…FINALLY!!!
After this entry, I come to one of the coolest stops in the show.
At the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, I was fascinated with many of the pieces in both of the exhibits. I don’t know what it is that draws me into “Dos Mundos” the works of Tim Craighead, but I feel a sense of disorientation. Not in any sense where I feel lost, or scattered or don’t know where to focus my attention, but more like I am swimming in main color and have to turn to look at each of the images on the canvas. That being said, I was so fixated on the constant presence of some of the symbols on his works, that I was sure that they had to have some importance to the painter. So I found a liaison and asked what the significance of these images were since they were repeated in so many of the pieces represented in the show. Now, I don’t want to sound ungrateful that the man tried hard to explain something not at all related to my question, but I would have preferred him to say “I don’t know.” Instead, he stood there stating the obvious for 15 minutes and I didn’t want to be rude and just walk away. Because of my bad timing, I never got back to the MACLA center for the performance. Crap!
Regardless, I continued to the other side of the museum and found “One Thing Leads to Another.” While Craighead’s works played with the organic and inorganic images, the works in the “One Thing” exhibit are repetitive, calculated, and cold, but no less mesmerizing.
What I really liked about the table was that it shows this seemingly vast amount of work, but all the pieces only required a pencil, a straight-edge, and paper. Oh, and 24 hours. The idea of massive amounts of Art in a short amount of time is so appealing to me.
One of the last images I saw while leaving was:
a stunning piece all done by hand and the small shifts make the work vibrate with energy. It’s truly lovely when you can see it up close.
I headed over to the Art Boutiki because I usually see some cool stuff there too and I was not disappointed. I was surprised that the band playing wasn’t the usual rock or punk garage band. Instead it was a jazz ensemble called Grooveyard Shift. Upon asking the woman behind the beverage counter the band’s name, she asked if I’d be interested in a cd. I tell her sure and give her a few bucks for it. As they are wrapping up their last number, the woman looks over at me and says “they’re good, huh?” I say, “they are very talented.” Proudly, she kind of nods and says”two of them are my sons.” She was so happy. It was really cute. And unlike the typical parent telling their child they are good at everything they do, this band was really good. It’s a refreshing change of pace to hear something that doesn’t have a hard rock guitar or screaming singer.
As I was looking over the comic books on the tables, I noticed that some of the Art Work on the walls were these awesome dioramas of really unique ideas. Sadly, these pictures do not do them justice. I guess you are going to have to stop by the store and see them.
One of the comic books that was out promoting itself was one called “Aztec of the City.” I popped open the book and flipped through a few of the pages to look at the art work. It’s well drawn and all, but when I read the first two pages, I felt myself rolling my eyes. I know the cover should have given me an idea of what to expect, but silly me, I wasn’t paying that much attention to it. I find it “boring” to find yet one more story where the Latino hero, has to mention that he did time in jail and no one came to see him and how hard it was to survive. It’s a story that’s used too often, and yeah, I get bored with it. For once, I just want to see someone kick ass because of injustice that’s been witnessed rather than having had some horrible incident drive them to it, like Batman watching his parents get killed. Next! That’s all I have to say about this comic. Sorry Aztec writers.
My last stop of the night was at Higher Fire. I watched a lady make her ceramic bowl and actually cut it off the hunk of clay she was using. The provocative and funny banter between her and the two fellow pot makers made me want to sign up for a class just to be in on the fun.
On the way back to the car, I snapped this pic because I thought it was really funny and the worker was totally up for it. So a big thank you for posing, Mr. City Worker Guy!
All in all, it was a wonderful night and in two weeks, I get to do it again. The only down side is that Cinequest will be happening that time too, so parking is going to SU-UCK!!
The Actorvist 