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I've been wanting to write about my friend Jason Mecier's art for some time, and finally have a reason and the materials to do it justice. But before I get into that, some news about my own gallery.
Our current show is a solo show by Henry Jackson. It's a great collection and shows off the gallery space well (the photos on the web site don't do his pieces justice -- you'll have to come in to see them in person!). Today we had scheduled Henry to speak about his art and got a nice crowd of about 40 people. But in bigger news and with perfect timing, we also had a great review by Kenneth Baker published in the San Francisco Chronicle, (the biggest paper in the bay area, for those of you not from around here). So we're very excited about the publicity and the interest in Henry's work. The show has been extended to Friday, July 2, so come visit when you have a chance!
But back to Jason Mecier. Full disclosure. My husband and I are friends of his and own a couple pieces by him. But also in the interest of full disclosure, there is some debate as to whether he's an artist or not. Is he a one trick pony? A supremely skilled craftsman? Or high artist? You be the judge after watching this YouTube video produced by Ovation TV: Art or Not Art? Me, I come down on the side of art. Interestingly the video was shot at 111 Minna Gallery a couple years ago, which some would argue is a bar and not a gallery. (Although I can't seem to find a video for "Gallery or Not Gallery?". :-)
Jason started out doing bean-and-noodle portraits 10 or 12 years ago, like we all did as art projects in elementary school. But Jason took it to a whole new level. My favorite was a small piece depicting Sister Wendy from the PBS Series on art. Two small white beans for her big buck teeth. Alas, that one isn't included on his website. But he did kitsch celebrities and other people from the entertainment world. His portrait of the stars of Beverly Hills 90210 is particularly brilliant. He used alphabet pasta for the skin tones and wrote nasty commentary about each one on their foreheads. (That piece can now be seen at Glama-Rama a cutting-edge hair salon at 14th and Valencia in San Francisco.)
But after a few years of doing bean and noodle portraits, it got boring, so Jordan and I commissioned him to do a piece with some old costume jewelry. We chose a scene from Barbarella, and provided him with old jewelry, mardi gras beads, etc. And this is what he came up with, using faux fur as a background:
It's 39" x 56" (99 cm x 142 cm). From there he moved on to portraits that you might say were made out of junk -- just random crap that he found around the house or the neighborhood. That series culminated in a 9' x 12' (2.7m x 3.6m) portrait of Farrah Fawcett commissioned by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. It was made entirely of Farrah and Charlie's Angels memorabilia, and could only been seen properly from a balcony above the piece. On the ground it looked like a rummage sale. From above it was the famous portrait of Farrah sitting in a red bathing suit. There's a picture in this story.
But I digress. His latest thing is "Celebrity Junk Drawer", which you will know already if you watched the YouTube video above. Jason just had an opening at brand new gallery 5 Claude Lane, where he showed work from this series. Some had been shown before at 111 Minna, but some were new.
And here's the interesting part. Often the celebrity in question doesn't provide enough "junk" from their "junk drawer", so Jason asks his friends for donations. Jordan and I have a system for tossing our trash. Three bins: Trash, Recycle, and Stuff for Jason. So, here are a few pieces he did that contain junk that I donated!
First, a portrait of Conan O'Brien with my old foldable Lufthansa toothbrush at the upper left corner.
Next was a portrait of Chelsea Handler who hosts a comic news hour report. She had three pieces of my junk, including an old Nokia cradle for either my old Nokia 9500 Communicator or my 9300, which I still use as an alarm clock, but had no need for the cradle. Look for the curved cradle at her left clavicle. (Click the images to see larger versions.) Also included is my grandfather's case from a 70's gadget called "Drive Awake" -- you hook it to your ear and it beeps if you nod off while driving. I'd show you the close-up but it's boring. Oh heck, here it is, along with my yellow Carmex lid below to the brown square "Drive Awake" case.
There were a few others, like a cigarette lighter in a portrait of Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's, and part of a Prada ribbon in a portrait of Stephanie Kramer (I had to Google her, definitely a D-list actor).
