The annual Burning Man festival in Nevada is quickly approaching and with it tons of fund-raising events to get artists and others to the desert Aug. 25 through Sept. 1.

I have been doing a little plasma cutting and grinding on Jon Sarriugarte and Kyrsten Mate’s Snail art car myself. While it’s going to be cool when it’s done and sneaking through the desert, what also is going to be cool is Peter Hudson’s new zoetrope piece “Tantalus.”

I have written about Peter before and I just love his work.For Burning Man this year, Peter is creating yet another of his mesmerizing zoetropes. This one is a spin on the myth of Tantulus which is a story about temptation without satisfaction. Standing in a pool of water under a fruit tree, the Greek son of Zeus reached for fruit from the tree only to have the branches raised. When he went to get a drink from the pool, the water receded.

According to Peter’s Burning Man proposal (he received a grant from the Burning Man organization to do the piece) it will be difficult, but rewarding, to get this thing moving.

I have it on good authority (Peter’s sister works with me!) that “Tantulus” will be unveiled for a pre-desert sneak preview Friday night at American Steel in Oakland. The party is from 8 p.m. until midnight.

If you are not going to Burning Man this year, this is a great opportunity for you to check out what will likely be one of the most talked-about sculptures at the event. (Peter’s “monkeys” zoetrope from last year was THE thing to see at the Burning Man).

American Steel is at 1960 Mandela Parkway, Bay 3. I am not sure what the price to get in is, but expect to pay $15-$20. Peter hopes to make up the $5,000-plus extra he has spend on this new work. There will also be live acts and DJs at the event.

“Mother-Load,” 2008, mixed media

“It’s made out of sugar!”

That’s the observation I heard most frequently on a recent visit to Australian sculptor Timothy Horn’s exhibit “Bitter Suite” which is currently on display at San Francisco’s M.H. de Young Memorial Museum through October 12 as part of their Collections Connections program.

Indeed it is. The Cinderella carriage and baroque chandelier, two of the pieces in the three piece suite, are covered in shiny chunks of amber-colored rock sugar. But there’s something dark lurking underneath all that candy. Horn is an artist known for blurring the lines between the beautiful and the grotesque.

I recently interviewed the Chimayo, New Mexico-based artist and asked him a few questions about “Bitter Suite” and its enigmatic subject, San Francisco philanthropist and socialite Alma de Bretteville Spreckels.

Read the rest of this entry »

Support Organic Products, Vicky Tesmer
The portraits splashed on Vicky’s globe display a flourishing sustainable farm and lush growth of nurtured fruits and vegetables.

Thirty-five sculpted globes, part of “Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet,” will be on display from Tuesday to Oct. 13 at Crissy Field Promenade in San Francisco. These globes are “designed by renowned local, national and international artists to represent potential solutions to global warming,” according to Cool Globes press.

The globes have already hit Chicago and Washington, DC. Here, they are supported by Toyota, which claims to be the “greenest” car company in the world.

The globes sort of remind me of those hearts all over San Francisco, which I really like. Its neat to see an artist work with a structured canvas and come up with a stand-out visual look for their pieces. And of course, being “green” is so cool now adays.
Here’s another one for your viewing pleasure, a globe that gives suggestions on how to be greener in small steps:

Take Simple Steps, Angela Erikson
The tiny plastic people covering the green globe represent the members of teeniegreenie.org who have committed their lives to making the world greener by simply changing the little things in life.

Got an interesting press release earlier this week about Italian publisher FMR’s newest art book: “Michelangelo: La Dotta Mano,” of which it plans to produce ninety-nine worldwide and which sells at a cost of about $150,000 each.

The 264-page book aims to “celebrate the legacy of Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti” through the work of Italian art photographer Aurelio Amendola. The book’s cover is a bas-relief reproduction of Michelangelo’s “Madonna della Scala,” hand carved from marble gleaned from the same quarry Michelangelo is said to have used and the paper, which has been created specifically for the project, bears “the special ‘Michelangelo’ watermark.”

There’s a great New York Times story from May with details about the publication, the launch party and a quote from FMR chairman Marilena Ferrari calling the book “a work of art in itself.”

Earlier today I was reading a conversation between sculptor Lawrence Weiner and librarian and publisher Judith Hoffberg about artists books and artist’s catalogs. This book seems to blur the line between both and got me thinking about the relationships between books, art and their audience.

