This is definitely the sort of thing I like to see when looking for a bit of escapism with my coffee. Right?
Btw, discussion is still going strong in the comments section of our earlier post, “Ritual Roasters and the art of banning art.”
(Thanks, Corntard!)
UPDATE: This is a photo by Corntard of a photo by Julian Cash.
UPDATE: Ugh. This is all so dumb. Sorry, everybody. Here’s a screenshot of the publicly viewable Facebook wall of a guy connected in some way to Ritual:
And lots more here.
 UPDATE: This is a photo by Corntard of a […]</p>
%5Bvia+%3Ca+href%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missionmission.org%2F2011%2F06%2F28%2Fbanned-serious-art-at-ritual-roasters-replaced-by-whimsical-stuff-such-as-israel-and-palestine-and-tits-and-bondage-nsfw%2F%22%3EMission+Mission%3C%2Fa%3E%5D&clickthru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missionmission.org%2F2011%2F06%2F28%2Fbanned-serious-art-at-ritual-roasters-replaced-by-whimsical-stuff-such-as-israel-and-palestine-and-tits-and-bondage-nsfw%2F){kind=link}
Now THAT”S tits.
Nice Fatah-tahs
HA HA!
:I
hahahaha. OH! the irony. not going to drink their coffee until i get my birds on a wire! this manifesto is greatly helped by the fact that i dont actually like their coffee anyways.
but still. THE IRONY!!
How do we know these aren’t someone’s deceased relatives titties!?
@Amanda I love you 4 your humor
Awww, thanks!
WOW… I was really hoping for metal lyrics…
LOL!! Holy crap, this is what is put up instead?!?
I guess Ritual finds the female anatomy lighthearted and “whimsical”.
Could somebody please post the artist statement associated with these pictures. It better have a lot of fart jokes to quell the “seriousness” typically associated with war in the middle east
Hi Allan,
Please don’t forget to credit the photographer. Photo by Julian Cash.
The show is a mix of whimsical stuff as well as this far more extreme image.
Thanks!
Put a bird on it!
And now instead of just a picture of twisted painted pierced boobs, it is interesting…
Needs more telephone poles.
unity and nipple rings in the middle east — escapism indeed!
If it matters at all I like this better than the other stuff.
So funny! There was a long dialog I had with Chicken on that very post before I was ‘unfriended’ and it was all deleted. He tells his side, more or less…
John Rinaldi
New artwork from Supersnail @ritualcoffee installed last night from his book The People Of Burning Man. Some things are just so easy…
2 hours ago via Twitter · Unlike · · @chickenjohn on Twitter
You and Momos Cheeskos like this.
Hazy Cerements Sounds ‘fluffy’ enough.
2 hours ago · Like
John Rinaldi Fluffy like a bunny? Or fluffy like without any content? Or fluffy like an artist who doesn’t yell at people and contracts to hang something then changes her mind and hangs something else instead? Please, share your thoughts…
about an hour ago · Like
Hazy Cerements …meaning ‘not too serious’.
about an hour ago · Like
John Rinaldi How about just fun? Ritual contracts fun art shows. They steer clear of depressing or serious shows. It doesn’t work, doesnt’ match the music that’s being played and the work never sells. But the fun shows do better. Ritual contracted for landscapes and stuff. Got some other drivel. So they took it down pretty much immediatly. Life goes on.
about an hour ago · Like
Hazy Cerements ’Drivel’ as in ‘serious’? Just reading the letter….
about an hour ago · Like
John Rinaldi
Drivel. Like, some artist statement about how her mom died and rent control or something. Piles of stuff that needed to be given away. Just heavy stuff. Didn’t help that she yelled at and berated one of the baristas. The contract that Ritua…See More
about an hour ago · Like
Hazy Cerements Oh there’s a facebook page – ‘Starbucks-ification”
about an hour ago · Like
John Rinaldi How in the world is contracting an artist to show landscapes and then the artist yells at the coffee guy and hangs something else and Eileen asks her to take her work down Starbucksification? This is just an attention starved person making a mountain out of a molehill. This will be gone completly in 3 days.
about an hour ago · Like
Hazy Cerements Beginning to realize you haven’t actually seen the photos.
http://vareservoir.com/making-room-up-now–/1
49 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi I saw them. Why would you assume I didn’t see them?
