new dendrite tentacles

my *dendrite* blog has a few new entries.

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aloha...not yet...

OK, one last thing before I go. Once I start posting things to this ole blog I can't seem to stop chatting...Today I went down to San Jose (about an hour south of SF) to meet with the curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Cathy Kimball for an upcoming group show. I know Cathy from previous exhibitions, so it was nice to see her again. The show has about 8 artists and the theme is a technology-related one (called "Next/New"), since it's actually being held in conjunction with a big San Jose tech expo the ISEA (I forget what it's an acronym for, but just imagine something techie and geekie and very silicon valley-like). The opening for the show will have the street shut down in front and a big party as it's also the ISEA's closing night--nice!

So my idea for the show is pretty funny. Knowing that most of the other artists will be making very "techie" works (trust me, back in the late 90s/early 2000s tech-related art was SUPER big here in the Bay Area--it was totally ostentatious and a complete reflection of the bloated dot-com industry--thank god it popped, but it's still around) I'm doing something that doesn't even need electricity. What? No large video-projection pieces? No flat-screen panels with dual monitors and flashing lights? Why, no!

I'm going to be searching through online vendor sites like Ebay and Craigslist to find pictures of used electronic equipment that is being sold--like car stereos, cellphones, flat-screen monitors, etc. I'm downloading (or "stealing", i guess) the photos, and adjusting them in photoshop so that they "straighten" out their perpsective. Then I'm printing them out at "real" size, cutting them out, and assembling them into 3-D shapes so that they are weird "proxies" of the actual items. The blown-out jpg-y qualities will look really awful and yucky. I'm going to amass a whole slew of them so it will look like a low-grade pawn shop, flea market sale, or "fenced" area (a place where folks hawk stolen goods). They'll be displayed jumbled about on either a large 8' x 8' raised panel on the floor (a la flea markets) or on some kind of shelving unit. The point is that these actual items may or may not be "stolen" originally--lots of electronics get sold online from shady sources. Even if the originals were "legit", my "stealing" them from the internet is trying to partake of the rampant copyright infringement that is happening online, and the work also becomes a giant physical collection of stuff being sold in remote parts of the real world.

I guess I just like the fact that it's all quite contrary to what the other works in the show will look like--mine is gonna be messy, and junky, a real anti-slick thing. Yeah, go technology! To be honest, I'm a wee frightened at my time schedule on this one. By the time I get back from Hawaii I have about 3-4 weeks to pull this baby together. I can do it, but it may just get painful in the process. Argh.

However, I'm also totally excited by what my friend Julia Page is doing for the show: she's making a giant hydroponic system that grows plants onto fiberglass armatures shaped like machine guns--a bio-ogranic arsenal of sorts. Ohhhhhh! I love it and can't wait to see it in action.

Alright, i'm really going now. Yes, finally...

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Carrie's Coach!

Ha ha! Dr. Carrie (who already has two other counterfeit bags under her wings) sent me her new Coach bag in-progress. She's making it entirely free-form (no pattern, just making it up as she goes along) and using lots of color changes with single crochet stitches...I'm a real fan of free-form interpretation and I have to really hand it to the lady for working off of such a hard original--love it! :D


Carrie's counterfeit Coach


"Original" Coach...

On another note, I hear whispers that Kat in Tokyo is proceeding with an entire Louis Vuitton crocheted set and has a belt under wraps? Do tell, Ms. K! Here's a toast to you from remote San Francisco :)

OK, everyone, have fun while I'm in Hawaii--see you back in June! I'll be sure to take lots of local photos and more palm trees and beaches than you'll ever wanna see...

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i bow down to this woman

There is something in the air...someone recently pointed me to a website of ANOTHER crochet counterfeiter: Ellen Bloom is a Los Angeles-based crochet maven who is making the MOST amazing crochet bags based on designer ones. It's gotten to the point where when I look at her work I can't tell which ones are the "originals" and which ones are the "copies"...Truly gorgeous!

Folks, she blows me away. Check out her work on her blog, as well as these images below that I have permission from her to repost. I...am...speechless. I am also totally in love with the fact that there are others working in a synergistic manner and that we all want to handmake that which we covet. hurrah for DIY! Ellen really ups the ante with the magic of her crochet hook, doesn't she???



"Original" Ferragamo


Ellen's Ferragamo (or Faux-regamo!)


"Original" red Fiore


Ellen's Fiore in-progress




Up next: Ellen will tackle an Emilio Pucci...oh...my...god.

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your patience...

...is much appreciated! That is, I haven't had any new anti-factory items available all month and it looks like May will be the first month in a long time that I won't be restocking :( Sorry, guys, i've been so busy lately with other things and I'm also leaving for my cousin's wedding in Hawaii later this week. Yep, a week in Hawaii, how awful... ;p Actually, the good thing is that it's coinciding with a show of mine that's opening at the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu, so it's sort of a big business trip. And I'll be having a birthday out there, too, a triple coincidence!

