BLOGS

Part 2 of Life and Work on a Containership: The Last Leg of a Long Journey

2010-09-06T18:12:17Z

Well the last time I wrote in to Fecalface I was approaching Dubai on the last of my three fifty-seven day trips from New York to Singapore and back. In typical shipping industry fashion, there was a drastic change of plans at the last minute. The head honcho’s at APL decided to start sending this fleet of ships through the dry-docks in Singapore and we were to be the first. So unfortunately I was not going to be home for the holidays as planned and my stay on board would now exceed six months. However, I was going to get to spend two full weeks in Singapore, after which our ship would start a Pacific run, hitting several new Asian ports and eventually sailing back under that beautiful Golden Gate into my home port of San Francisco.

The Dry-Docks in Singapore

One Way or Another VII (Part II)

2010-08-19T18:35:59Z

Michael Hsiung continues blogging his travels for Color Magazine's traveling skate-centric art shows up and down the west coast. This time the journey starts off with them leaving Escapist in Kansas City, MO and then heading to Austin, TX to meet up with Sieben and the guys from No Comply. We do some skating at the ditch, installing, visit Okay Mountain, have the opening, skate Alien Pond and then start our drive back.

Monday we posted Part One of this post.

Ed Templeton Talk at OCMA

2010-08-18T17:22:48Z

Last Thursday, we went down to Newport to catch Artist Ed Templeton’s talk with Juxtapoz magazine co-founders Greg Escalante and CR Stecyk III, moderated by Joseph Dugan at the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA). Director Kevin Barnett aslo presented some footage from his upcoming documentary, Primer, featuring Ed Templeton. Following the panel, Ed signed some copies of his books Deformer andThe Cemetery of Reason while some of us dined at the taco truck. We would have caught the film at the beginning, but we were caught in some brutal traffic. Driving time 1:45 minutes. ~CHECK SOME PHOTOS

One Way or Another VII

2010-08-16T18:56:02Z

One Way or Another VI

2010-07-28T22:31:37Z

Michael Hsiung continues his travels for Color Magazine's traveling skate-centric art shows up and down the west coast. This time the journey takes them to Kansas City and to Escapist skate shop.

One Way or Another V

2010-07-12T22:02:05Z

Michael Hsiung continues his travels for Color Magazine's traveling skate-centric art shows up and down the west coast. Meant to add this blog up awhile ago, but moving servers slowed us down. Anyway, enjoy his travels through word and photo form.

Dennis McNett's Barney's Display

2010-06-25T02:34:21Z

NYC based wood block printer Dennis McNett (who showed at FFDG last summer) created the artwork for a curent Barney's window display in NYC... Looks great. Congrats, Dennis. Check it out

Mi Ju Off to NYC

2010-06-23T22:49:54Z

Mi Ju stopped in the gallery this afternoon to say farewell as she's off to get her masters at Pratt this fall. She'll be living near campus and, besides being an amazing painter, is a great person who spends A LOT of time in the studio. If you're off to Pratt, be on the look-out for her and introduce yourself. If you're a gallery in NYC, hit her up. We sold everything at her solo show @FFDG last month. Wait to you see her works in person. Hot damn!

Jeff Soto Interview

2010-06-22T22:22:06Z

We caught up with Jeff to ask him about his upcoming show in NYC @Jonathan Levine opening Sat June 26th.

You mention that this show is going to be much different from previous shows by you having had taken a new direction of sorts. Can you elaborate some on this?

In past work I concentrated on Man vs. Nature conflicts, politics, social issues and the worries that my children will be inheriting this mess. But I've been fascinated by the cycle of life lately, I don't know, maybe I feel that I'm getting older and getting closer to death while my kids are just starting out their lives.

This body of work is trying to capture some of those feelings, the idea of living your life, having all sorts of adventures and stories, then aging and the inevitability of death looming on the horizon. It's universal, it is repeated everyday, and if you look at any lifeform, you have birth, life, reproduction, death, then the cycle comes around again, and it's been going on on Earth for billions of years. As humans I think we always believe we're living in such an important time in history. In reality we are just a little speck on the timeline.

I always think that my grandchildren will know me, my great grandchildren might kinda know me, but after that my wife and I and even our kids will start to fade away in people's minds. One thousand years from now (if humans have not destroyed the planet) will our country and our times be remembered at all? Surprisingly, I'm comfortable with all of this. It's just the cycle of life. It fascinates me and I'm working on paintings that relate to it.

How has had being a dad affected your work?

It has been one of the best things in my life, and I cannot imagine how I'd be without them. I don't know exactly how it changed my work, I think having kids has made me understand more of how the world works. I understand nature in ways I didn't before kids. I don't know, I'm sure it's made an impact on my work. Looking back I see a big difference in my art post August 2005, that's for sure.

Alot of artists I know don't want kids, and that's cool, they want to keep their lifestyle the same, have less responsibilities, I respect that. And it is easier for sure. But I DO think any stable couple who is the slightest bit interested in having kids should go for it. And don't wuss out, have two kids if you can!

Besides working on this show, what have you been up to?

Eating more than I should. I tend to snack a lot when I'm working on a show. It is terrible. I am eating Chinese leftovers as I type this.

You mentioned this being one of your last solo shows for awhile. After this show, what you have planned?

I just need to take a break at this point. I'm going to continue painting, I might try out oil painting for a while, but I want to take it slowly and not have the pressure of a show on my shoulders. I have had too many shows in a row the past two years, haven't had a chance to catch my breath. So I don't have anything planned at all. Going to jump into doing more prints, maybe curate some shows and maybe teach a class or two if anyone will hire me. My future is uncertain and it's kinda scary, but I think it's what I need at this point.

Are you excited about the World Cup at all?

No, I don't even know who's playing. I follow baseball, though the past two years I haven't watched much.

What was the major technical shift from previous works if any?

When I started painting at 14 I thought the pinnacle of art making was the ability to paint things as realistically as possible, and that's what I worked on for a few years. As I learned more about art history I realized there was so much more to art than being able to render well.

So I tried a bunch of things over the years, from traditional painting to embarrassingly failed attempts at video installations and performance art pieces! It took a while but I realized my strengths were in making visual art, and more importantly, that's what I had the most passion for. In the last ten years I've concentrated heavily on painting, but felt like being a "painter" was too limiting. I was finding used pieces of wood, scratch into my surface, create texture, add collage elements, spraypaint on it; this time I am keeping the pieces really clean and pristine, making each piece precious in a way. I think for this show I wanted to visit my early roots of trying to render forms realistically. I am realizing I am a painter and for the first time embracing it. Aint nuthin' wrong with being a painter!

What's an average daily routine for you these days?

I am in show mode right now, so my schedule is all fucked up. I have been staying up late to paint in the garage, sleep, and then work all day at my studio which is a few miles from where we live. Usually though I get up with my wife and the kids and help with breakfast and getting everyone ready. Then I work for 8 hours or so and come home- dinner, kids baths, pajamas, etc. Pretty normal "dad" schedule. I actually crave that "dad" schedule part about having weekends off, and I'm going to try to do that when I get back from NYC! Yeah! Gonna take the kidlets to feed the ducks at the park!

Antistrot & Never a Dull Moment

2010-02-05T11:42:51Z

We stopped through White Walls and the Shooting Gallery for a quick preview of these two shows opening Saturday Feb 6th.