survive *this*

What is the world coming to? In the midst of sectarian wars, religious and ethnic intolerance, and the anniversary of Hurrican Katrina which showed polarizing visions of race and class in America, we get the brilliant idea for the new Survivor reality TV show: have segregated teams based on ethnicity--white, black, asian, and hispanic. I about had a crap in my pants ('scuse my language) when I heard about this, I am totally aghast at this twist of events. Yep, that's the lovely de-segregated group above, ready to be segregated and pitted against each other in some bizarre entertainment race war (oh wait, i just looked again--they already ARE segregated). Puh-leeze! Do we really need this? I so very rarely send letters to the mass media, but I actually sent CBS an email of complaint about this.

A "Survivor" spokesperson was quoted as saying that since the show was essentially a social experiment, the segregation of the races into teams fit with the basic premise. I know they can probably claim that this will debunk stereotypes as we get to know the individuals, blah blah blah, but overall, i think the premise sucks. Sigh. I mean, it's not like I should be looking to "Survivor" to promote diverse and complex images of race, but yeesh, this is so in the opposite direction it's stupefying. For god's sake, even a commentator on USA Today, a rather middle-of-the-road-slash-conservative rag had an op-ed piece criticizing the idea...

On another mass-media note, i am in the process of watching the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and it's making me feel really old (or just not into pop music, i guess). Prolly because my car radio is either tuned in to NPR, KMEL, or WILD94.7 (the last 2 being hip-hop stations), I am totally in the dark when it comes to the "alternative" music that's happening these days. I mean bands like The All-American Rejects and other punkish-mod-like guy groups that all sort of sound the same to me or remind me of Green Day (which I'm not fond of generally, but at least they seem to be capable of taking socio-political stances every now and then). I have no idea why this type of "alterna-rock-pop-stuff" is so attractive or interesting. Am I just the wrong demographic? I mean, I actually really love rock and metal and just find this new stuff really lukewarm milktoast.

The sad moment was when Lou Reed opened the show with "White Light, White Heat," and the audience of 20-somethings looked perplexed and uninterested. And then for some reason Jared Leto, who I think is generally pretty great looking, came out dolled up like a goth-club reject. I wish I could find a photo to show you (LATER--oh, here is one below, and a funny link to Go Fug Yourself). Beyonce's powerful thighs just about bowled me over, my mouth was hanging onto the floor. She was WORking it, wow.


nooooooooooooooooooo! i have nothing against the goth-y look, but....nooooooooooo!

Read more!

new vintage items!

Ha ha! New vintage items are up in the store! Very fall season-ready and there's some really choice excellent condition stuff :)

Read more!

furtive clothing restock!

Ay caramba! Just put nine new items into the handmade section of the Anti-Factory store. It's a "secret" posting in which no email announcements will be sent out since it's just such a small batch. So if you just happen to be stopping by, check it out why dontcha?

PS--about 20 awesome vintage items will be going up in hopefully the next day or 2, so visit again soon, too :)

Read more!

content blitz

I'm getting that anxious feeling that happens to me right before the school year starts again. It's fueled by the rustle of papers on my desk, the flurry of emails from college admin people that start to clog my in-box, and the impending feeling of wondering about my new batch of students. This fall I agreed almost unknowingly to teach the equivalent of 2 1/2 classes, which is more than I think is good for me, knowing how much time i spend commuting to and from SF to the East Bay (and believe you me, that Bay Bridge is a traffic nightmare, even in the middle of the goddamn day! thank god for NPR).

Yesterday was a full day spent implementing the start of hopefully a beautiful new friendship between my class syllabus and the internets: i started a content blog for my upper division Sculpture Class ("Connections" it's called) that will centralize all the information and content that i usually have to dole out individually and piecemeal to each student. It won't take the place of lectures, but then again, this particular class will be more heavy on studio time and critique as opposed to me yapping in front of a powerpoint presentation.

Are you hungering for more content? Do you like to saturate yourself with odd tidbits and weird internet-based informationalisms? if so, mosey on down to the class blog and see what's going on. Hopefully my students will actually VISIT there at some point during the semester!

Right now I'm just throwing stuff up there and will better sort things out as I go along, as well as contextualize things better.

I have to admit, I used WordPress (blogging software) and am generally happy with it, more so than using Blogger. If I wasn't already so set up on Blogger I would move this anti-factory one. Oh well.

Onwards and upwards! The rest of the week will be spent in faculty meetings, going through some woodshop demos to learn new joinery techniques (the biscuit joiner!) so at least i'm not a complete technique doofus for my students. agh.

