PROJECT: Nancy Chan

(image taken by Pro Arts)

Up in the PROJECT space at Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland.

Duration: now - Feb 18
Reception: Feb 4, 6-9p

Pro Arts Gallery
150 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Oakland

New American Paintings, no. 91 (Pacific Coast edition)

curated by Lawrence Rinder, director of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA)

Installation in progress

Upcoming Shows: Paper! Awesome! & Monster Drawing Rally

PAPER! AWESOME!
(Curated by Brion Nuda Rosch)

February 20 - March 27, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 20, 4-7pm

Baer Ridgway Exhibitions
172 Minna St
San Francisco, CA 94105

***

Southern Exposure's 10th Annual Monster Drawing Rally
A live drawing event and fundraiser
Friday, March 5, 2010, 6-11 pm
Donation: $10 & up

Verdi Club
2424 Mariposa St (between Potrero & Hampshire & 17th & 18th)
San Francisco, CA

(I'll be in the 8-9pm timeslot, btw)

Upcoming: Monster Drawing Rally

Hey folks, I just got a 8-9pm slot at the 10th Annual Monster Drawing Rally at the Verdi Club. It's a fundraiser for Southern Exposure and should be a fun time. I'll have an hour to make a piece (or more) that will be sold at the end of the hour for $60 each. I don't know if it's possible for me to make anything within an hour, so we'll see!


Southern Exposure's
10th Annual Monster Drawing Rally
A live drawing event and fundraiser

Friday, March 5, 2010
6:00 to 11:00 PM

$10 & up

Verdi Club
2424 Mariposa
(between Potrero & Hampshire & 17th & 18th)

Get High Now (Without Drugs)

Look what I got in the mail today!






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

Niche

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

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

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

"Spaces" @ Hyde St. Gallery (SF)

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.

Late Winter Updates

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.

Busiest time of the year

Hope you all are having a pleasant holiday season. It's a bit chilly here (mid 40s here in Oakland) but thankfully my heater works and my room is fairly well insulated.

It's been a very busy December and will be a very busy January for me as well. I've been commissioned by Chronicle Books to do all the illustrations for an upcoming book. It's quite a task - more drawings than I've ever done in just a month and a half, but I'm hoping for the best. All I can say is thank goodness that I have these two weeks off to work full-time (that's the plan, at least) to complete them all.

I've also been speaking with Eleanor Harwood about putting together a show at her gallery at the beginning of the new year, but that has been moved to the middle of 2009. It's quite a relief, of course, but I'm also very anxious to see what Jesse Schlesinger and Matt Momchilov have in mind for their walls.

Too many things on my plate! Honestly, I'd been hoping since October that I'd be playing video games nonstop or vacationing in LA during this break, but I can't sincerely complain. I'm grateful for the opportunities and can only hope that I can produce work that I and everyone else will enjoy.

Upcoming Show: "Portrait" @ Hallway Bathroom Gallery [SF]

I hope you are enjoying the lovely and varied weather of October (it's currently in the mid-70s in Oakland).

The Hallway Bathroom Gallery in San Francisco will have an opening reception on the fine Saturday of October 18th for the upcoming show, "Portrait." I will have a new piece up in this second portion of HBG's 3-part exhibition, "Landscape Portrait Pattern."

Join the festivities if you can - hopefully I'll see you there!

*****

PORTRAIT
October 18th through November 30th
Opening Reception Saturday October 18th 3pm to 8pm
Gallery Hours Saturdays Noon to 5pm

391A South Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco California USA

An international group of artists has been invited to respond to an assigned theme by producing one small work. Through this survey, Hallway Bathroom Gallery wishes to explore the subtle similarities (as well as differences) existing within contemporary art being made today, extending an invitation to the artist and the audience to identify a wide range of aesthetic values as determined by the assigned starting point.

More info @ http://www.hallwaybathroomgallery.com/

You Are There Canceled

Hey, sorry folks. The You Are There show I mentioned in the last post has been canceled/postponed. Sad times. So far, the next happening to look forward to is the Hallway Bathroom show. The first part of their 3-part exhibition opened today; go and check it out if you have a chance.

Cruel Summer

It's really not that bad of a summer, but it's certainly been much busier than past years.

New apartment in Oakland, and various art goings-on:

FasTrak will be ending this weekend, while The Magical Rainbow Pony Show continues through the end of August (I'll get to see it in person this weekend! That should be quite nice).

I plan on having a new piece (fingers crossed) in a temporary gallery space during next month's (in two weeks!) Oakland Art Murmur. A new bike shop will be opening up, but before that happens, a rather exciting Oakland-only show called You Are There will take place. After that, a nice month or so will pass before part 2 of Landscape Portrait Pattern goes up at Hallway Bathroom Gallery in San Francisco.

Busier than I'd anticipated for this time of year, but it's better that it comes in spades rather than not at all.

More details about the above shows here: http://events.seeinsidefordetails.com/

Also, saw the Beautiful Losers documentary at YBCA over the weekend and found it quite inspiring, as all good art movies should be. They said at the screening that it should be on wider release in September, so keep your eyes peeled.

Okay, and I've effectively gotten this stuck in my head - overalls, bananas, and all.

"30 Under 30" @ Varnish [SF]

Will have one of the pieces from the Annie & Michael V series in this juried show put on by Artspan and CCA.

The 30 under 30:

Rita Alves, Ian Amberson, Seth Armstrong, Peter Belkin, Nancy Chan, Deanna Charles, Ariel Clute, Lauren Cohen, Demon Cutler, Joseph Findeiss, Julia Goodman, Joshua Hagler, Queena Hernandez, Josh Hershman, Jessican Laurent, Carol Anne McChrystal, Matt Momchilov, Argishti Musakhanyan, Kara Nelson, Ian Norstad, Kate Nichols, Ernesto Ortiz, Leah Rosenberg, Theo Rigby, Noah Sakamoto, Sam Snowden, Estee Stevens, Hilary Williams, Gavin Worth, Judy Wu

More info: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/5/prweb926824.htm

My friend, Mary Anne, said a very sweet thing, that being in a "30 Under 30" show means two things: "It means you're young, and you're tight."

Pro Arts Juried Annual

Annie and Michael V (2 of 5) will be on display at the

Juried Annual 2008

Jan 22 - Mar 9
Reception: Jan 31, 6 - 8 pm

Pro Arts Gallery
550 Second Street
Oakland

The reception is this Thursday - hope to see you there! Lovely Annie will have two pieces up, too.

Britney & Kari

Commission piece finished up yesterday.

15 x 22", sumi ink on arches watercolor paper

(Paul said Kari started crying when he gave this piece to her [it was a surprise]. I hope that means she liked it.)

Aidan (triptych)

Commission piece completed the other day.
As always, sumi ink on arches watercolor paper. 8.5" x 11.5" each.

Updates

in the time it takes reviewed in the latest issue of Artweek

portfolio section has been updated

fecalface.com has put up an interview I did a little while back with Chris Pew