WHO REALLY knows what ingredients go into a Samoan Fog Cutter? Even various branches of Trader Vic’s squabble over the exact qualities and quantities, as can be glimpsed in one of the fascinating threads at Tikiroom.com. The point is that a certain South Pacific island mystique makes just about any cocktail taste better—headier, more exotic. That key link between libation and location will be delved into for this month’s South First Friday event at SLG Art Boutiki & Gallery. In a show called “Modern Primitive Cultural Research and Cocktail Society,” local artists take advantage of the fertile iconography of mixology in a bamboo and coconut vein, with photographs and drawings. Live music will add to the ambience.
The monthly art happening along South First Street also sees an opening reception for Wendell McShine’s show “The Offering” at Anno Domini. McShine, who hails from Trinidad and Tobago, now works in Mexico City. A self-styled underground artist with a background in graphic design, McShine works in a wide variety of media, including animation.
Other notable exhibits include pottery by Lee Middleman and Jon Dunlavy at Higher Fire Clayspace & Gallery; photographs of “Lost San Jose Nights” by Josh Marcotte at Kaleid Gallery; nightmare visions by local artists curated by Lacey Bryant at WORKS/San Jose; paintings of cafes from around the world by Jeanette Turkus at Caffe Trieste, which hosts singers from Mission City Opera as well; photographs of unsung and unlikely valley buildings as glimpsed drive-by fashion by James Dewrance, at Good Karma Vegan Café; and a new exhibit by the First St. Photo Collective in Metro’s lobby gallery.
For South First Friday, South First Billiards presents the Uproar art exhibit by Heart of Chaos. The evening of live music, live art and belly dancing is a benefit for Catalyst of Youth, an organization that assists at-risk young people in the and out of juvenile hall. To go with the opening of its latest show, “Hybrid Spaces: Family Origins & Collaborations” by Las Hermanas Iglesias, MACLA presents an artist talk at 7pm and a program of selections from a musical drama called La Llorona. The performers will be Opera Cultura, Grupo Los Laureles folkoric dancers and the youth dance troupe the Movement. Just next door, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles holds its annual benefit sale of textile and fiber art—High Fiber Under Five. The “five” means under $500, and the event also runs Saturday.
In related art news, on Friday evening the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art offers an advance look at its next show, a retrospective for San Jose artist Tony May.
South First Friday
All Friday night along South First Street in San Jose
