Wandering Artist's Journal

For 20 years I've been walking by this store, thinking it just sold bookcases. From the window display, they looked like good bookcases, but almost every linear inch of my walls is already covered with bookcases (and above the bookcases are paintings.) So I never had a reason to go in. Until last night, when I went to hear Tinker Greene read some of his poetry. As usual, I got there too early, so I had plenty of time to study the place. What a treasure! I'm so sorry I didn't discover it years ago. Beyond the crowded bookshelves by the entrance is a big high-ceiling room, full of empty bookshelves and other wooden furniture. The back of the main room, plus an additional back room, is lined with stuffed bookshelves holding new and used books, including more chapbooks than I've seen anywhere else. In fact, this place has the best poetry section I've seen in San Francisco. But that's not all - above the bookshelves is a very juicy melange of paintings and prints....

Cross-posted from Bay Area Art Quake : Enrique Chagoya's "Illegal Alien's Guide to Greater America", at the Cantor Arts Center Thirteen of Stanford University's art faculty are showing work from their own studios at the Cantor Arts Center in Palo Alto. I'm a fan of Enrique Chagoya 's work, but I wasn't familiar with the other artists. Each artist was represented by a small selection of works, a photo of their studio and a short bio. I'm embarrassed to say this was my introduction to the work of Matt Kahn . When I saw his pieces in this show it was obvious that the artist had spent a lot of time doing a lot of thinking and plenty of practice. The skill level and originality are off the charts. He's been an influential player in Bay Area art & design for 60 years (where have I been?) Kahn's paintings in this show were on canvas that was inconceivably stretched over curving forms and painted with immaculate precision. And the colors -...