the plants are taking over RAINBOW VALLEY!!! WHOA-HAHAHA!!!! 4/12-14 shots and what to do with all these starts that aren’t such starts anymore!??
otto@facebook
Otto Aresnault came to visit and had a chance to take a few photos of the facebook office murals i did now that the paint has had a chance to dry. i think this is the closest thing to a tour your going to get for those of you still asking. Thanks again Otto, Chris, and the facebook team, it was quite an experience. [flickr album=72157613977533088 num=30 size=Square]
spring cleaning
This is what my studio looked like sunday morning. now its got a lot more white. All this shit is a general growth and decay of my space over the last 6 months or so. I miss it but it has already started to grow back anew.
clouds carved: Sunday sound series 1
The sound series opened with simulacra, a duo that mysteriously snuck in and out of their beautiful short set without audio or visual documentation. Some groups escaped visual documentation by playing in complete darkness, iXi and Tussle primarily, but neither of those groups are as attractive as Simulacra, oh well, they’re performance will remain in the memories of those who had the chance to see them, if no where else. Sean Horchy then played his art music acoustic electric custom frequency modulator for a while before turning it over to the audience to experiment with. No one can play it as well as he can, but he really likes to share the experience with others, for which I commend him. Ship engaged the space next, starting their performance up top in the 7th heaven loft to then jump to the ground and continue from the ground. Frank and David are dear to me and the incarnation of the project. Seeing the intimacy of their performances is one of the few experiences that lead to the development of this project. They brought a more feisty performance then I had ever seen from them, jumping from 10 feet in the air, bells on their toes, swinging, jumping, kicking, and dancing their way through an awesome, often upbeat set. The rad photo of Frank and David counting down was taken by Triplebase artist, Michelle Blade). I only met her on this day, but her paintings are amazing and she does some rad social art too. 
I had talked to Lucky Dragons (myspace) about playing only through inter-wave communications. So when the sound series began and I hadn’t heard from the LA based group I started to think they would be a no-show. I should have never doubted they’re glorious ways, as they were spotted by frank rolling around the mission right on time… although a time was never discussed… far out! 
Pumpkins closed the first sound series with their blend of west-african/space/trance. These boys, Chris Cox and Gabe Turow are members of Baba Ken and the Afro-Groove Connexion, an afrobeat band based in the east bay. This set was a nice transition into the darkness of the evening. 
together we can cross hot lava
My friend Rocky De Anda, of Galleria de Raza, recommended I propose a project to the Mission Cultural Council, so I did. I had been looking for a way to interact with the community and still produce my own work. So I offered my leadership facilitation skillz to a handful of after school programs around the mission. After working through trust, leadership, and self awareness games activities, I had the kids write or draw the things they valued and feared most in their lives. Promoting, organizing, and scheduling my renegade art-related leadership program proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. Once I got the chance to run these sessions, I frequently found myself in a room of uninhibited kids 7-14 years old spazzing out on some of the more creative vulgar language I have ever heard. The best experience I had was with The Beacon after school program’s Power Eyes group. These girls had they’re group leader present and had a pre-existing foundation together. In the end I found the images of them working together to be the message I wanted to convey most so that’s how I ended up with this product. Now that I have one experience with community-engaged and public art project, I look forward to the chance of doing another with greater foresight. Check out the whole together we can cross hot lava! set of pictures on Drew Bennett’s Flickr
