Local Slice Recommendation – Electronic Sound Scapes and Sonic Soul Food – Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Madrone Art Bar in San Francisco is pleased to announce a wall painting by long time Bay Area Artist Cliff Hengst.

CLIFF HENGST is an artist based in San Francisco, California. His wall drawings, paintings and performances have been included in numerous exhibition including Marella Arte in Milan, Gallerie Uta Pardun in Berlin Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Gallery 16, Ratio 3, Jack Hanley, Berkeley Art Museum and SFMOMA. He has worked collaboratively with Larry Rinder at Testsite in Austin Texas and with Scott Hewicker on Good Times: Bad Trips, a book dedicated to the phenomena of the bad drug trip. Over 50 contributors—including noted artists Devendra Banhart, Tony Labat and Chris Johanson—recount their bad trips, and their stories are paired with photographs, paintings and collages by Hewicker and Hengst.

For this show at Madrone Art Bar, Hengst will use quotes from women as a text mural. Artists, actors, musicians, poets, and muses will be providing the inspiration for this wall work.

AND In the Window:

Shawna Peterson

Front: “Black & White” Neon tubing with neon gas, and found sign

Shawna Peterson has been a commercial neon tubebender for over 20 years. Currently she creates artwork using old sign panels, found and re-used objects, and new neon. At one time the old signage and objects performed a function, and had a clear meaning or purpose. Shawna enjoys re-animating the found objects by changing their use, deconstructing the forms that were once alphabet, or in the case of the piece “Sorry”, adding words to an everyday object.

Shawna Peterson has been bending neon tubing since 1987. She began her neon career with fabrication, pattern-making, and design work. This eventually led to an apprenticeship with the neon tube-bender, R.J. Wells.

While working for a nationwide sign company, she worked extensively in the commercial neon field, producing signs for companies like The Gap, Safeway, Starbucks, Payless Shoe Source, Miller Brewing, and Hollywood Video.

Shawna has also done neon work for numerous other Bay Area projects, like the Yahoo! sign, the San Francisco Symphony Black and White Ball, Citizen Cake, Luna Park, The Last Supper Club, Andalu, Frisson, and Bongsu to name a few.

Currently, Shawna still bends commercial neon projects, but she also creates neon art both independently and for other artists. She designs and produces her own neon sculpture and furniture. She is interested in using old signage in her artwork, transforming found metal cabinets and plastic faces into new, original pieces. Shawna bends new neon to work with her sculptures that incorporate the old sign fragments. In addition, she enjoys working with artists to create the neon they envision for their own art. Artists that she has worked with include Sarkis at the San Francisco Art Institute, Bill Kane, Mike Krouse, Jan Zivic, SFMOMA, and others.