Kitchen Chaekgeori

This is the newest painting in my Chaekgeori-inspired series.   The books are some of the cookbooks on shelves in my small, San Francisco kitchen.  On the lowest shelf are essential coffee beans and tea bags stored in old spaghetti sauce jars (reuse and recycle), plus filters, mugs, etc.   

From the beginning, I recognized each Chaekgeori I was painting is in essence a portrait — or in this example a self-portrait.  These shelves also include art I have collected and art I have made.  There is even a shadow box I made for my grandmother as a child.  It sat on her kitchen shelf for decades.   There are souvenirs from trips going back over 40 years — to Sweden and more recently Mexico.  Some of the mugs are souvenirs as well.  On the top shelf there are some vintage ice crushers and other kitchen tools — something else I have been collecting for a long time. 
The stuff on those shelves reveals quite a lot about me.

Swedish Bookcases

As I continue painting books and things for this Chaekgeori-inspired series, I am never surprised that some of my friends have the same books on their shelves — and in a few examples the same objects.  The other thing we have in common is Ikea bookcases.  Not all, but many of the books in this series sit on those ubiquitous bookcases (including some of my own).   The first time I was in an Ikea, it was in Sweden, many years before it was a global empire.  It is weird to think that the plastic silverware tray in my San Francisco kitchen drawer was purchased in Stockholm in 1984.  

Look closely, you might even notice the holes in the sides of the bookcases for the shelf pegs.  This painting shows the multilingual dictionaries, books and things of artist friends in Sweden.

More Books and Objects

Here is the latest still life in my Chaekgeori-inspired series.  This is one of my own bookcases — I can easily recognize nearly every title and I know the story behind every object.  The glass insulator was purchased at a roadside stand on my first trip to the Grand Canyon.  The Canadian, soapstone, totem poles have been on my bookshelves since I was about 10 years old.  On the bottom shelf there is a painting of Rhyolite, Nevada from my 2011 Project and mail art from South Africa from the artist Cuan Miles.

The curious object on the top shelf is a Mörksuggan.  The Mörksuggan or “dark sow” is a piece of folk art I received as a gift 40 years ago when I was first in Sweden.  It gently swings on the edge of a shelf and can come take away bad children during the night.  It’s a rather local and obscure piece of folk art and may be the only one in all of San Francisco.   I never have problem with bad children in my home, so it must work.

Glad Midsommar a Swedish-themed Artist Stamp

When the San Francisco Correspondence Co-Op meets to talk, demo, do and plan all things mail art, we also have an artist stamp for each meeting.  Different artists take turns designing and preparing a stamp to share. This month was my turn and we were commemorating our sixth anniversary.  Because the Swedish Midsommar (midsummer/solstice) holiday was also coming up, I went for a Swedish theme and created a pair of summery stamps celebrating both the holiday and our group’s anniversary.

Back to Sweden

The cycle of collecting things that eventually end up in my art can take a long time.  In 1984, in a small town called Horndal, I helped myself to many of the free postcards offered by the Swedish Postal Service.  Over 30 years later, the last of these postcards have been cut up and reassembled.  Now they are on their way out as new mail art.  One is even going back to friends in Horndal.  I was tempted to also send one back to little post office in Horndal.  Sadly, the post office is no more.  Sweden decided to close most of its small town post offices.  When I travel around the United States and stop in a rural post office, it always is a reminder how every small post office remains an important part of the community it serves.  Not just as a provider of services, but as a gathering place where locals meet.

From Sweden to San Francisco

In just a month Collage + Landscape = Collagescape opens.  Over the next few weeks keep following this blog as I start previewing and introducing you to the 11 artists who will be participating in Collage meets Landscape upstairs while my new Collagescapes are shown downstairs. 

Our first artists are Giovanna Aguirre and Lars Jonnson. Giovanna and Lars are an artist duo based in Örebro, Sweden.  They have been working collaboratively for over 20 years.  Giovanna is a native of Bolivia who joined Lars in Bonn, Germany where they worked together for many years before returning to Lars’s native Sweden.  Their work has been shown extensively throughout Europe and we are excited to bring them to San Francisco for their American premier.  Collage meets Landscape will be the first time their work has been shown in the United States.

Their mixed media works on paper can be viewed at jonnsonaguirre.com as well as photography and video of installation pieces including this one from 2008’s Örebro’s biennale known as OpenArt where Lars serves as Project Leader.

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The Collage + Landscape = Collagescape will be on view at San Francisco’s Glama-Rama Salon and Gallery at 304 Valencia Street in San Francisco.

The show runs from July 29 to September 28, 2014 with an opening reception on Friday, August 1 (7pm to 10 pm).

The exhibit will have two components:

On the main level, there will be an exhibit of my new series of work called Collagescapes.

On the upper level of Glama-Rama, I am curating a companion show of mixed media works, where the theme will be Collage meets Landscapes.

Paul Nordlund

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…