Is the title of Paul Shiek's new exhibition which opened last night at Stephen Wirtz Gallery. Congratulations to the young emerging artist for being signed to their great roster of photographers. And to Stephen for noticing such bright talent. Funny thing is I've seen two great shows this week with piles of books. Paul's show had a stack of his catalogs on a palette in the middle of the painted white room still wrapped in shrink wrap. He said he wanted the area around the palette to stain with shoe prints to create some sense of aura, and he'd send me a catalog after the show was done. a student of Jim Goldberg, Todd Hido and Larry Sultan there's a bit of them in there mixed with a witty Wil Rogan and youthful Ari Marcopoulos. Paul's off to a wicked start. check it out on 49 geary. black and white photos,and be sure to check out his publishing imprint TBW. The other pile of books was by one of my fave artist collectives Claire Fontaine. Showing upstairs at the Wattis at CCA SF, the stack of bricks covered by French subversive book covers from the usual suspects makes an homage to Carl Andre and the collectives affiliation with 60's French radicalism. Other pieces in the installation include a home video on how to pick locks and a neon sign in Pharsee spelling 'Foreigners Everywhere'. And if you do stop by bring something blue to add to the nest installation upstairs. And be sure to check out the Wizard of Oz show downstairs. Use the elevator. There's a cool rendition of a Steve Martin record played by artist Tim Lee on the banjo! I heart "elevator art". I'm gonna coin that. It's gonnna be bigger than Electroclash, Larry T...
