Dorothy R. Santos, Ph.D.

writer | artist | scholar

  • My #1 Fan

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    Yup, that's right, it's YOU!

    This is going to be one of those really personal posts. It may or may not have anything to do with art but indirectly, it will. There may be a sprinkling of frustration with a dash of cynicism. Just going to free write and hoping to edit as little as possible. I’m sure there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it’s a Trompe-l’oeil painted light. I’ll take anything to keep my spirits and motivation going this year!

    People have asked what I studied in school or what I’m studying* when I tell them I have an art writing blog. As encouraging and delighted as people get, it’s becoming more and more apparent that I can no longer be a patron of the arts. Sure, I went to art school for a couple of years (a few years after graduating from college and working steadily) and found out it wasn’t the environment for me. I needed more and I wasn’t getting what I needed – critical dialogue and a way to frame my thoughts around art theory and history. I tried to do graphic design and illustration to be ‘practical’ about the arts. None of my logic around studying those disciplines worked. At the moment, I’m about half way done with my post baccalaureate certificate from the UC Berkeley Extension but I’m afraid that hankering for grad school (specifically, environments where I can study Visual Criticism, American Studies (emphasis on Art), Critical Theory and the Arts, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera) will persist. Essentially, navigating around where I’ve been, where I’m at, and where I’m going has proven to be quite the task. A friend put it best the other day, I’m reaching a crossroads and trying to figure out the best way to be engaged with the things I do while pursuing my passions. Tough, real tough.

    Art, well, is the one thing in my life that’s been a constant [insert violin playing here]. It never fails me (unless you count that time in illustration class where a talented albeit crotchety teacher scarred me for life, no, I’m not sharing details) and always forces me to think critically and see how different artists have imbued their experiences and knowledge into their work so I can have a greater understanding of, well, history, politics, sexuality, culture, tradition, and more. Bottom line: I’m really starting to prepare myself financially and emotionally for separation (from corporate life – not anytime in the near future but within the next couple of years – at this point, I’m not sure). Check in with me a year from now to see where I’m at…

    Optimism isn’t the problem. It’s being fearless that has me stuck. Talk about going against the grain! I’ve already taken in Buddhist thinking within my (really) Catholic family. I’m a vegetarian (in a Filipino family). I mean, shrimp and a little bit of pork for flavoring doesn’t count as full on meat!! Going back to grad school and studying art when my family thinks I should have children (well, let’s not even get into that one)… 

    Yup, I have no choice but to continue telling myself I’m awesome. A good friend told me once, “You’ve got to be your own #1 fan. At least, you’ve got one”. Yet, the way goals and ambitions are looking, I’m gonna need more than just myself.

    * For the record, I double majored in Philosophy and Psychology. Yes, I know, my Mom should have just sent me to art school (just like I begged asked her to). 

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  • In this case, life imitates art

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    Print Screen and save to desktop. New way to preserve memories?

     

     True nostalgia is an ephemeral composition of disjointed memories. ~ Florence King, Novelist

    Having seen Kenneth Lo’s show at the Southern Exposure Gallery this past week, it’s got me thinking about the way we preserve our memories or what we even perceive as memory. To think something is utterly sublime and beautiful one moment can be gone within a second. Lo’s work has stuck with me, really stuck with me since I saw it. Yeah, sure, I have art crushes (lots of them, quite frankly) yet there was something about the every stone tethered to sleep exhibition that put into physical form what I’ve always felt about the nature of the mind in contemporary times. The mind is more scattered and inundated with massive amounts of information coupled with emotions, feelings, experiences, and memories. I swear, sometimes, I wonder how many gigabytes of memory I have. It’s even worse when I’m physically writing or drawing and thinking, “Damn, control-Z!! control-Z!!!” Ah, well, that’s technology for you.

    Yes, Mr. Lo has become an artLove. Sigh.

    By the way, my girlfriend is fully aware of this affinity I have for Mr. Lo.

    With the ephemeral nature of comment threads, twittering, and status updates, the tangibility of feeling seems lost. I believe many humans have this irrational notion of permanence. This foolish idea that things persist. We could get all complicated and I won’t do that but, at some point in our lives, we die. Things die everyday. As Lo shows us, even our exchanges are subjected to a type of death UNLESS we examine them. Maybe, this is why I’m fixated on the work. Death, technology, and social networking rolled up into one? I mean, come on, you don’t think that’s ridiculously and wickedly clever? Well, it doesn’t matter, I think it is and that’s why I can’t stop writing about it, which leads me to the photo I posted today. 

