James Turner, creator of Rex Libris, has a prolific imagination, so we're never short on awesome digital art from him for the Boutiki. (He also designed the Boutiki's mascot, who really should have a name.) The walls are covered with his art, and it will be until August. Here are some photos!

Remember, the Boutiki show opening party is tonight at 8 at 577 South Market St., San Jose, CA!

We're busily setting up the new two-person show that's opening tonight at the Boutiki in San Jose, featuring the assemblage pieces of Paul Loughridge and the digital artwork of James Turner, creator of Rex Libris and The Warlord of Io.

First, I'll show you the work of Paul Loughridge, the first non-comics artist whose work we've shown at the Boutiki. His robots made of found objects caught our eye, and the Boutiki is going to be home to more than forty of his pieces until August!

These pictures were taken as we assemble the show, so everything's still in the "just unpacked" stage.

The opening party for this show is tonight, starting at eight! 577 South Market St., San Jose, CA!








(Dig the rooster? Well, he's been taken down now.)

We're keeping the Boutiki open late this Friday for the opening party of our "Creatures, Visions and Flights of Fantasy" show, featuring art by SLG mainstays James Turner, Ethan Nicolle, Andy Ristaino, and Norman Felchle. The Boutiki is going to have more art than ever, with "Gallery B" now up in the warehouse. As with all of our First Friday parties, there will be refreshments and entertainment.

The Boutiki is located at 577 South Market St., San Jose, California. There's street parking a block or so South of us and a block or so North in a city parking lot. We're part of the First Friday Art Walk (please note that the art now up at this link is probably NSFW), so you might be able to catch a pedicab from one of the other galleries, too.

Andy Ristaino's original art from The Babysitter and Life of a Fetus are hanging in the Boutiki Gallery now and available for purchase, and will be up through April 3. Come on in to take a look before you're out of luck! I'll have pictures up next week.

The opening party was last Friday, and Andy and his friends treated us to some music-making. Here are some pictures:

The rest of the comic book industry is gearing up for New York Comic-Con, but at SLG, we're preparing for the February 6th opening of our new gallery show, The Art of Andy Ristaino.

Yes, we are showing off the artwork of the creator of Life and a Fetus and The Babysitter at the beautiful Boutiki, and it is going to astound you. If you come by, that is. And you should. We'll have food, drinks, and live music, too. And with theremin-toting Andy's musician friends, you can bet the music is going to be interesting. The show is part of San Jose's South First Friday Art Walk.

The party starts at 7 p.m.! The Boutiki is located at 577 South Market St., San Jose, CA 95113. Here's the parking situation: There is some street parking about a block south of us on Market St. and a municipal parking lot about a block north, under the overpass. There is also a limited amount of parking on Reed St., which is the nearest cross street to us.

Hope to see you there! You can RSVP on the Facebook event page, too.

As promised, here are pictures of the Boutiki and our grand opening party!

First, here's the front window. You can see our neighborhood reflected in the glass, as well as my spooky silhouette as I take the picture.


That wood panel was sculpted by Bosko.


( For the rest, you must click! )

As we were readying the art to go on the wall, we decided to add some pieces from the SLG "permanent collection." So in addition to gallery pieces, you'll also see original comic art by Mark Buck (one of the earliest images of Samurai Penguin), Scott Saavedra, Tommy Kovac, Anid Watson, Jim Rugg, Mike Shoykhet, Crab Scrambly, and Dave Sim and Gerhard (the infamous baby-throwing page from Cerebus).

Party time is at 7 p.m. at 577 South Market St. in San Jose!

Pizza's here!

You know about the Boutiki Grand Opening, right? We're scrambling to get the place ready -- hanging art, price-tagging merchandise, cleaning, all the fun stuff. We're opening on Friday, December 5, and we hope that you can make it if you're in the area. We have original art from Dork and Milk and Cheese by Evan Dorkin on display, as well as illustration and fine art pieces by artists who also do comics --James Turner, S. Eddy Bellows, Andy Ristaino, Lesley Reppeteaux, Camilla d'Errico and Evan Waldinger. We'll be selling original works, as prints of some of the art on display. S. Eddy Bellows will be here to sign copies of his new graphic novel Lulu and Mitzy.

The Boutiki is at 577 South Market St., San Jose, California. This is the same building as the SLG offices, so if you want a tour of the very fascinating editorial and orders departments, we will show you our natural habitat. (I will probably be cleaning off my desk for the occasion.)

Parking-wise, there is street parking about a block south of us on Market St. I believe that the meters are no longer running in the evenings, but don't take my word as gospel here. There is also a city parking lot, the 2nd/280 about a block north of us. However, it is under a freeway overpass and heading toward a more sketchy part of town, so be careful when parking here.

Our show opening is part of San Jose's South First Fridays program, when galleries around the area stay open late for shows and shindigs. Here are some of the other events going on on Friday night:

Anno Domini // the second coming of Art & Design - 366 South First Street
FRESH PRODUCE 8th Annual Invitational Group Exhibit and Art Sale!
Fresh Produce is the highly anticipated invitational group show and sale featuring hundreds of original works of art priced $250 and under. Establishing themselves in the urban contemporary genre through their fearless vision, notable talent and perseverance, we are proud to present 40 artists for this year's 8th annual event.
Christmas cheer spun up by DJ Nate Nothing.

