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Collection Rotation: Fayette Hauser

Suzanne — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:53:58 +0000

[Our monthly feature, Collection Rotation: some wonderful guest organizes a mini-exhibition from our collection works online. This month's guest-curator is the marvelous Fayette Hauser, shining, beautiful Cockette, costume designer, & collector extraordinaire. On December 3, we're hosting the Cockettes for a rare film screening and celebration of their FORTIETH year. You will LOVE this rotation, which includes some Cockette clips. Thank you, Fayette. xxoo, SS ]

Claude Cahun (Lucy Renée Mathilde Schwob), Untitled (Self-Portrait), ca. 1929; gelatin silver print. © Estate of Claude Cahun

Fantasy and the Cosmic Collection

When I entered the Artscope it felt like swimming, deeper I went underwater into the image sea. What luxury.

The first artist that hit me was Claude Cahun. Soon I realized that this was a woman, in drag as a man, in drag as a woman. Perhaps she felt genderless or omni-gender, as I often do. Obviously her fantasy life was more important to her than anything. Again I relate.

I grew up in a world of my own, raising myself in fantasy. This world was much more real and vital to me than the other, the actual world. When I first came to San Francisco in 1968, I was already deep into my Victorian fantasy, so excruciatingly dense, but all in my mind. What I found was that everyone was living out their fantasies, seriously. I was home at last.

Of course the psychedelics only amplified this concept. Which brings us to the wild pursuit of the great and fabulous item. There will never be an experience quite as fulfilling and uniquely sublime as the old Alameda Flea Market on Acid. Items would combine themselves in the most profound way, then leap at you and beg to be absorbed into your realm, telling you their stories along the way. I’ve been a collector ever since.

Many of us felt this way and we needed to be together, all the time. So we became the Cockettes and lived together in the Cockette House (actually there were three of them). We went full tilt into the biggest and best of our fantasies, the deeper the better, dark or light, usually all at the same time. We did it for as long as we could, not long enough for me.

Here I’ve assembled a collection that reflects our influences and favorite things. I have added some archival Cockette film clips to tempt you into attending our 40th Anniversary film night at SFMOMA on Dec. 3rd.

Views of Paris c. 1900 complement early Melies and Pathe film clips, while risque French postcards help to illustrate some of the early influences of the gender bending, acid drenched, outrageous Cockettes. (Music on this clip by Baishaus)

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Claude Cahun (Lucy Renée Mathilde Schwob), Le Mystère d'Adam (The Mystery of Adam), 1929; gelatin silver print. © Estate of Claude Cahun

I felt a kinship to the 20’s in Paris and was inspired by early silent films, which influenced many costume and set designs.

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Unknown, Untitled (Woman Dressing) , ca. 1900. Gelatin silver print.

Victorian fantasies run deep in San Francisco. Robert Altman’s film McCabe & Mrs. Miller evokes more of the period in which it was made than the period that it portrays. Altman said that all the cast and crew literally lived the film and were committed to its authenticity. This mirrors the 70’s in every way.

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Paul Klee, Jungfrau (träumend) (Virgin Dreaming) Invention 3 , 1903; etching on paper. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

What do all virgins dream of? A fabulous Hollywood Party of course.
We all wanted to be 30’s Hollywood Chorines.

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Chris Ofili, Princess of the Posse, 1999; acrylic, collage, glitter, resin, map pins, and elephant dung on canvas. © Chris Ofili – Afroco and Victoria Miro Gallery

Sylvester was The Cockettes’ Glorious Princess. He performed with us from early 1970 until the NYC shows in late 1971 where he debuted his solo career.
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Jackson Pollock, Guardians of the Secret, 1943. Oil on canvas. © Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Music by Baishaus

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Dr. William J. Pierce, Spirit Photographs, 1903. Gelatin silver print.

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Felix Jacques Moulin, Untitled (Study of an Algerian Girl), ca. 1856; albumen print; Collection SFMOMA, Accessions Committee Fund

A dual fantasy of being swathed in beautiful textiles and roaming the streets of Tangiers with the style and glamour of Dietrich.

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Georges Hugnet, Initiation préliminaire aux arcanes de la forêt (First Initiation to the Secrets of the Forest), 1936. Photocollage. © Georges Hugnet / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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Fayette Hauser is an artist currently living in Los Angeles. She is a graduate of Boston University College of Fine Arts with a BFA.

