2011-05-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

I try to take advantage of all the opportunities the Bay Area has to see art. I believe as an artist it is always important to look at a lot of art. It’s not always about a matter of looking for inspiration (though it happens) — you just need to get out there and look.

Over the last 20 years nearly half of the really good, interesting and cutting edge, contemporary art that I have seen in the Bay Area was seen at one museum. It may surprise some for me to report that museum is the Asian Art Museum. I have seen plenty of good work at other museums and galleries, but the Asian has had more than it’s share. My general rule is, if it is a modern art show at the Asian, don’t miss it.

Yesterday I saw the big, hyped up Bali show. It’s quite good and there are some fun things (I want a fighting cricket cage and some chicken shadow puppets). The show did inspire my piece for the 2011 Project as well. Why though they feel the need to charge an extra $5 for this show, I don’t know. This is a bad trend in museums where they charge extra for every special show. The Asian is having trouble getting people in the door, and charging more is probably not the best way to improve attendance. Also, in spite of great contemporary shows, the Asian Art Museum has never played to that strength.

Currently you can wander upstairs and come upon a very strong, little show called Here/Not Here: Buddha Presence in Eight Recent Works. Information about the show is buried on their own website. You can go into the next room and realize that the traditional painting on silk is actually a pattern created with a blowtorch on steel mesh (the work is amazing).

There have been many modern shows there that I wish could have become permanent. In 2005 Sui Jianguo’s red dinosaur in a cage quite literally was a traffic stopper out in front on Larkin Street. At the same time there was his sleeping Mao installation inside. There Mao was surrounded by hundreds of little dinosaurs all configured into a map of Asia. A few years later this piece turned up at that “other” museum on Third Street. I am still shocked by how dusty it was.

The 2004 exhibition of the Thai artist Montien Boonma remains one of the best modern art shows of all time in San Francisco. Getting lost in the House of Hope is a moment that will stay with me. It was an installation of strands of fragrant, prayer beads that visitors could wander into. And the post-industrial Buddha heads you could stand under while light dappled in were marvelous. They really should have kept the young lead singer of the punk band The Hammered Grunts on the payroll to pose under the art. He looked like part of the installation in all his pierced, studded glory.

At times it seems the Asian Art Museum just doesn’t understand how good it does Modern Art — but I’ll keep visiting in spite of that.

Flowers on Market Street

2011-05-04T20:37:00.001-07:00

A few flowers have popped up on Market Street near UN Plaza. The sculptures were created from recycled metal by artist Karen Cusolito. They were installed with the help of the Black Rock Arts Foundation. They are 20’ tall and look tough enough to withstand the harsh conditions on Market. And the one looks like it may even be carnivorous.

Royal Wedding Sick Bags

2011-04-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I am ambivalent when it comes to this week’s royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. The British artist Lydia Leith clearly understands that some people may not be quite so happy about the event. Her artistic response is brilliant. She has come up with these hilarious sick bags. I suppose they’ll work for both anti-royalists and teeny boppers who had their hearts set on marrying the Prince themselves.

We are amused.

Casualties of War

2011-04-22T17:34:00.000-07:00

I came across this disturbing and important piece of work from a British design collective in Manchester called Dorothy. They have done a Casualties of War series creating a series of plastic toy soldiers and veterans in uniform. These “toys” are not playthings and are difficult to look at – as they should be. Especially in light of both the U.K. and United States having this bad habit of sending men and women off to war and neglecting their needs when they return. I can’t imagine Tony Blair’s kids play with toys like these.

In addition, Dorothy’s site also has a piece that is a take off on the game Twister. This time it’s called Blast Off and confronts players with the consequences of land mines.

The Casualties of War need a showing in San Francisco. They would be ideally shown with Al Farrow’s reliquaries built out of recycled weaponry. There is one on view at the de Young and the di Rosa Preseve as well as a current show at the Catherine Clark Gallery.

Latino Comics Expo: Rhode Montijo at The Latino Comics Expo

2011-04-21T20:35:00.000-07:00

This is looking to be a cool event coming up next month.

Latino Comics Expo: Rhode Montijo at The Latino Comics Expo: "Here on the blog, we'll be spotlighting all the invited creators who'll be attending the first ever LATINO COMICS EXPO this May 7 & 8 at the..."

What would an artist buy at the gift shop?

