Monday, 02 August 2010 12:04 Written by Ryan Malley
Went to NYC for Sylvia Ji's "Las Adelitas" show which was accompanied by Travis Louie's "Curious Myths" at Joshua Liner Gallery. We also made our way over to Last Rites to check out thier first group show. -Ryan Malley
As usual Sylvia brought her A-game and all who attended were trying to figure out what they needed to sell in order to walk away with one her dark beauties.
Here's a blurb from the Joshua Liner Gallery website that describes what Sylvia is communicating with these fifteen paintings...
Friday, 30 July 2010 13:35 Written by Ashley Taylor
This week's prize is a toasty TShirt from our friends at the London based African Apparel. Our favorite still has to be the John Marley shirt.
Brett Millard's great entry for this week's Free Fridayz - Theme: Fallin' In It... We try and stay clear of this sort of thing for obvious name reasons, but Brett's submission is too good not to add to the front page.
Friday, 30 July 2010 11:20 Written by Alex Braubach
Shalo P is a SF based audio-visual artist who recently exhibited a selection of 14 drawings at Ever Gold Gallery coinciding with the recent release of his self-published “LOVE IS SUCH A DANGEROUS GAME”. The zine, containing work created in a two year period chronicles memories, longing and catastrophic situations in post-modern copy/past collage fashion. They're meticulously wild drawings and really deranged ones at that. The zine comes in two limited versions and are available at the Ever Gold as long as supplies last. It's an absolute gem, so make sure you get yourself a copy. It’s probably the best $8 I’ve ever invested. -Alex Braubach
AMB: I’ve known you since our school days at SFAI and had plenty of opportunities to see your work evolve in the past years. It’s really interesting to see how you have developed from "The Tormentors" paintings you exhibited at Meridian Gallery years ago to what your up to with your video-based performances at New Langton and elsewhere. Your current show at the Ever Gold is an exhibit of drawings. It’s like you’ve come full circle with “Love Is Such A Dangerous Game”. Please describe your current work, the drawings, and how they relate to your previous work.
SP: The work is a barrage of symbols and signs. It’s dense stuff that also seems fit to just be “in the moment”, not only as some mutilation of the bizarre nature of things but also embracing the ways of seeing to varying degrees. You know, as drawings, comics strip and other visual forms. My current works are like celebrations to living at the start of a very weird age.
My conceptual framework hurtles into these different directions and they always seem organic and mine. I’m producing floorshows and farewell concerts with the FRIENDSHIP FRIENDS FOREVER (rainbow band), making videos under the TELEVISION FOR GHOSTS / 2084 FLOORSHOW umbrella, and making images that relay the totemic themes behind all the other work. I shuffle around in formats but the big difference is how close they are to me, personally.
Before I moved to SF I was just a writer, and words just made so much sense to me. Then they seemed phony, manipulative and limited in a world with hypertext in it, a world with so much goddamn subtext to what was lurking under in it’s big storm of changes, in its unconscious birthing of memes. Words were meaningless in the face of the connections between them, in the changing face of how books were produced, in the questions concerning the changes in information retrieval itself. This was big to me - the new ways of experiencing “stuff”, from how we communicated these changes to the part that images play with culture and memory. So I went from writing dialogues to making data maps.
Then I got into imagery again, especially the Medusa, the representation of the incomprehensible. That’s what got me into The Tormentors – relationships - the walls between things breaking down. It was car crashes. Have you ever seen one? It's like that Raymond Carver story "Popular Mechanics", it's a raw moment of chance and horrible corrupted beauty. Things change irrevocably. Well, the drawings... They're my landscape of these feelings - the innate vile beauty of car crashes, the taste of sweat, the medusa's gaze, sexual fantasies, self representation, time and memory - that whole gag. What's the personal side of a good sinner?
AMB: Freddy Krueger.
SP: Hey man, are you going put some cool hyperlinks?
They're hosting a closing show this Sunday, August 1st with bands playing: Melted toys, Psychic handbook, Speculator, and GDB (6-8:30pm). Below are some photos of the show... Check the video of Charles Linder cutting off the jaws of 3 wild boar heads that he had in his freezer for a few months after hunting them in northern California.
Using hack saw on the boars.
End of performance by Charles Linder
Performance:
At the end of the opening of Charles Linder’s solo show at Ever Gold Gallery “Good Cop / Bad Cop”
Charles asked us into the back room to watch as he commenced to saw and cut the bottom jaws off of 3 wild boar heads that he had in his freezer for a few months after hunting them in northern California. They were defrosting in the back room / project space of our gallery during the opening.
