Hey guys, I just got back from Japan!

I saw my family and friends, and met a bunch of new ones along the way (including my newlywed cousin's husband).

Sorry, no pics to share here of those things, yo.

But, it was beautiful, as per usual.

Also, SURPRISE! I ate and drank many delicious things.

It was a fun time, and a time to reflect.

Until next year, Nihon.

Matmos, San Francisco Art Institute, 6.28.2014

My hands clasped tightly, they did not disappoint. Difficult, orchestral, exhausting, inspiring.

Watch a bit here.

James Turrell: A Retrospective at the LACMA this last weekend was simply magnificent.

Afrum (White), 1966

Turrell's ganzfelds

At times both meditative and mind-blowing, this was well worth the $25 total cost of admission, museum admission included.

And what a museum it was! I never knew the LACMA had such a fantastic collection. I was shocked to see one of my favorite paintings, as well as so so much of my other preciouses: Bauhausian, abstract expressionism, and pop art.

I mean, I looked at this Paul Klee!

The Fruit, 1932

And this fantastic Christo!

Portrait of Ray, 1969

Also of note: I'm not a fan of Picasso, but while they had many of his works sprinkled about the galleries, they also had a Picasso room.

Everything was so well-curated and flowed so well, and the vibe was super chill and encouraging of exploration. Love my deYoung, but damn, they certainly could learn a lot from the LACMA about how to make a museum more viewer-friendly all-around.

James Turrell: A Retrospective runs through April 6, 2014. Advance tickets are strongly recommended.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Burying the Hatchet: The Death of the Negative Book Review

(illustration by Jordan Awan for The New Yorker)

I'm an editor at a micropress publisher (of POETRY, for god's sake), a huge supporter of my friends in the literary and visual arts, and a de facto agent for my wildly talented poet husband, so you would think I'm down, but I just can't play.

In a nutshell: I fear we are becoming a people who cannot take a punch, or give or receive criticism, or who are increasingly discouraged to practice intelligent discernment. Yeah, I rail against social media and the 140 character thought too, and lament what I think it is doing to us individually and culturally, but the hallowed book review shouldn't pander to the lowest common denominator, regardless of perceived bloodsport, or the possibility of the reviewed's death knell, or any comment on the self-worth of the author of the review.

Sorry for my obsession with this text at the mo', but I find it a bit micro-meta that the author mentions Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Sigh.

Sometimes, I forget that I'm a girl, and then...

(ice cream cone brooches, 1986)

"Jewelry is not only about carats and diamonds," said [jewelry historian and curator of the Bulgari vintage collection Amanda] Triossi, "it's also about design - a work of art in its own right, which is why it should be featured in a museum."

The Art of Bulgari: La Dolce Vita & Beyond, 1950-1990.

Show opens Saturday and runs through Feb. 17, 2014. M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, S.F.

Some shameless, sort-of self promotion...

Spooky Actions Books (which I co-edit) will be releasing our second chapbook, yolotl by Lourdes Figueroa, on September 13th! Lourdes will be reading from yolotl, along with Wendy Trevino and Nicole Trigg, at Small Press Traffic on September 15th. If you're in the Bay, we can finally meet!

(gorgeous original artwork for yolotl by Hanae Rivera captures the essence of this body of work beautifully)

Please come by, say hello, and hear Lourdes read her wonderful work. Books will be available at the reading and at our website.

Trevino, Triggs, Figueroa at SPT

Another installment of My Friends Are Awesome.

Come to find out yesterday that Chris Lane, multi-talented illustrator of the cover of Trevor's first book as well as the entirety of Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection and Harry Houdini: The Legend of the World's Greatest Escape Artist, and super good friend and all-around piece of wonderfulness in my life, is now a San Francisco Chronicle Bar Star, 2013!

And then: amazing author and magnificent human being Renee Swindle read to a packed house at my favorite bookstore, Diesel, A Bookstore, for the publication of her second book, Shake Down the Stars.

Yes, it was a good day. So proud!

Getting All Up in ComicCon, First Time Styles Edition

Can you believe with all my Star Trekking and comic-booking and nerd love fangirling that I've never attended ComicCon in San Diego until this year?

