(click for more images at sherru’s flickr)

Hey, boyfriend, I have a great idea. Let’s wait until 6:30 on Sunday night to see the Banksy show, which has been open since Friday – you know, the one that is complete with an elephant! I think nobody will be there! We will sail right in and back out again and be eating a french dip at Philippe’s in no time!

Poppycock. Some brilliant idea. It took us a few attempts to find the place, even though we have been down in this ‘hood for Shepherd Fairey shows and other miscellaneous pretentious art crap (which also involves a good dash of oh jeeze, will my car be here when we get back paranoia). When we finally found the place, the line for the show stretched down one entire block. Inside, the gallery was stifling hot but all the effort was eventually worth it. Targets of Banky’s wit and incisive visual jokery included: callous colonialism and rampant consumerism, lowbrow celebrity pop culture, painful hipster fashion poseurism.

My favorite pieces were Bansky’s insertions into oil paintings. They seem to bespeak the “oh, up yours!” feeling of our times, whether you are saying up yours to crass materialism or to the fawning of the art world over graffiti art figures (which Banksy is ironically quite aware of).

Next time, if I hear a damn elephant is going to be the centerpiece of an art show, I will get my ass there on opening night. Seeing a rug covered in straw where said animal was formerly standing was quite disappointing.

Hit the Brewery yesterday for another lovely 2 day art fest. This was about the 3rd or 4th time I’ve attended and I must admit – I am not sure I entirely go for the art. I love going into artists’ living spaces to peer at their art books & supplies as well as gain inspiration from their often remarkable living spaces. Marching around in the Brewery often gives you many chances to admire the downtown views from their giant loft windows. It’s like playing the Sims in a way, but not as nerdy and with much more actual walking/oxygen intake/human interaction.

Some photos for your general perusal. I apologize for the lack of notes on the artists but it’s hard keeping notes, taking pictures, and sniffing out the lofts with free drinks (hint: follow the trail of empty red party cups) all at the same time.

If you are a very lazy person, you can hit the I5 gallery during art walk time and they will usually have a good sampling of artists inside the Brewery. But you are very lazy.

This is sleek, eye-catching sculpture was sitting outside someone’s studio. I’m sorry to say so but it looks like a giant silver peanut. I love it.

This is one of the paintings CJ Kang has up in his Brewery atelier right now. My BF and I always look forward to seeing what this amazing Korean artist is up to. His work is eye-popping, off-kilter, sometime creepy, sometimes joyous, and embedded with eclectic references. If I was a Steve Martin-art-collecting type, I’d buy a lot of CJ Kang.

Mr. Miripolsky’s art studio will set your eyeballs on fire. The good kind of fire! Look up and you will see two wonderful sculptures.

This photographer specialized in 3-D stereographic images. You got to pick up these little faux-viewmasters to see the images. One of his projects involved taking photos of the residents of an apartment building the artist had lived in, where painting or decorating the walls was forbidden. He went around taking these photos in order to document the many forms and variations of decor people had come up with despite the rules. And I tried to Google this photographer and I found nothing. If you find this guy, let us know!

The work of Robert Peluce reminds me of the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and that zany French animated film, The Triplets of Belleville. The studio where I saw his work was blasting great opera and the melding of my ears and eyes was so sublime.

The Brewery is also home to artists of other disciplines. This dude was hawking wears and classes for Hip Cooks. I came wandering into this space because I think he was just about to take out some muffins from the oven. You could smell ‘em!

You know me, I can’t go out on a serious note. So how cool are these people? Oh, I know someone who lives in the Brewery and all the girls up in here have glasses and great fashion style and all the boys are sensitive and liberal and we’re up here drinking Charles Shaw Cab even though we know it’s awful. We will drink it anyway. (I’m not bitter, I swear.)

Alright folks, that’s it. The Art Walk will be happening in 6 months again, so don’t porget. We’ll remind you anyhow.