Read more!

groupie night

Thursday night was "groupie night"--due to my lovely b-friend kurt's band fierce antler playing at the eagle (one of SF's premiere gay bear bars) it was a night of biker leather-daddy ambience and hipster music-scene all wrapped into one. below are photos of the night--there they are in better light above. a fun time was had by all!


hard to see here but fierce antler is a 3-person outfit who sported matching hoodie gnome-type getups: phillip on guitar, kurt on bass, and wendy on drums...






phillip is lookin' mighty fine in them tattoos and pink guitar, eh?


pinball!

and like a good girlfriend groupie i am passing along this: you can hear fierce antler tracks on their myspace site...! check it out!

Read more!

Anti-Factory RESTOCK: Psyche Out!

Yeppers, it is done! Check out the anti-factory store for almost TWENTY new handmade items! Whew :) Lots of sweaters are in the mix, with patterns to make your eyes pop or to just add a splash of color.

I'm currently designing a boxy jacket made of soft sweatshirt material, as well as 80s-style batwing and avant-garde-looking sweaters, but I couldn't finish 'em in time so they'll be in the next round...Somewhere in the middle of all this I'll replenish the vintage section, too--whew! I actually have quite a few sweet things to go in there, it's just a matter of time.

Cheers!

Read more!

Outkastic!

Holy crap! You know when you have those moments when you feel like something hits you over the head (in a good way, that is) and gets your noggin a'flowing? Last night I was up channel surfing the 3 MTV stations between 2 and 3am and somewhere between the absolutely ridiculous and stupid Jessica Simpson rollerskating video featuring Christina Applegate (oh, how low she has sunk), and the supersucky Pussycat Dolls hoochie mamaness, a small bit of wonderful genius appeared before me: Outkast's new "Idlewild" video.

Apart from being a rockin' song, the video just blew my mind: a hurricane is raging in the South, and a wooden shack is being pummelled as a 1930's style blues club is playing inside. Black bodies are gyrating and shaking as water starts to pour inside, and soon the musicians and dancing audience are flopping around in the water as it goes above their heads. All the while folks are laughing, dancing, and rocking out--like an updated version of the band playing on the deck of a sinking Titanic. It's a beautiful and slightly perverse sight and at the close the band dedicates the song to those "trying to stay afloat"...The Katrina references are implicit, of course, and yet also opens it up to much more.

Dude, Outkast is so fucking brilliant it slays me five ways to heaven (heh heh, does that make sense?). Album drops August 22. Guess who'll be snatchin' one up? And "Idlewild" is supposed to be the soundtrack to a movie opening up in the near future. With all the froth and empty pop being produced today, I'm so thankful for these guys! Sometimes I wonder if its possible to produce for the masses and still have a singular and specific vision of an alternate reality. These guys (like Kanye West, too), have shown me the light. Thank god.

Read more!

Everything old is new again...or something like that

Bwahhhhh-ha-ha! Like a ghost from the past I have arisen from my blogging limbo-land! Yep, I have been a bit AWOL from posting due to busyness in general, and being rather distracted by lotsa other things. But hey, here I am trying to get back in the saddle ;)

I have been waxing poetic about a particular fashion era of my younger days, from back when I was a middle schooler living in Tokyo and going to the American School in Japan (uh, that was from 1985-1988...wow, that's making me feel a tad old!). You know how they say you shouldn't wear things that were "in" when you were young? I think I may be falling prey to that again, what with all the leggings coming back into fashion (yep, bought me a pair) and the general 80s palette of colors coming back. Not to mention the batwing sweaters and loose chunky tops with leggings. Ouch!



In light of the retro mood, I would like to resurrect all that was Issey Miyake of the 80s. Believe you me, this man is a GENIUS. GENIUS, I tell you. Oh, he's still superfabulous now, but I have a certain soft spot for him from his early days. I have distinct memories of my mom taking me to see a travelling museum exhibition of his fashions at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco when I was around 9 or 10 (or even earlier?). It was so avant-garde, with floating mannequins, molded bustier tops, and that Japanese je ne se quois of minimalism and extravegance all rolled into one.

Just a few years later after having relocated to Tokyo, I would wander by the Issey Miyake store downtown and peer through the windows with my fawning 12-year old eyes. No way in hell could I buy any of his lovelies, but I could certainly drool for them. A girl in eighth grade at the time (one year above me) who I later found out became a Japanese pop-star idoru (does Hikaru Nishida ring anyone's bell?) would come to school with the most amazing Miyake sweater dress. Dude, this girl was like, 13-years old and for some reason was showing up in killer designer clothes...what gives???? Oh, and the guy I had the hugest crush on had a crush on her, so of course whatever she was wearing added to her mystique. It was cream and had big bold abstract dots and circles on it and it burned a hole in my head and has permanently seared itself into my adolescent memory of wanton fashion lust.