But best of all is the inclusion of my first-generation iPod (the one where the wheel actual spun around) in the Stevie Nicks portrait.
I actually had a bit of remorse when I gave away the dead iPod -- it could have been part of my collection of dead, but original computer equipment, next to my Newton and other fun but failed objects. But now, the iPod is part of Stevie's cockatiel. Check them out.
And last, but not least, Jason's newest work is a series of portraits done in pills. Jordan was lucky enough to purchase Heath Ledger done in pills. (A bit knock-you-over-the-head with the idea, if you ask me, but it looks cool.) This is 17" x 21" (43 cm x 53 cm), Still trying to find the best place to put this one, but we'll find a good home for him somewhere in the house. And one of these days, I'm going to look up all the little numbers on the pills to see what we really have here. :-)
Anyway -- you decide. Art or Not Art? I say Art. And go see Jason's show at 5 Claude Lane. It's up until Saturday, July 10.
Cheers!
After 5 weeks, we took down the Inaugural Show on Saturday. While not a sell-out, we sold a number of works and met our primary goals of 1) selling art; 2) creating a buzz about the space and our artists; and 3) putting ourselves back on the map as an important emerging gallery in San Francisco. Mission accomplished on all three counts.
Those of you who have seen photos of the gallery on this blog or seen the photo album of our 400-person opening party, know about the "pink wall". We decided early-on to make the wall behind our reception desk an accent wall that changes color with each season, or each show, depending on the content of those shows. It's good placement, since it's not the first thing a visitor sees when they walk in the door. (The first thing they see is a wall of art on a traditional white wall.) But when they turn around, there it is -- the ever-changing accent wall.
Bright pink was great for the Inaugural Show, but just doesn't match the palette of the solo show for our next artist, Henry Jackson (you'll see his website is a bit out of date, but you get the idea...). After brief consultations, we settled on a pale green with a hint of gray for the accent wall. So my Sunday was spent painting the bright pink wall with layers of white primer so that the pale green would go on in one coat, without the pink blasting through. It looks great, if I do say so myself.
In the mean time, my partner Andre has been busy building the storage racks for our art. Up until now, we've been able to get by without it, but now we need real storage. Our inventory is growing and we need a safe place to store it. And flat files. Don't get me started on flat files
. That topic could fill an entire blog entry. Seriously.
But back to Henry. Henry has been painting in San Francisco since the 80s. Marina calls his work "new" Bay Area Figurative. If you look at the wikipedia entry, you'll see this period was in the 50s and 60s with artists classified into First Generation (like Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, and Wayne Thiebaud), a Bridge Generation (like Nathan Oliveira and Frank Lobdell), and a Second Generation of artists. I guess this makes Henry a "Third Generation".
The last sentence in Henry's artist statement explains it all to me: "By taking the figure and removing all that is familiar to me, seeking the soul -- the true essence -- I'm left with something that has a much deeper grasp of reality -- the human spirit."
I find his work haunting and compelling, forcing me to look deeper into the piece to see what I can find, to see what is missing, to see what should be there. I understand the book Bay Area Figurative Art: 1950-1965
is a great overview of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, although I haven't had a chance to read it myself.
But back to gallery business. As I learned in Silicon Valley, "Just in time" (JIT) is all the rage for manufacturing operations -- deliver the required materials just as they are needed -- no sooner and no later. It appears to be the same in the art world. Our show of "Henry Jackson: New Works" opens Wednesday evening, but we won't be getting the paintings or even images of the paintings until Tuesday. So we'll have a bit of a mad dash to get everything put together and ready for the show.
In the mean time, here's one image Henry was able to share with us a few weeks ago for the flyer that went out. This piece is "Untitled (#1890)", 2010, oil & cold wax on canvas over panel, 72" x 60”. Quite impressive in person. (For my non-US readers, that size is 183 x 152 cm.)
