Art / David Choong Lee
David Choong Lee is a San Francisco-based painter and illustrator. With deep influences in the underground culture of street art, hip hop, turntablism and mass media, his work puts a face on the humanity of it all. David will be showing with me at the upcoming Heavy Hitterz show at Pablo Gallery, in the Cubao District of Manila on Saturday, May 3rd. [read more on the Heavy Hitterz show]
Tagged: , San Francisco
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San Francisco artist Matthew Palladino’s work is on my obsessive website viewing rotation. His colourful, clean, folksy images have got me, though I must say that I’m not as drawn to some of his more overt examples of political subject matter as I am to his more personal, introverted images. Regardless, Palladino implements the most beautiful patterns and shapes with his watercolors. And I just can’t get enough. Read more
The issue of abortion has hardly ever been represented so honestly by a movie. Knocked Up and Juno gave the pro-choice movement a boost, and of those two, only Juno came close to confronting the issue. In the Princess of Nebraska, the main character suffers through indecision, naivety and turmoil that seem much closer to reality. Read more
There is a tragic beauty and innocence about Nicholas Haggard’s portraits of his San Francisco friends. We interviewed him recently about his inspirations and his three favorite props. Read more
Also by JENN PORRECA
Martin Wittfooth at Copro Nason Gallery
The themes in Martin Wittfooth’s work don post-apocalyptic dystopias, leaving the viewer wondering if, in fact, they were the god that brought the wrath, or a mere viewer of a world not yet known. He and our mutual friend Jon Todd stopped through San Francisco to hang out this week and I managed to get a little inside scoop on his upcoming show, Sandcastles in the Tide, opening at Copro Nason Gallery in Los Angeles this Saturday. Talk to me a little bit about the theme behind this body of work. ‘This body of work is about nature reclaiming what was once taken from it, and continues to be a recurring theme for me. These paintings, in particular, are somewhat darker. I chose a lot of similar iconography in the paintings to tie in with what I feel shows human’s destructive tendencies’. Read more
I had the opportunity to get a sneak preview of Brett Amory’s new works at his studio a few months back, one of which was twenty foot wide. Soft spoken, expansively talented and dedicated to his craft, Amory walked me through his almost fifteen step process. Marked by an almost alarmingly soothing color palette, this San Francisco-based artist has been toiling away on a series about ‘people waiting’. Whether waiting for the muni, or watching scooters pass us by on the street, we can’t seem to get enough of art that lets us love the Bay Area that much more. Seeing his pieces in person is what really brings it together, so if you’re in San Francisco, and want to see our home town pride in full effect, hit 111 Minna Gallery this coming Thursday night to see this amazing four person exhibit, Common Descent. I interviewed Amory just days before his opening. Read more
Graffiti artist turned gallery artist, Saratoga Sake has a solo show, Vamperina, opening this week at California’s Distinction Gallery. Think of it, an entire show of rosy cheeked vampy girls, ballerina dresses, and more. Says Sake on his work: ‘My subject matter is a mix of memories of my childhood, family photos and stories, music, Valiant heroes of WWI and WWII, finding photos of old lovers, spooky looking dames from the Victorian era, and my much-loved eras of the 1900s through the 50s’.
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We love the work of Los Angeles-based artist James Jean, so we tracked him down for an interview: Your work is very dramatic and rich in narrative. From where does the initial seed of any idea generally come from? ‘It comes from a combination of conscious decision-making and deep rooted memories and desires. Sometimes I start with a very clear idea, but inspiration is rare — usually I’m working out ideas through little thumbnails that mysteriously evolve into their own stories’. Read more
Singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan writes the most delicate, haunting, and unforgettable music. Read more
Australian-born creative, Marc Newson, is considered to be one of the most influential designers of the past few decades. Having originally studied jewellery and sculpture at Sydney College of the Arts, ‘he started experimenting with furniture design as a student and, after graduating in 1984, was awarded a grant from the Australian Crafts Council, and staged an exhibition — featuring the Lockheed Lounge — at the Roslyn Oxley Gallery in Sydney’. Read more
Legend has it that Paul McCartney hated the line from Hey Jude - ‘the movement you need is on your shoulder’ - so much that he was going to scrap it until his partner in grime John Lennon told him it was the best part of the song. So it stuck. Read more
We have a bunch of new playlists up on our sister site, My Secret Playlist, a music discovery website and weekly email publication in which we invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. Over the past few weeks, acts such as The B52s, Team Genius, Pivot, Jukebox the Ghost, Moby, Katy Perry, and the Dandy Warhols, among many others, have written about the music that inspires them. To sign-up to receive the weekly My Secret Playlist publication, just enter your email address into the website’s subscription box.
French design dynamo Jean-Marie Massaud has created a Manned Cloud. A cruise airship with a hotel for 40 passengers and 15 staff, Massaud worked with the Office National d’Etudes et de Recherche Aérospatiale in this proposal. Read more
This interview with James Lavelle gives a fascinating window into the making of the latest UNKLE opus, End Titles, Stories for Film.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Herzog and de Meuron, the Swiss architects, have led the way with this re-use of the existing building fabric of CaixaForum in Madrid. Rather than being slavish to the existing openings, the building has been cut away for a contemporary practicality. We think this is an example of heritage not getting in the way of progress. Check out a similar concept of a previous post re-using the city fabric, where we were dreaming of such thing.
Micah P. Hinson takes the good with the bad
We said a few weeks back that Micah P. Hinson is ‘like every rustic, broken down, and pieced back together country great that’s ever been. Only hipper and slightly less sombre’. With that in mind, we spoke to him recently and asked him whether his hometown of Texas was a difficult place for a young, aspiring musician to grow up in: ‘The boredom of Abilene [Texas] helped the creativity. There wasn’t much to do to fill a person’s time, so you had to find ways of filling it. So as far as music, this was helpful. But regarding other extralegal activities, it was not so helpful. But you know, you take the good with the bad, mix it up, and see what pops out’. Read more
The last time we heard from Melbourne label TV, they were busy preparing for their debut at Rosemount Australian Fashion Week. Since then, the girls behind one of this year’s most talked about labels have delivered a stunning collection. Read more
The Grind 2.0, a charity auction show to fund construction of the Swift-Cantrell Skatepark in Atlanta, opens on Friday, October 10 at Atlanta’s The Rabbit Hole Gallery. The show features more than 60 hand-painted skate decks painted by some of today’s top underground artists from across America and Europe, and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of it! Other artists include Amy Sol, Dave Kinsey, Chris Stain, Jason Limon, Tara McPherson, Tessar Lo, and many more. The gallery is even offering an online bidding through their website.
I’m so digging the work of Santa Monica artist Andrew Hem. Painting seems to have become relegated in the illustration world these days, so I’m pleased to see Hem rocking it in a big way. His bold brushwork, lush colors, puppet-like figures and painted type make for a body of work that really hits the painted spot.
Cassettes Won’t Listen is the brainchild of New York-based, multi-instrumentalist and producer Jason Drake and is the latest of an abundance of musical monikers he has realised over the years. Small-Time Machine is Cassettes Wont Listen’s first-ever physical release and is available for US$23.70.
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UNKLE’s new album, End Stories … Music For Film, comes in a limited edition gatefold vinyl gloss with sculptured panel embossing. We have three copies to give away to randomly selected Australian Lost At E Minor subscribers who leave a comment under this post.
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Gary said | 7 March, 2008
Depressing yet absolutely stunning.