Tell us a little bit about yourself ( where you live, what you do etc...)
I grew up about an hour south of LA and moved up here in 2004 to go to UCLA. Half way through college I started working for Shepard Fairey and am currently gallery manager at Subliminal Projects and do some t-shirt graphics for OBEY Clothing on the side. I live in a crazy house of five girls, which always makes for a good time.
Can you talk a little bit about your content, you seem drawn toward epic nature, Why do you draw what you do and how do you decide what you want to draw next?
It's exciting to me. In an over-stimulated world this is the stuff the holds my attention and surprises me. I'm not sure if it is because I grew up in Southern California and I'm not used to dramatic weather but there is something very shocking but at the same time very beautiful about events like a thunderstorm. My mom and I where in Santa Fe one time when a huge thunderstorm broke out, we were absolutely captivated and watched it for hours like it was TV. As long as it has that ability, I'll be drawn to it. I am also interested in subject matter that is not tied to a specific time period and that can be relevant outside of the context of my personal experience. These naturally occurring events are much bigger than you and I and are something we have no control over. I think that is a nice reminder of our time and place here and understanding why things happen the way they do in the natural world can answer a lot of life's big questions. When I'm deciding what to draw for the larger pieces it is usually based on a current fascination that I've spent a lot of time researching. I pull a lot of photos and create folders for each subject and then it becomes a matter of piecing different elements together to create the image.
Have you ever strayed away from your hyper realistic style? Can you talk about why you draw this way?
I haven't. I still find it compelling and conducive to the type of work I'm making. The subject matter and what I'm trying to convey are more important than the medium for that transmission. If painting or photography were more effective I would switch over to one of those, but right now I don't think they would be. I imagine it will slowly evolve over time as my concepts change but for now I'm still interested in this type of drawing process.
I, like you spend a whole lot of time on a piece. What are your thoughts about the loose, gestural work on the opposite end of the spectrum?
I definitely envy them because my work can be extremely tedious. I also think it takes a certain level of skill to do loose, gestural work well the same way hyper realism does but it is more about decisive mark making and knowing when to stop, which is something I struggle with. When it is done well it's amazing but there is also a lot of terrible work that falls into that category.
What are you especially into/excited about right now?
There's a really great gospel album, The Great 1955 Shrine Concert, that will get you through pretty much anything. It helped me power through those late night's drawing when I wanted to freak out and it features a young Sam Cooke before he broke out onto the R&B/Soul scene. Viviane Sassen is a really interesting photographer and Anna Paola Guerra's photostream onFlickr is incredible. I've always loved Olafur Eliasson, Joel Sternfeld, Peter Alexander, Thomas Demand, and Walead Beshty. I drool over any Planet Earth-type shows or docs and I want to learn how to scuba dive so that I can go in a shark cage.
Do you have any good stories to share?
One time on my way home I was picked up on La Cienega by a guy in a yellow hummer who mistook me for a stripper. Granted I was walking buy Aphrodite Strip-N-Pole but I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and eating out of a box of donuts. He offered me a record deal too.
Last week we did our first themed Photo of the Day asking you to email in your quintessential San Francisco photos. We got so many great entries and couldn't squeeze them all in. So, here's a bit of overflow from the images emailed in.
Hey there, I just got back from a short residency down in a small town two hours north of Mexico City called Tequisquiapan. I was asked to come down there to meet some of the crew of the Clipperton Project, which basically is going to be a crazy boat trip in March with scientists and artists going out to a very remote atoll in the Pacific called Clipperton Island. Anyways, I thought you might like to see some photos of the town and the graffiti that I was surprised to find there.
We can finally shut up about FFDG's fire, about FFDG's temp space, about all the transitions, because we signed a 2 year lease on a new space in the heart of the Mission District last night!
Real Ethereal embraces our mysterious relationship with life. It blends the physical with the metaphysical on a journey through an ever-transitioning space where common interactions become extraordinary and perception ventures into the otherworldly. Real Ethereal examines possibilities of unseen realities and metaphorically represents the winding path that reveals before us and conceals behind us; the future remains a mystery while the past fades quickly into the recesses of our mind. We are left with the present: the mysterious reality of our existence; the hair of time difficult to grasp.
