Artists Panel April 14, 5-7pm
Closing Happy Hour April 27th 5-7pm
Show dates April 6-27th
SOMArts Gallery
934 Brannan Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
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Adobe Museum of Digital Media Click on the image above, have a look around, and please tell me what you think…
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A lot of work if you don't want to be on the outside… Similar to Lucy in our genius comic, there’s plenty of work going on in an artist’s studio (more so in the artist’s mind). With Daily Serving helping me with my daily art nutrition intake; the Quit Marginalizing Yourself post was worth the added mental exploration. The reflection is part of a week-long series of posts focused on the notion of failure and how it’s depicted in the arts. Stereotypical perceptions of artists and the ways in which they marginalize themselves was the crux of Van Winckle’s write-up. She asserts one of the core issue artists encounter – running in the same circles.
The fundamental issue here is that we assume that people don’t care and won’t care. We continue to go out to openings and other events to support our colleagues at alternative art spaces and non-profit artist run galleries, but these seem to draw out the same crowd every month; an entire collection of people accepting the normalized version of an artist’s life. ~ Heather Van Winckle
Within each circle, culture, sub-culture, (cults even), people will always be outside of you just as much as you are outside of them. In the end, it’s an enormous Venn diagram (love those), rather, an Either-Or situation (Kierkegaard would be proud – I digress, per usual). Back to the topic at hand, it all depends on where you’re looking and where you’re situated. A tremendous amount of work is required in order to navigate around an art scene. Who wants who where and doing what? There’s a place for everyone and everyone in their place but being outside of culture to shape it and make it happen is intrinsic to the artists work and lifestyle. Artists are the individuals in society that simultaneously are the outliers and the makers that reflect civilization back to its own citizens. The attempts to re-appropriate, re-organize, and ultimately, engaging in the reification of concepts is a tough, unforgiving, and often thankless job, which many of us leave up to artists.
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Independent scholarship has been difficult. Navigating through art history, criticism, and journalism without teachers to reign in all these ideas, fellow peers to test ideas, an editor reminding me of a deadline, and/or a project or paper due at the end of a few weeks makes for a challenging approach at scholarly research and constant engagement. Then again, this is MY forum and virtual space. Another issue that has come up for me – creating context. It’s only me writing and it’s the first time I’ve admitted this, publicly, posting every day is hard! Structure and organization are starting to scream feverishly at me and I’m listening.
That said, whoever you are, dear reader (hoping it’s not just you, Mom), you may see some changes in content in the next few weeks. There’s going to be some ch-ch-ch-ch-changes [Insert David Bowie track – Turn and face the strain…time may change me…]. Having scoured some of my favorite online and print art magazines to see what works for me and what doesn’t has been a great exercise. I’ll definitely try to keep things light and fun. After all, this is the space to engage, right? Who knows, I may incorporate a bit more sound and video (hmmm, intrigued? So am I!). There’s gotta be other ways to attract and involve the reader.
I’m curious, for anyone interested in sharing, privately or publicly through the comment thread, what form of media gets you interested and involved (other than Facebook or Twitter)? Art-wise, what questions do you have? What themes or concepts would you like to see covered? I’m trying to approach this independent research in a way to help me fine tune my interests as well, obviously, BUT I always love a good conversation (even if it’s a virtual one). 🙂
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Free every First Sunday of each month ¶¶¶¶¶
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Frankenart Mart GALLERY : ARTWORK
(A) Museum : Canonical Art
(B) Biennale : Artists
(C) Art school : Art Students
(D) Hot Dog Stand : Ideas
(E) Who gives : a sh*t?Art is to…ah, nevermind. Analogies probably should stay in the deep recesses of the mind never to be dug up again but I couldn’t resist. Did you know that the revised GRE General Test will no longer have antonyms or analogies? Art and hot dogs? Yes. There’s a point.
Some things go, albeit strangely, together. For example, Art and hot dogs probably don’t spark the synapses in your brain at this moment. For the true art snob, the synapses are probably misfiring. Then again, anything is possible and some things aren’t as strange as you think. Rather, a diversified perspective. Okay, so, maybe bitter melon and hot chocolate wouldn’t exactly make a great pair but there’s something for everyone. Being a huge proponent of bridging people and cultures, it’s always a treat to highlight organizations that foster community and participatory art. One of the places in San Francisco that has been around for a good number of years is Frankenart Mart.
From their Itinerant Poetry Librarian to their Free Hot Dog Days (yes, Vegetarians and Vegans, there is something for us as well), Frankenart Mart plays on the idea that, like a hot dog cart, art can be served up in tasty doses enticing the public to make frequent stops (even for a few minutes) and notice what they may have never noticed before (about themselves or their environment and all through an art lens). It’s all in the noticing. The space is small BUT the concept is huge (and successful). Nestled in the Richmond District of San Francisco, it’s a neighborhood gem. Yet, the location is a part of its charm. Everything in the Mart, requires the visitor/participant to redefine art simultaneously participating in the creative process. Conceptually, it’s a testament to San Francisco’s fertile art ground, which reminds me, I need to pay the Mart a visit. Maybe, even make something because Me : Art : Ideas : Me : You : Art : Ideas : You (ad infinitum).
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On good days, I look at art.
On bad days, I look at art.
It’s safe to assume, I look at art (all the time).
That said, I am one of those individuals that actually notices art in office buildings. For goodness sake, there’s a reason why it’s there! Might as well look at it, right? Then again, there is a specific reason for public and corporate art. The San Francisco Art Commission (SFAC) has an ordinance that states the appropriation for art enrichment as stated in San Francisco Administrative Code, Section 3.19.
Seeing John Balderssari‘s work at work was pretty amazing. However, the security guard thought my behavior was suspicious.
John Baldessari, Hegel's Cellar Portfolio: Two Boats, 1986, Etching & aquatint I hope it dawns on people that there’s a reason why art hangs in any office building. No, not only because it needs to be there but it serves as a reminder to cubicle dwelling folks that there’s more to work life than the stiff patterned carpet and antiseptic looking walls. Art needs to get in wherever it can fit in. Granted, some offices aren’t the most accessible places BUT there’s also the airport (SFO), Market Street, The Merchants Exchange Building, or hospitals (yes, I saw a Roy Lichtenstein in a hospital!!). Truthfully, art is not so out of reach as some may think. The SFAC has a public arts program that reaches out to the community, which is, certainly, worth a look.
I’m curious, where is the most unlikely place you’ve seen art? I would love to hear. 🙂
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David Hockney is like Radiohead.
He just evolves and gets better over time (but was great to begin with).
In any case, read about his iPhone/iPad art exhibition here.
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Dorothy R. Santos, Ph.D. 