H!NGE writing

Take a look at the Boys & Girls Club on Page near Stanyan next time you ride by. I’ve been working on a mosaic mural there since the beginning of Summer 08. While it’s not the standard fare for Djiboogo art/artists I’m point this blog in that general direction to showcase the reach of this collective…

Now Then, where is everybody else?

Let’s get this website revved up to date?

Everyone has a camera somewhere and we all know how to type…

c’mon robot monkeys…

9/18 111Minna.

‘Destroy All Monsters’ group show embroiled all of the Djiboogo members as well as a healthy dose of OneShot artists and compatriots.

It Rocked.

Special thanks to Brown-Jean, and H!NGE

Next date February 5th.

You’d better be there…

News;

The Owners of Insite Gallery placed some of the Djiboogo Glass Ware into the Front Window Display.

H!NGE snapped a pic…

Thanks Claudia and Ina

Spring is sprung here at Djiboogo studios, and things continue to progress. This less than dramatic photo is supposed to highlite some of our progress, with a fresh banner being painted by pashe, the ceramic area as clean as its ever been, (courtesy of artnok), and one of our feline members strolling about looking for some hapless victim. Sometimes progress is like that– quiet, almost empty feeling in some ways, with claws and teeth hidden under soft fur.

Our membership has solidified and grown somewhat, with out first “official” foray into the rules and regulations of sharing the communal art space. Artnok mentioned he would like studio access non-dependant on one of us who live at the studio. Only a matter of time, but nontheless, it felt like an occasion. The studio is finally officially open. . .

Leave it to me to wax philosophical at the drop of a leaf, but our membership expansion/studio growth got me thinking about all of this “art making” we cling to so dearly here at djiboogo studios, and sharing that experience and way of life. It can feel easy to “share” your art, or space, or whatever, as long as it happens to fit into your personal way of things, perhaps showing “your” finished pieces to people or having an open studio party once a year with a single set time and date. When we have to compromise and step into a shared experience, many artists hesitate or get possessive. I wonder if we haven’t grasped more tightly onto the idea that art and art making is most pure and honest when it is “individual” action, intensely personal, something which springs from our deep heart or soul or mind or ass. Certainly there are exceptions, with some crews and collectives popping up and flourishing, but even then, each member often cultivates a hands off policy regarding their “own” work. How often do you see pieces with multiple artists credited? I could get political and blame the system which seems to devalue art in the schools, some of the first chances budding artists get to share and discuss their visions with peers. Is it a coincidence that “public” schools continue to cut art, leaving it to the “private” institutions such as art specific schools to carry the creative burden? Why is it so rare to see people doing art in public spaces together?  Art is like masturbation perhaps, something better left to private time, and private places. Only a pervert would dare thrust it into public space and time. . .

This is not to say that there are not plenty of people and institutions who buck this trend. We fully expect to make an impact here with djiboogo studios, and for more people to get involved and get public with their private art. And if you see a naked man carrying a bucket of clay  and some paint down the street, stop and say hello. Its art, believe us. . .

Djiboogo studios is an intended communal effort, which in itself is a rare concept these days. All too often people find themselves either enamored by their own individual efforts, caught up in the somewhat mindless routine of their daily grind, or unwilling to try and help others with their own visions. Case in point: most cars on the freeway are driven by single people, though they are all in essence going the same direction, at least while on the freeway. We all like nothing better than to be in charge of our own destiny, at whatever the cost, however illusory the thought actually is. Communal art meets individual freedom in a strange unplanned grudge match. . .

A friend and patron of Djiboogo came to us with a project for the upcoming Burning man, which is in itself a sort of communal art project. The idea was to outfit an old mini school bus turned bio-diesel cruiser into an art car. He had just bought the bus, and had little practical idea what to do next. We went from stage one planning/concept and sketches to a near finalized design in a month and a half, pretty much only working a day or so a week. The finished idea was to create a sort of cloud bus which would “float” around on the playa and sprinkle water on people, providing a peaceful and soft blue landing pad if someone needed rest and/or refreshment. This involved a full paint job inside and out, welding attachments onto the bus for lighted clouds, building a portable sprinkling system, and several other transformational stagings. Some of the final transformation was to take place on the playa, as bolting four eight foot clouds onto the side of a vehicle is not encouraged by the CHP. In the meantime, we figured we might as well bomb out the whole van to generate a bit of excitement. . .

