Mission Mission

Artist Iris Alden wrote in to share a story:

I’m a local artist/barback/sometimes I work at Adobe Book Shop. I’m guessing, what with your throughly thorough knowledge of the Mission, that you guys know about Swan (a.k.a The Birdman, a.k.a John Ratliff), the white bearded character almost seen at Adobe, sometimes sitting outside smoking, sometimes inside with or without a pigeon companion. Anyway, I made this comic after having a conversation with him one night, and I thought you guys might like to see it. Voila!

Voila:

Can’t get no results from the humans is right!

Previously:

The Pigeon Whisperer

Thanks, Iris!

If all those episodes of Auction Hunters and Pawn Stars you watched this afternoon got you all amped up to bid on some cool stuff while listening to some rock ‘n’ roll, tonight’s event at ATA might really hit the spot:

Artists’ Television Access proudly invites the Bay Area community to celebrate 26 years of cutting edge, alternative and experimental art at this year’s fundraiser. The night features a live and silent art auction of work from almost 50 established and emerging artists, with live musical performances by Grass Widow and Puce Moment, and visual presentation by Craig Baldwin, Dayv Jones and much more.

Read on for complete details. And it starts in like 10 minutes, so you better get off the couch and get ready to go.

[Photo of the badass playlist that will presumably be played at some  point during the event by Talent Is An Asset] [Parting Gifts rules!]

“Ok, there’s only enough oxygen in there for a few hours, so try not to breathe too much.  We’ve got to make this last the whole weekend.”

If you walked down Valencia at all during the beautifully sunny weekend that we all just had the pleasure of enjoying, you must have noticed these poor souls trapped inside the window of Artist Television Access, the rad non-profit media access company that always seems to be up to some neat stuff when they’re not committing crimes against humanity.  Be sure to check them out if you’ve ever got some free time and a creative streak, or if you just want to see what’s new in the artistic community.  Besides indie film festivals, art installations, and aesthetic workshops, it also makes for the perfect spot to throw a Berlin Ping Pong Disco Party:

Photo by Malcolm M.

UPDATE!!! They are having a FUNraiser this weekend!

It appears that Banksy heard about the challenge we offered him last month and decided to respond!

Or this is the work of some sort of copy-cat artist.  Check it out under the bridge at Dolores Park and decide for yourself!

(Thanks Bryan!)

You remember artist Maria Forde from that rad Herzog/Kinski t-shirt every single one of us has, right?

Tonight at Curiosity Shoppe she debuts a new series of works illustrating various world records her friends have set. I’m pumped!

Previously:

I Heart Street Art

You guys should definitely pop over to Guerrero Gallery where a new show made up of works of art that contain words just opened.

The featured piece is a collection of paintings made by a bunch of Boston school children with the aid of artist Caleb Neelon (AKA Sonik) who you might remember from an interview I did with him for I Heart Street Art a while back. Here’s an exchange we had regarding tagging:

At this point we’re standing on a sidewalk across from a janky Motel 6 in the Tenderloin. There’s a tag on one of the building’s exterior walls, a wall that is otherwise caked with about a thousand layers of grimy Tenderloin taint. So we start comparing this modest tag on a dirty building to something like a whimsical cartoon character painted on some small business in the Mission.

Caleb says he certainly identifies as a hand-style nerd, meaning he can appreciate the subtleties in even the most hurried little black-magic-marker tag. So he harbors no special ill will toward the tagger in this case. In fact, Motel 6 being a big corporation, should have no problem having systems in place to keep its walls clean.

Bold! (Read the rest.) But possibly not as bold as this new work at Guerrero Gallery. He asked a group of kids to put down on canvas the nicest or meanest thing they have had said to them or have said to someone else. Which begs the question, which one is the following?

In any case, these two pics I’ve shared are just the tip of the iceberg. Go see for yourself!

Previously:

Dudes Say the Darnedest Things

Nice. Or, is it racist? Like maybe it belongs at that vintage paper fair thing.

Seen in a window.

On the side of an apartment building. Or is it a firework?

This time in the Lower Haight, and to significantly less impressive effect than the last caper.

Then again, maybe this installation was epic too before someone climbed it and destroyed it, like with the last caper.