47 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements Well then am I looking at the right photos, a dog on a mattress, an open suitcase, a kitchen table?
44 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi Sure. The contract was for landscapes. It doesn’t matter what the art was, I think the real problem was the yelling and berating.
42 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements My mistake. If they were larger than 3×5 and were professionally framed though, she probably has receipts.
40 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi They were like 2×3 or so. I took the art down and wrapped it up with her friend. Nice fellow. All safe and sound, no drama needed.
38 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi Are you talking about how much it costs to have a photograph framed? $50 would be a reasonable price to pay for the frames she had, although I have no idea how much the printing of the phtotos costs. I had a bigger photograph framed with the same frame for like $50 or so.
36 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements ”A very prominent San Francisco cafe, Ritual Coffee (ritualroasters.com), offered to show my work. I asked them to choose from among my many photographs and they said I could do what I liked as long as it was not portraits. I invited them to view the work I chose. I also asked if I could put up an artist statement. They said yes. I said it would be large and was that okay — they said yes.”
35 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements Just sayin if she is telling media she spent $3000 she probably has receipts.
34 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi Total bullshit.
33 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements Ha ha ha! Seriously.
30 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi
Why isn’t she telling the media she screamed at the guy behind the counter? She’s going to spin this to make it look like she’s a victom. Maybe she is. There is new work on the walls, and life just goes on when people don’t get along. We didn’t cost her any money, actually offered her some money. I hope she get what she wants. But you can tell the media anything you want, and they will print it. This is just a waste of time, espeicailly hers. No one wants to look at creepy mom died and here’s her stuff art. That is my opinon and the opinion of everyone who looked at it. It’s just not the right spot for that. Compound it with yelling and we’re done. People will get over it, I”m sure. And the artist lady now can tout she is a banned artists. Ahhh… justice….
26 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements So true. They’ll probably sell now. And even you will laugh at this someday – “The art that belongs in a cafe is fluffier stuff”
20 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements And this – “He championed San Francisco as “the city of art and innovation.”
14 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi
I dont’ see why that’s so odd… I think that art that goes in cafe’s should be fluffy. Photo journal of childrens’ body parts from Iraq? Paintings of nazi’s? Sculptures made of shit and piss? Don’t belong in a cafe. Photos of people having the time of their lives at Burning Man? Much better. Fluffier stuff. Fluffy, like soft. Easy. Not angular or hard. Or cutting. Comfy. You want a cafe to be easy. Who wants serious art displayed with people having business meetings and first dates and on and on. SF is the City of Art and Innovation. That phraze has escaped my lips thousands of times. I tirelessly advocate for artists and am constantly juggling activism. Why would that be odd to you? This isn’t an art issue, this is a communication and drama issue. No one is against art here…
11 minutes ago · Like
Hazy Cerements ”The city of fluffy art and innovation.”
9 minutes ago · Like
John Rinaldi Oh, you really got me on that one. Yup. You’re the winner of this debate.
8 minutes ago · Like
(unfriended)
So will the artist still get to hang her art at Chicken John’s gallery or was the offer pulled because she yelled at someone or something?
The gallery owner is a friend of the café owner’s — there was no promise that she would automatically get to hang her art there, simply that it was ‘more appropriate’ in the view of this café owner. The woman’s art still must stand on its own merits with the gallery, all the café owner can do is get her entrée with the guy.
*LOUD APPLAUSE!!!!*
“Drivel. Like, some artist statement about how her mom died”
Wow, go fuck yourself John Rinaldi.
ooh one more gem:
“No one wants to look at creepy mom died and here’s her stuff art.”
Yeah, we want to look at creepy pics of nipples being tortured.
He dodged answering whether her statement that the art and statement were ok’d was true. He says she violated their agreement by not hanging landscapes. But it seems she wasn’t asked to display landscapes, just to not display portraits. That’s a big difference.
Someone’s got some ‘splanin to do.
