A.M.

Heading to work earlier than usual, I am struck by the fog of a San Francisco morning. It seems very much as smoke from a fire, although heavier somehow, as if the thing on fire was a large body of water, smoldering densely. That is, of course, very close to what is happening. Is it something about the light which makes it seem so magical? Or is it simply that I'm not adjusted to this early hour.

Waiting by the waterfront for work to start.

The gallery whre I work is near Fisherman's Wharf, a touristy neighborhood near North Beach. I'm not really sure who buys the eart and I find it hard to visualize, much as I find it hard to picture the Beats and artists of North Beach's past having anything in common with todays tourist throngs. It's beautiful, yes, and filled with enough of the Italian foods I remember from a sesmester abroad to earn it a place in my heart. But it's hard to reconcile with it's image, the one so many tourists stop at the City Lights bookstore in search of.

It's time now for work.

New Studio!

I'm very excited to announce that I've just mailed in my deposit for my new studio at Hive Galleries in Oakland! Starting January 1st, I'll be happily painting away in my own personal white box. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to start getting my portfolio in order for grad school applications next fall, and also just really excited to not have to make small gouache drawings at the kitchen table any more. The joy of having a dedicated art-making space... just one more reason to hope the world doesn't end in 2012.

Postcard Show 14

The following images are some of my favorites of the 35 individual gouache and pencil on paper postcards I made for the upcoming show at The Lab. I got lazy and didn't do anything other than crop my scans, but I think in this case that's alright. 

Upcoming Shows

Im Lauf der Zeit (Kings of the Road), 1976

The agony of not being able to find the film you want to watch.

Wim Wenders' 1976 film Im Lauf der Zeit (English title: Kings of the Road) is a film that I haven't seen since I was in high school, when an old VHS copy was lent me by a friend. To be totally honest, I remember it only in flashes. Black and white with long, slow, silent takes. I remember two men on the road. I don't remember anything else definitively enough to write out. What I can say is that this film was my introduction to Wim Wenders, who became a life-long favorite. This film also probably led into my enthusiasm for Jim Jarmusch films. (I remember a similar frustration while waiting for the re-issue of Stranger Than Paradise.) So until I can dig it out from some library, I'll content myself with listening to Roger Miller songs.

Lemons and Rats (dream)

This has really nothing to do with nothing, but last night I dreamed (among other things) of a back-lit fishtank full of water and lemons sunk beneath. The tank contained nine white rats, which I counted in my sleep - a new experience. These rats were eating the zest off the lemons, leaving them shaved and matte white. The light was a beautiful California morning light - glowy and yellow, but still so bright - and as the rats did their work, the light caught in the tank, glowing even more yellow and white from the lemons and white rats. An interesting silhouette of white and yellow on white and yellow, outlined with brighter whites and yellows. I saw all this over a fence, over a dream-distance that blurred things. But it was stays vivid in my memory.

It was really quite beautiful, and in my dream I felt that I should discourage the rats from doing this, as they were in my backyard. But I couldn't do it, and walked away.

An Image from Route 66

Click to see larger.

I really wish I had a better camera. There's something about this image I find so striking.