Where is that damn FedEx truck?!? Oh well, in the meanwhile, let me fill you in on some of the ongoing going-on at Rowan Morrison. We got new business cards (with our names on them so no more calling me "Mr. Morrison"), finally got our full-color stickers, and got a fat stack of ANP Quarterly magazine issue 8 in the house. If you don't know ANP is a free, full color, oversized magazine about art and artists and stuff. Awesome. We are the only outlet in Oakland so one copy per customer, please also buy something, and supplies are limited.

Constanza Blondet's solo exhibition of abstract paintings has been hung and will open on Friday, with a reception from 7-10pm. If you want a sneaky-peak of the show, we'll also be open Thursday (tomorrow) so come on by. I'll be posting some photos of the opening sooner or later, or not. Be there and take your own pictures. We'll be doing another video-lapse thing so check for that.

Narangkar spent all of labor day weekend re-doing her website: narangkar.com. If it all goes smooth we may update the photo album section of the Rowan Morrison website with the same stylings.

And, finally, trip out on the super-psychedelic stencil posters I've been cranking on. Each poster is hand-printed and totally unique. I'll probably print an exclusive deluxe archival edition soon, but in the meanwhile I'll be out and about putting these originals up around the Bay Area (North Oakland) so see if you can spot 'em. If you want one, please don't tear it down, just contact us and I'll make a custom poster just for you!

So here it is, a fat selection of poster variables. Trip on:


Outta my way, I'm buggin' out!

Oh yeah - Junk Pirate postcards are now available in the gallery or in the online store.



Art reception for Art Murmur this Friday! Be there!

Thanks to all the friends and supporters who came out last night for the opening reception of Brian Caraway's "This Is Not Mount Tamalpais" show. It was one of the best receptions we have had thus far. Brian's show is amazing, and he worked extra hard to turn his studio into an 2nd room for Rowan Morrison. There are even some bonus pieces of art in "La Cocina" and "Der Schitzenhaus". Big thanks to Alice Auyeung, Magnolia Editions, and Nichelini Winery.


Also, we want to wish the best of luck to Jacob Tillman as he pursues his masters in painting at UCLA in Los Angeles. We'll miss you. Last Friday Jacob achieved his masters in fucking up the skatepond by thrashing it late night... barefoot! Whaaaat!?!


A few weeks back Dave Choe stopped by the gallery to hand deliver a secret stash of the Soothsayers show catalog for us (available online for $12) rolling in his new '66 Lincoln Continental (with suicide doors whoot-woo)! It never ends with that guy.


Oh yeah, the Rowan Morrison online bookstore has been redesigned for your shopping pleasure so check out the inventory. We also got some new books and a searchable database of books both online and in the space. Let us know what you think.

In other news, Obi Kaufmann's Swee(t)art magazine is launching its website this Friday the 13th in conjunction with a solo exhibition at Cricket Engine in Oakland.

That's all for now, kids. Remember to be constantly checking the Art Books Blog for reviews, images, and special art book deals. Yeah.

Long time no blog. Sorry about that. I've been focusing more on the Art Book Blog these days. But that's all about the art books and there is so much more than that going on. But first, let's talk about art books:
We got lots and lots of new books in. Great stuff from Barry McGee, Gama Go, Travis Millard, Mark Ryden, Banksy (inexpensive softcover edition now in), Thomas Campbell, Little Otsu, Margaret Kilgallen, Junk Pirate, some other new zines, plus other tasty tidbits. Plus we restocked all your favorites so come by and get owning.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's continue on to news of not one or two but three write-ups for Carl Auge's "Between You and Me" exhibition. SF Chronicle's 96 Hours, East Bay Express, and Timothy Buckwalter's piece for the East Bay Monthly. The show is amazing and it comes down a week from Sunday (the 24th of June) so get over here.
We also got a write-up in the May issue of Lucky magazine. Pow!

