SAN FRANCISCO --- Kerry Miller's (UK) deconstructed books are fascinating. In her new body of work, Re-Imagination of the Book now running at The Shooting Gallery through March 8th, she does just that - re-imagines old and discarded books into newly complex works of art.
The books seem simple enough, they are just cut pages layered on one another, but they are so intricate they can draw your attention for hours, much like the words in the books themselves. Most of the crowd was gathered in the front galleries, like moths to bright colors, but I have a feeling that those who made it to the back were glad they did. These books provide some contrast to the paintings and crochet installation in the front and really bring minute details into focus. Go check them out before the show closes on March 8th.
Words & Photos: Rachel Ralph - rachel(at)fecalface.com
Kerry Miller, Dr. Syntax's Three Tours, 1894, Mixed-media hand-cut assemblage, 13" x 11½" x 1¾"
Kerry Miller, Virtue's Household Physician, 1905, Mixed-media hand-cut assemblage, 9 5/8" x 7 ½" x 1 11/16"
Michael Coley who runs Belly Kids emailed to let us know of his latest... Hell Yeah! (a WWF colouring book!) <-- "The most electrifying book in sports entertainment. It's our dedication to the best baby faces and the most hated heels of WWF wrestling. Think Macho Man Randy Savage, DX, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Mankind, The Rock, Chyna and many others!" [PREVIEW]
Give the gift of coloring book. Kids young and old can get down with some quality time of staying inside the lines... or hell, be a Charlie and break out of the boundaries! 7 Euro dollars here.
via Nichols "It's a book mostly for kids about a man named Alfred Crabtree who has a wispy comb-over and way too many possessions. Jon made most of the words, and I made most of the pictures."
Tucker Nichols new book published through McSweeney's
Up at the dead of night, sweat stained sheets, heart beating a trillion times a minute... sound all too familiar? Well Belly Kids teamed up with 16 illustrators to explore their worst of the dreams.... The Magic Book of Nightmares is a diary of bad nights and terrible sleep. The creepy, the cosmic, the crazy. Preorders are taken here for 6 pounds. ~sample illustrations.
Mike Giant swung through FFDG to show off his new huge book Giant: Eternal out now through Ginkgo Books. We're happy to report that Mike Giant will be returning to FFDG for another solo show Feb 2014. Check photos & video from his last show.
International icon of black ink, artist Michael (GIANT) LeSage incorporates a broad swathe of influences and skills in the creation of a singular, unmistakable aesthetic. Mike's central practice, drawing, is informed by his training in architectural drafting, his illustrious career as a tattooist and worldwide exploits writing on walls. ~$27 at Amazon
San Francisco based photo magazine Hamburger Eyes releases MANKIND ISSUE No. 2 ($17), the second issue of our documentary series containing photographs of, about, and by earth humans from all over the planet featuring PHOTOGRAPHY BY: PIOTR PIETRUS, PAULO ARELLANO, AARON WYNIA, KINGSLEY IFILL, PETER McCOLLOUGH, JONNEK JONNEKSSON, GRANT HATFIELD, ELMO TIDE, ZEBULON ZANG, JOHN OLIVER HODGES, DAVID POTES, RAY POTES, RICKY ADAM, BRANDON GETTY, DAN THOMPSON, NINA MOURITZEN, NATE IGOR SMITH, GUY VINCIGUERRA, AND DAVID DUNNICO.
Scott Bourne was a pro skater who moved to Paris many years ago to work on this book - Based around the author's real life adventures, A Room With No Windows possesses deep erotic tones, as well as the idea of soul searching through sex. Heavily plot driven it is a first person narrative that takes you on a historical roller coaster ride through a turbulent San Francisco of the 90’s. A powerful, urgent, electric tale of comradery and perilous true love set in a city that’s being pulled out from under its’ characters by capitalism, AIDS and the isolation of modern life. Gritty and unflinching language sprung from Southern roots relays heists, petty scams, genuine friendship and finally the transformative loss of the person you didn't realize was your home.
Release party for it tonight in London. Being London is 8 hours ahead, it's going on right now.
NYC based photographer Ben Pier mailed his book Teenage Teeth ($24) to us awhile back featuring 68 pages of beautiful images which, according to Pier, are a documentation of American youth as seen through his lens.