A good friend who attends on industry passes invited me along this year, and I jumped at the chance to go to geek mecca.

Also, I heard a little show called Sherlock would panel this year.

Oh girl, it was ON.

We packed up and made the 6 hour trek down from the Bay to pit stop in Los Angeles for a few days prior, down Interstate 5. Usually the flats are a wasteland, we were lucky it was an unusually GORGEOUS drive. We're cool like that.

A few days of shopping and dranks and shoring up sleep in LA, and we headed to the Con.

We arrived.

It was MADNESS.

(This is like, 1/8 of the floor.)

And we had a great time. I could go on and on about the displays (BBC America's Doctor Who fashions over the years was stellar), or the cool orgs tabling (Kirby Museum! Comic Book Legal Defense Fund!) or the nice artists we chatted with (Brom!) but what I was really struck by was not only the sheer massive volume of geekery on display and in conversation, but at how absolutely wonderful we geeks are. It's not merely a back-patting, it's the truth. In an enormous mass of excited and sometimes bulkily-attired people, every time I was bumped I received an "excuse me" or "sorry." On several occasions we were witness to expensive electronics being found and turned in immediately. Everyone was stoked to be with their people, and I must say I was so impressed with the camaraderie and friendliness and willingness to talk about nerd love in a rational (and may I say, Vulcan-like, even!) manner that was displayed over my 4 days in geek heaven.

Ah, and alas, the Sherlock panel was not to be on my agenda as it looks like any panel of extreme note (this one had Stephen Moffat, Mark Gatiss, and Sue Vertue) required overnight campouts in line. And when it comes to that kind of fangirling, saudade does. not. play. Also of note: Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch sent their regards via video, but they did not attend -- something I was a bit surprised by given not only Sherlock, but their current roles in that bastion of geekery, The Hobbit, AND Cumberbatch's roles in both the recent Star Trek and as Julian Assange in the upcoming The Fifth Estate.

So, yeah...I was a bit taken aback at the underrepresentation of Sherlock at the Con, given there was a significant panel, A-list star profiles/projects, and a growing American fanbase (my own recent Cumberbatching may have influenced this as well, but STILL, c'maaaaan). Even the BBC America booth only had what looked like a hastily put-together and half-assed t-shirt (which, ok, yes, I attempted to buy but it was sold out in my size. What?! I am that person.)

Anyway, I'm still a bit high from the nerd love holiday I just experienced. Lovely, lovely time, and I am definitely planning on attending again next year.

Perception

The Making of a 19th Century Victorian House in London, Built With Mirrors

Perception is the inherited tool we are all born with and we use to understand the world and to achieve knowledge. I think illusion here acts as a trigger, seducing the viewer to participate in the experience while questioning their understanding of reality. The question is not just opposing the illusionary and the real, [it's also] understanding that what we call real is part of a construction.

Dalston House, as it is known, will be on display June 26 - August 4 as part of the London Festival of Architecture. Someone please go and check this out for me!

Brilliant

Game of Thrones Characters Re-Imagined in 80s/90s Style

My so-called life.

This one is PERFECT.

P&P and we

2013: 200 years of Pride and Prejudice.

That peacock cover, and the 1880s P&P/Northanger Abbey? WANT.

This P&P retrospective is a classic example of how the intersection of art, design, and literature critically influence (and are influenced by) our rapidly moving culture. I really don't think this is something we often think about whilst picking up a Penguin Classics version of Austen, or Bronte, or Nabokov (or, before you know it: Barbery, or Carlotto, or Meek) at the bookstore. We know we often choose books by their covers (even if, as the author of the slideshow posits, it is embarrassing to admit) but we remain somewhat oblivious to the ideas that went into the why of the approximate size of our beach read, or what is on the cover, or the why of that font as we toss it into our messenger bag. We also don't often entertain how such a critical intersection can be so misunderstood -- even reviled.

