111 Minna Gallery, SF Free!!! Friday night 7-2
Book Release event and Street Party for Chicken John’s first book!
over 150 artists and performers in the gallery and up and down the street!!!!!
Come to this fantasic event, and please share it with your facebook friends!!!!!!!
The Book of the Is! Fail to win: essays in engineered disperfection
The Chez Poulet (our little warehouse on Cesar Chavez street) is having mortgage problems. I signed a 5 year mortgage with a balloon payment. The 5 years was up last year, and I couldn’t get a loan (see occupy Wall Street for details). I borrowed money to avoid foreclosure. But now, can’t make the payments.
I need $300,000. So the only way to get that kind of money is through fundraising. So I wrote a book, and included a coupon in it good for one “anything”. The books are $100, and I printed 2,500 of them. You can also buy a book without the coupon for $40. The artist Swoon offered to do some handmade covers, to support the work. Others also offered to do covers. There are 500 individual, unique handmade covers. 450 from Swoon, and 50 from various other artists. These covers come with a book (with a coupon) and are $250.
The book is a collection of essays on my experience in failure. Ideas that are confounding and confusing. Experiences many of us have had together. I found that not going for the win offered a freedom and a powerful immunity to disappointment. It's magic stuff. We talk about that feeling that "anyting can happen" and how mediocrity works. It's a feild manual for living your life as art and not taking yourself too seriously. And there are parts that are so funny you'll cry. Other parts that are so sad you will weep. And there are parts that will make you very, very angry when you realise that things are not the way they could be. The book is an art book, with over 250 stunning, full color photos.
I booked 111 Minna to show the work people made for the covers (the show is tomorrow, Friday night). I then got a street closure for the block in front of the gallery. I invited a few dear friends to come and do stuff in the street. The event is free, of course I would love for everyone to buy a book, but you are under no obligation.
Come. Enjoy the evening. The weather is grand. I will now list the attractions:
Art of Bleeding
The Art of Bleeding is what happened to LA Cacophony. Rev Al and his gaggle of bloodied nurses in rubber and latex will demonstrate how to do CPR or put on bandages or deal with smoke inhalation. There is an ape. I don’t know why. The Art of Bleeding performance will be at 10:00.
Photoboof
Wrybread will bring the famous Photoboof mobile unit!!!!!
Julian Cash portrait studio
Supersnail has rented a truck and is doing portraits with light paint. Trippy and super weird photo effects make sure you get the URL so you can peek at the photos later!
Noonaco
The “Fight Your Inner Demons” booth. (and end up with a black eye). Get clear. Get your intention set. Get your ass kicked. Blessed be.
Library of Brigadoon
The library where books are checked out for 100 years. Come sip tea, and listen to some reading from great books.
Arialist Mirium
I have no idea what we will rig her off of, but we’ll find something… we always do…
Rajaphant
Carl Heiny’s famous elephant art car!!!! Is bringing a sculpture
Doggie Diner Heads
They’ll be there!
Michael Christian
Is bringing a sculpture called
Tom sepe
is gonna bring the Whirlygig
Kimrick & Shannon (of the Neverwas Haul)
Will bring their trolly car and a real live steam calipoe made of junk!!!!!
Don’t let it end like this
Remember in March I did a show in NYC, and you all guys wrote obituarys for me? Now is your chance to see that book. I’ll have it in the gallery.
The Notional Clearing House
a sacred space for sharing all the awful ideas, useless concepts, ridiculous projects, & other inescapable mental catastrophes which clutter up our craniums.
Freddi Price and the Ad Hoc Brass
At midnight!!!!!
Sasha leitman
Has an awesome sound sculpture
Scott Oscillator
Is bringing a instrument you can play that is controlled by LED’s and other dark magiks!!!!!
Charlie Gadeken: Aperin
It’s a 3 headed tesla coil flower. Fancy.
Cyclecide
Will break things. And themselves. Jousting!!!!!
Jason Broemell
The canoe bike!!!!
Spacecraft
Will do a set that you can listen to through headphones! They will also be recording YOU reading MY book into MICROPHONES! They will then put YOUR words (witch are actually my words) to music YOU can download later!!!!!!
Sean Kelly!
Is gonna get drunk and host an 80’s racquetball court in the back of a box truck.
Camera obscura
Chirs Demonteray is bringing his Giant Camera Obscura!!!!!
This show is all free!
From 7-9 is an artist reception in the gallery.
From 9-10 is a reading, with some pretty cool people reading from the Book of the Is:
John Law
Steven Raspa
Nieves Rathbun
Polly Superstar
Andie Grace
Hosted by the editor of the Book, Benjamin Wachs
From 10-2 in the gallery, Radio Valencia’s finest DJ’s will rock the house:
Gregory Shultz
Jon Fast
Brian Cox
Midori
Timmi
Kiko
If you can’t make the show, but want to support the warehouse or read the book, please visit
www.bookoftheis.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicken-John/43667752425
event:
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=219524061439881
Remember to tweet: #ftf (for the fail)
