A few months ago, Bernalwood pondered an abandoned chair that was left atop Bernal Hill. At the time, we wondered if the chair was illegally dumped trash, or a clever in situ art installation. Soon after, Bernal’s Neighbor Frank saw the chair in use for a photo shoot:
The furniture is still there, and apparently attracting other artists. This photographer and model told me that they did not carry the chair there. The model hoped that the chair didn’t have bedbugs. The ottoman and two footstools were moved to the west. I didn’t see the black chair.
Now we learn the “model” in the chair was actually singer Thao Nguyen. Glamorousness! And how do we know that? Because we recognized the chair, and the view, in the picture spotted on the NPR website that also adorns the top of this post. (PRO TIP: Try to read this excerpt in your best Robert Siegel voice:)
Quirky but cutting, playful but forceful, controlled but ragged, Thao Nguyen is one of the most commanding and distinctive young singers around. She infuses everything around her with electricity and mischievous boldness, from her live-wire concerts to the way her songs gallop and clamor, picking up intensity as they go along. With her band The Get Down Stay Down, Nguyen is about to release her third album — We the Common, out Feb. 5 — and it’s full of tense, clattering folk-rock.
SFist tells us that Thao Nguyen was in the City yesterday to do a free concert at Amoeba Records. No word, however, on the current whereabouts of the now-famous chair.
With some luck and continued vigilance, we have reason to hope that Bernalwood’s stint on the crime beat will soon be just a bad memory. We’d like that, because it would allow this blog to return to the vapidity and fashion-consciousness that we are all about.
For example, did you hear about the new mixed-media art installation spotted on Cortland this week? Neighbor Beth saw it:
Gotta love Bernal: civic minded, funny, creative, and listens to NPR. Who’s responsible for the “Poop” signs? Someone made up little flags saying ‘Poo’ and applied them to all the offending articles on Cortland. Sorry, I was embarrassed to take a picture.
Shameful.
Not the cute little poop signs — So! Love! Those! — but the reticence about taking a picture. What?? Totally don’t get that. Everyone in Bernal Heights is a paparazzi. Without a photo, no one in Bernal Heights would actually believe that someone planted handy little poop flags on our neighborhood’s most fashionable stretch of sidewalk. It’s just like those clever Millennial kids say: Pics or it didn’t happen!
Luckily, Neighbor Beth later recovered from her squeamishness, and Neighbor Martha never suffered from it. They got the pics, and the pics reassure us: It really happened!! Because it did.
KTVU-TV did a nice follow-up piece on this week’s art-exhibit fire at the Queen’s Nails Gallery on Mission Street. (Click the image above to watch the video)
Executive Summary: Significant WTF factor from all parties involved. The San Francisco Fire Department is not at all amused. The gallery owners may face arson charges.
A fire broke out last night at the Queen’s Nails Gallery on Mission Street in Bernal Heights, and the blaze was caused by an art project that went very, very — very — wrong.
According to the Queen’s Nails Facebook page, the gallery was in the process of “placing 50,000.00 matches into the wall so [artist] Claire Fontaine can burn the map of the US.”
With a plan like that, what could possibly go wrong? A person who was inside Queen’s Nails tells Bernalwood:
I was at the gallery on Mission tonight right before the fire started, and I witnessed the entire thing.
The fire was the result of an art installation gone awry. The piece that started the fire was an installation (called “burnt/unburnt”) by French artist Claire Fontaine which was in the final stages of preparation for the opening tomorrow night. The piece was made up of 50,000 matches stuck into a wall in the shape of the United States which would then be lit on fire. I have no knowledge of the fire-proofing that takes place but there is certainly a large degree of preparation involved in order to prevent accidents like tonights from occurring.
Here is the same installation as the one in Queen’s Nails, as seen at a previous show at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art:
Here is how the installation is supposed to look when executed properly (shown here with a map of France):
I was at the gallery when the fire broke out. It was slow-going to attach 50,000 matches, and the show had already been pushed to opening Wednesday night instead of its original date of this past Saturday.
I arrived just as the first matches were being lit. There was a hose ready in the gallery and fire extinguishers around in case things got out of control– I remember feeling relieved to see that. Everyone had their iPhones and camcorders out to document the slow burn of the piece. At first, when the map was lit on fire (intentionally), it burnt slowly and was rather gorgeous.
However, within about 15 seconds of burning, something went wrong and the flame began to surge out of control. We were not sure if it was part of the art piece… however, soon the smoke was billowing over the entire crowd and the sulphur was so hot and thick that it hurt the lungs.
Someone yelled “EVERYONE OUT!!!” and the small crowd stumbled out the front door on Mission Street. The smoke was so thick and yellow that one couldn’t see.
The fire was quickly put out by the hose and extinguishers, but the heat must have been so intense that it continued to steam for a long time afterwards.
