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Written by Jeff Soto
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Monday, 01 June 2009, 8:18am
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 Jeff blogs up his trip to London for his show "Inland Empire".
Jeff Soto -
'Inland Empire'
14.05.09 - 07.06.09
StolenSpace are proud to present Californian artist and icon of the current pop art scene, Jeff Soto, in his inaugural Uk solo exhibition The Inland Empire'
Words and photos: Jeff Soto
Day 1... I got into London in the morning, after a 14 hour travel day. That flight from California is pretty brutal. Luckily D*Face picked me up from Heathrow- just the beginning of all the London hospitality I received on my trip.
I asked him to take me on the scenic route into London. Saw the changing of the guard through D*Face's windshield. And saw a Magpie which I have to say, excited me. Kinda like a black and white crow..
My hotel was on Brick Lane a short walk from Stolenspace. My room had a great view west of the Gherkin. I think I took a three hour nap right after this photo was taken. I didn't get used to London time until the last two days.
Later when I got to the gallery Tab and Jamie were working on my screenprint. This is the first 5 color print I've worked on and the whole Stolenspace crew did a great job.
Met Word To Mother... super nice guy, great art, and he has a crazy studio... going to interview him for Fecal Face- stay tuned...
3 wheeled car? Are these available in the states?
Dinner at a local pizza place... everyone made me feel at home, and the food was good. "Rocket" a green leafy veggie (which I found later is arugula) was on everything and I loved it. The gallery crew plus Conor Harrington and Chloe Early showed up. Thanks guys, for making me feel at home.
Back at my hotel I noticed a blank plywood wall down below..... hanging out with all these artists got me thinking about graffiti and doing a little work in the streets..
But instead I decided to take a 1AM walk down to Tower Bridge to see some of the landmarks in the London night. This city is amazing, and I felt perfectly safe walking around solo until 3am.
They have different candy bars. Cadbury seems to be the dominant chocolate maker... good late night fuel for putting up stickers.
Day 2... Back at the gallery we arranged the work and Beth hung the show. I signed the prints, then bought some art supplies and started thinking about painting around Brick Lane.
I hung out with Sven from Arrested Motion (pictured on the left) most of the day. He had just interviewed Chloe and Conor who have studios in the Brewery complex. (Just today I finally went by their show in Los Angeles at Kinsey DesForges, their work really needs to be seen in person. Wow! It's so good!) Sven has an article or two about the day here: Jeff Soto at Stolenspace 2009
In the afternoon I decided to paint the plywood wall across the street. It was the first thing I've painted outside in a while, I was a bit rusty, and decided to do it all in brushes and rollers. No one asked me if I had permission, maybe painting in broad daylight, no one thought to ask. I took this shot as I had to run up to my room and get some more supplies... Sven's process pics.
In the evening I crashed, my body exhausted and still screwed up from jet lag. I woke at 2am and started working on the six hand colored prints. Candy bars kept me going for a couple hours. Mars Planets are so good, and Word To Mother bought me a proper English candy I'd never heard of, a Flake. Crunchie was pretty good too. I used the back of a bookshelf I found in my room as a flat surface to paint on.
Day 3... This was the day before my opening so I decided to paint some more murals. Took some photos on my walk down Brick Lane.
Conor's landmark mural off Brick Lane.
Chocolate croissant.. you can get these anywhere but the little shop next door had very good ones.
A shot of D*Face's art supplies. He is working on his next show and things are looking pretty amazing- I am sworn to secrecy...
Kit Kat Dark- they don't have these in America!
I started painting on a big metal door around the corner. This led to some adventures, more in part 2.
KitKat Chunky Peanut Butter... yum. Yeah I like candy as you can see...
I started another mural near the gallery but before I knew it it was getting dark and cold. I'd have to finish the next day.
Ended the night with some British cooking and spinach and cheese pie!
Day 4.... My opening was later in the evening so my priority was to finish the to murals I had started and get interviewed as I painted.
Cute mousey faced cat on the way to get a bagel. Made me miss our cat Nacho.
A wall piece by someone. I like that it's painted by brush on bricks and seemingly illegally.
I think D*Face has the best taste in candy bars- after he found out I was trying all the English candy he got me these. Mmmm, Drifter was so good. And Topic too. Hazelnuts and chocolate. How come we don't have these in the states??!!
I had press interviews today, they took my photo, so I did the same back to them. I will try and find their interviews and post them in here when I get a chance.
This guy had some of the best tattoo work of my art that I've ever seen.
I didn't finish the two murals today, but got them almost done. Opening was awesome, I love my fans and everyone who came out to say hi. Here's some photos I took at the opening and after...
Slept good that night and woke the next morning to do a little touristing and complete the two murals I had started... London Part 2 coming... eventually....
{moscomment}
|
| Matt Moore in Paris
From Matt Moore: A new series of (entirely spraypaint) canvas painting created during a 1-month residency in Paris. A true evolution from the purely geometric abstractions I have explored in my past few exhibitions : Sun Ray Ricochet (Moscow 2011) + XYZ Axis (Cincinnati 2011) + Crystals & Lasers (Paris 2010) + Parallel Universe (Sao Paulo 2009) + 20/20 (Barcelona 2008). An exciting new chapter.
 |