As a Gemini, Fayette wants to experience everything which has included performance, photography and costume design for film and theatre, winning two Dramalogue awards for Best Costume Design. She is currently writing, archiving and creating new projects.

Find her at: myspace.com/fayetta or facebook.com/fayettehauser

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In Memoriam: David Ireland 1930 – 2009

Suzanne — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:55:39 +0000

This afternoon, SFMOMA is hosting a special memorial service honoring Bay Area sculptor and conceptual artist David Ireland, who passed away last spring. Ireland was a central figure in conceptual art in the Bay Area and beyond. From the 1970s until his death, he produced a highly idiosyncratic body of work concerned with the creation and function of art within everyday life. In place of the blog’s usual mid-month “Collection Rotation”, today we also pay tribute, with a collection of contributions from younger artists, organized by SF artist and musician Scott Hewicker.

David Ireland, Untitled Untitled (Small painted can with Dumbball). N.D. Tin, cement, paint. 7” x 4” x 4”

My home, my work, my artistic and musical practices—essentially my whole life—co-exist on a steady fault line between David Ireland’s two Capp Street houses in San Francisco’s Mission District. 65 Capp Street was the site of the first Capp Street Project, and 500 Capp St, Ireland’s former home and studio, is now also, to my mind, his greatest lasting artwork. The two houses seem at times like two footprints of a standing giant, and he was a giant to me and to many. Fearlessly beginning his career late in life, David’s essential concern was the Zen-like observance of, and dedication to, the ever-lasting present. Using common, readily available materials such as concrete, found wood, and other debris, with the lightest of touch. David could make dirt sing, rewarding our acceptance of his work, but never asking for it. “You can’t make art by making art”, he often said, and you can see in some of the contributions below how many artists have taken that simple but profound idea to heart. I didn’t know him well, but his work and the ideas inherent in their making have always deeply resonated with me, as with others. David’s refusal of personal attachment to the works he made gave me the courage when I left art school to discard all my old work and start over again from scratch.

His passing last May, though expected for a long time, nevertheless struck slow and deep. I was surprised by what seemed to me a muted media response, or in the case of the art world outside the Bay Area, what felt like too little response at all. I never considered David Ireland “just” a San Francisco or West Coast artist. We were lucky to have him here and lucky he wanted to be here, and his ideas and creative spirit seem embedded in the foundation of a working artists’ community here. From spontaneous street sculpture to DIY art spaces, David helped you appreciate the beauty inherent in everyday things, and in happenings outside the sphere of marketable art. News of his death I thought should have rung out through the streets like the death of Victor Hugo in Paris. He touched so many people, so many artists.

I see echoes of David Ireland’s work in many artists, and wondered what it would look like to ask a cross-section of people here, or who used to be here, to select a work of David’s and a work of their own to engage in a kind of visual interplay that reflects how they’ve felt David’s impact on their own work or lives. Some have also contributed memories and personal insights. A tribute like this one couldn’t begin to be representative of everyone Ireland touched. I hope we can take this tiny part to indicate a much greater whole.

—Scott Hewicker

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Left: Portrait of David Ireland in the basement of 500 Capp St. Right: Allison Shields, #500, 2005.

From the basement to the roof, I had many favorite spots in David’s house. He used to have me stay there to look after it when he was away – sometimes for only a couple of days and sometimes for weeks on end. I explored every corner of that place a million times over and never tired of it. I always came across some new aspect of it that would blow my mind. Through it, I came to understand and love David Ireland. He was a good artist and a good friend and I miss him. —Allison Shields

Left: Nayland Blake, What the Sun Says, What the Whiskey is Saying, 2008, Matthew Marks Gallery. Right: David Ireland 500 capp street (interior view with Broom Collection and woven chairs, San Francisco, 1985; Copyright © 1985 Abe Frajndlich

When I first moved to San Francisco in the early 80s, one of the first artists I heard about was David Ireland. His easy humor, warm intelligence, and deep courtesy were common knowledge even then. After a couple of years I had the chance to be the custodian of an installation at Capp Street Project, and got to know David a bit better and experience those qualities firsthand. He displayed genuine interest in the work of younger artists, and the more I experienced his work the more it impressed me. A couple of years ago I got rid of the studio I was renting in Greenpoint and started making work out of my home. I returned to David’s work as a model of how to live with objects and think through them. I made a show of things I assembled from castoffs from around my neighborhood. It seems to me that the example of David’s broom piece was in the back of my mind. Many artists make a great show of erasing boundaries between art and life, but David did it with a matter-of-factness that is a shining model. His work never looks down on anyone, and instead stands as a record of intelligent inquiry, and diligent craft. Both in his personal affect and artistic practice, he is someone I would always hope to emulate. —Nayland Blake