Coming up in July and August: "This Is Not Mount Tamalpais": artwork by Brian Caraway. This show has over 5 years of work and is going to combine the gallery with Brian's studio (behind the curtain) for our largest exhibition to date. Opens July 6th.

We got two shiney, new bike racks installed yesterday courtesy of the good folks at the City of Oakland Transportation Servies Division. Who will be the first person to lock their bike up?


We also are debuting our new, improved red sandwich board. It is made out of solid concrete with a lead center so just try to kick it. (Please don't kick it)


The new Rowan Morrison online bookshop is currently being designed and tested and will debut before the end of the month. Pete's 30th birthday is just a few weeks away. Our entire business is now completely computerized thanks to Quickbooks. Ella Baker center at the end of the block is getting a big mural painted on their building and it is -uh- well, it's better than a gray wall. Maybe. The skatepond is in full effect. See for yourself at Andrew's Fecal Face blog. Happy Birthday Narangkar and Adam5100. Rock on, everybody. I'm out.

We would like to take a moment to thank everybody who came out last night to show support for Carl Auge and Rowan Morrison at the opening of his show, "Between You and Me". It was a great crowd and the artwork is phenominal. Huge works. Thanks to Carl for coming through from start to finish with a solid submission, great communication, and (of course) fantastic paintings. The show is up until late June. Write ups from the East Bay Express here and from Timothy Buckwalter for the East Bay Monthly here.

We're proud to announce the launch of our new blog: Art Books with Rowan Morrison. This blog is an in-depth look at art books and art book publishing. Featuring reviews of books, images, interviews and discussions with book publishers, printing how-to articles, and direct ordering information. It's just getting started to check it out and chime-in with your 20 centavos on the art books in your life.
So this here myspace blog is just the week-to-week happenings of Rowan Morrison (typical myspace self-indulgent nonsense), and the art book blog will be less personal and more informative. I know there sure are a lot of blogs out there, and I got a sneaky suspicion everybody is writing blogs but nobody is reading them. Maybe if you work at a computer or something...

Speaking of art books, we got a whole grip of them coming at you in the gallery and in the online bookstore. Cut and Paste 2 from Tim Gough, Toronto from J & L books, the huge Obey Giant book, amazingly affordable full-color hardcover books from Upper Playground, plus lots of great papergoods from Little Otsu. Purchase is mandatory.

And if that isn't enough, we got 3 new sprints from the Mayor MacCheese of Philly, Tim Gough. Get into it!


On a final, sad note: I just got confirmation that Boontling Gallery in Oakland will be closing in June. Derrek, Mike, and the Boontling crew have been good friends and a real positive force in the East Bay art scene, and I really don't know if any space can fill the void they're gonna leave behind. I'm happy they will both soon have the time and energy to continue to florish as artists. Stop by and check their final show, grab a t-shirt while supplies last, and let 'em know they'll be missed.

Hi everybody. Sorry we haven't been posting new blogs in the past couple of weeks. Things have been a bit hectic to put it mildly. The good news is that the insane super-duty big-dollar video project is just about complete. "23 Short Films" by David Choe and Pete Glover will premiere this summer in LA and NY as part of Scion's Easy 10 film series. I'll post updates on venues and when it goes online (with a bonus video interview and production stills) soon. In the meanwhile, check out this bonus tidbit:


And then here is a rough cut of Narangkar working in the studio:


In other news, today is the final day of Julie Shirar's amazing show of Oakland portraits. We'll get some images online soon. She also did a live portrait of Narangkar in the studio during the show which we hope to have images of soon.
The gallery will be closed next week as we are taking a siesta en Mexico. Oh man, I can't wait. Nothing but warm ocean water, mucho cerveza, soft beaches, and ancient ruins for a week.
Then, opening on May 4th, Carl Auge! We'll also have over a dozen new books in the gallery and online, as well as zines and prints from Philadelphia's own Tim Gough. Oh hell yeah!
So enjoy the videos, stay tuned for lots and lots of great new things coming out this summer from Rowan Morrison, and have a good time all the time.