Oh Issey, you still float my boat. You were the epitome of the avant-garde East Village NY scene, as well as the Tokyo of my memories. A toast to you and I hope that, just as Diane von Furstenberg rode the retro wave of wrapdresses and made a recent comeback, that you will be so hailed again...


on the cover of ArtForum, no less! 1982








PS--I have a TON of new Anti-Factory stuff to put into the store. Perhaps its Issey's influence, but they're starting to take new and interesting shapes, and yes, there are some batwing styles (wooo-hoo!). Away with girlie goodness! Here's to the new (again) avant-garde :)

Read more!

brilliance from left field

In my line of work (the screwball art kind) I run into all sorts of characters. Last night I went to a friend's art opening and "Drunk Old Guy" was there--he's the guy who has made it a lifelong pursuit to find out where all the art openings in San Francisco are by looking at the newspaper listings and shows up to partake of the free booze. Liberally. Needless to say, Drunk Old Guy was totally wasted on cheap wine and yammering about something or other, as well as peeing on the sidewalk out front. Totally harmless, and almost comfortingly familiar, as he had also shown up at an opening of mine a few weeks ago. "Hey, look, it's Drunk Old Guy! It really must be an art opening, eh?"

But D.O.G aside, I also met a random guy, Tim Anderson, who was quiet and shy and denied being an artist when I asked him. But then another friend prodded him into telling me that he does ephemeral installations that almost no one sees. Curious, I asked him to email me some images. And then a few days later I am emailed this...a total piece of beautiful brilliance which makes me stop and utter how lovely, how lovely.



He works in the middle of the night when no one can see him, on urban streets, using flour to trace outlines of (mostly) trees, sometimes using birdseed, which the birds quickly take away and the people walk all over and never get a chance to see, unless they happen to really LOOK. It's gone in less than a few hours. Tim rocks. He needs more attention, for sure, and I will tell him that the next time I see him...

Gorgeous.

Read more!

Where is Chris Gilbert?

Sometimes I feel like I live in an information vaccuum--very ironic considering how much I am on the internet all the time! But I just stumbled across a post about the resignation of the Berkeley Art Museum's curator Chris Gilbert (way back in May--yeesh!) over the institutional flap he received regarding an overtly political exhibition he instigated on Venezualan contemporary art practices, "Now-Time Venezuela: Media Along the Path of the Bolivarian Process". After reading his publicly-posted resignation letter on stretcher.org, a Bay Area online art publication, I am feeling completely saddened that he has left and can only imagine the amazing things he could have done as a local curator. He came from the Baltimore Museum of Art and after less than a year at the Berkeley Museum, is now gone.


view of the "Now-Time" show at the Berkeley Art Museum

I am quoting the end of his public resignation letter below...My mouth dropped open when I saw that this was coming from a major contemporary art museum curator. The museum had attempted to neutralize some of the language of his wall text. As someone who has worked as a graphics and exibitions designer at a science museum for over eight years, I know full well the desire of the institution to create neutral and "pleasingly distanced" language so as not to offend any viewers, or even hint at controversial subject matter. Issues of global warming or stem-cell research would get dealt with as a matter of its scientific workings as opposed to any relation to political/economic/social policy. And since museums are traditionally funded via tons of corporate money, the higher-ups are particularly wary of any "conflicts of interest" which may arise due to exhibition content ruffling the funder's feathers.

Chris Gilbert:

"...With conditions as they are, a different strategy is required: there should be disobedience at all levels; disruptions and explosions of the kind that I, together with a small group of allies inside the museum, have created are also useful on a symbolic level. However, the primary struggle and the only struggle that will result in a significant change would be one that works directly to transform the economic and political base. This would be a struggle aiming to bring down the US government and its imperialist system through highly organized efforts.

"We live in the midst of a fascist imperialism—there is no other way to describe the system that the US has created and that exercises such control through terror over populations both inside and outside. History has shown that to make "deals" or "compromises" with fascism avails nothing. Instead a radical and daily intransigence is required. Fascism operates to destroy life. It installs and operates on the logic of the camp on all levels, including culture. In the face of that logic, which holds life as nothing, compromises and deals at best buy time for the aggressor and symbolic capital for the aggressor. One should have no illusions: until capitalism and imperialism are brought down, cultural institutions will go on being, in their primary role, lapdogs of a system that spreads misery and death to people everywhere on the planet. The fight to abolish that system completely and build one based on socialism must remain our exclusive and constant focus."

