The day is almost here! Our friends Jeremy Fish and Miss Van both have respective solo shows opening tomorrow, December 4th, at FIFTY24SF Gallery.
North Beach, the neighborhood in San Francisco that by fine artist and illustrator Jeremy Fish (Juxtapoz cover #71) calls home, is the inspiration behind Ghosts of the Barbary Coast, the newest exhibit from Fish. The show features over 35 highly detailed new works, including large woodworking projects from Indonesia, as well as a few surprises only a mind as creative as Fish's could conjure up.

Now based in Barcelona, Spain, Miss Van (Juxtapoz cover #90) first gained acclaim painting walls on the streets of her hometown Toulousse, France. Her now iconic “poupees,” (dolls) with wide eyes and luscious curves have made their way to cities all over the globe, including San Francisco in her upcoming solo show, Still A Little Magic.
If you know what’s up, you’ve already had this amazing dual show on your calendar for weeks, but it can’t hurt to take a sneak peek at the works, right? Of course not; check it out here… 

North Beach, the neighborhood in San Francisco that by fine artist and illustrator Jeremy Fish (Juxtapoz cover #71) calls home, is the inspiration behind Ghosts of the Barbary Coast, the newest exhibit from Fish, opening Thursday, December 4, 2008 from 7–9:30 pm.

Through his research, Fish found that SF is a city “built on an adventurous pioneer spirit, which you can still see traces of in contemporary San Francisco. It’s that magnetism this city has to that adventurous personality that I am building on.” Through his pieces, Fish resurrects the San Francisco of the past, a time when “young men and women were finding millions in gold, just as fast as they lost it at the gambling table, or to a thief.”

Jeremy takes us to bars of the past such as “The Fierce Grizzly” (that actually featured a live female bear chained to the wall), or “The Boars Head” (where a woman performed sexual acts with a pig). The San Francisco that Jeremy Fish explores is one with 24-hour pharmacies selling single-dose intoxicants to patrons of The Coast at all hours. This was certainly not the norm in the U.S. in 1850, but “this was the dawn of the west coast.”

In Ghosts of the Barbary Coast, Jeremy Fish celebrates the individuals that chased their dreams all the way to San Francisco. In exploring the city he admires, and has called home for the last 15 years, Jeremy Fish unwittingly writes a love letter to San Francisco through his works of art. Jeremy states:

The artwork in this show is my personal interpretation of some of San Francisco’s more colorful founding folklore. The goal for this show is to gain a better understanding of San Francisco’s formative heroes, and honor them in my drawings, paintings, and sculpture, as well as, finding parallels to the early days of San Francisco in today’s contemporary San Francisco, and the cyclical nature of this city and its ill behaviors.

The show features over 35 highly detailed new works, including large woodworking projects from Indonesia. Ghosts of the Barbary Coast will be on display at the upper level of FIFTY24SF Gallery from December 4-30, 2008.

More on Jeremy Fish at www.sillypinkbunnies.com & www.superfishalsf.com

Miss Van (Juxtapoz cover #90) will grace San Francisco’s FIFTY24SF Gallery with a solo showing of new works in Still A Little Magic, opening Thursday, December 4, 2008 from 7–9:30 pm. 

Now based in Barcelona, Spain, Miss Van first gained acclaim painting walls on the streets of her hometown Toulousse, France.  She unknowingly made a splash in the graffiti world by painting with acrylic paint and brushes, rather than the usual medium of choice, spray paint.  Her now iconic “poupees,” (dolls) with wide eyes and luscious curves have made their way to cities all over the globe. 

Miss Van made the successful transition from street to gallery and now focuses on her fine art work in the studio. Though she misses the streets, working in a studio allows her to experiment with materials and techniques that would be impossible to work with outside of a studio setting. 

With each of her shows, we see how her poupees evolve and interact in different settings. Still A Little Magic explores the world of theater and charade under the big top tents and features new drawings and paintings. The exhibit will be on display at the lower level of the FIFTY24SF Gallery from December 4-30, 2008.


More on Miss Van at www.missvan.com & www.princesasmarket.com

Miss Van shows off her new tattoo, which is the title of her show Still A Little Magic 

All that hard work calls for some relaxation and celebration, right?

Ghosts of the Barbary Coast & Still A Little Magic will be on display at the upper level of FIFTY24SF Gallery from December 4-30, 2008.

Details at www.fifty24sf.com

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