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| Barry McGee at Prism LA
Doug Neill emailed over a few photos from Barry McGee's opening last Friday at Prism in Los Angeles.
 |

 |
| Further Collective Flagstaff Mural
The Further Collective: Mario Martinez (Mars-1), Damon Soule & Oliver Vernon were in Flagstaff last week collaborating on an outdoor mural at The Flagstaff Brewing Company located in the historical district of downtown Flagstaff, AZ.
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| INTERVIEW with Tristan Patterson
Director of the documentary film DRAGONSLAYER --> DRAGONSLAYER is a documentary about the skateboarder Josh "Skreech" Sandoval. He's a character and the film follows his many ups and downs dealing with young parenthood, competing, and relationships. However, rather then try and make some type of statement about him, it just presents him objectively in the way that he is through wonderful cinematography.
 |

 |
| 2 New Zines by Pacolli & Mildred
Got two new zines from Mildred and Pacolli for us to share with you. Pacolli's The Last Chance Kids is published through Volcom's Artist Series and is 40 pages and sells for only $7 printed on thick quality heavy stock.
 |

 |
| Logan Crable's Blow Jobs
Logan Crable emailed us the other day with an offer to view his Blow Job series. Normally we don't get offers to view someone's porn project, but we quickly learned that the blowing is more in the literal sense as opposed to the pleasuring form.
 |

 |
| Michelle Ramin & SFAI Grad Show
Thanks to Michelle Ramin for emailing us some her recent paintings. Michelle will be displaying her work as part of SFAI's MFA graduate show running this weekend and opening Friday, May 11th at the Pheonix Hotel here in San Francisco.
 |

 |
| Interview with Jeff Depner
Whether conceptually motivated or intuitively created, the process of painting has been a main attribute in art for sometime now. Controlling the surface of a canvas is at the root of most contemporary painting. Vancouver native Jeff Depner's work creates avenues for visual discovery through a process based aesthetic. Layers upon layers of paint each relating to the next. Masking some, if not all, of the past creates a visual history within. The work ebbs and flows between graphic qualities and thick painterly styles with muted but contemporary feeling colors. The constant process of 'improvised moves' allows some of the work to be based in grid like structures. It allows some of the smaller paintings a chance for inquiry in constructive qualities and aspects of painting, inserting his work into the long history of painting.
 |

 |
| If Bill Murray was a Triple Bacon Cheeseburger
Bay Area artist Cahill Wessel emailed over a couple gems- food/human hybrids with wonderful titles. Made our morning.
 |

 |
| Michael Miller @Fifty24SF
On the way home from Fecal Face a couple Fridays back we swung through Fifty24SF to catch the two day show with the LA based hip-hop photographer Michael Miller in celebration of his new book. West coast hip-hop iconic early 1990's hip-hop photographs, including numerous photos of 2pac, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Warren G... the bonus: Eazy-E touting a skateboard and a gun?!
 |