Which begs the question for me now: WHERE IS CHRIS GILBERT? I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHAT THIS MAN IS UP TO AS A CURATOR!!!! Do you know how rare it is for someone to make this sort of statement from within an institution? Call it the irony of biting the hand that feeds you (anti-bourgoise, anti-captalism as a MUSEUM director?), but how does one have such a radical outlook and try to infiltrate from the inside like this? I'm still contemplating the possibilities and conundrums, but also feel Mr. Gilbert is trying to accomplish something through contemporary art institution channels that few even dare to address or believe is truly possible.

Read his full letter of resignation here...
Related article published by UC Berkeleyhere.
And an interesting blurb which echoes my own questions at Mute Beta.

and...GO CHRIS!

Read more!

Anti-Factory RESTOCK: Hot Hot Hot!

Welcome to the weekend! Drop on by the store, why dontcha...there's new stuff up!

Read more!

impending restock, and more..

I'm scheduling to restock the anti-factory handmade store this Saturday morning...Everything's pretty much ready to go, it's just that i don't have time to babysit the site while things go live. I'll be working on a freelance design job during then, which will give me plenty of time to glue my eyeballs to the computer screen--ack!

In the meantime, here's a preview. About 15 items will be available, maybe more if i get a chance to photograph the newer ones :)



On another note, last week one of San Francisco's alternative weeklies published a little blurb in the calendar about the "Four on One" exhibition I'm a part of (four solo shows of my work curated by four different curators, one a week--whew!). It's always thrilling yet slightly embarassing to have your photo in the paper, i think. But how can I protest?



The first opening was last Saturday and it went great--curator Terri Cohn and I had a talk in the beginning and I did a slideshow of past conceptually-based work that I've never shown in galleries (like this and this. oh, and this, which the crowd thought was pretty hilarious). Then we had an official "unveiling" of a work that is also normally never shown.

This Saturday is curated by Clark Buckner who runs Mission 17 gallery. The games have begun! And I'm tired already ;)

Tomorrow I go down to San Jose to continue installing for the Next/New show at the ICA. They have downsized the scale of my installation due to space issues (smaller overall gallery space than they thought), but neglected to tell me until I went down there yesterday to start installing. I keep telling myself not to get mad and just roll with it, but it's hard when I've been working on the damn thing for MONTHS and I get told at the very last minute that it's got to change. Not happy. :( (how does one make a "mad" face with keystrokes, I wonder?)

Read more!

geometry strikes back

Whoa. Check this out: lately I've been getting interested in how to draft some serious patterns--beyond just fitting on a mannequin or myself, which usually results in me just making garments my own size. I bought a great book off of Amazon titled "How to Make Your Own Patterns" by Rene Bergh and I highly recommend it. Lots of flat diagrams of how to make different clothes for women, and some of the best explanations on how to "transfer darts" (It's hard to explain, but if you're really in to these things, you'll stumble upon it). It doesn't even matter that the clothing they show is outdated (80s it looks like), since it's more about the pattern construction technique anyhow.

So I'm beefing up on things, rummaging around the internet as well, checking out pattern making sites, when i stumble across this diagram which takes me into a nightmare vortex of high school geometry meets astronomy...



And then this text:

-----------------------
Bust 90 cms, Waist 62 cms, Hips 98 cms, x/back 36 cms, Nape/Waist 40 cms

* AB = Nape/Waist
* AD = 1/2AB; AE = 1/2 AD; BC = 20 cms (standard measurement)
* AY = 7 cms; XY = 2 cms; Curve A to X
* DK = 1/2 Bust + 3 cms. DH = one third Bust
* HJ = 1/2 HK
* EG = 1/2 x/back; PGF is parallel to AD
* PQ = 1/2 PH
* Square up and down from K to Z, S and U
* Af is parallel to DK
* HL = 6.5 cms; strike up Lg to cut Af
* ga = 2.5 cms
* ab = 1.5 cms
* bz is parallel to gf
* Join Ea and extend to cut bZ at c
* ac = bust allowance
* M is 2.5 cms below the cutting of GF by Ea; join MX
* Na on Ea = MX minus 1.5 cms
* Jd is parallel to Kf
* de on Nc = ac
* Connect Jd and extend Je to equal the measurement of Jd This gives the bust dart
* RZ = cZ; curve cR to give front neckline
* NQGM is the armhole. Draw in using HN as guideline
* Join N to e extended, to complete front shoulder
* Qq is parallel to AC
* ST = 2.5 cms
* UV = 2.5 cms
* BT is the Waistline
* CV is the Hipline, when completed
-----------------------------


I know this makes sense to someone, I just can't figure out who. It's from this site. Yow. Is this what they teach in fashion design school?