2011-03-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today is Van Gogh’s birthday. What would one get him at museum’s gift shop? Would he like the coffee mug with his mug? Would Vincent wear a self-portrait tie? Would a little bit of lunch get stuck in his beard and spot his tie? What would he think of the calendar? There was a recent episode of Dr. Who where The Doctor takes Van Gogh to the future. Van Gogh got to see his work in a London museum. It was cute. It would have been really clever if they had taken Van Gogh down to the gift shop.

Often opinions on museum gift shops can fall into two camps. There are those folks who one suspects really visit the museum mostly for the gift shop. Then there is the other side that just abhors the gift shop. The gift shop can be a good source of revenue for any museum. I generally don’t mind them. But what I do object to is the way they are spreading into exhibitions space. For example, The Legion of Honor has a perfectly adequate gift shop. A few years back, just around the corner, an entire exhibition room was also commandeered as a gift shop for their special shows. This is the point when I want to start decrying the moneychangers in the temple. I call it “gift shop creep” as additional gift shops start popping up and expanding out of their spaces.

There is one thing that I do recommend buying at museum gift shops — post cards.

I don’t have the means to buy every art book I want. Instead, I buy museum postcards of art I like. I get home and put them in a photo album. At this point, I have invested as much as one very expensive art book. The book of postcards has become a sort of art book of my personal favorites. And while I could also fill it with notes (I don’t), it acts as a journal of art that I have found interesting over the years.

And I do confess, after the traveling show has packed up, a few months later, I will pop into the shop and then buy the fridge magnets for cheap and even an occasional coffee mug.

Postcards Deconstructed

2011-03-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

Reno Deconstructed (mixed media on canvas, 10"x10")

I have been working with postcards and postcard-inspired art for many years. I love using them in collages, I love sending postcards and I often create 4”x6” postcard size art. In 2009 I spent the summer making my own handmade postcard booklets. The work was inspired by vintage, souvenir postcard booklets. Each booklet I created, was made up of 12 individual small paintings, they were then assembled into handmade books.

The latest series includes doing to postcards what I usually do with maps — cutting them up and reconfiguring them. So far I have been using the older ones that are reproductions of paintings rather than photographs. The finished pieces retain a painterly look though they are collages. The piece shown is Reno Decosntrcuted (10"x10") A few more can be seen on website.

Have you recently received one of my postcards? If not, go my website and send me an email with your address and you’ll get a little treat in the mail.

This piece along with other deconstructed pieces is available for sale.

A Mixed Bag at Yerba Buena

2011-03-12T18:06:00.000-08:00

When I have been asked to describe the art they show at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, I consistently say, “It’s a mixed bag.” There have been some good things there and some that are really great. Nick Cave’s Soundsuits back in 2009 were spectacular. Probably the best art shown in the Bay Area that year. And then of course, the mixed bag always has a lot of work that leaves me to wonder (and we’ll leave it at that).

Last night I came up on the second floor at Yerba Buena. There is an exhibit of work by the artists Lauren DiCioccio. The first thing I saw was a row of plastic shopping bags hanging on a line up near the ceiling. I rolled my eyes. This is the sort of “art” that just makes me crazy. I get a little closer and realize the bags are actually not plastic. The bags are made from organza. All the imagery on the bags, text, logos, etc has been carefully embroidered. At that point I immediately appreciated the artistry, but still was not quite convinced. My initial reaction was that it was a lot of work to make something that, in its original form, was just plain ugly. But then I turned the corner and it all started to make sense.

Lauren DiCioccio has done some amazing work. Recreating everyday items like plastic bags, newspapers, water bottles and notebooks. She makes the items out of fabrics like organza, muslin and felt and then embroiders the imagery onto the pieces. She could be described as a realist working in fabric and thread instead of paint. Her timing is perfect. She is creating images of items that are on the verge of disappearing form our daily lives. As things like the plastic shopping bag and printed newspaper become things of the past, DiCioccio’s work will be an artistic record. In the future, her work will find a home in museums. Shown in the same rooms where we see those old fashioned, über-realistic paintings of dinner tables covered with a bounty of food. I know just where they’ll go in the de Young.

SFMOMA Artists Gallery: New Collages by TOFU in the Gallery

2011-03-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

SFMOMA Artists Gallery: New Collages by TOFU in the Gallery: "TOFU broght these new pieces into the gallery. Surf, 2010, Mixed media on canvas, 22 x 24 inches, $1,600 Fish Finder, 201..."

Grant Wood a Life - Read It!

2011-02-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

When it comes to art books I admit, I mostly just want to look at the pictures. I rarely read anything in the realm of art criticism and in terms of biography I generally have two interests; which other artists did the artist know and work with; and how did the artist make a living and survive as an artist? It always interests me to learn which artists hung out together – even on a subconscious level they often influenced each other’s work. And, as an artist myself, the question of how other artists kept a roof over their heads is interesting and of relevance to my own life.

