Today we've launched a new music video I've created. The video is made in stop motion using an analog camera (Olympus Mju I) and around 80 films. It's for Kreatones a young wave band from the Netherlands.
I hope you like it and like to show this to the Fecal Faces out there. -Jorrit Spoelstra
If you've never seen it or haven't in awhile, add the film Grave of the Fireflies to your rental queue. This heartfelt Japanese animated classic tells a stark tale of two young children who lose their parents towards the end of World War 2... We love it, and for more info listen to this guy... and again, we recommend you watch any Japanese animated film in Japanese with English subtitles.
What are some of your favorite Japanese animated films? Let's post some up in the comments:
Last night we watched Hayao Miyazaki's animated classic Spirited Away. We watched the English dubbed version for the first time. Don't do that. Animated Japanese films are so much better when you watch them in Japanese with English subtitles. Reading enhances the film by bringing your own your imagination into it... Plus, Disney has a way of Americanizing the film. There's a clumsy touch to such a delicate masterpiece.
Got an email from Tim Bierbaum who wanted to let us know about his fantastic new multimedia web series Real Artists he created. It's great, and he wrote and directed this pilot episode. He also photographed, illustrated, animated, and recorded a voice. We love it. Think you will too.
"Real Artists" (a Thrash Lab special created by Tim Bierbaum)
This first episode of Real Artists finds a number of characters engaged in their daily routine in New York City. Presented as a collection of vignettes, the episode connects the characters and discussions in a digressive unpredictable way.
The best part of the cinema program at SF State was taking the history/ theory classes. They would screen iconic classic films in SF State's wonderful Coppola Theater. Always took these classes early in the morning. That's the best time to see any film. As opposed to viewing a film at night and then going to bed soon afterwards, viewing a film early in the morning allows you the entire day to reflect. Highly recommend your next viewing with a cup of coffee.
Visionary Design: The Cinema of Charles and Ray Eames - Fri. Feb. 24 - 8PM @Oddball Films in San Francisco --> Oddball Films presents Visionary Design: The Cinema of Charles and Ray Eames. Among the finest designers of the 20th Century, the husband and wife team are best known for their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, industrial design and manufacturing, but the Eames’ were also brilliant and inventive filmmakers, able to illustrate the most abstract concepts with readily understood images. There is so much to say about the legacy of the Eames’s that an entire period has been named after them. ~complete details
As cool as it is to be nostalgic about an artist's past, you don't have to hold onto it. Especially since there are people like C.R. Stecyk creating works in the now with even more punch than they had 30 years ago - a trait that can only be attributed to the character of a true artist. In fact, he's just made a new experimental film named "FIN", that's packed full of the elements of culture and spirit which have always fascinated Stecyk and his fans.
The film will be premiering at H Space Gallery on February 8th and if you think it's going to be a regular old screening, think again - since Stecyk and the creative team at Hurley will be fully transforming the space into an old movie theater. I'm talking a floor to ceiling installation that will be 110% unforgettable. Not to mention that "Fin" will continue to evolve even after its screening - taking on a life as a limited edition clothing run and web series.
If you don't know who C.R. Stecyk is, all you have to do is open up practically any skateboarding magazine and point to any page knowing that what you're seeing wouldn't exist without his vision of how to the capture the radical images and lifestyles that forever inspired our imaginations. From his Dogtown Articles in the 1970's, to his recent exhibit of posters at the Art In The Streets exhibit at MOCA - the man is just unstoppable. And so the film based on the lives of the z-boys he made part of history might have been called Lords Of Dogtown, but Stecyk was and is still most definitely the king.
Twixt @Fifty24SF Wednesday, 18 January 2012 /// Written by Trippe
Last Friday, we swung through Fifty24SF to check out their current show coinciding with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's newest feature/ horror film, Twixt (art directed by Jimmy DiMarcellis aka Porous Walker).
The show references many scenes from the film, which Coppola wrote himself, and which struggles to win over critics (ouch).
Incredible set design complete with a heavy duty fog machine, it certainly was photo worthy. The bird houses were priced very inexpensively with many sold by the time we arrived... Didn't even recognize the gallery is was so reworked.
Pledgers receive all sorts of goodies from a Creative Lives sketch kit, tshirt by Henry Gunderson, prints from Ferris Plock & Andrew Schoultz, tickets to the LA & SF screenings, etc. Donate as little as $5 now.
