I was going to this art walk by myself, so I decided to wait for the traffic to die down to make my way downtown.  Of course, this also meant the crowds would be bigger and the parking would be harder.  The regular parking lots have been increasing their prices every time.  One that used to be $5 was now $8 and full by the time I got there.  Others further down on Spring that used to be $5 now expected an ungodly sum of $15.  Ten minutes of cruising around netted me a completely free parking spot on 5th and main.  Of course, it came with a catch.  As soon as I put the car in park my passenger door opened and an old strange looking woman with a cigarette proceeded to insert herself (with my pushing her out) in my passenger seat.  When she was nearly all the way inside she finally stopped babbling and looked to her left and jumped out.

After getting over that trauma I locked up and made my way one block south.  Actually – not even an entire block south as the entrance to the “Art Fair” is on 5th halfway between main and broadway.  Inside it was largely exactly the same as the past few months, except with more people now.

Apparently cheaply made artwork sells better if sitting on chairs….

Down the street I decided to go to the “upstairs” gallery (no idea what it is really called).  There was a bit of a line to go up when I got there – but nothing compared to when I left.  In fact, we had to wait in line just to leave.  After exiting the building I took a shot of the line to get in (below).

Across the street I took a shot of the line to get in.  The entrance is on the extreme right in the photo below – and you can see the line of people waiting to get in extending all the way to the left down the block.  You can see people IN the gallery in the lighted windows on the second floor.

So the art up there must have been really great for all those people to wait in line to see it, right?   …. judge for yourself…. (photo below is from inside the gallery)

One of the huge corner galleries was bought up by condo renovators (or something) a few months ago, but this month half the gallery was opened back up – although (as you’ll see in the below photo) it looked like the building was still in some state of construction.  The art was bad (as to be expected) but I had to laugh at the artist below.  Not only is his art horribly simple line drawings of sex – but he had the audacity to try and run around (in an all-white suit, no less) and stop people from taking photos of it.  With thousands of people on the art walk – stopping all cameras from shooting was going to be tough – and he didn’t catch me. 

Down the street another gallery (or coffee shop?) had someone dancing in the window and huge crowds starting to show up.  When I looked closer I saw it was one of those gay nun guys.  The same guys that we saw on the art walk last month.  These guys are part of some equality organization – as they’ve started travelling and showing up at the NOM counter protests.

On the other side of the street a gallery that used to be flush with pieces (although usually not good) was dark.  I walked in to see these three guys fiddling with guitar distortion (the guy on the left has a guitar) while projecting a web site (or something) onto the wall with a motorcycle sitting in between them and the wall.  Not good.

The “arts and crafts fair” as I’m calling it was back across the street from the Regent. 

Further down the street there was a note on the window of the bank building that the “vendors” had moved to 333.  I never found 333, but on both sides of the street were parking lots filled to the brim with food trucks.  On the south side of the street there was a new apartment/condo/lofts building opening up with a large patio area with tables and chairs – which made things very convenient for the food trucks.

I kept thinking “a prius and a palm tree” when I saw this girl… like a long lost Dr. Seuss book.  Over at the Bang Gallery the Where’s Waldo Troupe was performing their smash hit: Looking like idiots opening and closing umbrellas while jumping up and down on a crowded street.

Inside Bang things didn’t get much better.  The main attraction was this thing…

Back up the street (heading west now) this fellow parked his truck and was trying to make some sort of point (I think).  His truck says:

God made ape (something)

Ape makes gun

Gun makes ape (something)

Ape guns God down

–>  I took this as a sign from god (for what I don’t know, but I’ll find something later) since I’m currently reading The God Delusion and there is no such thing as a coincidence!

“POEMS – your poem your price”

This alleyway band had a more expensive set-up than most.  There were a lot of bible thumpersstanding around.  It was unclear whether they were associated with the band or not – which scared people away from dancing, which is why there was a large space between the band and crowd.

 

The number of people on this art walk was more than any I’ve ever seen.  Every little shop owner made sure they had something to sell.  Many little teeny tiny galleries are springing up.  Most of them, as usual, had nothing of any quality to offer.  One little one called (not realizing the irony, I’m sure) “Immortal Gallery” had this painting by Ryoko Yokohama which I liked.

Above is another band I saw on Spring heading west.  Every month the band in this space seems to have drag queens.  Even down at the Hive the crowds were still strong and strangely extending beyond that point, which is what I’ve always considered the very end of the art walk.  The Temple of Visions didn’t have many new paintings (they must keep each show up for two months at a time).  The painter below was trying to do a live portrait in a very cramped space.

Temple of Visions decided to use their large open space in the front to sell hipster clothes. Not sure how I feel about this.  It kinda cheapens what they’re supposed to be about and draws the wrong crowd in my opinion.

Over at the Hive there was lots of good stuff.  The show was supposed to be about eroticism – but most of the art didn’t go for shock value (thank goodness).  Of course there were a few pieces that tried to shock (as if anybody could be shocked by sexuality in 2010) like a dildo gun (didn’t Giger do that 40 years ago??), a large photo blowup of a exposed girl that looked like a minor, and so on.  Unfortunately my piece was NOT in the show.  I was notified a few days before the opening that my piece would have to wait until next month as it was just too big.  And it was true.  There really weren’t any other pieces in the group room (or even in the front rooms) that approached the 2’x4′ size of my painting.  I know I need to start making smaller work for the Hive – but … I always end up making bigger pieces… I can’t help it.

The following two paintings were in the front rooms.  They were done by Janet Kim, who I can’t find a current web site for.  I found a blog of hers from 2007 where she complained she was terrible at painting.  I think she’s come a long way since that blog…

Walking back on Spring towards 5th to go to my car I passed more bands.  This one was performing with no space at all but managing to do some very energetic Led Zeppelin covers.  It was hard to take a photograph as the sidewalk was packed.  This photo was culled from a string of photos taken standing on the street with my hand as high up in the air as I could get…waiting for a slight break in the crowd.  In fact, in the other photos – you can’t see the band at all!

Lastly I passed through the Latino art exhibit.  Again, there didn’t seem to be any art in there, just vendors.  Speaking of which, it is becoming habit forming this whole free jarritos thing……