BRAND STRATEGIST

Monday, May 27, 2013

ArtPad SF

Opening Night VIP Preview of ArtPadSF @Phoenix Hotel
May 16th 6-10pm 














I crashed the opening night of ArtPadSF at the Phoenix hotel, a revamped 1960s motor lodge. That evening and for the next three following each room was taken over by a different gallery, creating an atmosphere that, like a hotel, is intimate and risqué. ArtPadSF is is provocative 21st century boutique art fair that focusing on emerging and contemporary art. I jumped right into the art, well the Drambuie Lounge first -but then I was all about the art. I have to admit that I don't often drink Drambuie, but it did start the evening off to be an extraordinary one.
Maria Jenson, Co-Founder (middle in photo) 
I bumped into Maria Jenson, the Co-Founder of ArtPadSF, and chatted with her for a bit about the beginning of it all because when she initially started creating this event a few years ago many people questioned it's potential being located in the Tenderloin. To locate such an event in the Tenderloin is critical to these neighborhoods in finding strength and benefiting the neighboring businesses with more traffic. This year alone drew 10,000 people showcasing 35 galleries and proving once again that perhaps it's the limitations that are precisely what makes this project unique. 

Artist: Cristobal Valecillos
Princess and The Super Hero
archival digital print on metallic  
Artist: Joshua Harker
Till Death Do Us Part
3D printed polyamide, red
Artst Cristobal Valecillos creates an art form that involves an innovative concept using raw cardboard and paper, born out of a desire to create art without generating waste. This led Cristobal to this idea to use everyday materials around us to craft something beautiful and give these elements a second chance to come alive -from pizza boxes to cereal boxes to shopping bags. Cristobal highlights another way of showing how we can express ourselves in extraordinary ways by using the most basic elements.


Joshua Harker is considered a pioneer & visionary in 3D printed art & sculpture, creating symbols like Till Death Do Us Part which depicts the bittersweet experience of love and loss as well as suggesting that love is what you make of it. The anchor & chain within it are intended to symbolize the security of steadfast loyalty in stormy seas & that which keeps you from becoming aimlessly adrift. The arrow is love's tool of capture & the weeping tear symbolizes the pain of loss. The suspended ring demonstrates the promise of commitment, while the skull is the symbol of the end of us all & the reminder of living in the present. 

Taking it all in 
Artist: Sirron Norris
Metathree
oil paint, spray paint & acrylic on canvas
I caught up with Sirron Norris to track down the background of this character that I've seen before -the blue bear. Sirron's main business is paintings that tell a story about the person who is commissioning the work by inserting the patrons personality and experience into this blue bear. However, this painting Metathree is different because it's his own current story. For Sirron, Metathree was a challenging piece because he spends so much time painting other people's lives that this served to be "fun, therapeutic and revelatory" for him.

Artist: Annie Vought
Vought Experimental
Hand Cut


Annie Vought delicately cuts away the white space from handwritten letters and scribbles, revealing a network of interconnected letters in Vought's exact-o-knife penmanship that has the the negative spaces surrounding each character carved away. The handwriting and the lines support the structure of the cut paper, keeping it strong and sculptural despite it's apparent fragility. In these paper cut-outs these handwritten records are fragments of individual histories; a letter is physical confirmation of who we are at the moment it was written, or all we have left of a person or a time.
“Feel the fear and do it anyway.” Is Annie's motto right now -and mine too.  Event CRASH #61 ArtPad! 

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