Latino Comics Expo: Rhode Montijo at The Latino Comics Expo

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?

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

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

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

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!

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

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!