feather2pixels

I finally got the chance to visit the home of Keith W in Sacramento.  This long overdue trip gave me the chance to check out Keith’s outstanding collection of Temporary Spaces, which is said to be the finest in the world. This long overdue trip also gave me the chance to check out the size of the embryo growing in his wife Tiffany. Needless to say, both art and kid are taking up a lot of space.  I didn’t pass up the chance for a photo-op with the former.  K.W., next time I hope you jump in there, too.

Temporary Spaces, my series of screen printed cityscapes on wood from 2008, will be featured this month in what I expect is their last show.  I expect that because I am basically out of them. (You know, if they end up selling at gallery prices.)  I was a little reluctant to give up the final copies that I was saving for my personal collection, but I can’t pass up the opportunity to be in a real group show at a real gallery masquerading as a real artist. So I need to let go of this part of the material world.  I need to convince myself  that at the end of the day, fuck it, Stuff is just taking up space in my life and I need to focus on the purity in art that brings us all together as humans.   Right after I stop at Best Buy to pick up a tripod.

So in the name of fucking at the end of the day, I now present you with the hyperlink.  The opening is this Thursday at 7pm and the show runs through February at 1AM Gallery in South of Market (1000 Howard at Sixth).  Incidentally, 1AM turns out to be quite a cool spot focused stuff like graffiti art and stenciling classes and they have any color of spray paint you could ever want for sale behind the counter.   I think you know what I mean.   It kind of makes sense.  I’m looking forward to what my fellow chroniclers of the city have to show for themselves:

The Temporary Spaces found a few homes this summer.

First they were displayed at Dogpatch Biofuels, San Francisco’s only biodiesel filling station. This seemed especially apt, since many of the cityscapes depict the Dogpatch itself. Of course in the continuum of artistic practices, screen printing is the probably one of the most eco unfriendly processes out there. But maybe not as bad as aborted fetuses.

During the month of July, all the pieces were displayed at Liberty Cafe in ever-lovely Bernal Heights. This opportunity was courtesy of my friend, Danielle, who shoots compelling photos of kids (and therefore had to leave her Cellspace studio because of the pot smoke). Anyway, the business features a cozy restaurant and a bakery cafe, the neighborhood go-to spot for fresh Brioche. I’m not sure how much of a splash my art made, but I’m running out of room in my studio to store these. Free storage.

This week I am a real artist.  I sold two Temporary Spaces sales to people that I know.  However, maybe even more exciting than those intra-zip code transactions were the Kid Monsters orders I received from the 94403 and the 34251.  I didn’t even know a zip code could start with a 3.

My apologies for the recent spate of secretive posts.  I am glad to report this entry represents a return to my self-centered general-interest ramblings.  Mission open studios was last weekend and as far as I am concerned, it was an indisputable success.  Lots of people showed up to see art, many of them to my corner of the CELLspace warehouse, where they fed my ego.  This is surely the reason I do anything.

To pass the time, I set up a little screen printing station next to my work, which turned out to be a good way to engage people with my process–I learned that many people are interested in how screen printing works.  As they should be.  It is the ultimate in instant gratification.  I even got to print with some kids, which itself made the whole weekend worth it.  Well, that, and the hundreds of dollars people seemed to be willing to give me for my art.  But mark my words: printing with kids is my calling and some day I will see it through.

For right now, my calling is posting digital images of last weekend.  Thanks for coming, everyone.  If you didn’t come, just wire me money and we will call it even.
My corner:

Screen printing in action:

The panels:

Even screen printed a wall decal:

Sold some postacrds and posters for the low rollers:

Shit

Shit!

Success!

After eight months, the printing of this entire project is done!

This is the seventh and final piece:

On Friday I had a very impromptu opportunity, in the form of a CellSPACE Sew-Op benefit, to hang all my panels on a wall. A real one.

Once our renegade sewing group-in-residence, the CellSPACE Sew-Op is undergoing a reboot by Ariel, an energetic newcomer with a decidedly unCellSPACE-like sense of determination.  By sheer will, she arranged a lineup of artists, musicians, and DJs to appear at the warehouse to conjure $10 contributions from visitors.  The night before, she offered me a space to show and so I got the chance to test run this nearly done project.  Of course the wall changes everything, but I thought the stuff looked decent.

I was surprised how little I had show for eight months of printing.  There are four copies of everything, but the project still seemed a lot more ambitious in my head, I think.The next day at the Ocean Beach, I was reminded how a real artist executes the exploration of scale:

“Surfers and dog-walkers heading onto San Francisco’s Ocean Beach Friday found themselves in the company of 100 wooden Indians on horseback, with face-paint and feathered spears glittering in the morning sun. The life-size plywood cutouts lining the beach just below the Cliff House are the work of Western artist Thom Ross, who based the richly colored tableaux on a famous black-and-white photo of Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show.” The Chronicle

This was impressive.  But the the pieces were a lot more interesting from behind.

The penultimate piece in my procession of panoramic panels is done!  Six ill-tempered layers on this one and each is like a child to me:

Layer 6: (Out of the jar black with a touch of brown)  The youngest and therefore most immature layer.  Clogged up the screen almost on contact.  Virtually useless.  Wants to go to college to be a philosopher or some bullshit.

Layer 5: (Dark Brown) Very annoying.  Required several intermediate screen washes.  Left a big stain on the mesh even after thoroughly washed off.  Will probably run off with pregnant girlfriend.

Layer 4: (Warmish Light Brown)  Was a mistake from the beginning.  Can’t remember how this one was conceived but I think she accidentally got a little acrylic and water-based in her.  Made for a very uneven coat that would get me fired in a real print shop.  Luckily, Layer 5 covered for most of this.  Not that I approve of Layer 5.

Layer 3: (Beige) Just like layer 4.

Layer 2: (Warm light beige)  Went on smooth and lined up with layer one reasonably well.   I have no problem with layer 2.  He talked about business school once or something.
Layer 1: (Warmish off-white) The first born and therefore best layer.  Set a super example for all her siblings but obviously could not save them.  Oh well.  It’s their fucking life.

New work:

Look: a six-layer print! After many frustrating three-layer prints, I didn’t think I had it in me. This is a one-panel piece from an image I produced of Tolman Street, one of my favorite streets in SF:

The print:

And here is a cool little spot in Mission Bay that won’t be around for much longer:

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