shameless self-promotion (by proxies), updated

People are talking about This & That International Mail Art Swap, a project I organized that’s currently in Involved, Socially at Triple Base Gallery.

Hiya Swanhuyser valiantly connected This & That and astronomical phenomena in a write-up on SFWeekly.com (Cheers to Joshua Churchill, whose transit-specific project garnered Swanhuyer’s appreciation)

and

Stephanie Syjuco posted kind words about my curatorial efforts on her blog.

Involved, Socially is reviewed here:

sf chron thumbnail: visual art
Ari Messer’s feature for the San Francisco Chronicle’s 96 Hours section.

and here:

Cheryl Meeker blogged about my project and Amanda Curreri’s work for Stretcher.org.

Art & Development

another entry in the “art takes you to some funny places” diary

Maybe it’s too soon to say, but based on my initial experience, being a curator seems like one part Director, one part Gopher. I expected to fetch odds and ends for the exhibition, but I was bit surprised how much artists entrusted me with creative decisions regarding their art. Guess I’ll just have to get used to it.

Two items I found myself chasing down recently:

78-rpm records. N. Sean Glover’s cardboard record player works better with fatter grooves. A Jackson Five 33 had to do for the opening. (It seemed fitting because “I Want You Back” was on heavy rotation in the shops while I was in Manchester.) But today, at the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use, I scored two 78s — Sarah Vaughn and the Benny Goodman Sextet.

Butane. David Moises’ Egoshooter is a modified barbecue lighter. Lighters can go in the mail completely emptied of fuel, so it was my job to re-fuel it for the exhibition. The gallery (understandably) didn’t want visitors to get hurt, but I just couldn’t show the Egoshooter disarmed — I was plagued with memories of grad school critiques of art “with no teeth.” Not having ever owned a refillable lighter, I wandered the aisles of CVS before I realized that, of course, butane is probably kept behind a counter, next to cartons of cigarettes. The CVS in North Oakland, formerly Long’s, was sort of an ideal place to find such a slightly obscure, anachronistic item. (It was also the source for my new white painter’s pants. Maybe I’m projecting, but I get a lot more respect at Home Depot when I’m wearing proper Dickies.)

Art & Development, News, This & That Mail Art Swap

Involved, Socially and This & That opens

Thanks to Dina and Joyce at Triple Base, Michelle Blade for having me in the show and compelling me to go one step beyond only exhibiting a work, M for love and support despite my week-long installation myopia, and the countless friends, supporters and mentors who attended, the opening reception for Involved, Socially seemed like a success.

It was well-attended, with a constant flow of people, and lots of time spent looking at art, reading texts and having good conversations.

I feel like both projects that I contributed, This & That International Mail Art Swap (a curatorial project in the back room featuring 32 artists) and Unlimited Promise (an installation in the basement) were strong, so I’m content.

Sandwich board typography by Mylinh Nguyen, via Michelle Blade. Window: project by David Horvitz. You know it's San Francisco's Mission District by the taqueria and bicycle.

The main (front) part of the storefront held several artist's projects; This & That was in the back room. Yuen Fong Ling's fluourescent posters, commanding JOIN US, are visible from the street.

Amanda Curreri's and Sally Elesby's project - a line of iridescent glitter is drawn across the gallery.

Left, works by Mark McKnight. Right, t-shirts by Amanda Curreri.

Photographer Seth Lower (far left, sethlower.com) inspects This and That; Jeronimo Roldan and Marcella Faustini and friend inspect Amanda Curreri's/Sally Elesby's correspondence (center). Jessica William's art (right). Not pictured: David Horvitz' letters about the Indian Ocean.

Photographer Seth Lower (far left, sethlower.com) inspects This & That; Jeronimo Roldan and Marcella Faustini and friend inspect Amanda Curreri's/Sally Elesby's correspondence (center). Jessica William's art (right).

This and That, with works by Crowe and Rawlinson, Tan, Chavez-Dawson, Churchill, Hongisto, Blackmore, Chen, Staincliffe and Hall.

This & That, with works by Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson, Tattfoo Tan, Mike Chavez-Dawson, Joshua Churchill, Eric Hongisto, Simon Blackmore, Susan Chen, Daniel Staincliffe and Antony Hall.

