October 2004 Archives
If you missed Barry's exhibit at The Rose this past summer you may want to get a copy of the exhibition catalog while they last. It's a good looking 40 page hard cover book featuring documentation of Barry (and friends) putting it all together. It makes a nice addition to our growing library.
Francis Picabia, Cover of Litterature, No. 7 (1 December, 1922)
Always having been intrigued with the Surrealists and their process of thinking / creating, I check in with some of our books on the subject from time to time. I came across this editorial note by Francis Picabia which reminds us some fundamentals to keep in mind when creating art....or a creative existence in general.
"Do not admire yourself. Do not let yourself be shut up in a revolutionary school which has become conventional. Do not allow commercial speculation. Do not seek official glory. Draw your inspiration only from life, and have no ideal save that of the continued movement of intelligence." -F. Picabia
VS correspondent Akiko in London wrote to us this morning to say she was checking up on both Kerry and Bush through their websites and she couldn't access Bush's site so did a little digging and came up with this article. Bush's camp "may see no reason to distribute content to people who will not be voting next week. " ..."However, simply blocking non-US visitors also means that Americans overseas are barred too. "
The ZoomQuilt is a collaborative art project that takes you through a surreal little trip using your arrow keys .
The Arts Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit membership organization created by Americans for the Arts, whose goal is to enlist and mobilize 100,000 citizen activists who will help ensure that arts-friendly public policies are adopted at the federal, state, and local levels, and public and private resources are maximized. Launched only earlier this month, they have already released The Congressional Arts Report Card (PDF) detailing each members vote on art specific issues. It's interesting to see that in the state of California, all of the "A+" are Democrat and all of the "F" marks are Republican.
This weekend in SF was a pretty good art fix ....
It just keeps getting stranger and stranger, as if this world we live in weren't surreal enough... Contrary to the claims of Osama Bin Lotto that they are the "ONLY sweepstakes where you can win by guessing correctly the 'October Surprise' that Bush and his gang will use to manipulate America and steal another election," Osama Bin Lottery enters the playing field. Who woulda thunk?!
Radiohead is now taking pre-orders for The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of all Time, a 110 minute excursion into the bizarre." The dvd contains twenty-four short films with music by Radiohead. It was originally planned to air as 4 episodes on a television channel (just prior to the release of Hail to the Thief), but things kept falling through the cracks. Shipping begins on or before December 1, 2004.
The John S.& James L. Knight Foundation welcomes submissions by artists for a permanent installation at the foundation's Miami headquarters. The Knight Foundation will award 26 purchase prizes up to $1,000 in each of the communities where the Knight brothers operated newspapers (San Jose qualifies). Submission deadline is November 1, 2004.
A casting call has gone out on LA's Craigslist for "dancers, performers, and uniquely talented people of all ethnicities and ages who enjoy using iTunes/iPods". So those moves you do in your living room could actually land you in a commercial!
Yoko Ono has a public art exhibit of 50 banners displaying breasts and pubic hair entitled "My Mummy Was Beautiful" for the Liverpool Biennial. Because of it's "shocking" nature and complaints, a new censorship law may be passed. Not like we haven't all seen it before. On the otherhand, what was the Biennial thinking that the general public could handle it?!
Sotherby's Contemporary Art auction (Nov. 10th) will hammer out some amazing works, including Barry McGee bottles (est. $15,000 - $20,000) In the same breath are works by Basquiat, Haring, Warhol, Cornell, Noguchi, Cindy Sherman and Christo. Wish I had a million bucks.
Many of you know of Osseus Labyrint from their appearance in Tool's video which (to my knowledge) debuted on MTV a few years back or during Tool's 2001 tour (Osseus performed live with them). Other's may have been blessed with the experience of seeing their public performance "Them" under the historic First Street Bridge and in the Los Angeles River during October, 1999. Regardless, you're going to want to see Modern Prometheus LLC presented by UCLA Live on one of their five dates in November.
Rides of Passage is an exhibit featuring 125 Burton snowboards that have been painted, carved and sculpted by some of the top tattoo, graffiti and visionary artists in the world. Participating artists in the Rides of Passage project include Stash, Futura, Filip Leu, Don Ed Hardy, Aaron Cain, Sean Crofoot, Adrian Lee, Joe Capobianco, Jaime Litwalk, Jason D' Aquino, Mario Desa, Gunnar, Jeff Proctor, Paco Excel, Ron Earhart, Tristan Eaton and 109 other creative, unconventional minds. This is the third stop for the exhibition after Milk Studios, NY and at The Woodstock Tattoo and Body Art Festival in Woodstock, New York. Rides of Passage opens on October 20th at La Luz De Jesus at 4633 Hollywood Blvd (LA) from 8-10 p.m.
