Shaun Odell wins Headlands’ TOURNESOL AWARD
June 23rd, 2009 | Published in Blog
HEADLANDS ANNOUNCES SHUAN ODELL RECIPIENT OF THE 2009–2010 TOURNESOL AWARD
Archive for June, 2009
SF Neighborhood Print - Park Life Edition
June 23rd, 2009 | Published in Blog
Park Life has produced a Limited Edition (100 pcs) of the SF Neighborhood Print that Jen Boerkum designed. Were taking preorders now for delivery in July.
Go Here
Paul Wackers 2009 Tournesol show
June 18th, 2009 | Published in Blog
PAUL WACKERS 2009 Tournesol Award Winner Show at Luggage Store Gallery
One of our favorite local artists is having his tournesol show at the Luggage Store soon
Paul Wackers: 2009 Tournesol Awardee for painting
Landscape and still life paintings
Opening Reception
Friday July 10, 2009 - Saturday August 8, 2009 at 6:00pm
the luggage store, 1007 Market Street (@6th), SF CA 94103
Tel. 1. 415. 255 5971
Gallery Hours: Wed-Saturday, 12-5pm and by appointment
Park Life Featured in NY Times Sunday
June 13th, 2009 | Published in Blog
New York Times Review
For quirky objects with an artistic bent, check out Park Life (220 Clement Street; 415-386-7275; www.parklifestore.com), a shop that carries a well-curated cache of art books, clever housewares and limited-edition objects — like salt and pepper shakers inscribed with the words “cocaine” and “heroin” ($125). If that’s not creative enough, pop into the adjacent gallery, which features monthly exhibitions of emerging artists from San Francisco and beyond (priced from $20 to $2,000). Silk-screened T-shirt by the Bay Area artist Tucker Nichols: $28.
Alexis Mackenzie @ Park Life
June 10th, 2009 | Published in News
Alexis MacKenzie
“Never Be Sad”
Opening Reception - Friday June 26th, 7pm - 10pm
June 26th - July 27th
Park Life is pleased to announce our next art exhibition featuring the work of Alexis Anne Mackenzie. This show marks Mackenzie’s first solo exhibition at Park Life and will feature all new work.
Alexis Mackenzie’s dreamlike collages intertwine the style of early 1900’s Dadaist Max Ernst with a strong botanical element to create strangely powerful scenarios. Benign elements such as flowers, human and animal figures, and other assorted Victoriana graft together symbiotically in tableaux which seem to deal simultaneously with both evolution and entropy. The resulting images pay homage to the Surrealist importance of the subconscious, where the meaning is left deliberately ambiguous.
Alexis Mackenzie was born and raised in the Midwest before moving to Vermont at the age of 16. After high school she traveled to Italy and Greece to study art history and fine arts, before attending Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where she earned her BFA. After graduating, she moved to San Francisco where she currently resides. Her collage work has been featured in galleries and publications around the world.
Have you used this yet?
June 3rd, 2009 | Published in Blog
Brion Nuda Rosch Interview
June 3rd, 2009 | Published in Blog
Mundane Shift Shape Replacement
The following is an interview conducted with Brion Nuda Rosch about the current group exhibition Mundane Shift Shape Replacement which Brion curated, as well as exhibited his own work. The show is on display until later this month and contains work from Chris Corales, Andrea Myers, Matthew Rich, Brion Nuda Rosch, and Liz Walsh.
1. Can you talk a little bit about the concept behind the exhibition and how these artists relate?
This exhibit began with an invitation from Park Life. The invitation was fairly open-ended, our first thoughts were focused on an exhibit of my works, and then conversation shifted towards a group effort and collaboration with Hallway Projects. My selections for this exhibit were based upon my process as an artist and my relationship with the work of the other artists involved. Each artist has a reductive quality to his or her process and chosen medium. We each share interests in painting, collage and assemblage, and that relationship is heavily dependent on form, color, placement, and medium. Within in this exhibit, the works exist in conversation with one another, exploring two-dimensional and three-dimensional space. I viewed the gallery’s space as a plane for creating a composition with the works, each existing within their own space, while also sharing a dialog with the others.
2. For this exhibition you played the role of curator and artist. Can you talk about this dichotomy and its advantages/ disadvantages pertaining to this show or past exhibitions? Do you find these roles really separate or do they at some point become the same thing?
My work involves a balance between the ideas of both practices. I do not see any advantages or disadvantages. Both are part of my process. I enjoy blurring the line between the two disciplines. In addition, my interests involve exploring the boundaries of public and private space. I curate a program of exhibitions and happenings in my home (Hallway Projects). I encourage a relationship with the domestic setting, and the close proximity of my studio. Visitors become active participants within a layered experience for viewing art. They direct their visit; they are invited to view the entire circumstance (both the current exhibit, and the environment it is shown within). The roles of artist and curator intermingle from one project to another here in my home, on-line and elsewhere. Generally my curation for physical exhibitions excludes a direct inclusion of my own work, however for this exhibit I felt it was important to have my voice physically present within the conversation between works created by the other artists.
3. Process is obviously a huge part of your concept and aesthetic, as well as all of the other artists in the show. Can you describe your process in a little more detail, and how much precedent does your process take over any aesthetic choices?
Most works involve a selection of material, then a set of rules. Arrangements occur, and rules change. My studio (and work) is in a state of flux, the beginning, middle and end of a piece is often undetermined. The object is an object, and the contexts of the objects reflect continued themes from one piece to another. I fixate on themes I wish to gain a better understanding, and during my process, I create a language (sometimes symbols) as self-reference. In many occasions a particular work’s meaning is unclear for some time, only to be discovered while exploring new works initiated with the same starting points. Process and aesthetics are intertwined, and either position can take precedence to become the focal point dependent on the piece. Both positions take a strong position within my work, and relate to one another freely and subconsciously.
4. What’s next on your plate? Curating, exhibiting, making, otherwise?
I am updating Something Home Something almost daily, spending time in the studio for group exhibitions at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions here in San Francisco and Ebersb9 in Chicago, organizing the flat files and planning one-day artist residencies here at Hallway Projects, and most importantly I am currently planning a wedding, and looking forward to a long overdue vacation.
Thank you Brion for your participation, and congratulations on the show and your upcoming wedding!
For more information on all the aforementioned artists and Brion’s other projects check out the following links.
The Park Life
Something Home Something
Baer Ridgway Gallery
Ebersb9
Hallway Bathroom Gallery