Hope to see you at the opening on Wednesday 5/26 from 5:30-7:30. Henry will also do an artist talk on Saturday, June 5 at 2:00 PM.
Cheers!
This weekend is the NEXT Chicago Art Fair, along with a handful of other art fairs. NEXT is dedicated to emerging artists, meaning artists that haven't attracted a strong following yet. We rented space at the fair for a fairly large amount of money and packed up a crate of art from Michael Tole, Justin Quinn, Lars Theuerkauff, Jason Dunda, Will Marino, Owen Schuh, Daniel Ochoa, and others a couple weeks ago.
These are often "juried shows", where we submit the artists we'd like to bring, their bios, and information about our gallery. We've been thrilled to be accepted to these respected art fairs, and look forward to participating in more fairs in the coming year.
Marina and Andre flew out there on Tuesday, leaving me here to man the gallery myself. The foot-traffic has been steady, although there is still lots of busy work with the data bases, advertising, planning for new shows and openings, etc.
It's a lot of work to set up a booth. I helped Marina with it in December at SCOPE Miami last year, despite having sworn off booth duty after years of silicon valley trade shows! Our show in Miami was works on paper -- easy to transport, easy to install, and easy to take down. And very successful!
This time it's real paintings, and three-dimensional art. Here are some photos that Andre sent from his mobile phone. The top one shows two portraits by Daniel Ochoa in the foreground and sculptures by Owen Schuh in the background above the table. (Click the pictures for bigger views.)
The photo below shows some new paintings by Michael Tole in the foreground, three drawings by Patrick Gabler above the table, and three of my favorite Justin Quinn "Moby Dick" drawings on the far wall. I can see hints of other pictures in the corners, but not enough to tell what they are.
Anyway, last night was the preview for press and serious collectors. Today was the first day of the show. So Marina and Andre will be hawking our wares in Chicago while I woo the visitors here in San Francisco.
Wish us all luck!
Cheers!
[Updated May 2, 2010]
We've now been open officially for one week. There's been real variation in visitors each day. But it's still definitely better than the temporary gallery spce we were using before.
Every day we've had serious collectors or art consultants come in and express interest in this artist or that. Another thing I'm learning as a novice gallerist -- art consultants are people paid to help their clients choose which art to buy. Cool, no? Some of their clients just want "something pretty that will coordinate with the colors in the sofa and carpet". Others want advice on "what will be the best investment" -- who's the most promising up-and-comer.
The daily grind is much more interesting and exciting than I expected. In Silicon Valley, or even a mid-stage start-up, you're doing the daily grind in exchange for a paycheck. Here, the daily grind results in payment due to art sales after expenses. So there's an entirely different pressure coming to work in the morning than I've experienced in my previous career.
Much of it is new and exciting, but I still can't get away from spreadsheets and databases. At least I think I'll never have to write another PowerPoint deck in this life. (Knock on wood...) And of course it's interesting talking to the people who come in about the art, the background of the artists, their motivations and techniques, etc.
I'm still waiting to get some pictures of the opening party, but here are some pictures of the finished gallery. My new home for the next 5 years!
Here are some images from our reception desk and one corner of the gallery. Notice Cartier's red blind's across the street. Click on the photos for a better look.
And a photo of our office. The big star sculpture on the wall is by David Buckingham. He's an interesting artist. He lives in LA and goes out to the desert to find colored scrap metal -- old signs, farm equipment, trucks, even buildings. He has spotters and tipsters who let him know about new finds. He pays the owner (if he can find the owner, that is) and uses a portable plasma torch to cut away the metal, brings the metal back to his studio to cut up and weld back together. Nothing is painted -- he uses only the original painted metal in his work, bullet holes, rust, and all.
A lot of his art is text-oriented, but some is just fun. Check it out with the link above!
Cheers!
Updated May 4, 2010.
OK, I lied again. You'll have to wait again a bit for more on Michael Tole. The Cain Schulte website has been getting a bit behind, while we've been getting the physical gallery ready... But we'll get that worked out this week.