Left: David Ireland, A Portion of: From the Year of Doing the Same Work Each Day II, 1975; Courtesy of Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco Right: John Zurier, Rosendals, 2006; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine

Changing our point of view, transforming our awareness of life and seeing reality as it is, if only for a moment, was why I feel David Ireland believed “you can’t make art by making art.” Like most simple things, it sounds like the easiest thing in the world: it’s not. He made it look effortless. —John Zurier

Left: David Ireland, Folded Paper Landscape, 1973 Right: Cliff Hengst, Untitled (Paper Bag Drawing), 2009

I took a class with David at the Art Institute way back in the late 80’s. He wasn’t into any of the performances I was doing at the time (a lot of loud autobiographical stuff I would NEVER do now). But he taught me a lot about formalism and presentation, and to appreciate a handmade materialist aesthetic I still use to this day. —Cliff Hengst

Left: David Ireland, Sidewalk Repair, 500 Capp Street, San Franisco, 1976 Right: Tony Labat, BULK 2007, Installation View Queens Nails Annex

Top : David Ireland, Dumbball Action, 1986. Bottom: Gay Outlaw, Pencil Balls, 1996

One of my favorite works of David’s were his “Dumbballs.” I love the mundane material and the conundrum that he presents in their making: the concrete must be kept in motion in order to find its form. David was in service of the sculpture until it was complete. As a young artist, I found that idea to be an inspiration. —Gay Outlaw

Top: David Ireland, Dumbball Action, 1986 (photo reversed) Bottom: Guy Overfelt, Untitled 021 (crespi parking lot), 1998 – 2009

a mindless act yields a complex conundrum. its repetition informs a meditative mind
yet its outcome is always different.
—Guy Overfelt

Left: Veronica De Jesus, David Ireland Memorial Drawing, 2009 Right: Veronica De Jesus, David Ireland’s Performance of El Nino, 1998; recalled by VDJ 2009

David comes out wearing an oversized rain jacket or heavy coat. He proceeds to enter and he stands on something-at first I thought it was something more formal like a podium, but in writing this to you I think he just used a chair that was by chance there to stand on. He started to take off his coat, then another and another, allowing his coats to just flop down on the floor forming this mass of piles of jacket. It was really ridiculous, surprising, funny and an insightful analog of the devastating account of El Nino. Getting to know David Ireland’s approach to his life and to his art I will always remember this 2 – 3 minute performance as a highlight, and in the same way I enjoy his dumb balls: funny, and on point. —Veronica De Jesus

Left: David Ireland Installation at Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, Portland, ME, detail, 1997 Right: Keith Evans, Migrations and Lady Beetle Constellations, 2009; Picture from GJ Art Center, Grand Junction CO, May 2009

David Ireland’s playfulness generously let place and things have their own private lives. An offering and an idea. Architecture and Ecology may potentially be similar, if not interchangeable, contemplative devices when one enters with wonder and in a spirit of close attention, like in the inspiring life and work of David Ireland. —Keith Evans

Left: David Ireland: School of Chairs, 1988; courtesy of the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Photo: Ben Blackwell. Right: Nina Zurier: Stockholm 155, 2007; photograph; courtesy George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco.

In 1988 I was working at the Berkeley Art Museum, and worked with David on his Matrix show. We went to UC Salvage together to look for the chairs that became School of Chairs, one of several installation/ sculptures in the exhibition. In 2007 I was traveling in Sweden and Finland and ended up taking a lot of photographs of chairs. This was the first, and I was thinking of School of Chairs when I shot it. One of the things I appreciate most about David’s work is the way he used simple, actions and things. It’s stuck with me, so that I end up seeing things (more or less) through his eyes. —Nina Zurier

Left: David Ireland: Untitled, nd Right: Vince Fecteau: Untitled, 1996

Left: David Ireland, Newgate, 1986-87 Right: Charles Goldman, Spacefiller, 2009

In 2001 I curated a show at Apex Art called Making the Making. The exhibition included objects made by artists in order to help make them make their work. David was represented by a Dumb Ball and a pair of rubber gloves. When the show was over, David generously gave me the Dumb Ball. It is one of my most prized possessions. —Charles Goldman