 |
| Marissa Textor - Mini Interview
Marissa Textor and Ryan Travis Christian are currently showing together at Cooper Cole Gallery in Toronto. Gerald interviews the LA based Marissa Textor. Check out her detailed graphite drawings.
 |

 |
| Richmond Virginia Street Art Festival 2012
A couple weeks back Jeff Soto flew out to Richmond, VA for their street art festival to do some mural action. Artists included the likes of Hense, Richard Colman, Dalek, Hamilton Glass, and many more.
 |

 |
| Dave Kinsey @FFDG, May 18th
Mark your calendar: Dave Kinsey opens Lost For Words @FFDG in San Francisco on Friday, May 18th (6-9pm).
New mixed media paintings and installation. This will be his first show in San Francisco in 12 years and his first on the West Coast since 2007... We're very excited. Below is a lil' taste of what's to come.
 |

 |
| ROA at Stolen Space, London
Massive show from this prolific Belgium based sreet artist.
 |

 |
| Hamishi in Melbourne
Hamishi emailed over some photos from his current show Nothing Special running at Melbourne's Paradise Hills through this Saturday, May 5th. If you're in Melbourne, view it in person as we're sure it looks even better in person.
Hamishi participated in last November's group show 11.11.11 @FFDG back in November with Mario Martinez showing a solo show... Man, that's was a nutty opening before the cops showed up.
 |

 |
| Opening Pics @FFDG for C.P.H.
Alex Uhrich & Gerald Anekwe got some photos from the recent group show at FFDG, Cigarettes, Phone Cards & Hip Hop Clothing.
 |

 |
| Spoke Art Thursday
Spoke Art here in SF opens the group show Synergy curated by LA's Thinkspace this Thursday, May 3rd (6-10pm) featuring works by a slew of artists that Thinkspace works with. Spoke Art sent us a taste for you to sample.
 |

 |
| Ludo's Palynology
Ludo who we've featured many times emailed over a recent piece from Katowice in Poland called "Palynology".
 |

 |
| Murals by Flavio Samelo (Brazil)
We had the pleasure of meeting Flavio Samelo when we were in Sao Paulo last summer (blog). He's a skateboarder/ photographer and talented artist. Here are some photos from some of his recent mural done in Rio de Janeiro, also in his words.
 |

 |
| Paintings by Corydon Cowansage
Recent RISD MFA painting alum Corydon Cowansage emailed over some paintings. Like them.
 |

 |
| McNett, Swoon, & Canilao
Dennis McNett just got back from Milan, Italy where he did a collaborative show with Swoon and Monica Canilao at the Patricia Armocida Gallery. Looks incredible and runs through July 20th.
 |

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To All The Graduates
Tuesday, 15 May 2012, 11:23am
Congrats to some of our friends who've just graduated from SFAI this past weekend. Henry Gunderson (below), Alex Ziv, Quinn Arneson and our intern Alex Uhrich among many more not only at SFAI but those at CCA and other schools across the country. May you all work hard and prosper in your future arting endeavors.
 Henry Gunderson all grown up, college graduated and bow-tied.

Dave Kinsey @FFDG 5/18
Wednesday, 09 May 2012, 1:00pm
Thanks to Arrested Motion who posted some info on Dave Kinsey's solo show Lost For Words which opens at FFDG in San Francisco on Friday, May 18th (6-9pm). This will be his first show in San Francisco in 12 years. RSVP.
Founder of BLK/MRKT w/ Shepard Fairey in '97 (becoming sole owner in '03), lengedary street artist with his Unlearn campaign, and highly accomplished painter, it's with great honor that we welcome him back to San Francisco. New paintings, mixed media and installation, it should be one of our best shows to date and a lot of fun. -Complete Show Details
 Dave Kinsey opens Lost For Words at FFDG on Fri, May 18th.

