feather2pixels

Character Profile, the July 2013 text and language based group show I curated at Root Division in San Francisco, is over.

Just a rapidly fading collection of electrochemical brain markers and digital residue on the internet, the exhibition now exists only to the extent that we accept the highly contested notion of the past as a tangible component of reality. Character Profile does not think, therefore it may not be and may never have been.

To combat existential dread, I recorded this ten minute walkthrough of the show in 1080p.  We did it off the cuff in one long continuous take, so sorry if I misrepresented anything you might find important.   Thanks to EB , Trevor, and Lonwell for help with this.  And thanks to everyone who participated in the viewing and creation of this show.

[iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/UXwZGbFcN6o” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

One of my big summer projects was An Interview With the Author Monica Zarazua.

It’s a screenprinted motion picture on thirty-eight wood tiles made for a group show at Joyce Gordon Gallery in Oak-land.  That show explored intersections between the literary and visual arts and my intent for the piece was to blur the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction, creating an imaginary space for the non-imaginary author of the show’s short stories to inhabit. Here is a pdf of the show catalog beautifully put together by Xiomara Castro.

The images used in the project, which proceeds left, right, up, and down the gallery wall, were collected from photos and video recordings produced for this work.  Here’s a shitty video about one day in that process!

[iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/70608039?byline=0&amp;color=ff0179″ width=”500″ height=”367″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/70608039″>Underwater photoshoot for a screenprint project.</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user16153940″>Jon Fischer</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p> <p>A four minute video filmed during the making of the visual art piece &quot;Interview with the Writer Monica Zarazua&quot; by Jon Fischer. On this day of production, Fischer enlisted several adventurous friends to improvise dozens of simple movements and sequences filmed using HD video underwater in a 59&deg;F pool. <br /> <br /> To develop the final art piece, individual images selected from single frames in the source footage were collected and reassembled to form intertwined fantastical stories that draw on motifs such as color, text, space, and movement. The result resembles something in between a period silent movie, a comic strip, and the pre-cinema locomotion studies of Eadweard Muybridge.<br /> <br /> The piece creates a story for the storyteller to inhabit. Presenting a complex structure of overlapping narratives that is generated from simple recordings of people in motion, the project explores a fluid relationship between fiction and non-fiction, in which each creates the other. <br /> <br /> Filmed by Jon Fischer and Nowell Valeri in 2013.</p>,/imframe]

Here is a sneak peak of noted gluten artist Ben Hill‘s Toasted Puns, installed at Root Division for our language-art show, Character Profile. This has to be seen in person to believed!

Character Profile at Root Division is installed, open, and ready for the masses.

It really couldn’t have turned out better.  I am extremely proud of it.

The opening is this Saturday July 13, 7-10PM:
Root Division
3175 17th Street (between Shotwell and South Van Ness)
With a performance by vocalist-violinist Dina Maccabee around 8:30

And to help that along, we’ve got some press.  A delicious glossy spread in the July-August 7×7 magazine:

And a blurb in the July 11 SF Examiner:

Here are some more photos from some Character Profile projects.

Ben’s Hill‘s Toasted Puns how have a title bun.  This was my first experience screenprinting baked goods and I must say I hope I have a reason to do it again soon.

America, you requested it and I am giving to you:  American Fistfight, is a multi-projector screenprinted slideshow controlled by a boxing robot.  It looks like a huge mess, but it’s coming along.

Ben Hill‘s toasted puns are coming in from our eight lettering artists. I toasted, shrink-wrapped, and tagged the first set yesterday and they are looking delicious.

Displayed artists: Amy Bryan and Astrid Kaemmerling

Character Profile opens July 10 2013 at Root Division. (Opening Reception: Saturday July 13 7-10PM)

“Character Profile: New Works in Language, Text, and Wordplay”
Curated by Jon Fischer
Opening Reception Saturday July 13 7-10PM (one block from tacos!)
Exhibition Dates: July 10-27
Root Division
3175 17th Street at South Van Ness, San Francisco
free

About eighteen months ago in Golden Gate Park, I had a sudden flash of inspiration in the form of a succession of twenty-eight free associative phrases that I quite immediately knew I wanted to develop into a substantial art piece.

