First Friday: March 2025 - Moments in Motion
Inspiration & Updates from Brian Madden Studio
“Life is a series of waves to be embraced and overcome.”
― Danny Meyer
Hi friends,
When navigating turbulent times, it feels important to keep an eye on the internal compass to keep moving toward where we want to go. My compass guides me through the storm toward creativity and connection, and this month has been full of opportunities to create and connect. I’m feeling grateful for an exciting trip to LA Art week and I’m optimistic for what’s ahead for the SF art scene and the studio.
In this special March edition, I’m excited to share:
WHAT I’M SEEING: Los Angeles Art Week Highlights
WHAT I’M SHOWING: Gallery 181 with Tyler Willis & Robb Report
WHAT I’M READING: Setting the Table, by Danny Meyer
WHAT I’M HOSTING: On Connection dinner at Brian Madden Studio
WHAT I’M HEARING: Sound Waves for Living
You’re receiving First Friday because you’ve supported my creativity, visited the studio, or otherwise signed up to stay in touch.
Thanks for being here.
WHAT I’M SEEING: Los Angeles Art Week Highlights
In February I was lucky enough to visit LA Art Week for the second year in a row. After the devastation of the LA wild fires, I wondered whether Frieze LA, the major art fair anchoring the week, would still be held, but I was glad to see that the organizers moved forward with a mission to support the rebuilding efforts. Throughout LA, I found the creative scene to be rich with creative energy and forward momentum. Here are some of the highlights from the trip:
Willett at The Future Perfect: For LA with Love
The Future Perfect’s iconic location in Hollywood’s Goldwyn House presented For LA with Love, a special exhibition reflecting on the idea of home in California and speaking directly to transformation, regeneration, and growth in the wake of the catastrophic wildfires. Central to the showcase are works from Willett and LGS Studio, artists whose lives were profoundly impacted by the recent fires. Ben Willett and I are friends from my Portland days and I was proud to finally see his furniture collection in person. Congratulations on the beautiful collection Willett, I’m excited to follow along as you keep building. Works are available at The Future Perfect.
Levitated Mass at LACMA
This trip was also special because it was my first chance to visit the LA County Museum of Art and experience the 340-ton Levitated Mass in person. The project was originally conceived and attempted by artist Michael Heizer in 1969, but didn’t come to life until 2007, when the artist discovered this piece of granite at a quarry in Riverside County, about 105 miles from LACMA. To me, this artwork is just as much, if not more, about the logistics-laden 11-day journey from quarry to LACMA as it is about the form of the art piece itself.
Lobster Club Annual LA Group Show
Lobster Club is a gallery and residency program featuring a rotating roster of emerging artists. The club’s initiatives present immersive sensory experiences bridging the worlds of art, music, and food. Last month I participated in a Lobster Club’s online charity auction with all proceeds going to support Grief x Hope’s LA fire relief rebuilding efforts. I was stoked that my LA visit coincided with their annual LA group show. It was great meeting Maja Dlugolecki, experiencing one of her events in person, and catching up with old & new friends, and the 3-bridge spread of baguette, labneh dip, and grilled greens by Salud Salud was artful and inventive.
Woody de Othello - Tuning the Dial at Karma LA
Oakland based artist Woody de Othello is a multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, painting and drawing. Known for his energetic glazed ceramics and bronzes that interrogate the genre of “still life,” Othello creates animistic vessels based on domestic objects. I was lucky that my trip lined up with the opening of Woody’s first solo exhibition in LA, Tuning the Dial, at Karma gallery. For Tuning the Dial, Othello created an immersive installation of ceramic and bronze sculpture, works on paper and canvas, light, sand, and a commissioned ambient soundscape titled Vire Sab—“turning sand” in Haitian creole—by Othello’s frequent collaborator, Cheflee. I was impressed with the immersive depth of the show and its refined use of color, media, and experiential elements.
Post-Fair: Quintessa Matranga at House of Seiko; Orion Shepherd at Cruise Control Contemporary
An exciting new event for LA Art Week 2025 was Post-Fair, an alternative art fair concept presented in the old Santa Monica Post Office, a beautiful art deco building built in 1938 and repurposed as an event space. With a more approachable ticket fee and a range of avant garde and experimental gallery exhibitors, the show sought to add another level of access for art enthusiasts as a counterpoint to some of the larger events of the week. A couple pieces from artists and galleries I admire stuck out to me.
First, I was drawn to San Francisco & LA-based gallery House of Seiko’s solo presentation of work by San Francisco-based artist Quintessa Matranga, a fellow Dolphin Club member. I loved the warm glow of Dockweiler Beach, further highlighted by the pool of sunlight passing below it. I could’ve basked in it all day.
I was also mesmerized (still am) by this totem of stacked Dungeness Crab shells from Oakland-based artist Orion Shepherd via Cruise Control Contemporary of Cambria, CA. Created in 2019 from shells scavenged during the Dungeness molting season, Shepherd cast the stack in bronze, regularly urinating on the sculptures to create different surface patinas, inspired by Andy Warhol’s Oxidation paintings. Learn more from the gallery here.
