McStuff and Puff: Ajit Chauhan with Tara Foley @ Adobe

Ajit Chauhan with Tara Foley
"Milky Way of Breeding Stallions That Roll, Ejaculating by Themselves"
Performances by Tank Attack, Jessica Pratt and Lathan
Adobe Backroom Gallery
Opening Thursday January 24th 2008, 7-10pm

Last Thursday was the opening for the Adobe Backroom Gallery show for Ajit Chauhan with Tara Foley. Last Thursday was also the day John and I agreed to have me come in to help with Fecal Face stuff. I think I was just about to leave for the office when I got a text asking me to instead check out an art show taking place at Adobe and could I please pen some words for it. Being the hardworking, eternally loyal, dutiful and might I add AWESOME intern that I am, I said no problem and headed there thinking it would be a quick and easy in-and-out (I always think that). Now I’m not sure if this is something I should admit to but obviously I had no idea there was an opening nor had I ever heard of this Ajit (pronounced Ah-jeet) guy. When I got to the bookstore I was thrown off, having never had the opportunity to check out the gallery before nor for the life of me being able to figure out whether I was in the right place or not. I made my way around the bookstore, weaving in and out amongst the shelves, scratching my head, trying to ascertain how this art show was actually going down. Now if you’ve ever been there you’d know that this place can irrefutably qualify as a quintessential bookworm’s wet dream with the narrowly spaced bookshelves lining the wall from floor to almost ceiling, the overflowing abundance of well worn books, the mismatched furniture, the threadbare rugs, the homemade cardboard signs, the smattering of garden variety houseplants, the tight and typical cozy corners to pop a squat in...all things lending this place its dusty, old school, attic-like charm but also with no real wall space to grace any art on.

I was there for 15 minutes before I said "to hell with it" and finally asked the old beatnik looking dude with the headphones manning the front desk whether I was in the right place or not. Turned out that the show opened at 7 and that it was in the back room. Wish I had known beforehand that the gallery name had the word B-A-C-K-R-O-O-M in it. So fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I failed to make it to the actual party to capitalize on the free wine and cheese we all know are the only things art shows are good for, but rather caught Ajit putting on the final touches in preparation for that night’s anticipated event. Just as well though, because the back room was teensy weensy which I imagine would have undoubtedly been overstuffed with rainsoaked peeps had I shown up next to these art loving joes. Not only that, but the plexiglass covered floor serving as extra wall space would have definitely been obscured by dozens of smelly feet due to the no shoes policy of the room. Conclusion? These factors combined probably would have more than likely prevented me from proper documentation AND I wouldn’t have had the chance to chat with the artist nor sign my name on to one of Tara’s books, so I guess it all worked out for the best in the end. Ah, the advantages of being a clueless dimwit.

I don’t know much about Ajit but from what I was able to gather he’s sort of not from one particular place but from all over even though I do think I recall him saying he does hold a special place in his heart for the bay area. His last and most recent showing was at The LAB here in the Mission. His art is comprised of intricately detailed quilled ink drawings that he illustrates on found vintage paper, some of which he got in India while visiting his grandfather's placed. What’s really great about these drawings are the exquisite and meticulous details that invite the viewer to step in and take a closer look. I tried getting detailed shots of some of the pieces but with the lack of flash and all, you can tell that this is something better appreciated in person. At first thinking this was a solo show, I wondered about this Tara person he kept referring to that did the hair. Finally, I figured it out that Tara Foley is the artist credited with doing the mini-book installation portion of it as well. An appropriate choice since they both complemented each others work well. A few of the pieces I really liked plays with letterforms appealing to the graphic designer in me and when asked if there was anything in particular that inspired his work he said not really, that he just flowed in a sort of automatic stream of consciousness mode and that he also tends to find himself repeating certain patterns. Anyways, I'd be more than happy to go on more about these things because it always all very interesting to get the artists perspective on their own stuff but since this post is starting to resemble a novel I think I'll just get on with the show. Cheers!