Weiner contends that books are meant to be accessible and “found” and therein lies much of their value. It’s doubtful many people will ever find “Michelangelo: La Dotta Mano” in any bookshop or virtual bookseller, much less leaf through a copy.

The publisher’s have however donated a copy to the Prado Museum in Spain. A flight to Madrid, hotel, meals, and tickets to the Prado to catch a glimpse of the book (encased in glass, of course) should they ever decide to display it? A bargain-basement steal compared to the asking price.

American artist Robert Rauschenberg died Monday according to an AP report and  New York’s Pace Wildenstein gallery.

Although known for his assemblage and mixed media works which brought together elements as disparate as bald eagles, mattresses and brooms, the Texas native was equally at home in the theater and dance worlds. He designed costumes and sets for Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor.

 I always found Rauschenberg’s funky “combines” - assemblage works he began producing in 1953 at the dawn of the Beat era -especially fascinating. His gift for marrying flotsam and jetsam with scribbles and patches of dripping paint has been hugely influential. He was also an excellent printmaker and his collaged, edgy prints are as vibrant and relevant today as they were in the 1960’s.

 I’m thinking of Rauschenberg’s Automobile tire print, his series of “White Paintings,” the erased De Kooning drawing. If you’ve never seen these works, check them out here, here and here.

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 29, has been designated SWAN Day (Support Women in the Arts Now Day) by The Fund for Women Artists, a San Francisco based non-profit arts organization which aims to help women artists acquire resources for creative work.

30 U.S. states and 10 countries will be hosting SWAN-related events ranging from a documentary film screening in San Francisco to a four-day SWAN Day festival in Berlin and a Celebration of Craftswomen bazaar in India.

You might be pleased to hear that the city of Martinez is joining in on the action with an arts event at the Martinez Opera which is located at 908 Ferry Street.

More than three dozen Contra Costa and Solano County artists will be displaying (and selling) their paintings, jewelry and crafts.

The free event will be held from noon-5 p.m. and all sale proceeds will go directly to the artists.

Visit www.womenarts.org for more information.

I spent a relaxing afternoon at Zeitgiest Sunday and ran into Melissa Alexander, the Executive Director of Burning Man’s Black Rock Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps support the arts in the Bay Area. She told me that the organization, which is responsible for bringing a number of large-scale artworks to San Francisco, is funding a trip of the much-talked-about Homouroboros to San Jose.

The huge piece, done by artist Peter Hudson, was one of the highlights of Burning Man 2007. It consists of 18 life-sized monkeys hanging from curved branches. People can pound on six drums to get the piece moving. Then, using strobes at night or liquid crystal shutter goggles by day, a mind trick called “persistence of vision” causes the monkeys to appear like they are jumping from branch to branch. It is totally amazing.

I have been a fan of Hudson’s work since I saw his swimmers, “Sisyphish” at Burning Man 2001.   

I got a cool surprise when Contra Costa Times Walnut Creek reporter Theresa Harrington wrote about her brother’s work for Burning Man 2007 and her brother happened to be Hudson and the piece happened to be this amazing monkey sculpture.

The Black Rock Arts Foundation hopes to exhibit Homouroboros for one month in conjunction with San Jose’s bi-annual Zero One festival, a festival of technology and art.

Melissa Alexander told me about how the piece will affect the multi-cultural citizens of San Jose. She really wants it to get to San Jose and so do I.

Look for it this spring.

I just wanted to pop in here and remind you that the White Elephant Sale is happening this weekend. I went to the preview sale last month and bought a painting for $10 that has been alternately described as creepy and ugly. I, however, love it. I’ll show you a picture once I get one.

The White Elephant Sale is the largest rummage sale in California and the money goes to the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, which buys art and helps bring exhibitions to the museum.

And it’s a lot of fun.

It’s at the White Elephant Sale Warehouse at 333 Lancaster St., off the Interstate- 880 Freeway/Fruitvale exit near the Oakland Estuary. The sale is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day and they usually discount the remaining stuff on Sunday.

The sale will be offering a shuttle from the Fruitvale BART station. I suggest taking it. It was a real drag last month trying to get my purchases to the car 20 blocks away in the rain.

Even if you have seen the work of the Sunbrothers before, you are in for a special treat Saturday night in Richmond!