I just finished reading R. Tripp Evans new biography of Grant Wood called Grant Wood a Life. Reading this book was a bit of an exception to my rule for what I read. I highly recommend this one. Grant Wood’s personal story was interesting, but what really sets the book apart from many artist bios is the way Evans has set the artist’s life in the cultural context of the time and place he lived. The book is as much social history as artist’s biography.

For all our coastal smugness about the flyover states in the Midwest, I really had no idea how truly repressive and uptight the Midwest was in the early half of the 20th Century. It’s comical at times until you think about the creative and free spirits trapped there who did not escape to settle on the coasts. As a closeted gay artist in Iowa, Wood had a particularly difficult struggle.

And, as much as I just rather look at the pictures, Evan’s analysis of the symbolism in Wood’s paintings is spot on. Yes, Grant Wood was an ass man. After finishing the book I took a trip to the de Young for another look at Dinner for Threshers. I found myself wanting to snicker like a kid in junior high.

San Francisco Eats

2011-02-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Public Library (Main Branch) has put up a great exhibit called San Francisco Eats. It takes up the two large galleries - the one on the 6th Floor and the Lower Level. A big collection of local restaurant ephemera including menus, matchbooks, photos, etc. They also have a flickr page with additional images. There also is a fun quiz to test your San Francisco restaurant knowledge to see if you know which restaurants appeared in which Hollywood movies. Now I just want to eat at the Pink Chateau!

An incredible use of pencils

2011-01-28T22:34:00.000-08:00

I just came across the website for an incredible artist. Check out Jennifer Maestre. She does amazing work with colored pencils. No, not drawings, but sculpture!

Henri Cartier-Bresson at the SF MoMA

2011-01-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today included a trip to the SF MoMA. It has been a while since I have visited, there are two shows that I recommend:

Photography is their strength in terms of both their permanent collection and the special exhibits they have. The Henri Cartier-Bresson show ends January 30. It’s worth the effort to make the trip to see this one. Some work is familiar but many pieces are seldom shown. The show is deservedly large, commanding an entire floor. It’s a thorough retrospective spanning his career with work from all over the world. So many of the photos are like archetypes for their countries that they border on stereotypes. The photo of Dutch housewives scrubbing their sidewalks is placed next to image of Italian boys playing cards in a stairwell. It can’t help but make you snicker. And some are hauntingly serious. Like the one of African-American sharecroppers forced to live in a tent city after being evicted for registering to vote. My reaction to the show made me feel like I was paging through an atlas — but an atlas without maps. Is such a thing possible?

It is also the museum’s 75th Anniversary. The second floor has been re-curated. It’s always good to shake things up. I am always surprised when works of art look new just because they have been moved. There are also some hidden treasures pulled out for the show including works by Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud and Clyfford Still.

Six Maps of Arizona

2011-01-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

I want to live in a country where we end a politician’s career at the ballot box. There are plenty of politicians I’d like to see go. Having crooked congressmen caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar suits me just fine. And one loves a homophobic, toe tapping republican getting busted in a men’s room. But what I do not want to live in a country where terrorists feel entitled to use violence against our elected officials. I do not want to live in Columbia, Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, etc.

Seeing a real masterpiece...

2011-01-06T10:17:00.001-08:00

One more try, it was a member’s only ticketed entrance. I finally got a look at the post-impressionist show at the de Young. The crowds have been impossible. If they are going to promote these blockbuster shows, they just need to extend the hours all the time. Blockbuster might be the key word here. Like some of these hyped up movies, you can seem compelled to see them.

There are some shows that come through the local museums that I have returned to for a second and even third look. The Asian-American Modern Art show a few years back was one of those. A number of pieces I need to see a few times.

The post-impressionist treasure trove winding up at the de Young was, for me personally, more about seeing some of those “landmark” paintings I have seen all my life; in books, calendars, greeting cards, etc. Now I can say I have seen Van Gogh’s bedroom (and I also know the color saturation is often tweaked on the postcards). The real treat for me was seeing all the work by Édouard Vuillard. A painter I was less familiar with and found myself quite taken with his work.

Seeing some of these paintings is the same reaction I have every time I see the U.S. Capitol in person. We see it all the time on TV. It’s kind of an odd feeling seeing it in person when it is already so familiar. I imagine many people have a similar reaction to seeing the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time.

