During the summer of 2011 FFDG was asked to select three San Francisco based artists and bring them to Sao Paulo, Brazil to participate in the third edition of the MCD LAB shows co-curated by Brazil's NOZ.ART (Ana Ferraz, Lucas Ribeiro Pexao and Tristan Rault).

Featuring hand pulled four color silk screen prints, the show opened on July 25, 2011 at Sao Paulo's LOGO Gallery and featured prints from Jeremy Fish (USA), Matt Furie (USA), Aiyana Udesen (USA), Sesper (Brazil/SP), Lucas Cabu (Brazil/SP), Fabio Bitao (Brazil/SP), Talita Hoffmann (Brazil/Porto Alegre), Anthony Nathan (Brazil/Curitiba), Lucas Torres (Brazil/Belo Horizonte), and Alberto Monteiro (Brazil/Rio de Janeiro).

Jeremy Fish 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75		Matt Furie 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75
Aiyana Udesen 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75		Alberto Monteiro 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75
Anthony Nathan 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75		Fabio Amad Bitao 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75
Talita Gravura 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75		Lucas Valente Cabu 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75
Lucas Torres 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75		Sesper 4 color silk screen. Edition of 150. Signed and numbered. $75

After traveling throughout Brazil during this past Fall, FFDG will host the only US stop for the exhibition on display for 2 weeks with an opening reception Friday, January 6th (6-9pm). San Francisco based artists Jeremy Fish, Matt Furie, Aiyana Udesen along with Brazilian artists and curators Lucas Torres, Ana Ferraz, Lucas Ribeiro Pexao and Tristan Rault will be present. All 10 prints will be for sale framed and unframed. Tecates shall be served.

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MCD LAB # 3: Fake Sunset - concept and inspiration

MCD LAB # 3: Fake Sunset is an ambitious project of art and music, that throughout 2011 will connect different art galleries, artists and players from the creative scene in Brazil. This year's edition is curated by NOZ.ART (Ana Ferraz, Lucas Ribeiro Pexão and Tristan Rault), and FFDG's John Trippe.

The starting point for this experience is a classic image from California, intentionally used in excess, playing with the irony of this cliché figure which influenced much of the world: the gradient sunset, adorned with the silhouettes of palm trees. Images widely used in t-shirt prints, stickers, skateboard decks and surfboards. An icon of the message that emanated from California for decades, just as, in another moment, the subculture of aggressive surfing, illegal skateboarding and hardcore music was "smuggled" beyond U.S. borders. An imaginary with vibrant colors that arrived in Brazil through movies, magazines, records, video clips and even video games to be reproduced by young people, invading even concrete cities where the skyline (and the sunset) are obstructed by buildings.

Fake Sunset seeks a reflection on the influence of the Californian imaginary on Brazilian subcultures. Californian and Brazilian artists were invited to create new silkscreen prints for a group show. The only rules to create the graphics were: the landscape orientation of the paper, and one gradient on the image. Besides that, each artist was free to address their unique point of view about the influence in question, creating a real bridge through the sunset to finally connect these creative communities. All screen prints were produced in Brazil, by the Fullhouse studio. The series of exhibitions opened on July in Sao Paulo and were showed in another 4 Brazilian capitals. Together with the 10 radiant prints, each city had a site-specific artwork, create by one (or more) of the ten artists invited.

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Artists

Sesper (Brazil/SP), Lucas Cabu (Brazil/SP), Fabio Bitão (Brazil/SP), Talita Hoffmann (Brazil/Porto Alegre), Anthony Nathan (Brazil/Curitiba), Lucas Torres (Brazil/Belo Horizonte), Alberto Monteiro (Brazil/Rio de Janeiro), Aiyana Udesen (USA), Matt Furie (USA) and Jeremy Fish (USA).

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About FFDG's new Mission location

Last year at this time FFDG (www.ffdg.net) was located in a small storefront on Gough St at Market St in a slightly desolate location. In March of last year, FFDG moved to a larger space in the heart of the Lower Haight next to Upper Playground and were just getting settled when on Sept 27th a four alarm fire tore through the top floor of the building. Massive amounts of water soaked the entire building ruining everything including FFDG's space. After gathering their damp things, to continue their schedule while searching for a new home, FFDG temporarily located to Clement St in San Francisco's Inner Richmond. After only searching a couple weeks, FFDG found their new 700 square foot home on bustling Mission Street just walking distance to some of the best restaurants and bars in the city. "I love being over here", says owner John Trippe. "It's great to be in the heart of such a dynamic neighborhood. I mean, we're across the street from the 2nd best new restaurant in the US", he says referring to Mission Chinese which was recently voted by Bon Appetit as the US's 2nd best new eatery. "It's one of the best culturally diverse neighborhoods in the city and we're so happy to be here". FFDG opens their first show "MCD LAB#3: Fake Sunset" on Friday, January 6th (6-9pm).