My business partners are going to Next Chicago soon (April 30-May 2). If you're reading from the Windy City, let me know and I'll get you hooked up with free passes.
But the big news is that our opening party was a great success! (Pictures soon...) It was touch and go up to the last minute. We were hanging the last picture (a Justin Quinn), just as the first guests were arriving and I was changing into my classic white polyester Prada suit. (Pictures soon -- hey, how often can you wear such a thing? Seemed like the perfect occasion!).
And we made our first sales in the new gallery space at the opening party. Poor Mickey. My friends bought the print called Addio! We're hoping to get the sculpture version. It's quite funny/disturbing with the hanging mickey in a noose, over a knocked-down mickey-size upholstered arm chair and tiny carpet. I guess being happy for 50+ years was just too much for him. Even better, the artists hired an anonymous Disney cartoonist to help with the illustration!
But better than that, we had about 350-400 guests over 4 hours. 14 artists on the walls, and about 8 of them in attendance. The DJ was great (Ian Luo, aka lokae). The catering was great. We had just the right amount of cava, white wine, Pelegrino, and food. No red wine -- would have stained the unsealed cement floor. Even still, I've been scraping up ground-in salami and parmesan cheese from the floor in preparation for said sealing.
Following up from the previously mentioned Floor Saga, the foot traffic of 350 people destroyed and ground up many sections of the new concrete floor. Looks great, after a good vacuuming, but the sealant needs to be applied soon now that Andre patched it back up. 72 hours for drying of the sealant, so we'll have to wait for the weekend to do that work.
But back to the positive side! Our opening has been the talk of the town. Srsly. We're hearing about the party from people who weren't even there! And we've had a steady flow of people coming in after the party, including serious collectors. Things are off to a great start.
And next week, hopefully, I'll have a story for you about Michael Tole. :-)
Cheers!
Updated May 4, 2010.
I lied. My last post said my next post would be about Michael Tole. But instead, just a quick post to tell you that tonight is the opening party of Cain Schulte! We announced a "soft launch" starting last week, but after the "Saga of the Floor" that never happened.
But tonight we have 300 RSVPs. Hope we bought enough Champagne! And as a teaser, here's a photo of our front desk with two (count 'em TWO!) Michael Tole paintings, along with the sign for our inaugural show. (Note the pink is temporary. The rest of the gallery is white, and we'll change the wall behind the reception desk with each season. Pink for Spring!)
More soon. Cheers!
And here's the interesting part. Often the celebrity in question doesn't provide enough "junk" from their "junk drawer", so Jason asks his friends for donations. Jordan and I have a system for tossing our trash. Three bins: Trash, Recycle, and Stuff for Jason. So, here are a few pieces he did that contain junk that I donated!
First, a portrait of Conan O'Brien with my old foldable Lufthansa toothbrush at the upper left corner. 
Next was a portrait of Chelsea Handler who hosts a comic news hour report. She had three pieces of my junk, including an old Nokia cradle for either my old Nokia 9500 Communicator or my 9300, which I still use as an alarm clock, but had no need for the cradle. Look for the curved cradle at her left clavicle. (Click the images to see larger versions.) Also included is my grandfather's case from a 70's gadget called "Drive Awake" -- you hook it to your ear and it beeps if you nod off while driving. I'd show you the close-up but it's boring. Oh heck, here it is, along with my yellow Carmex lid below to the brown square "Drive Awake" case.
There were a few others, like a cigarette lighter in a portrait of Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's, and part of a Prada ribbon in a portrait of Stephanie Kramer (I had to Google her, definitely a D-list actor).
I actually had a bit of remorse when I gave away the dead iPod -- it could have been part of my collection of dead, but original computer equipment, next to my Newton and other fun but failed objects. But now, the iPod is part of Stevie's cockatiel. Check them out.
, followed by 
, and then finally 
. Let me know if you have other suggestions of books to read.