Anytime you begin any communal undertaking, it seems best to drop most of your pre-conceived notions about how things “should” be. The bus was first dubbed Blue Skys in honor of the eco-theme of Burning Man this year,  as a sort of nod to the bio-diesel nature of the van, and to attempt to bring a bit of thought to the huge levels of pollution we as humans are simply trying to ignore as we drive around every day by ourselves. Not that the irony of spraypainting this eco-message escaped us, as we created some nasty clouds of our own. But hey, we are nothing if not foolish apes. . .

In any case, as three of Djiboogo’s members got to painting, the name “Los Happy Bus” surfaced, perhaps due to the mad ramblings of Pashe, or the merciless and rare Richmond District sun. Los Happy Bus certainly wasn’t written on the initial planning sketch, but it didn’t take too long to get it painted on the van in multiple spots, along with some more secret and esoteric tags, modern signs of communal art-monkeys.

As we create art with an attempt to bring beauty and alternate thoughts to people, there exists a strange attempt at cost-benefit leveling. Do the ends justify the means? Will Los Happy Bus cause people to think about how to drive less, or perhaps change over to driving vehicles which can use bio-fuels? Certainly hundreds, or perhaps thousands of people will see Los Bus, but does this offset the environmental cost of the 20 cans of spray paint we splatted off into the biosphere? These questions are near impossible to answer, though they do indeed haunt our sleep here at Djiboogo. And yet one small example surfaced as Pashe wrote breathe.

Our lovely and tolerant neighbor drove up with her children and a couple of their young friends. The kids were, of course, fascinated by the magical maneuverings of Pashe’s talented digits. Before long they became comfortable enough to start asking questions. One girl asked if the police were going to show up. Pashe mentioned that the owner wanted us to make the van into art, and i suppose we all thought that someone had gotten into her brainwashing early on, that her first thought when seeing someone with a spray can was to call the police, not curious as to what design he was painting. They next did ask what Pashe was painting and little by little, the story of Blue Skys came out, including the fact that the van runs on bio-fuel. Some more questions were answered, and the girls stayed fascinated long enough to have to be called in four or five times to watch their movie. As if it gets any more entertaining (and worthwhile) than watching Paul Pashe with a can of paint, edumacating the youts about the value of cooperating crews, and art. . .

Just finishing up preparations for the annual woodstoke firing in penryn on Rodney Mott’s land. Rodney’s a madman, which is why we love him so here at Djiboogo. If you are completely unfamiliar with the concept of woodfire, the basic idea is this: A large, cigar shaped brick igloo built up a gentle hill, filled with pottery. The “cigar” shaped chamber could stand alone, which might make it called an anagama. I think this basically translates as “one chamber kiln” in japanese. There can be chambers after the cigar shaped one, usually taking the form of arches. This then becomes a “noborigama” or many chambered kiln. In the very front, a sort of large hearth with a grate and a small door that can be closed. At the top of the kiln highest on the hill is a twenty or more foot chimney. Japanese terminology suffuses “modern” woodfire as the technique was refined to great success in Japan, though perhaps the Koreans actually invented the method to highfire ceramic with wood and these sorts of kiln. I’m not really sure about any of that, and am not really all that concerned who invented the wheel, as long as it rolls, and many thanks, inventors. In any case, you and some other crazies throw as much wood as you can in the small hole, starting slowly and gradually building tempo over the course of days. It eventually gets to throwing maybe 5-20 pieces every minute for what could be days, around the clock. In goes wood, out comes smoke and ash. It isn’t uncommon at one of rodney’s firings to go through 3 or more cords of wood in as many days. For those of you who love esoterica, a cord of wood is four feet by four feet by eight feet. A peck of peppers is less than a gaggle of geese, but more than a cubit.

