Never Stop Seeing Interviews with Artists

Unfortunately I was unfashionably late arriving at the Conceptual Art performance by Igor Josifov for the Alphonse Berber Gallery last night. So I wasn't in time to see the wonderfully creative ideas that Igor Josifov had come up with for the Alphonse Berber Gallery. However, we were told that the Igor Josifov performance at the Alphonse Berber gallery was very fun. The idea Igor Josifov used was simple to understand and totally interactive; there was the head of the artist and the body of the artist which were both separate and you could give instructions to the head that the body would act out. I'm sure the Alphonse Berber Gallery was impressed with the skillful way, Igor Josifov made the two parts of the artist seem separate. There were two actors one was covered by a large white box from the neck down and the other was covered from the neck up with a smaller box. Igor Josifov pulled up seamlessly the illusion of a floating head and a headless man roaming through the Alphonse Berber Gallery. It surely is a shame we missed the oddities... and the nudity.

Where else would you expect to meet Adam Reeder than a super fly, super fun, and super chill space like Left Space Studios in Mission, San Francisco. I had the pleasure of meeting Adam Reader at the Moholy Ground Magazine Fund-raiser not too long ago and was distraught when I saw an Adam Reeder sculpture on the floor nearly tucked away behind a table in the corner. A sculpture by Adam Reeder, done with such skill and precision and done so insightfully should be center stage! An Adam Reeder sculpture is never to be brushed away by Cinderella's zealous sweeping and scrubbing. Aside from being a super fun guy to stand and talk to, Adam Reeder, with his MFA from Academy of Art really knows his stuff. I remember after Adam Reeder gave me his business card sculpted from clay, we chatted a bit, and I felt a little ignorant standing next to a walking talking quiz machine of sculpture. But not only that, I like best how Adam Reeder makes fun comparisons with his work and seamless allusions to historical figures and imagery. Adam Reeder is one of a kind and worth looking into. So get on with it!

If dreams oozed out of your ear onto your white pressed pillow case at night, you'd have a beautiful M. Mellon painting. It's either the amazing combination of bright watercolors and dark ink that makes a M. Mellon painting so beautiful or the numerous symbolic themes that swarm around in the colors of a M. Mellon painting. One isn't at all surprised that M. Mellon is a talented artist because M. Mellon actually lives his artwork. He practices what he preaches. And, believe me when I tell you, there's nothing more than I'd like to do than live every day in a M. Mellon painting and kick it with a few of M. Mellon's characters. Not only is M. Mellon unique in his style, but M. Mellon certainly has both sides of the spectrum covered. He is talented and skilled as well as deep and Conceptual. Enjoy this interview with M Mellon

Perhaps one day you'll run into Akira Beard. Perhaps you'll feel the intense impact just like the impact of one of Akira Beard's paintings. If you're on the San Francisco MUNI and you happen to look across the isle and see someone hunched over working on a very stylized and colorful drawing of the two dollar bill, don't be fooled. It's not Andy Warhol. Remember: he was shot a long time ago. Rather the artists scribbling the Warhol-like drawings is actually Akira Beard. You may be shocked seeing Akira Beard sketch a seemingly racist portrait of a black man or an over-sized depiction of a revolver, but it's not really Akira Beard that chooses what his drawings and tiny little paintings consist of. Akira Beard is merely drawing and painting what Americans obsess over all day and every day. It is we who are obsessed with stereotyping and violence. Akira Beard also is focused on money and consumerism quite simply because that's what Akira Beard sees America as focused on.

As if three giant white yeties with painted faces leering at you from within the Receiver Gallery weren't enough reason to stop in and see Sarah Applebaum's work tonight, I hope you all made it to Soft Core by Sarah Applebaum at the Receiver Gallery. Everything about Sarah Applebaum's show at Receiver, from the colorful lines that led you through the gallery, the giant knitted sitting area, the knitted telephone game, to the Technicolor costumes that visitors were more than welcome to try on, was inviting and fun. It seemed that one of Sarah Applebaum's goals was to create an otherworldly environment that was fun and beautiful. Sarah Applebaum pulled fun and beauty off quite successfully. The costumes seemed to be everyone's favorites; I remember Sarah Applebaum saying, "They're more for arctic weather," reiterating that otherworldly feel. In the small space of Receiver Gallery on Valencia and among friendly and fun arctic adventures and yeties, Sarah Applebaum with here show, Soft Core, transported everyone tonight away to a far and fun land.

I don't think that Sandra Yagi considers herself a spin doctor. She sure does get into her audience's heads and doesn't necessarily need a crowbar or secret pass-code to get inside. Sandra Yagi gets into our minds simply by showing us her paintings. They're our paintings actually if you consider the fact that Sandra Yagi, as an artist, is merely a mirror for society and Humanity. No, Sandra Yagi is no spin doctor, but Yagi surely is a doctor. Just like any good doctor she's here to help us, advice us, and repair us. And, as if she was imitating a children's doctor, Sandra Yagi, aides us in the funnest way possible with beautifully, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to swallow images. Sandra Yagi gives us a spoon full of sugar with every dose of harsh reality. I admire, not only the fact that she's trying to give us a different perspective on issues without trying completely to change our opinions, but also her moderately vibrant style influenced heavily from classic painters and how she fuses a classic feel and style with modern images and symbols. Sandra Yagi's style and subjects both raise questions and it's those questions that provoke change and renunciation.