We’re loving these canvas tote bags, designed and autographed by the artist Ferris Plock. The bags are a limited edition of fifty and are available here, through Rise Japan, a site which brings together ongoing fundraiser projects for earthquake & tsunami relief for Northern Japan. At only $25.00 they won’t last long!
Bag Details-
Size: 19″W x 15.5″H; 5″ Bottom Gusset
Material Type: 10oz Natural Cotton
Care Instructions: Machine Wash Cold, Hang Dry
If you weren’t lucky enough to participate in or overhear the many conversations Jack Howe had with attendees of Bedtime Stories: From the Crib to the Crypt at Shooting Gallery opening night, you really missed out! Not only are his works intriguing and mysterious, but so is the manner in which he tells the stories of how each minute detail came to be and what it represents, from his perspective, in the specific piece as a whole.
Strolling into the Future
Assemblage Art
74×53x22″
An example of the details that go into each piece and their part in the story.
Our Lady of the Castro
Assemblage Art
19×12x5″
From the Artist:
“I select objects that elicited a response in me and I hope — whether they inspire nostalgia, or fear, vulnerability or strength, love or loss — that the pieces resonate with the observer.
Though I have a narrative in mind as I construct each piece, I resist offering written explanations as there is no true narrative. Rather, the life experiences of each observer brings unique perspectives and interpretations to the work which are often more compelling than my own.”
Artist Jack Howe
Be sure to stop by Shooting Gallery to see Bedtime Stories: From the Crib to the Crypt on view through April 7, 2012.
Shooting Gallery is pleased to present artist Paul Chatem’s latest works, which will be unveiled with his solo show, Another Man’s Hero, opening April 14th, 2012 from 7-11 pm. The exhibition is free and will be open to the public for viewing through May 5th, 2012.
Another Man’s Hero is a new collection of paintings which explore perceptions of identity. Within the twenty new pieces, Chatem delves into the idea that however one person sees themselves, their friends, neighbors, or community may see them as something completely different. One man’s success is another man’s failure; one person’s death is another’s victory; one person’s lover may be another’s competition; one man’s hero may be another man’s villain.
Chatem’s intricate paintings began as loose sketches in acrylic or pen. From these rough compositions the artist crafts incredible finished works, often using leftover wood from construction jobs he has worked. In the studio Chatem is constantly moving, often working on the different stages of several paintings at the same time. This propensity towards motion is shared by the work itself, which is fitted with hand-cut interconnecting gears and handles that viewers are encouraged to turn. The functional gears bring to mind the inner workings of an old pocket watch, blending mechanical simplicity with an organic color palette of earth-tones.
Influenced by the animation of Max Fleischer and E.C. Segar, many of Chatem’s characters have a humorous tone despite the dark details of a world fueled by mayhem.
Paul Chatem was born in 1974 in Bellevue, Washington, but grew up in La Crescenta on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He spent most of his time hunting snakes and scorpions in the Tujunga Wash, exploring ruins of forgotten ranches, shantytowns, and asylums, and ducking punches at punk shows with his friends.
Growing up in an environment where nature, history, and the impoverished were constantly being pushed aside to make room for golf courses and mini-malls, Paul developed a keen talent for representing the rift between rich and poor, the working man and the boss man, in his surreal, often nightmarish, narrative paintings.
Jack Howe’s Bedtime Stories: From the Crib to the Crypt opened on Saturday to a great crowd. Howe’s pieces spark easy conversations with so many great details to explore and discuss. The show will be on view until April 7th, be sure to stop in because each piece takes on new life when seen in person!
More After the Jump Read more »
As Jack Howe propped the large mattress pieces against the Shooting Gallery wall today, he took the time to explain each one to me, tracing the narrative path created by looking at each object in relation to the one that preceeded it. Often starting at a top corner and following it down in a u-shape, Howe pointed out 100 year old trinkets rescued from obscurity and modified to fit his purpose. I shot some photos along the way so you could join us on the tour.
Bedtime Stories: From the Crib to the Crypt
March 17th, 7-11pm
RSVP Here
And celebrate Shooting Gallery’s 9 Year Anniversary with a hosted bar by Becherovka
More Photos After the Jump Read more »
Jack Howe stopped by the gallery the other day to give us a look at a new piece for his March show Bed Time Stories: From the Crib to the Crypt. Howe chooses each object to include in his assemblage pieces with great care, trying different combinations until finding the exact ones that fit into the overall narrative each piece is meant to convey. The rusted aesthetic is particularly appealing in this example Howe brought in. Stay tuned for preview shots as we get nearer to the March 17th opening!
RSVP Here
More After the Jump! Read more »
During the opening of her most recent show, Calamity, Mary Iverson had a chance to sit down with SF Art Enthusiast and answer a few questions about her work. Iverson discusses her love for the shipping industry and environmental preservation and how the blending of the two has steered the way towards her current collage work. She also talks about what it is like to be seen as both a traditional painter in Seattle as well as part of the pop surrealist art movement in San Francisco and getting back to her roots of drawing. Iverson has an upcoming show in Germany this fall and there are some talks of a wallpaper installation as well.