Consider that nerdly pursuit, the comic book. Equally a literary and visual art genre, often produced monthly and serially, which positions it perfectly on the pulse of society; a genre that has not only birthed the biggest film blockbusters of every summer season in significant memory, but of late has become a medium that is primarily consumed by adults -- a fact that has revolutionized the industry. All but gone are the crudely drawn, sometimes barely coherent storylines of some major comics of the 70s and 80s that catered to 12 year old boys (and those 12 year olds masquerading as men). If you are going to make it in the comics industry today, the rule of the day is richness: in artistry, design, plotline.

I was sitting in a cafe with Trevor a few months ago, and a friend happened to stop by our table with one of her friends, a man about our age. We had just picked up some weekly comics and were in the process of catching up on our favorite storylines. Our friend's friend saw what we were reading and said, "wow, you're not ashamed to read these in public?"

No.

Stigma prevails; yet, while I lament the ignorance of the brilliant cultural shifts one can see manifest in part through the appreciation of these flimsy paper books, I'm also pretty sure the nerdly reputation of consuming these major tastemakers is something most aficionados wear with pride. I know I do.

Some folks are aware that I am one half of a team publishing chapbooks by California poets with art by California artists. I am really blessed to have a coterie of friends and acquaintances who are vastly talented, challenging, and driven (and community-minded!) in their pursuits, both literary and visual. I also feel blessed to be involving myself in something that not only expresses my love of contemporary American poetry and visual art, but also what those things can say about a moment in time and space.

Wow!





Post-Punk/New Wave Super Friends

Hee.

This 2013 Cthulhu calendar by John Coulthart is superb. Reasonable too.

Of course, December is my favorite.

Looking to satisfy the 10-year old inside your sophisticated and cultured adult body?

These Japanese Fart Scrolls housed at Waseda University are straight up awesome.

My favorite. Y'all know how I feel about cats. Like so:

Hat tip to Tofugu.

Wow!

A $9 Bike Made of Cardboard

Israel’s Izhar Gafni has designed a bike that can be produced for $9 and support riders up to 310 pounds. 

“It always excites me to take negligible materials and then turn them into something completely different; something useful..."

Love innovative, beautiful, and functional work with paper. Reminds me of this post from 6 years (!!) ago about Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and his cardboard refugee homes. Awesomesauce.

Speaking of art, a recent acquisition:

I've admired my very talented friend Alex Case's breathtaking asphalt paintings for some time, since I saw him exhibit them over a year ago at Johansson Projects. At once serene and dynamic -- a hallmark of a lot of my favorite types of art, and certainly one of the reasons I love Alex's other work too -- we made the decision to buy this right after I had quit my same-old-BS-different-salt-mine job and were unsure of the stability of our finances. Like my taste in art, I was both terrified and exhilarated, calm but intrepid, because I knew.

There is a way I decided I wanted to live my life a long time ago that was fomenting even when I was just a little girl. I had an idyllic childhood and great parents, and though the negative and positive aspects of the redneck county where I grew up informs my life in many ways, one thing that stands out is that I always knew there was more out there.

I remember my father telling me how he joined the US Army to see the world and avoid a life sentence at the mill or the mine; how on R&R in Occupied Japan while the other GIs went out to drink and whore he would buy a train ticket -- counting the stops so he wouldn't get lost -- and get off the train in some little village and just walk around. Contrary to the official warnings of his superiors, who told him that a lone American GI in a village far from base was at risk of getting his throat slit, he was invited into the homes of countless families for tea, along the way learning his love of Japanese joinery and Japanese farming techniques, and saw the kind of Japan that still only exists for a very few lucky outsiders.

It was my father who told me that I was the captain of my destiny and that I could steer myself anywhere I wanted to go. In the course of charting my way, I decided I wanted to exist fearless, by sucking the marrow out of life, and part of that for me was forging a life that valued the arts.  

Alex's painting means a lot more to me than just a beautiful piece of work that I will have the rest of my life -- it reinforces for me the things my father taught me and wanted for me; that I'm making the right choices for my life, and that I'm also blessed to have the time and inclination to reflect on those things.

Oh neglect...

July is almost over and no post until now. Bad saudade.

But, but, it was my birthday week in the beginning of July! And I started a new job fundraising for a library, and my boy is off work, and it's summer.

Can I make it up to you?