I was associated with Root Division through some teaching work, and decided to go even further and pitch them an entire language based show through their curatorial submission program. Over the course of four of five months of back and forth I refined the concept, got three or four trusted collaborators involved, and the proposal was accepted as the July 2013 show at Root Division! This group show is going to feature the language-based visual artwork of 27 artists including my beloved Ben Hill, Nowell Valeri, and Erin Bregman. I think it’s going to be a really fun, multifaceted show featuring but not limited to:

• A wall of Toasted Puns.
• An interactive sound installation in which visitors can manipulate Presidential speeches with obscene gangta rap with old TV commercials, to create their own postmodern soundtrack the way God intended.
• Flip Books.
• A New York Times vs USA Today death match.
• eBooks (a humongous “e” made out of books).
• And lots of other engaging, interactive work dedicated to a spirit of play.

Bring your kids!

My project, “American Fistfight” evokes the early era of cinema with rudimentary moving image sequences produced entirely with screen printed 35mm slides. Several vintage projectors connected with a fabricated control panel will allow visitors to maneuver image sequences for themselves while the results are displayed on the gallery wall.

From the curatorial desk:
Character Profile is a visual arts exhibition featuring projects that explore intersections between the forms, mechanisms and meanings of language. Drawing from a cross disciplinary group of twenty-six collaborators from across the country including writers, visual artists, and craftspeople, Character Profile investigates novel functions of language through a broad range of materials, media and approaches. Many of these works are dedicated to a spirit of engagement and play. The exhibition highlights art designed for direct interaction with visitors and work that provokes expanded meanings and alternative associations. These artists present language as both a medium and a subject, and deftly maneuver words to both convey and critique meaning.

The April 2013 CityArt show is installed and open.  This month I am  experimenting with some heavy artillery.  I would be honored if you stopped by this month to check it out in person.  Thanks to EB for hanging helping.

Clockwise from top:

1. Crossroads on  Mount  Tamalpais w/ Traffic Cone (Marin County, CA) | Unique screenprint on handmade canvas | 48×24 inches | 2012

Permanently installed in a special rustic pine frame.

2. Seal Rocks | Ocean Beach, San Francisco CA | Unique screenprint and ink on paper | 30 x 24 inches | 2013

140 lb watercolor paper.  Archival mounted in a custom fir shadow box with double strength glass. Removable title plaque.

3. Something That Will Catch Their Eye | Unique screenprint and ink on oak tile | 16 x 16 inches | 2013

4. Michelle’s Print | Screenprint on Pine (2nd edition of 9) | 12 x 18 inches | 2013

City Art April 2013 teaser | 10x12" | Screenprint on plywood

Here’s the teaser for my third consecutive group show at CityArt Gallery.  Join me and two hundred of my new best friends for the April 5th opening at 828 Valencia!

And if not, don’t hesitate to stop in the gallery any other Wednesday through Sunday this month to check out wallspace number twenty-six.

Check out my little piece of the world in the form of the March 2013 City Art Gallery show.  Your will find multiple pieces of cardboard, paper, and wood that I have not changed or in some cases slightly increased the value of by applying my art to.  If you are rolling down Valencia Street in San Francisco this month, please stop by and check it out.  We are right next to Dave Eggers’ pirate store so just maybe hit us up while you are running your weekly treasure-related errands.

I’m getting ready for the March show at City Art:

…By printing some labels on wood, complete with Linnaean taxonomy, for my series of Invasive Species screenprints.

(Remember this print with embedded flies?  Me neither.)

Anyway, some see them all Friday March 01, 2013 at City Art. 828 Valencia from 7-10PM.

PS: If you buy the art at the show, you get the wood label for free!

Last year I decided that I wanted to focus on art that features wordplay.

To facilitate this, I arranged to curate a show on art that features wordplay at the always-canny Root Division.   The key word here is “play.”  The word “word” is also key.   I suppose the word “features” provides some key context as well.

You know what? All the words are important.  That’s the point of the show.

Please forward this to anyone who might be interested–not just visual artists.  The show is in July 2013 in SF and proposals are due by the end of April.

OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS:

Character Profile