Receipt of Delivery is a weekly series featuring Bay Area exhibition mailers selected from the SFMOMA Research Library’s collection of artists’ ephemera.

This poster marks the first public showing of the home of Bay Area artist David Ireland (1930–2009), which includes the video documentation by Tony Labat of the artist restoring 500 Capp Street over the year as an ongoing “maintenance action.” The house, and the site-specific installations and sculptures within it, would become Ireland’s best known artwork. The backsi... More

Remember the end of Manhattan, when Woody Allen asks himself what makes life worth living? (“Groucho Marx, Willie Mays… Swedish movies…those incredible apples and pears by Cézanne…”) Last fall, when SFMOMA was getting ready to celebrate its 75th anniversary, Dominic Willsdon & I invited 75 people from the Bay Area creativ... More

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………Photo: Ramona Labat

On November 4, we’ll be screening two democracy-themed projects by Bay Area artists. Chris Sollars’ documentary C RED BLUE J explores the red state/blue state divide of 2004, as Chris juggles his beliefs with those of a sister work... More

Tony Labat, I WANT YOU, a project for Live Art at SFMOMA. Design by MendeDesign. Photography by George Westcot.

Performer, artist, ‘pleasure activist,’ and professional dominatrix Sadie Lune was the top-scoring I WANT YOU winner, with one of the most directly activist performances of the night. If you haven’t been watching the blog, back on September 11th,  Tony Labat staged an event in our Wattis Theater, riffing on the iconic “I Want You” army recruitment campaigns, asking Bay Area residents to make their own demand... More

Tony Labat, I WANT YOU, a project for Live Art at SFMOMA. Design by MendeDesign. Photography by George Westcot.

If you recall, back in September Tony Labat staged an event in the Wattis Theater, riffing on the iconic “I Want You” army recruitment campaigns, asking Bay Area residents to make their own demands of the public in live performances, with the audience determining the five winners via scantron-style voting. The winners have had their slogans—and their likenesses—transformed into posters which are going up al... More

Tony Labat, I WANT YOU, a project for Live Art at SFMOMA. Design by MendeDesign. Photography by George Westcot.

Back on September 11th,  Tony Labat staged an event in the Wattis Theater, riffing on the iconic “I Want You” army recruitment campaigns, asking Bay Area residents to make their own demands of the public in live performances, with the audience determining the five winners via scantron-style voting. The winners have had their slogans—and their likenesses—transformed into posters which are going up all over ... More

Tony Labat, I WANT YOU, a project for Live Art at SFMOMA. Design by MendeDesign. Photography by George Westcot.

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Beth Lisick has published poems, essays, and a short fiction collection; she wrote a weekly nightlife column for SF Gate for eight years. Her stage and screen collaborations with writer/performer Tara Jepsen have yielded some uncomfortable moments, most recently the short film Diving for Pearls. Beth co-organizes the Porchlight Storytelling Series, a monthly show for amateur storytellers in San Francisco. He... More

Tony Labat, I WANT YOU, a project for Live Art at SFMOMA. Design by MendeDesign. Photography by George Westcot.

If you recall, back in September Tony Labat staged an event in the Wattis Theater, riffing on the iconic “I Want You” army recruitment campaigns, asking Bay Area residents to make their own demands of the public in live performances, with the audience determining the five winners via scantron-style voting. The winners have had their slogans—and their likenesses—transformed into posters which are going up all... More

Last Thursday eve was round two of Tony Labat’s I WANT YOU project: They came, they performed, we scored, and five winners were chosen from the original pool of 54, to have their slogans printed on posters and plastered around town.

Photo: Aimee Nicole Friberg

Top-scorer of the night (at 872 points) Ms. Sadie Lune, with the handsome & charismatic Mr. Tony Labat himself. (An excerpt from her winning slogan: “I want you. I want you to be nice to sex workers. I want you, I really do. Vote Yes on Prop K!”)

At 861 points: Miss Nicole Mills-Novoa, also known as “Bird,” who warbled her way through a charming act with hand-puppets:

Photo: Aimee Nicole Friberg

Tara Jepsen & Beth Lisick, in third place, with 860 points, as Don & Phil: (“We just want you to have a little class.”):

Photo: Aimee Nicole Friberg

Poet Hazel White, with 805 points: (“I Want You/ to End Racism/ thought by thought/word by word.”):

Photo: Aimee Nicole Frib... More

I have heard tales in the corridors here of total madness/spectacle about to unfold on the Wattis stage. Tonight at 6:30 THIRTY-THREE CONTESTANTS chosen from last week’s solo auditions for Tony Labat’s I WANT YOU project will perform for your vote. The performances are set to be staged in three rounds, hosted by poet/activist emcee Jason Mateo, and with inter-act entertainments by local chanteuse Veronica Klaus. The audience will choose five winners via old-fashioned school-style scantron ballots that will be tallied up live onstage at the close of the eve; as each winner is announced, he or she will be whisked away to be immediately photographed for their poster+slogan, with the audience watching the  backstage proceedings over closed-circuit live feed.

The Finalists: Johnny Bicycle, Jeffrey Brown, Kym Coffey, Nathan Conrad, Donald Daedalus, Veri Severe, Peter Dobey, Kali Eichen, Misty Epperson, Erica Gangsei, Rebecca Goldfarb, Nalani Hernandez-Melo, Dale Hoyt, Tara Jepse... More

At least fifty auditionees/sloganeers turned up for round one of Tony Labat’s I WANT YOU project this Thursday last, to deliver their I Want You to…imperatives to Tony and his team of celebrity(esque) judges. The bound, wailing creature above was one of the more curious and dramatic of the auditions but, interestingly, not the only perfo... More

It’s high-stakes election time. What do YOU want YOUR PUBLIC to DO?

Riffing on the iconic “I Want You” army recruitment campaigns of World Wars I and II, TONY LABAT wants you to make your own demands of the public. What if you had one minute to seize the voice of authority?

Would you want it?  would you take it? what would you do with it? what would you say?

The idea? Everyone is invited to compose and deliver a slogan that tells all of us what you really want us to do:

* I want you to do the dishes AND clean the catbox.
* ... More

Music, dance, performance, crafts projects, art exhibitions, poetry readings, last Saturday’s Kahlo-themed MAPP free-for-all evening started with René Yañez’s: Pasión por Frida Frida Kahlo lookalike contest at Galería De la Raza, which meant the rest of the night you were running into Fridas all over the place. I admit I liked the... More