Trust the Carny

Comments (0) By Silke Tudor Wednesday, May 21 2008

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Paul Cesewski

Paul Cesewski was a perfect candidate for the S.F. Recycling & Disposal Artist-in-Residence Program. For years, he has been a master of "precycling," raising pedal-powered chimeras from heaps of scrap metal and neglected bike parts. Fans of Cyclecide Bike Rodeo have long delighted in his products: The fire-breathing chopper known as BikeZilla, the human-powered Bicycle Carousel, and the ungainly Wheelbarrow Bike have all appeared amid the jousting and decapitation of lettuce heads. Pilgrims to the desert hinterlands also may have seen his Star Wheel, a 22-foot-wide contraption that resembles a free-rolling hamster wheel from Whoville. Since February, Cesewski has been tinkering away at the dump, transforming the art studio next to the recycling transfer station into "Carnival Mécanique," a patch of cheerful nostalgia in the shadow of the city’s accumulation runoff. As usual, Cesewski has fabricated whimsy-inducing machines out of cast-off gadgetry and bits of whatsit. Be prepared to sweat a little, because whimsy may be free but it doesn’t always come easily.
Fri., May 23, 5 p.m.; Sat., May 24, 1 p.m., 2008