All Posts tagged damon soule

Killing Time With Vannen Artist Watches’ David Stowe

David Stowe is that rare kind of guy whose in business for the right reasons: He has a passion for the arts and compassion for artists. He makes watches because he believes in them, and he thinks you will too. He’s going to hate me for saying the “S” word, but I used to wear Swatch watches.  I had the  Keith Haring model and John Lennon’s ass by Yoko Ono and the clear one where you could see the guts, and I wore them lined up wrist to elbow like all the other kids in the 80s.  As we entered the 90s, art watches, much like music, started to suck. The glut in good artistic watches would end up lasting about 20 years.

But then, something happened. Almost exactly a year ago, I saw a stray tweet introducing Vannen Artist Watches. I sent a note to the contact address, and got a reply right back from David Stowe. We’ve been talking about art, artists, watches, business and life ever since. I’ve written about and for Vannen, and it’s the only watch I’ll wear. Currently, I’m wearing the Series 2 Bigfoot model. But enough about me. Instead of our usual Tuesday Time Waster column, let’s spend some quality time with David.

JB: What artist watch are you wearing right now?

DS: I’m wearing the Chris Bettig watch. I love the way this watch looks with the new non-holiday inspired straps. It’s the perfect summer watch.

When and why did you start Vannen?

The epiphany moment happened while I was sitting in traffic in mid-2008. I took that entire year to get things up and running… I did tons of research, sourcing, budgeting, prototyping, testing, development, approaching artists, and really working towards making Vannen a legit business. After a whole year of making sure things were solid, we launched in August of 2009.

I started Vannen because I wanted to create something special on a personal level while at the same time contributing to the global art scene. I also wanted to be a part of something that was truly a pro-artist experience with some real heart and soul behind it. I was seeing my artist friends get taken advantage of, so I wanted to break that cycle and industry mentality. With Vannen, I set out to build a company based on treating artists with respect and gratitude.

When you say “we,” who all is that?

That would be my split personalities. Actually, I’m speaking on behalf of my business partner, the artists and myself.

How did you choose the initial roster of artists?

I’ll let you in on a little secret: the Series 1 you know today wasn’t even the original line up. Series 1 was supposed to be Joe Ledbetter, Ron English, Shepard Fairey and Buff Monster.

If you’re wondering why those other 3 never came out, it was a mixture of things. Read the rest of this entry »

Damon Soule Solo Show at Fecal Face Dot Gallery

All is Square, acrylic on canvas

I’m pretty stoked we got in to see the new Damon Soule show at San Francisco’s own Fecal Face Dot Gallery. I didn’t know this at the time, but the gallery was closed when we appeared at the window, and a kindly curator shifted the gate just enough for us to squeeze through into Soule’s world. Wow.

Sub Bubble Three, acrylic and spraypaint on panel

The small gallery features just under a dozen paintings by Soule, as well as rad collabs with Mars-1, David Choong Lee, and Oliver Vernon. Most of the paintings are sold out, although they will live on throughout eternity (or as long as the pages are live and/or cached) on blogs like this and Flickr sets like these.

collaboration with Mars-1, acrylic on canvas

Even though I quoted this during the Further book signing at SFMOMA, it bears repeating in the context of this show. This is how Brian Castellani describes the “complexity art” of Damon Soule:

From the Internet to the human genome project to global culture, just about every system has become more complex, creating the dense web of life in which we now live. Complexity art seeks to understand this web, primarily by drawing upon a vast set of tools, including the various traditions in western and eastern art, as well as the latest advances in complexity science, mathematics and computer technology.

When you see the works en masse, along with Soule’s contemporaries, it all appears very complex indeed.

segment of collaboration w/ Oliver Vernon, acrylic on canvas

According to the press release, Damon Soule was born in 1974, and due to finding drawing to be a major distraction, he dropped out of school and got a GED at age 16. At 19, with $300, a bag of clothes and a small box of art supplies, he moved to San Francisco and enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute.

In 1996, Soule became the Art Director and co-founder of FIT skateboards and Civilian Clothing. After art directing the brands for a number of years, he sold his portion of the business to pursue his art full-time. And the rest, is history. Beautiful, complicated art history.

With the paintings sold and the show now closed, the most affordable way to get yourself some Soule is to purchase the book Further here.

Complexity Art Goes Further at SFMOMA

Are the visual explorations in the new book, Further, the artistic equivalent of math rock? Brian Castellani, who serves as the Artistic Director of Art & Science Factory and is an advisory board member at the Center for Complex System Studies, might agree. When describing the work of Damon Soule in the pages of Further, he defines a genre called “complexity art”:

From the Internet to the human genome project to global culture, just about every system has become more complex, creating the dense web of life in which we now live. Complexity art seeks to understand this web, primarily by drawing upon a vast set of tools, including the various traditions in western and eastern art, as well as the latest advances in complexity science, mathematics and computer technology.

Temple Mural by Damon Soule

The term “complexity art” can be extended across the board to all seven artists whose visual dialogue forms the symbiotic relationship of Further. In addition to Damon, NoMe Edonna, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Mars-1, Robert Hardgrave, Oliver Vernon and David Choong Lee co-created this whopping, brain-bending 354-page tome. Sometimes people look at art in this scene and say things like, “My kid could do that.” I don’t agree with that sentiment (usually), but if you are the kind of snarky commentator who opines such quips, the art in Further is so technically adept; it’s (literally) on another plane. You will be inspired and mesmerized. I was. I am. I’ve been carrying it around since I picked one up from Mars-1 last month.

All seven artists were present last night at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for a rare signing of the book. Afterward, the group headed over to Temple SF’s Destiny Lounge where the space age club was the setting for more paintings on display and guest DJ spots by the artists. If you have a chance to make it to Temple, check out the awesome wall-to-wall murals in the entryway. And take my word for it: every upstanding collection of art books needs Further. Neon Monster has a few copies for $40 each here. Click through for a bunch of photos of the artists and their paintings.

Painting by NoMe Edonna

Tomokazu Matsumaya and NoMe Edonna

Painting by Tomokazu Matsumaya

Tomokazu Matsumaya signing Further

Read the rest of this entry »