Exformation

2010-06-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

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APRIL FIRST

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BKS April 1st, 1990

MARCH FIRST

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BKS March 1st, 1990

FEBRUARY FIRST

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BKS February 1st, 1990

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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BKS January 1990

DECEMBER FIRST

2009-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

BKS, December 1st 1990

NOVEMBER FIRST

2009-11-01T01:08:00.000-07:00

BKS November 1st, 1990

OCTOBER FIRST

2009-10-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

BKS October 1st, 1990

SEPTEMBER FIRST

2009-09-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

BKS September 1st, 1990

AUGUST FIRST

2009-08-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

BKS August 1st, 1990

JULY FIRST

2009-07-01T02:44:00.000-07:00

BKS July 1st 1990

Photos for Marsha from Helter Shelter closing party

2009-06-02T21:44:00.001-07:00

JUNE FIRST

2009-06-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

BKS June 1990

Helter Shelter opening 2

2009-05-24T20:28:00.001-07:00

Jen, Josef & Pam

Carla, Jakub & Phoebe

Jen & Susan

Carla

Lise & Susan

Helter Shelter opening 1

2009-05-21T20:31:00.000-07:00

Gallery co-owner Eve Mendelson has done a great job on the snack table. The bouquets are from my mom & my aunt.

Co-owners Eve & Lisa Mendelson & me

MAY FIRST

2009-05-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

BKS May 1st, 1990

Beca in my T-Shirt

2009-04-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

This past January, Beca, John, Mia, Terry & Jen met me down at SFMOMA to see my installation. I was pleased as punch to see that Beca had bought one of my t-shirt designs from Cafe Press - and was wearing it! It's the "Marshmallow on a Stick" one. That made me happier than having a show at the museum.

You too can get one of these t-shirts (or many others) at http://www.cafepress.com/SERIOUSPRODUCTS?s=SERIOUSPRODUCTS&type=c2

2009-03-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

2009-03-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Metropole
Trop Pop

Foggy March morning on Aileen Street

2009-03-20T14:15:00.001-07:00

View From Andrea's house in Crockett

2009-03-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

SFMOMA Shop

2009-03-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

Merle's

Raccoon by Walter Logue

TWO PHOTOS FROM SFMOMA FOR MARSHA MOD

2009-03-17T17:32:00.001-07:00

Ossuary in Kutna Hora

2009-03-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

AROUND THE HOUSE

2009-02-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Bucky comes looking for a snack.

Goodbye Christmas Boot! See you next year!

PHOTOS FOR MARSHA VDOVIN

2009-02-12T06:28:00.001-08:00

She's got some great stuff on her blog these days: Marsha Mod

More drawings

2009-02-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

Three firemen in their firetruck. June 1960.

When Laurie Amat heard that I was having an exhibition of drawings that I'd made as a child, she brought me a couple drawings that I'd given her awhile back, let me borrow & scan them. Here they are. Thanks Laurie.

Two cars racing, June 1960

Collage by Jíŕí Hůla

2009-02-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Toss It All Away

2009-02-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

Photo taken at SFMOMA

2009-02-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

CASEY BROOKS

2009-01-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a year since Casey Brooks ended her own life. Her father has written a compelling & heartbreaking story of this event & its aftermath on his new blog.

Yet more Bay Bridge construction

2009-01-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

More photos from my morning commute via F Transbay bus to my job at SFMOMA.

Foam Thumb Mitt

2009-01-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago Jen slammed her thumb in the door of her Ranchero. Those are heavy doors. Her thumb turned purple & swelled up to the size of a lightbulb. It was very swollen & tender, so I used my museum-preparator skills & made her a foam mitt, sculpted out inside to protect the thumb while she was sleeping. Seemed to work pretty well. It would have been even better if I'd made one with a big fake thumb that had "WE'RE NUMBER 1!" printed on it. Maybe next time.

INAUGURATION DAY

2009-01-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

An 8.5" x 8.5" painting on matboard that I made for Strange Hope, coming up at Galeria de la Raza.

