paintings + drawings

This Should Be Good

Rachel Loden (and Mark Nowak) at CCA on Saturday, November 7, for two hours. Be there or be square.

According to the Small Press Traffic website, its gonna be about Class/Warfare. Slightly more info here.

Marina Abramovic Institute, Huh

I've been suffering through a recent rash of press releases that say next to nothing.

Below is my favorite. Please RSVP to an event which is not described in the least.

What will Koh do with his butt this time? Does Marina know about her namesake? Why can't I enter Igor Josifov's website? Why isn't there even a website for the Institute? Dunno, no answer is provided. 

Google maps does offer this bit of helpful information -- looks like the future home of the Institute is also the trash receptacle for the neighborhood, and suspiciously close to the Art Academy. Go at your own risk.

Public Service Announcement (To Run Thru September 17)

I love Visual Aid. You should too. And both of us should help out by drinking beer and eating bread -- how East Bay is that?

From the press release: "Help keep art alive! Join us for a day of beer and panini tasting and help support Visual Aid, one of the Bay Area's most important nonprofits.

Live music by Los Milagros will entertain while ticket holders enjoy a tasting frenzy--sampling four delicious paninis from the up and coming new restaurant Sfoofs, and a sampling of beer from unique Berkeley and North Bay brewers.

Not only will you quench your hunger and thirst with luscious treats, but you'll feel good knowing that all proceeds benefit Visual Aid, a non-profit serving artists with life-threatening illnesses. Visual Aid encourages artists with HIV/AIDS, breast cancer and Hep-C to continue their creative work by providing free art supplies, grants, exhibitions and community."

The fun takes place today from 2-7pm, at the probably the East Bay's largest gallery (which you means more and more of you can attend), Alphonse Berber Gallery, 2546 Bancroft Way in Berkeley.

Ten Bits

1. I want one of these for my car. If you lived in Berkeley, you'd know why.

2. Uncorrected personality traits in aging painters.

3. Where the girls are? Certainly not in any Pixar project.

4. Brooklyn bids adieu to a future with Gehry.

5. George Orwell: appropriationist or copy cat? You decide, the Guardian will help.

6. Prolly the last living person to work with Fitzgerald. His typist.

7. This building is ugly. Like a gigantic ugly ass fort made out of tin. Already the parking lot is overflowing with hyrids.

8. How To guide: Mission Hipsters for dummies.

9. Photographic highlights of my town's dachshund derby. Every burg should have one.

10. Dunno why the show is called "Summer Of Love" when the two guests of honor -- Cindy Sherman and David Byrne -- where big in the 80s. Don't let the hippy reference stop you from going, it's an important fund raiser for a vital studio project.

Public Service Announcement (To Run Thru June 25)

The BECA Foundation  has recently posted two new "Calls to Artists + Designers" and has begun accepting applications for its "Artist in Residence Program."

Call to Artists + Designers
Receive Deadline is June 25, 2009.  The theme and title of this exhibition, 'Money is the Root of All Evil Carnival Barkers', was chosen to create an entertaining commentary on the historical and contemporary pitch people of industry, who we call carnival barkers. Money has always been a powerful motivator of dealers. Maybe it's the recession or maybe the carnival barker’s voices are just getting louder but we have definitely noticed an increase in the hawking of everything from infomercial products to art. The hawking of one’s wares could be called the world's second oldest profession and while early carnival barkers shouted their best persuasions to you to as you walked by their cart or stand, today's carnival barkers have a much wider distribution for their barking, delivered through electronic and printed text, television and radio.

The exhibition will be held at BECA gallery, located at 527 St. Joseph Street, New Orleans, LA, in the heart of the Warehouse Arts District across from the Contemporary Arts Center. The exhibition dates are from August 8 – September 6, 2009 with a closing artist reception on Saturday, September 5, 2009 from 6pm-9pm. The exhibition catalog will be available beginning August 3, 2009.

Call to Artists + Designers
Receive Deadline is October 1, 2009.  The BECA Foundation presents the second installment of CURATE THIS! opening this November, 2009 and will run through December 2009. The first installment of CURATE THIS!, held in 2008, was an experimental success with over 100 artists and over 400 'guest curators' from 9 countries participating. We're looking forward to even more participation from around the globe via CURATE THIS! 2009. Once again we will be enlisting the input of art enthusiasts from around the world via an online juried event which allows anyone from anywhere in the world with an internet connection and email access to select their favorite 10 artists from the compiled selection of submitted works. CURATE THIS! EXHIBITION DATES: November 21 - December 27, 2009. Complete information and submission guidelines are here.

Artist in Residence Program
This program was created as a complimentary supplement to the organization’s core emerging contemporary art exhibition program. Each year, 6-10 monthly studio residencies will be granted to one or two emerging artists or designers per month and take place at BECA gallery/Ju-Ju Space Studio in the heart of the Warehouse Arts District in New Orleans, LA, USA. Each Artist in Residence receives a non-living, semi-private studio space for a period of 4 weeks culminating in both a public Artist Talk and a public Open-Studio event at the end of the residency. Complete information and submission guidelines may be viewed here.

Public Service Announcement (To Run Thru April 6)

From the release: "On Saturday, June 6th from 12 noon to 8pm, ABCO Art Space (3135 Filbert Street in Oakland) is hosting the start of a series of craft fairs.  Featuring artisans from all around the bay area.  Vendors will be selling their hand crafted wares at wholesale prices.  This event will happen on the same weekend as Oakland's First Friday art walk and the East Bay Open Studios.  Shoppers will find clothing from local designers like Recession Clothing and Taylor Made, hand made belt buckles, hair accessories, organic body products, ceramics, original artwork, organic coffee, and so much more.   There will also be live music, DJ's, Food and Beverages. 

