8.29.2009

Mary Anne Kluth and Laurel Roth: Theory of the Unforeseen

My good friend Mary Anne has a show coming up. Go and check it out!



Frey Norris Gallery
September 03, 2009 – October 04, 2009

456 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Reception
September 03, 2009
6:00 to 9:00 pm

8.27.2009

Get High Now (Without Drugs)

Look what I got in the mail today!

Get High Now
Get High Now
Get High Now
Get High Now

My first gig illustrating a book. Pretty neat.
Available from Chronicle Books.

8.10.2009

Niche

Hey all;
the fine folks at Niche magazine did a little piece on me in their newest issue:

Article on Niche (issue 3)


Alternative link:
http://fittheniche.com/current-issue/

7.15.2009

The Sky

theSky

Google Calendar has this "helpful" feature of guessing the location of your event.

6.24.2009

Polaroid Mirror


It's silly and probably simple to recreate, but I still want one.

site: http://www.designboom.com/shop/polaroid_mirror.html

5.24.2009

Quimby the Mouse

Fecal Face reminded me of the Chris Ware animated short I saw at the recent This American Life live event:

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

*sigh* I adore Chris Ware. (It's too bad he spelled my name wrong in one of the books he signed for me!)

5.19.2009

Personality maps

Selection from a blog post called "The Geography of Personality":

5.18.2009

The New Yorker || The Art Doctor: How do you restore works made with latex, caviar, or elephant dung?

There's a fascinating article on Christian Scheidemann, a conservator of contemporary art, in the May 11, 2009 issue of The New Yorker. I'd post a link to the article if I could, but since it's not the current issue, it's hidden in their subscriber-only archives. There are many good parts in the article, but this is one of my favorite bits:

The Guggenheim had recently held a symposium at which conservators examined the minimalist artist Ad Reinhardt's "Black Painting," which had been scratched during preparations for an exhibition and then subjected to misguided attempts at restoration. "It was a multimillion-dollar painting, and it was a total loss -- the painting is totally dead," Scheidemann told me. "It is a good study for other paintings -- like cutting open a body to look at the organs. But you would no more put it on your wall and say it is an Ad Reinhardt than you would unbury your grandfather's body and say it is your grandfather."

4.15.2009

Photos from "Spaces"

Megan Wolfe took some great photos of the opening reception at Hyde St. Gallery.

Check it out:
http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1509&Itemid=90

3.30.2009

"Spaces" @ Hyde St. Gallery (SF)

"Spaces" Poster


SPACES
Brett Amory & Nancy Chan

April 3-May 1, 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, April 3, 6-10 PM

Hyde St Gallery
1987 Hyde St (@ Union)
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-359-9800
www.hydestreetgallery.com

Gallery Hours
Wed-Fri: 1-9 PM
Sat-Sun: 12-8 PM

Curated by Julianne Yates

Catering by
SUSHI GROOVE

The Artist Statement - as written by another

My friend Jason is unusually (not unusual for him, but unusual for people) adept at writing descriptions of my work. I've not seriously submitted these synopses as an artist statement to galleries, but I do think they deserve recognition.

I asked him if I could put them up here, and he agreed. He could make a killing on writing press releases for galleries!

The first one, from 2007:

Chan's portraits are bereft of the usual plethora of props and environmental fluff that infects less focused artists' work. Her subjects inhabit this vacuum as though they have been plucked out of their lives and frozen in time. Strangely, rather than leave the subjects deflated and breathless, this *negative* space of sorts only serves to intensify them, as though the air so extracted has been blown into their personalities.

And a recent one, for 2009:
The announcement that Nancy Chan will be showing new work at a show called Spaces reaffirms her bipolar relationship with the concept of enclosure. From a distance, the isolated elements of intricate black within an ocean of white force an obsession on the microcosm, like the huge badge your cool friend had in school that said "piss off" in 1 point text. Up close though, the figures inflate to provide a spatial universe of their own, as though the viewer was drawn through the singularity to live in their world.

3.04.2009

Late Winter Updates

Goldfish Breath

Oh, and I suppose I should mention dates and whatnots for upcoming things.

I've been rather busy since November, and it'll be pretty nonstop until August, looks like.

The above drawing is one of many illustrations I recently completed for an upcoming publication called "Get High Now (Without Drugs)." It's sort of a meditative book with descriptions of poses you (and possibly with the assistance of friends) can do to achieve states of ... er, high-ness. Or something.

It's mind/body/soul stuff for you booksellers out there.

The book will be out in August or September this year. Can't wait to see how it actually turns out.

In exhibition news, I have a show coming up quick in the beginning of April. Opening April 3, Brett Amory and I will be putting up a show called "Spaces" at the Hyde St. Gallery in the Russian Hill area of San Francisco. It's a small gallery, but they're allowing us to paint the walls for installations so I'm pretty excited. Should be a lot of fun.

Following that, I'll have two large pieces (one made a year or so ago, one brand new) up in the San Francisco Chinese Culture Center biennial opening in May. There will be a catalogue and everything. Will keep you posted on the dates for that.

And following that (July) is a group show with Jesse Schlesinger and Matt Momchilov at Eleanor Harwood's gallery. I believe all three of us are aiming to make new work for that one. Last I spoke with them, they were all very psyched.

So that's my busy first half of the year. Will have to get down to LA at some point and celebrate a friend's recent nuptials. Otherwise, I'm down and out this Spring. It's all work, but it's all love, too.

When art calls, it's hard to say no.

Annie & Michael

This photo is from the photo shoot I did recently with Annie & Michael...

When I took this photo (this was the first of the both of them for the night), he made some comment about how I "always make it look like [they're] breaking up!"

Haha, so true.

This series very much makes it look like they're going through couple's counseling.

I never intend for that. Instead, I'm looking for interesting body poses, and I guess I'm naturally attracted to drawing "sad" faces. Smiling faces almost seem too difficult to market...?

Maybe I think if the subjects are smiling, viewers won't be as interested in trying to figure out what's going on.

Although this series, which has a lot of smiling, is still one of my favorites.

Who knows what I'll pull next? Crying? Hysterical laughter?

Hm, the more I look at this photograph, the more I like it. I thought Michael's expression would be too difficult to use, too silly or out of context, but it might be better than I originally thought...

1.04.2009

2 More Shows to See: 1/10

Sorry about the incorrect dates in the last post. They've been edited. I must've been way out of it when I wrote that entry. Think I was trying to write it quick so I didn't give up halfway through.

I forgot about 2 other excellent shows that I won't miss on Saturday the 10th, along with the Mat O'Brien show:

* "The Big Three" @ Michael Rosenthal Gallery
co-curated by my friend Mary Anne Kluth and featuring work by my other friends Christine Monohan and Annie Wong.

(annie wong)


Deth P. Sun @ Rowan Morrison Gallery, just three blocks away from my apartment!


(deth p. sun)


Saturday night's all booked up, folks. Take your parties elsewhere.
Or, er, elsewhen?

1.03.2009

Upcoming Shows to See: 1/8 - 1/10/09

Despite the crazy stress I will no doubt be under this time next week, I'm still very much looking forward to seeing these shows. With any luck, I'll even get to say hello to the artists - all of whom I haven't seen in ages.

1/8 Paul Urich @ Fecal Face Dot Gallery


1/9 Amanda Hughen and Jennifer Starkweather @ Electric Works


1/10 Mat O'Brien @ Eleanor Harwood Gallery


It's a new year - keep that secret resolution you've always had about going to see more art shows.