mauve?

(cactus portraits available)

2012-01-19T08:55:00.000-08:00

(Kerry Liz with cubicle cactus)

2012-01-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

(Installation site, Alissa Polan, 2012)

(Celebration Summit)

2012-01-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

(Alissa and Karl fresh from the installation of scenic Goldie Gallop.)

"Victory (Breaking Ground at Lonely Cactus)"

2012-01-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

photocollage, colored pencil, duct tape, gouache, acrylic, and paper on hardboard
13" x 13"
Alissa Polan, 2011

"Triumph Over Evil (Out of the Mall)"

2012-01-12T08:38:00.000-08:00

photocollage, gouache, acrylic, and paper on hardboard
14" x 6"
Alissa Polan, 2011

"Snow Fall"

2012-01-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

colored pencil, gouache, acrylic, and paper on hardboard
5" x 7"
Alissa Polan, 2011

"Rage (Call to War in Chaos Hills)"

2012-01-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

photocollage, gouache, acrylic, and paper on hardboard
12" x 12"
Alissa Polan, 2011

Opening Day - Goldie Gallop's Chaos Destruction & Shovels Extravaganza

2012-01-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

(detail of "Victory (Breaking Ground at Lonely Cactus)")

Alissa Polan's "Goldie Gaollop's Chaos Destruction & Shovels Extravaganza" opened today, and visitors took turns exploring and posing in a Goldie Gallop scene while delighting in Goldie's own adventures.

About the show:

Goldie Gallop is a new kind of Western heroine. She stands and poses. The pose becomes a photograph. The Wild West as we know it became popular for its gunslingers, heroes, villains and trail riders through believable storytellers, exhibitions, photographs and drawings. Later, Hollywood made the West infamous and synonymous with an elaborate fantasy that still resonates today.

Growing up in the shadows of Hollywood and the birthplace of the Wild West show- stopper identity I envisioned my own Wild West character for the contemporary city. Much like the Wild West, she would be bold, brave and adventurous. She would go through trials and tribulations. There will be drawings made about her escapades, photographs taken of her in her trailblazing outfits. The show is complete with a simulation of one of her scenes for exhibition goers to pose and participate.

I am interested in how narrative is created through fragments of photographic evidence and psychological context. This work focuses on story making through isolated surrealistic imagery and new kinds of product placement. Goldie Gallop’s Chaos, Destruction, & Shovels Extravaganza is promoting it’s own set of severed Western inspired moments that exist somewhere between action and pose, heroine, sell-out and fake by mixing up signals of the Wild West and the anti-west. I am promoting Goldie’s version, drawing parallels between her life and ours: lives that would be forgotten without validation, documentation and popularization.

About the artist:

Alissa Polan grew up in the suburbs of LA. She received her BFA in Painting/Sculpture from Sonoma State University in 2007. In 2011, she received her MFA in Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has participated in exhibitions in New Orleans, California, Portland and throughout San Francisco. Alissa currently lives and works in San Francisco, CA.

More of Alissa Polan's work may be seen at: alissapolan.com

This Friday, January 13th at 7 pm, join us at the Mauve? Office to meet Alissa Polan in person and to tour this frontierswoman's reclaimed Los Angelean desert.

9 January - 5 February

2012-01-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

"Goldie Gallop's Chaos Destruction & Shovels Extravaganza"
Alissa Polan

"Betrayed (Exploding Leaves at Golden Flats)"
photocollage, colored pencil, gouache, acrylic, and paper on hardboard
9" x 12"
2011

"To Sum it Up" (pg 10/10)

2011-12-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

(ink on paper, 9" x 12", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

"To Sum it Up" (pg 4/10)

2011-12-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

(ink on paper, 9" x 12", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

"To Sum it Up" (pg 2/10)

2011-12-15T09:05:00.000-08:00

(ink on paper, 9" x 12", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

Slideshow

2011-12-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

(Slide Viewer: plastic, battery-operated lamp, Slides: cellophane, cardboard, Reading Tablet: fabric glue, polyester & spandex fabric, corrugated cardboard, 24 lb paper, Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

"Overcoming the Urge" (detail)

2011-12-13T08:56:00.000-08:00

(Pages: ink, graphite, watercolor on paper, Binding: polyester fabric, corrugated cardboard, fabric glue, upholstery thread, wax blend paper, glue stick, 6" x 10", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

"Overcoming the Urge" (page from)

2011-12-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

"Overcoming the Urge" (page from)

2011-12-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

Slideshow

2011-12-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

(Shelf: corrugated cardboard, mini-steaks, Slide Viewer: plastic, battery-operated lamp, Slides: cellophane, cardboard, Reading Tablet: fabric glue, polyester & spandex fabric, corrugated cardboard, 24 lb paper, 10.5" x 22" x 8", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

"Are You One Type of Person" (page from)

2011-12-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

(ink on paper, 6" x 9", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

Block from "On Driving Fast"

2011-12-02T08:40:00.000-08:00

(linoleum block, 3" x 2" x 1", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

On Driving Fast

2011-12-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

(Book: ink on paper, upholstery thread, fabric glue, corrugated cardboard, 5" x 3", Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie, 2011)

Opening Day - Untitled: Books That Never Existed

2011-11-29T14:02:00.001-08:00

"Untitled: Books That Never Existed" by Katie Hoffman and Matt McKenzie opened last night, with audiences excitedly arriving today to open a collection of thoughtfully crafted handmade books. As they flipped pages and viewed slides, visitors were presented with images and words offering practical advice on wide-ranging matters, thoughts on a folk taxonomy of humans using unexpected binaries, and stories both fantastical and realistic.

If you'd like to see the show for yourself, please feel free to email us and set up a viewing appointment.

Artists' Statement(s): A Short Conversation

K: Well, let's talk about our project. Our project is called "Untitled: Books That Never Existed."
M: That's right. It certainly is.
K: But they exist now.
M: I thought about that the minute I jokingly offered that as our show. It's ironic!

K: What do we want to say about it?
M: I want to say that I don't know how to move a new layer in Gimp once you paste it.
K: Why are you using Gimp to make books? Is that ironic in some way?
M: Uh, it's not ironic. It's probably stupid but not ironic. I'm using Gimp to try and create, to make my stencils for my linocuts. There we go. That was a lot easier than I expected it to be.
K: Do you work well under pressure?
M: No, I do not. Not at all. I like to pretend that I do but it's not the case.

K: Do you have any questions for me?
M: So why did we decide to do an art show? Are we artists?
K: Definitely. Artists who don't allow enough time for themselves. Next time –
M: Artists Without Effort … like Doctors Without Borders?
K: If only I could diagnose that somehow.

K: So do you envision yourself in the future, maybe reading these books to your kids? Do you think they are primarily for kids? Who are your readers?
M: They are joke books for children. I don't think most children would care for it. I'm trying to use the aesthetic of what I feel a children's book would be but I don't think that the message is for children. I think it's for children that –
K: For the children inside us as adults?
M: For the children inside adults?

M: I am stealing everything for this book. Nothing is original.
K: Are you stealing images to make a point?
M: I'm not very talented as a visual artist and I'm not very talented at using the computer either but together these lacks of talent cohere into something that's passable.
K: What do you consider passable? What makes something into craft? What do you consider to be good art?
M: Lanyards are pretty excellent. God's eyes that you make out of popsicle are good craft. Anything that uses a hot glue gun is a craft.

K: Now you ask me a question.
M: If you were me, what question would you ask yourself?
K: Dammit.

Next show opens: November 28th

2011-11-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

Women's work is never done

2011-10-31T09:00:00.000-07:00