What's new in San Francisco Bay Area Arts? This section will be updated to include interesting happenings within Artists Moving and the wider art world. We'll also be profiling up and coming artists to watch as well as the most interesting local established artists.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Henry Ostang-- Oakland's graffiti documentarist--

http://www.henryostang.com/-  Now offering photography tours of Oakland and SF street art. 

       Henry Ostang didn't discover his passion for photography until the middle of his life.  He was doing a book assignment for a Wisconsin based author who wanted to know what life was like in Oakland and SF so that she could write a book in the gay vampire erotica genre.   Since then he's been off and running-  As an O-town native he wants more people to appreciate the art that's constantly in our face.  Graffiti artists take a lot of risk when they put their art out there, but when the do it right the streets are a richer place for it.   Henry documents both the artwork and it's context.  He's expanded his range to include the urban landscape as well as people. 

        About his craft he says: "For me photography is a yin-yang passion comprised of artistic intention and expression a'blended with aggressive cooperation - graffiti is in the main transitory and parked cars, glare of sun, random people, trespassing and the limitations of a given lens are all separate negotiations I engage in with photography to make what I see in mind's eye manifest in digital reality."

         His site has more of his photos as well as info on his upcoming shows.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Brian Barneclo ready to paint city's largest mural


For those of you who remember our old van— the 88 Ford E-350  blew a headgasket last year and became a storage unit parked on an industrial street of Brisbane.   It had been painted by the ever nomadic Noah Ptolemy.   The banner that his characters held saying “Don’t Try” been a quote of his favorite writer Charles Bukowski  and were meant to imply “Just Do it”.    After sitting for several months it final started receiving tickets.  Cutting off the sides proved highly challenging and the whole vehicle was sent to automobile heaven. 


Our current van was painted by San Francisco’s Brian Barneclo.   Despite having his ladder AND identity being stolen over the course of his work- he was able to finish it in about 15 hours.   He’s perfected the art of how to “Hit it and quit it.”  My studio neighbors and I have taken this lesson to heart and we’ve been painting faster as a result.  When trying to develop a new style it’s important to be prolific.


You can checkout one of Brian’s works on Shotwell between 14th and 15th st.  It’s awesome. It’s also time to get excited about Brian’s next work- the Systems Mural.  It’s going on the CalTrain wall at 7th and Townsend and will be San Francisco’s largest mural yet.

Film Review: Exit Through the Gift Shop

I've just been getting interested in Street art and watched the movie Exit Through the Gift Shop )( which also played at the Roxie not too long ago.   The movie would have been great if it had just documented the graffiti and street art scene I thought- The Banksy footage was enough in itself and I believe this was the first time he's even been interviewed.  The artist has kept his identity secret because the nature of his work.  To the right is one of his stencils that was erased just a few days after he painted it.

Within the film there's a twist as Banksy takes over the movie while at the same time turning “Dr. Brainwash” into an instant star in the L.A. art scene. I think Banksy was actually the director of this movie from the start, but that doesn’t make the way they orchestrated it all any less impressive.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

"Real Contrasts" series at 111 Minna and Spring Open Studios

These are two images from a "new series" that I'm working on which combines photos with painting.  I had to crop these in order to upload them to the site, but they're on the wall at Art Explosion.

I'm pretty excited about working in this style right now.  I think the contrasts that come out in these pictures represents my impression of the world when it's most vivid for me.    I also think there's a lot that can be done combining the two mediums, and I'm letting the photos do some of the work rather than overpainting detail.   Soon I'll be uploading more of these into the gallery page of this site.