Thought it was ok to ‘share my thoughts’. Here is another one.
John Rinaldi
Drivel. Like, some artist statement about how her mom died and rent control or something. Piles of stuff that needed to be given away. Just heavy stuff. Didn’t help that she yelled at and berated one of the baristas. The contract that Ritual signs with artists is just one of those easy things. Nothing too specific. The curator saw the work, knew that it didn’t belong but let Eileen be the bad guy. So she fired him. You’d have to. Just a weird drama-a-thon all around. Eileen is made out to be the villian or some tough lady. Far from it. This is what it’s like to be the boss. You have to be tough when people don’t do what they say they are gonna do. We have the failure of the curator, who didn’t check up on the artist as to what she was gonna hang, we have the artist who was asked to hang landscapes and who hung some deceded mom stuff, and we have the staff who the artist yelled at who now have no love for the work or the artist. As for how it was handled, who cares? People don’t get along sometime. It’s not like the work was damaged or ripped off the wall. Just wrapped up, taken down and she offered a little money to make nice. Then the artist does this bullshit? Sounds like she made the right descion to distance Ritual from this drama queen. And framing 11 photos does not cost $3,000. This is a tiny cafe, not the MOMA. Go take a peek at the stuff on the walls now. It’s fun. Easy. Celebration of life, not death. A cafe is not a great place to examine death. When I was there yesterday they were playing Duran Duran and people were laughing and playing cards. That’s what I got…
about an hour ago · Like
OMG Duran Duran. Who doesn’t love irony and the celebration of life? Ritual is totes like a 1920s Parisian cafe.
I don’t really see what the big deal is. So the owners of a coffee shop decided that they didn’t like the artist and/or art that was hanging, so they switching to something else. Why is this news? It isn’t like they are being pulled out of a museum or other publicly-owned property.
quit being reasonable!
Dude…tits are way better than that girls shitty photos. Fuck that ho…she just be hating at some good shit to look at.
I’m really confused. Everything Chicken John said on Facebook contradicts Eileen’s letter. Who is correct?
My guess would be 1 of 2 things:
1. That Eileen didn’t know the full story (re: the staff) when she wrote that e-mail, and couldn’t think of a nice way to say “I think your art sucks” and so told her that her art was “too serious” instead. In this scenario, there are probably further e-mails that the artist is not sharing.
2. That the e-mail we saw was a fake.
I think the first one is more likely, but the second one is possible.
I do think that, either way, it is a serious dick move to make a giant media frenzy out of something like this.
It was also a dick move for Eileen and Chicken John to be so anti business and anti competition with their very public and obnoxious crusade against American Apparel and Food trucks in Dolo park. They did this to themselves. They deserve every bit of ridicule for being the self important hypocrites that they are.
Here here!!!
go, keyboard warrior, go!
They weren’t the only ones opposed to either of those things. Publicizing an issue that one cares about, that will affect the whole neighborhood, is IMO very different than airing one’s own dirty laundry in order to get people to buy your art.
What do you have to say about an artist’s dead mom to make her start yelling?
Probably another dick move.
What is being overlooked in many of the posts I see here (and I’m sorry if it seems I’m picking on yours) is the fact that a contract was signed, then subsequently broken on the part of the cafe owner. This should concern every artist, no matter what you think of the actual art in question. Does an owner have the right to dictate what is shown in his/her cafe? Absolutely, without question. But that does not mitigate this particular owner’s behavior and poor decision making. And it is not “dramatic” (as another poster wrote) for the artist to have reacted strongly as she did, either. Not to do so would be a green light for venues to screw artists (who already need all the help they can get in this ever-artistically-waning town) and not be held accountable. That’s not how San Francisco should roll.
What a yawn-fest. I’m going back over to Jesse Michaels’ trash metal blog.
I’m confused. When Chicken John was on his holy war against Ritual’s competitors, it was repeatedly stated that despite boning the owner of Ritual, he had nothing to do with it.
From the statements I’m reading here, that’s clearly not the case.
