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START
SOMA press archive: 2003
| 2004
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JUXTAPOZ
November / December 2005 |
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JUXTAPOZ included an AMAZING six-page
feature story on START SOMA + the Hotel
des Arts.
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| ALARM
Fall 2005 |
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ALARM MAGAZINE recently included
a great piece on the Hotel des
Arts. According to the article:
In the superb documentary, Phillip Johnson:
Diary of an Eccentric Architect, there is a
moment when the esteemed eponym, nearing 90 years of
age, describes to the camera how he prefers to enjoy
a nebulous aluminum Frank Stella sculpture on his property
in New Canaan, Connecticut. Drawing his thumb and index
finger close, Johnson tells of imaging himself very
small, so small that he can climb inside the piece and
explore the myriad ridges and outcroppings tucked within.
With a childlike glee that belies his years, the iconic
designer discusses his desire to be in
art, not just near it. Hotel des Arts, opened in June
2004 on the edge of San Francisco's Financial District,
would be Phillip Johnson's kind of place. Over the past
year, Willy Wonka-esque (START SOMA) founder John
Doffing has invited emerging local and international
artists to use 26 of the hotel's rooms as blank canvas/installation
space. The results range from the hand-made valentine's
card sweetness of Kelly Tunstall's painted rooms to
the lunatic fringe of Anthony Skirvin's every-last-detail
recreation of a paranoid hermit's wilderness shack.
Basic in accomodation and reasonable in price, you can
view the rooms online before booking so as to match
the mood of your trip with an appropriate room.
Coming to the City for a romantic weekend? The
sweeping elegance of teh Sam Flores room should do the
trick. Really want to lose yourself
in an environment? Become so subsumed in the totality
of May Hayuk's "Vortex" you begin to check yourself
periodically to see if you too have become illustrated.
A few of the rooms are garish to the point of rankling
and others are a bit sterile, so choose wisely.
But don't worry: with new rooms every four months and
25 unpainted rooms left to go before rooms are recycled
into new displays, there will be lots of opportunity
to get into some new art... |
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Nitevibe October 28,
2005 |
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Nitevibe included a nice plug
for our PROPAGANDA 2.0 art show:
Freedom of expression is under assault, and START
SOMA is determined to do something about it.
A disturbing trend of controversial art work and entire
art shows being shut down has developed, and artists
are feeling the chill of de facto censorship in the
land of the free. In response, Propaganda 2.0 is a show
with only one aim: to collect and display as many
controversial works of art as possible. These pieces
have been persecuted for everything from anti-government
messages to 'misuse' of corporate logos and cross
political and cultural boundaries. In addition to the very
large collection to be put on display, Friday night's
free opening will also feature a variety of live performances,
including beatbox legend Radio Active, Ean Golden, Tom Thump, Soulside, The Evolution Contol Committee, a crazy political
mix from LA's DJ NAZ, and a live performance from legendary
street poets CAI. Tonight is Propaganda
2.0's only stop in SF before heading to LA and across
the country. Support freedom of speech and see this
show! |
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| Art Business
October 28, 2005 |
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Art Business included a nice review
+ photos from the PROPAGANDA 2.0 opening
at the Blue Cube.
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Flavorpill
October 28, 2005 |
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Flavorpill included a nice
plug for the PROPAGANDA 2.0
art show:
Sometimes it seems the only thing in San Francisco
more ubiquitous than artists are loudly voiced political
opinions. Two years ago, Propaganda 1.0 merged the two,
displaying artworks with views ranging from ultra-conservative
to every kind of radical. With a string of gallery closings as an impetus, START SOMA
called for submissions from anyone with a political
opinion to express. With hundreds of works from around
the world, the messages conveyed in the current exhibit
are just as diverse as our city. Propaganda 2.0 appropriates
the phrase "They Hate Our Freedom" as a subtitle for
this year's show, compelling the viewer to wonder, "just
who are they?" |
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| mediabistro
October 28, 2005 |
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mediabistro included a nice plug
for the PROPAGANDA 2.0
art show.
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| JUXTAPOZ
October 26, 2005 |
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Juxtapoz included a nice review + photos from the
GROUP SHOW opening at the art hotel.
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| Art Business
October 26, 2005 |
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Art Business included a nice review + photos from
the GROUP SHOW opening at the art
hotel.
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| SF GATE ART BLOG
October 26, 2005 |
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Matt Petty included a nice review +
photos from the GROUP SHOW opening
at the art hotel.
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| FecalFace.com
October 26, 2005 |
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John Casey included a nice review +
photos from the GROUP SHOW opening
at the art hotel.
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| WOOSTER COLLECTIVE
| A Celebration of Street Art September
6, 2005 |
The Wooster Collective included a
nice plug for the upcoming PROPAGANDA
2.0 art show.
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Oyster Magazine
September 2005 |
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| The global fashion magazine Oyster
devoted TWO photo-packed pages to the Hotel
des Arts in their most recent issue.
