Sunday Talks at Faber's Cyclery
Host / Curator: Alexander La Riviere
Artist: Alex Clausen
Three talks will be given by Mr. La Riviere about the evolution of the bicycle, the local history of one of the oldest continuosly operating bicycle shops in the country, and stories from his personal association with the two-wheeled machine.
Please RSVP by calling 408.283.8155, seating is limited.
All talks begin at 2pm and last approximately 1.5 hours.
Sunday April 13th, April 27th, & May 4th
Upon his first visit to the old, leaning wooden building where Alexander LaRiviere lives and operates Faber’s Cyclery and his bicycle accident investigation business, Alex Clausen felt that he should not change a thing. He saw the layers of history, present in both the range of contemporary bicycles housed alongside their counterparts from the 1800’s, and in the modern tools and newspapers spread on the wooden bar from the saloon that occupied the building in its first incarnation over 100 years earlier. Over the course of conversations with La Riviere, the artist became convinced of the importance of preserving the structure from the destructive eye of developers and the city of San Jose.
Clausen has done a great deal of work in private residences, primarily reordering and sculpting with the occupant’s furniture and possessions. Because of the temporary nature of these installations, the photographs that he takes on site have primarily represented Alex’s work. The month and a half time span of this exhibition, poses a new challenge for the artist, but also an opportunity. La Riviere’s deep appreciation for the ‘personality’ and an understanding of the history of the space mark another significant difference between this site and the places that the artist has worked previously, for which he describes his actions as “an attempt to change the way the resident views a fairly conventional domestic space.”
A primary concern for Clausen, having joined Alexander as an advocate to defend the property, is the question of how to make the exterior of the building more inviting and more representative of the beauty and history that it contains. On his first visit, the artist was especially intrigued by Alexander’s description of the social history of bicycles, explaining that when they first were made available to the public with air tires, they held a magical quality and cyclists described the experience as akin to ‘flying.’ The sheer number of forks, wheels, and fenders also appeal to Clausen’s formal, sculptural sensibilities. In addition to his work highlighting the outside of the building, the artist is interested in using his position to organize opportunities to share this rich environment and the knowledge of its proprietor with a wider audience.