Art show puts paper in new perspective
I’ve got something of a penchant for paper, so I was delighted to explore the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art’s trio of new exhibitions that use paper or books as the medium or subject. Just take a look at Taro
Hattori’s “Dragging the Right Chord,” a harpsichord made out of cardboard and installed on a bike trailer and you’ll be enthralled. But to hear Hattori actually play the working instrument — as he did last Friday night — is when your mind is blown. Hattori has another jaw-dropping installation in the exhibition “NextNewPaper” of a World War II-era fighter plane crashing into the floor — all made out of cardboard.
But the piece that really amazed me was by Imin Yeh ,a lecturer at San Jose State who is just leaving for a faculty position at Carnegie Mellon. For her last exhibition as a Bay Area resident, she created a wall of electrical outlets filled with iPhone chargers and twisty white cords — all made out of paper. It’s hard to imagine the painstaking work it took to create the piece, right down to the connector ends colored in graphite. What a fantastic way to say goodbye to Silicon Valley.
As I was walking through the exhibition, ICA Executive Director Cathy Kimball explained that shows like these leave visitors in awe because of the way they transform everyday items through the artistic process.
That’s also true of “This is Not a Book: Chapter 2,” an exhibition curated by Donna Seager that features work by more than two dozen artists based on books or parts of books. There’s a chess set made out of book pages, a landscape sculpture formed from a dictionary and a stunning image of a woman’s hijab created entirely from words. A walk-through of this part of the exhibition is scheduled for June 26 at 3:30 p.m.
The final piece of the exhibition, “Mary Ellen Bartley: Looking Between the Covers,” is featured in the ICA’s new Off Center Print Gallery. Bartley uses books as the subject of striking still-life photographs with a twist. Her focus on the pages themselves turns the everyday book into an abstract series of lines, colors and shapes.
All three exhibitions run until September. Get hours and other information at www.sjica.org.
MORE DOOR DECOR: The newest group of young artists whose work was selected to adorn utility boxes and doors in downtown San Jose were the guests of honor at a reception at the San Jose Museum of Art.
Twenty new pieces from students at 14 schools have been added to Downtown Doors’ urban art gallery, which has beautified 103 doors and boxes around the city’s core. In its 13th year, the art competition has gained serious traction: There were 152 submissions from 19 high schools this year alone.
“Our selection committee always has a very difficult decision to make because so much of the art is truly outstanding,” San Jose Downtown Foundation President Diana Beechie said.
You can get more information as well as a walking map of the art sites at http://sjdowntown.com/downtown_doors. NEIGHBORHOOD LOSES A GEM: Good neighborhood restaurants are hard to come by, and it was a real shame to hear that Antonella’s Ristorante — the Italian eatery that’s been a favorite for residents in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood — will be closing its doors for good on Sunday night.
Owner Lyle Koch says he’s been forced to close the restaurant’s popular patio, but won’t sign a new lease for the same rent. For those who don’t make it by Sunday, there’s a goodbye party planned on Wednesday from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at 1701 Park Ave. Koch and the restaurant have been a big supporter of nearby schools and sports leagues for years, so it’s a double loss for the community.
BROADWAY HIT: General Manager Nanci Williams took a group of 70 Broadway San Jose patrons to New York City, where they saw all the musicals nominated for a Tony Award. That included coveted tickets to “Hamilton” starring Lin Manuel Miranda, which have been going for as much as $6,000 on the secondary market.
The whole trip, Williams said, cost each person less than that and included tickets to five shows, a three-day hotel stay and some fantastic restaurant meals. So how did the group get such a deal on “Hamilton”? “Sensing it would be a megahit, I bought our tickets to ‘Hamilton’ the day after the show opened on Broadway,” Williams said.
The trip was fairly star-studded, too: Robert Redford was sitting in the audience during “Hamilton,” Tommy Tune was in front of the Broadway San Jose group for “Shuffle Along” and Josh Grobin and members of the “Hamilton” cast were in the audience when they saw “Waitress.”
No doubt some of those patrons will be talking about the trip Sunday night at the Hotel De Anza, which is holding a “Tequila & Tacos & Tonys” viewing party in the Hedley Club Lounge.
HALAL GUYS A HIT: More than 300 people showed up for the opening of the Halal Guys at the Plant shopping center in San Jose on June 3, as a line formed around the block before the 11 a.m. opening. The first person in line even camped out for the coveted spot of being the first Silicon Valley customer of the popular New York City eatery, which is famous for its gyros and chicken and rice platters.
The long lines continued over the weekend, with some wait times approaching four hours. Maybe they’ll have to start taking reservations like Din Tai Fung did.
ROCK ON, SHARKS: As the San Jose Sharks prepare to face Pittsburgh in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, Metallica stars
James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett have donated the guitars they used to play the national anthem on Monday night to help the Sharks Foundation raise money for two kids’ nonprofits.
There’s a bidding war on the NHL Auctions site, with more than $5,200 being bid on Hammett’s guitar and more than $10,000 on Hetfield’s, as of Friday afternoon. The proceeds for the auction, which ends Wednesday, will support Ronald McDonald House at Stanford and Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit that provides music instruction and instruments to public schools.
Go to auction.nhl.com and select San Jose Sharks under “Team Auctions” to check out the bidding.