The most amusing part of the show was walking in and recognizing a familiar Renoir. I laughed to myself because I knew it from Masterpiece. I don’t think they make that game anymore that we used to love playing when I was a kid.

It feels like Marfa under the Bay Bridge

2011-01-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

Today I visited Pier 24, the amazing photography museum hidden in plain site under the Bay Bridge. The current exhibit is from the collection of Randi and Bob Fisher and runs through February 28.
The exhibit showcases a stellar collection of the some best photography in the world. It's pretty much the all star team of modern photography with most photographers getting a dedicated room. Many of the works I've seen in various museum shows over the years. So much looks familiar, if not from museums, but from my own library of art books. Seeing so much of this caliber of photography at one time is a rare treat, The space is vast, calming and quiet.
The museum is free but you must make a reservation to visit. The crowd is very small. It is a feeling I have not had since visiting the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. It's a privilege to be surrounded by so much art in an uncrowded quiet space.

There's a rocket parked on the Embacadero

2011-01-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

The Black Rock Arts Foundation is behind the marvelous Raygun Gothic Rocketship.

Arthur Szyk at the Legion of Honor

2011-01-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

There are times when the smaller, lesser hyped up shows at museums are sometimes the best ones to see. The Arthur Szyk exhibit at the Legion of Honor is one of those small shows well worth checking out. The Japanesque show is great (there is just a week left). But be sure to walk down to the far end of the museum. Pass under the Spanish Ceiling and go further to the end. You’ll find a one room show of Szyk’s work.

The images will probably look familiar and you’ll recognize the style. Even if you haven’t seen the particular work shown, it feels familiar. There is that old, illustrated work of classic literature on your shelf with a few colorful plates, and they are probably the work of Arthur Szyk.

The End of 2010

2010-12-30T19:58:00.000-08:00

The End of 2010
A temporal piece in 62 parts

Today I mailed 62 small pieces of art. Each piece is a component of one, single large temporal work of art. The recipients have been instructed to place the work inside of a book and stick it on a bookshelf for an indeterminate amount of time.

My definition of “Temporal Art”
The general definition of temporal art usually describes art that is temporary. And while temporary art may be temporal, temporal art does not necessarily have to be temporary or short term. Temporal art can be a work where time is an element of the piece. That span of time may be brief but it also may be quite long. And a permanent piece of art that is intended to change over time may also be defined as temporal art.

The small pieces of art I distributed are not temporal art in themselves. But what the recipients are instructed to do with the piece of art will change the nature of the piece and transform it into temporal art.

My Inspiration
When I was five, my family moved into a Victorian house with a large wall of bookcases. I come from a family of readers, but at that point my parents had still not accumulated enough books to fill all the shelves. My dad bought tons of old books on the cheap at places like the Goodwill. Leather bound volumes of old novels, almanacs, encyclopedias, etc. Eventually I discovered the joy of paging through those old books looking for hidden “treasure.” There is something magical about a pressed flower or leaf that has been hidden for nearly 100 years. Occasionally I found the odd photo, letter, postage stamp, calling card, etc. Those discoveries are still a joy to me. I myself am always leaving something in books. Now I have grown old enough to be amused when I find something I tucked away over 20 years ago.

When you find something hidden in a book, it is like a small time capsule. Often those things are clearly from another point in time. The dated ticket stub is obvious, but even the envelope from ukulele strings seems appropriate when found in a 1925 yearbook. Recently I received a thirty year old atlas. Inside I found a hand written note with someone’s social security number. Clearly the note was from an era before we had terms like identity theft.

Below are the instructions sent along with each small piece of art.

Instructions
You have received one of a series of 62 pieces of art created during the final week of 2010. The mailing envelopes were sealed and mixed before they were addressed. The piece you were sent was selected at random.

1. Take the enclosed piece of art and keep it in the glassine envelope.
2. Place the envelope between the pages of one of your books.
3. Stick the book back on the shelf and forget about it.
4. Discard and/or recycle the enclosed instructions.

At some point in the future you may find this piece of art again. Years from now it might bring you back to the point when you placed it in a book. Or perhaps someone else will find it and wonder, what does it mean and why is it in the book?

The pieces
There is a map element in much of my work. For this piece I created 62 mixed media collages on vintage nautical charts. The charts are dated 1945. I purposely chose nautical charts as their use requires a keen sense of space and time. Each piece also has a postage stamp size image affixed to it. There were six different images used. Each generated during my 2010 trip to the Southwest. The images are also reflective of time and space. They include the remains of an 800 year old structure to measure time and a radio telescope.