One on the hotel itself, and one on the opening for PAINTED
ROOMS 3.0. According to the former, "...artiste
de la mode get to paint hotel rooms - carte blanche -
in one of the best cities in the world...the hotel hand-selected
an eclectic bunch that runs the gamut from well-known
graffiti artists to dainty illustrators and even some
unknown talents." And according to their review
of the opening, "at the opening of the third batch
of painted rooms at the Hotel des Arts in San Francisco,
dim sum was gorged and cocktails were thrown back as masses
of kids and high society types came to romp from room
to room, making their way from party stop to party stop,
checking out the painted rooms by Maria Gillespie, MISK,
Eric Orr, Kelly Tunstall, MATZU, Maya Hayuk, and Anthony
Skirvin. DJ Tom Thump kept the flow going as the
crowd scribbled on walls..." |
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SF STATION September
2005 |
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SF Station included a nice feature
story on the HOTEL DES ARTS. According
to the article, "the Hotel Des Arts has carved
out a niche for itself in the city's boutique hotel market
by allowing emerging artists full artistic control in
painting a number of the hotels' rooms. The local talent
is particularly well suited to large-scale wall painting.
Graffiti art has a strong presence in the area and mural
painting is widespread and well supported in San Francisco..."
learn
more |
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Design
Week
August 25, 2005 |
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The
leading design publication in the UK, Design
Week, included a GREAT feature story on the
upcoming launch of START
MOBILE. According to the article:
If
John Doffing has his way, a broad spectrum of the
public will soon be exposed to provocative street
art, designed to fit in your pocket. He talks to Yolanda
Zappaterra about his vision for mobile phones
John
Doffing is a man on a mission. It began in 2003, when
he decided it was time to change the way art was delivered
in San Francisco. Rather than using stale peanuts
and bad wine to lure punters to art in hushed galleries,
Doffing hit upon two ideas: Start Soma, an art gallery
dressed up as a club, and the Hotel des Arts' Painted
Rooms, hospitality more akin to exhibition space.
So successful have they been that Doffing, an art
enthusiast and hi-tech entrepreneur, has decided to
broaden his scope and go global. With Start Mobile,
launching this week, he aims to bring underground
and emerging art to mobile device users worldwide.
It's a simple and compelling premise: mobile users
select the image they want, then pay $1.99 (£1.10)
to download the image optimised for their device.
It's theirs to keep, licensed for single use. And
for each download, the image's creator receives at
least 33 cents.
Doffing's
criteria for inclusion of art and artists was broad
- artists from around the world, spanning street art
to photography to abstract work to mainstream Pop
art, were invited to submit work - because, he believes,
the broader the mix, the greater the appeal of the
venture. 'I want the work to be eclectic, aesthetically
meaningful, compelling, thought-provoking, interesting,
fun and whimsical.'
His
enthusiasm is persuasive, but there is scepticism
from elsewhere. For instance, the Association of Illustrator's
on-line discussion forum cites issues such as tiny
royalties, slow payment or non-payment in new media
and, crucially, a lack of belief that people will
pay to download images on to their phones. But Doffing
is bullish: 'There are two billion cell phones currently
in use in the world today, and they're not all owned
by 14-year-old boys! The images can be sold over and
over again. And there is no limit to the art we can
offer.'
East
London street artist Adam Neate, one of Start Mobile's
illustrators, is equally enthusiastic. 'It's a nice
opportunity to have my work pop up in some different
media formats, although mine may not be as timeless
and classic as certain loopy frog images,' he jokes.
And Jon Burgerman, another illustrator on board - a
D&AD Silver Award Nominee who has worked for a wide
range of clients - agrees: 'I see it as a good opportunity
to display some new work on a fairly new format,' he
says. 'Also, it means making my work available for download
for American networks, which it hasn't been before.'
In
a world in which print formats are contracting, this
need to find new formats and markets is crucial for
illustrators, and not just from a financial perspective,
says Burgerman. 'You need to be flexible enough to
be able to adapt your practice for new outlets, otherwise
you'll miss out on opportunities and will ultimately
be left behind. New formats and outlets throw up new
problems, which can in turn drive innovation,' he
says. Neate agrees: 'The Internet has long since lost
its Wild West image of entrepreneurialism. Things
have levelled out and people have become wise to seeing
what things work as strong and useful technology-based
applications. Combining this with strong design and
content can often make for a successful mix.'
If
such formats drive the need for illustrators and artists
to learn new skills, that's no bad thing either. As
Neate sees it, 'A modern illustrator who can use Photoshop
should have no restrictions in learning to use Adobe
After Effects. Programmes like this can add an extra
dimension and meaning to your work.' And once you
have the skills, you're in the position to, as Doffing
concludes, give people 'compelling new art that can
fit, quite literally, in a pocket'.
'Art
in this context is no longer atoms. It is not oil
on canvas or spray paint on a wall. It is bits, ones
and zeroes. The storage and display mechanism at this
point is a cell phone, but in a few years, this could
be linked to flat panel displays in the home. New
art becomes increasingly fluid relative to how it
is displayed, possessed, and enjoyed. This is pretty
interesting stuff - at least to me.'
Looking
at the wide and great range of work available at Start
Mobile and then at the decidedly dull interfaces of
most mobile devices, you have to agree with him.
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| Frommer's 2006 San Francisco
Travel Guide |
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| We just received word that Frommer's is including
a photo of Kinsey's painted room at
the Hotel des Arts on the back cover
of their 2006 San Francisco budget travel guide.