Also, crochet counterfeiters who have completed bags get first dibs on anti-factory clothes, so that's another suck away from the store. Today I made three things which is nice, because at least something is being done about it, but I won't have time to post anything for sale till quite after I get back.

Sigh! Please bear with me--it's not like I don't love you anymore, my loyal customers...OK, chat soon, over and out...

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did someone say "counterfeit"?

As promised, here are updates from fellow Counterfeit Crochet Handbag folks! You people just tickle me silly and make me so happy. I love how people decided to handle the things like logos, details, and even colors--it's a real reflection of the "important" parts to you and how you decide to translate it. I love sharing these since if you're considering (or already are) a part of this project, it's great to see the individuality in each piece, even when folks choose the exact same bag! So don't be shy, it's not a competition to see who's better, it's just a personal challenge--!

...In order of images sent in to me...

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TERRY'S LOUIS VUITTON
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Check out the straps--so great looking, and the giant flowers! Terry also added cardboard inserts to help keep the shape (hint, hint, it works!) and it looks totally ready for the streets ;)



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ANGELA'S LOUIS VUITTON
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Note the fabulous gold embroidered logo all over it! not to mention the tiny little pink flower--it's a Murakami!





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CARRIE'S CHANEL
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Oh, Carrie, you are just a counterfeiting machine! This is the lady's second (her first was the giant Dior bag replete with detailed embroidered logo) and she's already started a third--someone stop this mad woman before she puts 'em out of business :). This one was made as a mother's day gift for her mom--can you imagine her mom toting this one around? So fab! Check the logo detail on the side, the dangly detail off the strap, and the long "papillon" shape (that's what it's called, right?)...









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DIANA'S DIOR (in progress)
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Oh, Diana, I can already tell this will be amazing...she sent in these shots of her new Dior and the details look so amazing--that crocheted "D" is taking my breath away!

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art website redesign

it's finally up! after my complaining about it yesterday, i put up the new art website this morning and here 'tis!

the old one had been chugging along for the past six years or so (ack!) and i had built it one page at a time with not much thought to streamlining it. finally it became a giant dumping ground for projects with no particular order to things (apart from chronological), so this time i decided to try some general "categories" of projects to see how it would work...i know it may still be a bit vague, but at least it attempts to cluster some projects together :)

oh, and before i forget, i'm looking for a new studio mate. after a year of sharing with amy, she is moving on and we need a mate...please see below and pass the info to any good folks you know in SF. no crazies, please! just good folks, y'hear?

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STUDIO SHARE AVAILABLE!
$325/month (includes utilities, etc)
San Francisco
Available July 1, 2006

We are 2 artists looking for a fairly clean artist (photographer, drawer, painter, clean sculptor, video artist, etc.) to share this lovely studio!

THE SPACE
--about 350 square feet of an open 1,000 square foot space (feels very open since we haven't carved it up too much)
--12' ceilings
--cement floors
--large wall of windows
--on second floor of three-story building
--a 150 square foot part of of the studio is a shared storage area/utility area, where you can stow all the stuff you don't want in your work space
--utility sink in unit

THE BUILDING
--large industrial building full of artists, woodworkers, craftspeople, etc.
--secure and professional atmosphere
--building manager and building caretaker on site
--shared bathrooms on each floor
--freight elevators right across the hall!
--loading dock for easy loading/unloading

THE LOCATION
--Yosemite Ave., close to 101 freeway, Bayshore, and Third Street
--the location is a bit out of the way--they will be opening the Third Street lightrail in the future, but driving is the easiest way to get here.
--near excellent burrito places, Walgreens, post office, light industrial area

There will probably be many times where you will have the place all to yourself, depending on schedules! We're both busy people who work and teach, and are looking for a responsible studio mate.

Please email me for more info!

Stephanie
studio@stephaniesyjuco.com

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cro-shay

i....will...post....more....counterfeit....crochet...handbags...soon!

some of you have sent me photos of your little counterfeit lovelies and i am gathering them together for another show-off. as always, ya'lls rock! carrie has finished TWO and is now working towards a third--geez, louise, she's fast :)

ok, talk soon. if you don't know what i'm talking about, look here.

