Got an email from Austin based photographer, Keith Young, and his photos on his site are wonderful. Keith has shot for magazines like Vice, Frankie, Mint, Huh, Slice, Positive, The Photo Album: Vol. 1, Shashin Collective, Tell Mum Everything is Ok, Austin Monthly, etc...
As a lover of images, there's something about Texas being so visually interesting. Good place for a photographer and, imagine, a filmmaker. Interesting scenes abound. Check a small taste of Keith's photo skills here and be sure to continue onto his site for more.
NYC graffiti legend SEEN just made our week as he and Mars-1 just stopped by FFDG to check out Shawn Barber's show Youth of Today. The guy practically invented graffiti in the 70s. Yikes.
1pm update: Well, that didn't take long. Right at 1pm when FFDG opened the doors, Clark (below) swooped in and grabbed the book. For the rest who may want the book, go here and order one.
Drawn and Quarterly was kind enough to mail us out this massive (658 paged) magnum opus collection from Chicago based graphic novelist Anders Nilsen. 10 years in the making, Big Questions follows the minimalist story detailing the metaphysical quandaries of the occupants of an endless plain, existing somewhere between a dream and a Russian steppe --- the story's birds and snakes have more to say than their human counterparts and there are hints of the classic hero's journey, but the easy moral that closes most fables is left here as open and ambiguous. Rather than lending its world meaning, Nilsen's parable lets the questions wander out to go where they will.
If you want this beautiful book, stop in FFDG sometime during open hours (Wed-Sat, 1-6pm) and grab it. First come, first... can have the book for free. It's a great collection, and as much as we want it, we'd rather you enjoy it.
The thing is thick.
VIA DRAWN & QUARTERLY: Come out to see the tour that's more than ten years in the making! That's right, folks, the brilliant (and handsome...) Anders Nilsen is going on tour for 600+ page masterwork Big Questions, and he's coming to a town near you!
West Coasters, he's starting with you in July, so make sure not to miss him:
07/20 Family, LA
07/21-24 Comic-Con, San Diego
07/26 Needles and Pens, SF
07/27 Pegasus, Berkeley
07/29 Floating World, Portland
07/30 Fantagraphics, Seattle
07/31 Lucky's, Vancouver
It could be our age and how we grew up with the space shuttle. It could be that we're major nerds over here... Whatever it is, it sure was sad watching the last shuttle launch this morning. It also seems slightly symbolic of the future of the United States. Funny that now, decades after the cold war, US astronauts have to take rides to the space station on Russian spacecraft.
Youth of Today
Paintings by Shawn Barber
Opening: Friday, July 8th (7-10pm)
We're taking limited number of emails to be added to the preview list going live on Wed., July 6th 3pm Pacific. To inquire, email: info(at)ffdg.net
On display will be 11 beautifully crafted oil paintings which are the next chapter of Los Angeles based Shawn Barber's "Doll Series". The "Doll Series" is Barber's response to living in a world consumed by popular culture. To Barber, it's been abundantly clear what motivates many young people in America especially since Barber has moved to Los Angeles two years ago to focus not only on his painting but to also open Memoir Tattoo with girlfriend Kim Saigh. With "Youth of Today", the "individual" personalities are saturated with a common ground- repetitive sadness fueled by the projected facade of synthetic surreality.
Shawn Barber's body of work focuses primarily on painting, portraiture, and documenting contemporary tattoo culture. Barber's intimate renditions of tattooed individuals balance both meticulous brush strokes and loose energy. Figurative in nature, these large paintings take on abstractions with explosive colors, meandering lines and paint dripping down the canvas.