Marc Jacobs vs. The Graffiti Artist
Tuesday, 15 May 2012, 1:40pm
Marc Jacobs vs. The Graffiti Artist, Round 2: When Jacobs Turns Vandalized Store Into $680 Shirt <-- Earlier this week, on the night of the Met Ball, the Marc Jacobs boutique in SoHo was hit by French graffiti artist Kidult, who has famously vandalized Supreme, Hermes, and Louis Vuitton, among others. The hit? Kidult took a fire extinguisher filled with pink paint, and sprayed the word ART over the front of the store (seen below). ~continue reading

///
Wednesday, 25 April 2012, 11:56am

Asian Art Museum Tonight, Thurs
Thursday, 17 May 2012, 10:51am
The Asian Art Museum opens their grand first contemporary show PHANTOMS OF ASIA with a massive preview party this evening with DJs, food, and other goodies 7:30pm - midnight ~details
We went to the press preview yesterday and should have some photos to share, but time constraints due to preparations for our show w/ Dave Kinsey opening Friday and the lack of a mayor Ed Lee which all were waiting for... Well, we had to bail before they let us preview the show... What we've seen online looks great and tonight should be a blast. See you there.
 Some of the artists participating in PHANTOMS OF ASIA under Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa's 24-foot-tall "Breathing Flower" in the Civic Center.

Phantoms of Asia Opening Thurs, 17th
Friday, 11 May 2012, 1:29pm
The Asian Art Museum here in San Francisco opens its first large-scale contemporary art exhibition Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past with a big old preview party on Thursday, May 17th complete w/ DJs VIN SOL and KING MOST. ~details
Curated by Mami Kataoka, chief curator of Tokyo's Mori Art Museum, in collaboration with Allison Harding, assistant curator of contemporary art at the Asian Art Museum, Phantoms of Asia features artworks by contemporary artists hailing from Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Tibet, and the U.S. Going to be a great show.
 Installation by Choi Jeong Hwa

The Slingluff Gallery
Thursday, 10 May 2012, 10:06am
Thanks to the Slingluff Gallery in Phildelphia for helping to support Fecal Face by buying a lil' ad which you can view by scrolling down here in the news section. Those lil' guys will only set you back $50 for the month as our special rates continue for the month of May. Get yours.
 Print by Ralph Stollenwerk from the LOST TREASURES collection. $21
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My brother Ravi opening holes to finish fires in San Francisco today. God bless the SFFD. -as of 9pm

| Matt Moore in Paris
From Matt Moore: A new series of (entirely spraypaint) canvas painting created during a 1-month residency in Paris. A true evolution from the purely geometric abstractions I have explored in my past few exhibitions : Sun Ray Ricochet (Moscow 2011) + XYZ Axis (Cincinnati 2011) + Crystals & Lasers (Paris 2010) + Parallel Universe (Sao Paulo 2009) + 20/20 (Barcelona 2008). An exciting new chapter.
 |

 |
| Barry McGee at Prism LA
Doug Neill emailed over a few photos from Barry McGee's opening last Friday at Prism in Los Angeles.
 |

 |
| Further Collective Flagstaff Mural
The Further Collective: Mario Martinez (Mars-1), Damon Soule & Oliver Vernon were in Flagstaff last week collaborating on an outdoor mural at The Flagstaff Brewing Company located in the historical district of downtown Flagstaff, AZ.
 |

 |
| INTERVIEW with Tristan Patterson
Director of the documentary film DRAGONSLAYER --> DRAGONSLAYER is a documentary about the skateboarder Josh "Skreech" Sandoval. He's a character and the film follows his many ups and downs dealing with young parenthood, competing, and relationships. However, rather then try and make some type of statement about him, it just presents him objectively in the way that he is through wonderful cinematography.
 |

 |
| 2 New Zines by Pacolli & Mildred
Got two new zines from Mildred and Pacolli for us to share with you. Pacolli's The Last Chance Kids is published through Volcom's Artist Series and is 40 pages and sells for only $7 printed on thick quality heavy stock.
 |

 |
| Logan Crable's Blow Jobs
Logan Crable emailed us the other day with an offer to view his Blow Job series. Normally we don't get offers to view someone's porn project, but we quickly learned that the blowing is more in the literal sense as opposed to the pleasuring form.
 |