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| SFist
August 19, 2005 |
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START SOMA
organized a panel discussion at the Commonwealth Club
entitled Graffiti: Urban Scrawl or Artistic Freedom?,
and SFist included a nice review of the
debate. read
the story! |
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| Graffiti Archeology
August 17, 2005 |
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START SOMA organized
a panel discussion at the Commonwealth Club entitled
Graffiti: Urban Scrawl or Artistic Freedom?,
and Graffiti Archeology included
a nice review of the debate.
read
the story! |
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| San Francisco Chronicle
August 13, 2005 |
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The San Francisco Chronicle included
a great FEATURE STORY on the painted rooms
at the Hotel des Arts.
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Mesh Magazine
August 2005 |
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Mesh Magazine included
a nice feature story on our current artist
in residence, Casey O'Connell.
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Eyeon | Emerging Art Journal
August 2005 |
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START SOMA's current artist
in residence, Casey O'Connell, was the
featured artist in the inaugural issue of eyeon,
and her work was showcased on the cover.
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| ArtBusiness
August 3, 2005 |
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ART BUSINESS included a nice review of the the
PAINTED ROOMS 4.0 opening
at the Hotel des Arts. According to the
article: Best show yet of artist-painted rooms
at Hotel des Arts. You really oughta come see
this place where almost every room is a complete work
of art. Even the New York Times did a story on it
in early July...
see
the pictures! |
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The Ice Cream Man
August 2005 |
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The PAINTED ROOMS
4.0 opening was featured on the Ice Cream Man's
website.
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| WOOSTER COLLECTIVE
| A Celebration of Street Art August
3, 2005 |
The Wooster Collective included a
nice plug for the opening of PAINTED
ROOMS 4.0.
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FecalFace
August 2005 |
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FecalFace.com included a great feature
on the PAINTED ROOMS 4.0 art show,
including DOZENS of pictures.
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Gizmodo
August 1, 2005 |
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Gizmodo included a great
interview with Jonathon Keats about his conceptual art
installation in the Hotel des Arts.
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gridskipper
July 28, 2005 |
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gridskipper featured Jonathon
Keats' room in the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article: The Hotel des Arts
does indeed go nuts with various artists commissioned
to do over individual rooms, and they’re permitted
to take the widely practiced idea bit further than more
restrained boutique design hotels. But a new … er,
level has been reached with the room assigned to SF artist
Jonathon Keats, who installed “a solid brass camera
in the double-occupancy room that will create a single
photo exposed over a duration of one hundred years...
read
the article |
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About.com
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About featured Jonathon
Keats' room in the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article, Bay area artist Jonathon
Keats created a work of performance art that will have
the occupants of a room in downtown Hotel des Arts
undoubtedly, well, performing. Keats installed a solid
brass camera in the double-occupancy room that will
create a single photo exposed over a duration of one
hundred years...
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The New York Times
July 10, 2005 |
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The New York Times featured
the Hotel des Arts in a article entitled
Hotel Rooms Where the Art Is the Walls, Not
on Them.
According to the article, "Travelers
sit and stare at the walls at the Hotel Des Arts
in San Francisco, and that's the idea...the luxury is
in having a gallery of underground art at your doorstep,
on your door, and, in some rooms, dangling over your
head...." And the article
actually plugged the opening of Painted Rooms 4.0 in
August!
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San Francisco Magazine
July 2005 |
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| San Francisco Magazine featured the Hotel
des Arts in its annual BEST OF THE
BAY issue. According the the article: "The
Hotel des Arts, a hotel-gallery hybrid, boasts
rooms painted by emerging and world-renowned underground
artists, such as Shepard Fairey and Sam Flores.
The amenities may be rustic (half the rooms share bathrooms),
but the walls are worth it. Located downtown in
what's come to be called the city's French Quarter, it's
near all the action, especially on the nights when the
hotel hosts an opening reception. Make sure to request
one of the 26 painted rooms , or better yet, one of the
suites, like Kelly Tunstall's or Brian Barneclo's - they
make perfect party spots..." |
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| BPM Magazine
July 2005 |
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BPM included a feature story on our Painted
Rooms project at the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article:
"If you're used to staying
at the Four Seasons, this place is gonna suck," warns
John Doffing with a laugh. In this case, the head
of START SOMA gallery means
his words as high praise. He’s talking about
the Hotel des Arts, San Francisco’s
first and only "art hotel." Pretension holds no reign
at the Hotel des Arts, which is cheap
enough for backpackers and budget travelers, yet hip
enough to attract the likes of the infamous Mobb Deep
and the Arcade Fire when they roll through town. Visitors
shouldn’t expect mints on pillows, but they
will get a wholly unique experience: a hotel where
the art isn’t merely on the walls, the art is
the walls.
The Hotel des Arts
functions as a live-in gallery space, in which almost
30 of the hotel’s 51 rooms (with more to come)
feature the floor-to-ceiling handiwork of emerging
artists from the Bay Area and beyond. The concept
was born in 2004, when the hotel’s owners approached START
SOMA gallery to curate art shows at their
newly renovated property. But Doffing, who had recently
been showcasing graffiti writers and large-scale muralists,
had a much bigger idea. Figuring it wouldn’t
be beyond the call of duty for those used to bombing
the sides of buildings, he invited artists to take
spray cans and brushes to the hotel’s walls
themselves.
