First Friday: May 2024 - Wrapping up the Year of Three Winters
Inspiration & Updates from Brian Madden Studio
”Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.”
— Helen Keller
After living through three back-to-back winters— first in San Francisco, then in Sydney, and then back in San Francisco, the year of three winters is finally coming to an end. Now there wasn’t much snow to be found on our journey, but this week it dawned on me that for the first time in a year, the days actually feel like they’re getting longer. And I’m excited to unfurl some big updates as the adventure continues.
I’ve been working with the SF Chamber of Commerce to plan Small Business Week, and on May 6, I’ll be exhibiting at the SBW opening celebration, before co-hosting a creative studio crawl with the Dogpatch business association on May 9. Then on May 18, I’ll be unveiling a collection of artwork and furniture in a solo exhibition during the Friends of Noe Valley Garden Tour in San Francisco.
I’d be delighted for you to join me at these events and I look forward to shedding some light on these updates below.
This month, I’ll share:
WHAT I’M MAKING: Art Installations at the Noe Valley Garden Tour, May 18
WHAT I’M SHOWING: San Francisco Small Business Week
WHAT I’M SEEING: Art & Athletics in Vegas & Boston
WHAT I’M READING: Get the Picture, by Bianca Bosker
WHAT I’M SHARING: Blending Tradition with Innovation, via RIT
WHAT I’M HEARING: Expressing Possibility
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WHAT I’M MAKING: Art Installations at Noe Valley Garden Tour, May 18
The Friends of Noe Valley recently asked me to exhibit my artwork in their annual Friends of Noe Valley Garden Tour on May 18 in San Francisco, a walking tour of 10 secret and off-the-beaten-path gardens only open to the public once a year. I’ll be exhibiting a collection of my work in the verdant English Country Garden, perched on a hillside behind a beautiful art deco home with dizzying views of the San Francisco skyline and the Bay.
The work I’m unveiling is an ode to community, optimism, and the natural inspiration fueling my creativity, drawing ties to my influences like Ruth Asawa, Hilma Af Klint, and Joan Miró. I’ll be presenting three special pieces: my largest Sonic Monument to date reflecting this city and my influences, an experimental new marble mosaic painting punctuating the garden’s glass conservatory, and an inviting, communal furniture piece from my early career that’s meant to be explored on different levels.
It’s been an adventure to bring this work to life and I’m excited to share it with you later in May. I invite you to join me for the Tour on May 18 from 10am-4pm. You can learn more and reserve tickets here.
WHAT I’M SHOWING: SF Small Business Week Events, May 6 & 9
I love how synapses connect and creative conversations blossom when people visit my studio. And when I hosted members of the SF Chamber of Commerce this year, it was no different. An impromptu visit turned into working together to help plan San Francisco Small Business Week, as a love letter to makers and manufacturers.
I will be exhibiting work at the Opening Party on Monday, May 6 in Dogpatch, SF, which will be an exciting celebration of culture and creation. Then on Thursday, May 9, I’ll be co-hosting a Studio Crawl throughout the Dogpatch neighborhood with some fantastic other SF studios like Futureforms, Chroma SF, Lundberg Design, Fletcher Studio, as well as institutions including the Minnesota Street Project and the Museum of Craft and Design. Here’s the map of the crawl. Looking forward to hosting!
SF Small Business Week Opening Party - Monday, May 6, 5:30-8pm - Info & Tickets
Dogpatch Design Studio Crawl - Thursday, May 9, 4-8pm - Info & Tickets
WHAT I’M SEEING: Art & Athletics in Vegas & Boston
Being an artist and designer with a love of sports and entertainment, I jumped at the chance to attend the Society of Experiential Graphic Designers’ inaugural Sports + Entertainment symposium in Las Vegas this past month. Between tours of the Sphere, the Neon Museum, Omega Mart, and Raider Nation, I got to learn from some of the world’s preeminent experiential designers behind truly iconic venues.
One particular experiential designer, Ronnie Younts of Younts Design, spoke about his experience crafting artful activations, updates, and additions to the iconic Fenway Park in Boston,Dodger Stadium in LA, and Oracle park in San Francisco.
I was particularly inspired hearing about his thoughtful approach to celebrating the heritage of the Boston Red Sox and their home at Fenway Park in authentic ways. His team’s creative process was a balancing act of honoring the Red Sox brand legacy as well as that of Fenway the venue. Among many subtle moves, like traditional hand-painted wall graphics, I loved that Ronnie chose to use fabric appliqués for hanging banner graphics instead of the standard printed vinyl graphics.
I also knew I wanted to see it for myself. So when I found myself in my wife’s hometown outside Boston during her recent funemployment (congrats on the new gig, Jen!) I watched the Sox in action at Fenway. I loved the rich depth of the ballpark experience, oozing with baseball fandom and chaotic energy only found in Boston, on spring break!
But among all the designed elements of the ballpark, the one that stuck with me the most was the foul pole, signed with hundreds of signatures, from players and fans. It even has a name: Pesky’s pole. It stands as a beautiful, communal reminder that even in the most considered of spaces designed for maximum performance, it’s the fans who often create the real magic.
WHAT I’M READING: Get the Picture, by Bianca Bosker
The Art world can be confusing, even for especially for an artist. But for those who are exploring the world of collecting, it can be opaque and even downright frustrating. Almost as if by design. But art market economist Magnus Resch spends his days trying to demystify the art world and its inner workings (check out his recent article on quantifying reputation and success in art). In another type of read, investigative journalist and author Bianca Bosker went deep on the art world. Like, 5 years deep.
In Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See, Bosker brings the reader on a wild ride through her self-inflicted crash course on the art industry, painting and repainting (and repainting) gallery walls, to selling paintings to art collectors, to debating the merits of art with international neuroscientists, to mixing paint and performing with real live artists, even working as a museum security guard for the Guggenheim!
I was lucky enough to receive this book during Bianca Bosker’s author talk at Roberts Projects during the Frieze LA art fair, thanks to the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco and the Institute of Contemporary Art SF. I loved hearing Bosker’s inside scoop on the evolving facets of the art world. I think you might too.
WHAT I’M SHARING: Blending Tradition with Innovation, via RIT
My career has taken many twists and turns since I graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Industrial Design program, namely that I’m running an art studio! When I recently sat down for an interview with the RIT College of Art & Design, I felt an immense sense of gratitude for the range of creative problem solving and design training I received at RIT. I hope it sheds some light on the background and influences behind my creative practice. You can find the article here.
WHAT I’M HEARING: Expressing Possibility
The definition of the word May feels fitting as the year of three winters wraps and spring takes flight. These songs were overheard in SF, Providence, Boston, Las Vegas, and the Marin coast in CA. Songs of considered calmness leading to cascading crescendos.
The First Friday Playlist consists of songs I’ve heard, received, discovered, (or rediscovered) out in the world, songs overheard at (coffee) shops, restaurants, bars, galleries, or received from friends and family IRL & online.
By the way, a couple of this month’s songs allude to a new Sonic Monument sculpture that I’m unveiling at the Noe Valley Garden Tour later this month. See if you can tell which ones they are.
Take care and talk soon,
Brian
brian@brianbmadden.com
”Art is a choice. It is a fight against complacency. It is a decision to forge a life that’s richer, more uncomfortable, more mind-blowing, more uncertain. And ultimately, more beautiful.”
― Bianca Bosker, Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See
