Ben Tour, Cum*, Eine, Mario Wagner, Brent McHugh, and Ryan Jacob Smith.

KMNDZ "The Heaviest" April 7th- May 19th, 2011

View the full list of works here.

Photos courtesy of Patrick Kawahara

Rico Deniro at FIFTY24 SF: January 2011

Artist Rico Deniro is the first gallery show at FIFTY24SF in San Francisco for us in 2011. The exhibition, Native Expatriots, is the first solo showing of Deniro’s wood-masks, handmade with master woodworkers in Mexico. More details to come. Photos by Estevan Oriol.

El Mac @ Fifty24SF Gallery

Stanley Donwood interviewed by Pitchfork for his FIFTY24SF Gallery show

The good people of the highly-influential music website, Pitchfork, have interviewed our very own exhibiting artist, Stanley Donwood, about his new show at FIFTY24SF Gallery (that is up now, go see it, now) as well as doing artwork for a little band called Radiohead.

Go read it here.

And check out the prints we have of Stanley Donwood in our webstore.

The Final 'You Can't Win' blog post from Josh and Pez

Maria brought PEZ and I to a hidden fortress on top of a mountain. It was probably the best part of the trip.  We walked for like an hour in each direction in total darkness, through the woods the get to a stone house where we chilled and listened to sick Dub music and smoked cigarettes. I actually got like 20 minutes of sleep there, as well. Honestly, to go there at night like that was something out of a dream.

Read the rest on  here.

THE OVER NORMAL NEWSPAPER, BY STANLEY DONWOOD

If you are going to be headed to the Over Normal exhibit in San Francisco, starring Stanley Donwood and a sound installation by Donwood and John Matthias, then you are going to get the physical copy of the Over Normal Newspaper, a nice newsprint pamphlet made in conjunction with the FIFTY24SF show.

But if you happen to live in, let us say, Plymouth, England, then you need to go to SlowlyDownward.com and download the PDF so you can experience it like us who sit in the gallery.

The preparation of Stanley Donwood's "Over Normal" exhibition at FIFTY24SF Gallery

All images will be available in the "Over Normal" newspaper, to be given at the FIFTY24SF Gallery from September 2nd through October 27th, 2010. All images provided by Stanley Donwood, exhibiting artist.

STANLEY DONWOOD AT FIFTY24SF GALLERY NEXT WEEK

It’s almost upon us, and the excitement is brewing here for Stanley Donwood’s first ever US based show – and it’s happening in San Francisco.  The opening reception is going to occur on Thursday, September 2nd at 7:30pm, and after seeing some of the work in person, it’s going to be pretty epic.  Here’s the information about the show below, see you there:

Fifty24SF Gallery presents “Over Normal”- a solo exhibition by Stanley Donwood and his first ever showing in the United States.

When thinking of iconic imagery in music from the last 20 years, Stanley Donwood’s work with Radiohead invariably comes to mind – and for good reason.  Where Radiohead’s music stretched the auditory horizons and painted musical sceneries of mans place in the modern world, Donwood’s imagery and packaging forced us to face the gravity of the music from the minute the album hit our hands; and by creating cryptic, academic and (at times) dystopian layouts, the albums themselves became as striking and relevant as the music they contained.

Although Stanley Donwood generally avoids the grandeur of media and would prefer to be undersold, to speak only in terms of his work with Radiohead would be a disservice. From his exhibitions of intricate etchings at Lazarides Gallery in London, to the vibrant works that made up his show at Iguapop Gallery in Barcelona, Donwood’s gallery work has consistently mixed personal and political emotions with modesty and humor.

For “Over Normal”, the catalyst for the large works featured in the show is in Los Angeles, where Stanley began to notice (with equal parts amazement and distress) that the advertisements bombarding him on the multilane highways were made of seven basic colors, immediately grabbing viewers’ attention in a primal way.  More recently, Stanley noticed a parallel between the use of those colors and an influx of spam emails that promised everything from more fruitful sex lives, to cheap foreclosed properties at the expense of someone else’s misery. The word’s that were used in the emails were formatted in the same fundamental way as color in the advertisement’s had been used: to grab unconscious attention and tell a story without the viewer knowing it.  Marrying the immediate words used in these emails with the attractive and distressing colors of the advertisements, Stanley has produced a line of seven vibrant, original pieces for this exhibition.

Stanley has also produced a 12 page newspaper to accompany the show, this explains how he came about putting together a neuron firing sound installation in an artificial neural network which is also featured in the show and is entitled ‘The Overnormaliser’.

“Over Normal” will run from September 2nd – October 27th with an opening reception occurring on September 2nd from 7:30PM – 10:00PM at FIFTY24SF Gallery

Planes, Trains and Bicycles- YOU CAN'T WIN Tour

Last night, on a platform in Emeryville, California, Upper Playground said goodbye to PEZ and Joshua Blank as they embarked on a train and bicycle trip to Portland, Oregon, ending in a new “You Can’t Win” show at FIFTY24PDX Gallery opening September 2nd. So the show is going on a tour, with the FIFTY24SF Gallery in SF show coming down tomorrow.