Shawn earned his B.F.A from Ringling College of Art in 1999 and has paintings held in private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe and Australia. His paintings have been exhibited in diverse solo and group venues including: The Joshua Liner Gallery, NYC, NY; Billy Shire Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA; The Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Mesa, AZ; University of Houston, Houston, TX. His first published book of art titled 'Tattooed Portraits' was published by 9mm Books in 2006, followed by his second tome, 'Forever and Ever', a 256 page hardcover book dedicated to the Tattooed Portraits Series. Shawn is currently working on a third book in the Tattooed Portraits Series with Last Gasp Books, to be released in July 2012. Among his extensive achievements, he has taught drawing, painting and the business of art for 10 years at various art schools throughout the country. After years of documenting the art of tattoo, it was a logical progression to pick up the tattoo machine and add tattooist to his resume.
There is something really exciting in the air these days. The internet has made it incredibly easy for artists around the world to share their ideas and talents with others. The only problem is, the big cities still get all of the attention. That's AOK if you live in SF or NYC but what about Akron? Cincinatti? Or better yet... Toledo?
Thanks in huge part to Jerry Gray's BOZARTS gallery, Toledo is doing just fine thank you very much. And interestingly, no thanks to the internet. (no one here seems to have a proper website!)
This weekend is BOZARTS 2 year anniversary. There is an open call for art, there will be food and beer, and there will be a real sense of community.
BOZARTS was created with the money Jerry Gray would make bartending around town. This is about as DIY of a space as you can get, yet his presentation & approach are beyond professional. We have a bunch of awesome galleries in town, and BOZARTS is the first one that has made me want to claim myself as a Toledo Artist. He just gets it.
Jerry is starting to reach out to other cities, to create a network of sharing. Do you live in a smaller city with an awesome art scene? Why not reach out? Toledo is fucking AWESOME! John Trippe is from Toledo! Need I say more?
I'll be posting more about BOZARTS and all of the awesome artists that gravitiate towards it. Jason Vahle, Yusuf Lateef, Anthony McCarty, Lauren Pfund & many more. If you're ever in or around Toledo, search these people out. More soon...
Michael Krueger, based out of Lawrence, KS, just returned from a residency in Aspen, CO at Anderson Ranch where he created these great works and also a print which he inked up some vinyl. Great works as always.
Oakland's Brett Amory opens his first solo show in NYC this Thursday, the 30th at Jonathan Levine. He emailed over a small taste of his newest work and a look into his studio as he prepared for the show. Photos: Shaun Roberts
When my friend, photographer Klea McKenna, invited me to help her out for a day on her latest project, I quickly said yes. I knew she was bringing together a bit of local history, a lens-less camera, a wild landscape, and 12 hours of changing light. But I didn’t think too much about what exactly the day would entail, I just thought it’d be fun and out of the ordinary. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Klea was working on the second project in her Paper Airplanes series, a photographic installation that would be comprised of 57 paper airplanes folded out of color photographic paper installed in a giant triangle. The project is based on and inspired by a bit of local history— during WWII, soldiers were deployed to man several anti-aircraft lookout posts along the Marin and Sonoma coast. All day and all night these soldiers looked west, watching the sky and horizon over the Pacific Ocean for signs of enemy planes. But they saw no enemy planes, instead they only witnessed the light change and watched hundreds of sunsets.
The project is a kind of performative photographic act that places Klea in the position of the soldiers who guarded the coastline and interprets their prolonged observation of the sky into an abstract visual art form. So, the plan for the day was that Klea would expose the paper airplanes on site at the anti-aircraft lookout post at Tennessee Cove in Marin Headlands. Beginning at dawn and ending at dusk, she would expose one plane every 10 minutes using camera made from a large biscuit tin. My job would be to help her fold the photographic paper into airplane shapes in portable dark bags, while she loaded them into the camera, and then exposed and unloaded them.
Shawn Barber opens Youth of Today featuring 11 new paintings on Friday, July 8th @FFDG (7-10pm) in San Francisco. Below are a few works included in the exhibition to give you a taste.