Born in 1980 and raised in Missouri until the age of 19 when he went on to study documentary photography at Columbia College Chicago. After finishing school he left the heartland for New York City where he now lives and works.
We got to check out Tiffany Bozic's forthcoming book Drawn by Instinct (published through Gingko Press) last night, and it's a beauty. 150 high quality pages features Bozic's line of work over the last 10 or so years. It's out in approx. 3 weeks time, and as soon as we know where you can buy one, we'll let you know. Will retail for $40 and worth every penny.
Tiffany Bozic and her new book out through Gingko Press
We got a preview of the forthcoming Matt Furie children's book (his first book) published by McSweeney's McMullens (out August). The fanciful story is told through Matt's illustrations and is wonderful in its simplicity and beauty. We'll for sure be giving it as gifts to all our friends with little ones... Bonus is that the sleeve comes off to double as a poster.
Above - Passport Wednesday, 29 February 2012 /// Written by Trippe
Street artist Above sent us a copy of his new book Passport (published through Zero Publishing). In fact, he sent us the limited (200) boxed edition which comes in a huge/ smartly designed monster sized passport complete with a print inside. Not sure how to store it on a book shelf as it would need to be leaned against a wall it's so huge.
The book chronicles his career as he traveled the world first adding his arrows to electric lines and walls to his interest in stenciling as it got more and more popular. Our favorites in the book would be the signage he did with RIPO.
ABOVE started traditional graffiti of tagging freight trains in California in 1995. ABOVE moved to Paris at the age of 19 where he started painting his trademark arrow (pointing above) all around the city. Since then ABOVE has been consistently traveling around the world doing many large self-financed "tours" with each tour exploring a new medium or style of artworks. ABOVE has been successful in putting his street artworks in over 90 cities in 60 different countries around the globe.
WALLS & FRAMES: FINE ART FROM THE STREETS Edited by Maximilliano Ruiz
Published by Gestalten, Germany.
24 x 26 cm
272 pages
Hard cover
The FedEX man just sung through FFDG with this treat for us to share with you. A thick ass book featuring some of the best "street artists" out there today. We add quotes next to street art, because it's debatable whether all of these artists are street artists or not, although, it could be said that many came from a street art/ graffiti background- or aethestic. Whatever the situation, it's a great book and thanks to Gestalten for sending us a beautiful copy for us to enjoy. You can get your own copy for only $37 at Amazon. It's well worth the price.
Walls & Frames launch parties will be hosted at Gestalten Space Berlin on December 1st and at Pictures on Walls London on December 8th. For the occasion each launch party will showcase a limited edition of original hand-finished book sleeves made by Walls & Frames featured artists.
I recently got a copy and shot some preview images of The Art of Todd Bratrud: Seen Unknown, the second installment in Mark Batty Publisher'sSeen Unknown series, edited by Winston Tseng. The Seen Unknown artists series covers artists and designers whose work in various fields --from sneaker and apparel design to product packaging, posters, high-profile ad campaigns, and fine art galleries --are often recognizable, though their creators' names remain unknown--until now. (Back in March, I went to check out Marc McKee's show at HVW8 Gallery, whose book The Art of Marc McKee, was just released as the first part of the Seen Unknownseries.)
The Art of Todd Bratrud: Seen Unknown
Winston Tseng and Todd Bratrud
Publication Date: November 2011
Page Count: 96 pages
Size: 6.5 x 8.5 inches
Paperback $19.95
A nice package from Winston and the folks at Mark Patty Publishers. Thanks for the book and catalog!
This fine book is filled with 96 pages from Todd's wild imagination, featuring his bold lines and eye-popping colors. It covers all of Todd's many art and design tentacles from work with his own companies, The High 5 and Teenage Runaway, to the best in the business, including The Skateboard Mag, Consolidated Skateboards, Flip Skateboards, Enjoi, Familia Skateshop, Burlesque Design, Volcom, Nike SB, Burton Snowboards, and Creature Skateboards. Oh yeah, did I mention that the book is only $19.95? A fine affordable price I might add.
Portland based photographer Corey Arnold's (2010 FFDG show) Fish-Work book, which sold out in 4 months, has been named one of the best books of the year by Photo District News and American PHOTO Magazines. Nazraeli Press has just released their second printing.
ABOVE PASSPORT BOXED EDITION examines the street artist that has blanketed the world with art covering over 90 cities in 60 countries. The book includes hundreds of plates and quotes from artists across the globe and introductory statements by Shepard Fairey, FAILE, Wooster Collective - Marc and Sara Schiller and Tristan Manco.