 |
| Michelle Ramin & SFAI Grad Show
Thanks to Michelle Ramin for emailing us some her recent paintings. Michelle will be displaying her work as part of SFAI's MFA graduate show running this weekend and opening Friday, May 11th at the Pheonix Hotel here in San Francisco.
 |

 |
| Interview with Jeff Depner
Whether conceptually motivated or intuitively created, the process of painting has been a main attribute in art for sometime now. Controlling the surface of a canvas is at the root of most contemporary painting. Vancouver native Jeff Depner's work creates avenues for visual discovery through a process based aesthetic. Layers upon layers of paint each relating to the next. Masking some, if not all, of the past creates a visual history within. The work ebbs and flows between graphic qualities and thick painterly styles with muted but contemporary feeling colors. The constant process of 'improvised moves' allows some of the work to be based in grid like structures. It allows some of the smaller paintings a chance for inquiry in constructive qualities and aspects of painting, inserting his work into the long history of painting.
 |

 |
| If Bill Murray was a Triple Bacon Cheeseburger
Bay Area artist Cahill Wessel emailed over a couple gems- food/human hybrids with wonderful titles. Made our morning.
 |

 |
| Michael Miller @Fifty24SF
On the way home from Fecal Face a couple Fridays back we swung through Fifty24SF to catch the two day show with the LA based hip-hop photographer Michael Miller in celebration of his new book. West coast hip-hop iconic early 1990's hip-hop photographs, including numerous photos of 2pac, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Warren G... the bonus: Eazy-E touting a skateboard and a gun?!
 |

 |
| Marissa Textor - Mini Interview
Marissa Textor and Ryan Travis Christian are currently showing together at Cooper Cole Gallery in Toronto. Gerald interviews the LA based Marissa Textor. Check out her detailed graphite drawings.
 |

 |
| Richmond Virginia Street Art Festival 2012
A couple weeks back Jeff Soto flew out to Richmond, VA for their street art festival to do some mural action. Artists included the likes of Hense, Richard Colman, Dalek, Hamilton Glass, and many more.
 |

 |
| Dave Kinsey @FFDG, May 18th
Mark your calendar: Dave Kinsey opens Lost For Words @FFDG in San Francisco on Friday, May 18th (6-9pm).
New mixed media paintings and installation. This will be his first show in San Francisco in 12 years and his first on the West Coast since 2007... We're very excited. Below is a lil' taste of what's to come.
 |

 |
| ROA at Stolen Space, London
Massive show from this prolific Belgium based sreet artist.
 |

 |
| Hamishi in Melbourne
Hamishi emailed over some photos from his current show Nothing Special running at Melbourne's Paradise Hills through this Saturday, May 5th. If you're in Melbourne, view it in person as we're sure it looks even better in person.
Hamishi participated in last November's group show 11.11.11 @FFDG back in November with Mario Martinez showing a solo show... Man, that's was a nutty opening before the cops showed up.
 |

 |
| Opening Pics @FFDG for C.P.H.
Alex Uhrich & Gerald Anekwe got some photos from the recent group show at FFDG, Cigarettes, Phone Cards & Hip Hop Clothing.
 |

 |
| Spoke Art Thursday
Spoke Art here in SF opens the group show Synergy curated by LA's Thinkspace this Thursday, May 3rd (6-10pm) featuring works by a slew of artists that Thinkspace works with. Spoke Art sent us a taste for you to sample.
 |

 |
| Ludo's Palynology
Ludo who we've featured many times emailed over a recent piece from Katowice in Poland called "Palynology".
 |

 |
| Murals by Flavio Samelo (Brazil)
We had the pleasure of meeting Flavio Samelo when we were in Sao Paulo last summer (blog). He's a skateboarder/ photographer and talented artist. Here are some photos from some of his recent mural done in Rio de Janeiro, also in his words.
 |

 |
| Paintings by Corydon Cowansage
Recent RISD MFA painting alum Corydon Cowansage emailed over some paintings. Like them.
 |

 |
| McNett, Swoon, & Canilao
Dennis McNett just got back from Milan, Italy where he did a collaborative show with Swoon and Monica Canilao at the Patricia Armocida Gallery. Looks incredible and runs through July 20th.
 |

 |
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