sepeblog » art

San Precario, Patron Saint of Precarious Workers and Lives

Tom Sepe — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 06:29:55 +0000

Last night my dear friend Mona Caron handed me a small card with an image of a modern-looking man with his hands together in prayer, San Precario, with some words printed on the back. The words were in Spanish, but it didn’t take a translation to understand that what I was holding in my hand is an expression of our times; the increasing lack of stability in the workplace and the age-old desire for right-livelihood.

We had just finished watching “The Economics of Happiness” a film that critiques Globalization and promotes localization. I highly recommend checking it out, even though it is difficult to solve the complex problems of the whole world in 1.5 hours of film. Nevertheless it provided some excellent discussion.

Well I don’t want to open up too many cans ‘o worms here. Mostly just wanted to send out this image of San Precario. If you want to read more check out this link:

FCJ-023 On the Life and Deeds of San Precario, Patron Saint of Precarious Workers and Lives | The Fibreculture Journal : 05.

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Slot Car Races at the SF Night Market

Tom Sepe — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:34:12 +0000

NJW_8252 | NJW_8213

Originally uploaded by Nick Winterhalter

I had a lot of fun being a track marshal last night for the first SF night Market. Five Ton Crane put together a fantastic 4-lane slot car racetrack in the back of a rented Box truck, and parked it at 24th St & Illinois in San Francisco along with 18 other trucks each with different installations by different groups of artists. Big props to David Shulman for spearheading the effort and Greg Jones for all the slot car track!

Hosted by Lost Horizon, who have produced this guerrilla art event in Boston and New York in the past, there was a bowling alley in a semi-trailer, a entire garden, Mac and Cheese with attitude, a full gypsy band with stand-up piano, ballroom dancing and Grope-A-Clown just to name a few!

Check out more of these photos by my friend Nick Winterhaler on flickr.com

And here are some photos by from the High School Yearbook Box Truck picture booth:

Keep your ears peeled for the next Night Market East Bay in the spring of 2011!

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Tom Sepe: Portfolio

Tom Sepe — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:01:52 +0000

Here’s a preview of the print-on-demand book I just made of my art. It’s meant to be like a portfolio, but right now its really more like a coffee-table style retrospective of the last ten years. I’ll probably trim it down and go with a smaller format for use as an actual portfolio.

I designed the book in Apple’s professional photo editing application, Aperture (which is kind of like iPhoto on steroids.) But for the next version I think I will go with Blurb.com and do a full re-design using their software.

(for best results click on the view “full screen icon” on the lower right)

My Raygun Rover on German TV

Tom Sepe — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 20:48:16 +0000

The Raygun Rover as well as the Raygun Gothic Rocketship and a bunch of other Bay Area art appears in this German TV Show:

YouTube – Portrait: Robotic Kunst Werkstatt Nimby – arte Tracks vom 24.06.2010.

Click here to view the embedded video.

FLOCK Timelapse Video of Install at ArtOutside 2010

Tom Sepe — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 06:53:40 +0000

Here’s a quick timelapse video edit I just completed of the installation of this epic sculpture, FLOCK, by Michael Christian originally created in 2001 for the Burning Man Festival.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We’ve been here 4 days installing FLOCK by Michael Christian and the Art Outside Festival in Texas.

Film and edit by Tom Sepe

Music by Beats Antique

Get the Whirlygig to the Museum

Tom Sepe — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:05:18 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

I really fantastic opportunity has come my way: to display the Whirlygig Emoto, my steampunk motorbike, at the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation in Waltham Massachusettes. Steampuffin.com is hosting a “Steampunk Form and Function Design Competition.” The opening night is Oct 22nd 2010.
I’ve never had any work in a museum, most of the projects I’ve worked on have been large-scale sculptures or art cars, so this is a very cool thing that I’m super excited about!
However, niether the museum nor I have the funds to ship the bike!

Well that’s where community comes in: I’ve started a fundraising campaign on kickstarter.com to raise the funds to ship the bike. Here’s the catch though: if I don’t meet my target goal of $3000, then I don’t get a single dime from anyone. That’s right. It’s an all-or-nothing kinda deal. As of today I’m a little over a third of the way and there are only 8 more days ’till the campaign ends!!!

I hope you’ll consider clicking on the link and donating.. even $5 – it all adds up!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1455561131/get-the-whirlygig-to-the-museum

Thanks for your support!

The Infinitarium – In Progress Timelapse

Tom Sepe — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:48:26 +0000

Here’s my latest: A timelapse video I just edited of The Infinitarium we are building at Big Art Studios in West Oakland. I’m one of six artists leads building 18 giant over-sized plants out of scrap metal. I’m in charge of building five giant willow trees – each tree will have over 1,200 feet of salvaged steel cable! We have a small army of incredible volunteers showing up everyday to learn welding and build BIG ART!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Directing artists Karen Cusolito and Dan Das Mann designed and envisioned the Infinitarium, a massive interactive sculpture garden that will span an acre and will include state-of-the-art lighting controls and user-controlled pyrotechnic flame effects. It will be a larger-than-life magical botanical garden and will travel to many events and festivals, premiering at the Electric Daisy Carnival, Sand By The Ton, Outside Lands Festival, Burning Man, the PDX Bridge Festival and many more. http://theinfinitarium.com

I’m using a hacked Canon S1is digital still camera and a kit-made 7.4v power supply (kit from Adafruit Industries) connected to a 12v deep cycle marine battery and combining photos and video from my iPhone as well as a mini DV video camera.

My Timelapse Camera Rig

Special thanks to Phil “pEEf” Sadow for assistance with setting up the Canon hack and for the 2nd camera.

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Raygun Rover @ Nasa Ames for Yuri’s Night

Tom Sepe — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:53:49 +0000

DSC_0232_330

Originally uploaded by jon sarriugarte

A Big hit hit with kids of all ages, the Raygun Rover rolled around the tarmac at Nasa Ames Research center April 10th, along with the Raygun Gothic Rocketship, Les Claypool, The Black Keys, Glitch Mob, Beats Antique and many more talented and amazing people!

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WORC- Rocket Video Tease

Tom Sepe — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:00:50 +0000

Wow I just got back from a fantastic weekend in Tahoe with the West Oakland Rocketry Club (WORC)

here’s a little video tease shot with a Casio EX-FS10 at 400 frames per second of my X-Patriot missile:

Click here to view the embedded video.

4 “D” motors. cardboard tube, foam-core fins, whiffle-ball nosecone, perfect paint job. no recovery method. Tahoe WORC trip 2010. Shot with Casio EX-FS10 camera at 400 fps.

stay tuned for the rest!

Winterizing the Steampunk Treehouse (timelapse video)

Tom Sepe — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:51:30 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

The winter storms. Warehouses open their doors and close them again. The treehouse must move. Out of Treasure Island and into the badlands of East Oakland… NIMBY takes us in for a while as we make a list of that which needs fixing; Wiring, windows, holes in walls, a new roof.

In June the Treehouse moves to Delaware to be installed a brewery,.. we’ve got our work cut out for us!