Monday, 28 January 2013 13:45 Written by Bryan Derballa
It was long overdue, but I finally made the trip to Ireland to visit Erin. We've known each other since middle school. Over 17 years. I feel like I've lived so many lives since then -- new cities, new scenes, new sets of friends. There's something very comforting about being around your oldest friends, even in a foreign country.
After finding a team of horses on a hill, we grabbed Aoife, a folk musician and Erin's roommate. We drove a rented Ford Fiesta through the night and across the country, singing The Cranberries and Sinead O'Connor (Ireland's finest), finally arriving at Martin's house in County Clare. Martin is Aoife's dad and traditional Irish flutemaker. I fell asleep that night to their fiddling and fluting in the kitchen. The next day we hopped the fence so the back entrance of the Cliffs of Moher. The sea hid behind the fog. The grass was lush and green and exactly what I pictured of Ireland in my cliched imagination. The day was another one of those dreamlike experiences that I hope for on every trip.
Last Thursday we visited the studio of SFAI graduate painting student Alex Ziv located out in San Francisco's Dog Patch. Inside an old warehouse is SFAI's graduate studios, and within the massive building is Alex's studio space sandwiched between dozens of other students' studios.
We first met Alex when visiting Henry Gunderson's studio when he and Henry were undergraduates at SFAI. Back in like 2009.
Working Title will explore how local artist entrepreneurs are re-inventing the American Dream, creating alternative economies and redefining success in the Bay Area.
Friends got married, saved some jokers from wrecking their boat on Alcatraz, our Winter Group Show @FFDG, stayed at the incredible beach front cabins at Mt. Tam State Park, and spent time on the water.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 15:00 Written by Trippe
Jay Howell's solo show "Enthusiastic Person" at FFDG opens Friday, Feb 1st (6-9pm).
Here is a small preview and also a short interview with the man who's been working his butt off in Los Angeles on his upcoming cartoon with Nickelodeon, video shorts with Vans, a new zine, and other projects when he's not walking Street Dog in the warm Southern California air.
How are you doing? Hope everything is jazzy.
Everything is going good. Life is busy and fun!
You moved to LA like a year and a half ago from SF. How's it going?
It's been 2 years, and it's going very good.
You're working on the cartoon for Nickelodeon "Sanjay and Craig". When can people expect to see a clip or the first episode?
We'll be airing in July! Maximum excitement!!!
What can people expect from your upcoming show "Enthusiastic Person" opening Friday, Feb 1st @FFDG?
It's a bunch of new stuff that I've been doing when I get home from work. A lot of it goes along with a new comic I've been developing.
What's your routine been like these days?
Get up early, go to work, stress out, get really excited, hang out with Street Dog and draw.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 11:58 Written by Trippe
An interactive media installation created in collaboration with Mike Allison. A stretched sheet of spandex acts as a membrane interface sensitive to depth that people can push into and create fire-like visuals and expressively play music. More information available at: aaron-sherwood.com/works/firewall Will be used in the performance piece Mizaru: purringt.com/mizaru
Tuesday, 22 January 2013 11:55 Written by Rachel Ralph
Bryan Schnelle,
Prepare to Die, Paper collage and enamel on canvas, 72"x72"
A week ago Saturday brought the opening of the Winter Group Show at Shooting Gallery. I got there very early, so a crowd was yet to form, but I hope some visitors braved the cold after a few drinks later in the evening. The artists showing are those that have helped with the continued development of the Shooting Gallery, including John Felix Arnold III, Ferris Plock, and APEX, all of whom have shown work recently in the Tenderloin. The intermingling of two-dimensional and sculptural works emphasized the variety of artists who show at the Shooting Gallery, which is a great way to finish their last show in this space. I can’t wait to see what they do with the larger space they are moving into very soon, continuing to foster creativity, but hopefully with much more room to do so.
Words and photos: Rachel Ralph ~ rachel(at)fecalface.com
Thanks to Lavender Wolf who mailed us a copy of his new(ish) zine CUT IT OUT!
Lavender Wolf would like to place admirers of his work under house arrest! He's substituting handcuffs for a full color, limited edition zine that's sure to captivate and command your attention.
CUT IT OUT! is the first published collection of Lavender Wolf's paper cuts, containing new, never before seen images, and celebrated favorites. Printed in color in an edition of a hundred and one, CUT IT OUT! is thirty-five pages, each issue being hand numbered and signed by the artist. CUT IT OUT! is available for eight euros. If postage and packaging is required, the zine is available for 12 euros in Europe and the United States. Please send all purchase inquiries to lavenderandthewolf(at)gmail.com and include the number of copies that you'd like to order, along with your mailing address if necessary.
NYC based photographer Ben Pier mailed his book Teenage Teeth ($24) to us awhile back featuring 68 pages of beautiful images which, according to Pier, are a documentation of American youth as seen through his lens.
Born in 1980 and raised in Missouri until the age of 19 when he went on to study documentary photography at Columbia College Chicago. After finishing school he left the heartland for New York City where he now lives and works.
San Francisco artist Kevin Taylor introduced us to the work of Jay Bo who lives and works in Berlin.
Kevin was there in Berlin a few months back working on a solo show (studio visit pics) and thought we'd like Jay Bo's paintings. Well, we do and wanted to share them with you.
My work is about visual fragmentation. About rebuilding. I follow paradoxical ideas at the edge of the legacy of romantism. A touch of insanity, a dance between rational and irrational, I just try to escape reality. I considere myself an abstract painter, playing with the contrast between hyperrealism and expressionism. I try to marry the two. By the way this is not a question I can answer, as my answer is the piece itself.
Influences?
I am perpetually influenced by everything, my work is based on layers, as our memories are. The raster made out of thoses bring me to new horizons. That's why I am not only influenced by the old paint masters but also on the multiple failures of mankind. by the nature, by your questioning as well as by the silence in the morning, by the words of poets, and by the screams of Earth.
Cheese burgers or tofu burgers?
Definitly both but self made.
Favorite place traveled?
Well the next one. I am interessted in the concept of traveling not in places. And this has to be contrasted, I like to observe confrontation. Visual opposition. I am walking the same ways over and over and I find something unseen everyday. I am an observer and I need therefore more time on a new place to understand it. Africa have left a big influence on my acceptance of chaos.
Working routine?
Yes which is the hard part. Discipline never has be my friend.
Thursday, 17 January 2013 12:36 Written by Van Edwards
FFDG is happy to offer the peice "Moss Ball" by Jay Howell in advance of his solo show "Enthusiastic Person" opening on Friday, Feb 1st. Available as of Jan 17th.
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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