Last September, Hotel
des Arts presented the first in a series
of shows entitled "Painted Rooms," featuring rooms
transformed by Sam Flores, Apex, David Choe, Kelly
Tunstall, David DeRosa and Vulcan. Response to the
show was overwhelming, prompting the Hotel
des Arts to commission 22 more rooms over
the next six months, with work ranging from the whimsical
illustrative birds and robots of Damon Soule to the
curvilinear cyber-fantasies of French flier designer
Punkadelik. And there’s more on the way: this
August, the hotel plans to unveil new rooms by Obey
creator Sheppard Fairey, Los Angeles-based street
artist Buff Monster, skateboarder-cum-actor Jason
Lee and others.
As accommodations go, the
hotel itself is more funky than fancy (it’s
not unlikely for housekeeping or noise complaints
to be met with a shrug from the front-desk staff),
but that suits the younger clientele just fine. These
days, the Hotel des Arts is booked
solid almost every night of the week, and reservation
requests for rooms by specific artists are becoming
more common (Apex and Sam Flores are most popular).
For aficionados of urban art, staying in one of the
painted rooms is, in effect, the visual equivalent
of surround sound.
According to John
Doffing, the hotel represents a revolution in the
way art is seen and enjoyed. "I’m anti white
walls," he maintains. "I’m anti quiet, polite
spaces. I’m not interested in creating another
art gallery with a few overpriced paintings hung on
perfectly lit walls. We are not constrained by typical
notions of what an art show should look like—or
where it should be located! We are simply trying to
bring NEW ART to the widest possible audience."
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| Atomica Magazine
July 2005 |
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In conjunction with our Video Game
Art Show, ATOMICA MAGAZINE included START
SOMA in an interesting article about the convergence
of Video Games + Cinema. According to the article:
On a cool night in San Francisco, the buzz in
the air is palpable. Thousands of people come for
the opening night of a show curated with the explicit
goal of exploring the connections between video games
and NEW ART. Trendy, impossibly thin women and
venture capitalists rub shoulders with the art establishment.
First time collectors make purchases that reminded
them of their childhood and current hobby: video games.
The brainchild of John Doffing, a well-known gallerist
with roots in video game production tools, the show
is a tremendous success...John Doffing is the first
to suggest that his show raised more questions than
it answered. His focus was, “how a dozen emerging
and underground artists reflect video game icons and
iconography in their art. We simply didn't have time
to explore broader questions of correlation and causality,
not to mention the profound implications of what we
were showing.” For Doffing, the tie between
games and cinema is one of convergence between multiple
trends and technologies...
Atomica
Magazine Website
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| WOOSTER COLLECTIVE
| A Celebration of Street Art
June 2, 2005 |
The Wooster Collective included a
nice blurb on the new rooms currently being painted
in the Hotel des Arts. According
to the article:
San Francisco's Hotel
Des Arts keeps getting better
and better. The latest group of artists to paint rooms
includes Buffmonster and Dave
Kinsey who did his room last weekend.
Next up in June to paint rooms: Tes One, BASK, Urban
Medium, and a giant mural in the courtyard from the
entire AWR crew, including SABER and NORM. In addition,
Mark the Cobra Snake is going be be doing a bathroom...
see
the pictures!
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| FecalFace
June 2, 2005 |
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FecalFace.com included some nice pictures
of the new rooms currently being painted in the Hotel
des Arts.
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| San Francisco Magazine
June 2005 |
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San Francisco Magazine included a feature
story on our Painted Rooms project
at the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article:
Hotel des Arts is the city's
most recent, and radical, experiment in artistic infiltration.
Over the past year, half of the 51 rooms have been given
to an artist to do with as he or she pleases. Some have
taken six weeks, brushing in elaborate scenes fit for
a Victorian parlor. Others have bombed the walls in
24 hours, as if the cops were waiting around the corner.
The only quality the artists have in common is the confidence
of John Doffing, an Internet entrepreneur whose enthusiasm
as a collector has led him to curate shows in spaces
ranging from abandoned SoMa lofts to the basement at
City Hall and whose zeal has compelled all the artists
at Hotel des Arts to contribute their
work in exchange for exposure. Of which there's a lot.
By arrangement with the hotel owners, Doffing has opened
unoccupied rooms to the public...
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MESH MAGAZINE June
2005 |
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MESH MAGAZINE included a feature story
on our Painted Rooms project at the
Hotel des Arts. According
to the article:
Right around the corner from San Francisco’s
couture shopping mecca Union Square lies Hotel
des Arts, a boutique hotel that specializes
in showcasing emerging and underground artists from
around the world. While much of the hotel’s collection
of edgy urban art hangs in the hotel’s narrow
spotlighted hallways, the novelty of Hotel des
Arts is found within its Painted Rooms,
where curator John Doffing has commissioned a variety
of innovative up–and–coming artists to conceptualize
and design each of the hotel’s 51 suites. With
full autonomy to do whatever they like (except paint
the carpets) Hotel Des Arts’
concept rooms are a dream project for artists who are
used to dealing with compromise en route to making a
living at being creative. “You get a key to a
room, you lock yourself in there for however long it
takes to finish, and no one says shit. You can’t
ask for much more than complete control,” declared
Anthony Skirvin, whose Room 307 was recently unveiled....
read
the article |
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Elemental Magazine
June 2005 |
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Our friends at Elemental included
a GREAT article on the Louis Vuitton controversy
at the Hotel des Arts. In
an article entitled LOUIS
VUITTON VS HOTEL DES ARTS,
they had this to say:
It’s easy to say that you wouldn’t
roll over on the artists when the detectives are at
the door. Magazines have been raided after featuring
graffiti artists, investigators demanding that the
editors hand over government names and contact info
for the writers. In every case, the law is on the
side of the magazine. You don’t have to give
up shit. Knowing that and acting on it can be two
different things. Giving up a couple of names to get
the cops out of your doorway before they start searching
for other "contraband" can seem like an easy answer.
