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!
