foody fun.

after a year and two months (!!!), i got to hang out with my friends stella and matthew again. they're in town for the week for stella's solo show at gallery 1988SF. yesterday, we met up in the afternoon and had a bit of adventure around the mission, tenderloin, and russian hill - all of which involved some sort of food (of course!)

after having some late busses and getting stuck in the tunnel on the L due to congestion at church station, we met up and wandered around the mission for some lunch. here is a present i made for the two of them the night before, i'm glad matthew didn't shave his facial hair off:



we went to sunflower vietnamese restaurant; funny that we didn't have mexican. matthew and i had two steaming bowls of pho and stella got the bbq pork and imperial rolls with vermicelli noodles. yum!
afterwards, we looked around valencia and found the alley (i forgot the name) that has been completely covered with murals - some of them are so amazing!!! i had been to the alley a few times before, because it's near my friend erik's old studio.









we dropped by little otsu to look at some super cute artsy things and then across the street to 826 for some pirate-y adventure.



i'd never been to this place before, but apparently everyone's at least heard of it. it was full of drawers and nooks of pirate treasure and goods and even had it's own fish theatre, lard bucket (from which you could scoop and purchase your own lard), and sand tub for treasure hunting.


beard or mustache, anyone?


stella and i couldn't figure out how to use the spare stuffed appendages. were they legs or arms or long, irregularly-shaped breasts?


i was COMPLETELY obsessed with this stuffed pheasant. reminded me of a rooster i once knew; good ol' robert.

for more taxidermy, we went next door to paxton gate. it was one of the most wonderous places i've ever seen and i'm sure liz mcgrath would be in heaven there. they don't allow photography, unfortunately, but the place is full of natural wonders and you can buy everything from a weasel skull to rare preserved butterflies and tropical spiders, badger claws, photographs of a woman with elephantiasis, and strange exotic pitcher plants (that stella and i were fascinated by).

we ended the mission trip with a bag of blue cotton candy. thanks matthew! then hopped on a bus back to the tenderloin for a spot of tea at a place it took us about half an hour to find. it was worth it though, because the tea-guy working there was super helpful and we asked him to choose a nice "luscious" black tea for stella and i and a green one for matthew. he gave stella and i a strong black tea with rich chocolate flavour (with a u!) and tender rose buds in it!


perfect with a few madelines. (^__^)


very serious conversation. ah, indeed.

we met up with matthew's sister carrie and had some dee-lish sushi for dinner at sushi groove on russian hill.



we had some hawaiian butterfish there that was creamy-yummy-awesome.

after our meal, we had to eat some more of course, so we went up the street to Swensen's for ice cream. this is it's original location, which earle swensen opened up in 1948 (thanks wikipedia!) in which he developed over 150 different flavors (i played it safe and had the thin mint). Swensen's is now an international chain.





we ended the night with the long walk back from russian hill all the way down to market so that carrie and i could catch the MUNI back home. it was soooo much fun to see stella and matthew again and i'm so glad that we have such similar sense of humor and can laugh and talk about the most vulgar/strange/inappropriate things (oh, and art too) for days.

w+k weekend

i haven't really told anyone, but i'm trying to wriggle my way back up to portland and applied for the wieden + kennedy 12.5. twelve is a school of sorts that is run by global advertising agency wieden + kennedy (headquartered in portland). this is going to be their fifth year.

twelve only lasts for a year and doesn't really have traditional classes; instead, much of "school" is lab time working on actual ad campaigns for actual clients. so it is more hands-on than traditional ad school.
i first became aware of wk12 when i went to the graduation of my friend Scrappers Morrison for wk12.3 last year. i was too busy with graduation from college to apply for the current twelve, but got the opportunity to do so this year and luckily was chosen as one of the 25 finalists. (^__^)

wieden + kennedy flew us up this past weekend to do interviews, see the space, and meet everyone. it was the best, craziest, most tiring, and exciting three days ever. first of all, apparently my ID is expired as of this month and the first event of the weekend was for all the candidates to do some socializing at a neighborhood bar.
i was promptly kicked out, which was quite embarassing -- i was so bummed because it was going to be my first chance to meet everyone. (-__-) sadness... though, i did go to Saint Cupcake and treat myself to some pre-Easter cuppies (chocolate with hot fudge & sprinkles!, chocolate with cream cheese frosting, vanilla coconut malt/choco-egg).

fortunately, i got to catch up with everyone the next day during the first group of interviews (i was the first one in the first group to be interviewed, go figure). there was a lot of talent and a LOT of great personalities there and it's crazy i got chosen to be part of such a great group of peoples.


i got to stay in the ryan jacob smith room at the ace hotel. <3


the sixth floor, aka heaven. there is a giant pterodactyl nest up there and all the executive offices.


hullo!


goodbye!


photodocumentation and iphones seemed to be a theme this weekend.


mac from Mass Appeal Magazine and bill, my weekend BFF.


rob heppler. kinda sorta sam flores' double.


me & turbo, who was wheeling around on his heelys all weekend (hence the nickname turbo). i didn't know someone could get a nickname so quickly; i also didn't know they made those for adults! he kinda rocks.