Process video of Above:Passport book's deluxe edition of 15. For more information on what else comes inside the deluxe box and the special and normal editions of Above:Passport book
visit zeropluspublishing.com/?above.htm#images/?above_3.jpg
Technical Specs
Edition: 200
Sales start at edition number 61/200
Hardcover book: signed/numbered - 12.25 x 12.25" (31.1 x 31.1cm)
156 pages
Over 120 color plates
ISBN 978-1-937222-04-8
This edition
is housed in a vinyl clamshell box placed in a publisher’s shipping box
Size: 20.5 x
16.5 x 2.25" (52.1 x 41.9 x 5.7cm)
Weight:
9.5 lbs / 4.3 kg
Giclee print: signed/numbered - edition 200 - image size 11 x 16" (27.9 x
40.6cm) / paper size 13 x 18 (33 x 45.7cm)
Price:
$250.00
ABOVE PASSPORT BOXED
EDITION examines the
street artist that has blanketed the world with art covering over 90
cities in 60 countries. The book includes hundreds of plates and quotes from
artists across the globe and introductory statements by Shepard Fairey,
FAILE, Wooster Collective - Marc and Sara Schiller and Tristan Manco.
"I first
encountered ABOVE’s art on the streets of Paris in early 2003. His
large-scale trademark arrows were painted on roll down gates, trucks and
storefronts with impressive coverage throughout the city. ABOVE is
extraordinarily driven. To paraphrase Radiohead, “ambition can make you look
pretty ugly,” but in ABOVE’s case, his ambition makes the streets look very
engaging. I am very impressed by ABOVE’s diligence, but after I got to know
him and his artwork more, I began to realize that his output is not evidence
of selfish ego, but of a lust for life, a utopian life, where his
generosity, and curiosity, and his pursuit of creativity and
social-consciousness have led him around the world making more friends than
enemies.
ABOVE made
the time to act as tour guide for me and my wife and our two young daughters
in a city he knows well and we didn’t. The gesture made me greatly value
ABOVE’s friendship and reinforced my belief that what you give is what
you get. The Karma Police are not coming for ABOVE even if the police
vandal squad is." ---Shepard
Fairey, Los Angeles, California
From WIKI (born circa
1981) has been creating public art since 1995. ABOVE
is an international contemporary street artist who keeps his identity
concealed and is widely known for his multi-layer/full color social and
political stencils, spinning wooden "arrow mobile" installations, and large
mural "word play" paintings. ABOVE started traditional graffiti of tagging
freight trains in California in 1995. ABOVE moved to Paris at the age of 19
where he started painting his trademark arrow (pointing above) all around
the city. Since then ABOVE has been consistently traveling around the world
doing many large self-financed "tours" with each tour exploring a new medium
or style of artworks. ABOVE has been successful in putting his street
artworks in over 90 cities in 60 different countries around the globe.
To be released Oct 14th - Gingko Press is pleased to announce the release of BANKSY - Myths and Legends, the perfect holiday gift book celebrating the art and tall tales surrounding the iconic street artist Banksy. ~Details
Fecal Pal/ SF based artist Jesse Balmer and author Eddie Wright are putting together a comic adaptation of Wright's novella Broken Bulbs (which is about a sad sack inspiration addicted nobody). They've got a Kickstarter page up asking for enough money to give them both time to work solely on the project for a few months and to cover printing costs.
About Broken Bulb -- "If you truly enjoy reading the latest, force-fed pabulum that can be found on The New York Times best seller list, stay the hell away from Broken Bulbs. However, if you welcome the challenge of tackling something totally authentic, surreal, disturbing and existential (and yes at times downright weird!), I strongly recommend Broken Bulbs. Where else can you find a stream-of-consciousness narrative full of references to such diverse subjects as A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Peter Brady, Norman Bates, Albert Einstein, Iggy Pop, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Woody Allen, as well as a demented mailman and six-foot-tall hamster wearing a suit (not kidding!)." --Alternative Reel
I don't think at this point it needs to be written since the last update to Fecal Face was a long time ago, but...
I, John Trippe, have put this baby Fecal Face to bed. I'm now focusing my efforts on running ECommerce at DLX which I'm very excited about... I guess you can't take skateboarding out of a skateboarder.
