Kottie Paloma and the Daily Strangers April 24, 2008

Featuring over 250 5" x 7" graphite portraits which San Francisco artist Kottie Paloma produced over the last 2 years (each titled "A Daily Stranger"), the work forms a survey of the strangers in Kottie's life.

The Daily Strangers series is based on the idea of seeing the same person on a daily basis without ever getting to know that person. They are just a face in ones life. An interesting individual kept at a safe distance. To get to know these particular strangers could possibly ruin whatever fantasy one has made up in their head about these people. The reason these portraits are drawn in graphite as opposed to being painted is because the roughness helps illustrate how these strangers sit in a faded or obscure memory in ones head. It serves as a lack of information about the subject. These drawings are meant to be crude and rough which is how these people look or act in real life. The strangers in this show are from the streets of San Francisco, the subways of New York City, and the clogged freeways of Los Angeles.

About Kottie Paloma

Kottie's main subject matter deals with social and personal politics. His goal is to be humorous and serious at the same time. Humor and irony living as equal partners in a world called CrazyTown! The social and personal issues tackled are urban despair, violence, beauty, personal vices, and information overload. He lives and works in San Francisco and has shown throughout San Francisco and his native Los Angeles. Kottie also curates 306 Flat Files which hosts works on paper from contemporary artists from all over the United States.

Official Website: http://www.fecalface.com/gallery