jinnina, chet, byron, & susan = the judges


ooh-wee. what a handsome group (we are minus bill and 5 international candidates)

wish me luck! <3

silent spring

just got back from portland last night from the Wieden + Kennedy 12.5 candidates weekend. exhausted. just waiting to hear back now.

anyways, i'm super stoked for stella im hultberg's solo show at gallery 1988SF this coming friday, march 28! i got to work with stella last january in my show at compound gallery. she and her husband matthew are the best, most awesome people - and, like me, love to eat! i'm so excited to go on some eating adventures when she gets into town! ^__^



her show is called "Silent Spring" and features drawings, paintings, and also some new prints.
the gallery will be releasing a mini print set (10% of them include the special chase print and 5% include an original 4"x5" drawing!!) and also a giclee print of one of the pieces in the show (shown above).

the prints will be available for locals at the opening and then the gallery will be taking phone/web orders the next day. for pictures of the mini set, go to the gallery1988 blog. i've seen the prints that they did for luke chueh a few month's ago and they turned out really well, so i'm very excited to see stella's set too!

for inquiries about artwork, contact the gallery at:
gallery1988sf@gmail.com
(415)409-1376

printed matter III & an adventure with some cardboard

the last art show i attended was the Printed Matter III show at giant robot sf. i went to the show with my friend jack and we met Last Gasp Books' colin and nancy there. i met them both while i was in LA at audrey kawasaki's show at copro nason.


colin



i have only seen a few shows at giant robot sf so far, but i am always pleasantly surprised not only by the quality, but also the sheer amount of work they always manage to have in their gallery space. i think this show had over 100 pieces! many of my favorite artists were in this show, including susie ghahremani, APAK, and kelly tunstall to name a few.



as the name indicates, this was a print show and jack picked up a piece which the staff graciously wrapped up for us in a sheet of cardboard. i thought to myself, "that's funny, now we look like some hobo-teens" so i thought i'd make the best use of our situation and in the spirit of the friendliness/loveliness of portland (and inspired by a video made by a friend of a friend), i made a sign. "FREE HUGS!"



it started out pretty slow at first, only about 10% of people passing by took me up on my offer, a bit disheartening. but soon, after many questions like "do you want money?" and "is this a trick?", people warmed up and for the next 4 hours, i hugged everyone who would hug me back. i think i probably hugged over 70 people that night.







some people would even double-take and come back to hug me. it sounds cheesy, but the joy that i felt that evening from the people who took the time to get a hug and the happiness they expressed to me was really quite encouraging. i felt drunk... but with joy. weird, huh? maybe this world isn't as cold as it seems after all.





this nice man even recited a poem for me in exchange for the hug i gave him.



this is going to make me sound like a hippie, but it's good to take some time and do something spontaneous and kind sometimes. most of the time, you'll find that you're the one who gets the most out of it.
don't be - make happy!

spring/summer 2008

here's an update on a few shows i'm working on for this upcoming spring and beginning of summer. both are with Suite 100 Gallery in seattle. i had my first show with suite 100 spring of last year and they invited me back to curate more art shows for them.

this year, i'll be doing another exhibition of Happily Ever After? my fairytale-themed show. the first one did very well last year and this year i was able to include some artists who couldn't participate in the first one. here is the list of participating artists:

Meg Hunt
Mari Inukai
Joshua Clay
Ryan Bubnis
Deth P. Sun
Miniature Mouse
Cory Benhatzel
Rudy Jan Faber
Krista Huot
Edwin Ushiro
Jeremiah Ketner
Leanne Biank
Susie Ghahremani
Sophie Varela
Meomi
Heather Amuny-Dey
Johnny Yanok
Sohaila Adela

also, with this year's show, Sohaila Adela has agreed to paint the installation for the show. last year, my friend Erik Otto helped me with a mural to tie the show together:



Happily Ever After: Chapter 2 will be opening friday, April 11. i plan on flying up to seattle two days before to install. i had 4 days last time, but i'm familiar with the space now and i know where home depot is, so installation shouldn't be too much of a problem.


another show i'm working on is This Place is a Prison, my first photography show. the show features the work of Angela Dawn, Emily Ibarra, and Jack Raynard. no theme with this one, i selected artists whose styles and subject matter seem to work well together. all three photographers are young 20-somethings from urban areas (san francisco and seattle) and the lifestyles of the photographers themselves often is portrayed in their work.
(i really wanted to include a photographer from portland in this show, especially since it's been one of my goals to give portland talent more exposure, but the photographer i was set on couldn't do it. =\ )



This Place is a Prison opens Friday, June 13.


also, the purpose of my whole LA trip a few weeks ago was to see the two Munky King spaces and also to finally meet the owner, Patrick Lam and talk about curating some shows for him. i've been knocking some ideas around for that and there have been some shows i've been waiting for a good venue for. Munky King has a chinatown and also a melrose location, both of which have a good amount of room for art (and super high ceilings!!!) so hopefully i'll be able to do something for both end of this year.