    My Mom has impeccable timing (and has given me an excuse to talk about Lo’s work). She felt the need to change her profile picture and let me know. She was sensitive to the fact that I may wonder why our picture (a picture my cousin took of us a few months ago) is no longer her profile picture. Whether this is true or not, is irrelevant. The fact that she was sensitive enough to write was really thoughtful. Do I care if she changes her Facebook profile? Of course not!! That type of decision is left to her own volition BUT the sensitivity expressed was pretty priceless if you ask me. As a matter of fact, the comment thread resulted in this quite heartfelt and endearing exchange. Truthfully, there have probably been hundreds of thoughtful exchanges with friends and family that I have discarded. Now, I’m not going to encourage everyone start print screening and cropping their threads and putting them into scrapbooks (what a surreal thought, eh?). However, I will say this, why is it that art comes to the rescue when people forget that they’re people (living beings for goodness sake)? Why is it becoming so natural to pay less and less attention to the things we say, express, and how we act? Lastly, most importantly, why on earth does my mother continue to use license plate language when leaving me comments or text messages (sorry, Mom, you know how I feel about letter and number combinations in written form)? Only joking…

    If she’s reading this, I know she’s laughing.

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  • Everyone loves pictures…

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    A few photos from Southern Exposure of Kenneth Lo’s exhibition, every stone tethered to sleep/every presence wedded to stone

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  • Paying my Respects to Kenneth Lo

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    Everything is Nothing/Nothing is Everything, 2010, Granite, 31" x 24.5" x 12" – Artist: Kenneth Lo

    Having a father that was significantly older than my mother (older than my maternal grandfather as a matter of fact) made for an interesting childhood. Many funerals were attended. More than any other kid I knew. That being said, there was a familiarity with all the little details that outfitted such an occasion. The headstone alone was the summation of a person’s life – Name, Birth and Death Date. Perhaps, for the living (and, if money permit), an epitaph accompanied with etchings of roses or some serene landscape. It is safe for you to assume I know a thing or two about what is involved in the ritualistic aspects of burying a person and the act of commemoration. Kenneth Lo’s work is the whole package – intelligence, wit, humor, and correlation to universals. It’s undeniable quite frankly. Sure, the work may cater to one’s fascination with death and impermanence but it brings forth aspects of our daily lives we would often neglect or choose to forget. Lo’s work in his solo exhibition, every stone thethereed to sleep/every presence wedded to stone, 2011, showing at Southern Exposure Gallery (San Francisco, CA) addresses memory, ritual, loss, being/non-being, nothingness, and fixation.

    Not everyone’s actions will be memorialized, bronzed, marbled or collected for posterity, but that does not detract from someone’s legacy. ~Michael Hall

    One never really knows where thoughts and conversations go after all is said and done especially with technology giving the illusion that time moves faster than our physical existence. If one were to think about this, philosophically, time is linear, doesn’t change, and the adage is right – it, certainly, doesn’t wait for anyone. Although humans are constantly evolving, there is still that irrationality of permanence. With a rapidly evolving globalized world dictated, in many ways, by technology, Hall asserts that Lo, “…realizes that in the end, all the monuments, all the lists, the forget-me-nots, don’t mean a thing if no one remembers. After all, it’s often the small, significant moments we remember best.” It is even more impressive to turn the lens on oneself and disclose aspects of every day life that would otherwise be buried in the deep recesses of cyberspace.

    With commemoration comes the choice of material. Lo’s use of granite and concrete lent itself extremely well to the ritualistic nature of burying the dead. It is the one physical thing that remains. It serves as a marker of life and truly universal. From a wooden cross to an elaborate gravestone, culture and tradition obliges us to place that physical marker at the end of life. Lo examines this act of morbidity by re-contextualizing and re-interpreting this ritual. The viewer is forced to read and remember these moments. A tombstone is synonymous with an end albeit a tangible artifact of a life lived but for Mr. Kenneth Lo, this exhibition has exuberantly breathed new life (pun very much intended) into our collective understanding of modern life that is completely worth the examination.

    He is one to follow.

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  • ArtHaus, Gallery

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    ArtHaus at 411 Brannan Street in San Franciso, CA

    Is it possible to have an art crush on two gallerists? My answer: Yes

    James Bacchi and Annette Schutz opened ArtHaus in 1996 and have since created a fostering gallery environment for their stable of artists and connected with the San Francisco community in so many ways (i.e., philanthropic work with many charity organizations is just one example). After meeting the pair, their passion is remarkable. Along with their love for the Arts, the artists they have represented over the past 15 years serve as a testament to their commitment to artists’ progression and evolution. A proper write up of ArtHaus is forthcoming but I wanted to share prior to something much more formal.  

    If you’re thinking about visiting ArtHaus, think no longer. Please visit James and Annette. It will be more than nice.