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Artists bios

Alexandre Cruz "Sesper" (São Paulo – Brazil – www.sesper.com)
Artist, zine maker, designer, video maker, curator, Garage Fuzz band's vocalist and founding/partner of Most, the first urban art gallery in Brazil. Collector and researcher of skateboard decks from the 80s and 90s, he produced RE:Board, a documentary and series of exhibitions about the art developed in that medium. Participated in several art exhibitions around the world.

Fabio Amad "Bitão" (São Paulo – Brazil – www.flickr.com/fbitao)
Former professional skateboarder, has been involved with skateboarding for over twenty years. Since the 90s he develops a work of photography dedicated to recording the lifestyle and the scene of skateboarding in Brazil and abroad, having photos published in several magazines around the world. In 2008 he launched his book 365 Graus, and toured all over Brazil making launches and exhibitions. Besides photography, he develops an artwork carving used skateboard decks.

Talita Hoffmann (Porto Alegre – Brazil – www.talitahoffmann.com)
Graduated in graphic design, Talita participated in several collective exhibitions in Brazil and abroad, in countries such as the United States, Australia, Finland, Spain and England. She was winner of the competition / exhibition "The New Generation" held by the Museu do Trabalho in Porto Alegre, which aimed to reveal new talents from arts. The prize was her first solo show entitled "Field and Antennas." Her works mix folk and naïve, with a growing repertoire of unusual characters.

Alberto Monteiro (Rio de Janeiro – Brazil – www.anti-usual.fotoblog.uol.com.br)
Started producing zines between 1988 and 1999, after experimenting with oil on canvas. Collaborated with comics and illustrations in several zines and gathered together several zine makers throughout Brazil. After the experience with this type of publication, he returned to painting, now on paper, and had his first solo show in LOGO gallery (São Paulo), in 2011.

Lucas Valente "Cabu" (São Paulo – Brazil – www.flickr.com/cabu_valente)
Lucas Valente, also known as Cabu, is a multimedia artist. Zine maker and video artist, he began his career recording the punk/hardcore scene in Sao Paulo. He went from unassuming mini-documentaries about art and music to commercial work with established bands. Among his new projects, in charge of the video production company Lowtown, are a DVD from the band Boom Boom Kid, and a documentary about the artistic production in the Brazilian hardcore scene of the 1990s.

Anthony Nathan (Curitiba - Brazil -www.flickr.com/anthony_nathan)
Rooted in the subcultures of skateboarding and graffiti, Anthony works as artist and designer, often blending these two worlds. His works can be seen on the walls of Curitiba, using the pseudonym "AUS", or in t-shirt prints for independent streetwear brands, since his geometric shapes and color palette are easily recognized and admired.

Lucas Torres (Belo Horizonte - Brazil - www.flickr.com/lucasv)
One of the most active graffiti writer in BH, Lucas Torres was known for painting his iconic birds on the streets. But his bold lines go far beyond, creating a universe that is, at the same time particular, with an identifiable style, and global, referring to the roots of wild style graffiti, video game characters and mascots from products and brands.

Jeremy Fish (San Francisco - USA - www.sillypinkbunnies.com)
A major name in art, from the emerging Californian underground scene from 90s, Jeremy Fish made ??his unusual creations travel the world through the pages of the legendary Slap skateboard magazine, where he maintained a fixed illustrated column. He also broadcast his creativity through skateboard decks, t-shirts, toys and even a vibrator, while developing a parallel production to exhibit in art galleries.

Aiyana Udesen (San Francisco - USA - www.aiyanaville.com)
Aiyana Udesen is an artist who graduated and lives in San Francisco. Her work refers, in technique to the fast portraits made in squares in major cities. And in theme, she mixes the tacky side of American pop culture, like TV shows or Hollywood stars, with animals and bizarre situations. The strangeness increases with the combinations of indigestible colors. But for the artist, these images are always looking for good humor, because if the work did not make she laughs while she's drawing, then its not a good artwork.

Matt Furie (San Francisco - USA - www.mattfurie.com)
Matt Furies’ drawings are like pictures from another dimension, colorful and definitely bizarre. In the center of his compositions are characters from American pop movies, from science fiction and horror, from TV series for children, as well as new mutations, but strangely familiar to anyone who lived and consumed in the 80s and 90s. His parallel universe overflows to exhibitions in art galleries, comic books, products (such as a strange porcelain tea set) and even video games.

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