It’s a little art studio near Civic Center SF where two nights a week you can borrow a low-powered toy slingshot and use it to fling marbles at plastic soldiers, whimsical kinetic targets and beer bottles, and then sit back and watch as the spent marbles roll through a continually-expanding marble run. What do I hope the Artillery will be? I’d like if this little room became a comforting go-to for
queers to decompress about their fears after a hard week of bad news, or beleaguered neighborhood techies to take out their frustrations after a long day navigating the patriarchy. I've been turning out art full-time for... idk, a decade and a half now? I've made political cartoons, queer-pride comics, social-activist street games, psychogeographic puppet shows (don't ask), magical environmental installations, and piles and piles of catty trinkets and portraits and accordion songs, trying desperately to prove that art is functional and real, not an ivory tower commodity. But in this dystopian future we have found ourselves in in 2017, even painting protest banners feels a little insular and petty (forgive me ;) — because what I think we actually need most from art, right now, is just simple straightforward catharsis: cheap, meaningless pillow-hitting catharsis; bottle-breaking & politician-pinata-smashing catharsis; the comfort of childhood toys, a temporary hide-away secret club, and a little bit of whimsical magical wonder that only glass marbles can provide. Or something like that, anyway — I’ll get a real artist statement up someday maybe. So I invite you and you friends to come by during visiting hours and play in the Artillery too — that’s what it’s here for. Give me $5 or $10 or $20 for the use of the marbles & bottles so that I can keep repairing the things, as well as helping me raise funds for my transition* expenses. It’s NTAFLOF for sure (as long as you’re not being a pain in my ass), because art isn’t supposed to be a way for me to make money, it’s supposed to be how we make the world a better place (but obvi, I need at least a little money to keep it up). And if I may say so myself, I think it’s some of the best art I’ve ever made, so I want you to have a part of it. Come over, pick out a slingshot, borrow some eye protection, and put a marble through a Bunderberg.
* ya, i'm trans. which is why i learned to shoot a slingshot in the first place so it seems only appropriate. but besides giving me money, please don't ask me about my transition 'cause that's rude, thx! ;