Sunbrothers, artists who specialize in solar-powered sculpture, are hosting a Valentine’s Day Roses 2008 event featuring some of their sculpture for viewing and sale. I have always admired the work of Sunbrothers. Their pieces, like the long-stemmed rose to the left, are delicate, earthy and beautiful. And if you’re all into the “green” thing, this rose will not only never die but it will keep lighting up without batteries. Seems like I should find me a Valentine to get me a rose! They run from $250 - $400.

Of course, the Sunbrothers are not the only people to see at the event, which runs from 6 to 10 p.m.
Jeremy Lutes will be showing some new illuminated insect sculptures, like the one on the left. According to his own Web site, his artwork combines an enduring fascination with light and color, an appreciation of nature, and electronic wizardry.

“I am drawn to light in motion, to simplicity of form and function, and to the usually graceful, sometimes chaotic processes of the natural world. How are clouds shaped ? Why do ripples on a pond’s surface move the way they do ? What determines the shape of a bolt of lightning ? The work I create is an attempt to evoke in others similar feelings of wonder and awe,” he says

Lee Kobus will also be there, with some of her jewelry for sale. Also at the event is Alex Whisnant with chocolates, David Andres and Jon Sarriugarte with fire sculpture and fire gardens.
Although I have never seen Raven Hanna’s “Made With Molecules” sterling silver jewelry before, I absolutely *love* her serotonin pendant shown on the left! Hanna is a Yale-educated scientist-turned-artist whose jewelry of molecules rank high on the sexy geek scale. The serotonin piece is her best seller but her site has many more including caffiene and dopamine. She will be there to show her new line of “aminobet” silver jewelry that uses the shapes of amino acids to spell words and names, like the one on the bottom right.

And, when you need to take a breather from shopping, look at images from M Woolson’s upcoming show, EASTBAYNIA.

I may even get to pick up my very own solar long stem rose without having to find a new man. Sunbrothers is having a raffle at 9:30 p.m. You have to be there to win but tickets are only $1 a piece.

Sunbrothers is at 1345 South 50th St. in Richmond.

See you there!

This afternoon I visited Diablo Valley College’s Art Gallery’s new show “Places Between: Artists Working with Photography and Sculpture” and I was disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed with the work, quite the opposite. I was sad because the space was too small for such an awesome display of talent recruited for the show.

You see, I have heard of several of the artists in the show namely Liz Hickok, Therese Lahaie and Ehren Tool. You probably have, too, even if you don’t know their names.

Liz Hickok once built a model of San Francisco using Jell-O . She has some landscape photographs of this amazing fete on display at the gallery now.

Therese Lahaie’s kenetic sculptures were a bright spot at a show at CSU Sacramento.

Lahaie’s signature kenitic work is on display at the DVC gallery as is some of her photographic work.

And Ehren Tool’s work at the 2003 Burning Man event was one of the largest installations folks who regularly attend the event have ever seen.

Combine these three artists with five more in a 1,000-square-foot gallery space and you get just a little, bitty taste of what they have to offer. It is simply not enough.

Vanitas, 2007 by Rian Kerrane

According to the gallery, Rian Kerrane creates personal landscapes using sculpture and imagery and the artist hopes the viewer will have a multi-sensory experience when they see the work. One wall of the gallery was completely taken over by Kerrane’s “Vanitas” made of pinhole photographs, florist wire, lace, Velcro and motorized fans. I could have spent hours looking at all the tiny photographs.

1 CBU 87 over DVC, 2007 by Ehren Tool

Tool’s piece “1 CBU 87 over DVC” could perhaps be described as war porn. It is made of more than 200 ceramic cups with pictures of weapons, naked ladies, George W. Bush and famous quotes on them. Tool is a Gulf War veteran and he does his work to get you to think about war. I did do just that and greedy little me also thought about the gallery’s press release, which says Tool will be giving away his cups after the show. I want one.

A Sea of Troubles Meets the Trees Themselves by Melissa Borman

Just around the corner from Tool’s piece was Melissa Borman’s installation, which, compared to the war-theme Tool, was rather reflective and simple. Small branches of a tree were hanging from the ceiling and resting inside manilla envelopes. The envelopes had thoughtful phrases on them and I read each one. I felt happy and calm within her installation.

“Places Between: Artists Working with Photography and Sculpture” will be up until Feb. 23. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Check the gallery Web site to figure out how to find it on campus (it’s easy!). Bring $2 in quarters to get a parking permit for the day.