Ashcan Magazine » Shows & Galleries

For My Fronds on the Phasebook

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:19:08 +0000

Immediately walking into the SOAP Gallery it became obvious that nothing was quite what it seemed. Seeing the bodies crammed into the space like sardines in a tin I shuffled my way through the crowd half-expecting to hear their voices idly chit-chatting about god-knows-what, but instead came to find I can’t make out a damn word they’re saying cause everybody is speaking in Czech. Covering the walls are six-foot long frond leaves, and hanging from the ceiling rolls of paper reading “Facebook” are fed into motion sensor shredders, spewing their stringy remains about the floor like a burst sewer line every time someone passes by. This bizarre arrangement of nature and technology is the brainchild of artist Jakub Kalousek, and if you’re still wondering what exactly is going on that’s okay—it’s all part of the experience.

Originally born in the Czech Republic, Kalousek has had an extensive art career spanning decades, but for his latest showcase, “For My Fronds On The Phasebook,” he’s incorporating his long-standing concepts on human interaction, nature, and technology all into one work. It’s an experimental exhibit deconstructing our relationship with the organic and mechanical, examining how parts of our everyday lives represent larger aspects of life itself, and how they all fit into a sustainable relationship with one another.

Your work has taken form in every medium an artist can express themselves with, how do you go about choosing which will suite each project?

Everything is tailored to the place and time. I felt like the sculptures and the words were complimentary to the fronds and the phasebook, and it all creates a kind of sensory experience.

What are some of the themes and interlocking ideas that are at work in this exhibit?

Seemingly insignificant things around us that actually reflect our own essence; it’s just a matter of looking at them and mulling them over. The fronds and the friends and the Facebook create a cycle for me that has technology, emotion, relationships, and nature. In all my work the idea of change and freewill is recurrent. Here I’m combining a very natural form that is super organic and very strong—yet many people don’t know what it is—put it in a context of technology everyone knows. And you can make a pun, and maybe it’s heavy-handed with [the paper printed] “Facebook,” but there is a cyclical phase walking through and triggering the shredders, and really the shredders and fronds work off each other.

What’s your intention by juxtaposing an item like the fronds, a symbol of nature and life, with the shredders, a piece of technology whose main purpose is to destroy?

The destruction of materia, of paper, that may have meant an emotional meaning, like Facebook, and you juxtapose it with the fronds as feeding from it. I’m looking for complimentary features, some sort of call to the viewers. It’s not about [literally] “shredding the Facebook”, but it’s about something technical that’s temporal, and the fronds remind us that there is something natural that is permanent.

What are your thoughts on technology influencing or affecting more “organic” and natural forms of human interaction?

There are multiple levels of permutation between social iconography—formal level, verbal content—the semiological level and self reflexive level—interactivity. I’m intrigued by the multiple levels of contiguity between the facebook/phasebook, temporality/phase and frond/friends and, of course, shredders that reify physically the ephemeral nature of relationships.

Alongside the rest of your works the piece entitled “Curiousity” stands out visually as something very different from the rest of the installations, can you delve a bit more into the concepts behind it?

A long time ago I found that old saw and it said, “No more saw dust.” And I thought, “What does that mean?!” Because English is my second language the grammar comes in, and a lot of wordplay comes in. “Saw” is past tense of “seeing,” but “seeing a box” is different than “sawing a box.” But when you “saw the box” it makes dust. Then people see [the installation] and become curious to find out what’s in the box, because that’s what they think it’s about. And then they’re curious, “What did you see in the box?” But no, it’s what I “saw”—I’m actually sawing it.

Let’s talk about the “Nutcraker” performance piece; how does that fit in with the exhibit as a whole?

It’s a sculpture, in itself it is supposed to convey another idea. You have walnuts in the helmet and that sets up a relationship between walnuts and punches and breaking them, shelling them. It makes sense that you could shell walnuts by putting them in the boxer’s helmet because you’re trying to “shell” the human head the same way.

What about your own physical interaction with the sculpture itself?

[The] preoccupation of the artist with his work and constant denial that surface from idealizing dead matter. There are plenty of examples of that in painting – a sculpture falling in love with his/her model [and] tries to recreate it for eternity via sculpting a perfect image…but in essence it contains same ingredients as the fronds installation.