Caffé Trieste - 315 South First Street
Artist's Reception in the mezzanine gallery featuring work by Tamsinn Cowart. Tamsinn's work is autobiographical, using collage as the perfect medium to layer thoughts and images upon which to build her story. Also featuring: Artists Alexandra Cowell, Soprano, Heather Curry, Mezzo-Soprano and Simona Snitkovskya, accompanist from Opera San José  singing your favorite arias beginning at 8:30pm.

MACLA - 510 South First Street On view: Urban Veritas features new work by artists from MACLA's Youth Photography & Video Workshops who explore self expression, identity and sub-culture in the forms of photography, videos and digital work. New voices meet time honored traditions as local youth poets collaborate with Jaliya's West African Drummers 'Guardians of the Word' to fuse the rhythm of words with the poetics of the beat. Join us for an evening of bilingual poetry, including local favorite "Mextape," and music as we bridge a proud tradition with a brave new voice.

San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art -560 South First Street
In the Main Gallery: Manuel Neri: The Figure in Relief.
Internationally acclaimed sculptor's 25-year retrospective of figurative relief sculptures in exclusive Bay Area presentation. As one of the premier figurative sculptors living today, this solo exhibition highlights relief sculptures and related drawings by this living master. In the Focus Gallery: Chris Dorosz: The Painted Room. Playing with the physicality of paint and the pixilation of digital imagery,  this life-size installation of a living room made of splotches of paint suspended on hanging monofilament is a visual treat.

San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles -520 South First Street
On view in the main galleries: Solo exhibitions by four masters of contemporary fiber art: weavers Polly Barton and Mary Zicafoose and quilt artists Eleanor McCain and Mary Anne Jordan. Also on view: Shifting Focus: Ikat Textiles from the Collection which showcases examples of ikat-dyed textiles from the Museum's collection, including a Japanese kimono, Turkistan robes, and many others from around the world.  Also, more High Fiber Under Five art is for sale at 20% off just in time for the holidays. Come to hear the holiday melodies of the barbershop quartet Motley Queue

UPROAR: No Longer Defined By Our Stripes. 2nd Annual Heart of Chaos
Art Exhibit and Sale. Live Music. Live Painting. (This is a 21+ venue)

Space47 - 47 E. William Street (between 1st & 2nd streets)
Binta Ayofem: 68/08, phase II, Ayofemi is a visual artist working in large scale color photography, digital video projection, and sculptural installation. Winner of a National Advancement for the Arts Award and a Harvard Traveling Fellowship, she has exhibited in Boston and San Francisco. Her short film works have been recently exhibited in Prague. She received a MFA  in Art Practice from Stanford University's Dept of Art and Art History, and has a BA in Comparative Literature and Art History from Smith College.

Works San Jose - 451 South First Street
Preview almost 100 pieces of art donated by local artists for Works' long-awaited benefit auction!  Auction date is Sat., Dec. 6, with a final preview at 5 pm and bidding at 7 pm. See a visual preview and put in an early bid online! http://3rl.us/auction

Phantom Galleries - various vacant storefronts in the SoFA District Sidewalk Reception from 8pm - 10pm at 386, 388 South First Street- Mixed media exhibition by Evergreen Valley College Advanced Painting students: John Barrick, Felisha Caruso, Emma Rose Laughlin, John Salomon and Monica Valdez, who have been working on developing unified bodies of work that expresses their personal visions.

Also on view: 455 South First Street- Switch[ed] by Anhony West Patane is a project about the duality between the printed material as we normally see it and as viewed when backlit.

460 Market Street - Yumiko Kayukawa, photographic exhibit, Rhys Sanchez, stencil exhibit

Over on South Fourth Street (at San Fernando):
KALEID gallery - 88 South Fourth Street (street level of Fourth Street Garage)
7-9pm Featured Artists' Reception: More than 30 glass artists from the
San Jose Glass Artist Alliance (SJGAA) will exhibit their one-of-a-kind glass ornaments in a mammoth art installation at the 1st Annual Glass Ornament Show held at Kaleid Gallery. Hundreds of delicate, hand blown glass ornaments arrayed in every color, shape, and size will be available for purchase by the public. Ornaments are priced between $10-$75. This opening night reception will feature holiday tunes sung by selected quartets and small groups from the internationally acclaimed Mission Valley Chorus and Bay Area Showcase.

As promised, here are some pictures of the Boutiki in progress! It's still messy, but it's taking shape, thanks in largest part to the hard work of SLG Prez Dan Vado's wife Michelle, who is designing the space and custom-building tables and our soon-to-be-installed art rail for the gallery.



There's Michelle in the store space. We're trying to figure out what to do to block off the view of the lovely warehouse during gallery shows. (We need to keep the space open during office hours, as deliveries and shipments need to go through the store.) I'm inclined toward a wall on wheels.



A close-up of the bamboo "wall." It's bamboo fencing, suspended from the ceiling. The bar on the left will be the cash register stand, but that's not its final placement.



Tikis and original art (a painting by Crab Scrambly from Everything Can Be Beaten) await placement, with one of our colorful new plants against our very vibrant orange wall.

And now I'm off to lunch and the library.

You know how we've been sprucing things up around here? Well, here's the what-for! I'll have pictures of the store-in-progress soon. The swanky Boutiki promo art is by Rex Libris creator James Turner.