"Situation Room" installation at SFMOMA

2009-01-17T13:57:00.001-08:00

Photo by James Gouldthorpe, SFMOMA

Photo by Scott MacLeod

Photo by James Gouldthorpe, SFMOMA

Photo by James Gouldthorpe, SFMOMA

SITUATION ROOM - installation at SFMOMA

2009-01-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

My new installation "SITUATION ROOM" will be exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from this Thursday, January 15th through next Tuesday, January 20th, during SFMOMA's regular hours of operation.

You'll be able to find it up on the 4th floor as part of "The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now."

I've been slowly working on this piece for almost two years, so this sudden opportunity is a very exciting chance for me to actually put it up & see how it is coming together. Like most of my work, it is both amusing & disturbing. Unlike much of my work, this piece is sort of timely.

Technically, this exhibition opportunity is part of "Public White Cube," a project by Joachim Blank, Gerrit Gohlke and Karl Heinz Jeron that is in turn part of SFMOMA's "The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now" exhibit, and it includes concepts, designs & materials contributed by Ledia Carroll.

There is no opening reception for this show. I can arrange to get 4 people a day in for free, first-come first-served, with at least a day's notice. I also work at SFMOMA, so I can be make myself available to meet you at my installation during my lunch hour only, from 12noon-1pm, with a day's notice.

For more information about this project, please take a look at: http://publicwhitecube.com/pwc/?page_id=12

Once my work has been installed, there will be photos & commentary posted at http://publicwhitecube.com/pwc/

My opening at Room For Painting Room For Paper

2009-01-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

Colin, Dave, Miriam, Jon, Caprice & kids.

Gallerist George Lawson.

Caprice, kids & me.

Gallery visitors.

Beca & John taking a close look.

Ann, Caprice & Linda. All photos by Jennifer June.

Social Networks 2

2009-01-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

Kit, Mary, Pancho, Ellie May & Victoria at Victoria's house.

It's also a time of year when people make a little more of an effort to get together in person.

Harald & Brad

Andrea

Social Networks

2009-01-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

Zdeňek Hůla

They say that people tend to be happier when they are members of strong social networks. As much of a misanthropic loner as I am, I believe that social networks are good things. This is the time of year when it is nice to receive words & images from friends one has been unable to see in person during the year.

Bohuslava Franková

Franta & Milada Stoček & Pavel

I ROCK U DON'T

2009-01-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Last month I went to the excellent David Cunningham Projects to see a two-day show of children's drawings that David had agreed to put up in support of arts education at Marshall Elementary School. The theme was "Peace" and most of the work showed uncannily similar visions of healthy forests & oceans populated by smiling people & scampering critters, but there were also a few good alternative approaches. One kid thought peace was being left alone to listen to music on his headphones and play with his X-Box on a bean-bag chair. For another kid, peace was a battle between giant dinosaurs & transformer-type robots. (& why has no one made that movie yet?)

But the far & away unofficial yet unanimous Best In Show award went to this drawing, for obvious reasons. This photo was actually taken by Alan Bamberger and I stole it from his exceptional & highly recommended - nay: essential Art Opening Reviews website. Hopefully he won't make me remove it from here...

Mes Nous-Nous

2009-01-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Another scan from my postcard collection. This is my favorite & last remaining card from a typographically-enhanced alphabet set put together by Fritz Vogel in Zürich Switzerland. Some of you have received cards from this set from me over the years.

Be Brave In The New Year

2009-01-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

Notice how calm the water is.

more christmas lights

2008-12-31T00:01:00.000-08:00

The Fox In Winter

2008-12-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Here's another scan from my postcard collection. It's of & by Franta Skála, the last one I have of what was a series of about 6 or 8.