The humorous part on a formal level where a boxing helmet filled with walnuts refers to a broader context of cracking, fighting, and pugility, where as the context of the title “Nutcracker” points in very different direction – fragile and charming ballet/fairytale. The third permutation/dimension is purely formal – the walnuts do resemble the brain very much, so the performance is somewhat perfunctory, except as an exegesis of the boxing helmet purpose and and temporality of an artwork. Over the time an artist, most of them, gain unfavorable perspective on their creations.

WATCH ASHCAN’S EXCLUSIVE VIDEO OF JAKUB’S “NUTCRACKER” PERFORMANCE

Interview and video by Sean Logic
Photos by Jayne Liu

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For more info on upcoming exhibits and receptions, visit the SOAP Gallery website.

Creation(-ism) @ Zughaus

admin — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:38:27 +0000

Berkeley’s Zughaus Gallery is the humble abode of some cool folks on a mission to spread unique works by equally creative individuals. They open their doors to the art-loving public the last Friday of every month and March’s show, “Creation(-ism),” was absolutely charming.

The work was unconventional and inspired and it’s always a pleasure to visit a place that features emerging local artists. The space is a perfect mix of cozy home and exhibition room—I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the place and it’s an artist’s haven on the railroad tracks with an amazing view from the rooftop.

March’s show was dressed up with an ace DJ and was drooling dinosaur (complete with dino cookies, cupcakes, fruit snacks… oh, and drinks, too!) with some fierce artifice. Who doesn’t love dinosaurs?

Creation(-ism) mixed mediums and featured artists: Sergio Arreola, Arika Espiritu, Victoria Van Wey, Ashley Will and a dazzling live performance by The Riot Professor (are you seeing that keyboard melodica?!).

Here are some other highlights from the evening:

Light boxes by Sergio Arreola – yes, those are dinosaurs you see, and fornicators, too!

I’m calling this collection “The San Francisco Before Time” – the concept behind these photos is playful but they maintain a certain stillness that captivates. Photography by Arika Espiritu.

A few amazingly detailed works by Victoria Van Wey.

Ceramic unicorn and rocks by Ashley Will.

Words & photos by Vanessa Ta

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Come out and see what events and exhibits Zughaus are holding next by visiting their gallery space and blog.

Rob Sato @ GRSF

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:32:05 +0000

Have you ever had a nightmare so real, so horrific, that you swear it actually happened? That’s what looking at Rob Sato’s artwork is to me—a gateway into a dreamworld filled with morbid creatures acting out their wildest and uninhibited fantasies. Death, decay, and an insatiable deconstruction of the human anatomy are all staples of his work, but even then you’re just starting to delve into the curious fascinations filling his head. In person Rob’s a modestly humble, down-to-earth kind of guy, but hand him a paintbrush and you’re dealing with a certified madman.

You do paintings, illustrations, comics, and all sorts of different projects. How do you approach different mediums?

Everything is different. I get an idea and work it out in a sketch pad or scratch paper and see where it goes. Usually the best ideas come out of the shittiest paper.

A lot of the images in your work feature grotesque and surreal figures, is there a common significance to this theme?

I don’t know why, I start with this little funny, happy thing and then it just turns into something horrible. I don’t how it happens, but usually something funny comes out.

Like the paintings of people dying playing video games?

I liked the idea of doing some mundane activity that just kills you. For that one I think the idea came from playing Halo. I’d play it online and get some little kid from Germany shooting at me and I’d just want to shoot him in real life.

Speaking of which, I read your piece “Peace at Last in a Future Passed” was based on an old Transformers figure you had—how’d that come about?

Yeah, it was Jetfire I think. I used the toy as a jumping on point; same kind of model, same kind of hand position. It started on this whole concept of airplanes that they’d crash and the people would just leave them. [The figure] was just there and was a result of the idea.

Do you still have it?

Yeah, it’s like one of only three toys from my childhood and it’s in severe disrepair.

From afar it’s hard to see, but when you get up close to your painting “Followers in the Fog” there’s all these intricate, hyper-detailed little characters—what’s the larger concept behind the piece?

It started when I was drawing people in line, at the grocery or the post office, and I just thought, “What would happen if people had to spend their entire life waiting in line?”

What about the “Buzz Bomb” painting?

Originally it was going to be the album art for this heavy-metal/hardcore band, and I thought the best thing I could do would be to kill myself in the painting. So I took some photos of my head and torso and put them under some tracing paper and started attacking my body, then pretty soon the head was just covered in maggots. I guess the idea is that it becomes this self-sustaining ecosystem, that one brain gives away to millions of little brains.