It took him about 30 minutes to do all 3 heads . We had all been there drinking since the reception started at 3 at it was about 9:30 at this point.
It was a very intense performance and a messy one.
Charles eats the whole pig when he hunts them and uses the teeth to make jewelry.
All the taxidermies in the front room are found Taxidermies and Charles does not support taxidermies of animals.
The Books
“Good Cop / Bad Cop”
are for sale through Ever Gold
Words are tricky, I'm never sure about how to describe my work. I
actually kinda suck at that.. Well, I think there are both psychedelic
and gothic vibes to it. It is colourful and filled up with dark
figures. People often find it mystical, poetic and mysterious. There
is obviously a certain feeling that refers to magic, tales, some kind
of twisted romanticism maybe.. Recently I've been trying to work on
less narrative compositions, focusing a little more on pure shapes and
patterns.
All done with paper cutouts. It's easy to look at and think illustrator or something, but no, these are all hand done and done very well. -Fecal Face.
Influences?
Black Sabbath, French director Philippe Garrel, Pre-Raphaelites,
Edgar Allan Poe, Edvard Munch, haunted houses, Kenneth Anger, weird
psychedelic shit, Gerhard Richter, Maya Deren, Symbolists, Only
Theater Of Pain by Christian Death, Jean Rollin movies, Alice Cooper,
60's hippie art and music posters, Ash Ra Tempel, Sol LeWitt.
Thursday, 29 July 2010 10:04 Written by Van Edwards
Just like baseball cards from the 60s-80s, these chipboard card stock trading cards wrapped in and the much-loved wax paper come equipped with waxy bubble gum and each pack is filled with cards featuring work by a number of artists. I was surprised that besides a few, I had little idea who these people were (complete roster here). Seems a majority of artists are involved in the art toy scene/ comic influenced... I'm not much of a collector of stuff (small apartment) and not into the whole art toy thing, but maybe you are. For what they are, they do a good job. They're just like classic baseball cards I collected as a kid. Might be more interested if there were more artists I was familiar with, but again, they may be artists you know and enjoy and you might be looking for more kitsch to collect.
Boxes, which include 36 packs of cards, run $126 and available here
Wednesday, 28 July 2010 15:31 Written by Michael Hsiung
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.
Got this email from our Los Angeles friend Tofer who showed ALEX at FFDG last February (photos) about his recent project he did in Sao Paulo. Looks great!
Excited to see opening band Beach Fossils most of all and ended up being blown away by headliner Bear in Heaven last night at The Rickshaw Stop here in San Francisco. Beach Fossils bounced about like a high school version of New Order or Joy Division. I like the music. It sounds familiar and a huge fan of New Order, but it just lacked originality and a spark that I was hoping for. In between the two acts is Twin Sister who would be the musical child of Bjork, Blond Redhead and Jamiroquai, of all bands. Although, I could hear them, I was behind a few too many tall fellas to see anything but the light show. (Hey Rickshaw Stop, raise the stage a foot for your smaller patrons).
When Bear in Heaven went on, something clicked. The sound is thick and full. You know, let's quote Pitchfork as they wrote about Bear in Heaven when they presented the band "Best New Music" award for their album Beast Rest Forth Mouth: Mostly made up of textural, spacious three- to four-minute pop anthems with towering choruses, BRFM is a welcome reminder that an album doesn't have to be bombastic to feel huge and important. Take out the earbuds and let it fill a space: This is music that's bigger than your iPod—music you'll want to feel all around you. Though not quite coming out of nowhere, BRFM seems like a surprise gift—a striking consolidation of the spiky psych-prog tendencies of their debut into a pop framework. -Pitchfork
Hey, Jon Philpot of Bear in Heaven is a Fecal Face fan (bottom right photo)... See them as they are touring the USA and Europe right now. You won't be disappointed -->Check the dates.
Monday, 26 July 2010 13:22 Written by Roisin Isner
Fresh off their tour of the Southwestern United States (and a bit bloodshot in the eyes), Mister Loveless' newest release, the Three Words EP, hit shelves just a fortnight ago.
Having so effectively channeled an aesthetic which fits comfortably between Echo and the Bunnymen and Joy Division, and despite the relative youth of its members, Mister Loveless resonates strongly with the generation who came up during the 70's and 80's. ~read on
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
Ryan De La Hoz' show in the Upper Haight at RVCA runs through this Saturday... And the next time you're in the Mission, be sure to swing through his new shop on 14th St, Cool Try... We need to get over there soon and do a little photo feature for ya.
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.
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