My friend, the amazing illustrator Hanae Rivera, has just finished stunning oil pastel illustrations for her first children's book, Kodoku, by William Emery, out on Heyday Books in September 2012.

Look at all the pretty things!

Kodoku (solitude) is based on the true story of Kenichi Horie, the first yachtsman to sail solo across the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to California, in 1962. Hanae's rich  illustrations really evoke both the title of the book and the greater connectivity one can feel in the great, vast Pacific, teeming with life and energy.

Hanae's work is getting some great press; among other early accolades, she is Lightsource SF's artist of the month for July!

Do your bookshelf or coffee table a favor and pick up this gorgeous book -- kids or no kids -- or some sweet prints here, and support the work of this terrific artist.

Today I read two profiles of designers back to back -- designers who I think are setting the innovation bar in their respective fields.

First:

Hipstamatic founders Lucas Buick, Ryan Dorshorst

The founders of Hipstamatic, two 29-year-old Wisconsinites with graphic design degrees, have brought quirky, stylish flair to the Web without connections to venture capitalists or Silicon Valley insiders. With $1.83 in their corporate account, they started a company that - unlike many tech enterprises - was profitable from the day it launched.

As you can tell from my blog, I LOVE this app (John S lens and Kodot film 4EVA!). I love seeing people doing what they love. I didn't know they have a San Francisco office; I have a feeling I might also love to work there.

Also:

Sarah Burton Reigns at Alexander McQueen 

She is the creative director for the fashion house of Alexander McQueen - a lofty and high-pressure position - but Sarah Burton is no attitudinal diva...Burton was [in San Francisco] to receive an honorary doctorate from the [San Francisco Academy of Art] and to award internships to students after perusing their portfolios and watching the runway show, a highlight of the academic year for 400 guests in the audience - students and local fashionistas alike.

Longtime readers of sine qua non know that while I cannot afford McQueen, I covet it for its fierce and fearless pieces and its tendency to make classics pop in unexpected ways. I agree with Burton when she mentions that McQueen is timeless. This profile was way too short, but still a nice little glimpse of the woman who went from intern to creative director of one of the most ground-breaking fashion houses in the world.

It is so inspiring to see people do what they love, make good work, and keep their heads. Respect.

Oy vey.



















DC Plans Prequel to Watchmen Series

Guess how Alan Moore feels about it?

I tend to take this latest development as a kind of eager confirmation that they are still apparently dependent on ideas that I had 25 years ago.

This zinger is true. Also true: it's pretty likely this money-making measure will turn out meh. But, at the same time, I'm over "no one can touch my sacred cow" and "I had to hand over my firstborn when I signed those contracts."

Alan Moore was gifted to be sure -- Watchmen is genius -- and I'm thankful that genius was recognized, but sadly, this is the way it is for artists, especially when they are first starting out. How much literary and visual work have my friends signed away, sometimes after doing it FOR FREE, just to get their work seen? Yet these are also the folks I know who have found success.

I'm not saying these practices are okay, and I definitely don't mean to blame the victim -- it's more like 80/20 for me. In a lot of ways I appreciate Moore's protests of mainstream publishers' predatory and some would say unethical modus operandi; at least when prompted for a grouse he not only cements his place within the comic canon but reminds us of the realities of being any kind of artist. But business is business, and he's famous because of those contracts -- they afforded him the place in said comic canon he occupies now. When one chooses to play the game there comes a time to let your great work stand, and then let the inevitable go.

Or, if you're going to dine with the devil, best to use a long spoon.

Wow!



















Berkeley Sculptor Aimee Baldwin's 'Vegan Taxidermy'

Although what Baldwin creates isn't technically taxidermy, it is vegan because her creations - shorebirds, corvids, owls, raptors and extinct birds, as well as plants - are made entirely without animal parts. Instead, she uses crepe paper, glue, found objects and wire in the meticulous creation of birds so lifelike, they look poised to hop off their perches and flutter away.

Any notions associated with the term 'vegan' aside, Baldwin's birds are both incredibly realistic and breathtakingly gorgeous, and you can really see the love and care she puts into them. I also love to see someone so talented making a living doing what they love.

To see more of Aimee Baldwin's work, check out her website or her Etsy site.