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  • You gotta piece…

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    You Gotta Piece, 2011 (Pen, Marker, Watercolor, rubber stamps) by Dorothy Santos

    Ah, the day of heart shaped chocolates, conversation hearts, disdainful people that despise Valentine’s day, and an exchange of love notes…

    Truthfully, I absolutely love the day (YES, EVEN when I was single). I just never (ever) really thought of it as a day for couples. The history itself and all the believed legends of what makes Valentine’s Day, well, Valentine’s day has very little to do with romantic love between two people (but I can see and understand where and how romantic love plays an integral role in understanding its history). Again, I’m not going to go through the litany of Heart’s Day history BUT if you insist, you can start here.

    This year, I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to create something based on social networking. There were several pre-selected folks but I wanted to see who would respond to my Twitter and Facebook posting of the following:

    Want to receive something special (handwritten with hearts and a memory)? Send your mailing address to dorothy.r.santos@gmail.com ♥

    Honestly, I was NOT expecting anyone to respond. As I mentioned to someone else, I thought, if lucky, maybe 2-3 people. Seriously, even though I have Twitter and Facebook friends, I wasn’t expecting to receive a slew of home mailing addresses. I had the idea brewing in my head and crossed my fingers. Pleasantly surprised, there were 17 willing participants out of 24 total recipients. I proceeded to cut 4×6 cards, piece them together, draw the human heart, and draw! I worked on this for a few days and had different drawing methods (i.e., drawing randomly on cards, patterns based on my mood, images that had something to do with where I’m from – San Francisco, CA). The result: A blue and red heart made with, well, a lot of lovingly made doodles. Yes, when I was a kid, I was a doodler/scribbler extraordinaire and wanted to re-visit those days to remind people that they’re loved and cared for.

    See, art can pump some much needed love in the world…yes, I’m a die hard optimist. Do YOU have a problem with THAT? Didn’t think so. 😉

    Happy Valentine’s Day, family, friends, and the rest of the world. 🙂

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  • Painting history on the Urban Visual Landscape? Now, THAT is Love…

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    An incredible weekend to do an urban hike through the San Francisco streets! Today was one of the best days and our hiking group worked up a sweat walking up and down the hills surrounding Koit Tower. Fortunately, we didn’t ascend the stairs that would bring us to the landmark but we were able to catch glimpses of the urban landscape walking along the downtown San Francisco streets.

    Now, since it is Valentine’s day weekend, I wanted to focus on yet another aspect of what makes art such an integral part of a community – the muralist. Some time ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Johanna Poethig during one of her group exhibitions curated by artist, Jenifer Wofford. One of my dear friends suggested I look up from our hike to see the i-Hotel mural. I was astonished by its vibrancy and depiction of Filipino history in San Francisco.

    Naturally, being Filipino American, it’s near and dear to my heart. It was Poethig’s tribute to the long fight for low-income housing to the Asian community (predominantly Filipino) via the i-Hotel. Yet, again, another reason and method of how art can capture an individual’s attention (no matter what color, culture, sexual orientation, whatever) and help disseminate a message to the masses. Cheers to, another art crush and hero, Johanna Poethig!!

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  • I heart LAUREN DICIOCCIO!

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    Artist: Lauren DiCioccio

    I wanted to share one of my art crushes, Lauren DiCioccio.

    DiCioccio looks at common items and puts an entirely different spin on what it means to create art from life. You know, the whole art imitates life and/or life imitates art thing? Well, she certainly makes you wonder what would happen if we put just as much labor into the everyday things. She is currently showing at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and I must say, since it’s Valentine’s day weekend, I thought I would spread the love.

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  • Don’t worry, you have a Valentine because we’re all interconnected…

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    With Valentine’s day just around the corner (and, yes, I’m excited, I love the day and don’t care if you don’t), I felt compelled to write about interconnectedness. That lost love, that forgettable love, or that unrequited love in your life all seem to hit people at once on the red-and-pink-heart-chocolate-laden day. So, I wanted to lead you to one of Stephanie Syjuco’s older works that shows Interconnectedness in a much more intimate way. In a sexy way, if you ask me.

    Her work, “Interpersonal Relationships Based on Fact, Rumor, or Hearsay, and Depicted as Either Molecular Compositions or Constellation Maps (To the Best of My Knowledge), 2003” charted relationships in the Bay Area art scene. However you want to perceive those relationships, it’s up to you but she does a brilliant job at making you wonder and looking at our connections differently. I never grow tired of her work. You can view the chart here.

    More lovey-dovey, interconnected, mushy art related stuff to follow…xoxo

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  • One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching!

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    One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

    ~Unknown

    Cutout placed against a building…I couldn't help but stop and look

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