Here’s a semi-crappy pic of one of these naborigamas being built. You can sort of see the basic layout of the front, main anagama chamber, the small bricks in the dirt. You can also see one of the rear arch chambers behind, built from the large bricks. This kiln, incidentally, is on Dick Hotchkiss’s land. He builds kilns from handmade bricks from mainly gathered materials, which is pretty bad ass. We’re not aware of too many people who do that. Djiboogo had the pleasure to help with this kiln, though it isn’t fully built yet. Hotchkiss is also the guy who has helped us a lot with finding and using wild clay. There’s something strangely satisfying about digging some dirt out of the land to form your oatmeal bowl. . .

In any case, here’s a really crappy photo of one of the kilns on Rodney’s land, complete with a transfixed Djiboogo member on the side, staring into infinity. This particular kiln is called “big mama”. It is another really funky kiln in that it has five chambers, including two front anagama chambers, side by side. You can see the left “leg” and “belly” chamber here, with the non-visible right leg leading directly down to the person in the beanie. The belly chamber leads to two arches chambers, her “breasts” and “head”. Hence big mama. There’s quite a good perspective of the blue tarp here, and stacked stools. Those things are always really vital at a woodfire.

We at djiboogo have somewhat mixed feelings about the process, as it creates huge amounts of smoke, and is [somewhat] inefficient. There is often loss of some of the pieces in the kiln, also, as the process is rather raw, uncontained, and brutal on the pieces. (especially at one of rodney’s firings) It takes a huge amount of work to pull one off, and in general, the extra effort and sacrifice is unnoticed and unrewarded in appreciation by the general viewing public. On another angle, it is an ancient and magical event, one which keeps us awake and glued to the kiln at 2 am, head buzzing, eager to stuff our hands back into the 2000 degree hole, to burn some eyelashes, toast a knuckle, fry some skin. After the firing, the kiln usually cools for as many days as it fired for, and the pottery comes out of the kiln looking like it was kept at the bottom of the ocean for a few centuries. Here’s an example of a porcelain torso which went into the kiln unglazed, undecorated. The crust and color you see on the body is all the result of wood ash and ganja smoke. Ahem.

Being that one of djiboogo’s members is now halfway across the world traipsing around in what some would consider the transportation cycler’s mecca, Amsterdam, it seemed like a good time to mention djiboogo’s love of bikes and critical mass here in SF. i also wanted to post the photo of marcus’ bike after his run in with an unseeing car. I’m no physicist, (shit, i barely recognize gravity) but it seems to me that a good amount of force is needed to split open a metal frame like that. And while Marcus had his lights on fully, and wasn’t biking recklessly, he was still hit pretty much head on by a car and driver that just didn’t see him.

combine these facts with the recent surge in tensions and debate on the relevancy of critical mass here in SF. Just recently, the police have started actually cycling in mass themselves, as opposed to the usual motorcade of CHiP style herding techniques.

Most of the people i’ve spoken with who complain about critical mass are serial drivers. If they eat while driving, they could become cereal drivers. They all have great points and strong opinions on the car/cycling dynamic in SF here, are all safe drivers, and all speak logically and calmly about “the rules of the road”. Not a single one of them in my knowledge has ever relied on a bicycle as a valid means to get themselves around the city here. Their opinions on the dynamics of car versus bike on the city streets are in my estimation as useful as a man’s on pregnancy.

Certainly a huge bike mob disobeying traffic is somewhat frightening, and potentially a mild road hazard for poor, unsuspecting car drivers. And yes, there are cyclists who are assholes just as there are people who recycle who also beat their dogs. (huh?) I mean to say that, no, a thoughtful act does not equate to a thoughtful person. And yet, fundamentally, one idea/ideal behind critical mass is very, very simple: get car drivers to notice bikes. This happens every mass, without debate, no question. People notice bikes. The attention may happen with an abrupt swear, or in a fit of rage, or a chuckle, but however it happens, bikes get noticed. This is a good thing. Ask marcus. Or better yet, ask his bike.

a particular two dimensional representation of  “thought” or “possibility” or “the search. . .” or just sitting on your ass. it might remind any one of us how gloppy that all can be, how tenuos and unreal those methods become, how intertwined those motives. a sprout, or being consumed by sick flame. or something like that. we’re actually not sure. this is really just a test.