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san diego art

Kwangho Lee: transforming the ordinary

This September at Current – an exhibition of hand-crafted design, guests will experience the intriguing work and story of Korean designer Kwangho Lee. His rural upbringing inspired him to apply traditional hand-crafted techniques (knitting) to otherwise uninspired urban materials (power cables), to create transformative and sculptural lighting installations.

As a very young child, his grandparents looked after him on their farm in rural Korea, where the ability to transform everyday materials into useful tools and objects is a way of life. Lee’s grandfather worked stone, rope, wood, and clay into implements for growing vegetables, raising cattle, and supporting the family. His mother points out that from a very early age, Kwangho became adept at manipulating material with his hands, which led him to an interest in the arts.

When Lee moved to the city to begin primary school he continued to visit his grandparents in the country, splitting time between urban and rural environments, forming a pattern of duality that inspired his creative output. Prairie and parking-lot met and became his muse.

Between his grandfather’s farm tools and his mother’s habit of knitting (check out the sweater vest above), Lee started down a path with the thought that “works done by hands can bring new meanings and value to the ordinary things.”

We’re honored to present Kwangho Lee’s work at Current – an exhibition of hand-crafted design – with an Opening Reception on Saturday, September 4th, at The Bakery in Barrio Logan, San Diego, California USA. For details on the events, including the Patrons’ Night gathering September 1, click here.

Grandpa Grumpypants meets OBEY

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There were plenty of onlookers during the second day of work on the OBEY GIANT mural in South Park (San Diego) by Shepard Fairey and his crew (day one here). The crowd was a good mix of photogs, hipsters, fixie riders, random curious ladies taking neighborhood walks…and along came a man who seemed to be plucked straight out of a Quentin Tarantino film.

He moaned some nonsense about how he “owned most of all this…” property next door to the mural, and whined, “I gotta look at this every day!?” The hipsters had some fun chatting with him as Grandpa Grumpypants kept staring up with fire in his eyes at the scissor-lift while Fairey & co. cut huge stencils of a cloaked figure.

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It was interesting to see the artists cutting their stencils directly on the cinderblock building. Seems like a mundane detail, simply a time-intensive task required to get a huge mural up on the side of a building – and indeed it is.

But it’s also a reminder that the patronage of a museum like MCASD (or for that matter, lending our own wall to Mike Maxwell) can make a world of difference for what an artist is able to do with a public work. Having several days to underpaint, create background patterns, wheat-paste in several layers, and overlay figurative images with enormous grid-based stencils is a lot different than showing up at 3am with a pre-cut stencil and a couple cans of aerosol.

Both modes of operation have their owns merits, but they are vastly different when it comes to decorative complexity or the context created by risking arrest.

We’re pretty happy about the freedoms granted to the artists of Viva La Revolucion, and hope the extra time they’re spending on these pieces will open more dialogue with Grandpa Grumpypants or anyone else who’s a stranger to street art.

An Explosion of Street Art Creates Dialogue in San Diego

The upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), entitled “Viva La Revolucion,” has generated a tremendous amount of dialogue around the idea of street art, and with that dialogue – controversy. This came to a head with Barry McGee‘s (TWIST) mural across the street from the city hall. Mike Maxwell has been documenting as well as contributing to the explosion of murals showing up on walls across the city, and caught some great footage of McGee’s team attacking an enormous wall while under scrutiny.

Although it’s a common practice to commission walls for artist murals, and we totally understand the value of MCASD grabbing some walls for these artists, we find it a little ironic that an exhibition specifically about the street art movement includes officially sanctioned walls for artists (especially if the MCASD backs down under local criticism).

The beautiful thing about the museum’s exhibition is that while some walls are “official”, some are very much unofficial works done by the artists under their own accord. You may be able to take the street artist off the street, but you can’t take the street out of the street artist.

We’re looking forward to watch this play out over the coming weeks (the exhibition opens to the public on July 18th), and see how MCASD handles ongoing criticism and subsequent education/outreach. One thing is for certain so far: this museum is doing their job by starting dialogue and pushing this city to consider what contemporary art is or should be.

Thieves!

We launched the Farm Proper to make the most of an unused industrial lot and start a dialogue about re-imagining the way we grow food. After coverage from Fox5 and DesignBoom, a conversation did start indeed (see here and some lively comments on this post).

A response to our critics:

  1. We do not endorse stealing shopping carts.
  2. We encourage and celebrate creative and resourceful ways of growing food in urban environments (such as making use of broken shopping carts or wooden produce crates that have been thrown out)
  3. We question the logic of an industrialized food system, and our use of shopping carts as planters is a symbolic way for us to encourage this discussion

Thanks for stopping by. We invite you to join us at the Farm Proper anytime!