PEZ and Josh are on the train now headed to the south or Oregon, and then on their bikes for the rest of the excursion. (They fly home, hence the “Planes” reference in the title).

If you live in Oregon and want to say hi, get on the side of the road and wave as they bike by… don’t scare them, they are on a mission. Or maybe just said a hello via Facebook?

Stay tuned to UpperPlayground.com for daily updates from the PEZ and Joshua Blank “You Can’t Win” SF to PDX tour…

Stanley Donwood Show on Pitchfork

Getting excited for the Stanley Donwood Exhibition September 2nd. Pitchfork has a nice mention of the show here

YOU CAN'T WIN: PEZ and Joshua Blank Video Preview

Opening this Friday at FIFTY24SF . . .

Pez & Joshua Blank, the set-up

See the rest of the Pez and Joshua Blank shots at The Citrus Report... show opens next Friday, August 6.

Photos from last Friday night's "Henceforth and Whatnot" film night @ FIFTY24SF

We had the closing party for Porous Walker's group show and the film showings of “Henceforth and Whatnot” with Jim Dirschberger & Rinee Shah, who are right up there, looking good, last Friday night. We got our camera all unloaded and loaded up here this morning...

Jay Howell has worked with both Jim and Rinee, and his work was on the wall to prove it...

Rinee's music video that she directed...

People

More people

This dude was fresh... drinking beer out of a flask...

Writer/poet Jeff Rix, artist in the Porous Walker group show/poet Kristin Farr, and beer flask drinker guy.

Plock baby.

IMG_6000

Kelly Tunstall and said baby.

Ferris Plock had a video with Jim and Rinee on rotation all night. He made this face every time he watched his short film.

Kristin Farr, who writes for Juxtapoz, Evan Pricco, who manages Juxtapoz, share a moment and discuss what we can only assume was contemporary eyewear.

Thank you to everyone who came out.

Setting up "Henceforth and Whatnot" with Jim Dirschberger & Rinee Shah

Tonight, Friday, July 23, at FIFTY24SF, we have "Henceforth and Whatnot" with Jim Dirschberger & Rinee Shah. featuring both their collaborative and solo animations, short films, and music videos. Jim does Eighty Four Films, which did Porous' latest film “I Want A Dog That Poops Money.” Rinee does great music videos.

This is the "Porous Walker show is over let's have a film festival night." Who else's work will you see there? Skinner, Jay Howell, Porous Walker, Ferris Plock, and Rinee Shah.

Ferris, Jim, and Rinee all stopped by last night to set-up, drop-off, and assess the situation at the gallery. We snapped away when they weren't looking.

Ferris brought a baby by. It was his.

Ferris brought some work over. It was his.

A show must come down. We will miss you Porous.

Skinner.

Jim putting work up.

Rinee's wall. We like this work.

Jay Howell and the Forest City Rockers.

Stop by, watch a film or three.

A little about Sfaustina

Sfaustina is in the gallery right now, he also runs Bloodwars, and is the artistic director for Coppola and Zoetrope Magazine, he may also be a street artist.

Synesthesia - The Reason we may all be attracted to Porous Walker's colorful lettering...

Yes, Synesthesia

A few weeks in iphone photos in and around the gallery

National Lampoons Monologue was up shortly during the Porous Walker Install

Nobody is Watching YOu

Kristin Farr brought us cupcakes on Wednesday!

Porous Walker Skateboards

Eddie in Hayes Valley coffee break

James Jean Chairman Bao Bun Truck

Rene Almanza at 111 Minna

A Letter from Porous Walker

FIFTY24SF Gallery presents ‘Haricots Magiques: The Final Attempt by Porous Walker’ with an opening celebration occurring Friday, June 4th at 7:30PM.  While conventional press release etiquette would have us provide you with a detailed account of the motivations behind the artists show riddled with flowery adjectives, this is a Porous Walker show; so instead we leave you solely with this open letter from Porous himself.  Enjoy: Dear Reader,

I'm honestly a bigger fan of art than I am an actual artist.  I've tried to stop drawing, sculpting, arting but I can't seem to stop.  I'm addicted to that feeling of seeing amazing artwork, ideas and feeling the energy and spirit that created them and than allowing myself to let go and just make what I want.

I really try to work hard on my drawings, and I hope to live long enough to get to a point where I make something visually pleasing as well as purely concept driven.

I'm also looking for a job.

I live in Napa. I'm 35 years old. I want you and me both to laugh more than we don't and above all I want to inspire people to share what's in their minds.

My website is http://www.theothergoogle.com. My telephone is (707) 225-5173

Please come to my art show on June 4, 2010.

I am making some new artwork for the show, as well as creating a couple redux versions of some of my sculptures I made in the early 2000's.

I hope to have some free gifts for everyone that stops by the art show opening.  I have also invited a few friends of mine to join me to share some of their artworks as well.  Among those confirmed as of now:

Kristin Farr (http://www.kristinfarr.com) & Aaron Hodges

And probably a few more surprises.

Also, I have invited my good friends, 'Snugglemachine'  to play some live music and compliment people who come to the show.

All the best,

Porous Walker

Porous Walker

via Upper Playground News