Time for a boycott of Ritual Roasters and their hipster bullying. They’re crass corporate thugs with a veneer of “indie” to throw us dumbass San Franciscans off. Just because their coffee isn’t from Starbucks doesn’t mean they aren’t equally as evil and psycho.
Besides, their vegan donuts suck ass.
Its a tough call here. The artist is clearly a drama queen and Ritual has the right to create whatever atmosphere they like. But Chicken John is such a self-righteous twit (who is always dictating to others how things should be) that it is nice to see him get a taste of his own medicine. Hmmm, I don’t think I really care what happens to either.
Not wanting a giant trailer with a stinky noisy generator in a public park, getting cut a sweet deal because the Parks & Rec people are corrupt assholes does not = going on a holy war against Ritual’s competitors.
Just sayin’.
Meanwhile… The city gave Eileen a sweet deal to open up a coffee kiosk in a public park in Hayes Valley with nary a peep of outrage from Chicken John… Who’s the one who’s corrupt???
Let’s not forget that Ritual has sold coffee in Dolores Park in the past.
Out of a handcart. Not equipped with a stinky noisy generator. Years ago. Just sayin’.
Vacant lot = public park?
See, if that was his argument it wouldn’t have been hypocritical. But that never was his argument.
What?! Vegan food that is crappy?! STOP THE PRESSES!
Oh noes you just made me LOL in my cube! Pretending to work fail.
Agreed somehow hipster bullying is worst than corporate. These folks pretend like they are better….don’t think so. There shit stinks just like everyone else’s
Chicken John: Your grammatical skills or lack of should be embarrassing you.
I think you mean “lack thereof”
Local ‘celebrities’ eat shit.
Ritual has become a parody of itself, and Chicken John is an idiot.
I’m calling shenanigans on the whole mess. It smells like is a viral stunt to me. I wouldn’t put it past any of the bozos involved, including the artist.
I wouldn’t give Chicken John that much credit. A stunt like this would be too sophisticated for him. There’s no puke involved.
Ok, it’s official! I can no long stand the smug, self-righteous, ridiculous mustache and hat adorned, grammatically challenged douche bag known as Chicken John.
I will never set foot in Ritual again and will tell every friend I know to never give that place any business as long as that tool is associated with the place (I love how he always claims he’s not involved with the business but admits to taking down the art for them).I could care less about Ritual taking down the art anymore, I just find him so damn annoying/idiotic.
MM please don’t give him any more attention.
So is it finally cool to hate on Chicken John? Not to out-hipster you, but I’ve been hating that guy before all of you.
(Sips 4 Barrel coffee and listens to Das Racist.)
I was hating on Chicken John before he was born.
I’ve been wondering: who the hell is Chicken John?
I’m so cool that I’m hating on unborn children. Yeah, I lurk around the maternity unit and hope they grow up to be douchebags so I can say I hated them first. The agreement is I pay the Moms & we keep in touch. I get Christmas cards. I’m sending little Luis a $15 check and a discount coupon to Sports Basement for his birthday. Its nice. For now…
I’m not saying it’s cool, he just finally threw the final pieces of straw necessary to break the camel’s back.
By not saying it’s cool, makes it profoundly cool.
Well played.
Seems very Chicken Little to me.
Who the fuck is Chicken John?
He’s kind of like a cheap Robert Crumb knockoff who once ran for mayor, and may or may not own a pickup truck that runs on coffee grounds.
Fuck Ritual Coffee and Chicken Shit John.
varese is an awesome individual and I was dumb struck to see her name attached to this- weird- so of course I looked up the work http://www.vareservoir.com/making-room-up-now–
now I am ever more confused- as far as ritual goes, I may start rethinking about my beverage options in my neighborhood- their idea that people who drink coffee can’t flex their brain muscles is repulsive. If you have rotating art ‘venue’, and aren’t located in north korea you should be more open to something other than ‘whimsy’ and lines on paper- You need to honor the artist that hung their work for the months its there, shut up and be supportive-
Death is something that happens and I am sure if someone wanted to curate a Weegee show or a Francesca woodman show you wouldn’t turn them down for un-furry like subject matter- this is total bs and I hope varese did more than yell.
and I will surely not be attending while the burner politits are up…talk about offensive!
shame, shame ritual and dumb ass chicken john…get over yourselves…
150 women ride together in support of the right to take their shirts off in public, breastfeed, be physical in public without being harrassed. They bravely pose united hand in hand, joyfully and proudly. Some of them have mastectomies, at least one is breastfeeding her child. All of them are celebrating femininity and Without even looking at the artist’s work – who has nothing to do with Varese’s departure and who didn’t even know about it until after, you describe them as Burner Politits and offensive. On behalf of all 150 women, I find your remark offensive.
