Wandering Artist's Journal

  Weiwei-isms by Ai Weiwei, edited by Larry Warsh; published 2013 by Princeton University Press; ISBN 987-0-691-15766-5   -   Weiwei-isms could be described as meditations on Art, Life, Freedom and Power. Collected by Larry Warsh and organized into six topical chapters, the words of the artist cut to the essence of his experiences over a lifetime of speaking Truth to Power. A Printmaker's Document by Jim Dine; published 2013 by Steidl; ISBN 9783869306445 -  Jim Dine is an American artist known for his experimental, Pop and Neo-Dada works, including painting, sculpture, and prints. This volume is a retrospective of his printmaking and his life as an artist. Beautifully designed, this book is a sumptuous read. 

I finally got a chance to visit the newest gallery district in San Francisco, "Potrero Flats," after hearing about it from Nancy Ewart , JD Beltran , Terri Cohn and Kenneth Baker . It does indeed look very promising - great weather & parking, good transportation, plenty of nearby coffee houses, and fantastic spaces! The Hosfelt Gallery (top) opened there first, at 260 Utah (near 16th) and the space is jaw-dropping: huge rooms, tall ceilings, lots of light, and it looks like it has entrances on both Potrero & Utah. They're showing Anoka Faruqee moire paintings, which actually look a little lost in that space. I can't wait to see William T. Wiley's work there - he has just joined Hosfelt and will have a solo show there in the spring. Brian Gross Gallery (right) is in the same block at 248 Utah and has a similar space. The big Ed Moses craquelure paintings look great there. The artist control of the crackles is amazing - I've never seen anythi...

I just spend three hours yesterday and nearly two hours today, signing up for health insurance via California's Health Insurance Exchange . It wasn't easy, or painless, but from what I've heard on Twitter and elsewhere around the web , I had it easy. It was a lot like doing your own taxes. Online. Lots of dead links. Verrrrrrrry long waits. Lots of WTF? questions. Lots of repeated entries of long numbers and the same old info every government program asks you over and over and over. (With all this loss of privacy, increased government surveillance, and secret buildings full of digital archives, wouldn't ya think they'd know all this about me by now?) But hey - it's done. Now I can go back to painting. I'm working on a shipspotting series these days. The one above is "Smokin," acrylic on canvas, ©2013.

Ai Weiwei I just etched this plate and made a few prints this afternoon. I'm offering this image to other artists (high res image HERE ) under a Creative Commons license . I'd love it if you downloaded this, added color, text, or whatever, and send it far and wide, to spread the word about Ai's detention, his work, and China's crackdown on artists.

I took a quick look at "The Steins Collect" show yesterday morning when it opened for members at SFMOMA . Great show - good thing it's up for the rest of the summer because I'll need to go back a few times to really absorb it. While I did enjoy seeing some of the paintings, this exhibit is a definite example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It's exceptionally well-curated and the local history angle makes it more personal, more alive, more exciting. The entire 4th floor is used for this show and as you enter each room you are presented with a group of artworks, photos of the artworks as they lived at the Stein home, and glass cases full of letters, photos and other ephemera related to that artist or group of works. In many of the rooms the photos are enlarged to life size, filling a wall and giving the sense that you could walk over and join Gertrude at the table. They start in the Bay Area (see Alice at the Cliff House) then move to Paris (L...

I painted this DD portrait (upper right) ten years ago, at the end of my Doggie Diner phase, and it was exhibited at Hang, at the Canvas. The show opened on Memorial Day 2001. It was a blast! Over the years, many people have asked me if I would paint DD again, but as fun as it was, I've moved on to other projects. Now, the current owners of this painting are seeking a new home for "DD, Big Yellow Boxes" (36" x 24", acrylic on canvas.) If you'd like to take him home, email me (anna at bigcrow dot com) and I'll put you in contact with them. -- Posted From My iPad

Last night I attended "Survival Strategies for Artists" * at SFMOMA . The event was excessively academic, a word-fest for MFAs and PhDs. (Although one of the presenters used the word "like" so many times in every sentence, it got to the point where I had to restrain myself from pounding my seat every time she did it.) The practical advice that was offered was laughably familiar to me and most of the hundred or so working artists that I hang with on a regular basis. The key components in this plan were: - use free, recycled, or low cost materials in your life and your work - get a "make money" job to support your art - organize your time to prioritize your art making Nevertheless, I did come away from the evening feeling a renewed optimism and enthusiasm for my artistic practice, thanks to Sean Fletcher 's presentation. (I was unable to hear his partner's wispy voice.) Again, he didn't present any new information - he suggested a rad...