But you’re only selling yourself out.
Then there are those who refuse to be intimidated.
They know their rights and are willing to stand and
fight for them, even if it is on principle alone.
One such man is John Doffing, curator of the much
lauded Painted Rooms in San Francisco’s Hotel
des Arts. The Painted Rooms project invited
a group of artists to create original works out of
each of the guest rooms in the hotel. They were given
absolute freedom to transform the space. One of these
artists was painter Tim Gaskin. When Tim was finished
with Room 404, a bold portrait of Madonna stood over
a familiar designer pattern, including an enormous
"LV" in electric blue. Word of the ongoing exhibition
in the working hotel spread as far as the offices
of Louis Vuitton. The company’s lawyers presented
a Cease And Desist letter, including a request for
the artist’s address and phone number, to Hotel
des Arts owner Richard Singer, who responded
to the letter by doing absolutely nothing. Singer
and Doffing not only agreed that the artwork was not
going to be removed, they agreed that the idea that
a multinational corporation like Louis Vuitton would
think they could dictate the expression of an artist
like Tim Gaskin was particularly offensive.
"Removing the LV trademark from the walls of
the hotel would necessitate destroying an original
piece of fine art," says Singer. "Works of artistic
expression are clearly protected by the First Amendment,
and we absolutely refuse to be censored by a multinational
corporation and their teams of lawyers."
"We are taking a stand here," continues Doffing,
"to protect the chilling effect that such corporate
intimidation could have on emerging artists and their
creative freedom."
It’s quite a stand, and a very important
one given today’s political climate. Louis Vuitton
may have dozens of lawyers and a fat bank account on
their side, but Gaskin and Hotel des Arts
have one up on them – the law. No amount
of money will silence our Constitution as long as strong
people stand up for their rights...
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The Ice Cream Man
May 31, 2005 |
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The Hotel des Arts
was featured on the Ice Cream Man's website.
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ArtBusiness.com
May 27, 2005 |
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START SOMA curated the
fourth floor of the Design Center for the annual ArtSFest
Gala. We showcased over fifty local
emerging artists, and the event was exceptionally well-received.
Plus, two of our favorite emerging artist collectives
in San Francisco were jointly honored with the ArtSFest
NEW ART award! According
to the ART BUSINESS review of the
opening: The ArtSFest Gala,
occupying all four floors of the San Francisco Design
Center Galleria Atrium, culminates a month-long citywide
celebration of the arts, both visual and performing.
Dozens of visual artists have work on display, performers
perform, and awards are awarded. Award recipients include
Rene di Rosa
for Hugest Bigtime Bay Area Art Guy Ever...the photo
folks at Hamburger Eyes (it's about
time), and the Gestalt Collective muralists.
The fourth floor is devoted to urban art, and that's where most
of the action is-- as usual. The urban
art scene, though not formalized, is pervasive and growing,
and consistently attracts large amounts of attention.
It's quite the phenomenon...
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Nitevibe
May 27, 2005 |
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Nitevibe included a
nice plug ArtSFest + the START SOMA
floor. According to the article: ArtSFest,
San Francisco's most eclectic celebration of the many
forms of artistic _expression, is throwing a massive
benefit gala. Painting, sculpture, spoken word, photography,
graff, all this and more will be on display at the SF
Design Center for you to enjoy while the sweet sounds
of Groovus, Sutro, and others provide a soundtrack as
entertaining as the art. There'll be a special award
presentation honoring Rene di Rosa, founder of the di
Rosa Art Preserve. An entire floor of the Design Center
is curated by START SOMA and features
the work of Hamburger Eyes and the Gestalt Collective,
who are receiving a special New Art award from Chronicle
honcho Phil Bronstein. This is a great chance to get
out and get a little culture, or maybe just impress
your date, all while having a great time.
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ArtBusiness.com
May 26, 2005 |
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ArtBusiness.com featured our
Plasticfucker FACE THE MUSIC art
show, and included some nice photos of the opening
night's festivities. According to the article:
Los Angeles artist Plasticfucker (aka Doug
Murphy) has all the ingredients necessary to ascend
the ranks of the art world, the popular art world in
particular...he's got the persona, his art's quick and
easy, everybody gets it, it's commercially viable, it's
got an instantly identifiable look-- approaching trademark--
and he can make plenty of it and keep it affordable
(small portraits for only $65). In other words, it's
complete gratification all the way around...
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Nitevibe
May 26, 2005 |
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Nitevibe included a
nice plug for the Plasticfucker FACE
THE MUSIC art show. According to the
article: Doug Murphy, better known
as Plasticfucker, is one of the West Coast's hottest
emerging artists. He's bringing his special brand of
accessible pop art to SF for the very first time, and
the coolest art crew around is welcoming him in style.