Interview by Frank Summa & Sean Logic
Photos by Sean Logic

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See more of Rob’s illustrations, paintings, and comics at robsato.com
For upcoming exhibits and events, visit the Giant Robot SF site at gr-sf.com

All The Best @ Mission Comics & Art

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:01:48 +0000

When you walk through the doors to most comic book shops the walls are lined with shelves of trade paperbacks, action figures, and the latest assortment of fanboy goodies. Short boxes filled with back issues tower from top to bottom. A four foot Spider-Man poster hangs behind the counter along with the exclusive variant cover for Batman’s most daring adventure yet, proclaiming “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax!”. And while you can surely find a number of those relics and more all across shops in San Francisco, Leef Smith can boast about something his store has that a number of contemporaries can’t—an entire art gallery.

Smith opened Mission Comics & Art last September after the economic downturn left him without a job. “I lost my job in October in 2008 and thought ‘What am I gonna do now? What do I really want to do?’,” he remembers. Citing the recent closing of a few comic shops in The City, particularly in the Mission, Smith took it upon himself to do something about it.

“I felt there was a need for another [comic book store],” he explains. “I really liked what was going on in the art scene here and wanted to be a part of it, so I thought about bringing those two things together.”

Currently, Smith is featuring an exhibit by local artist Josh Ellingson entitled “All The Best,” a collection of Ellingson’s own favorite pieces and works from the past few years.

As an artist, Ellingson is undoubtedly a product of the 80’s, holding everything from Transformers to He-Man as early childhood favorites. “Pop culture is just in me, I can’t escape it, I grew up with comic books and cartoons,” he modestly explains. “They’ve become our modern mythology.”

Through the years his palette of influences has drawn inspiration from all aspects of fine and commercial art, including old advertisements from the 50’s and 60’s. “A lot of those people never get named, but they were killer artists,” Ellingson comments. “They could draw the hell out of a Schlitz Beer can or a sandwich or something and it’d be gorgeous; you could hang it on a wall. I really respect that level of dedication to the art.”

One concept Ellingson also notices that comes up in his work is a clashing of personalities. “I’ve noticed a theme in my art that ends up being about conflict and scale.” This kind of underlying tone can be found in a number of his illustrations on display, most notably within a few of the pieces below.

Whether through Ellingson’s work he has on display, or the comics he puts up for sale, owner Leef Smith is looking to expose audiences to something new. “I think it should go both ways, exposing people to comic books as an art form, and also exposing comic book fans to fine art,” Smith affirms, also mentioning his desire to motivate and facilitate artists to experiment in new and creative mediums. “[Artists] can put out a comic book, then do a gallery show, then do a clothing line, really work in a number of forms and not pigeonhole themselves, and I think I’m part of another venue for that.”

As Smith casually leans against one of the bookshelves he surveys the crowd and comes to a conclusive smile and nod of accomplishment. Tonight is but one of many more showings he has in store for the year, all of which he’s hoping will show what San Francisco’s brightest have to offer. “There’s more diversity in comics than ever before,” he explains. “And I think that’s appreciated.”

Words and photos by Sean Logic

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For information on exhibits, events, and what’s in stock, visit the official Mission Comics & Art website.

To see more art or contact Josh, visit his online gallery.

Art Murmur in Temescal

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:22:24 +0000

First Fridays of the month is the Oakland Art Murmur, and as a new resident I headed out to see what I could see just a few blocks from my apartment.

This time I kept it in Temescal, and cruised by 4707 Telegraph, Smokey’s Tangle next door, and the Royal Nonesuch. Next time I plan on extending my range by biking around; the galleries in the “Murmur” are spread throughout Oakland, in Temescal, West Oakland, and Uptown. The show at 4707 Telegraph was called Babylon.

I like this piece, by Shannon Shaw:

And this one, by Richie Bucher:

The show at the Royal Nonesuch Gallery was called Lending Library.

I really don’t want to be a hater, but didn’t I see something like this at 826 Valencia Pirate Store?

Visitors were invited to take one item from the drawers. This is what I picked.

Twins were a theme at the Lending Library.

I saw a 2-headed turtle in Venice Beach once.

I don’t know what is in these drawers.

–Justin Allen

The Have Mercys | Great!

