Park Life Store: CWA Clement With Attitude

Clement Street has not had such cool since the "Call Me Ms..." boutique and its naughty greeting cards dominated the scene in the early eighties. New arrival Park Life art and design shop flaunts hipster cool as a gallery space plus boutique featuring art books, Japanese gewgaws and decorative accessories for the home. The book selection includes works published by Park Life business partners Derek Song and Jaime Alexander's other venture, Paper Museum Press.

An early alliance with Headlands for the Arts minted their credibility out of the gate. Former Headlands Director now SFMOMA Deputy Director of Development Blair Winn discovered them while strolling down Clement one afternoon and established their reputation by hosting the launch party for the Headlands 20th Anniversary Limited Edition Prints there.

On view now (April 27th through May 23rd, 2007) is commercial skateboard artist Ian Johnson's drawings and paintings featuring portraits of jazz greats. Ian Johnson was born in Syracuse, NY and currently lives and works in San Francisco. Johnson is the Art director for Western Edition Skateboards. His illustrations have appeared in publications that include Straight No Chaser, Wax Poetics, The San Francisco Chronicle, and SB (Japan) among others.

Ian's pen and ink on paper portraits demonstrate strong draftsmanship but the collectibles are the acrylic on wood panel pieces. The show is dynamically curated in the small space, "graffiti style" in a manner that evokes Barry McGee's collage walls.

In the evening, put your name on the list at Burma Star across the street and browse in the store while you wait for your table to come up. By day, it's stroller friendly for the Inner Richmond Mommy crowd.

This show $200-$1200

Park Life Store, 220 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118, Phone: 415.386.7275, Fax: 415.386.7272, Email: info@parklifestore.com Store Hours: 11AM - 8PM Daily, 11AM - 9PM Saturday