The Blurry Line between Art and Design

We are very much looking forward to Only In Your Fondest Dreams, the Brian Flynn opening next Friday (4/9/2010) at Subtext. While Flynn’s graphic edges couldn’t be more crisp, the line between art and design is starting to blur in a rather beautiful way, opening the door for new dialogue.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Resident Power Grinder

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We recently visited the Lux Art Institute in Encinitas for the opening of Elizabeth Turk’s artist residency. The residency and show is a coming-home of sorts for the artist, who grew up in Orange County but until now has been working in New York. The Lux space seems to fit her work well, as the modern lines of the architecture and sculpture blend with the inherent organic atmosphere of her conceptual queries and the surrounding landscape. Read More »

Acamonchi mixtape

acamonchi

Acamonchi is moving to NYC next week! As a tribute to Acamonchi’s creative influence on San Diego, we asked him to create a mixtape. Rock out to it on your way to Streetscene or as a pre-Critical Mass warmup.

A big thanks to Acamonchi for giving back to the community through punk, bicycles, art, and positive messages about food (he’s vegan). You will be missed!

Connect with Acamonchi: Website | Facebook | Flickr

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.


  1. The Misantroph – Neoangin
  2. Dog Days – Matthew Dear
  3. Actionist Respoke – Mouse On Mars
  4. Strateface/Kcl0 (07/10/99) – Lackluster
  5. Tanino – Latinsizer
  6. La Torre Y el Diablo – Ford Proco
  7. Bad Natured (Vocal Reprise) – Styrofoam
  8. Brothel Trainbox. – Sindri
  9. Pax Romana II – Si.Da
  10. Out There Somewhere (Part 2) – Orbital

Keikichi's Mark Twain inspired installation

Keikichi Honna is wrapping up his artist in residency program in Germany and recently emailed out the following thoughts and photos of his finished installation piece. Set & Drift thanks Keikichi for sharing his silly, astonishingly honest and always insightful thoughts with us along the way.

kunst1a

I guess you saw the first wall painting.  But it wasn’t finisched stage.  So here comes its entire picture.  Also I’ll write down each word.
I can tell you the meaning, too. Here is a list of the word.

1 Eichhornchenschwanzspitze
The very first word I got from a visitor.  “tip of the tail of a squeal.”

2 Oberschenkelknochen
I can’t remember the meaning.  rather short, but good practice.

3 Telekommunikationsdiensteleisungen
Someone found this word on an old phone bill.  So this word is legit.

4 Betaubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung (2-bit a)
regulation requiring a prescription for an anesthetic

5 Muhlenstillgugsdurchfuhrungsverordnung (2-bit u’s for the first and fourth)

6 Konstantinopelitanischerdudelsackspfeifenmachersgesellschaft
From Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee.  He invented this word as a magic spell to scare people at King Arther’s Court.
Bagpipe Maker’s Union in Constantinople

7 Niedergeschwindigkeitswidkanalversuchsergebnis
Results from low-speed wind tunnel testing

8 Rindfleischetikettierungsuberwachungsaufgabenubertragungsgesetz
Specially mentioned at Germany’s word of the year ceremony. This is a legit legal term, regarding to regulations on labeling on beef.

9 Donaudampfschffahrtsgesellschaftskapitan
Every German knows this or other variations. Danube Steamboat Company Captain

10 Schneckengrunerfeuerwehrdrehleiterverantwortlichrinreservestellung
Someone told me, or just made up in front of me.  Something about a position at a small village’s fireengine, or something like that.

kunst1b

There are some misspelling, which I can’t remember where.  And  can’t keep mentioning “2-bit” this time.  It became way too cumbersome.

And the last but not least, here is a quote from Mark Twain again.  It’s nice reading, and my last work is from this anecdote. Here goes.

A Dresden paper, the Weidmann, which thinks that there are kangaroos (Beutelratte) in South Africa, says the hottentots (Hottentotten) put them in cages (Kotter) provided with covers (Lattengitter) to protect them from the rain. The cages are therefore called Lattengitterwetterkotter, and the imprisoned kangaroo Lattengitterwetterkotterbeutelratte.

One day, and assassin (Attentäter) was arrested who had killed a hottentot woman (Hottentottenmutter), the mother of two stupid and stuttering children (Stottertrottel). This woman, in the German language, is entitled Hottentottenstottertrottelmutter, and her assassin takes the name Hottentottenstottertrottelmutterattentäter. The murderer was confined to a cage – Beutelrattenlattengitterwetterkotter – whence a few days later he escaped, but fortunately was recaptured by a hottentot, who presented himself at the mayor’s office with beaming face:

“I have captured the Beutelratte”, he said.

“Which one?”, asked the mayor, “we have several”.

“The Attentäterlattengitterwetterkotterbeutelratte”.

“Which Attentäter are you talking about?”

“About the Hottentottenstottertrottelmutterattentäter”.

“Then why don’t you say at once the
Hottentottenstottertrottelmutterattentäterlattengitterwetterkotterbeutelratte”?

OK I think I’ve DONE.

- Keikichi

Keikichi – Day 2 in Germany

The following is a set of photos and musings from Keikichi Honna documenting his experience in Germany and the rigorous process of hand writting black-letter type for his installation piece. “Cunst” is Keikichi’s intentional misspelling of “kunst,” the German word for art.


Read More »

Origins opens Friday at Subtext

origins

We’ll be cruising down to Subtext this Friday for the opening of Origins. The show features new work from Kyung Soon Park, Francis Vallejo, & Austin McCormick, focusing on their interpretation of heroes/heroines.

See you there!