FRI 2/13
Astra Kim
Caesar's robotic Virgin of
Guadalupe, fashioned from
scissors, broken umbrellas, scrap
metal, barbed wire, and bits of
clothing.
Katie Bush's work for "Neither
Here/Nor There."
Hunter Freeman
Big Lou's Polka Casserole.
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You wouldn't guess that romance, celebration, and horror make for a tasty conceptual cocktail, but why else would Tod Browning have released his hugely sensual film Dracula on Valentine's Day 1931, exactly two years after the country was shaken up by a gory Chicago Mafia massacre named after the same holiday? Yes, love can stink, but it can also run red or creep and crawl. In that spirit, Bay Area artist Nicolas Caesar presents an installment of his disturbing sculptures in a "Valentine Sideshow" on the lucky Friday before this year's Lover's Day.
Caeser's modern-Gothic aesthetic contains aspects of both Survival Research Labs and the Muppets. He combines urban detritus like wires, saw blades, doll parts, and religious artifacts with bones, blood, and animal parts into tragic and amusing mutant assemblages with names such as Spiderbaby and Angel of Doubt. The "Sideshow" -- which features dark-ambient DJ Purgatory, wine tasting, and random raffles and giveaways -- offers a refreshing alternative to the traditional sappiness of the season. It starts at 9:30 p.m. at La Luna Rouge in the Fugazi Bank Building, 415 Sansome (at Sacramento), S.F. Admission is $5; visit www.chiller-thriller.com.
-- Ron Nachmann
Be Yours
Quirkyalones of the world, unite!
SAT 2/14
Maybe you've already heard about quirkyalones: They're single on purpose and (mostly) plan to stay that way. Their growing community (some say social movement) is full of do-it-yourselfers; their holiday, International Quirkyalone Day, "is not anti-Valentine's Day," says the Web site. "It just happens to fall on the same day." San Francisco's IQD party may have been the first, but celebrations of "all kinds of love: romantic, platonic, familial, and yes, self-love" are scheduled from England to Wisconsin.
The site stresses another point: "It is NOT a pity party for single people." Planned activities include reprises of favorites from last year like a "time-alone table" and homages to famous quirkyalones. Entertainment features belly dancing, folk singing, and a late-night dance, all starting at 8 p.m. at the Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell (at Van Ness), S.F. Admission is free; call 861-2011 or visit www.quirkyalone.net.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser
Art Destroying Evil
Digital collages love Katie
SUN 2/15
Artist Katie Bush manipulates vintage graphic materials, often placing human figures with outdated hairdos into odd scenarios. Her method is hardly unique, yet it's not clichéd: Bush's sly, absurdist sense of humor and pathos help turn her materials into strange and delightful creations.
At "Neither Here/Nor There," the artist uses imagery from her obsessively intricate online projects -- viewable at www.destroyevil.com and www.lovekatie.com -- to draw a comparison between shopping too much and bombing too much. The exhibit opens just in time to save your soul from the holiday Bush calls "monstrously cardiovascular." The reception begins at 6 p.m. (and the show continues through April 10) at Glama-Rama, 417 South Van Ness (at 15th Street), S.F. Admission is free; call 487-0898.
-- Hiya Swanhuyser
Bring on the Steins!
FRI 2/13
"It's sort of like Mardi Gras with lederhosen," explains Big Lou the Accordion Princess about the Fasching Festival, a German eat-drink-and-be-merry-for-tomorrow-you-must-fast extravaganza that's an excellent reason to guzzle beer and watch Bavarian folk dancers frugging to Big Lou's Polka Casserole. Get lederhosed at 6 p.m. at Schroeder's Restaurant, 240 Front (at California), S.F. Admission is $5; call 421-4778 or visit www.accordionprincess.com.
-- Joyce Slaton