80+ year old NYC based street fashion photographer and icon Bill Cunningham is an interesting character who still buzzes about New York City by bicycle making fashion shows and society soirees for the NYTimes. The film, "Bill Cunningham New York", documents the thoughtful/ matter-a-fact nature of the man who believes fashion isn't about celebrity and glamour but about finding beauty in a harsh world.
We highly recommend this honest portrayal of a man whose life's work isn't about money but about following your heart's desire and truely being yourself, working hard continuing to do what you love. The film is a wonderful portrait of an honorable man and well worth checking out (Netflix streams it, if you go that route).
Influential figure in experimental and underground filmmaking, George Kuchar passed away from cancer yesterday. Kuchar had been a professor @SFAI since 1971 while working on his lo-fi films and videos.
Kuchar's 1966 "Hold Me While I'm Naked"
If you've never seen a movie by the Kuchar Brothers, you really should. When George and Mike Kuchar were in their heyday, their work was the epitome of 1960s underground cinema: 8mm, no budget, wild ideas, wilder content. Unless you went to film school or lived near a cool theater or museum? They were almost impossible to see. Now? They're a click away on YouTube. ~read on
Saturday update via U.P.:Officially billed (according to Harry Kim and Dave Choe) as the "Dirty Hands Release: Jerk Off Cum in Your Eye Party. Everybody Cum". We're keeping it in the hood and doing a DVD release party at Nickies (466 Haight St) Sunday night at 10pm. If you're around come by and get a dirty dirty from Dave. That is all.
Guess it's the way things are these days. Remember The Alhambra Theater? How about The Regency Theater? So many of San Francisco's best indi one screen theaters are going the way of the 8 track, and it sucks. It sucks that more people didn't support and enjoy them, but what's the way it is. Streaming video, Netflix, etc and with people's limited time they have... Well...
The best popcorn with yeast in San Francisco, the Red Vic celebrates their 31st anniversary this July 25th, and it also happens to be the day the classic Upper Haight theater closes their doors. "Our closure is 100 percent certain at this point," co-owner Claudia Lehan said. "On July 25, our birthday screening of 'Harold and Maude' will be our last, I'm sad to say." ~Chronicle story.
Wanna check out some of the now closed classic SF theaters? A man on Flickr has tons of photos.
Underskatement is back and they want your films for this US touring skate-centric film festival. Fecal Face is proud to be a media sponsor of this great program that's now in its 10 year.
UnderSkatement is a traveling film festival featuring short films made exclusively by skateboarders. Underskatement originated in 2001 to showcase the talents of both well-known and unknown skateboarder filmmakers. Entering this film festival doesn’t require a big name in the skateboarding world, but rather-just like skateboarding- requires creativity and imagination.
This is an open call for participants to appear in a film commissioned by the Oakland Standard, a series of contemporary art projects produced by the Oakland Museum of California. Once selected, participants will visit the museum on Monday, June 27, 2011, for a single forty-five-minute on-camera interview.
The film, titled Nothing Happens for Long, is an investigation (by the filmmakers, Jonn Herschend and Andrew Leland) into the normal, even boring moments that happen every day at a museum. It’s our belief that these quiet, mundane experiences are what lead to real discovery and wonder, and that museums are especially good at creating the right atmosphere to make them happen—in other words, to make nothing happen. (A more detailed explanation of these ideas appears on the film’s project page.)
We are looking for stories by individuals who have been to the Oakland Museum—recently or years ago—and experienced a moment where nothing happened.
Saw the documentary on Bill Hicks last night, AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story, and was so pleased to see a feature length film dedicated to telling the story of his genius and of his career starting out at age 16 to his early tragic death from pancreatic cancer at age 32 in 1994.
Bill Hicks, self described "Chomsky with dick jokes", was one of the best stand-up comedians, social critics, and satirists of all time, decades ahead of everyone else and culture at large. The film is currently playing here at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas and runs through... Well, tonight, Thursday, is the last showing, and you should get there and see it on the big screen before it's gone.
Yes, Bill Hicks was on stage many years ago, but the humor is completley timeless- everything is just as funny as it was 2 decades ago when it was written. If you miss the film in theaters, download some of his stand-up or watch it online.
Considered the comedian's comedian, whose act generally flew over the heads of most Americans at the time (his 12th appearance on David Letterman in '93 was pulled for being "over the top"), Hicks never garnered much US mainstream success, although, a huge hit in the UK selling out massive theaters filled with thousands of fans... Any comedian you love today was hugely influenced by Hicks who stayed true to his words and art, never selling out his act and completely just being himself throughout.