Santos y Otros

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:41:52 +0000

Santos y Otros Creatures is a new exhibit at Creativity Explored, a gallery and workshop for developmentally disabled artists in San Francisco.

The prints, which are first carved into a malleable foam surface, have the same stark quality as medieval woodcuts, and the religious iconography reinforces this effect.

The show was curated by Victor D. Cartagena, an artist and instructor at Creativity Explored.

Words & Photos by Justin Allen.

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Santos y Otros Creatures will be on display through Feb. 11, 2010 at Creativity Explored, 3245 16th Street at Guerrero, San Francisco.

Sara Thustra @ Needles & Pens

admin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:52:04 +0000

Sara Thustra is an artist, and he demonstrates his wildly creative nature through his aura and his attire. While wearing a skirt with bright heels accentuating his height, he crouches on the cement pavement with a beer can in his right hand. Tonight Thustra presents his paintings and his new 2010 calendar at Needles and Pens, infused between a zine/crafts store with an art gallery, the petite store showcases Thustra’s vividly visual masterpieces starting on December twelfth.

Thustra showcases a few pieces, but the liveliest—and hard to ignore— piece was the gigantic mural, constructed of silkscreen stencil designs held together with wood and staples. A collage of a tiger can be seen in the middle of the mural with a vibrancy of light blue, muted brown, and dark blood red colors.

“It’s a statement of a large art that should be out in the world, but within a small space. I’m a muralist,” says Thustra. He adds that he gathers his thoughts of what he does not like in the world and reassesses what he does like. Like a symbol of our youths, Thustra’s art is reminiscent of what can be found in a trapper keeper.

Thustra labored for seven weeks, starting from November 1, to complete the massive and inspiring wall painting. “I worked a lot on it and had a bit of freedom,” Thustra jokes wishing he could have been greedy had he had a 6-month timespan.

His art reception also provides five vending machines to own a miniature piece of Sara’s art ranging from calendars, jewelry, wristwatches, jokes, and paintings for only 25 cents apiece. Revealing one vending machine to be nearly empty, many spectators crowded around the slots while scavenging for extra change.

With previous works, he’s focused on a wide range of issues concerning gender identity, violence, mass consumerism, sexuality, and economic and social inequalities. Thustra has presented his painting numerous times at Needles and Pens, the earliest hearkening back to 2003.

Thustra has also made his presence known through other mediums such as zines and street graffiti. As an artist, Thustra is inspired by art that he describes as “rough, crazy, and real.” He soon starts citing works from social activists to farm workers to the galleries presented in San Francisco’s Mission Cultural Center. “What I like most is the old deep-rooted Latin cultural murals,” Thustra points out as many of his influences inspire many of his paintings.

The reception continued with music by Boyie and Jamie while providing one of Thustra’s trademarks, free dinner. Sara Thustra’s art gallery will continue until the month of January, but unsure of the vending machines will be fully stocked.

Words by Chris Huqueriza
Photos by Alexander Zeddemore

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Be sure to visit the Needles & Pens site and storefront location for the latest in zines, clothing, and events.

Jungle Fever @ Peanut Gallery

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:52:39 +0000

Artist Jordan Bogash, who describes his art as “street life of the animal realm.”

Fellow exhibitor Erlin Effard striking a pose in front of his latest collaboration, “The Last Great Idea.”

Words & Photos by Alexander Zeddemore

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For upcoming exhibits and events, check out the official Peanut Gallery blog.

Tabi Tabi Po @ 1AM Gallery

admin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:18:15 +0000

Even though Halloween passed a few weeks ago, the folks over at 1AM Gallery were more than willing to bring the creatures of the night inside their walls. November 13th was the opening reception of the Tabi Tabi Po exhibit at the gallery, an art show “dedicated to celebrating Filipino folklore through urban contemporary art.”

The exhibit featured pieces by Filipino artists from the States, the Philippines, and even Norway, all giving their own renditions of various monsters and spirits from Filipino folklore and urban legend. A portion of the proceeds from the event was given to the victims of typhoon Ondoy and Pepeng, though some artists went as far as giving their entire sales for the evening to the relief fund.

The artists also collaborated to make a book with sketches and original artwork based on the event’s theme as well.

The exhibit will be on display until December 12th. For more information on 1AM and Tabi Tabi Po, visit 1amsf.com.

-Alexander Zeddemore