Read more!

beat 'em, or join 'em?

I don't generally watch "20/20" due to its generally awful and reactionary take on "news" (yeesh! sort of like Fox News, really). But it happened to be on a few days ago and they had a little mini-expose on American Apparel's Dov Charney and his carnal workplace ways. It seems as if he is finally being sued by some lady employees for his oversexualized antics. It's a funny thing to watch since it *does* raise the question: is it unethical to talk sexually in the workplace if you acknowledge that "sex sells" in the promotion of your clothing line? Ergo, can American Apparel basically take the stance that, like say, Hustler magazine, if you can't take the sexual content of what they do then maybe you shouldn't work there anyway?



Trust me, I'm far from a prude in such matters but have thought general distateful things about American Apparel because of the overly racy ads (hey, i thought they were all about promoting fair-wages and US-made goods. oh, oops, i forgot: sex sells!). I think their ad campaigns aren't very clever--just lazy in turning to the visual language of soft-core porn. Personally, I'm not offended by them, but am wishful that they would take a more (relatively) adventurous angle. At this point it remind me more and more of "Girls Gone Wild." Boooooring!

OH, and one last thing: I'm also in the online shopping doldrums right now...it seems like the summertime isn't such a productive time for online crafty makers and there's a dearth of goods to peruse! HELP! Someone send me some cool links for online shopping that has new inventory...handmade stuff would be nice, but small-label works well, too!.

Read more!

the will to laziness

A profound and stubborn form of laziness has set in on me. Or rather, the desire for a profound and stubborn laziness--recent events have conspired to deny me my heart's desire, which is to sit down in the middle of the floor and just...do...nothing. For a very long period of time. And then when that bores me, to sit on the sofa in the middle of the day with garbagey magazines like People and Us and even worse ones, with the TV on and watching reruns of Project Runway. And then maybe have a gin and tonic at 3pm and laugh that there's no reason to wait until the evening because i am being very lazy. Truly doing nothing. At least nothing "productive" that is.

I seem to be graced (or is it cursed?) by the propensity to constantly fiddle with things and "be productive." While the outcome may seem quite satisfying at times (as in "wow--it's only noon and i've done SO MUCH already!"), at other times I wonder how much is a neurotic and perhaps even destructive tendency to not let my mind rest and really just reflect on things. How can one ask oneself if one is happy if they never have a moment to ask themselves this? Oh, not like I'm unhappy, it's just that I've never meditated or done yoga and i wonder if this might calm me down a bit.

I read a fabulous essay in grad school a few years ago entitled "The Importance of Being Lazy" (the author's name escapes me at the moment, but i know it was published in the journal Cabinet) and it talked of how "lazy" is a misnomer in that it is positioned as the antithesis of "productive". And that "production" or "productivity" today is inherently tied in with the idea of "work" which unfortunately is pretty much tied up with Capitalism (note capital "C", my addition). And because of the good ole Protestant work ethic that rules much of this here country, "working" and being "productive" are the means to making money. As opposed to being happy just doing what you want. What's called laziness can often be introspection, philosophizing, and ponderousness, which is VERY useful, and even runs counter to capitalist notions of "work".

People outside of art circles have a tendency to think that pursuing art as a career is FUN.--that I sit around all day in my studio and spill out my heart's desire (on a canvas, I guess) and that I am romantically pursuing my dreams outside of the regular "work" day which everyone else must participate in. Oh, are they wrong wrong wrong! Years ago my art practice turned into more managerial work than actual studio time (and half the time, the studio time is hated by me, as it is about merely executing an idea that I think is thrilling in my mind but absolutely a chore to make). Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and I am the first to say that I wouldn't do it any different. It's just that it's also turned into a career of "work" as well.

I think I may need to think of a way to structure some long-term conceptual art performance in which I actually do NOTHING USEFUL for a long period of time. Unfortunately, due to my issues regarding productivity, I'd have to give it an art context so that I wouldn't feel guilty about not making art.

Oh, the conundrums! Bah! I'm just feeling bad that summer is almost on the way out and I have to start teaching again in about a month. Where were my dog days, my slow days, my nothing days? Nowhere! Argh!

Read more!