presents!!!

luke chueh is the BEST! he is indeed!!!





how am i supposed to compete with this awesome care-package-ness? how?!?
jeff soto calendar? art books? postcards galore? hi-chews and these amazing little marshmallow-y/ caramel-y yum yum things called scotch kisses?

and the creme de la creme: "astigmataism" from the show he had with me at compound last year. eek! *faint*

neulovers & drawing a blank

new year's was spent in portland and although i've only been living in SF for only a little while (about a month and a half), it was wonderful to be back and to see the old faces. it's been a trial ever since i left -- i've been mostly a homebody and haven't been doing nearly as much networking as i should be, but i have to keep reminding myself that i'm going through a transition right now and to give myself time and not get too frustrated.
being outside of my comfort zone will ultimately force me to grow both as a person and a curator and i think that moving away from portland's inclusive art scene will help me to understand different markets and influences of the industry.
in the meantime though, it's hard not to feel like a bum.

anyhow, it was good to be back in my old stomping grounds and everything seemed pretty much the same. a new haircut here, a new store banner there, but everyone was normal and doing their normal happy, wonderful portland-y things. lucky jerks. =P

i planned my trip so that i would be in town for the First Thursday art openings in the Pearl/Chinatown districts and i'm glad i did because i was able to catch two wonderful shows at compound gallery and backspace gallery.
compound did a show with grafuck called Neulovers. grafuck is an annual show/art book that usually happens at nucleus gallery in LA. nucleus' grafuck 3(some) had it's opening last month. compound's show was mostly japanese artists that have worked with the gallery before, so it was good to see some familiar styles working in the theme of sex/eroticism for this show.

cho-chan


kozyndan


shannon mcglothin


ena


i wish i remembered who this was...love it so much!


trip (aka meg hasegawa)


next door at backspace, they had their opening for "drawing a blank" a two-person show with eatcho and jason graham. i had seen eatcho's work before, but i wasn't familiar with jason graham. the show was....AMAZING! there was an overwhelming amount of work and it was almost too much for my eyes and brain to handle. oh my!

now, i love art, but i haven't been "what the @*&^%! OMG! ah! ah! no, what?!? *%$^#@!!!!!!" excited about a new (to me) artist in a while and jason graham was that for me. i was so excited, i ran over to the sandwich shop next door and dragged my friends (who had to swallow their prosciutto-provalone-tomato-lettuce sandwiches whole to catch up) to see the show! yah!
jason did 80 drawings and 5 paintings for this show and i just had to buy a few (despite being jobless, eek!) his drawings are so amazingly detailed though and....uh, amazing! sad that he doesn't have a website so i can share better pics! -__-

here are a few photos from the show:

jason graham


jason graham


MINE! ^__^


eatcho installation


eatcho


eatcho


the night ended with dancing and drinks at Someday lounge for "the fix" -- a weekly hip hop dance party that i used to frequent. and i even got to break in my christmas shoes:


i heart portland!

^____^

happy merry christmas everyone!!! there has officially been 37 minutes of christmasness now. woo!



in other news: 2008 is just around the corner now and i have a few shows i'm working on. i'm doing another show with Suite 100 Gallery in seattle. i did a fairytale themed show with them last year called Happily Ever After? and i'm bringing it back this april with Happily Every After?: Chapter 2.

but before that, i've got a show down in LA at Munky King in late february/early march named by the extremely talented and witty Luke Chueh - "Broken Art for Broken Hearts".

i'm really cutting it close as far as securing artists, but i'm really excited for both of these shows and am looking forward to working my butt off! yah!

hello, my name is simon...

so the other day i decided to open up illustrator for some reason and doodle a bit. i'm a self-proclaimed non-artist, so i've never considered myself artsy in any way other than as a curator. i am quite crafty though.
anyways, i opened up illustrator and started working on a rendering for possible costuming for Luke Chueh's Super Cute Art Girl militia (or SCAG for short). it's an ingenious idea he had to create a cute art-loving girl army of awesomeness to accompany him to art shows and events. amazing!

i worked on the renderings on my mac book and lazy me still hasn't gotten a proper mouse for it (yes, i'm going to get carpal tunnel) so it was a pain and took me an hour and a half, but i was really pleased with the results:



bubblegum colorway


i got super excited and spent the rest of the day dorking out in front of the computer and made a few more drawings. monica can make some things after all! yay!

pop the glock?

in a totally un-artsy-related post, my younger brother celebrated his 21st birthday a few weeks ago. he's a pretty cool kid, that one. he decided to go have a little airsoft gun battle in the hills of santa cruz to celebrate. i didn't participate unfortunately, but i did get to hold his glock and watch a whole bunch of grown and not-so-grown men and (3?) women run around in full camo and masks with ammo, grenades, and other cool fake junk strapped onto their bodies.
grown-up capture the flag...uh, with guns.

tomorrow i'm going to shoot rifles with my dad. ^_____^ should be pretty funny and pretty awesome!

vivisect playset IV

last night was the opening of Luke Chueh's "Vivisect Playset IV" at Gallery 1988 SF. the show looked wonderful and Luke and Greg "Crayola" Simkins were signing and sketching from when the doors opened at 7pm 'til they closed at 11.



the show featured artwork from 23 artists. it was a lovely variety of styles and experience all working in the common theme of animals as subjects portraying the human condition.








the line to meet Luke and Crayola got pretty crazy by the middle of the night and luke could barely find time to sneak outside for a cigarette.

[BEFORE: the line early in the evening]


[AFTER: mid-evening, people were crowding in to get a sketch]




later in the evening i was also able to head over to Shooting Gallery a few blocks away to see their opening for Anne Faith Nicholls solo show "Low Tide Collection".



i have never gotten the chance to see her work in person before and she did a wonderful job on this show with some really large detailed works and also an installation of a bed hanging from the ceiling - as illustrated in the title piece of the show.

the Usugrow/ Mike Giant show was still up in White Walls next door and i'm glad i got the chance to see that before it comes down week after next.

overall, it was a wonderful first night of artsy goodness in SF for me and i can't wait for more! ^__^

san francisco

my my my...it's been about two months since i last blogged. 0_o

here are some updates:
1. i relocated back to SF from portland about a week and a half ago.
2. i'm looking for an art-related job and keeping my fingers crossed!
3. i'm really excited to go to tons of art shows and start having some of my own soon.
4. even when it's "cold" or "rainy" in SF, it's not nearly as frigid or miserable as a portland winter. yipee!

and tomorrow is the opening of my friend luke chueh's art show at Gallery 1988 SF: Vivisect Playset 4!



and there is also an artist series Vivisect Playset toy set coming out too; with toy designs by Anthony Ausgang, Luke Chueh, Thomas Han, Peter Gronquist, Joe Ledbetter, Greg Simkins, Amanda Visell, and a collaboration between Greg Simkins & Joe Ledbetter. they won't be released tomorrow though.


here is the first of 3 pieces luke is creating for the show:


"Shit For Brains"

hurray!!!