December went so fast...but it was so good.

good holiday vibes all around.

TONIGHT AT SIGHT SCHOOL, 7PM

Sight School is pleased to host this one-night exhibition and public reading of Chicago-based collective Temporary Services’ newspaper titled, “Art Work: A National Conversation on Art, Labor and Economics.” This event will take place from 7-9pm on Wednesday December 16th.

A handful of local artists, writers and curators including Sean Fletcher & Isabel Reichert, Lynne McCabe, Julian Meyers, Ted Purves, and Natasha Wheat will deliver public readings of texts directly from or related to the newspaper, while providing analysis and commentary in an informal reading-room environment. Readings will feature works by Chris Burden, Carolina Caycedo, Cooley Windsor & Futurefarmers, and the Guerilla Art Action Group (GAAG), among others. In addition, this event will serve as a distribution point for free printed copies of the newspaper. Participants will be encouraged contribute to the event and participate in discussion on how to build an economically viable arts community in the Bay Area.

For more information please contact sightschool@gmail.com or matthewrana@gmail.com

I watched this really amazing movie last night. Really recommend watching it if you haven't already

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

A POEM FOR VIPERS

By John Wieners

I sit in Lees. At 11:40 PM with
Jimmy the pusher. He teaches me
Ju Ju. Hot on the table before us
shrimp foo yong, rice and mushroom
chow yuke. Up the street under the wheels
of a strange car is his stash--The ritual.
We make it. And have made it.
For months now together after midnight.
Soon I know the fuzz will
interrupt, will arrest Jimmy and
I shall be placed on probation. The poem
does not lie to us. We lie under
its law, alive in the glamour of this hour
able to enter into the sacred places
of his dark people, who carry secrets
glassed in their eyes and hide words
under the coats of their tongue.

happy thanksgiving

urs fishcher at new museum

Urs Fischer

Born 1973, Zurich, Switzerland/Lives and works New York City

Urs Fischer was born in Zurich in 1973, and currently lives and works in New York City. He was included in Unmonumental, the New Museum’s inaugural exhibition for the SANAA-designed building in 2007. Fischer’s work has been the subject of several solo exhibitions in European museums, including the Kunsthaus in Zurich; the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam; and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. His work was also included in the 2006 Whitney Biennial.

All images from New Museum

Before

During

After:

BIG THANKS and BIG LOVE to Adam Hatch, Christine Wong Yap, Marci Washington, and Michael Goodier.

The best building crew I could have ever hoped for!

And thanks to Casper for keeping Shine (somewhat) in line.

Nellie Nguyen – Oak Tree

Scott Oliver. Loop, 2003; found table, steel cable, light fixture; 66 x 40 in.

Djordje Ozbolt

Djordje Ozbolt:

Tears of Wisdom
2008
acrylic on board
33 1/2 x 27 1/5 inches

Private Service
2008
acrylic on icon board
27 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches

Oblivion
2007
acrylic on board

6 x 12 inches

German Painting
2005
acrylic on board
9.84 x 8.27 inches

Al images from 303 Gallery

The ForestiereUnderground Gardens in Fresno:

Starting in 1906 Sicilian immigrant Baldasare Forestiere, a vineyardist and horticulturalist, began carving a mysterious underground escape from the San Joaquin Valley's powerful heat. Now referred to as the Forestiere Underground Gardens his home sprawls across ten acres, and has over 100 rooms, and is listed as a California Historic Landmark.

Forestiere's family had been citrus growers in Messina, Sicily. He came to America in 1900 when he was 21 years old, wth dreams of establishing his own farm in California. After eight years as a construction worker in the new york subways, he has saved enough to purchase land in Fresno.

Unfortunately this dream shriveled, and the land he had bought turned out to be solid rock, beneath a thin layer of topsoil.

Forestiere spent forty years carving a mysterious underground escape from the San Joaquin Valley's powerful heat. Fashioned after the "visions stored in my mind," his caverns are a network of gardens illuminated with skylights, as well as comfortable living spaces for himself, including a kitchen, bedroom and fish pond. He was even able to grow his fruit trees- citrus, dates, olives and much more, as well as a bounty of other vegetation.

Years before Forestiere died he began building an Italian restaurant with a drive in tunnel with valet.

photo credit: Matthew E. Cohen/Flickr