The Next Phase
It’s hard to predict when and if ever these pieces will re-emerge. In the meantime I envision making additional pieces of this nature. The next step might be a collaborative work where a number of artists created small pieces to be swapped and then placed in books.

My 2010 Holiday Card

2010-12-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

My best Christmas present

2010-12-14T13:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received this swell little piece of folk art. I love it. If it doesn’t use old maps, you always need to use old postage stamps. At first I thought it was made by some crafty, hipster up in Portland. But it gets better — It’s “souvenir” folk art made by Franciscan nuns in Québec. The images of Queen Elizabeth on the stamps look 1960’s but there is no date. No signature, only the initials “RL” for the artist and “FMM” for Franciscaines Missionaires De Marie.

I am looking for more information online about this stamp collage. Folka art, if anyone has any leads….

The H Sale

2010-11-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

I will participating in the "H" Sale on December 11th at Roots Division on 17th Street in the Mission (more details below).

All the work in the sale will be priced under $100. Actually, I will be bringing a small pieces including some brand new ones. Almost everything I'll have will be under $50 with a lot of small works in the $20-$25 range.

ROOT DIVISION GALLERY
3175 17th Street (at S. Van Ness)
San Francisco, CA 94110

THE 'H' SALE:
ONE NIGHT ONLY SALE OF ART AND HANDMADE GIFTS
PRICED UNDER $100

Date: Saturday, December 11th, 4-8 pm

This is not your mothers holiday sale, although she might really like it. Some of the Bay Area's finest local artisans and emerging artists are coming together for a one night only sale. Items for sale include unique drawings, paintings & photographs, handmade jewelry, fairtrade clothing, knitwear made from recycled yarn, and much more!

And here's the best part: no one item will be over $100. We're taking the heartache out of holiday gift giving. After all, 'H' also stands for handiwork, homegrown, harmless, heroics, hyeanas, and hadeas corpus, all great reasons to celebrat. So come by, grab a cheap cocktail, listen to some beats, and be inspired to buy yourself something! And, if you really want to, we'll let you take care of everyone else on that list too.

VIVO: Days of the Dead 2010

2010-11-24T17:01:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Museum consistently puts on a great, annual show for the Day of the Dead.
This year's show is no exception. There is a mix of pieces from community groups, students and professional artists. Every year there are a handful of pieces that are outstanding. This year there is an installation of an ofrenda by local artist Ana Teresa Fernández that stands out. It is three illuminated figures of girls made from glass shards. There is an interview with artist here. The show is up until December 5 and worth checking out.

Little Things 10

2010-11-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

I just got a card for a show up in Portland called Little Things 10. It's at the Guardino Gallery (see link for details). The show includes work from Dan Pillers. I know Dan from his days in San Francisco and he is missed down here. Check out his work if you're up in Portland.

5th Annual Artist Trading Card Exhibition

2010-11-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

Some of my small work is going to be in a show up in British Columbia. Some of the 2.5" x 3.5" cards I sent up are above.

5th Annual Artist Trading Card Exhibition
November 26, 2010 – January 22, 2011

The Richmond Art Gallery's 5th Annual Artist Trading Card Exhibition is a display of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) from local, national, and international participants. Artist Trading Cards are miniature works of original art measuring 2.5 x 3.5" that are made to trade. This international art movement is intended to be a non-commercial, non-hierarchical, non-judgemental avenue for artistic exchange. All entries received that follow the Entry Guidelines will be exhibited and then traded on the Closing Celebration.

Richmond Art Gallery
7700 Minoru Gate
Richmond BC, V6Y 1R9, Canada

An interview with curator Kathy Tycholis is here.

Some of the cards that I got traded back to me in return can be seen here.

Queerart on Etsy

2010-10-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

I've been doing an inventory, organizing and cataloging my artwork better. After 14 years of being a "professional" it really needs doing. To that end, I've put up a little site on etsy with some of the queer, erotic work. There is a lot of small, inexpensive pieces that it's time to get out there.
Feel free to pass this on if you know anyone who might need a bit of tasteful smut in their life.

4400+ Hometowns to be shown in Salinas for Dia de los Muertos

2010-10-11T18:06:00.001-07:00

4400+ Hometowns, my piece memorializing American service men and women killed in the Iraq War, is going to be shown later this month in Salinas.
The show is part of a Day of the Dead Show sponsored by Artists United-Artistas Unidos.
Details are below:

Bailando con la Muerte:
a Multicultural Community Celebration of Art and Culture

Hartnell College Gallery
Salinas, California
October 25 - November 6, 2010

The reception is on Tuesday, November 2, Dia de los Muertos, from 5-8 p.m.
The celebration in Salinas includes a procession from the gallery to the Steinbeck Center.

