Christina Empedocles
By Gabe Scott
Former California College of the Arts MFA student Christina Empedocles wraps up a strong solo effort in Denver this week at the David B. Smith Gallery. Those in the Bay Area might be most familiar with her through the mural in the UCSF Mission Bay Campus Community Center also installed in ’08. Her work has been exhibited locally at the Queen’s Nails Annex, Alphonse 
Berber Gallery in Berkeley and this past summer at the San Francisco Fine Arts Fair with Jack Hanley. Empedocles will be one to watch as with another solo next year with David B. Smith, as well another solo exhibition with Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts in New York.
Here is a brief review for her show in Denver i did for Visual Art Source:
The final week of October will wrap up one of the stronger shows this year at the David B. Smith Gallery in Denver. Ann Arbor, MI born and San Francisco, CA resident Christina Empedocles presents a beautiful body of monochromatic work centered around relation of personal obsession matched with stunning realism and some aspects of contemporary postmodernism. Possessing a strong knowledge of ornithology, Empedocles draws on photographs and a sense of geometric formalism to present compositions that tie together her fascination with wildlife, 20th century pop culture icons, vintage pulp comics and personal articles or objects. Incorporating elements of sculpture, collage and through the photographic quality of her drawings she redefines the significance of personal artifacts such as concert tickets, comic strips or the label from a bottle of alcohol. The result is an accessible and inviting experience that provides an insight into the personality of the artist while presenting a challenge to discern the rendered from the original.
www.christinaempedocles.com
www.davidbsmithgallery.com
www.visualartsource.com
Let’s Go Giants! All the Way!
Take me out to the ball game.
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks,
I don’t care if I never get back.
So let’s root, root, root for the Giants,
if they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
at the old ball game.
Battlehooch Does America
Every once in a blue moon a band comes into your life that makes you want to shout its praises from the rooftops. Here I go. “Yay Battlehooch!” Whew. Quickly gaining steam amongst those music lovers “in the know,” Battlehooch, a ridiculously fun, six-man band from San Francisco, will make you daaaaaance! Make you yell (apparently), and make you question your conception of music and its supposed theory.
“Death Runs Wild”, the second video in a series of “Desolation Shows” highlights the beautiful and barren landscape of America. This video, set in Arizona’s Red Rock Canyons, is merely one in an arsenal of yet to be released work that will pretty much blow your mind and rock your pants off.
Catch Battlehooch LIVE in San Francisco @ their homecoming tour!:
November 19th, 2010
Bottom of the Hill
9pm
Check out their sites and songs and discover the band that is undoubtedly going to change your life:
Behind the Scenes: A Photoshoot with Sex+Design
In collaboration with photographer Colin Vincent, videographer Colin Day gives you a behind the scenes and between the sheets glimpse as Sex+Design takes over the Palace Hotel during a renegade photoshoot in San Francisco.
Win an archival art print from this shoot! Click here!
The Desk
A great little short by Imaginary Forces, The Desk examines the relationship and habits between artists and their desks. Directed by Mark Gardner, it includes interviews with design writer/critic Alice Twemlow, legendary graphic designer Massimo Vignelli, illustrator David Miller, product designer Søren Kjær, and novelist Kurt Andersen.
The Desk is part of Lines, a web series of mini-documentaries “highlighting the beauty and importance of the architecture in everyday objects, and how the design and structure of these objects affect and reflect our lifestyles. These objects range from parking structures to high heel shoes.”
Stella Artois by Wes Anderson
A new TV ad for the Belgian beer brand, this spot is titled Apartomatic and plays like a live-action Quagmire scene. Shot by Wes Anderson (a collaboration with Roman Coppola) in his signature style – sharp, perfectly framed, and with just enough quirk to keep things humorous.
(via Creative Review)
Gap’s Logo Debacle
Too bland? Too modern? Too, um, American Apparel? Gap’s new logo is being bashed from all sides in a marketing debacle akin to 1985s New Coke fiasco. CEO Marka Hansen defended the change in a recent Huffington Post editorial stating, “Our brand and our clothes are changing and rethinking our logo is part of aligning with that. We want our customers to take notice of Gap and see what it stands for today.”
Created by New York agency Laird & Partners, the logo was intended to be “a long-term commitment for the brand with a nod to the future.” Clearly the public did not see it that way. Amidst insane social media backlash, GAP announced they will be returning to the old standby. Either way, you have to give them props for inspiring a few days of rousing internet debate and publicity you couldn’t pay for. (via Brand New)
Everyone I Have Ever Slept With
I’ve known and been a fan of artist Tracey Emin for quite some time as, in my opinion, she’s one of the most prolific and brave artists working within the modern-day, societal constraints of sexuality. Her prolific work Everyone I Have Ever Slept With goes beyond just the physical by lovingly displaying hand-stitched names of those Emin felt had nurtured and loved her. Among the 102 sweetly, patch-worked names are former lovers, her grandmother, mother and numbers representing her two aborted children.
“Some I’d had a shag with in bed or against a wall, some I had just slept with, like my grandma. I used to lay in her bed and hold her hand. We used to listen to the radio together and nod off to sleep. You don’t do that with someone you don’t love and don’t care about,” said Ermin.
This logic got me thinking about my own tent and who I’d include; lovers, family members, friends and how ephemeral most of those moments were. Like time itself, the tent was lost forever in a 2004 warehouse fire. Emin has decided not to recreate it.
Let’s Get Busy Here – Teeny Tiny Hotels
Traveling is awesome. Traveling to the world’s destination cities is even better. Traveling to awesome cities and having to dip into your child’s college fund for a hotel room you only sleep in, not so much. In an effort to save our cash and provide us with the oh-so-photographic novelty of touching all four sides of our hotel room at once, The Arch Group has designed Sleep Box. A mobile cube (2m (l) x 1.4m (w) x 2.3m (h)) made of wood and MDF, SleepBox was designed to “allow very efficient use of available space and, if necessary, a quick change of layout”, making it perfect for places where demand dictates need. The hostel-specific SleepBox features bunk beds, flip-out tables and sockets for computers or phone chargers and not much else.
These tiny cubicles are already gracing the airports and train stations of Europe allowing for a safe and cheap alternative to the big city hotels. They’ve become such a hit that Japanese government officials are in talks to provide all public train stations in Tokyo with a few – proving once again that size doesn’t matter.