Youth of Today
Paintings by Shawn Barber
@FFDG, San Francisco
July 8 - August 13, 2011
Reception: July 8 (7-10pm)
The Luggage Store and t.w.five team up for this vinyl on vinyl board mural in the heart of the Tenderloin here in San Francisco. It can be found on Jones St between Ellis and Eddy. ~Photos (scroll down) from their opening last November at The Luggage Store.
Zoltron emailed over some photos and text of how his wheat pasted Ronald took on a life of its own over the course of a couple weeks. His words below.
Somehow I found myself involved in a spontaneous, public art project that organically unfolded over the last couple of weeks in sf.
For the hell of it, I was drawing a famous clown named Ronald (as a junky villain derelict,) but somewhere along the way, I saw a glint of compassion in his eyes. So the drawing ended up showing Ron suddenly caught in an existential crisis of sorts... Like he just realized that he was solely responsible for the death of hundreds of millions of cows. Maybe he suddenly understood that he was fueling massive rainforest destruction and undeniably accountable for child obesity and onset adolescent diabetes.
So I drew him, printed him out, mixed up some pigment and painted on some paper. Then I pasted him up in a foodie district in the mission. The following photographs were taken over the next 2 weeks.
the aging clown experiences an unexpected moment of clarity.
a few days later, someone (equipped with at least 4 colors of aerosol) wasn't amused. "fuck you, hipster scum." Right on point, oh disgruntled youth.
a public forum concluded that it was obviously the work of a certain masked villain. (humburglar was later arrested for defacing public art)
Only hipsters use words like "Hipster."
a few days later, a stencil party ensues.
followed by a confirmed metric fuckton of unadorned radness.
and finally.... according to the local shopkeep, the entire wall is "archived for historical significance." ..
Join us next week, as we discuss vegan soy lattes and their effect on the youth of America. - Zoltron
Our friend Tofer (Tofer Chin) was recently in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to take part in the third installment of NOVA at Parque Lage. He emailed some beautioful images of his Fourteen Black, acrylic and wood installations throughout Parque Lage gardens. The Stalagmites are living and breathing souls, ghosts, spirits, voids, shadows. Great works.
*if you have 2 minutes to spare today, please watch some more animations from my upcoming "listen and learn" show. today's storytellers are: SNOOP, BRYAN COONS, MIKE GIANT, AND AESOP ROCK. big hugs and thanks to KAMP GRIZZLY for making these. -Jeremy Fish
Los Angeles based Travis Millard and Mel Kadel will be showing individual and collabrative works at FFDG with an opening reception Saturday, June 11, 2011 (7-10pm). Both artists will be present and beer & wine served as usual.
Since Mel Kadel's last show at FFDG in 2009, her work has become much more layered. The thick layers of hand cut paper, with foregrounds and backgrounds,
are reminiscent of engravings. The technique has added dimension to the pieces and seems to add to the strength of the characters and their surroundings.
The work as a whole communicates interconnectedness and balance. The character is determined as usual, with patterns and obstacles surrounding her adventure.
Travis Millard's drawings included in the show explore a variety of themes, including waking dream states, ultra violence, repetitive movements and other oddities of the imaginative landscape. Ultimately, the work seeks to find respite in humor and peace through drawing from a host of modern personal anxieties.
Also on display will be Travis Millard's ghost sculpture project which is an experiment from the ground up. Unfamiliar with the process of roto-casting and minimal sculpture experience, this was achieved through trial and error, and the help of trusted associates. The result is an edition of 50 ghost sculptures and a video produced with the efforts of photographer Theo Jemison, animator Jim Dirschberger, and music by El-P.
Mel Kadel - Water Island, 22" x 30", pen, ink, and collage on paper
Travis Millard - Applewood Turnaround, 10" x 8", ink on paper
About Mel Kadel
Mel Kadel, born in 1973, grew up in Pennsylvania suburbs and graduated with a B.F.A. from Moore College of Art & Design in 1997. From Philadelphia, she moved to NYC for a couple years, and then headed west to California. Mel has been living and working in Los Angeles, CA. for the last 12 years, starting out showing drawings in small cafes. Now her work has been exhibited extensively all over the U.S. and abroad. Kadel has created a visual narrative that communicates the idea that we are all part of a large system, whether recognized or not.