At first when the fire trucks showed up, I wondered if they were an intended part of the ‘performance,’ but I was quickly informed that it was DEFINITELY not part of the piece. After sticking around for a short while, it seemed that things were under control. The large amount of smoke came from the matches, but in reality there was barely a fire at all… I just feel sorry for the folks who run the gallery. They were really upset and I can’t imagine what they are going to have to deal with.
Incredible. We can all be grateful that the fire was quickly brought under control, and that no one was hurt. We can also assume that much more will be said about this incident in the days ahead.
Very special thanks to all the neighbor-reporters who provided us with such superb coverage of this story. Great work, people.
UPDATE 1/23 5 pm: Queen’s Nails has been posting about the incident on their Facebook page.
One request seeks to keep documentation about the fire offline:
Please do not post any images or videos of Burnt/Unburnt anywhere on the Internet.Thank you, Queen’s Nails.
In regards to the Claire Fontaine installation of “America (Burnt/Unburnt)” at Queen’s Nails, we would like to assure the community that the utmost precaution was taken during the controlled burning of the piece and that the flame was at no time out of hand.
The burning of the piece, which was not open to the public, has been done by Claire Fontaine seven other times in various venues across the world with the same concerns and care taken into regard.
Due to inadequate ventilation, there was a large amount of smoke coming from the front of the gallery which caused onlookers to call the SFFD. Upon their arrival, there was absolutely no flame burning in the building.
We would like to thank the SFFD for their efforts to help us ventilate the remaining smoke from the gallery. We appreciate their dedication and hard work to ensure that the gallery and onlookers were safe.
Any questions pertaining to the specifics of the installation could be directed towards Claire Fontaine at their artist talk this evening at CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts at 7pm. Inquiries regarding the exhibition as a whole can be directed to the gallery at queensnailssf@gmail.com.
We apologize to the community for any concerns they expressed and again would like to thank the fire fighters and officers for their assistance.
A Mission Street art gallery may be in trouble after San Francisco firefighters responded Tuesday night to a fire intentionally set there, apparently as part of an art piece, a fire official said today.
Firefighters responded around 10 p.m. Tuesday to Queen’s Nails, a gallery located at 3191 Mission St. in the city’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, Deputy Fire Chief Mark Gonzales said. […]
Gonzales said, “This was something we would not permit if it was applied for. It was done more out of ignorance, not maliciousness, as far as we’re concerned.”
He said the Police Department and district attorney’s office will take over the investigation to determine if charges should be filed for the incident.
The fire, which was quickly put out after causing $5,000 in damage, was apparently started on a piece of art shaped like the U.S. and made of matches that was set ablaze, Gonzales said.
“It was a piece of art that this person had lit up thinking it was not a problem,” he said. “It turned out to be a problem.”
PHOTOS: From top: Exterior fire photos by Jeff Rueppel. In-process installation photo via Queen’s Nails Gallery on Facebook. Portland photo by PICA Press Corps, Interior photo by Bernalwood witness
Last weekend there was a full team from Precita Eyes Murals on hand at the Bernal Heights Library to install the new artwork on the Cortland facade. What’s interesting is that — as you can see — the art is less of a mural, and more of an intricate mixed-media and tile installation. Interesting.
Some will cheer, and some will jeer, but destiny will run its course regardless; now, as planned, the beginnings of the new Bernal Heights Library mural are in place on the building’s Cortland facade.
Todd Berman used to live in the Mission District, but he recently transferred his flag to Bernal Heights. To mark the occasion, he painted a picture of Bernal Hill as seen from 25th and Mission Street:
I’ve been in San Francisco for 14 years — 11 of which I spent in the Mission District, mostly at the foot of Bernal, just across Cesar Chavez — with Bernal Hill always looming above. Bernal has been my muse for many paintings and drawings, often floating above the fray.
Now, I look forward to painting the view from Bernal and also capturing my new neighborhood’s awesome community vibe. I will certainly need to make a ‘City of Awesome’ painting about Bernal. In my current series of paintings, I ask people, “What do you do to help make San Francisco be so awesome?” Then I ask them to draw a picture of themselves in action (no skill needed, stick figures okay). I then cut the self-portraits out and collage them into paintings of the city. (Perhaps a local business would want to sponsor a City of Awesome Bernal painting featuring their location?)
My day job is as a substitute teacher in the SFUSD schools. My special-lady-partner-person, Lauren, is an independent consultant, crafting marketing and communications strategy for nonprofit organizations, a photographer, and a writer. She has chronicled many of our adventures abroad here.
Our new place is in the St. Mary’s vicinity – the piercing on the tip of La Lengua. Olivia’s does make a superior breakfast.
Welcome to Bernalwood, New Neighbors Todd and Lauren, and we look forward to your future contributions to Bernal’s artistic endowment.
