Katherine Achterman
TYP: Art for All
SAN FRANCISCO—I make my way through a nondescript doorway,
leading me through a graffitied wall in SOMA. I’m immediately met with ribcage
rattling tones of experimental electronic music and the scent of burning palo
santo—a South American tree used for mystical purification, apparently.
I’ve just
arrived at the winter TYP Artist Collective showcase, a celebration with
offerings spanning from visual art, live music, zines, and, as the event bill
touts, “dopeness.” This is their last party of the year, and they’ve pulled out
all the stops: in one room, a clown performs. In another, I see a man
practicing sound healing with gongs.
TYP is the
latest and well-lauded creation of Bay Area artists Rio Garcia and Katya Bitar,
both USF graduates. TYP is “a San Francisco based artist collective,” according
to Garcia, and one that is unique in that it is intentionally anti-theme. “The
goal for us is to bring all of these different artists with all of their
different mediums and all of their different personalities and experiences, the
goal is to bring them together and with that, all of their people, so we get a
mix of diversity,” says Garcia. We just want people to be inspired from people
who make art that’s completely different from their own.”
At this
point, TYP generally manifests as art shows, gatherings, collective sharing of
art in one-off celebrations. Such was the case the winter night that I wandered
into the showcase, which took place at Merchants of Reality, a communal artist
studio, residence, and gallery. Because TYP doesn’t have a brick and mortar
location, for now, their shows take place in spaces like this: they collaborate
with existing artist collectives to inspire and create together. Says Garcia of
the collaboration, “I went to Merchants of Reality one night, met one of the
directors of the space, and we just really liked each other. I told him we
wanted to throw a show here, and he just said ‘okay. Let’s do it.’” The results
of this conversation came to fruition in a show that included art as varied an
interactive time machine and a homemade liquor bar.
This kind
of collaboration is reflective of the aims of TYP as a whole—it is, at its
core, radically inclusive. The inclusiveness manifests in membership, in
attendance, and in how expression of creativity abound. “At each of our shows,
we’ve had artists whose art we didn’t even see prior,” says Garcia. “We just
liked them and wanted them to feel included.” Contributions are not held to any
set of criteria, nor do they have to go through an approval process. “We’re not
here to judge, we’re here to give you a wall. We’re not here to be selective,
that’s what we’re against.”
This
non-selectivity was borne initially of the friendship between Garcia and Bitar.
The two describe each other as, to quote, “best fucking friends. A ride or die,
until the end, love each other forever type of friendship.” The relationship
seems crucial in forwarding TYP’s message of inclusiveness. “It comes so
easily, and it’s so much fun,” says Garcia. “It’s not work because we love each
other. We want to keep the artist community alive, we want to keep people
inspired. We intend to let people know that they don’t have to audition for
anything and they don’t have to be any particular type of special, and they
don’t have to look a certain way and their art doesn’t have to be a certain
way. We give them that wall, and that’s fucking rad. We’re going to stick with
it because it feels pretty good, and it feels pretty right.”
Garcia
thinks this push towards uniqueness extends to TYP’s name as well, though that
wasn’t the original intention. Originally a zine created by Bitar and friend
Paul Krantz, when the idea of the art collection came into fruition, the name
stuck. Originally standing for ‘Transcendental Yogi Partiers,’ as it stands,
TYP the acronym is open to interpretation by the user. Some examples include
Turnt Young Philosophers, Tickle Your Pickle, Talented Young People, and Tantalizing
Yummy Peaches. “The term artist collective can be a little intimidating
sometimes,” says Garcia. “This helps.”
When
questioned about the ultimate motive of her creation, Garcia was adamant—“I
just want everyone to know, you don’t have to be an artist to come kick it with
you. You don’t have to be anything. Anybody and everybody is welcome at
anything we throw, ever. Without question nor doubt. We’re just here trying to
make people really fucking happy.”
If you
would like to learn more about TYP, you can follow them on Instagram
@typ.artistcollective
No comments:
Post a Comment