Erik Otto:

All in all, I have created 24 original works — mostly paintings, but I am throwing in a few surprise 3-dimensional works as well as 2 site-specific installations. The opening nights will also be a chance to pick up a screen print series I am producing specifically for the show in a real low edition of 25.

I will save you the artsy talk and let you experience the works on your own, but for more info about the artwork please visit these links from the respective galleries. Be sure not to miss this one! Cheers.

@ White Walls
835 Larkin St, San Franciso CA 94109
opening reception: Saturday September 11 // 7-11pm
on view: September 11 – October 2

Press Release:

EVERYTHING NEVER GOES AWAY, Lost Coast Culture Machine’s third exhibition, opens with a reception Friday, August 6, from 5-9 pm. Please join us for fantastic art, self-watering planter making for kids & adults alike, and music & burgers from Joshua Short’s Grill of Steel.

EVERYTHING NEVER GOES AWAY is planned to coincide with California Coastal Cleanup Day on September 25 & riffs on the various associations between our ways of life and our trash: environmental degradation, chemical pollutants, waste management systems, refuse & recycling, plastics & the Pacific gyre, offshore oil drilling &, as if on cue, our horrific mess in the Gulf of Mexico.

The work featured in EVERYTHING NEVER GOES AWAY combines the aestheticization of trash with a commentary on American culture.  Mendocino artist, Hilary Dimock, transforms junk mail into miniature sculptures. Oakland-based artist Pete Glover presents his Junk Pirate Found Art Exhibition, in which commonplace items such as antiquated video game controllers are exploited for their aesthetic, as well as nostalgic, properties. In Rebecca Najdowski’s stop-motion video Trace, the natural world provides the setting for discarded remnants of the human material world to become biomorphic entities that invade, grow, and struggle with the space. Jane Kim & Joshua Short, both recent artists-in-residence at Recology San Francisco (the San Francisco Dump), use found and scavenged materials as their media. Kim, trained in scientific illustration, uses reclaimed house paint and sheetrock to make paintings that combine depictions of endangered species with architectural elements of design. Short’s Grill of Steel is a spectacular & fully functional DJ booth/hamburger grill constructed entirely of items scavenged from the SF Dump.

A selection of prints & photographs made by Louisiana artists in the wake of the April 20 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion comes to us courtesy of Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans. Brian Borrello, Teresa Cole, Stephen Collier, Bob Compton, Jennifer Odem, Cynthia Scott, Dan Rule, Dan Tague, & Charlie Varley react to the environmental disaster through their work. Proceeds from the sale of these prints will be donated to Gulf Aid, a 501(c3) nonprofit corporation established in response to the biggest oil spill in US history.

LCCM will be participating in California Coastal Cleanup Day as Beach Captains at Blues Beach, north of Fort Bragg. In addition to cleaning the beach, we will engage in a collective & collaborative creative endeavor with the trash & recyclables we collect before their disposal.

Lost Coast Culture Machine is located at 190 East Elm Street @ Franklin Street at the North End of Fort Bragg (across from the bowling alley). Hours are Wednesday–Sunday, 11am to 6pm. For more information, email info@lostcoastculturemachine.org or call 707.961.1600.

Jeremy Mayer narrows in on the human form. Mayer’s pieces are crafted by assembling vintage typewriter pieces to portray anatomically correct human figures.  His latest piece, Nude IV – “Delilah”is a 6 foot tall figure, named both for model Delilah Brown and for the biblical character Delilah from the story of Samson and Delilah.

Press Release:

Sculptor Nemo Gould displays a collection of robotic creatures and small world-scapes crafted from salvaged material.  Forgotten remnants of gadgets, broken tools, and other objects that were formerly cast aside, now have new life with Gould’s interactive installations. Citing inspiration from his love of science fiction and cartoons, Gould’s work playfully evokes child-like sentiments – all the while exploring ideas about sustainability, objectification, and the struggle for definition.

Press Release:

Oakland-based sculptor Benjamin Cowden’s work also utilizes interactive mechanical pieces, focusing on machinery and the interplay between gears and movement.  His hand-cranked machines thoughtfully examine issues of everyday life, including his exhibit titled “A Series of Arbitrary but Passionate Decisions” which examines the dilemma of the unforsee-ability of life.