Japan's most loved character (no, not Hello Kitty!) turns 50. To celebrate, Super 7 in SF's Japan town will exhibit 40 equally loved artists paying tribute to Godzilla. Oct. 30th, 6 - 9pm. 1630 Post Street, SF.
We are very saddened to hear of the tragic news that artist Rebecca Westcott was recently hit by a car and killed while changing her tire on the side of a road. Our deepest sympathy goes out to her husband Jim, her family and her friends. Space 1026 in Philadelphia will be hosting a memorial celebrating Rebecca's life on Oct. 23rd. More information here.
If you're down in L.A. between October 16th and December 3rd, stop by the BLK/MRKT Gallery and see the new exhibit, Carpe Cras, featuring the work of Andrew Schoultz (SF) and Ryan Wallace (Brooklyn). Exhibit reception is this Saturday from 6-10 p.m.
Harvey Pekar comes to Saratoga for a screening and discussion of the movie American Splendor. The movie was based on Pekar's autobiographical comic book series of the same title. New York Times Book Review says Harvey Pekar "lets all of life flood into his panels: the humdrum and the heroic, the gritty and the grand."
American Splendor plus discussion w/ Harvey Pekar
7:00 PM, Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Carriage House Theatre at Villa Montalvo, Saratoga
admission: $40/50
students: $10 (special offer)
A VS correspondent pointed out that he had noticed unusual bird calls emanating from a building at the corner of North Second and Santa Clara Streets as he rode his bike through downtown San Jose this weekend. He urged us to drop by and experience it when we had the chance, so we did. You can hear it from just about anywhere at that intersection. Just give it a few seconds and the sound loops through again. Not sure who is responsible for this, but we like it. Stealth art. More please.
Biopresence developed a unique method, that allows us to store human DNA 'within' the DNA of a plant cell, WITHOUT affecting the genes of the resulting organism (genetically or visually). Biopresence trees can be seen as 'Living Memorials' or 'Transgenic Tombstones'. The creators, Georg Tremmel and Shiho Fukuhara, believe that a growing, living tree has the ability to comfort in a completely different way than cold gravestones.
Our friends at Juice Design have another artshow opening on Thursday, October 21, 2004. The exhibit features bay area surfboard shapers and artists: Tiffany Bozic, Manuel C. Caro, Mark Gordon, Jeff Hantman, Alex Kopps, John Moore and Paul Urich. Wavefest will be projecting surf films all night too. Doors open at 7 p.m. Juice is located at 3160A 16th Street at Albion in the Mission District.
We were driving back to the studio from downtown after working on Phantom Galleries this morning and came across this truck in the parking lot of the train station. I went in, grabbed my camera and strolled on down the street to see if I couldn't get a photo to share with you. Afterall, us city folk aren't used to wild animals roaming these parts (at least... not in the daylight).
Terminal Five is / was an exhibition held in a vacant terminal at JFK airport ("Catch Me If You Can" was filmed there) which responded to the transitory nature of travel, architecture and contemporary art. Sculpture, installation, sound, performance and other media take place within the luggage carousels, ticket counters, VIP lounges, staircases and the tunnel walkway. Unfortunately, a couple of incidents from rowdy opening goers shut the whole exhibit down before it even had a chance to take off. No respect by attendees coupled with no tolerance by airport officials equals no art. Read here.
10th annual IN THE STREET Theater Festival features art, installations and performances this weekend. Fri. 10/ 8, 6-10PM & Sat. 10/ 9, 12PM-6PM
500 block of Ellis Street between Leavenworth and Hyde in the Tenderloin
FREE, though donations appreciated.
We're especially looking forward to the artist reception for a new 4 story mural by the Gestalt Collective at 509 Ellis Street, Fri., 5-10:00p in Cohen Alley.
If you're down in L.A. during the Oct 16 & 17th weekend, check out the Brewery's Autumn Artwalk. Over 100 artists' open their studios.
FOUND Magazine's gonna be back on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight, Wednesday October 6th. They'll be sharing with Dave and America some of the fantastic new finds they've been collecting on the tour.
Paper Bullets: A War of Words at Intersection for the Arts, SF
Opening Reception Weds., Oct 6th. 6 - 9pm.
This ambitious project merges new work by Sandow Birk, Amanda Eicher, René Garcia, Mondo Jud Hart, Packard Jennings, Kara Maria, Patrick Piazza, Winston Smith & Christine Wong with material spanning 50 years of psychological warfare and military propaganda, specifically printed leaflets dropped from the sky in times of war to demoralize, frighten, and divide both military and civilian populations.