Well the last time I wrote in to Fecalface I was approaching Dubai on the last of my three fifty-seven day trips from New York to Singapore and back. In typical shipping industry fashion, there was a drastic change of plans at the last minute. The head honcho’s at APL decided to start sending this fleet of ships through the dry-docks in Singapore and we were to be the first. So unfortunately I was not going to be home for the holidays as planned and my stay on board would now exceed six months. However, I was going to get to spend two full weeks in Singapore, after which our ship would start a Pacific run, hitting several new Asian ports and eventually sailing back under that beautiful Golden Gate into my home port of San Francisco.
Michael Hsiung continues blogging his travels for Color Magazine's traveling skate-centric art shows up and down the west coast. This time the journey starts off with them leaving Escapist in Kansas City, MO and then heading to Austin, TX to meet up with Sieben and the guys from No Comply. We do some skating at the ditch, installing, visit Okay Mountain, have the opening, skate Alien Pond and then start our drive back.
Last Thursday, we went down to Newport to catch Artist Ed Templeton’s talk with Juxtapoz magazine co-founders Greg Escalante and CR Stecyk III, moderated by Joseph Dugan at the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA). Director Kevin Barnett aslo presented some footage from his upcoming documentary, Primer, featuring Ed Templeton. Following the panel, Ed signed some copies of his books Deformer andThe Cemetery of Reason while some of us dined at the taco truck. We would have caught the film at the beginning, but we were caught in some brutal traffic. Driving time 1:45 minutes. ~CHECK SOME PHOTOS
Michael Hsiung continues blogging his travels for Color Magazine's traveling skate-centric art shows up and down the west coast. This time the journey starts off with them leaving Escapist in Kansas City, MO and then heading to Austin, TX to meet up with Sieben and the guys from No Comply. We do some skating at the ditch, installing, visit Okay Mountain, have the opening, skate Alien Pond and then start our drive back.
Michael Hsiung continues his travels for Color Magazine's traveling skate-centric art shows up and down the west coast. This time the journey takes them to Kansas City and to Escapist skate shop.
Michael Hsiung continues his travels for Color Magazine's traveling skate-centric art shows up and down the west coast. Meant to add this blog up awhile ago, but moving servers slowed us down. Anyway, enjoy his travels through word and photo form.
NYC based wood block printer Dennis McNett (who showed at FFDG last summer) created the artwork for a curent Barney's window display in NYC... Looks great. Congrats, Dennis. Check it out
Mi Ju stopped in the gallery this afternoon to say farewell as she's off to get her masters at Pratt this fall. She'll be living near campus and, besides being an amazing painter, is a great person who spends A LOT of time in the studio. If you're off to Pratt, be on the look-out for her and introduce yourself. If you're a gallery in NYC, hit her up. We sold everything at her solo show @FFDG last month. Wait to you see her works in person. Hot damn!
We caught up with Jeff to ask him about his upcoming show in NYC @Jonathan Levine opening Sat June 26th.
You mention that this show is going to be much different from previous shows by you having had taken a new direction of sorts. Can you elaborate some on this?
In past work I concentrated on Man vs. Nature conflicts, politics, social issues and the worries that my children will be inheriting this mess. But I've been fascinated by the cycle of life lately, I don't know, maybe I feel that I'm getting older and getting closer to death while my kids are just starting out their lives.
This body of work is trying to capture some of those feelings, the idea of living your life, having all sorts of adventures and stories, then aging and the inevitability of death looming on the horizon. It's universal, it is repeated everyday, and if you look at any lifeform, you have birth, life, reproduction, death, then the cycle comes around again, and it's been going on on Earth for billions of years. As humans I think we always believe we're living in such an important time in history. In reality we are just a little speck on the timeline.
I always think that my grandchildren will know me, my great grandchildren might kinda know me, but after that my wife and I and even our kids will start to fade away in people's minds. One thousand years from now (if humans have not destroyed the planet) will our country and our times be remembered at all? Surprisingly, I'm comfortable with all of this. It's just the cycle of life. It fascinates me and I'm working on paintings that relate to it.
How has had being a dad affected your work?
It has been one of the best things in my life, and I cannot imagine how I'd be without them. I don't know exactly how it changed my work, I think having kids has made me understand more of how the world works. I understand nature in ways I didn't before kids. I don't know, I'm sure it's made an impact on my work. Looking back I see a big difference in my art post August 2005, that's for sure.
Alot of artists I know don't want kids, and that's cool, they want to keep their lifestyle the same, have less responsibilities, I respect that. And it is easier for sure. But I DO think any stable couple who is the slightest bit interested in having kids should go for it. And don't wuss out, have two kids if you can!
Besides working on this show, what have you been up to?