Igls Austria 1970

2008-12-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

In the early 70s I was a member of a Christian youth group called Agapé. I kid you not. We met in the basement crypt of some gothic church in Paris. Seriously. I can't ever remember doing anything vaguely religious, except maybe something to do with a Leonard Cohen album. "Suzanne" was big back then. Anyway for most of us, Agapé mainly was an excuse to get out of our houses, hang out in a crypt & get high & stuff. One of our members, who didn't get high, was Bobby Massie, the son of Robert K. Massie who wrote Nicholas and Alexandra, Massie the elder was inspired to write that book partly because of Bobby's hemophilia. What was uncool about Bobby was that he wore one of those Greek fisherman's caps, and what was cool about him was that he used to do wheelies - in his wheelchair - up and down the dozen or so steps into the crypt. He turned into a pretty amazing adult as well.

Anyway, the other great thing we did at Agapé was go on ski trips every year to Igls, Austria, where some of the events of the the 1964 & 1976 Innsbruck winter olympics were held. It was a small pretty town, we were young & stupid, we'd play a card game called Token which was just an excuse to creatively cheat, we'd drink Stroh rum, go puke in bars, smash ourselves witless drunkenly sledding into fenceposts at the bottom of the bunny slope. Good times.

Anyway I have scanned a couple postcards that I have had forever & this is the first one I'm posting, it's a postcard of Innsbruck etc that I bought on one of those Agapé ski trips.

Altiplano

2008-12-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

Uschi

2008-12-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS SPIDER

2008-12-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY

2008-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

NOTHING STIRRING

2008-12-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

AILEEN STREET CHRISTMAS LIGHTS 2008

2008-12-23T12:20:00.001-08:00

AILEEN STREET CHRISTMAS 2008

2008-12-23T12:10:00.000-08:00

Playons

2008-12-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

Iodine sheet

2008-12-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

La Florida

2008-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

MSM BDAY

2008-12-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's my mom's 78th birthday today. This is a drawing I did of her when I was 11 years old.

ALTAMIRA

2008-12-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

PLAY MAS

2008-12-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

SINK THE BISMARK Again

2008-12-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

Boojum In Sunshine

2008-12-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

Cozumel

2008-12-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Fog

2008-12-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Time for the Christmas Boot!

2008-12-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

Radana

2008-12-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Wingless White Angel

2008-12-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

Shelter

2008-12-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

Jakub Open Studio

2008-12-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Jakub Kalousek is having an Open Studio this Saturday & Sunday the 13th & 14th, showing some new prints he made recently back in Prague. Directions to his studio are below.

He'll also be launching his new project wherein you can buy time-shares in his original paintings. Actually it is really space-sharing: you get to buy a portion of the painting & have him paint whatever content you want him to in that area that you have purchased. Check this scheme out at Jakub Kalousek “R-Evolving Timeshare” series

From Marin
East on San Rafael Bridge
Take Hwy 580 East-Hwy 80
West
through Berkeley
Bear toward the left
lanes ….
Go about 4 miles
At the major interchange known as the McArthur Maze
take 880 toward San Jose
Go 1/4 mile and take the West Grand Ave/Maritime exit
Make a right on West Grand
Go about 1/2 mile
Make a left on MaritimeTurn on first traffic lights left into fenced gates - 2419 Ukraine Street - see Kalousek, Ranahan Productions signs out front on the building....drive through the gate with guard waving at you - if padlocked by some mysterious occurence, call me at 225 5837 or open it - the combination is 1-3-5-7. and drive into Ukraine street/yard/parking lot - and keep to the left . Look for building 2420 Ukraine - the last building on the left as you drive through another fence gate at the end of the parking lot - It’s one of the old Army Base Warehouses - STEINHEIMER LIGHTING HAS SIGN OUT THERE out front and you can see a access ramp on the side off the building.SEE PICTURE BELOW of my building and Look for my red ford minivan, ... my door are the last sliding door on left
>From 580/Hayward
Go toward the Bay Bridge on 580
The last exit before the bridge is West Grand/Maritime
Do a rapid dive to the right after 580 merges with 80
The exit will take you over the approach to the bridge
and reverse direction
Make a right on Maritime
Make a left on MaritimeTurn on first traffic lights left into fenced gates - 2419 Ukraine Street - see Kalousek, Ranahan Productions signs out front on the building....drive through the gate with guard waving at you - if padlocked by some mysterious occurence, call me at 225 5837 or open it - the combination is 1-3-5-7. and drive into Ukraine street/yard/parking lot - and keep to the left . Look for building 2420 Ukraine - the last building on the left as you drive through another fence gate at the end of the parking lot - It’s one of the old Army Base Warehouses - STEINHEIMER LIGHTING HAS SIGN OUT THERE out front and you can see a access ramp on the side off the building.SEE PICTURE BELOW of my building and Look for my red ford minivan, ... my door are the last sliding door on left