The film is smartly assembled, keeping even those obliviously unaware of Bill Hicks entertained with jazzy after effects/ animated motion of the old photographs of Bill's early life and career, such that you feel as though you're watching classic footage. Very well done, and for those of you who are huge Bill Hicks fans, the film is a way to relive classic performances and to appreciate and be inspired by an artist who stood his ground and kept focused on what more of us should.
R.I.P., Bill. You are greatly missed, and we would to see how you'd respond to our nutty ass world today. -Trippe
Tucker Nichols emailed over this Whole Foods poster (below right) which looks a lot like one of Corey Arnold's photos (bottom left). Coincidence? Where they inspired by Corey's photo? Did Corey actually shoot the photo? Who knows and Corey is fishing for salmon right now (like this), so we can't ask him to find out.
Yeah, bad tattoos are basically a bummer, right? But they're also pretty much a rite of passage for bored and disenfranchised-feeling teenagers the world over. At least it was for about 95% of the people I know. Going to a reputable tattoo shop and getting a wizard or unicorn drilled into your lower back is totally fine, but nothing really takes the place of sitting around with a bunch of friends and some beers, enthusiastically taking turns poking each others' arms full of bad ideas-which actually is fun at any age.
OAKLAND -- First Fridays is hoping Oakland hasn't seen the last of the one of a kind event... The street art party is free to attend, but organizers say with police and other costs the price tag to throw the monthly party is $20,000... The City of Oakland has been footing the bill for months and after kicking in $500,000, it's pulling the plug... Organizers are now asking for donations and developing a vendor fee schedule to try and keep the party alive. ~continue reading
SAN FRANCISCO -- Guerrero Gallery, here in the Mission, opens their summer group show this Saturday, June 15th, featuring works from a steller lineup: Daniel Albrigo, Ryan Travis Christian, Alejandro Diaz-Ayala, Frohawk Two Feathers, Michelle Guintu, Justin Hager, Cody Hudson, Terry Powers, Rye Purvis, Victory Reyes, Jamie Williams, and Yarrow Slaps.
SAN FRANCISCO --- Southern Exposure hosts thier annual Monster Drawing Rally Friday, June 14, 2013 at THE NWBLK, 1999 Bryant Street (at 18th). Tons of great artists auctioning works at a starting price of only $60.
A live drawing and fundraising event with 120 artists working side by side. The event lets spectators to observe artists in the act of creation, providing the opportunity to watch a drawing come to life, and to purchase a work of art minutes after its completion. Drawings are available for purchase immediately for just $60 each.
~complete details
Wonder if our old emails with Banksy are worth a few thousand dollars. It seems everything the dude touches is worth a million dollars these days! Nutty and much deserved.
A disputed Banksy graffiti artwork removed from a gritty London neighbourhood has sold for approximately $1.1 million US at auction. The provocative Slave Labour (Bunting Boy) sold at a private auction held by concierge firm The Sincura Group at the London Film Museum on Sunday, according to Bloomberg news service. The spray-painted, stenciled work depicts a child labourer using an antique sewing machine to create a Union Jack bunting. -Continue reading
Germany's national railway is testing the use of mini-drones to curb damage to its trains from graffiti. Experts call the move pointless and excessive, saying that varnish for trains could solve the problem instead.
~continue reading
Daniel Cronin was hired to shoot photos for the ongoing feature series: the Road Trips USA: Pacific Coast... An interesting idea where the trip was live blogged/ tweeted/ Instagramed with people making suggestions for what to check out, and well, into FFDG they stopped.
Look ma, we made The Guardian U.K.
Come on, guys. Don't call San Francisco "San Fran".
Henrik Haven, who keeps us up to date in all that's Copenhagen, emailed over some photos from the Viborg International Billboard Painting Festival that's running throughout June. In this short installment he introduces us to the work of urban/graffiti artist and illustrator NYCHOS.
Kelly Tunstall, who's showing w/ Ferris Plock at FFDG this August 16th, recently finished some commissions for A16 in Oakland. Here's a little taste, and check out her last year's show at FFDG.
Brendan Monroe, whose show Melting Into the Floor runs through June 15th at LA's Richard Heller, creates these great wooden sculptures and featured a bunch in the show... He's often asked how he goes about making them and gives us at Fecal Face a little 'how to' on the process.
Mexico City based Curiot, whose sold out solo show Age of Omuktlans ran last March at FFDG, just finished this great mural entitled "El Retorno de Akhankutli" in Mexico. He recently completed one in Berlin too which we'll be posting in the coming week. The guy is very very talented in our eyes.