Some event details are here.

The Trouble with Fort Gay

2010-09-10T18:07:00.001-07:00

In case you missed the story earlier this week, an online gamer had his account suspended by Microsoft because they thought he was being offensive when he listed where he lived in his profile. He lives in Fort Gay, West Virginia. When he contacted Microsoft he was unable to convince tech support to just google the town's zip code and see Fort Gay was a real place.

Microsoft has since admitted their mistake, but this brings up a bigger issue. It is shocking how pervasive the gay agenda has worked its way into place names all over America. I made a quick little collage, couldn't resist using extra glitter and found places from Wanker's Corner, Oregon to Fort Dick, California onto the Big Wood River in Larry Craig's Idaho. Just what goes on at the Flaming Gorge in Wyoming? Gay Hill, Texas, Gay, Michigan, Gay, North Carolina, Gays, Illinois and Gay Mills, Wisconsin. I've never been to Bruceville, Indiana, but safe to say they're light in the loafers in that town. And not far from Fort Gay, West Virginia there is Pounding Mill in Virginia and the Pretty Boy Reservoir in Maryland. It's no surprise in the shamefully shaped Florida there is a town called Reddick.

When will the teabaggers do something about this and get rid of all these offensive names? Perhaps they can rename all these salacious towns with names like Reaganville, Reagantown, etc.? At least our children are safe for the moment, as nothing even remotely resembling geography is taught in American schools.

Zine Fest 2010

2010-09-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend's Zine Fest was a great alternative space to find some new art and reminds me why I always looks beyond conventional galleries.

I got a couple of copies of Jesse Reklaw's little book applicant. In his own description: "See what no one was supposed to see again: pictures of hopeful students, accompanied by unflattering, behind-doors quotes from their professors and employers. Distills the essence of a bygone era from a dumpstered stash of confidential biology applicant files circa 1965-1975." Also found some groovy little buttons made out of old MUNI Fast Passes. Was very tempted, and really need to get one of Oakland artist Benjamin Chan's cityscapes.

The next event to watch for is A.P.E. (Alternative Press Expo) coming up in October.

Mapworks: the Map as Art

2010-09-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

I have two pieces in a show this month up in Sonoma County.
I will be showing the new piece titled "Surf." This will be the first time this piece will be exhibited.

Mapworks: the Map as Art
Sebastopol Center for the Arts
6780 Depot Street Sebastopol, CA 95472
SCA is located at 6780 Depot Street, one short block north of Hwy. 12, and 2 blocks east of Petaluma Ave.

Exhibition Dates: Sept. 16 – Oct. 23, 2010
Sept. 16. Thursday, 6 – 7:30 pm. Opening Reception

Old Oak Street Fire Station

2010-08-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Today I was walking by and was invited in to look around. The officer from the Sheriff's Office told me if the doors are open, you're welcome to come on in. The building is being restored and eventually will be the HQ for the new Guardians of City Museum which will cover Police, Fire and Sheriff's Dept. History etc. I'm glad this building is being restored and staying in public hands. There are some old fire engines inside, it's pretty cool. The building is in relatively good shape as a new roof was put on some years back, but it prevented a lot of water damage.

The location of the main museum is yet to be determined in either a new or existing structure, probably downtown. Imagine keeping it in the neighborhood though? The tow truck garage on Fell behind the fire station perhaps? Maybe the Harding Theatre? Or imagine a museum where the ARCO station is on Fell and Divisadero.

The old station is across the street from the oldest house (still standing) in San Francisco. Today I learned that house caught fire after the 1906 Earthquake and was saved by the crew from the station. Which also probably saved the neighborhood from fire as well.

From Old Maps to Aviation Charts

2010-08-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago I started creating collages made completely from old maps. Eventually I started including nautical charts as well. Now my latest work is incorporating old Jeppesen Aviation Charts.

When I look at the completed piece, I wonder if it more than a coincidence that it's August and the Dahlia Garden in Golden Gate Park is now in full bloom.

Spring 2010: There is now a set of inexpensive art postcards for sale from this series.

When art meets theatre

2010-08-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 7th Annual San Francisco Theatre Festival. This is becoming one of my favorite local events. It can be a bit overwhelming with so many stages/venues and so many things to choose from. One has to do a bit of research beforehand and figure out what to see in order to have some focus. I arrived about an hour before the plays I wanted to see were scheduled. I knew if I wandered around I'd find a few more things.