WHAT I’M SHOWING: Gallery 181 with Tyler Willis & Robb Report
Gallery 181 is the highest art gallery in the world, soaring 700 feet above San Francisco in a half-floor penthouse at the luxury residences of 181 Fremont. Exhibiting work by artists ranging from Frank Stella to Sharon Stone, the gallery is currently featuring 35 multimedia Portraits by my friend Tyler Willis, a fellow artist and tinkerer with a studio in the American Industrial Center here in SF. When the NBA All-Star Week came to the Bay Area this past month, Tyler was kind enough to invite me to exhibit some of my marble inlay sculptures and Sonic Monuments alongside his at Robb Report’s House of Robb NBA All Star Weekend Retreat, with 14 brand activations, experiences, panel discussions with basketball stars like Cameron Brink, Wilson Chandler, and Carmelo Anthony.
Being a part of this experience with Carmelo Anthony brought me back to my younger days in Portland, creating retail experiences for Carmelo Anthony’s signature Jordan sneakers and designing corporate interiors & curating art for Nike.
I exhibited a set of marble inlay Air Jordan mosaic sculptures and I wanted to incorporate a personal statement with a pair of sandcast and lathe-turned brass Sonic Monuments to Anaïs Nin that echo the sentiment:
“And then the day came, when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Thanks for including me Tyler, and congratulations on the exhibition!
WHAT I’M READING: Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, by Danny Meyer
This month’s book offering fell right into my lap, thanks to my wife Jen. I originally started reading snippets over her shoulder, and now I’m listening for myself. Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business is a business memoir by award-winning restaurateur Danny Meyer. Inspired by a deep conviction for the intense human drive to provide and receive hospitality, Danny Meyer shares memories and insights of his leadership journey that speak to my inner host and business leader.
Some of you may recall that I shared Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara last year in the February 2024 First Friday, and now I’m excited to now be reading the predecessor and original inspiration for Guidara’s book. For context, Will Guidara originally worked for Danny Meyer, helping run the cafe and gelato cart at MoMA, found Shake Shack, and eventually buy (and now, sell) the iconic Eleven Madison Park.
In Setting the Table, Meyer underscores the importance of investing in one’s community, describes his “constant, gentle pressure” leadership style based on the salt-shaker theory, and explains how he approaches hiring.
Some of you may have also seen that I’ve been hiring for a studio & project manager, and I was also inspired by his framework for building his teams, which may be applicable to the leaders out there — the 49% Task, 51% Feeling hiring rule.
Meyer first learned this concept of “51 percent” from Chicago restaurateur Rich Melman and designed the Union Square Hospitality Group staff performance reviews to weigh hiring and technical job performance on whether employees can perform their duties (49 percent) and how staff members relate to others on a personal level (51 percent):
Optimistic warmth: genuine kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sense that the glass is always at least half full
Curious Intelligence: not just “smarts” but rather an insatiable curiosity to learn for the sake of learning
Great work ethic: a natural tendency to do something as well as it can possibly be done
Empathy: an awareness of, care for, and connection to how others feel and how your actions make others feel
Self-awareness: an understanding of what makes you tick, knowing your own weather report, and how you’re impacting others
Integrity: Having the judgment to do the right thing even when it’s not in your self-interest, no one else is looking
Setting the Table is worth a read for any business leader (entrepreneur or not) or someone who wants to guide, serve, or care for others. It’s all feeling especially fitting with the On Connection dinner coming up this month (see below!) and where the studio is headed.
WHAT I’M HOSTING: On Connection Dinner at Brian Madden Studio
I love hosting community events at my studio in Dogpatch, so I was honored when On Connection reached out to me about hosting an experiential dinner at my studio on March 27. On Connection is an event and experience company that creates immersive, connection-based experiences. Their public dinners are designed to get us out of our comfort zones and create meaningful connection around the table, while celebrating local chefs, iconic venues, and other small businesses.
I invite you to join us for the first On Connection event of the year, where we’ll sit down for a 5-course meal cooked by chef Madeline Wright. We’ll reflect on the magic that can be found inside the passage of time, with a side of introspective conversation and an artful activity. The concept for the dinner speaks to the collection I’ve been building for the past couple years based on my desire to capture and celebrate memories of time spent in motion. As life spins on, what if we paused to feel and experience more of the moments amidst the mundane?
You can learn more about On Connection here and reserve tickets here.
WHAT I’M HEARING: Sound Waves for Living
My ears were perked for sonic inspiration this month and it delivered. This month’s sound waves for living were overheard in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Napa, Oakland, and Mill Valley, California. There’s great range here and I hope you find something in it for yourself.
A friendly reminder that the First Friday Playlist can only consist of songs I’ve heard, received, discovered, or rediscovered out in the world… songs overheard at coffee (& beignet) shops, restaurants, bars, galleries, or received from friends and family IRL & online.
Thanks for reading. Take care,
Brian
brian@brianbmadden.com
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“Emotion is energy in motion. Felt rather than seen, almost like wave lengths or sound reverberations.”
― Woody de Othello