Tina Yapelli and Anja Bruggemann drop by...

Around 5pm yesterday, Tina Yapelli (left) dropped by with Anja Bruggemann. Tina is director of San Diego State's University Art Gallery and Anja is a curator and teaches at Ohio State University in Columbus. Tina had just finished giving Anja a tour of the future satellite space that University Art Gallery will inaugurate this coming fall. UAG is taking over the front half of the ground floor at the new 43-story Electra condominium tower (built around the shell of the original 1911 SDG&E building), which sits directly across from the Museum of Contemporary Art, at the corner of Broadway and Kettner. This is going to give a fabulous boost to the already hot art scene developing downtown, with India Street as the main axis. Tina is a one-woman wonder and San Diego is extremely fortunate to have her.

A Saturday afternoon visit from Allan Kaprow...

Nothing like a good surprise... today we had an impromptu visit from Alexander Jarman, Kelly Lovemonster and Dia Bassett, three San Diego State graduate students taking part in a recreation of one of Allan Kaprow's happenings being staged by MCASD in conjunction with the Kaprow retrospective, Art As Life, at the Geffen Contemporary in L.A.

This one was an interpretation of "POSE". According to Alex, they were prompted by the Kaprow estate to take some liberty with the piece--so, instead of simply inviting the unsuspecting passerby to "pose" with the chairs that they were dragging around with them, they were instructed to smash them to smithereens. This being San Diego (a military town well equipped--both physically and mentally--for the task), most people

were only too happy to oblige. (Don't be fooled by our 'laid back' attitude, the killer instinct is always simmering just below the surface... ;-) Here are a few more pot shots:

May 3rd: Claude Zervas, Wolfgang Hastert, and Darius Kuzmickas' opening

That's grizzly park ranger Claude Zervas with Jay and me... and the perennially tanned Wolfgang Hastert, Blair Thornley and their son, Otto--taking off for another party ...a shot of Wolfgang's Tom is Your Friend video and photo installation... and, urghhh!, the other grizzly man--the perennially late Jason Sherry and his sidekick, Lee. ...plus a very cool shot of Claude's Motonic installation (not Motronic!, sorry Claude). Two sales at the opening and two more that followed...Off we go to Zia's for pizza and pasta...and more wine! (By the way, these shots were all taken during the final minutes, close to 9:30... I totally flaked and forgot to take pictures. You'd never know from looking at them, but the opening was actually very well attended.)

Friday, May 2nd: The New Children's Museum opening

Ok, I'm actually a week behind with this entry. Anyway, this is the gala dinner for the inaugural opening of San Diego's. New Children's Museum. I must confess, it was way beyond my expectations. It's really fabulous! Many of the usual suspects in attendance...

Here's the front entrance as seen from the second floor balcony; the dashing Brian Dick and his lovely Kristen posing in front of Ernie Silva's Rain House; Roman de Salvo and friends; a bunch of uber-wild UCSD women "romping in
the tires"--i.e., Brian's installation (thank you, Allan Kaprow!) and the always serenely beautiful Amy Adler ...

Thursday May 1: Lights! Camera! ...

Ok, so two days after leaving Seattle and being on the road, Claude Zervas finally arrives in San Diego to begin installing his show. The left front wheel of his little red wagon (that he got for free from a friend) almost came off. (He thought the noise he'd been hearing for the last 300 miles was the radio!) It's a miracle he is still standing... Yep, free is just another word for $600 in repairs. His older brother, Christopher, who lives nearby in beautiful City Heights, dropped by to lend a hand with the installation. It turns out this guy doesn't know top from bottom... which makes sense, since he's been building his own house from scratch for the past year and a half. (You can almost see it from the freeway--it's the one covered entirely in blue tarps...) But I guess it doesn't really matter 'cause he's a great guy.