This and That, works by same artists as previous photo, plus Anading, Bell, Payot, Brumit and Wagner, the Bloors, and Carollo. Lower corner, a moment for our sponsor.

This & That, works by same artists as previous photo, plus Poklong Anading, Chris Bell, Laurence Payot, Jon Brumit and Sarah Wagner, Simon & Tom Bloor and Michelle Carollo. Lower corner, a moment for our sponsor.

Scott Oliver's Lake Merritt Walking Tour.

Verity-Jane Keefe's project on a housing estate in Barking, East London.

Verity-Jane Keefe's project on the estate in Barking, East London.

Works by Oliver, Keefe, Hattori, Glover, Pest.

Works by Oliver, Keefe, Taro Hattori, N. Sean Glover, Pest.

Works by Ryan, Woff, Sherry, Griffiths, Ma, Kabot, Kaplan, Yu.

Works by Anthony Ryan, Jenifer K Wofford, David Sherry, Mary Griffiths, Ivy Ma, Sarah Kabot, Scot Kaplan, MM Yu.

Works by O'Malley and Ling. Below, the spread.

Works by Susan O'Malley and Yuen Fong Ling. Below, the spread.

This & That artist Anthony Ryan takes home court advantage to inspect potential swap selections.

This & That artist Joshua Churchill, looking uncharacteristically dodgy, powers N. Sean Glover's cardboard record player.

Churchill also tries out David Moises' Ego Shooter, but he's too fast for the camera.

Mik Gaspay -- mikgaspay.com -- sports a This and That-like cardigan.

Painter/photographer Mik Gaspay -- mikgaspay.com -- rocks a This & That-like cardigan.

This & That artists Taro Hattori and Scott Oliver discuss amongst themselves.

Naomi Vanderkindren -- vanderkindren.com -- browses MM Yu's Book of Sleep.

Naomi Vanderkindren browses MM Yu's Book of Sleep. (Naomi's photographs can be viewed at vanderkindren.com.)

A visitor inspects Antony Hall's Hele shaw cell experiment.

Yuen Fong Ling's posters in background.

MJ-jacket sporting Vice leans in to hear Joshua Churchill's sound project.

A viewer reads N. Sean Glover's instructions for the cardboard record player.

Back room. Painter Marci Washington and mixed media artist Justin Hurty, and others. marciwashington.com. justin.hurty.com

Main gallery. This & That artist Chris Bell talks shop with Naomi.

Amanda Curreri's glitter line, a few hours later...

My installation, Unlimited Promise, in the basement. Produced during the Breathe Residency at Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, UK.

Spillage.

Thanks to all the artists in This & That for being such interesting artists and exhibiting professionalism, generosity and flexibility. Big thanks to Chris Bell, Joshua Churchill, Taro Hattori, Ali Naschke-Messing, Anthony Ryan, and Scott Oliver (who helped tremendously by installing his multi-part work) for coming to the opening. Thanks also to Susan Chen, who dispatched patience and editorial advice.

Involved, Socially runs through September 6th. Gallery hours are Thurs-Sun 12-5pm. For more info visit basebasebase.com. To learn more about This & That International Mail Art Swap, visit mailartswap.christinewongyap.com.

Art & Development, This & That Mail Art Swap

This & That and you

It’s complicated, but actually very simple:

Involved, Socially =
*curated by Michelle Blade
*features 5 artists
*the upcoming exhibition at Triple Base Gallery

This & That International Mail Art Swap =
*curated by Christine Wong Yap
*features 32 artists/artists groups
*a show in the back room at Triple Base Gallery, part of Involved, Socially.

You might think of This & That as a:
*curatorial project
*sub-show
*Little Big Show

Factoids:

The acronym for This & That could be “TnT.” (Thanks Churchill.) Hence the AC/DC theme song suggests itself.

R+D

On Be(com)ing an Artist, Citizen and Arts Community member, by Christine Wong Yap

Tag Archives: This

shameless self-promotion (by proxies), updated

another entry in the “art takes you to some funny places” diary

Involved, Socially and This & That opens

This & That and you