Live/Work: An Alternative Showcase

Live/Work: An Alternative Showcase
December 7, 2013 – January 18, 2014
Reception Saturday, December 7, 7pm
ASC Projects, #104 on Treat at 18th Street, San Francisco

ASC Projects is pleased to present Live/Work: An Alternative Showcase, a group exhibition about living with art and artists making a living, with works and wares by Mark Baugh-Sasaki, Craig Calderwood, Kristen van Diggelen, and Smith|Allen. The exhibition opens Saturday, December 7, 2013 with an artist reception at 7pm and continues through January 18, 2014.

As the art world attempts to inflate yet another economic bubble, many artists continue to take matters into their own hands, finding creative ways to make a living with their inherent skills and talents. One of the oldest forms of this (though a controversial one in recent decades) is the fine craft business. In the style of an interior showcase, Live/Work features five artists whose commercial wares directly reflect the creative vision, craftsmanship, and conceptual rigor of their contemporary artworks, highlighting both their commercial craft, as well as their content-driven gallery works.

Using both natural and industrial materials, Mark Baugh-Sasaki creates fantastical sculptures that examine the relationship between humans and the environment. In an effort to make viewers more aware of their relationship to the natural world, his sculptures highlight the impact of the industrial and man-made domain on the environment (and vice versa) and exist as inhabitants and products of the meeting of the two forces and their impact upon one another. In the summers, he uses the art-world downtime to create lush pieces of furniture in steel and wood, highlighting his love of the materials and his continued relationship with the natural world.

Craig Calderwood’s obsessively intricate ink drawings deal with genderqueer identity, queer sexuality, and continued attempts to “normalize” homosexuals. Including bright, intricate patterns of hidden (and sometimes blatant) symbolism, her work portrays highly personal narratives that remain universal in their empathy and agony. These patterns are the launching point of Calderwood’s textile designs used for table linens and throw pillows, bringing the conversation, quite literally, closer to home.

Kristen van Diggelen creates ceramic vessels and utilitarian tableware adorned with images from newsfeeds and current events—often utilizing them for intimate meals and gatherings as part of her relational aesthetics practice. Her sculptural works are also used as subject matter in her Northern Baroque-influenced still life paintings. Skillful and lush, her large-scale paintings address concerns of Middle Eastern unrest, chemical weapons, American drone strikes, and a rapidly warming planet. Her practice of in-depth research and rustic handwork is reflected in vanIvey Ceramics—van Diggelen’s line of handmade heirloom stoneware vessels and dinnerware inspired by the American dinner table and her love of the medium.

Smith|Allen, the sculptor/architect team of Stephanie Smith and Bryan Allen, are pushing boundaries of new media with their large-scale 3D printed sculptures and installation. Most recently creating one of the largest works in the medium, Smith|Allen’s site-specific installation for their Project 387 Residency in Gualala, California, this past August, responded to the hybrid landscape of the modern forest with a 10x10x8-foot sculpture composed entirely of translucent white 3D printed plant based bio-plastic. Using the same technologies and relationships to natural phenomena, Smith|Allen creates jewelry and homewares that reflect their commitment to challenging the traditional conception and use of consumer grade 3D printing to the use of design, art, and architecture.

—