Eating more than I should. I tend to snack a lot when I'm working on a show. It is terrible. I am eating Chinese leftovers as I type this.
You mentioned this being one of your last solo shows for awhile. After this show, what you have planned?
I just need to take a break at this point. I'm going to continue painting, I might try out oil painting for a while, but I want to take it slowly and not have the pressure of a show on my shoulders. I have had too many shows in a row the past two years, haven't had a chance to catch my breath. So I don't have anything planned at all. Going to jump into doing more prints, maybe curate some shows and maybe teach a class or two if anyone will hire me. My future is uncertain and it's kinda scary, but I think it's what I need at this point.
Are you excited about the World Cup at all?
No, I don't even know who's playing. I follow baseball, though the past two years I haven't watched much.
What was the major technical shift from previous works if any?
When I started painting at 14 I thought the pinnacle of art making was the ability to paint things as realistically as possible, and that's what I worked on for a few years. As I learned more about art history I realized there was so much more to art than being able to render well.
So I tried a bunch of things over the years, from traditional painting to embarrassingly failed attempts at video installations and performance art pieces! It took a while but I realized my strengths were in making visual art, and more importantly, that's what I had the most passion for. In the last ten years I've concentrated heavily on painting, but felt like being a "painter" was too limiting. I was finding used pieces of wood, scratch into my surface, create texture, add collage elements, spraypaint on it; this time I am keeping the pieces really clean and pristine, making each piece precious in a way. I think for this show I wanted to visit my early roots of trying to render forms realistically. I am realizing I am a painter and for the first time embracing it. Aint nuthin' wrong with being a painter!
What's an average daily routine for you these days?
I am in show mode right now, so my schedule is all fucked up. I have been staying up late to paint in the garage, sleep, and then work all day at my studio which is a few miles from where we live. Usually though I get up with my wife and the kids and help with breakfast and getting everyone ready. Then I work for 8 hours or so and come home- dinner, kids baths, pajamas, etc. Pretty normal "dad" schedule. I actually crave that "dad" schedule part about having weekends off, and I'm going to try to do that when I get back from NYC! Yeah! Gonna take the kidlets to feed the ducks at the park!
maybe you've seen the new mural at 14th and Valencia and wondered, what's the deal with it. Is it an ongoing project? Who did it? Well, we passed by it the other day, did some investigation and found our friend Ert is behind it. She fills Fecal Face in.
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Michael swings through the studio of this LA based artist as she prepares for the international group show Arte Contemporaneo - ARCO Madrid opening Feb 17th.
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The film Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry explores the roots of American tattooing through the life of its most iconoclastic figure, Norman "Sailor Jerry" Collins.
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You live in NYC? Maybe you've seen Dick Chicken around town? He emailed the other day to let us know about his solo show opening on Oct 23rd in Brooklyn @3rdWard
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Got some preview images from Bian Willmont's show that opens Sept 12th @Receiver Gallery in SF. Meant to get this up sooner, but it's been a nutty week here at Fecal Face. Better late than never?
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Got this email the other day from Lee Whiteman whom we're not familar with, but their project seems interesting. Wold love to see a city filled with these guys.
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BFF opens this week here in San Francisco. This year's event covers music, art and, of course, film. Andrew McClintock interviews BFF founder Brendt Barbur.
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The cable TV station Bravo is putting together an art reality show and are putting out a casting call. Could be funny/ good/ stupid/ whatever. Why no San Francisco casting call??! - "an hour-long creative competition series among aspiring contemporary artists who will create and compete to conquer the art world!"
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111 Minna emailed a few preview photos from WORSHIP THEE KINDLY THE DARK HAND THAT GUIDES ME which opens Thurs June 4th in San Francisco.
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About 10 hours ago she booked tickets to Italy and will be going there to be on Swoon's new boat project The Swimming cities of Serenissima.
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A preview of her show which opens this Saturday at Receiver Gallery. Steven Weinberg and Jay Hakkinen of Receiver Gallery take a visit to her studio.
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Early Saturday morning, April twenty-fifth, scores of artists and volunteers took to the streets of NYC armed with rollers and five gallon buckets of white paint. By the mid afternoon, this group had whitewashed over 120 outdoor advertising spaces.
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Mike Shine and friends recreate his Art Shack for the show Inside/Outside: Artist Environments which opens Thursday 3/6 at Museum of Craft and Folk Art in SF.
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Cultural institutions are beginning the sell off entire collections to stay a float comparable to destroying wildlife refuges for the sake of the resources they hold; permanent damage for the sake of temporary benefits.
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Mike Shine was in Fecal Face Dot Gallery last night covering the place in paint as he prepares for his show that opens Friday, August 8th (6-9pm)
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This day may have been inevitable, but now it's finally here. In its attempt to take over the world - or at least everything that can be bought and sold in the world, Amazon is launching an art gallery.