I’m sorry, I know Varese is your friend, but she never asked anyone to criticize the current show, she doesn’t want to start a campaign against the new artist and she has stated that she’d like her supporters just to support her getting a new show and encourage people to look at her work.
I think they are both talented. But that’s probably because I actually looked at their work before forming an opinion. I advise you to open your mind, remember, you don’t have to give Ritual coffee one red cent in order to view the show!
The café owner had been more honest about why she wanted the art removed. If it was due to yelling at a barista, *say so*!! Same for the art maybe making you personally uncomfy — perhaps this woman has a very troubled relationship with her own mother or with death. Who can tell? She isn’t, so we’ll never really know.
But if she did it in defense of the barista. *she needed to say so*. The more people who get the message that it is not okay to abuse service workers, the better, because it’s really getting out of hand in this country.
^^ The words ‘should have’ were omitted from the first sentence… oops
I agree with you thixotropic. If it was really about mistreatment of an employee and the content – then, that should have been expressed in the letter. A sarcastic letter is not the way to handle this.
After reading more of Chicken John’s comments, I realize that he was behind Eileen’s letter to the artist. This is unfortunate because Eileen is a really good writer and communicator. Plus, she’s not an asshole at all. It makes me wish she really did fire the curator, Chicken John. (Oh Eileen, don’t let Chicken do your PR work! Hire a professional.)
Eileen Hassi, a business woman in San Francisco with more friends-turned-enemies than you can point a stick at. Horrible business owner, predatory and unethical practices exist with the confines of her mind.
Jeremy Tooker who built Four Barrel after having years-prior done all of the construction and interior design of Ritual Coffee, as a former co-owner with Eileen Hassi, was sneakily and shamefully bought out by Eileen who had been setting money aside in a long seeded plan to oust him as co-owner leaving the creation known as Ritual Coffee Roasters solely her own.
There is a seemingly endless list of fellow business owners, past employees and disheartened customers who gasp of the ever-gone good ol’ days at Ritual Coffee when it was a company who’s foundation was grounded not only in amazing coffee but also personality and honesty, an inviting sense of place.
Eileen you fucked up again.
So she sneakily and slyly saved up for years in order to…pay a man gobs of money so he can retire? Dude, she’s a ninja!!
not gobs of money.
philz
Hey Mission residents, when are we going to get the picture that John Rinaldi and Eileen Hassi are creeps?
1)They openly campaigned against chain stores on Valencia WHILE AT THE SAME TIME operating a chain store on Valencia.
2)John Rinaldi threatened violence on the workers operating a food cart in Dolores Park EVEN THOUGH Eileen Hassi had campaigned to operate a food cart in Dolores Park
3)John Rinaldi operates an unlicensed business on Cesar Chaves St. (which he refers to as Army St.) while at the same time has tried to get the license removed from other people’s business
4)John Rinaldi begins his postings by denying that the art was taken down because of Eileen’s feelings on the subject matter EVEN THOUGH Eileen herself wrote the that those are the very reasons in her email.
John Rinaldi and Eileen Hassi are not dumb people. They play a political game of subterfuge and deception. These two will happily burn down the Mission if they can profit from it. Reject Ritual Coffee, their are many other options that you can enjoy with a clear conscious.
wow – this is the perfect pairing to the thread about the idiotic bullshit straight women have to endure trying to find decent straight men to date in this city. seriously. wtf is wrong with straight dudes and their bitter coffee and trite circa 1990′s attempts at ‘art’?!
You shouldn’t be going to the junkyard to shop for a new car.