An all-star lineup of local DJ talent throwing down
everything from jazzy house grooves to eclectic mash-up
madness make this a night to remember. Make sure you
get there early to catch Mix Master Mao (aka Mei Lwun)
at 8; his Nelly/Lynyrd Skynyrd mash Sweet Home Country
Grammar just got some pub in Time Magazine, of all places.
Cover is free, but bring a little cash, you might bag
an original piece of art for less the $70.
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BPM Magazine
May 2005 |
 |
The Video Game Art Show,
held in conjunction with the 2005 Game Developer's Conference
in San Francisco, was featured in BPM magazine.
According to the article, entitled ART, GAMES
AND VISION:
As San Francisco played host to the annual Game
Developers Conference, Blue Cube played host to a video
game art show. No, ample-waisted patrons were not subjected
to a series of White Mage character depictions or a
collection of various dragon wings. Instead they were
greeted with the pop art efforts of Mars-1, Tim Gaskin,
David DeRosa, Plasticfucker and more.
Curated by gallery owner John Doffing, whose iconoclastic
START SOMA gallery has hosted dozens
of art shows over the past two years, the show transcends
the typically staid and pretentious 'wine and cheese'
openings. Atari controllers, black on bright playful
colors, and a Simon electric game broken into four squares
(both by David Derosa) are smaller pieces. But Tim Gaskin's
4X4 ft Lara Croft, emblazoned with the Eidos Logo, is
definitely a scene stealer. Looming above the staircase,
the buxom video game vixen left many of the escort-challenged
males mesmerized. And while surreal typography artist
Misk's (aka Sandro Tchikovani) work reflects nothing
of the games he plays, his bio mentions his favorite
game is Halo.
In addition to the art and LAN games, made possible
by Senet Entertainment (makers of custom made gaming
furniture, also considered art by some), this art show
featured the Suicide Girls. Adding another hint of Goth
is the only "video game" art in the show: framed prints
of an art-rich game called Darkwatch, donated from the
San Diego-based game developer. The vampire-horror meets
the wild, wild west screams with stylistic visuals.
"I enjoyed seeing our functional art pieces, which were
mostly design concepts created for the game characters
environments, displayed alongside some of the more expression
driven works by artists like Plasticfucker," says Meelad
Sadat from High Moon Studios." "Shows like this make
me feel as if the concept of video games influencing
or creating true art has moved beyond niche books and
the occasional media trend article."
learn more |
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San Francisco Examiner
May 4, 2005 |
 |
Christopher Caen
included his thoughts on the Louis
Vuitton controversy at the Hotel des
Arts. According to Christopher:
...the First Amendment protects artistic expression.
Tim Gaskin and the crew at the Hotel des Arts
are discovering otherwise. In the rollicking madhouse
that is the hotel, one room contains murals drawn by
Gaskin that feature his usual flurry of hypnotic colors
and pop symbols. One symbol in particular caught the
attention of the lawyers at Louis Vuitton, which is
now threatening all sorts of nastiness in the form of
a cease-and-desist letter.
Now, this I have a hard time understanding. How exactly
is a decorated wall in a room competing with or infringing
on the copyright of a handbag? Then again, I am not
exactly up to date on the latest in fashion. However,
I do remember a certain soup can painted by Andy Warhol
that didn't seem to trigger the same response. And I
also find it amusing that the same company that is getting
all grumpy about the hipsters getting a hold of its
logo is the same company that had Japanese artist Takashi
Murakami slapping little cartoon hands on that same
logo.
Confused? So am I...
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Josh Spear | The Pulse
of Cool
April 28, 2005 |
 |
Josh Spear included a great overview
of the Louis Vuitton controversy
at the Hotel des Arts. According
to Josh:
If I had a Cease and Desist order from Louis
Vuitton, I'd probably be a little scared-- but not
the folks at The
Hotel Des Arts in San
Francisco. Remember
that hotel? Packed full of customized rooms from floor
to ceiling by some of the worlds most promising young
artists. One of the painted rooms (pictured here)
was done by Tim Gaskin--a mural juxtaposing a celebrity
icon, Madonna, with a logo from Louis Vuitton. The
work is a critique of consumer culture--and personally
I think it's great. Louis Vuitton's "Anti-counterfeiting
Director Of The Americas", what a mouth full, ordered
a cease and desist, stating the hotel needs to "“remove
all infringing depictions of the LV trademark from
your walls". So what did the Hotel des Arts
decide to do? They went ahead and exercised their
first amendment rights and decided to have a special
showing of the room, from May 2nd-May 6th. Way
to go guys!
|
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| WOOSTER COLLECTIVE
| A Celebration of Street Art
April 28, 2005 |
The Wooster Collective included a
nice blurb on the Louis Vuitton controversy at
the Hotel des Arts. According
to the article:
In the last few weeks we've written a lot about
the Painted Rooms project at San Francisco's boutique
hotel, Hotel
Des Arts that was put together
by START SOMA. To date almost 30
rooms have been hand painted by some of the best emerging
artists in the world. David Choe, Logan Hicks, Maya
Hayuk, Eric Orr, Sam Flores... have all painted amazing
rooms at the hotel. It's a project that we think is
fantastic, as it gives artists a terrific platform
for their work.