This summer Amazon is planning to launch a Fine Art Gallery where customers will be able to purchase original artwork offered by a select group of invited galleries via Amazon.com. ~continue reading
A new HBO documentary looks at the work of street artist JR, whose giant portraits force people in troubled areas to confront the humanity that's all around them... On the day JR found out he'd won the $100,000 TED Prize, the French pasteup artist found himself in China being questioned by police for doing his thing on the streets of Shanghai. ~continue reading
Street artist JR HBO documentary premiered yesterday, May 20th
Art lovers, collectors and gallerists will gather on Thursday for Hong Kong's inaugural edition of Art Basel, sealing the city's status as an international art hub and Asia's leading art destination... Hong Kong has surged to third place in the global art auction market behind New York and London and Western galleries are falling over each other to open franchises in the former British colony. ~continue reading
Our buddy Ferris Plock opens a small show of drawings at Benny Gold on 3169 16th St this Friday, May 24th (7-10pm) featuring 31 drawings priced at 75-140 bucks.
Ferris also released the video Fingered! he produced with animator Jim Dirschberger. View it
Wowzas, there's a lot of art happenings this weekend, and while you're making the rounds, be sure to stop at SFAI's MFA show Currency opening Friday, May 17th at the beautiful old SF Mint Building (88 5th Street).
SFAI's 2013 MFA graduates—working in painting, photography, printmaking, film, sculpture, installation, digital media, performance, and across media—will present work that embraces the Institute's signature spirit of experimentation and conceptual risk-taking.
Opening reception: Friday, May 17, 7–9 pm & running through Sunday 11-6pm daily. -- complete details
London based Pedro Matos opens the solo show Building Castles Made of Sand this Friday in Los Angeles at the Martha Otero Gallery featuring a new series of oil paintings on canvas and azulejo panels - a traditional Portuguese medium of hand-painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tile work.
San Francisco -- CCA opens their 2013 MFA Thesis Exhibition this Thursday, May 16th at their SF campus. Every year another graduating class produces steller work. One of the best SF art events worth getting to, but be sure to get there early as there's always a long line. ~details
The Book and Job Gallery (San Francisco) really stepped it up with the opening of Daniel Chen's loveBlast on May 4th. Complete with a doorman, piano player, old fashioneds, and some really nice paintings, I could hardly believe I was at the Book and Job. The paintings varied in size, and the show was balanced nicely between them, the spray-can work on the walls, and the smaller drawings displayed throughout. The kind notes Chen wrote on the walls are certain to brighten your day, and the rest of the work is definitely worth a look. It was a very classy evening and I hope they continue to intersperse shows like these into their schedule in the future
FFDG opened up the group show featuring original works by the artists of the world famous Skull & Sword tattoo last Friday here in San Francisco. Thanks to the huge crowd who turned out to support these four incredibly talented artists. Here is a taste of the show, and be sure to swing in to view in person. The show runs through June 8th.
Gary Baseman's retrospective "The Door is Always Open" at the Skirball in LA opened recently to massive crowds in a huge celebratory opening party. The exhibition is so complex and personal, delving into Baseman's background, family history, and all the layers of prolific work that he has done over the years. After the opening festivities winded down, I caught up with Baseman for an interview. We discussed the underlying meaning to some of the components of the show and how it felt for him, coming from such an honest personal perspective in putting this massive show together.
Fertile Menace, a new show of Mark Mulroney's (NY) work opened at Ever Gold on May 4th and it's not one to be missed. It is intelligently hilarious, with jokes riffing off sex, Foucault, and the body, and while it makes you laugh it's also going to make you think.
Our buddies Jay Howell, Andreas Trolf, and Jim Dirschberger are hyped as their show, which they've been working on for like 2 years, premieres on Nickelodeon Saturday. From the trailers we've seen so far and from what Jay has told us about, the show is going to be pretty epic. Congrats to those radical fellas.
Here's a little taste of work by the artists of the world famous The Skull and Sword tattoo shop who open their show at San Francisco's FFDG on Friday, May 17th (7-10pm).
Following his solo exhibition "The Collected" at Gallery Wendi Norris, painter Amir H. Fallah is in the throes of developing more new works for upcoming international exhibits. We spent some time in his studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles recently, discussing his process and inspiration.
We were first introduced to the photography of Spanish born NYC based Bubi Canal when he emailed us his great video Trust in Me a couple years ago. His solo show Special Moment recently ran at NYC's Munch Gallery in February, and he recently released his newest video Chrystelle below.