Miss Darcy from Heartfelt on Cortland invites all the Citizens of Bernalwood to buy tickets in a star-studded raffle to benefit the Bernal Heights Library Art Project:
We are selling tickets for the raffle that will be drawn on Thursday, during the Cortland Holiday Stroll. It is a fundraiser for the playground side of the library art work.
The prizes are so grand there is really no first prize. Here they are:
A signed by David Byrne Talking Heads Tee shirt from the 80’s (I vouch it is authentic)
A $200 gift certificate from Heartfelt
A painting by Reuben RudeA photo by Kingmond Young
A weekend for two in Guerneyville (a lovely home in the woods)
Dinner for two at Hillside Supper Club
Tickets are $5 each, or 5 for $20.
Please Note: This is a raffle to benefit the mural on the back side of the library, facing the playground. Not the mural slated to appear on the front. Or the one on the side. No, this a benefit for the one in the back. And the design for back of the library is not yet even proposed. So it happens to be a very good opportunity for some artastic awesomeness. I encourage all Bernalese to help encourage that. See the poster below for more details.
Hard-charging biker. Class warfare revolutionary. Pioneering underground cartoonist.
Loving family man.
That was Spain Rodriguez.
From his role as one of the original Zap Comix artists with Robert Crumb, to his work as a founder of the Mission District murals movement in San Francisco, Rodriguez influenced generations of cartoonists and illustrators with a gritty, in-your-face approach to urban life.
He continued to do so until his death Wednesday at his San Francisco home – inking a poster printed this week for a concert honoring the labor movement and Woody Guthrie.
Mr. Rodriguez was 72, and had battled cancer for six years.
“He was an archetypal character, somewhere between crazy artist crossed with left-wing radical crossed with working-class Latino hood,” Crumb, who lives in France, said in a documentary made this year by Mr. Rodriguez’s wife, journalist and filmmaker Susan Stern. “He had a big influence on me through his artwork.
It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing this morning of Spain Rodriguez. He passed at home with his daughter and wife at his bedside at about 7 this morning. He had been fighting cancer for a long time. He was a wonderful father, husband, and friend. His art challenged, changed and enlightened and entertained us for over five decades. His passing coincided with the penumbra eclipse of the moon, like Spain’s shadow from the outer edge of the art world’s face. Services are pending, please give the family some time.
She also points us toward the abovementioned documentary about Spain’s work, created by his wife Susan Stern:
Finally, here’s a drawing Neighbor Spain did of Sutrito Tower (long before we decided to rename it that). He will be missed:
PHOTOS: Top, Spain Rodriguez, via The Beat. Bottom, Sutrito Tower drawing by Spain Rodriguez, via “San Francisco’s Bernal Heights” by the Bernal History Project.
Put on your walking shoes, art lovers, because Open Studios are coming to Bernal Heights this weekend. The event’s organizers at Artspan bring the context:
Here is the premise in a nutshell: The city is divided into four quadrants for the four open studios weekends. Artists in each area open their studio doors to show their art to the public. The work is for sale, but much more than an exchange of goods takes place. Perspective, inspiration, and ideas are shared; creative processes are divulged; and the appreciation of a life devoted to art is doled out. Join in the celebration by exploring and investigating a vast range of artists and artwork during this year’s SF Open Studios.
Bernal’s turn is this weekend; studios will be open Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm. Lots of Bernal artists will be participating, and here’s where to find them: (Click the map for the spiffy interactive version.)
The San Francisco Public Library is holding a contest to crowdsource some new library card designs, and aspiring Bernal Heights artist Mia submitted the drawing shown above. Neighbor Julia writes:
You might be interested to know that a Bernal resident is one of the finalists in the SFPL library card design contest. Mia’s design is in the “2nd grade and under” category. Mia’s submission is called “Reading,” and if you are a Camp Mather regular, you might recognize the hammock scene.
Anyone with an email address can vote. My disclaimer: I’m biased, because I’m her mom. Here’s the link if you’d like to vote.
I regret not having posted about this sooner, but when I went for a walk down Cortland on Sunday afternoon, I stumbled into the artists’ reception for the Art From Within Bernal Heights exhibit that’s now showing at the Inclusions Gallery.
This year marks our 4th annual show devoted exclusively to art created by Bernal Heights residents. Each year the show is comprised of the numerous submissions made by the creative community surrounding the gallery. This year we will be featuring nearly 100 works by 37 different artists. The works are diverse in subject matter, style, size and media including: oil, encaustic, acrylic, watercolor, photography, etching, mosaic, sculpture, letter press, screen printing, assemblage and collage. The work is very accessible, as are their price points. The sheer volume and diversity of pieces make for quite a dynamic show not to be missed. It’s a wonderful opportunity to catch a glimpse of the immense talent and creativity within the Bernal Heights community.
It’s a really good show, and a terrific greatest-hits collection of work created by your Bernal Heights neighbors. But you’d best hurry if you want to check it out; The show closes this Sunday, October 21.
Bernalwood 