Sunday, November 22, 2009

Strange Japanese Art 2: New People Bazaar Bizarre



Kimo (above) invited me to an art opening on Friday at a new four-story complex on Post Street across from Japantown called New People.



The complex had joined up with a group called Bazaar Bizarre SF, which specializes in odd crafts, for a weekend "vertical artist village."



The SUPERFROG Gallery on the top floor was showing the work of seven contemporary artists from Tokyo (not pictured)...



...and there were exotic libations...



...being served gratis on each floor...



In the basement level, a Peruvian bartender was explaining the history of the Pisco Sour...



...next door to a beautifully designed 143-seat movie theatre which is devoted to screening Japanese films.



The design of the entire complex is about ten years ahead of anything else in San Francisco...



...and the consumer goods devoted to Japanese pop culture in all its manifestations are amazing to behold.



Even the stairwells are cleverly designed with whimsical line drawings...



...an innovation the Asian Art Museum should consider for its dreary stairway between floors two and three.

2 comments:

Matthew Hubbard said...

Wow. I gotta check this out. It looks amazing, even without the special lure of free exotic booze.

Kimo C said...

sfmike - I think you are hipper than you think.