Recent UC Santa Cruz photography graduate Sean Vranizan emailed over this series of images he creates by using a scanner as a camera, upon which found and collected objects, both two-dimensional and three, were used in collage format.
SF based artists Alex Ziv & Quinn Arneson are in their final year at the San Francisco Art Institute and open the two person show UNIBROW: BRIDGING THE GAP Thursday, Dec 8th at Gallery Heist.
Great new video by Philadelphia based director Tobias Stretch whose videos feature his puppet work - If you have some time, browse his other great bizarre dreamlike videos.
A few November weekends back, I headed down with Travis Millard and Jim Dirschberger for o Breaks, a group show curated by Jay Howell and Louis Schmidt, which opened 11.11.11 at Double Break store and gallery in San Diego, CA.
Before the show it was pretty much just me and Pacolli painting the whole gallery and doing all the instalations and hanging all the work. lots of shit to be done. I also painted the front of Choque the week after the opening. And we had a little concert at Choque in which I played keyboard and two other folks played guitar and sang. Ephameron went there the day before the opening and did a tape installation as well. During the month we also had a zine/print/shirt sale at Choque as well. It all went very well and we had a blast! -Mildred
I am dealing with a new series called "Pseudo-Advertising", where I focus upon the relationship between today’s muralism and the contemporary outdoor advertising.
Last week, after swinging by Rebel 8 clothing's HQ in San Francisco, we swung by the HQ of Strange Bird Distribution distributors of Low Card, Think Skateboards, Hubba Wheels, etc...
Stopped through Rebel 8 clothing HQ last week to see what their up to. We've known Joshy D. 10 plus years back when he was doing the SF graffiti site, HiFiArt.com in the early days of the internet when Fecal Face was just getting its start. Nice to see Mike Giant, whose designs adjorn many of Rebel 8's clothing, and Josh doing so well.
Say hi to Fecal Face & FFDG's new intern, Alexander Uhrich, who's in his last year at SFAI. He has to put in 90 hours of work, so you'll be seeing a lot of him.
Check his site to check his photography... Mucho eye entertainment to be viewed.
Hey, if you're a Tumblr fan, Fecal Face is on there as well. We'll be posting a taste of what you see here on the site... Tumblr was nice enough to give us fecalface.tumblr.com since someone had it but never made a post on it... You know what? Wonder if we claimed it years back and forgot about it. Hum.
Ryan Wallace & Chris Duncan open Transmission Lines in Toronto at Cooper Cole Gallery Friday, Feb 3rd.
Wallace and Duncan's linear variations of shape explore the margins of time and space while echoing the unstable tension between vision, perception, and reflection. Both artists explore a variety of materials to great visual effect. ~complete show details.
Ever Gold in SF opens a month long residency with Josh Short'sBomb Shelter Radio and Tenderloin Self- Defense Club tonight, Thurs (6-10pm). Check the video for a complete picture of what to expect.
Over the course of his residency at Ever Gold Gallery, Josh Short will build "Bomb Shelter Radio" and host several live sonic events that will include experimental noise transmissions, live metal and hardcore bands, and subversive FM radio interventions. This will also be aided by guerrilla public installations of radios installed around the Tenderloin bringing his interventions directly to the street as a form of audio graffiti. During the day the gallery will become the "Tenderloin Self-Defense Club", where Short will offer martial arts instruction to the neighborhood inhabitants, artists, and musicians. ~show details
In the days following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, I was asked to make a poster for the Devo show at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. The image was a Japanese girl, wearing a nuclear t shirt, with the kanji character for earth tattooed on her shoulder. She was dead. I called her Sue Nami, and much to my surprise, the band liked it. ~keep reading Zolton's story of Sue.
The rain came down hard on the 20th but people came through to view the massive show featuring works from Albert Reyes, Aiyana Udesen, and Matt Furie. The show runs through Feb 11th.