The Super Art Studio Sale was awesome. We made some dollars, made some friends, and made some free space. Thanks to everybody who stopped by and bought our junk. All the leftovers are going to the junk store tomorrow. Special thanks to Benny T. and Andrew Killberger for their help.

In the meanwhile, we got a bunch of copies of the John Copeland Moonshiner (journals 7-22) books in the gallery. This in an incredible, full-color reproduction of an assortment of pages from Copeland's illustrated journals from the past decade or so. Published by 31 Grand in Brooklyn, supplies are limited as hell so I'd get your copy today. John Copeland rules as an artist and as a person. I heard he might have another solo show at Juice in SF this year so look out for that. The book will be available online this week. Here is a link to an interview with Copeland on Fecal Face from January of this year.

Narangkar's show at 22 Shoes in Oakland came down yesterday. It was up for quite a while longer than originally planned and a bunch of pieces sold, so we are happy. Their new spring line of shoes is in so stop by. Man, transporting the huge paintings was a challenge. Some images of the work can be found at Narangkar's website.

Art Murmur has grown by a few new spaces. There should be an update at oaklandartmurmur.com (don't hold your breath), and we'll have new, Narangkar-designed cards this upcoming week.
Speaking of Art Murmur, don't forget to remember that we'll be sipping champagne and lighting Cuban cigars with hundred dollar bills this Friday, April 6th, for the re-reception for Julie Shirar's portrait paintings here at Rowan Morrison. 7-10pm. Hope to see you there.

Oh yeah, baseball starts tomorrow. Pete's picks:
Dodgers over the Red Sox in the World Series (you heard it here first)
Cy Young: Johan Santana & Chris Young
MVP: Manny Ramirez & Albert Pujols

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody.
We are currently gathering all the excess art supplies around the home and studio for the super art studio sale coming next weekend. If you know my day job, plus the fact that Narangkar used to work at the Art Store way back when, then factor in behind-the-wall studio-mate Brain Caraway is throwing in a drafting table plus some other goods and you got a super sale the likes of which you may never see again. We got so much good stuff, plus lots of art books and original works of art at rock bottom prices. Check out some of the goods:
-a button making kit with lots of pinbacks
-mint condition silkscreens (which are actually made out of nylon these days)
-lots of screenprinting inks and supplies
-lots of block printing inks and supplies
-complete rubber stamp letter sets
-brand new portfolios!
-vintage papers galore
-art cards from Bay Area art shows form the past 10 years
-Jean Tetan paper (rolls of it, this stuff retails for 10 bucks a yard!)
-stickers and posters and stuff
plus so much more. I also hear Tonya Solley Thornton is doing a studio sale just up the road so we'll have flyers for that.
The sale is Saturday March 24th and Sunday March 25th from 9am to 5pm. The sale is in our studio at 332 40th St, right next to the gallery. The gallery will be open as well, of course.

And most importantly, we'll be serving fresh squeezed lemonade made from fresh picked lemons grown right here above the skatepond at Rowan Morrison.


New books: We got Article Journal issue #1 and Resurrection (a big group artist book designed by Jon Santos) in the gallery now and online soon. Coming this week: John Copeland's Journals books. Sweet. We also recently sold out of the Andrew Schoultz book and we're working on getting more of those.

New video: Here's a quick timelapse of RoMo pal Adam5100 spraying on of his rediculously detailed stencils of a junk pile. It was awesome hanging with Adam at his secret-boiler-room-and-dilapidated-yard-studio-of-insanity. Adam will be producing a new exclusive print for Rowan Morrison later this year and a solo show in 2008!


More videos of Jacob Tillman ripping it up on the skateboard, California Love death metal superband, and classic Pete Glover footage at Pete's Youtube page here.

Oh yeah, somebody go nominate us at the Oakland Unwrapped Indies Awards. I suggest the "Newbie" catagory for us, although we should dominate any of 'em.
Thanks for reading, thanks for the support, thank you very much.

