And now, a Professional Bookcase

A real San Francisco home has a certain look that reflects the personality of the person(s) who lives there.  Never cluttered, but always quirky.  We are a city of collectors who treat our homes like museum installations.  In apartments, it starts with the old telephone nook near the door.  They make for perfect altars.  A San Francisco bathroom is an art gallery with plumbing fixtures.  Our small kitchens never have an empty wall.

What San Francisco homes are not, in spite of the worst efforts of stagers and flippers, are the gutted Victorians that have been sterilized into white and gray modern lofts.  Stainless steel and marble slabs with all the charm of a mortuary.  We do not want to live in banal furniture catalogs.

 

The bookcases and things I paint for my Chaekgeori-inspired series are just a small glimpse into these wonderful San Francisco homes.

 

My friends have generously shared photos for me to work from.  When I asked one friend to send some snapshots, I waited anxiously for their arrival in my inbox.  He and his husband have a delightful Hayes Valley apartment that is like living in an actual cabinet of curiosities.  It is one of my favorite San Francisco apartments.

 

The photos he sent, and what I have painted here, are of his office bookcase.  Early on, I realized painting bookcases was, in many ways, painting a portrait as much as it is painting a still life.  This made me think about a person’s bookcase in a professional office.  Many of us wear different personalities to suit the occasion.   A downtown office bookcase is going to be different from one at home.  Maybe a little more restrained, a little more reserved.   This is a professional bookcase.

Books and Connected Things

 

As I continue painting books with my Chaekgeori-inspired series I am also documenting.  I am recording my own home as well as the homes of my friends.  This latest one shows the top shelf of the bookcase that sits behind my television.  Yes, don’t get fooled by all the books, I also watch TV.  Note the remote control and the even an antenna.   I don’t pay for cable, I have Sutro Tower beaming PBS into my living room.

The other things with the books include some spider plant clones, a vintage folding measuring stick and a piece of mail art from Robin Sparrow.  I display some of the favorite pieces of mail art that I receive on my bookshelves.  There is a wooden folk carving I picked up in Poland years ago and, on the wall, you can see the bottom of one of the Post-Folk Art pieces I did — a series inspired by Polish folk art.  

Tucked behind the remote control is a 4x4 inch piece I did for the 2011 Project.   

In 2011 I made a small piece of art each day for the entire year (365 in total).  It was not planned, but it is perfect that this 2011 piece was inspired by a visit to the Asian Art Museum — much like this series of Chaekgeori.  

Post-Traditional Folk Art

My personal art collection includes many folk art pieces and others which I would describe as “post-traditional” folk art.  By post-traditional I am referring to work where the artist has gone beyond recognizably traditional work, yet the influence of centuries of artists before them is clear in what they create. For myself, I have often relied on traditional textile work, especially quilting, for many of the patterns I incorporate into my own art work.  My map collages and map quilts have been some of the best examples.  During the creative process, I often think about expanding on folk art motifs. 

Recently, I had one of those aha moments when I was watching an episode called Neighbors from the PBS series Craft in America (it’s a fantastic show!).  The film included a segment on the ceramic artists Carlomagno Pedro Martínez and Magdalena Pedro Martínez in Oaxaca (you can watch it here).  As Magdalena was demonstrating how she preserves and depicts traditional Oaxacan folk costumes in her ceramic work, I was immediately, instantly inspired!

I follow a blog of Polish folk costumes which got me thinking about how to depict the folk art of my Eastern European heritage within my own work.  My collagescape series has been focused on capturing the palette of landscapes I wander through.  Much of my work in 2017 centered on ideas of color and memory.  It all is starting to coalesce in a new series where I capture the colors of Polish folk costumes.  The first three pieces, shown here, are inspired by Kashubian folk costumes — a place some of my ancestors emigrated from about 130 years ago.  You’re seeing a preview of what’s to come in 2018.