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virtual housekeeping

yuck, you know when you have those days where it flies by and you wonder if you actually accomplished anything? i'm having those, two days in a row, too--argh!

i've been trying to be good about getting my life in order: clearing my office area of junk and stupid piles of papers, throwing away old magazines, putting all my receipts in order, etc. the most frustrating thing was yesterday, where I spent like, 10 hours trying to redesign my art website so it was more organized with "categories" of work as opposed to a giant dumping ground of random projects. As it is right now, as soon as I document something, it just goes to the top of the list of things to click, and now I have, like, over 30 projects that seem to lack a meta-cohesion or something. Anyhow, 10 hours was wasted because in the end i don't think I'm going to use the design I tried to come up with because it's not as streamlined as I would like. Below is the new homepage for the site, but I haven't followed through with changing the other pages into a similar style yet:



Today i ran errands: picked up slide duplicates downtown, picked up packages at the post office, bought stamps, deposited checks into bank, went to office supply store to buy organizational stuff like file folders, etc. etc. etc.

The biggest thing today is that I finally finished working on a 120-page book I designed as a portfolio of my projects, after slaving away at it for days now. It's like a "retrospective" catalog of sorts...I mean, if no one else is gonna publish it (like my galleries? hello?), I might as well, eh? It's part vanity, part trying to be my own good career manager. It's a full-color perfect-bound 9" x 6" book that will be printed by lulu.com, which is an amazing online self-publisher: you upload your designed files (in my case, done in Quark and turned into PDFs) and get back fully printed professional-looking books! Really! Way! I did a test one that was 8 1/2" x 11" with color images and it looked amazing--since the test was only 36 pages, it cost me less than $10. The 120-page one will be about $21.00 each to produce, but it's worth it as a promotional tool.

This is a mock-up of the cover, which wraps around the front and back and shows the spine text:



It should take a little over a week for the sample book to arrive. If it all looks good I can go ahead and order more and start sending them out to all those special people who have power in the art world and who I need to start getting under the radar of ;p oh, how i hate the uber-promotionality of it all. it has absolutely *nothing* to do with the actual making of the work but winds up taking almost as much (if not more!) time...

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Espana!

Hey, I'm back! Spain was AMAZING (how could it not be???)...I actually got back two nights ago, but have been so jetlagged and feel like I'm coming down with a cold that I didn't feel like doing much. But what a whirlwind--five days in Madrid, most of it doing things related to the exhibition and hanging out with arts professionals from the Philippines who were also out for the show.

Basically, the show was of five centuries of Filipino art--way back from historical pre-colonial days all the way up to the 21st Century. It was really interesting to see everything in that giant context, and it was in an amazing gigantic old building (the Conde Duque Museum) which is in the old town. I stayed at the Hotel Conde Duque a few blocks away, a lovely 4-star hotel that they put us all up in.

The context for me was interesting: I had always been conscious that Spain was the seat of empire and the first colonial power in the Philippines. They've left their culture and architectural marks all over it, as well as a certain type of class structure that is still there. All this plus the sheer joy of being a 21st Century tourist from America was a backdrop for the trip.

The first day was about delivering my artwork to the gallery and having it installed. Then I was FREE for the next few days to just wander around and explore. I went to a bunch of lectures and panel discussions held in conjunction with the exhibition, ate tons of food, and got to know the Filipino artworld--sort of ironic that I was getting to know them in Spain since they were all flown out!

Where to start? Uh, I really should post these photos to flickr, but oh well, here they are, in long form!


The church adjacent to the Royal Palace in the old part of town--during sunset--aaaaaahhhhh!


Amor, yes amor. Love Spain, and there's a giant "love" in the park by the Prado...


One day I went around with my uncle John (right), who happened to also be there as a speaker for a lecture, and Richie, a University curator from the Philippines...here in front of the Reina Sofia.


Let me tell you, the new wing to the Reina Sofia (one of the major museums in the city) is totally STUNNING. They created a courtyard area by capping part of the outside of the building with a giant red roof with holes cut out and this giant Roy Lichtenstein sculpture at one side. It's hard to tell by this pic how big it is, but the sculpture is HUGE. Thus, the roof is HIGH...amazing!


the Reina Sofia Cafe is also stunning. This photo does not do it justice--there's a gigantic curvy red metal interior with windows, skylights, and a sinuous shape to the whole thing.


At the Prado, you could take pictures and it was great to see people outright "counterfeiting" from the old masters--ha ha!


more counterfeiting...


Valesquez's "Las Meninas"--the touchstone for me, as it was a centerpiece in my college art history classes. Not to mention Goya's Black Paintings (so great to see in person!). The Reina Sofia had a great contemporary work by artist Eve Sussman who recreated on film the few minutes before and after the moment depicted in "Las Meninas".


The entrance to the "Filipiniana" exhibition at the Conde Duque. More than 300 items and artworks were gathered for inclusion and a gorgeous catalog was made. The reason for my whole trip, this thing!


The gallery during intallation process. I love all the covered art, like under veils.


one of the preparators installing my work over a vitrine and to the right is a Manuel Ocampo painting.


more veiled artworks...


A view from one end of the gallery hall--a main corridor splits off into many rooms between each pillar...