Left: David Ireland, Cast Concrete Head With Dumbball, 1993 (no longer extant) Right: Bob Linder, Everything went black!, 2008

I first met David in 1996. David hired Will Rogan and I to help build a big chair at Gallery Paule Anglim. We didn’t know what we were doing but David had complete faith in us. I continued to work for DI and take care of 500 Capp. I stayed there while David was out of town so it always looked like someone was home. Some of my fondest memories are of dinner at David’s, I feel lucky I had the opportunity to spend as much time as I did at 500 Capp Street. David lived in a world where repairing a home could make it a sculpture and a sculpture could be a bent wire above your head, concrete on the floor or a wet dollar bill left to dry above the sink. David was both an inspiring artist and a friend, I will miss him very much. —Bob Linder

Left: David Ireland, Elephant stool with shade, 1978 – 1991 Right: Ella Tideman, Improvised microphone stand, 2009

ELEPHANT STOOL

Story has it, David Ireland began making art because of an elephant stool. A seat, made from the taxidermied foot of an elephant, was for sale in his shop and caught the eye of a young artist who needed it for a piece. Ever-curious Ireland allowed him to borrow it and attended the show. Here he first glimpsed the world of contemporary art and determined wholeheartedly to join in.

Many will scoff at conceptual art as they suffer neither desire for possession nor awe of craftsmanship. Ireland’s own drive to delight was independent from desire. He considered the works of man, without judgment, from a point of view generally reserved for the appreciation of nature. This blithe benevolence should not be confused with lack of sophistication; to me, it is proof of his rare and pure vision.

—Ella Tideman

Left: David Ireland, Untitled (Capillary Action), 1995; Berkeley Museum of Art collection Right: Kathryn Spence, Work in progress in studio, 2009

“If you have a regard for light- its gentleness and the subtleness and intensities on different days- you can only treat what the light illuminates with the same kind of regard” David Ireland (from Jesse Schlesinger)

Left: David Ireland, Air Where You Are, ca. 1990 Right: Moira Murdoch, Collected Measurements: 914 Douglass Street, 2008

Left: Chris Sollars, Untitled, 2009 Right: David Ireland, Broom Collection With Boom, 1978/88

I live within three blocks of David’s 500 Capp St. House, and have been making sculptures directly with ready-made-trash and debris I find on streets of our neighborhood. His home has a presence in our neighborhood which has influenced many of the artists’ projects that have happened at my home at 667Shotwell. David’s home sculptures carry the residue of history that came before. This sculpture was made on 20th St, just down the street from Capp St House. —Chris Sollars

David Ireland’s home at 500 Capp Street was one of the inspirations for my site-specific installation/environment Home 1996 – 2008. I loved how David integrated his work so directly into his everyday life and living environment, challengingthe definition of what constitutes “art”, and using materials and practices that weren’t necessarily popular or accepted by the standards of the art world at the time. I’m very grateful to David for the different perspective and the delight he provided in experiencing life and art. His work lives on in the work of those of us he inspired. —Megan Wilson

Rebecca Goldfarb, D.I. Dumbball toss to R.G. 2009

Impediments are stars here

Purpose feeds

On a missing leg

Come in, mind the empty mason jar

Ration time, fog and will

The winter’s sail won’t be still

—Rebecca Goldfarb, from SOLIDIFY, for David Ireland

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Collection Rotation: Jefre Cantu

Suzanne — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:00:41 +0000

Our monthly feature, Collection Rotation: some wonderful guest organizes a mini-exhibition from our collection works online. This month’s guest-curator is is SFMOMA’s very own Jefre Cantu, musician in life, and long-time operations tech and resident yoga instructor by SFMOMA day. Thanks Jefre!

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The artwork I chose for this rotation is made up mostly of things that I’ve seen in the galleries here at SFMOMA at some point over the last seven years. The musical accompaniments are not meant to be soundtracks per se, but are rather musical expressions that come to mind when I see the work. I hope through the sound clips & links I have provided, if you hear anything interesting, you could lead yourself into further discovery.