Although I missed the opening of Northern-California photographer Michael Garlington's newest show, Constructed Realities, I was fortunate enough to see the work still up during the Metaphysical fundraiser a couple weeks back at 111 Minna. Metaphysical fundraiser, an auction to benefit Wayne Ernzer. --- The ghoulish photographs in their heavy, hand-made frames are reminiscent of photos from the old west, and the glass crucifixes, complete with fetuses and guns, emphasize the accumulated time within the works themselves. Whether you're looking at the frames, the photos, or both, this show deserves a visit, and a walk through the golden archway Garlington constructed around the front door.
Fecal Face contributor Rachel Ralph (rachel(at)fecalface.com) has been profiling this Oakland based painter as he travels about Japan. In this segment, we feature some photos as he prepared for this show and residency at Spes-LaB in Tokyo which opened last weekend. Arnold will be featured in SFMoMA's Minna Street windows on June 8th.
Last Saturday, here in SF's Mission district, Guerrero Gallery opened two new shows with Philly based Alex Lukas and SF based Richard Colman respectively. Colman's work occupied the project space while Lukas' work and foliage was presented in the main space. Worth getting to if you haven't already.
Just got back to SF after a little trip south to Sayulita, Mexico. After 10 years without a vacation, me and the Mrs. headed south for some mental time off sitting in the sun, swimming and enjoying the watery Mexican beer. Here are some photos as we get back into the swing of things again.
Athens, Greece based designer, architect and artist Dimitris Polychroniadis emailed over more of his work which consists of mixed media, pop-humorous diorama sculptures that make a comment on the harsh realities my country and much of the world is facing at the moment.
FFDG will open a group show with the artists from the famed Skull & Sword Tattoo on Friday, May 17th (6-9pm). Artists: Grime, Henry Lewis, Yutaro, and Lango. Below are a series of videos on Grime for Vice's Tattoo Age produced in 2011. Fascinating look at one of the greatest tattoo artists alive today.
ARYZ (Spain) opened his newest gallery show at Fifty24SF last Friday and, if you live in the Bay Area, you need to go. This dude can obviously paint, and he doesn't need an entire building to show his impecable skill. The show has lots of small works on paper which contrast his highly-defined line work to his hard-edged painted objects. The contrast between the hard and soft was the most striking thing to me about his work, since I had never seen it in person before, and the washes blend with the thick paint seamlessly. The show also contains a larger work on canvas, a huge head suspended in the back of the room, and a big wood sculpture of a wolf figure. This diversity in such a small space was impressive, and those of us that went to the opening even got to meet the man in person. If you didn't make it out this weekend, check it out before May 31st when it closes and these works will be off to some very happy new homes.
Water McBeer is please to announce its latest exhibition "Precious" a solo exhibition by David Bayus (April 6 - May 4, 2013) -- David Bayus born 1982 holds his BFA from the Savannah College of Art and his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. David lives and works in San Francisco and is a founding member of the basement collective. This will be his first exhibition with the world renown Water McBeer Gallery highlighting his most recent achievements with paint and digital media. David Bayus will be exhibiting 5 relatively large-scale mixed media works along with a collaborative object featuring Hungarian sculptor H.R KOONS.
The Shooting Gallery handed over the reins to the Red Truck Gallery (a New Orleans based gallery) which curated their new show, Hard Time Mini Mall and opened the it on Saturday night. This is my favorite show (so far) in the Shooting Gallery's new space and was packed full of art, a mini bar, and cowhide rugs. The Red Truck Gallery chose works with clear craftsmanship and it was easy to see in Ian Berry's denim assemblages and Chris Roberts-Antieau's awesome quilts. The space was completely packed, making it hard to see each piece individually, but this show deserves a second trip anyway. I look forward to spending more time with the chandeliers, automatons, and paintings before the show comes down on May 4th.
Toronto based photographer Nathan Cyprys emailed to let us know about his newest series "Neighbour State", and we were about to post it when we spotted this series on his site entitled "Ayre (of Distances)" and had to post this one instead. After you view this one, view "Neighbour State" on his site. Both are visually enjoyable.
Working from found photographs, Lyle's paintings are created through a reductive painting process where each piece is rendered using only black paint and turpentine. Lyle begins this process by priming a panel with white gesso. He then paints a thin, rich, oily black veneer over the primed panel, slowly and systematically developing his images by removing some of the black paint with a cloth. In doing so, Lyle renders layer upon layer of various values of black paint resulting in his signature-style of luminescent works.
London based David Shillinglaw who's blogged it up for Fecal Face in the past recently completed this mural in London as he prepares for his solo show at Stolen Space opening on April 26th.
Our buddy Henrik Haven, who brings us some goodies from his native Copenhagen, has been shooting some of his city's graffiti and street art. Last week we brought you part one of his camera's explorations.
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This day may have been inevitable, but now it's finally here. In its attempt to take over the world - or at least everything that can be bought and sold in the world, Amazon is launching an art gallery.