For me the day's gem was from a work in progress called Paris Portraits performed by Laura Sheppard from the Mechanic's Institute. Currently it's a one woman show where the author Harriet L. Levy is recalling her experiences in Paris in 1907 with Alice B. Toklas. Levy and Toklas where right in the middle of the Paris art world, meeting Matisse, Picasso, etc. I immediately found myself pulled right into the story. And this was no easy task, it was a crowded space with a lot of background noise on the first floor of SPUR. The modern space also wasn't the best setting. But no matter. I sat their imaging this performance done for select audiences of about 20 in smart Victorian living rooms around San Francisco. I also wanted to be sitting on a divan in the Legion of Honor listening to this story. I think the next time I want to be wearing a period costume.

The festival ended for me catching the tail end of the Thrillpeddler's Pearls Over Shanghai. That was in the Forum space at Yerba Buena. I have seen the show twice and I must say it never sounded better. The acoustics in that space are perfect. I wish I could see the whole show there.

My cool new T-Shirt from Oaklandish

2010-07-16T00:02:00.001-07:00

Got my cool new BART Tree T-shirt from Oaklandish today.
Oaklandish is a great organization celebrating their 10th anniversary. They exhibited my Map of San Francisco back in 2004.

Americana - Tangent Gallery

2010-07-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Photos from the opening of the Americana Show at Tangent Gallery in Sacramento.

4400+ Hometowns to be shown in Sacramento

2010-07-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

In March of 2004 I began this piece to memorialize the American servicemen and women killed in Iraq. Each of the fallen has been represented by his or her hometown cut out from a map. It is still a work in progress with over 4,400 hometowns. There are big cities and small towns and everything in between. Communities from all over the United States have been represented in the piece. Many communities have lost more than one person in Iraq. Those cities and towns are represented multiple times.

During July, Starting on July 10 this piece will be included in the Americana show at Tangent Gallery in Sacramento, California.

Treasures in the attic

2010-07-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

After a trip to the East Coast it's time to sort out the mystery art found in the attic. This 1930's etching of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy. is one of the finds. I still can't make out the signature of the artist.

Then there was this landscape by the Brazilian painter Reynaldo Manzke. When I took apart the frame there was the mystery, unsigned painting behind it. German expressionism?

In November 2011 a reproduction of this piece appeared in my 2011 Project.

American Jesus Horse

2010-06-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

My latest work. How can you best recycle a bunch of maps of the Bible Belt? Make them into a Jesus Horse of course. This piece is 10" x 10" on canvas.

New Art on Valencia Street

2010-06-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

The first art installation was the man walking up the street balancing a tray on his head filled with bobblehead dogs. The dogs were for sale all nodding as the man walked up street on a sunny 90° day. Alas, I did not have the camera.

A stop at Michael Rosenthal lead to the discovery of Amy Casey. Is Post-Burchfield Great Lakes School a recognized genre? If you know the urban landscape of Great Lakes cities, you'll immediately recognize it in her work. Casey has managed to capture a world where industry has been dying for decades and communities have seen tough times for over 40 years without making it look grim and depressing.

Further down the street at Artzone 461 two new shows opened today. Susan Danis' work is comprised of old socks, hair, dentures and old toys. At first glance it's all very cheerful and colorful reminiscent of last year's Soundsuits show by Nick Cave at Yerba Buena. But look a little closer, there a harder edge behind the feather boas.

Celebrity Junk Drawer

2010-06-02T20:13:00.001-07:00

Jason Mecier's new show Celebrity Junk Drawer is one of the coolest things happening downtown these days.
It's up until July 10 at 5 Claude Lane. Amazing portraits of celebrities including Chris Rock, Rue McClanahan, Tori Spelling, Donald Trump and Stevie Nicks. The Stevie Nicks portrait is made of old 8 Tracks and used nicotine patch wrappers among other items.

The 2010 Globe

2010-05-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Here is is, the new globe for 2010. I made one of these in 2005, I need to make more globes. I really like these.

New Mural in the Lower Haight

2010-05-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

A new mural is being installed by San Francisco artist Marina Perez-Wong on Fell and Scott (updates to follow).

An odd window installation at ATA

2010-05-26T16:40:00.001-07:00

I just don't know what to make of this one. Even visiting the link on ATA's website leaves me a bit befuddled.

Dan Pillers at Guardino Gallery

2010-05-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

San Francisco artist Dan Pillers is back living in Portland. He has a show opening this week at the Guardino Gallery. It runs from May 27 through June 20.

