David Wojnarowicz (1954 — 1992), Untitled (One Day This Kid…), 1990

Before you read any of this, stop. Read the text surrounding the little boy in the image above. Great, thanks.

On October 28th, Tyler Green of Modern Art Notes wrote that the artist David Wojnarowicz seems important right now. Green authored this post about Wojnarowicz, the New York artist who gained notoriety in the East Village art scene of the 1980s, in wake of hearing about the rise of anti-gay bullying and the gay teenage suicide epidemic sweeping our nation. Wojnarowicz's work was created 20 years ago, but as we have seen so recently, his words are still very relevant. I'm also pretty sure that any person growing up LGBT or questioning can attest, anti-gay bullying is nothing new to the community. But finally, there's some major action going on to spread the word that It Get's Better.

In his post Green called for the Museums that have Wojnarowicz's Untitled (One Day This Kid…) in their permanent collection to place the piece on display immediately in order to engage the public with this honest depiction of growing up gay in America. Apparently, none of the five museums Green listed have placed this work on view yet. However, the amazing people at P.P.O.W. Gallery who represent Wojnarowicz's estate are doing their part to use the power of art to effect change in our communities. The above piece Untitled (One Day This Kid…) is now available for download through this site. As Wojnarowicz's said in his book Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration, “bottom line, if people don't say what they believe, those ideas and feelings get lost. If they are lost often enough, those ideas and feelings never return.” So read it, print it, post it, share it. Because sharing is caring, and in this case it might just help save some lives.

A poster cursed at me yesterday. Yet somehow, it's going to lead me to become more cultured. 

Skateboard and musician photographer Glen E. Friedman and Obey Giant's chief graffiti officer Shepard Fairey are exhibiting a collection of their collabos at 941Geary. Fairey has applied his trademark vellum sketch style to some of Freidman's classic shots to create works that are once “yeah, I already saw that. The Obama poster, right?” but maintain a “wait, that's actually a pretty great photo under there”. See their altered Public Enemy below:

[Glen E. Friedman x Shepard Fairey image courtesy of obeygiant.com]

Opening reception at 941Geary is November 6th from 6-9pm, with the exhibit showing until the end of 2010.

Their promotional materials still aren't as good as Bart Simpson's campaign poster:

While this is not nearly has hilarious (or accurate) as the Mike Giant piece this pays homage to, it sure is an amusing slice of reality for the half-dozen people who look like this riding through the panhandle.

(photo by wombatbiker)

Brian Barneclo, whose retro-artwork can be found at NOPA, Foods Co., the SF Bay Guardian building, driving around the Mission, and was formerly hanging in Fabric8 when I discovered how rad Fabric8's bathtub was, is currently raising funds to paint a 600x40' wall on 7th and Townsend, greeting Caltrains riders as they arrive in SF.  Apparently it costs HELLA MONEY to paint a mural that big ($70,000!), and “the man” requires him to carry insurance and permits and other such 1st world distractions, so he going over to Kickstarter to finally begin raising money for paint.

The mural is about interconnectedness or some other 1970's ideology, but, hot damn, it certainly looks rad:

Currently a miniature, 30' version of the mural is up at the Brief Space Gallery in the Metreon.  Or, if traveling down to Powell is too much for you, you can watch a time-lapse of him painting here:

Project homepage.

(via Fecal Face)