Eliane Radigue: Kyema, Intermediate States

Originally a student of musique concrete heavyweights Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, French composer Eliane Radigue created her first long form (what she describes as ‘unfolding’)drone work for a Buchla synthesizer while at NYU in 1970. Four years later, while performing under the invitation of Terry Riley at Mills Collage, Radigue was introduced to Tibetan Buddhism; she later converted and gave up music-making to study Buddhism full time. Lucky for us her guru urged her to drone again & since the early 70s she’s crafted a massive body of work for both synthesizer & acoustic instruments. Radigue’s music does not at all lend itself to the soundbite. It’s just enormous.

Morton Feldman: Piano & String Quartet

Although Feldman’s music doesn’t really lend itself to the soundbite either, his later work does possess a sorta holographic quality, where if you hear a minute or two, you’ve sorta heard everything there is…the rest is just slow-moving variations of that combination. In print that sounds a bit boring, but in practice it’s pretty breathtaking. And after three, four, five hours it really starts to get really strange.

Anthony Braxton: 138B African

I love Braxton solo. And this is probably one of my favorite pieces. Of note in this performance is that he never stops playing …as in, air is ALWAYS coming out of his mouth.

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #132: A 36 in. (90 cm) grid covering the wall. All two-part combinations of arcs from corners and sides, straight and not straight lines, systematically., 1972; © 2009 The LeWitt Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Pan Sonic: Liuos

Pan Sonic: Macho Finnish guys that make their own synthesizer & have been known to get shitfaced and go to blows right on stage. I thought Scandinavians were all chill. Probably why these dudes relocated to Spain. Easily one of the most physical live music sets I have ever seen. I think a number of us felt sick after that show. Despite their aggressive leanings, plenty of their output is downright pretty.

Yoshi Wada: Off The Wall 1

Yoshi Wada, who was faintly aligned with the Fluxus, would probably attribute his real schooling to La Monte Young & his teacher, the Indian vocal master Pandit Pan Nath. In the 70s Wada created a system of homemade horns (some up to 40 feet long) & bagpipes for his compositions. It proved to be a potent mix, as he still seems to be fussing around with them. “Off The Wall,” like most of Wada’s work, borders on the right side of psychedelic.

Richard Youngs: The World Is Silence In Your Head

Richard Youngs is not for the faint at heart. Since around 1990 this Scotsman has covered everything from paint-peeling guitar histrionics to lovely acoustic ballads like this one. And you really never quite know what you’re gonna get . But if you can find an entry point to Young’s world that suits your fancy, than it’s about as fascinating and satisfying a discography as they come.

Charles and Ray Eames, Wire Chair (DKR1), 1951

Franco Battiato: Cafè – Table – Music

Before Battiato became a lame weirdo Italian pop guy, he was an amazing weirdo Italian composer guy. Creating a nexus of sound collage, prog/space/kraut rock, cosmic synthesizers & classical vignettes, he made a handful of awesome records in the 70’s that are well worth your time.

Alvar Aalto, Armchair (model 406), 1938-1939

Nuno Canavarro: Untitled

Total unknown. It’s really hard to find out much about Nuno Canavarro. The facts are few. He’s from Portugal, played in a few bands that most people outside of Portugal have never heard of, and made this solo (apparently his only…?) record around 1988. It probably would have been lost to the dustbin if not for the reissue efforts of indie everyman Jim O’Rourke, who helped usher it into the digital era around 1999. Very homespun feeling…loads of small childlike sounds, whispering voices and synthesizer tomfoolery. Lovely.

Of: A Chant Of Doors

Of is San Francisco-based musician Loren Chasse. Loren is probably best known as one of the founding members of a loose group of musicians that, about 10 years ago, started the Jewelled Antler collective Chasse has been known to work under many names & in collaboration with many people, but his Of project is my favorite. Known as an expert field recorder (and often recording music in the field) Chasse’s Of also includes a small batch of stringed & drone instruments that he coaxes all kinds of hypnotic & dreamy sounds from.

The Velvet Underground: Sister Ray

I imagine that out of all of this music, the Velvets probably need the least introduction. ‘Sister Ray’ has always been a high point in their catalogue for me, with its violent feedback, infectious downbeat, and classic smacked-out Reed schmutz like “I’m searching for my mainline” & “Sucking on my Dingdong”. This live bootleg version shows not only how truly damaged the group could be, but also how large their shadow looms over so much music that came after them.

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Jefre Cantu was born in Texas in 1974. He moved to San Francisco in 1994 to attend the San Francisco Art Institute, where he received a BFA in painting & sculpture in 2008. He is a founding member of both Tarentel (in 1996) & The Alps (in 2004), and has performed extensively in the US, Europe & Japan.

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