Re-) Claim at SOMArts

2010-05-23T16:44:00.000-07:00

Caught a nice show at SOMArts this afternoon that is closing on May 28. The show is collaboration with APICC part of the annual United States of Asian America Festival.

The "official" description is below. I especially recommend checking out Vickie Lew's Mandala (l) and Truong Tran's 900 Cootie Catchers.

Of course I am especially partial to any contemporary work involving a mandala theme.

-------------

(Re-) Claim presents the work of Mark Baugh-Sasaki; Kathy Fuji-Oka; Su-Chen Hung; Christina Mazza; Judy Shintani and Truong Tran in a critical investigation into the discarded objects of the everyday or what gets left behind and the redemptive process that renders an object “fundamentally new.” How does detritus reveal the imprint of its locality and the residue of human lives? This exhibition locates the self in poetic, imaginary as well as ecological modes and gives voice to moments personal and historical by re-framing the present. In a time of frugality and perceived scarcity- the impetus that nothing shall be discarded also includes stories, history, memory and ultimately, our deep interconnections.

The Audio Tour is a Bad Idea

2010-05-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

The much hyped Birth of Impressionism opens at the de Young tomorrow. I went to the member's preview today. Timed tickets and it was still impossibly crowded. I'd like to actually see the show. I have to try on a week day first thing in the morning and might have better luck. Adding to the difficulty is the audio tour. I didn't have one, but everyone who did is locked in earphone land and stands there completely unaware of other visitors to the museum. Crammed exhibits and audio tours don't mix.

The best part of the trip was the quiet Fisher Gallery upstairs displaying some older works of Ed Ruscha and a great 1983 photo collage from David Hockney.

SF Fine Art Fair - Why?

2010-05-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended opening preview for the SF Fine Art Fair. It was a lovely evening down at Fort Mason with beautiful light. It's always nice taking a trip down there. That alone made it worth going.

As for the Art Fair, I have to ask what was the point of this event? The opening was a well attended benefit, but I am not sure who will be attending over the weekend.

There were about 80 galleries represented, half of the galleries were Bay Area galleries with about 25 being right in San Francisco. Many were the familiar Union Square galleries. For out-of-town collectors, this was a good opportunity to get a survey of the local, high-end gallery scene. Are collectors really traveling to San Francisco for this art fair though?

For locals, there is a chance to get a preview of some "off the beaten path" galleries in San Francisco. For example Art Zone 461 has a booth as does Gallery 16. It was also good to see some nearby galleries represented from places like Oakland and Jay Jay in Sacramento.

There was no representation of local arts organizations (as was done in the previous art fair about 10 years ago). The fair organizers clearly made no provision for local non-profits like ArtSpan and Visual Aid. Of course the galleries paid dearly to have booths. The booths were maxed out and full in an attempt to show as much art as possible. Think craft show, but where most everything is over $1,000. It would have been good to see some space dedicated to showcasing new work. Sadly, there was little to see at the Art Fair to get excited about.

The Surf Shop

2010-05-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

Check out The Surf Shop. It's the current show at New People World in Japantown. The show is up until June 16. If you miss it, you'll have to make a trip to Tokyo.

A show that makes me want to visit NYC

2010-05-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

Stumbled across a link for a Show called Dead or Alive at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

"Dead or Alive will showcase the work of over 30 international artists who transform organic materials and objects that were once produced by or part of living organisms-insects, feathers, bones, silkworm cocoons, plant materials, and hair-to create intricately crafted and designed installations and sculptures."

Work by Nick Cave is enough of an enticement to go, this show is reminding me a I need a New York visit.

Vintage Paper Fairs

2010-05-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today is another one of Hal Lutsky's Vintage Paper Fairs. I love these things and always find good things to work with. Last year I was so inspired that I ended up creating a series of handmade postcard booklets.

Alan Streets in the Lower Haight

2010-05-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

When it comes to out-of-town artists, all the hype in San Francisco has been surrounding Banksy. But there is another visitor working in the streets these days. I keep seeing Alan Streets working in the Lower Haight. Check out his work, it's great.

Millard Sheets show ends May 30

2010-05-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

A few years I "discovered" the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Since them I usually find a reason to visit on every Southern California trip.
I saw Millard Sheets: the Early Years this spring. It ends this month and is well worth getting a look at if you're in the L.A. Area. Sheets is a great, yet under recognized American artist in the spirit of Thomas Hart Benton and Edward Hopper.