About Travis Millard
Travis Millard, born in 1975, grew up in Olathe, Kansas and founded the Fudge Factory Comics operation in 1997, producing small run drawing zines, prints, comics, and assorted ephemera . Travis' work has been exhibited in the US and internationally, and has been published in numerous books and journals. Travis Millard currently lives in a cabin near some coyotes on the backside of a hill in a Los Angeles fire zone with with his partner, artist, Mel Kadel.
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
Our buddies at Needles & Pens celebrate their 10th anniversary on Friday, May 10th, and it's not to be missed with this steller lineup - all going down at The Luggage Store.
Check the details, mark it in the calendar, and we'll be seeing you there!
San Francisco based photographer, Michael Jang, who's been shooting for decades and who has captured some great shots over the years (Reagan and Frank Sinatra is a good one) turned his camera on his family while growing up in the suburbs in the 70s. An intimate portrait of a Chinese-American family inside their Pacifica home living their lives. Sounds benign, which it is, but what also makes the images fascinating.
The Jangs - Opening reception, Thursday, May 2, (5:30-7:30pm) Stephen Wirtz
"The Jangs" photography by Michael Jang opening Thursday
British artist Ian Francis opened up the solo show Season 1 Episode 0 last night, April 25th at NYC's Joshua Liner. We've been fans of Ian's work for years. ~show details & works.
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.
San Francisco based artists Raphael Villet and Sean Vranizan are currently showing Just the Two of Us at Adobe Books through April 21. Here are some photos from the opening and works.
Two twin brothers from Brooklyn, Skewville brought the fun to their opening at White Walls last Saturday night with their new show, Amusement. After all, you can't take a show that starts with a sign reading "Sucks either Way" too seriously. Besides the simplistic yet detailed paintings, visitors got to ride on a bike-powered merry-go-round and throw bean bags at bottles like a carnival game. Even the works made of found materials, like the Battleship boombox and the suitcase made of tin lunch pails, brought a sense of humor to the night. After seeing the work in the back of the gallery, which was much more crowded, Skewville provided a light-hearted atmosphere in which viewers could drink beer, play games, and see some really great artworks.
Brooklyn based artists Sheryo and The Yok recentely completed the mural "Pipe Dreams" in Long Island City at 5 pointz. The Yok also emailed over some photos fom a recent trip to Mexico for the Festival Anonymous held near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico from this past January... Awesome, we're heading to Mexico in a couple weeks.
In the ever-expanding genres of vinyl and resin based sculptural art, there are often players behind the scenes making some of the most impressive pieces come together. Whether you hang out at ComicCon or Art Basel Miami, you've seen sculptural works that PIP (Pretty in Plastic) literally had a hand (or several) in fabricating. Here, Fecal Face interviews PIP founder, owner and fabrication mastermind Julie B., to find out more about how their work all plays out.
I live in SF. I drove across the US last summer in a 30 ft. RV from SF to Brooklyn and did portrait series called Darth Across America, every day people in every day situations, wearing a Darth Vader mask. I raised $2600 through Kickstarter along the way, that paid for gas and beer. I was travelling with 2 other photographers who also did a series of portraits. Mine drew the most attention. It was an experiment in a way, to see if I could use a pop culture icon to unite people that had nothing in common. I was right. I created a community of people across the United States that continue to follow my project, which is soon to be a book. -Julie Schuchard
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. Much to offer, we've broken the posts into 3 and will be posting more in the coming days.
Our friend Nicolas Le Borgne, who's shown with us for The Diamond Sea, emailed over some pics from his current show at Spacejunk Art Centers in Lyon, France. Incredible watercolor, pen & ink or acrylic works from this talented 28 year old Frenchman.
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