Well it seems that Louis Vuitton is not as much
of a fan of Painted Rooms as we are. The company's
"ANTICOUNTERFEITING DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAS" has
just served the hotel with a cease and desist letter
telling them that the series of hand painted floor-to-ceiling
murals by San Francisco pop artist Tim Gaskin violates
their LV trademark because the artist incorporates
the LV logo into his artwork.
LV demands that the hotel .... “remove all infringing
depictions of the LV trademark from your walls”.
The letter further requests the "name and address"
of the person who created "each mural painted", and
threatened legal action for "trademark infringement,
false designation of origin, unfair competition, and
trademark dilution".
While we're not lawyers, and legally we have no idea
who's right, we're incredibly impressed that the Hotel
des Arts is fighting for the artist in this
case and is not simply painting over the walls the
day they got the letter which is what most people
would do when faced with legal action for a company
like LV.
Hotel des Arts' Richard Singer said
in a statement that we just read - “Removing
the LV trademark from the walls of the hotel would
necessitate destroying an original piece of fine art,
and that is NOT something we are even going to consider,”
“Works of artistic expression are clearly protected
by the First Amendment, and we absolutely refuse to
be censored by a multinational corporation and their
teams of lawyers”.
Good stuff. We'll be interested to see how this plays
out.
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gridskipper
April 26, 2005 |
 |
gridskipper just
featured the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article:
San Francisco’s boutique Hotel
des Arts is not being cutesy with the name.
It really is an art hotel. It initially commissioned
16 of its rooms to be custom-painted by artists like
David Choe and David DeRosa, among others; recently
their second wave of painted rooms was completed by
upcoming artists like Josh Feldman Bryan Dawson, and
Maya Hayuk...
|
| |
San Francisco
Chronicle
April 13, 2005 |
 |
Leah Garchik broke the story on the Louis
Vuitton controversy at the Hotel
des Arts. According to her scoop:
A lawyer's letter has been received by Tim Gaskin,
who painted a room at the Hotel des Arts
in homage to Madonna and Louis Vuitton. The Vuitton
enforcers saw the room pictured in Women's Wear Daily,
did not like the use of the company logo, and are demanding
a repainting...
|
| |
Josh Spear | The Pulse
of Cool
April 22, 2005 |
 |
| Josh Spear included a great overview of the
Painted Rooms project at the
Hotel des Arts. According to the
article, The custom boutique hotels around the world
all took notice to the Hotel des Arts
in the heart of San Francisco's downtown Union Square
when it launched last year. Last year they showed their
project called "Painted Rooms" at the "art hotel" with
16 custom painted rooms from people like David Choe and
David DeRosa, among others. This year they've come back
adding an additional dozen more rooms including painted
rooms by Josh Feldman, The Vinyl Killers, Bryan Dawson
and Maya Hayuk. Their roster of top notch underground
and emerging artist created rooms is totally impressive--and
the sky is the limit here--they say watch out for future
painted rooms from folks like Shepard Fairey (Obey), and
Dalek... |
| |
| WOOSTER COLLECTIVE
| A Celebration of Street Art
April 21, 2005 |
The Wooster Collective included a
nice blurb on the Painted Rooms
3.0 opening at the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article, The other evening, the
Hotel Des Arts in San Francisco launched
a new set of artist painted rooms, put together by
START SOMA. The new collection of
rooms have been painted by a group of artists that
include Maya Hayuk, Eric Orr, Punkadelik, Klutch +
The Vinyl Killers, MATZU, MISK, KENJI, Maria Gillespie,
Anthony Skirvin, Bryan Dawson, Josh Feldman, and Kelly
Tunstall...
|
| |
SFist
April 15, 2005 |
 |
Another blurb from SFist on
the Painted Rooms 3.0 opening
at the Hotel des Arts. According
to the article: The Painted Rooms show we announced
on the site yesterday seems to have been a smashing
success -- there certainly were a lot of hipsters onhand,
as well as some less hip people that looked in the buying
mood (God bless them)...Kelly Tunstall's work and room
were fan-f**king-tastic. We also loved the big cartoon
acrylics of Isis Rodriguez. And the international art
collective Vinyl Killers had up a huge series of painted
12" LPs, and the quality was pretty great across the
board. Tom Thump's still got it, by the way.
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Hotel Chatter
April 15, 2005 |
 |
Hotel Chatter, a hospitality
industry website, included a nice plug for the
Painted Rooms project at the
Hotel des Arts. According to
the article: The Hotel Des Arts
threw open their doors las night and let the public
gawk at their now thirty rooms which have been recreated
by some of the scene's hottest emerging artists.
A room at the 51 room Union Square boutique can be had
for under $100...if you are a fan of art, this could
be a unique experience. Hotel Des Arts
promises the opportunity to sleep in the middle of floor
to ceiling art at an affordable price...
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| |
| ArtBusiness
April 14, 2005 |
 |
ART BUSINESS included a nice
review of the the Painted Rooms 3.0
opening at the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article: The third installment of
artist-enhanced guest rooms at Hotel des Arts.
