Quirky Berkeley

The Quirky Material Culture of Berkeley

Quirky Berkeley
  • Walkers
  • Help us!
  • Links
  • Blogs/Albums
  • Contact us
  • Latest Posts
  • Quirky Berkeley in the Media
January 17, 2016 by tomdalzell

Will Squier’s Sufficiently Strange Kitsch Central

Scroll down for a May 2016 update to the original post.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley Calif, on December 30th, 2015.

There are two ways that we can do this.

We can convene a Quirky Berkeley Constitutional Convention and debate a change in the rules about my subject matter having to be visible from the street, path, or alley.

Or we can let me function as a benevolent, enlightened, aesthetically attuned dictator and follow this wherever it takes me, visible from the street or not.

Any guesses on which course?  Of course – dictator.  So we will follow where this takes us.  And not apologize or rationalize what I am showing you.  That which is visible from the street, path or alley is Preferred Status Quirky Berkeley of course, but why would I not go inside or feel that I have to make excuses about going inside?  Why?

Will Squier

Will Squier

Carlisle

Carlisle

Will Squier left Connecticut in 1979.  He hitchhiked to California (as every young man should) to be a hippie.  Course correction: the hippie scene was pretty much gone.

He went to Cal.  Majored in English.  Waited tables and indulged his affinity for kitsch and the odd.  He found a mentor and went into the antique business, working for fifteen years with serious antiques at stores in St. Helena and San Mateo.  French furniture, German porcelain, early American.  Big pieces.  He really got good.

But then came eBay and then came a new generation with new tastes and the serious antique business was dropping off.  Following Conrad’s words in Lord Jim, in the destructive element he immersed himself.  In his case, the destructive element is kitsch.

He buys at auction.  He buys at flea markets.  He buys at thrift stores.

He keeps a small fraction of what he acquires, constantly switching in and out.  The criteria for staying in his collection is that it be sufficiently strange.

Sufficiently strange!  What a great phrase. What great criteria.

He sells at flea markets. He sells on eBay.  He makes a living for his cat Carlisle and himself.

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley Calif, on December 30th, 2015.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

It’s hard to get a sense of the whole here at Squier’s Emerson Street apartment.  Everywhere you look there is more than you can see.  Amazing. Close-ups please!

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Abalone shell tableaux by Will Squier.

Abalone shell tableau by Will Squier.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Seasonal, but who could resist?

Seasonal, but who could resist?

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015 Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

December 30th, 2015.

Quirky Berkeley 12-30-2015

Each piece gives him joy.  He has something approaching if not arriving at an encyclopedic mind about the stuff.  It makes him happy.  There is nothing that is not intentional.  Really amazing.

What I find different and exciting about Squier and his kitsch:

1) He has embraced his affinity for kitsch. As in Lord Jim:

“And yet it is true it is true. In the destructive element immerse.” He spoke in a subdued tone, without looking at me, one hand on each side of his face. “That was the way. To follow the dream, and again to follow the dream.”

Kitsch was Squier’s first love. Then a living with serious antiques.  And now back to kitsch, in his destructive element immersed.

2) He has a tremendous eye for what he buys.

3) He has a tremendous eye for how he places what he buys.

4) He has a wicked sense of irony in the tableaux he creates.

5) He has Berkeley’s Most Perfect criteria for what he keeps and doesn’t keep – the Sufficiently Strange Standard.

Squier is just really good at this. The joy it brings him informs all.

My friend exhaled slowly after looking at the photos.  “That stuff is photogenic to da max, no?  And, am I the only one, but aren’t those cut-out dudes just a little reminiscent of the art of George Quaintance?”

Center06_GeorgeQuaintance

Especially this portrait he made.  George Quaintance (1902-1957) was a pioneer in the field of homoerotic art.  His paintings presented a fairytale gay world that glorified masculinity at its highest ideal – sailors, soldiers, bikers, and the rough trade that hovered around the edges of the gay world.

QuaintanceMagazineCover tumblr_m61m93fENT1qad0yco1_500

In short, Quaintance through his artwork portrayed the homosexual macho stud, a giant leap from the then-prevalent effeminate stereotype.

I definitely saw the nexus between the cut-out figures and Quaintance, but that was a conversation for another time.  For now, what about Will Squier’s sufficiently strange stuff?

IMG_3677-225x300

May 2016 update!

In March 2016, three months after my original visit to Squier’s sufficiently strange kitsch world, I went back.  Lots of new stuff!  Lots of new juxtapositions! 

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016

.

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016

Quirky Berkeley in Berkeley, Calif. on March 26th, 2016.

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016 Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016Pious eyes might choose to avoid the next photo:

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016What a cool bunch of sufficiently strange kitsch!

Quirky Berkeley 03-26-2016

 

I showed these new photos to my friend.  It is always just a little bit risky to show him photos of dolls and figures – he is a sensitive man and height is an issue.  He was delighted here, though, and exclaimed:

IMG_3677-225x300

 

Posted in Uncategorized. RSS 2.0 feed.
« OMG – 2233 McKinley
What a trip! »

8 Responses to Will Squier’s Sufficiently Strange Kitsch Central

  1. doug heine says:
    January 17, 2016 at 7:57 pm

    Will Squire is certainly sufficiently strange. A nice addition to the quirk that is Berk.

    All the best, Doug

    Reply
    • will says:
      February 6, 2016 at 9:35 pm

      Quirkier by the day, but thats ok. Thanks, Doug

      Reply
  2. Kathy says:
    January 20, 2016 at 3:40 pm

    I love the way he takes the seemingly ordinary and throws a “sufficiently strange” twist to it. The nun swimming with the sea nymphs, the doll head on what might be a Shakespeare bust, the doll parts hanging from a stamp holder ,,,, pure genius!

    Reply
    • will says:
      February 6, 2016 at 9:33 pm

      Pure as the driven slush. Thanks, Kathy

      Reply
  3. Bountiful says:
    January 31, 2016 at 1:20 pm

    Looks like my house! When I die, you may want to make a trip over to Minnesota, Will!

    Reply
    • will says:
      February 6, 2016 at 9:29 pm

      Why wait? I’d rather you be there too. I’m up for a road trip.

      Reply
  4. Beany Wezelman says:
    March 29, 2016 at 4:02 am

    FABULOUS AND FUN!!!! I love it! It makes my ethnically cluttered house look empty. Please have house tours.

    Reply
    • tomdalzell says:
      March 29, 2016 at 4:08 am

      Will – check out my post on Beany and Dick’s house and African Art. It is same thing only different from you. They are Good People and like you are in the inner circle of Quirky Berkeley.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Here you will find photos of the oddball, whimsical, eccentric, and the near-rhyme quirky material culture of Berkeley.
Read More

Subscribe

Categories

  • Animals
  • Architecture
  • Cars, Trains and Planes
  • Food
  • Gone
  • Graffiti
  • Ma
  • Mailboxes
  • Major Quirky
  • Miscellaneous
  • Murals
  • Painted
  • Peace
  • Signs
  • Walks

All content © 2025 by Quirky Berkeley. Base WordPress Theme by Graph Paper Press