Mission Mission

Podboy may be new on the scene, but his series of recently unearthed 7th grade papers and doodles is blowing me away every single day.

Bartenator versus Bartbo, as you can see, is an instant classic. (The “ink please” piece was a doozie too, right?)

Co-owner of coffee shop and video rental store Fayes Video and local awesome artist Michael McConnell’s new show Tethered, a mix of paintings and installations, is now up at the Braunstein/Quay Gallery at 430 Clementina Street. The opening reception is today from 3-5pm.

There Was A Slight Resistance, 2011

Our buddy Tisch from the painfully entertaining Ah Hole Ah Hole tells us this opening tonight is going to be the bomb:

PLAySPACE is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist Matt Connolly. For BASS TOME, Connolly exhibits a selection of drawings, paintings, and sculptures in addition to a stripped-down sound work. His large-scale, meticulously attended pen drawings read like incredibly rendered textiles—many of the works demonstrate the artist’s interest in formally strict geometries, physicality and movement, text, pattern and, perhaps above all, repetition. Connolly’s process and his practice are both extremely disciplined: the artist is concerned not with the outcome, but rather with the flurry of activity that builds towards the attainment of the composition, irregularities and all. Connolly believes in the transformative capacity of work, which is evidenced in these fastidiously crafted pieces.

Reception starts in 20 minutes! 6-8pm.

PLAySPACE Gallery
California College of the Arts
1111 Eight Street
San Francisco, CA 94107

Check out this amazing pictorial piece by Wendy MacNaughton on The Rumpus.

Can you guess the bar by the register? I’m totally jealous of this thing.

If you like letters of the alphabet, you’re going to love the new show at Gallery Hijinks:

The Letter Collector is curated with the intention to exhibit both emerging and established artists in one massive group show based on the common love of type and script. Stemming from immensely different backgrounds, each artist creates their unique translation of a letter in the alphabet. The viewer will experience an assortment of letters expressed through a range of mediums: drawing, painting, photography, neon, wood, relief sculpture, and mixed media.

Letter party! Can’t wait!

Note that the above promo was made by Joe Lumbroso, the man behind that epic TCB Courier commercial.

So, just in case you were wondering: the gentleman decked out in festive attire made from chicken feet and tinfoil wandering last Sunday’s Noise Pop & Shop at Public Works wasn’t some derelict who wandered in from under the overpass completely crazy. That was none other than visionary artist Jason Jaworski, fresh from the scene of his latest performance. See? Art – the more you know!

Via Arrested Motion

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This amazing cover was created by Chuck Whelon for an upcoming book called “the Comic Book Guide to the Mission”. There’s a release party for the book this Friday, March 11 · 7:00pm - 10:00pm at Mission Comics and Art.  I’m disappointed that Rob Liefeld didn’t make a submission, though. Maybe next year! Nonetheless, it will be a great time, here are the details:

Come celebrate the BRAND NEW “Comic Book Guide to the Mission”! Gather and meet many of the creators of this fabulous and entertaining neighborhood resource. Food! Drinks! Fun!

Featuring the talents of: Sean Chiki (Wunderkammer), Jamaica Dyer (Weird Fishes), Andrew Farago (The Cartoon Art Museum, William Bazillion), Shaenon K. Garrity (Narbonic, Skin Horse), Justin Hall (All Thumbs Press, True Travel Tales, Glamazonia), Mario Hernandez (Love and Rockets, Citizen Rex), Greg Hinkle, Nomi Kane (Chutzpah!), Jonas Madden-Connor (Ochre Ellipse), Paul Madonna (All Over Coffee), Omar Mamoon (The Mission: Taco), Amy Martin(Bachelor Girl, The Single Girls), John Mathis, Aindrila Mukhopadhyay, Roman Muradov (Sad Comics), Jen Oaks, Ariel Schrag (Potential,Likewise, Ariel and Kevin Invade Everything), Matt Stewart (The French Revolution), Alfred Twu (First Cultural Industries), Dan V. (American Objects), Geoff Vasile (Trackrabbit), Jeff Walker, Mike White (Amity Blamity), Clint Woods (Fernetiquette), and Rick Worley (A Waste of Time). Plus, behold this amazing cover by Chuck Whelon (Pewfell).

RSVP on Facebook

[via Mission Comics and Art]

Noise Pop 2011 has been going strong for a few days now, but today marks the beginning of what they’re calling their flagship event. It takes place at Public Works right here in the Mission, and it’s an all-day affair featuring workshops and readings and a four-hour interactive drawing session. Here are details on a couple highlights:

REBAR is the organization behind Park(ing) Day, and my favorite parklet. Today, they host a brainstorming session:

All cities contain voids, loopholes, and niche spaces: pockets of unscripted wilderness that can be explored for their creative potential. Join Matthew Passmore, cofounder and principal of Rebar, for a brief overview of Rebar’s work followed by a workshop that invites participants to bring a photograph or description of a niche space from their own environment, whether urban, suburban, or rural. We will collectively brainstorm ways to occupy these niches in ways that fulfil unmet social needs and improve the quality of our shared habitat.

This will be a hands-on workshop of drawing, thinking, and discussion.

I mentioned this next item before, but just to recap, Nick Zinner (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs) is performing with some friends:

Please Take Me Off the Guest List is a multi-media presentation of the new book by Nick Zinner (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Zachary Lipez, and Stacy Wakefield. A slideshow of Nick’s photos from the book is accompanied by ambient music played by Nick and Stacy while Zachary reads stories.

Culture Club continues into Sunday as well. See here for the complete schedule and descriptions of every event.

San Francisco’s oldest surviving building is Mission San Francisco de Asís. You know, that Mission on Dolores street that the Mission is named after? Yeah, that one.

In 2004, a hidden mural was uncovered by Ben Wood and Eric Blind  behind the building’s church altar. It was painted by Ohlone Indians under the enslavement supervision of Spanish missionaries in 1791. Ben Wood documented these findings and digitally captured the entire mural in this fascinating article at Found SF.

Now a kickstarter project has been created to resurrect the mural on the wall of Mission Market on 22nd and Bartlett. If funded, it will be painted by local artists Jet Martinez, Ezra Eismont, and Bunnie Reiss.

So if you want to see this piece of history recreated on a wall that looks pretty damn crappy right now, now’s your chance to pitch in! Here is a mock up of proposed recreation:

Check out the kickstarter page for more details a great video on the subject.

[via Jeremy Shaw of Mission Community Market]

Some fetishists next to me in line for food at last night’s SFMOMA/Noise Pop event were real excited:

“Dude, check out the way she’s stirring the fondue.”

“I know. Dude, check out her ergonomic elbow sleeve.”

“Dude, I know.”

“Oh man.”

Wild stuff, right? Maybe it was all part of the art.