It was a great 15 years, and most of that effort can still be found within the site. Click around. There's a lot of content to explore.
Hit me up if you have any ECommerce related questions. - trippe.io
I'm not sure how many people are lucky enough to have The San Francisco Giants 3 World Series trophies put on display at their work for the company's employees to enjoy during their lunch break, but that's what happened the other day at Deluxe. So great.
SF skateboarding icons Jake Phelps, Mickey Reyes, and Tommy Guerrero with the 3 SF Giants World Series Trophies
When works of art become commodities and nothing else, when every endeavor becomes “creative” and everybody “a creative,” then art sinks back to craft and artists back to artisans—a word that, in its adjectival form, at least, is newly popular again. Artisanal pickles, artisanal poems: what’s the difference, after all? So “art” itself may disappear: art as Art, that old high thing. Which—unless, like me, you think we need a vessel for our inner life—is nothing much to mourn.
Hard-working artisan, solitary genius, credentialed professional—the image of the artist has changed radically over the centuries. What if the latest model to emerge means the end of art as we have known it? --continue reading
"Six Degrees" opens tonight, Friday Jan 16th (7-10pm) at FFDG in San Francisco. ~Group show featuring: Brett Amory, John Felix Arnold III, Mario Ayala, Mariel Bayona, Ryan Beavers, Jud Bergeron, Chris Burch, Ryan De La Hoz, Martin Machado, Jess Mudgett, Meryl Pataky, Lucien Shapiro, Mike Shine, Minka Sicklinger, Nicomi Nix Turner, and Alex Ziv.
"[Satire] is important because it brings out the flaws we all have and throws them up on the screen of another person," said Turner. “How they react sort of shows how important that really is.” Later, he added, "Charlie took a hit for everybody." -read on
As we work on our changes, we're leaving Squarespace and coming back to the old server. Updates are en route.
The content that was on the site between May '14 and today is history... Whatever, wasn't interesting anyway. All the good stuff from the last 10 years is here anyway.
Opening tonight, Friday May 23rd (7-10pm) at Park Life in the Inner Richmond (220 Clement St) is Again Home Again featuring works from the duo Jacob Mcgraw-Mikelson & Rachell Sumpter who split time living in Sacramento and a tiny island at the top of Pudget Sound with their children.
Jacob Magraw will be showing embroidery pieces on cloth along with painted, gouache works on paper --- Rachell Sumpter paints scenes of colored splendor dropped into scenes of desolate wilderness. ~show details
NYC --- A new graffiti abatement program put forth by the police commissioner has beat cops carrying cans of spray paint to fill in and cover graffiti artists work in an effort to clean up the city --> Many cops are thinking it's a waste of resources, but we're waiting to see someone make a project of it. Maybe instructions for the cops on where to fill-in?
The NYPD is arming its cops with cans of spray paint and giving them art-class-style lessons to tackle the scourge of urban graffiti, The Post has learned.
Shootings are on the rise across the city, but the directive from Police Headquarters is to hunt down street art and cover it with black, red and white spray paint, sources said... READ ON
Los Angeles based Alison Blickle who showed here in San Francisco at Eleanor Harwood last year (PHOTOS) recently showed new paintings in New York at Kravets Wehby Gallery. Lovely works.
We haven't been featuring many interviews as of late. Let's change that up as we check in with a few local San Francisco artists like Kevin Earl Taylor here whom we studio visited back in 2009 (PHOTOS & VIDEO). It's been awhile, Kevin...
If you like guns and boobs, head on over to the Shooting Gallery; just don't expect the work to be all cheap ploys and hot chicks. With Make Stuff by Peter Gronquist (Portland) in the main space and Morgan Slade's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in the project space, there is plenty spectacle to be had, but if you look just beyond it, you might actually get something out of the shows.
Fifty24SF opened Street Anatomy, a new solo show by Austrian artist Nychos a week ago last Friday night. He's been steadily filling our city with murals over the last year, with one downtown on Geary St. last summer, and new ones both in the Haight and in Oakland within the last few weeks, but it was really great to see his work up close and in such detail.
Nate Milton emailed over this great short Gator Skater which is a follow-up to his Dog Skateboard he emailed to us back in 2011... Any relation to this Gator Skater?