This event was started last November by ABCO's founder and director, Barry Monigle.  In the online publication 'East Bay West Online' he was quoted saying, "My main idea for doing this is the creation of local economy."  A reaction to a struggling economy where artists are often some of the hardest hit.  With no place for artists to gather and sell their wares, Monigle stepped in to offer up the expansive amount of space that ABCO has to offer for an event like this.  With a huge outside area, a large indoor gallery and an expansive warehouse to spread the event through, it is an ideal location for a craft fair."

Public Service Announcement (To Run Thru June 13)

From the release:

What: Intersection for the Art's Benefit Art Auction

When: Saturday, June 13, 2009 from 7-9:30pm (Silent auction starts at 7, Live auction from 8-8:30)

Where: Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia St, SF, CA

Why: Because we need to secure the support, and we thought a benefit art auction would be sexier than a bake sale.

The general admission is $50, sponsorships begin at $100 and continue upwards of $500 for corporate sponsorship with many added benefits. The Intersection staff has been working on this event for months and created ticket tiers at various levels so that we can attain much needed sponsorship funds and allow everyone in the greater Intersection community to also join us. We are also offering discounted tickets at $25 if you call Bea directly at ext 109, to make the request. (All requests will be granted for $25 discounted tickets, but please note that it costs us $25 a person to host this event! So we hope you'll consider anything over $25 a donation to Intersection and consider the $50 ticket as part of your gift.)

We're featuring work from over 65 of the Bay Areas most notable artists and beyond (Including art stars like Binh Danh and Andrew Schoultz) and we're also offering vacation packages, spa treatments, and interactive items like a walk-on role to the next performance with Erika Chong Shuch or an intimate performance in your house with members of Campo Santo.

Public Service Announcement (To Run Thru June 30)

From Rebecca Whipple: "My good friend/great artist, Ricardo Hernandez, is putting together an exciting  project to rescue his horse sculpture from a storage facility in San Francisco. He is asking for a very small donation of $1 (or more) to make this journey happen.

I'm not only donating but hoping to tag along for part of the ride, so please read below or visit his website to find out more."

Public Service Announcement (To Run Thru May 25)

"Everyday Collectors"
Intersection for the Arts in association with San Francisco Center for the Book
on Mondays ( May 4-25, 2009) 6-9pm, Center for the Book at 300 De Haro Street in San Francisco
Register here.

from the press release: "In a twist on traditional scrapbook construction, class participants will become the archaeologists of their daily lives, collecting objects, ephemera, and notes in a handmade book. Participants will create a hand-bound book, discuss collecting and recording, and determine the focus and objective of their personal book. The workshop culminates in a visit to the exhibit Migdalia Valdes: Every Day in Black and White at Intersection for the Arts. Some bookbinding/sewing experience is helpful, but not required."

Public Service Announcement (To Run Thru May 3)

From the press release: "On May 1st 21 Grand will hold its Ninth Annual Benefit Art Sale from 7pm. to 11 pm. featuring over 100 small works of art for sale by at least 80 different artists. There is a preview reception Thursday April 30th from 6-9 pm. and the sale continues Saturday and Sunday May 2nd & 3rd during the hours of 1-6 pm. But, come early, because we begin selling the work at 7:00 on Friday, and as it sells we package the work up and said purchaser can take it away.

Donating artists include: Krystle Ahmadyar, Mara Arrowood, Attaboy, Carl Auge, Craig Baldwin, Laura Ball, Kelly Correll Brown, Jason Byers, Deric Carner, John Casey, Heather Chou, Joshua Churchill, Tony Coleman, Wiljago Cook, Michael Cookinham, Katherine Copenhaver, eliot daughtry, Kriss De Jong, Jordan Essoe, Eliza Fernand, Chela Fielding, Sarah Filley, fly, Amy Friebertshauser, Erica Gangsei, Narangkar Glover, Pete Glover, Jacqueline Gordon, Gilbert Guerrero, Polly Harrold, Daniel Healey, Zack Houston, Raymie Iadevaia, Misako Inaoka, Kerri Lee Johnson, Aurora Josephson, Ryan Junell, Jeremy Kearney, Jeremy Kirsch, Kyle Knobel, Samantha Lautman, Cheryl Leonard, Heike Liss, Scott MacLeod, Liz Maxwell, Jerry McDaniel, Kim Miskowicz, Laurel Nathanson, John Neilson, Dan Nelson, Fred Nocella, Laura Paulini, Chelsea Pegram, Michael Perkin, Micaela Petersen, Andrew Phares, Suzy Poling, Kathleen Quillian, Ben Riesman, John C. Rogers, Lisa Ryers, Gregory Scharpen, Damon Smith, Kimric Smythe, Lynn Sondag, James Stark, Debra Stuckgold, Sudhu Tewari, Luther Thie, Michael Trigilio, Nail Umbrella, Shalene Valenzuela, Vinny, Matt Volla, Patricia Wakida, Lexa Walsh, Ian Winters, Kathrine Worel, YaChin Bonny You

Since 21 Grand opened in July of 2000 it has served as a platform and resource for (in our quick estimation) over 300 visual artists (you can be confident that that is a conservative number). That's not counting the legions of performing, literary, and cinematic artists 21 Grand has hosted over the years."