At one end, starting the contemporary section, was a giant "bubble machine" by British/Filipino artist David Medalla, a seminal 1960s work...video projectors were all over the exhibition, used as exhibition text on the floor and showing video works.


The one-million-dollar 19th Century painting by Juan Luna that was shipped from the Philippines for the exhbition...It was laying out on a table waiting to be placed, with all these people rushing around it, and it was so tempting to touch it! This painting caused a scandal last year when the Philippine government bought it at a Sotheby's auction using the country's social security funds...ack!


Dinner after the exhibition started at 10pm (those Spaniards!) at a fancy restaurant by the gallery. Colleagues and artists are, left to right: (oops--forgot the first guy's name, let's move on...), Joselina Cruz, curator at the Singapore Museum; John Silva, director of the National Museum in the Philippines (and my uncle); Sid, artist and curator of the CCP Museum; Kristoffer, young artist and Madrid resident, and Richie, director of the Ateneo Gallery, Philippines.


Kris was so fabulous...as a Madrid-dweller, he took Richie and I out one night to the La Latina district, the lovely old part of town that has winding streets reminiscent of both Paris and Italy. Tons of cafes and eateries open late, bars with happy Spaniards, and the weather warm enough for t-shirts at midnight! Oh, and the food...don't let me start :D


The Spanish contingency: second from left is Juan Guardiola, the exhibition curator, as well as his other staff/museum folks (plus Richie).


Obligatory hotel photos. I travel all around the world and wound up taking tons of photos of...my hotel room. Funny, huh?






My hotel room was soooooo lovely--every morning I would wake up and throw back the curtains to sunlight streaming in and a cobblestone street in front, a park and playground, and cafes on the streets.


The view outside my hotel room--ahhhhhhh!


Spanish TV is a hoot--especially late night shows...I was morbidly fascinated by Tara Reid, who showed up in all her horrible glory on one show, slurry and translated with a voiceover. It was like she was seriously drugged or drunk, it was a total trainwreck and I couldn't take my eyes off of her...

The exhibition and opening was the last night I was there--the next morning I had to fly out, and I didn't get to bed until 3am and then couldn't even fall asleep. Despite being there for five days, I never fully adjusted my internal timeclock.

Spain was amazing. Must go back...! I wasn't such a great tourist in that I don't take lots of photos of everything (I get self-conscious about looking like a dork). But I guess I'll be more of a dork the next time around :). Pretty much every night was about going out and getting rather drunk, and then eating eating during the day, and then talking and debating about art, and then it was all over and now I'm back. Damn, what a week!

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Carrie's crocheted Dior

Let me tell you, this was truly a joy to behold when I received it in my email in-box...Carrie, a co-conspirator in the Counterfeit Crochet Handbag project, has finished her first lovely, a Dior handbag, complete with embroidered logo, crocheted "buckle" details (!), and much more!

I am in awe--please partake of these photos. And it's not too late to join the Counterfeit Handbag group! If you're into doing trades, I trade Anti-Factory clothing for photos of your handmade designer knock-off bag (you keep your bag, I just get photos!).

Carrie, you ROCK! :D

PS--who else has photos of counterfeit bags in progress! Please email them to me at: stephanie (at) anti-factory.com





check out these buckle details--the skillz, i tell you! the skillz!

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Hola!

Dudes! I am going to SPAIN NEXT WEEK :) I just confirmed it for real--after tons of frantic phonecalls to Barcelona and Madrid this morning, trying to figure out if I'm getting flown out to Madrid for an art show, it turns out that my ticket was bought for me a few weeks ago and already confirmed, but somehow the email didn't get through to me. The days have been counting down and I've been like, "hey, what gives? is this thing going through?" YES it is!...It's in conjunction with a big group show in Madrid and I'm delivering some of the works myself since they're small and can fit in luggage (uh, i *think* they can, i have to officially figure that out!). can you believe it was cheaper for them to buy me a plane ticket and put me up in a hotel for a few days as opposed to crate and pack the work alone? geez!

It all seems so fly-by-night, sort of surreal. Leaving on May 8th and returning on the 12th...technically i'm only in Madrid for three days (yeesh!) since the flights are long. Never been to Spain--it's the seat of the Old World empire, I can't wait!

Not sure how much time I'll have for sight-seeing, but does anyone have any recommendations in Madrid?

:D

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Happy International Workers Day!

from wikipedia.org:

International Workers' Day (a name used interchangeably with May Day) is the commemoration of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, and a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labor movement. The 1 May date is used because in 1884 the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, inspired by labor's 1872 success in Canada, demanded an eight-hour workday in the United States to come in effect as of May 1, 1886. This resulted in a general strike and the riot in Chicago of 1886, but eventually also in the official sanction of the eight-hour workday. The May Day Riots of 1894 and May Day Riots of 1919 occurred subsequently...

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