BLOW UP: Inflatable Contemporary Art

BLOW UP: Inflatable Contemporary Art is an exhibition currently at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, CA that features blow up art, usually made of vinyl, plastic film or tarpaulin and sometimes painted and most importantly using air as a tool to create large-scale inflatable sculptures. Many of the sculptures are interactive and are encouraged to be touched to maximize the experience. A few sculptures on the other hand are not advised to be touched due to oils on the hand that may potentially degrade the inflatable material.

Selfie with Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds.

The overall experience was fun, the idea of being in the presence of such large "balloons" brought out my childish side and I found myself really engaged with the sculptures. Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds room reminded me space setting where numerous silver clouds float throughout the room. Another sculpture I personally favored was the Pontiac Trans Am replica because I found so many scenarios to apply to it (you'll see in the photos).The only downside was that I wished there was more sculptures because I was able to view/interact with all the pieces fairly quickly.

BLOW UP included a video component featuring documentation of inflatable works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude and Joshua Allen Harris. The exhibits runs from April 26 - June 21, 2015.

  

  

AHHHH!!! My Back!

I need to go to the hospital.

The artists works featured are:

Claire Ashley • Chicago, IL - Thing 1 (2012), Thing 2 (2012) and Knees Up (2011)

Lee Boroson • Brooklyn, NY - Live Rock (2015)

Lewis deSoto • Napa, CA - Paranirvana:Self Portrait (2012)

Let's all meditate.

Patrick Flibotte • Brooklyn, NY - Inflatable Superheros (2007)

Meet my little friends!

Billie Grace Lynn • Miami, FL - White Elephant (2007)

Guy Overfelt • San Francisco, CA - Untitled (1999)

Oh,that's how you look under the hood?

Momoyo Torimitsu • New York, NY - Somehow I Don't Feel Comfortable (2000)

Bunny turds.

Andy Warhol • 1928-1987 - Silver Clouds (1966)

Spoke Art Gallery: Works of Max Dalton

Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco was another gallery I had time to visit while waiting for my ferry departure to see Ai Wei Wei's @large exhibition. The gallery featured the works of Max Dalton, whom I'm not familiar with but that became irrelevant because I enjoyed the art due to the relate interest in subject matter. Max Dalton's work focuses on his love for cinema and recreating them in fun new presentation. Cinema references ranges from films from the late 70's such as the film Star Wars to the present 2000's such as the television show Breaking Bad. I would say I can relate to or have seen about 95 percent of the cinema references he pays homage to. Dalton's art style is character driven but minimalist, further strengthened by lettering or activities within the artwork. My personal favorites are "Where's Walter?" which is a Breaking Bad version of Where;s Waldo, which is fun and engaging due to the act of finding people or items and the fact I'm a fan of the television show also added to the stimulation. All the art is done with fine art glicee which would indicate the original must have been done through a type of illustrator program.

Back to the Future

Ghostbusters

Darth Vader

Lord of the Rings

Art through a Viewfinder

Breaking Bad/Where's Waldo mash-up

My reflection selfie.

Raphael Delgado Art Studio

May 9, 2015

After going to the grand opening of 1810 Gallery, I went to check out the Raphael Delgado Art Studio on 1200 S Street. I am impressed  with the amount of studio space for just one man and the artist clearly uses every inch of the space with various projects using various mediums and many experimentations involving heavy emphasis on texture, form, and color. Overhearing Raphael speaking to some fellow art lovers, he works in all mediums ranging from traditional painting to sculpturing to craft art. Raphael also mentioned his work routine, which usually involves having all the blinds shut when he is creating art and only opens them for showings like Second Saturday or when he has come to a good stopping point in whatever piece he is working on.

My personal favorites pieces are his mixed media sculptures that involves mirrors and some material that mimics stalagmites which where very bold yet elegant looking the way it was suspended in conjunction with the mirror pieces. Another aspect of the studio that interest me was the various in progress works of all different types of media. The creativity and ideas of Raphael just flows actively all around the room and I found it very inspiring.

1810 Gallery Afterparty @ Blue Lamp

With the successful grand opening of 1810 Gallery at the WAL it was only natural to keep the good vibes going with a after party at the Blue Lamp. Blue Lamp featured local hip hop artists all night and to celebrate 1810 Gallery's debut, co-founder Shaun Burner displayed a live painting session in collaboration with recent CSUS studio art graduate, Franceska Gamez.

Spitting rhymes with a trombone.

Frankie Gamez laying down some color.

Dynamic duo at work.

Shaun Burner putting in some detail.

Congrats to the opening of 1810 Gallery! 

U-Create

U-Create is a arts inspired street faire collaborated with CSUS and the local galleries downtown, it take place at Verge Center for the Arts, Axis Gallery, Beatnik Studios, and Insight Coffee Roasters and will include a street closure on 7th St between S St and Rice Alley. and its the first time the venue takes place at this location, previously it has been held at the Crocker Art Gallery. It’s the official kick-off of the Festival of the Arts.

There is music, dance, exhibits, performances, and interactive art projects in the heart of the city.
The street faire will also include SactoMoFo food trucks.

At 5:30pm in the Verge Center for the Arts President Gonzalez will give a keynote speech to officially kick off the Festival of the Arts!

Besides the various artwork in the galleries such as which range from traditional paintings to paintings that describe the imagery of the painting through voice, I found the highlight of the faire was the street performance of CSUS's own students and art professor, Robert Ortbal. Hand made, highly elaborate  costumes coupled with upbeat music definitely stole the show for the evening. There was a large crowd of onlookers with smiles admiring the costumes and I even had some fellow classmates say they wanted to participate with the next U-Create event and are excited in creating costumes.

Overall, I felt this event was a huge success with a very good potential to become bigger and better in the next following years. This is a great step to bring together community and show the rest of California that Sacramento has the potential to become at multicultural creative mecca in contrast to cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Photobombed Caiti and Ashley's selfie @ Beatnik.

Bob Ortbal's shiney shoes.