Congrats on our buddies at Needles and Pens on being open and rad for 11 years now. Mission Local did this little short video featuring Breezy giving a little heads up on what Needles and Pens is all about.
In a filmmaker's thinking, we wish more videos were done in this style. Too much editing and music with a lacking in actual content. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Matt Wagner recently emailed over some photos from The Hellion Gallery in Tokyo, who recently put together a show with AJ Fosik (Portland) called Beast From a Foreign Land. The gallery gave twelve of Fosik's sculptures to twelve Japanese artists (including Hiro Kurata who is currently showing in our group show Salt the Skies) to paint, burn, or build upon.
FFDG is pleased to announce an exclusive online show with San Francisco based Ferris Plock opening on Friday, April 25th (12pm Pacific Time) featuring 5 new medium sized acrylic paintings on wood.
Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne played host to a huge group exhibition a couple of weeks back, with "Gold Blood, Magic Weirdos" Curated by Melbourne artist Sean Morris. Gold Blood brought together 25 talented painters, illustrators and comic artists from Australia, the US, Singapore, England, France and Spain - and marked the end of the Magic Weirdos trilogy, following shows in Perth in 2012 and London in 2013.
San Francisco based Fecal Pal Jeremy Fish opened his latest solo show Hunting Trophies at LA's Mark Moore Gallery last week to massive crowds and cabin walls lined with imagery pertaining to modern conquest and obsession.
Well, John Felix Arnold III is at it again. This time, he and Carolyn LeBourgios packed an entire show into the back of a Prius and drove across the country to install it at Superchief Gallery in NYC. I met with him last week as he told me about the trip over delicious burritos at Taqueria Cancun (which is right across the street from FFDG and serves what I think is the best burrito in the city) as the self proclaimed "Only overweight artist in the game" spilled all the details.
Ever Gold opened a new solo show by NYC based Henry Gunderson a couple Saturday nights ago and it was literally packed. So packed I couldn't actually see most of the art - but a big crowd doesn't seem like a problem. I got a good laugh at what I would call the 'cock climbing wall' as it was one of the few pieces I could see over the crowd. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and check it all out again, but I'm definitely going to as the paintings that I could get a peek at were really high quality and intruiguing. You should do the same.
The paintings in the show are each influenced by a musician, ranging from Freddy Mercury, to Madonna, to A Tribe Called Quest and they are so stylistically consistent with each musician's persona that they read as a cohesive body of work with incredible variation. If you told me they were each painted by a different person, I would not hesitate to believe you and it's really great to see a solo show with so much variety. The show is fun, poppy, very well done, and absolutely worth a look and maybe even a listen.
With rising rent in SF and knowing mostly other young artists without capitol, I desired a way to live rent free, have a space to do my craft, and get to see more of the world. Inspired by the many historical artists who have longed similar longings I discovered the beauty of artist residencies. Lilo runs Adhoc Collective in Vienna which not only has a fully equipped artists creative studio, but an indoor halfpipe, and private artist quarters. It was like a modern day castle or skate cathedral. It exists in almost a utopic state, totally free to those that apply and come with a real passion for both art and skateboarding
I just wanted to share with you a piece I recently finished which took me 4 years to complete. Titled "How To Lose Yourself Completely (The September Issue)", it consists of a copy of the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine (the issue they made the documentary about) with all faces masked with a sharpie, and everything else entirely whited out. 840 pages of fun. -Bryan Schnelle
While walking our way across San Francisco on Saturday we swung through the opening receptions for Kirk Maxson and Alexis Mackenzie at Eleanor Harwood Gallery in the Mission.
Jeremy Fish opens Hunting Trophies tonight, Saturday April 5th, at the Los Angeles based Mark Moore Gallery. The show features new work from Fish inside the "hunting lodge" where viewers climb inside the head of the hunter and explore the history of all the animals he's killed.
Beautiful piece entitled "The Albatross and the Shipping Container", Ink on Paper, Mounted to Panel, 47" Diameter, by San Francisco based Martin Machado now on display at FFDG. Stop in Saturday (1-6pm) to view the group show "Salt the Skies" now running through April 19th. 2277 Mission St. at 19th.
For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to quit my job, move out of my house, leave everything and travel again. So on August 21, 2013 I pushed a canoe packed full of gear into the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, along with four of my best friends. Exactly 100 days later, I arrived at a marina near the Gulf of Mexico in a sailboat.
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