This made our day. Not only do we love pizza but we also love Henry Gunderson... So a board shapped like a hot slice designed by Henry Gunderson for The Good Company, well... this writer needs to go for a slice right now.
Wendell McShine (lives in Mexico City, from Trinidad) opened his newest show, Raccoon's Law, at Fifty24SF on Saturday night. ARYZ was a tough act to follow, but McShine held his own in the space... With a combination of a mural, a video, and both drawings and mixed-media works on paper, the diversity of this solo show was impressive. The Raccoon drawings were especially attractive as the way he executed them looked like they actually had fur coming off the page, and you can only imagine how soft it would be to touch. I was lucky to see his work in person through this show, and I hope to encounter more in the future.
Ingrid Wells just got her MFA from The San Francisco Art Institute and these oil paintings from her Honey Boo Boo's Amurrican Starquest were on display as part of the recent MFA exhibition... Ingrid Wells works and lives in San Francisco.
Henry Gunderson emailed over some photos from his recent group show with Andrew Luck, Jordan Bogash, and Mario Ayala "Out The Window" which ran at the Los Angeles based Prohibition Gallery.
I got there the day after the tornado came through. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. My mind just could not grasp what my eyes were seeing. It was just too much to take in, too much to process. So, I did what comes naturally and took images. It sort of helped me separate from the chaos and helped me focus.
Check out this, what could be, one of the longest murals ever created. Hyuro from Valencia, Spain was recently in Copenhagen for the solo show "In/Between" at ArtRebels.
Rachel Ralph spotted Barcelona-based ARYZ working on his mural in the TL a couple weeks back, and we forgot to share the pics. His show at Fifty24SF opened back in April.
Jeffrey Cheung emailed over some photos from a recent one night show he had at Terra Gallery/ event space. The May 19th show also featured live music by Oakland garage rockers Twin Steps and Coldtergeist.
Great solo show by LA based Alison Blickle (Born 1976) up now at San Francisco's Eleanor Harwood gallery. History of Magic Part 1... The Hermitage runs through June 15th 2013. -- 1295 Alabama St. Hours: Wed thru Sat (11-6pm)
Well, it looks like John Felix Arnold rocked Tokyo with his opening with Koutaro Ooyama at Spes Lab a few weeks back. Even a language barrier couldn't prevent the success of their collaboration. They invited everyone they met on trains, in cars, cafes, bars, restaurants, and people responded by attending, and bringing their families and friends as well.
Last Thursday evening, I was lucky enough to get invited to Nickelodeon's premiere party for their newest cartoon, Sanja & Craig, created by three awesome dudes - Andreas Trolf, Jim Dirschberger, and Jay Howell. Hosted at Tony's Salon with pizza provided by Pizzanistas, the premiere party was filled with libations and celebrations, even a break-dance battle broke out. Congrats to everyone who worked on the show, and especially Trolf, Jim, and Jay who all have been working tirelessly on it. Sanja & Craig premiered Saturday 10:30 am 11 am on Nickelodeon. You can watch Sanjay and Craig Episode 1: Brett Venom on hulu. and read about how the guys came up with it in this interview with The LA Times. Now, here's some photos from the premiere.
Drawing Stories is a new series from our buddy Travis Millard. Grab a cup of hot coco, get your slippers on and enjoy some time with your uncle Millard.
Los Angeles Christofer Chin (Tofer) emailed over some install shots of his current show Ar running in NYC at Lu Magnus through June 29th. Simple/ clean and continuing his op artstyle Tofer Chin features new paintings, photographs, and sculpture continuing his exploration of geologically and architecturally inspired Minimalist forms.
TrustoCorp's all new work for their exhibition at LeBasse Projects in Culver City, Los Angeles is a perfect continuum from past work that embraces the bipolar "have/have not" socioeconomic identity of Los Angeles, which they recently established their new studio in.
I didn't know if you came across this video yet, but I ran into my friend Brian Hanson yesterday who helped film and edit it. It's a film short documenting the work and philosophy of Huntington Beach surfboard Shaper Tim Stamps. Super rad and really inspiring! Anyhow take a peek.
Last year, Eric Caruso a teacher at Harry Wirtz Elementary School (Paramount, CA, near LA) had an idea to invite some artists to paint some murals at the school because there wasn't an arts program for the kids. That brilliant idea resulted in some awesome murals by artists Seitaku Aoyama, Yusuke Hanai, Rich Jacobs, Tim Kerr and Albert Reyes.
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
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As cool as it is to be nostalgic about an artist's past, you don't have to hold onto it. Especially since there are people like 
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