Friday, November 23, 2007

Paint By Needle Reviews:

Jakki Spicer says:
"Two artists use stitching as their medium in this show at the Rowan Morrison Gallery. Narangkar Glover embroiders and paints on her canvases, the most interesting of which is a color wheel in thread. The color wheel is usually a basic exercise in color theory, asking the artist to blend her paints so as to better understand the relation of one color to another. But Glover's use of thread means that there is no organic relation; by its very nature one piece of string cannot bleed into and affect another. Yet, it does demonstrate the technique of embroidery -- different stitchings produce different shades of color -- and the tricks of the eye -- different textures and juxtapositions of colors produce new colors. AkoCastuera's works are another story entirely: dolls, scarves, and tapestries portray a combination of monsters, UFOs, and severed limbs. They belie their cuddly soft texture with their gory subject matter."
- East Bay Express, November 23rd


...and Isabelle Ringer says:
"When we arrived, artists Narangkar Glover and Ako Castuera were taking off their shoes and celebrating their successful opening with cold beers. --Away from the throngs, Tick and I eased into the gallery and this most curious show of knitting (by Castuera) and crewel embroidery (by Glover). Knitted into Castuera's scarves and objet d'art are spiders and trolls and other magical critters. By contrast, Glover's embroidery was created without narrative; in fact, her works seem intended to display the power of her craft. --The handwork by both artists is superlative, and yet its effect does not land right away. After several laps around the show, Tick approached Glover's self-portrait (an acrylic painting on black jute embellished with colorful floral embroidery) and began a conversation with the artist. --I could not hear their words, and so began studying their gestures...two women in a gallery, one being an artist and the other a dear friend of mine. And that is when the answer to Tick's question came to me - not in words, but as an image. --Springing forth from Glover's self-portrait, the answer appeared as an aura. It was a life force, an image of beauty that could not prevent itself, and one that I will never forget."
- Piedmont Post, November 7th

Monday, November 19, 2007

you tube clips...



... and in the name of awesome painting timelapse videos, this one by Daisuke Yamamoto is rediculous:

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Thursday, November 15, 2007

Rainy Nights


Last weekend I dragged my old ass out to see a friend's show. Both Never Healed and California Love were supposed to play, but it just wound up Never Healed and a bunch of other bands I don't care about. It was raining all day and night, I had no one to go with me, but I really needed to get out of my own head and environment for a while, plus I wanted to support - so I went, forked over the $2 "membership' for 924 Gilman, and another $8 smackers for the bands.


These are all the teeny-boppers crowding around some band that decided to "be different" and perform on the floor. Dumb.


guitarist of Never Healed, which is who I went to see. Turns out the girlfriend of the singer, Maya, is an old friend from about 9 or 10 years ago. I guess I wasn't the only thirty-something at Gilman that night... phew! But it is a testament once again that we do indeed live in a small, small world.


G.


Tags with phone lights make for some wack photos.

My ears rang for about 6 hours - even with earplugs. Nothing like an underage hardcore show to make one feel like a major burn out! Welp, back home to my little Roo, who kept me warm and cozy for the rest of the night.

Monday, November 12, 2007

October Paper Quilt Project


I just sent off my little piece for the Paper Quilt Project, which is something like a group collage where everyone works on a tiny 3 x 5 piece of paper, and the person organizing it puts them all together - neat idea.

But, as always with these things, they always run way late, and then expect the artists to hurry their shit up. I sent mine in on time and I get an email back "well, my scanner is broken, so it won't be posted for two more weeks" - why did you give me a deadline then?

I'm pretty much over these things - lesson learned for the last time, I hope...

Back to painting...

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Opening Photos - 11.02.07


My Family



Ako's Family



John Casey and Derek Weisberg



Deth and Marci



Me and Moms



Nic, Debra and Miriam



Ako, the superstar of the night



Ako and Rob



Don Day