LA based artist/ designer Tony Larson updates his portfolio site with loads of eye candy... We've known Tony for years. You may know him through the many years he designed boards for Girl Skateboards. --> Want to get to know him? Check this interview for a taste of Tony.
The Eames Office - Producer and Editor Daniel Ostroff, talks about two Girl Skateboard decks in the Collecting Eames.
I designed the Modern Chair Series for Girl in 2001. They have, by far, been the most asked about boards I've ever done. Pretty funny to see how they've survived. -Tony Larson
University of Georgia, Athens teacher and past Headlands Center for the Arts resident, Adriane Colburn, opens Of Darkness (drawings, sculpture, video, photographs and large scale cut paper in an installation) at The Luggage Store on Feb 3rd (6-9pm) here in SF. ~show details
Of Darkness combines drawings, sculpture, video, photographs and large scale cut paper in an installation that looks at the tension and complex beauty born out of the collision of wilderness and human industry.
Last week we did our first themed Photo of the Day asking you to email in your quintessential San Francisco photos. We got so many great entries and couldn't squeeze them all in. So, here's a bit of overflow from the images emailed in.
Hey there, I just got back from a short residency down in a small town two hours north of Mexico City called Tequisquiapan. I was asked to come down there to meet some of the crew of the Clipperton Project, which basically is going to be a crazy boat trip in March with scientists and artists going out to a very remote atoll in the Pacific called Clipperton Island. Anyways, I thought you might like to see some photos of the town and the graffiti that I was surprised to find there.
We can finally shut up about FFDG's fire, about FFDG's temp space, about all the transitions, because we signed a 2 year lease on a new space in the heart of the Mission District last night!
Real Ethereal embraces our mysterious relationship with life. It blends the physical with the metaphysical on a journey through an ever-transitioning space where common interactions become extraordinary and perception ventures into the otherworldly. Real Ethereal examines possibilities of unseen realities and metaphorically represents the winding path that reveals before us and conceals behind us; the future remains a mystery while the past fades quickly into the recesses of our mind. We are left with the present: the mysterious reality of our existence; the hair of time difficult to grasp.
Recent UC Santa Cruz photography graduate Sean Vranizan emailed over this series of images he creates by using a scanner as a camera, upon which found and collected objects, both two-dimensional and three, were used in collage format.
SF based artists Alex Ziv & Quinn Arneson are in their final year at the San Francisco Art Institute and open the two person show UNIBROW: BRIDGING THE GAP Thursday, Dec 8th at Gallery Heist.
Great new video by Philadelphia based director Tobias Stretch whose videos feature his puppet work - If you have some time, browse his other great bizarre dreamlike videos.
A few November weekends back, I headed down with Travis Millard and Jim Dirschberger for o Breaks, a group show curated by Jay Howell and Louis Schmidt, which opened 11.11.11 at Double Break store and gallery in San Diego, CA.
Before the show it was pretty much just me and Pacolli painting the whole gallery and doing all the instalations and hanging all the work. lots of shit to be done. I also painted the front of Choque the week after the opening. And we had a little concert at Choque in which I played keyboard and two other folks played guitar and sang. Ephameron went there the day before the opening and did a tape installation as well. During the month we also had a zine/print/shirt sale at Choque as well. It all went very well and we had a blast! -Mildred
I am dealing with a new series called "Pseudo-Advertising", where I focus upon the relationship between today’s muralism and the contemporary outdoor advertising.
Last week, after swinging by Rebel 8 clothing's HQ in San Francisco, we swung by the HQ of Strange Bird Distribution distributors of Low Card, Think Skateboards, Hubba Wheels, etc...
Stopped through Rebel 8 clothing HQ last week to see what their up to. We've known Joshy D. 10 plus years back when he was doing the SF graffiti site, HiFiArt.com in the early days of the internet when Fecal Face was just getting its start. Nice to see Mike Giant, whose designs adjorn many of Rebel 8's clothing, and Josh doing so well.
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