>From 24/Walnut Creek
Go toward the Bay Bridge on 24/580
The last exit before the bridge is West Grand/Maritime
Do a rapid dive to the right after 580 merges with 80
The exit will take you over the approach to the bridge
and reverse direction
Go about 1/2 mile or 3 traffic lights
Make a left on MaritimeTurn on first traffic lights left into fenced gates - 2419 Ukraine Street - see Kalousek, Ranahan Productions signs out front on the building....drive through the gate with guard waving at you - if padlocked by some mysterious occurence, call me at 225 5837 or open it - the combination is 1-3-5-7. and drive into Ukraine street/yard/parking lot - and keep to the left . Look for building 2420 Ukraine - the last building on the left as you drive through another fence gate at the end of the parking lot - It’s one of the old Army Base Warehouses - STEINHEIMER LIGHTING HAS SIGN OUT THERE out front and you can see a access ramp on the side off the building.SEE PICTURE BELOW of my building and Look for my red ford minivan, ... my door are the last sliding door on left

2008-12-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Fun Family Facts

2008-12-09T19:49:00.000-08:00

Muddy Path Through Field of Yellow Flowers

2008-12-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

Upcoming show at Room For Paint Room For Paper

2008-12-08T02:01:00.000-08:00

(an excerpt from the catalogue essay:)

For the third installation in the room for paper, we’re showing early work—quite early in fact—of MacLeod’s, pencil and colored pencil drawings he did between the ages of four and six as a response to the world while living abroad with his parents. We’re treating the show as just that: early work by a mature artist. MacLeod defies easy categorization as a creative person. He is a maker of objects, a publisher of books, a performer, and a keen and compassionate social critic. A brief perusal of his bio will show that he has lived his life in such a way as to reach back and validate this precocious accomplishment in a manner few could. Any questions raised by showing a child’s art in a commercial gallery are assuaged by the fact that these renderings are simply very good drawings by any standards, from the deft sensitivity of the line to the economy of handling to the unhinged titles MacLeod later gave the works, such as Cowboy Jumps Statue, Angry at Snowman, and The Trouble I Had. Scott MacLeod’s unfiltered gestures in pencil on paper from 1960 and 1962 reveal an already differentiated perception of the world, presage a lifelong effort holding true to that vision, and underscore the best of what we hope to showcase here with future exhibitions in the room for paper.

George Lawson, Director
room for painting room for paper

Kathryn Kenworth

2008-12-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

Just saw this great show of small sculptures by Kathryn Kenworth: "Boxcutter" at Soap Gallery - where next up is The Hoop Show.

Hello Hello

2008-12-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

Camp

2008-12-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Settled

2008-12-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

Fred Kahlo Self-Portrait

2008-12-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

I found this sign, from the SFMOMA bookstore, in the dumpster after the Frida Kahlo show & just couldn't resist.

Mooses In Bathtubs with Budweisers

2008-12-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Sweets

2008-12-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

After Dinner Mint

Marshmallow On Stick

CRAFT MATTERS

2008-12-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

Craft Matters

Angus Podgorny

Lauren's Igloo

2008-12-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

Lauren Davies bought this from me the other day. She has a keen interest in abject & imperfect attempts to represent the real world, especially the "exotic," the "foreign" and the "other."

Cargo

2008-11-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Island Life

2008-11-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

Boating

2008-11-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

CHICKENSITTING at John & Amy's

2008-11-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

Still moulting a little, but otherwise a fine looking chicken. Very good at finding worms.