Check out the full interview here! Be sure to catch Calamity: New Work by Mary Iverson before the show closes on March 3rd, 2012.
Using pieces of old mattresses, mangled dolls, and other objects, Jack Howe’s art work reads like a story of a past life. Howe’s work is designed around the notion that “chances are you are conceived, born, and will hopefully die on a bed,” and each piece reveals more and more of that narrative. Ranging from the grimmer side of things to the more lighthearted his pieces are sure to stir up some sentiment in the viewer.
Bedtime Stories: From the Crib to the Crypt opens up Saturday March 17th, 2012 and will be running through April 7th, 2012. You can RSVP to the event here!
More photos this way… Read more »
Last Saturday was the opening reception for Calamity: New Works by Mary Iverson. The show was amazing and Iverson’s beautifully detailed paintings are not to be missed. If you were not able to come to the opening be sure to stop by before the show closes on March 3rd!
Meanwhile, take a peek at some photos from opening night…
Check out this set on Flickr for a lot more pictures!
More after the jump! Read more »
Shooting Gallery Presents:
Bedtime Stories: From the Crib to the Crypt
Shooting Gallery is pleased to present Bedtime Stories, artist Jack Howe’s new solo show, presented to the viewer as a series of collected stories whose plots are revealed through broken pieces left behind. Bedtime Stories will feature eight large works, ranging between three and seven feet, along with smaller accompanying works. The opening reception is Saturday, March 17th, 2012 from 7-11 pm, and the exhibition is free and open to the public for viewing through April 7th, 2012.
With the reflection “chances are we are conceived, born, and will hopefully die on a bed,” acting as a frame for this exhibition, Bedtime Stories expands on a series of mattress pieces the artist created in the 90’s that was based on the loss of a young child, crafted “as if her life story continued on after her death…a created life-history as it were…her loves, ambitions, desires, joys, all enshrined on her body and embroidered into the mattress.” While Howe sold them all he kept two to show. And after showing one last year, Howe decided it was time to make a few new mattress pieces he’d had in mind, “to explore the existential themes that inevitably emerge amongst the rusty coils.”
With a foot in the past and an eye on the future, these narrative pieces relate to current relevant issues as well as to roads traveled…people’s well-lived and well-weathered lives. The works reflect an appreciation of time and decay, with entropy represented by layered detritus of a world past, inhabited by people passed. Each layer encoded with bits and pieces, evidence, clues about a life- the lives of a parent, a friend, a lover, perhaps a child. While some are dark and reflect serious themes, others are humorous, perhaps appearing to be grotesque still-lives of a life run amok.
From the artist:
“I select objects that elicited a response in me and I hope–whether they inspire nostalgia, or fear, vulnerability or strength, love or loss– that the pieces resonate with the observer.
Though I have a narrative in mind as I construct each piece, I resist offering written explanations as there is no true narrative. Rather, the life experiences of each observer brings unique perspectives and interpretations to the work which are often more compelling than my own.
As an artist and an inveterate collector of junk I’m happy to do a large-work solo show in San Francisco, so close to my home, so that I might share my most cherished junk through my big bang bedtime stories show. I hope you enjoy it.”
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Jack Howe is a self-taught artist. His formal education ended in high school, where rather than exemplary work, he did “expellatory deeds.” Beginning as an avid antique collector, Jack became an artist in 1989, after a 7.1 earthquake crashed through his home in Santa Cruz, leaving his entire collection worthless in seconds. Since they had not lost their sentimental value he decided to turn the “debris” into art…to take something old and make something altogether new. Howe’s first show was “The Gluers” at Bedford Regional Arts Center in Walnut Creek, CA in 1993 with George Herms, Wallace Berman, and Satty. Soon after he started showing at The Wier Gallery in Berkeley, with R. Crumb, Stanley Mouse, and Jerry Garcia; as well as at Billy Shire’s “La Luz de Jesus Gallery, on Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, where many of Howe’s works graced the walls for years. Howe has shown at galleries throughout California, in New York, Seattle, Detroit, Scottsdale, Miami, Austin, Europe, Japan and Hong Kong. His work has appeared in major and indie films, and is held in corporate and private collections around the world.
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The Shooting Gallery opened its doors in 2003 to the historic Tenderloin district of San Francisco; known for its lively street culture. Growing up in Southern California gave owner and curator, Justin Giarla, a love for everything lowbrow: pop art, street art, outsider art, punk rock album art, comic book art, surf/skate art and hot rod culture. Giarla recognizes how important it is to provide lowbrow artists with a platform for their work, which is exactly what Shooting Gallery has done for nearly a decade.
