Mission Mission

The Secret Alley (where I am a co-founder) is an art space here in the neighborhood. A Kickstarter has just been launched to remake the dull lobby into a sweet space to show of the work of local talent, The Galallery, also to be known as The Typoe Gallery.

The Secret Alley is a strange and maybe magical place where people build things, make movies, paint, screen things, make presentations, play and generally have a good time making and doing weird stuff. It’s hard to describe and I do it no justice by trying.

For the past few years there have been Halloween installations in the lobby downstairs, maybe you saw the Death Ray, where you could use the interface to blow up local hot spots (the subwoofer under the seat really made you feel like you might just poop):

Or the hallway monster the year before, which was just part of a larger dungeon theme:

There have also been some other art shows in the lobby, but the space does nothing to showcase the work. It’s not inspiring. It’s not amazing. It’s lame. Just as we brought our talented friends together to build the 360º old alleyway set, now it’s time to build out the lobby. When we started building The Alley seven years ago we did it on our own dimes, but it’s still costing us, and we kind of don’t have the dimes to expand. Plus we want to pay our friends fairly for their time. They’re really good at what they do. That’s where you come in.

If you’ve ever enjoyed spending some time there, or if you want to, or even if it’s not your cup of tea, please consider helping the talented crew create an amazing space to showcase local work. There are some really cool perks you can get for your contribution, including having the place to yourself for a night for you and your friends (pitch in together and have a grand time!). We don’t have the money of Jack Spade NYC, but we want to keep cool places in our hood!

Check out the Kickstarter here!

Please share with your friends, followers, readers, likers and hangers-on!

Local artists Dennis Kernohan and Steve MacDonald have been collaborating on some new works (among them these Mr. T-themed pieces), and they’ve got an opening tomorrow at FAZE on 21st Street (not Faye’s on 18th Street). Says Dennis:

This will be Steve MacDonald’s first show in 3 years. My third show in 5 months. There will be plenty of new work by both of us. Some PBR cases, thanks to Bryan Whalen. A raffle for a collaboration piece by Steve & I. Tickets for the raffle are 2$ for 1 ticket and 5$ for 3 tickets. Raffle proceeds will be donated to the local YMCA and/or Columbia Park Boys & Girls Club. So come early and stay late.

Show runs until April 25th.

It looks like one or all of the Mr. T pieces will be part of the raffle, so you might wanna try your luck. RSVP and invite your friends!

Ryan works mostly with paper, making stuff like the above. But he’s also famous for his clothing line Cool Try, and he’s opening a shop in the neighborhood (483 14th Street) on May 11th.

Here’s a peek inside his process:

I mean, my house’s backyard has a pretty sick reclaimed no-parking sign that I’m pretty into, but this takes the cake:

A bunch of haters in the comments section (surprise, surprise) didn’t seem to like the pics of cute bunnies we posted on Friday.

Maybe they’ll prefer this one, by our pal The Fog Bender:

Just Frida being Frida.

I suppose this explains those colorful stencils we noticed earlier.

At Encantada on Valencia near 20th.

[via C'mon Pony]

“The City bleeds gold,” it says.

[Photo by Lil Stinky]

Jay left our delightful neighborhood for LA a few years ago to pursue his artistic passion by creating one of my favorite TV shows ever, the hilarious Bob’s Burgers.  Now he’s back for the weekend to show off some of the other rad stuff that been oozing from his imagination, and you can see it all for yourself tonight over at Fecal Face Gallery here in the Mission!

Not content to merely infiltrate your eyeballs, he’ll also be invading your auditory cortex the very next night along with his former partner-in-crime Josh Yule at the night they both started way back before he left:  Smithsfits at the Knockout!  And check it out, they’re giving away Smithsfits pins to the first 50 people who show up!

See you there!