Revered

2008-11-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

Just a shot away, just a kiss away

2008-11-26T16:58:00.001-08:00

Sweet Sixteen. Senior, American School of Paris, France. 1973.

Sweet Twelve. 1969. Eighth grade, Fauquier High School, Warrenton Virginia. Lot of good kids: Gary McClary, Tony Markley, Billy Miller, Brad Miller, Pam Miller. Notice how much Mike Miller looks like Paul McCartney. I was definitely the only kid in the yearbook wearing an orange Nehru jacket & a gold medallion. Kind of a cross between Ghandi & Flavor Flav.

Small white & black cabin on green

2008-11-26T03:30:00.000-08:00

Orbiting Jupiter

2008-11-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

Good-Bye Skull

2008-11-25T10:21:00.000-08:00

Threat

2008-11-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

2008-11-24T09:05:00.001-08:00

Bare Tree

2008-11-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

November Blooms

2008-11-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

We have nice stuff blooming in the front of the house right now. End of November. California's great isn't it?

Red Pikachu Waves Goodbye

2008-11-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

I'm making a crapload of small paintings of various sorts of Americana, mostly. One series is about shelter & cabins and is for an exhibition idea I have. Another series is holiday themed in hopes of making some seasonal sales. Another series looks at icons culled from my own cultural pedagogical experience; I think this series is called What We Want. Then there are some pretty random paintings, just things that come up as I work. I work on a dozen or more paintings at one time, so there's a kind of routine & tedium & conflation that goes on that promotes the kind of subconcious reverie that allows certain types of things to sort of create themselves. That and the toluene & xylol. Anyway this one is pretty random. It breaks my heart kind of.

Mom at college

2008-11-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

My mother sitting on the window ledge of her dorm room, University of Illinois at Galesburg, Spring of 1949. She's wearing a red wool Chinese-style robe that her mom gave her. Smoking a cigarette & drinking a Budweiser. That spot near her eye was on the negative, not on her skin.

More Nativity

2008-11-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

I made two more figures for my Museum Nativity Scene: Custodian and Docent.

The Biggest Bamboozle Ever??

2008-11-20T15:05:00.000-08:00

What is up with this Obama fellow?

This is "Change We Can Believe In"?

This is an improvement over Gonzales?

Pay close attention, folks.

Museum Nativity Scene

2008-11-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

I made a Museum Nativity Scene to try to sell at the SFMOMA staff craft fair. Didn't sell but I really enjoyed making it & I think it's going to be shown in one of the staff art display cases in the basement. The figures represent all the people who would be needed if the Nativity took place at the museum. You'd need a couple preparators to open the crate & take Baby Jesus out, but of course they wouldn't be able to lift a finger until the registrar showed up with his clipboard. It'd be a good idea to have a conservator there too, maybe in fishnet stockings & carrying a magnifying glass. I guess you could think of Mary & Joseph as a collaborative performance duo. Maybe "Mary+Joseph" or something like that.

Of course lurking nearby would be the curator, a critic & a trustee. Other figures shown in the top photo include a photographer, an education associate, the Three Wise Couriers, a guy from Ops & a couple of guards. Also two sheep, an art cart with Nitrile gloves, and, shown also in the bottom photo, a red tool cart being pushed by a rockabilly preparator with a DeWalt drill. You can tell he's rockabilly because his jean cuffs are rolled up. Yesterday I made a custodian & a docent to add to the group when it goes on display.

New Work

2008-11-19T17:42:00.001-08:00

I've also been making a bunch of new small paintings, the first of which are pictured below. They are just a couple inches square & are painted on ultralight mdf, mostly. One of my favorites is "Moose in a Bathtub with a Budweiser" shown above.

The caption under the skull with a Santa hat reads "Nothing Stirring." I also made a chess set out of scraps of 13-ply maple plywood:

Barking Lot

2008-11-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

By the time we get back to the Barking Lot, Boojum is ready to go. Looks like it's been a little rowdy in there today.