Need a mural? Tired of mono-color rooms? Wall paper too
frou-frou for you? Try this. My guess is that a number
of these artists will make you a wall for not that much
more $$ than a painting contractor would charge to paint
it eggshell white. Hotel Des Arts is
well on its way to becoming a significant contemporary
urban art collection... see
the pictures! |
| |
| FecalFace
April 14, 2005 |
 |
| Over a hundred photos from the
Painted Rooms 3.0 opening
at the Hotel des Arts - from one of
our favorite art websites in the world.
|
| |
| SFist
April 14, 2005 |
 |
SFist included a nice
plug for the Painted Rooms 3.0
opening at the Hotel des Arts.
According to the article: The Hotel des Arts,
a boutique downtown, will be throwing open their doors
to the public to view the now thirty rooms that have
been covered in the liquid whimsy of some of the scene's
hottest emerging artists...It's all being arranged by
local indie artist clearinghouse START
SOMA. Groove Merchant's Tom Thump will be providing
the musical accompaniment to your tippling and touring...
|
| |
AOL Black Voices
April 2005 |
 |
In
an article entitled Big City Getaways with
a Twist, AOL included a nice plug for
the Hotel des Arts. According
to the article:
WHERE
TO STAY: San Francisco is known for trendy
artists, and the hippest place to catch their work is
the Hotel des Arts. Most of the art on the walls
is for sale, because the hotel does double-duty as an
art gallery. Call ahead and reserve one of the “Painted
Rooms” -- where ultra-hip graffiti and murals
by famous artists cover the bedroom walls...
|
| |
TRIGGER MAGAZINE
April 2005 |
 |
Trigger Magazine's feature story on Eric
Orr included a nice plug for his painted
room at the Hotel des Arts.
|
| |
| 7x7 Magazine
April 2005 |
 |
Our friends at 7x7 featured some nice
pictures from the tsunami relief fundraiser + art show we
hosted earlier this year. According to the article:
Since tragedy struck Southeast Asia last December,
San Francisco's Good Samaritans have stepped up to the
plate with one tsunami relief party after another...Terra,
SOMA's little-known but very chic nightspot, was hopping
on February 5 when OUTreachSF sponsored Turning the
Tide, an LGBT cabaret show, dance party, and silent
art auction organized by START SOMA to
benefit the Rainbow World Fund...
|
| |
| San Francisco
Chronicle
March 28, 2005 |
 |
The inimitable Leah Garchik included a
nice blurb in her column about our most recent PAINTED
ROOMS art show at the HOTEL
DES ARTS. According to the
piece:
Everybody's a Renaissance man. Jason Lee, actor,
painter, designer and former professional skateboarder,
is painting a room at the Hotel Des Arts,
part of a 34-room, 34-artist project to be unveiled
April 14. The rooms, recently featured in Conde Nast
Traveler, are often painted at night, when the place
has turned into "an impromptu emerging artist party
hotel,'' says John Doffing...
learn more |
| |
San Francisco Examiner
March 10, 2005 |
 |
The inimitable Christopher Caen
included a great plug for the Video
Game Art Show in his most recent column.
According to the article:
...the hipsters are also remembering the good old
days with a video game art show at the Blue Cube tonight.
What, exactly, is a video game art show? It consists
of game images collected, altered and redeployed in
ways no one has thought of. Think of it as the artistic
version of sampling. I was looking over the goods and
saw images from none other than Tron, Disney's 1982
attempt at computer coolness. Big blocky computer graphics
and big blocky human performances. They couldn't quite
pull it off then, but look at it now. Cool as cool can
be. They just had to wait long enough for the old to
become new again...
learn
more |
| |
The Video Game Art Show
March 10, 2005 |
 |
The Video Game Art Show,
held in conjunction with the 2005 Game Developer's Conference
in San Francisco, was featured on literally dozens of
gaming websites + blogs from around the world.
learn
more |
| |
ArtBusiness.com
March 10, 2005 |
 |
ART BUSINESS included
a nice review of the Video Game Art Show
opening. According to the article: Art
show in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference
2005. Two floors of entertainment plus special video
game area on floor two plus art all over the place.
The Blue Cube third floor, not open to the public, is
a combination think tank and educational resource for
upstart entertainment industry moguls and mogulettes,
focusing on video, music, performance and visaul arts.
The Cube's worth keeping an eye on...
|
| |
Nitevibe March
8, 2005 |
 |
| Nitevibe included
a nice plug for The Video Game Art Show.
According to the article:
Whether
it's protecting the world against Space Invaders or
guiding Super Mario to the princess, video games and
their signature graphics have become icons of our popular
culture, especially in the Bay Area. The open minds
at START SOMA know this and are celebrating their second
anniversary with a show featuring over 100 pieces relating
to video games. Thursday's no cover opening event is
more than a trip down memory lane, it's an epic party
with beats being laid down by NoMe, Tom Thump, Kelly
Tunstall, Chris Sia, Soulside and Wiseproof, a networked
gaming lounge, tons of giveaways, and even a special
appearance by the always delectable Suicide Girls. Art + vids + beats = a unique evening,
indeed...
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| |
| PaperCity
March 2005 |
 |
In an article on the San Francisco
'spring art scene,' PaperCity featured a whole bunch
of really fancy art galleries, AND START
SOMA - observing that we showcase 'up-and-comers
in a hipster hideaway'. |
| |
ArtBusiness.com
March 3, 2005 |
|