Alhambra SRO
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Dates: December, 2017 – January, 2018
Open Hours: Fridays, 5:00-9:00pm & Saturdays, 12:00-4:00pm
Opening Reception: First Thursday Art Walk, December 7, 6:00-10:00pm
Closing Reception: First Thursday Art Walk, February 1, 6:00-10:00pm
At Ramon’s Tailor
Alhambra SRO is a multidisciplinary art project by Paz de la Calzada in collaboration with chef Tomas Marconi. The project consists of a site-specific installation and a gastronomical experience drawn from a local immigrant community of the Tenderloin in San Francisco. This project not only playfully engages with the architectural features of Ramon’s Tailor but also comments upon the cultural and social dynamics of this neighborhood.
This Site-Specific installation consists of a geometric pattern found in The Alhambra Palace in Spain, made of hand-cut pieces of recycled carpet from a hotel in the Tenderloin. The pattern will be repeated through the gallery, including floors emphasizing the decorative style of arabic tiles.
Parallel to the artwork, in collaboration with the local muslim community, the artists will create a pastry with influences from Yemeni cuisine and from the arabic-andalusi desserts of Jerez de la Frontera. The food serves as a bridge from xenophobic stereotypes to conviviality.
About the Artist
Paz de la Calzada, a native of Spain, is a San Francisco based artist working in site-specific drawing and temporary projects that have a real and direct interaction with the public. Her whimsical installations play with existing architecture, responding to social, historical or spatial context.
Using everyday materials to interweave the public and private space, she explores the relationship between urban environment, daily life and ritual. Paz presents her work as a playful examination of the world, the human psyche and the interconnectedness of human beings.
De la Calzada’s work has been shown nationally and internationally, including the San Jose Museum of Art, the Palo Alto Art Center, The De Young Museum, YBCA, the Union Fenosa Museum and the Fundacion Caixa Galicia in Spain, the Leon Trotsky Museum and the San Angel Cultural Center in Mexico City.
Paz came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003 as an Artist in Residence at Djerassi Resident Artist Program. Since then she has been in several residency programs like Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, Millay Colony for the Arts in New York, ArtAmari in Crete and most recently Tvak Studios in India. Her interactive public art project, The Nomadic Labyrinth, is a recipient of the Cultural Equity Grants by the San Francisco Arts Commission.