Thanks to all who made it out for the opening reception of Julia Shirar's exhibition last weekend (except pre-drunken annoying guy). Julia will be doing some live portrait painting in the studio adjescent to the gallery tomorrow (March 11th) as well as a few more times during the exhibition. Stop by and gawk and maybe sit for the artist.

In other studio - gallery news, the big art supply studio clear-out sale is going down Saturday, March 24th 9am-5pm and Sunday, March 25th 9am - 5pm. Check back here next week for a flyer image and a list of some of the great stuff we'll be shedding at rock-bottom prices. We've been hoarding art supplies for about a decade so you know it gonna be pure gold.

And speaking of studios, here's a little test edit of some footage I got of Boontling's own Derek Weisberg working in his studio:


Oh yeah, we got several new books from Travis Millard (all limited and hand signed by the artists) and the latest issue of Article Magazine in the gallery and online now at rowanmorrison.com. New books coming from Jon Santos and John Copeland. Go to rock-and-roll bingo tonight. Interview with Junk Pirate right here. Be excellent to each other.

Some crack hag freaked out in the gallery early yesterday and then kicked-in our sandwich board on the sidewalk. Not surprisingly, this isn't the first time a "no-goodnik" has kicked in our sandwich board. Snaggletooth gave it a running punt last summer. No big deal, but this time I think it might be beyond repair. We were thinking of making a nicer one anyways.

In other news, there are only two days left to enjoy Ezra Li Eismont's "We Are Magic" show. He is one of my favorite artists and this show is awesome. Coming next week: Julia Shirar.

Also, there will be a little Junk Pirate art in the upcoming Swee(t)art show (also featuring RoMo artists Ezra, Cartl Auge, and Brian Caraway) at Red Ink on Market and 9th in SF on March 1st. There should be more info and promo images at obikaufmann.com.
In related news, the Junk Pirate book is now available at Twig and Fig letterpress and papergoods store (they printed our wedding invitations and are super-awesome) in Berkeley.

Hey, I got an idea; subscribe to this blog!

This sure is some nice weather we're having this weekend. You just know that some right when I'm used to sunshine and t-shirts a massive cold and rain stretch will come smothering down. Enjoy it while it lasts. I know I am. In fact, I spent the morning bucketing the scum out of the skate pond for a little session. It was slimey and stinky, and I know it is going to rain again soon, but it sure felt good getting a few kickturns in there in February. I even made a lil' timelapse video:

The music is from some local kid named Seed. He sold me his demo cd for 5 bucks last year when I was taking BART to the Coliseum for a ballgame. He's rapping over some Barry White song... awesome. I think he even has a myspace profile.

In other news, Ren Dodge came by the gallery and took some pro photos of Ezra's show. They are available at his photo website here.

We'll just be taking those to use on our own website, thank you.

And speaking of our website, we'll be adding a "links" section today, so if you have a link for us, let us know. And please, for Pete's sake, give rowanmorrison.com a link on your website so we can get some traffic over here.

And now the moment I've been waiting for: Narangkar located the image of my recieving an oversized novelty check from the Bay Area Leisure Foundation:

Check that one off the lifetime to-do list.

Paul Schiek just dropped off the latest book in his Kin Subscription series: Paul Schiek. This is an awesome series of limited photo books and Paul is working hard to keep these on schedule. More info over at thesebirdswalk.com. I don't know if any subscriptions are still available. You can get Paul's first book, dyptich, at Rowan Morrison or in our online bookstore.

Narangkar recently started a blog about her thoughts on art and painting, featuring some of her favorite classic artworks as well as updates on her own work and artist process. Check out Narangkar's painting blog right now.

Another blog to check out is by our old pal Morton Pivelfist, SF Garbage Man. It's a dirty job, but...

And for your viewing pleasure, I present a photo of what our gallery looked like about a year ago, maybe 14 months:


Thanks for your time, keep warm and dry, subscribe to this blog, hang out at the gallery, let us know of books we should carry (and where to get them), and have a good time all the time.