Friday, June 27, 2008

Alëxone - Assez d'essais

Short video filmed at the latest exhibition of the french graffiti/street-art artist AlexOne.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

NEA Surveys Professional Artists

The National Endowment for the Arts has compiled the first national profile of professional artists. Among the eye-opening results drawn from the 2005 census is the fact that more Americans ticked off "artist" as their primary occupation than "lawyer," "doctor," "police officer," or "farm worker" — that's two million Americans in all, with a combined income of roughly $70 billion, or a median of $34,800 each. More men than women identify themselves as artists, with women outpacing men only among dancers, writers, and designers.













New York State has the most artists per capita, with California boasting the most actors and Nevada the most dancers and entertainers.

Click on the graphs for printable image.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Raju x JPG magazine


I have a little gallery with some of my photos on JPG magazine's website. Click on the link below to get there:

Raju

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OS GEMEOS x DEITCH PROJECTS

OS GEMEOS
TOO FAR TOO CLOSE

JUNE 28 - AUGUST 9, 2008
OPENING SATURDAY 28, 6 - 9 PM

DEITCH PROJECTS
18 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 343-7300


Os Gemeos (pronounced "ose zhe'-mee-ose.") are two artists from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo were born in 1974, identical twin brothers whose pseudonym, Os Gemeos, translates to "the twins" in Portuguese. In addition to their incredible works created on the streets of Sao Paulo, the twins have in recent years exhibited their art in museums all over the world. Mona and I met the brothers in 1999 at the California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco.

In Too Far Too Close, Os Gemeos will be transforming the gallery into a fantastical cityscape with houses, doors, and passageways, all brought to life with their signature style of imagery. Building upon a group of artworks created for the Museum Het Domein in the Netherlands, this show features new paintings, sculpture, and installation bringing all the magical moments of their work together in one tightly knit dream world of an exhibition.

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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Chapmans Hippify Hitler

Jake and Dinos Chapman have never shied away from controversy, but their new work may raise the shock-art bar. The brothers bought 13 watercolors by Adolf Hitler, on which they have painted rainbows, stars, and hearts. The originals were purchased for more than $226,000 and are now priced as one piece — If Hitler Had Been a Hippy How Happy Would We Be — at approximately $1,349,000. In a typically Chapman-esque statement, Jake said: "The idea of redeeming Hitler is bad; the idea of redeeming his work is a staggering work of genius." One commentator called the work "puerile," though such criticism is unlikely to deter the brothers from their other ongoing projects, including a proposed film. In a related story, an Albert Speer-designed Berlin bunker has become a private museum for contemporary art.


For complete story, click on the link below:

The art of Adolf Hitler (with a little help from the Chapman brothers)

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Monday, June 23, 2008

Mass Appeal Magazine x Burlesque Of North America


Stop by your local magazine dealer for the brand new issue of Mass Appeal magazine! It's on newsstands right now! Yes! Not only did our boys from Burlesque Of North America design the cover, but there is a TEN-PAGE feature on Burlesque!

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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Asha's "new" room

IKEA just rules! I've been trying to figure out what to do with Asha's room after her crib got converted to a toddler daybed.


We call it her "princess bed" with a new duvet and pillow (she's hasn't slept with a pillow until now) and the netting.

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Saturday, June 21, 2008

Barry McGee on Current TV

Check out this short Current TV interview with Barry that was filmed at the Riverside Art Museum on the occasion of his show with Clare Rojas entitled the The Big Sad. Footage includes interviews with Barry McGee, footage of Clare Rojas, interviews with Ed Templeton, Dan Nguyen, Jon Roach, Director Daniel Foster, and Adult Ed Curator Lee Tusman.


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Friday, June 20, 2008

T-World Issue #4 Release Party x New York

Click on the flyer for a printable version.

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Mr. Brainwash: Life Is Beautiful


Mr. Brainwash, or MBW, is a documentary filmmaker turned street artist who fell in with the renowned circle of renegade activists, filmmakers, and artists helmed by LA's Shepard Fairey. After having met the mysterious Banksy through Fairey, MBW swapped his camera for paintbrushes and wheatpaste. Life Is Beautiful is his first exhibition and stands as a glorious entrance into Fairey's corner of the art world. Mr. Brainwash's art "happening" brings together more than 100 stencils, oil paintings, and photographs, in addition to a life-size recreation of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, an eight-foot-tall spray can and a 12-foot-tall paper bag. A bar, a live jazz band, and Fairey himself on the decks round out the night's festivities at the 15,000-square-foot former CBS studios.

When
Wednesday June 18 (7–11pm)
Thursday June 19 (1–9pm)
Friday June 20 (1–9pm)
Saturday June 21 (1–9pm)
Sunday June 22 (1–5pm)

Price
FREE

Where
CBS News Studios
6121 West Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, California
323.460.3000

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Sylvia Ji x Shooting Gallery x White Walls

The Shooting Gallery/ White Walls Presents:


New Works by Sylvia Ji

Sylvia Ji is a native of San Francisco currently residing in Southern California, her artwork encapsulates an alluring beauty that is both cutting edge and a nod to time-honored technique. Hauntingly beautiful images brimming with sexual provocation mix with a sense of consternation, hinting that all is not as well as it may initially appear.

opening reception Saturday - June 14, 2008, 7pm - 11pm
showing through July 5th

White Walls
835 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-931-1500

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Dirty Hands: The Art & Crimes of David Choe

Underground artist David Choe's rise to fame and bizarre adventures are chronicled by his lifelong friend Harry Kim, the only one brave enough to follow him from the mean streets of L.A. to the heart of the Congo.


Saturday, June 21, 9:45 p.m.,
Majestic Crest Theatre
Sunday, June 22, 4:00 p.m.,
Mann Festival Theatre
Thursday, June 26, 4:30 p.m.,
Mann Festival Theatre

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Call for entries‏

Roger Ray, Owner/Chief Curator, from Limbo Fine Art in San Diego was selected to curate the artwork that will appear on a new series of wines.

The wines are going to be marketed under the labels, Dada Wines and Graffiti Wines.
Roger is currently looking for artists who are interested in putting forth a proposal for the Graffiti Wines label.

You must be a bona fide graffiti artist to apply. So, if you are not a graffiti artist, please pass this along to someone you know who might fit the bill.

Here is the deal:

Roger will need digital samples of the artist’s portfolio sent via email. He will choose 10 artists to participate in the final round of selection. These finalists will be required to create a 1’ x 1’ sketch of proposed work for actual label.

The winner of will receive the following:
$500. (Wine maker will retain the original art and rights to reproduction.)
Two cases of wine labeled with their artwork. ($500 value)
The artwork will be used to create a 20 unit limited edition giclee.
Artist will receive 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the edition. Sale price is to be determined (We estimate a sale price between $300 and $500 per unit).

This is a great opportunity to get national recognition of your artwork to a very different audience.

Deadline: ASAP

They will be moving forward with labeling toward end of Summer/beginning of Fall.

Contact:

Roger Ray
Owner/Chief Curator

Limbo Fine Art
1432 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103
619.316.2239

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Photographer: LeRoy Grannis

LeRoy Grannis is a California-based photographer famous for capturing Southern California's surf culture. During the '60s, Grannis' work was frequently published in Surfer, Reef, and Surfing Illustrated, and he is regarded as one of the sport's foremost documentarians.

In 1998, Grannis' work was the subject of Photo: Grannis, the first installment in The Surfer's Journal's monograph series dedicated to master surf photographers. In 2002, he was awarded SIMA's Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his surf photography.


Grannis' work is currently on display at the Huntington Library in This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in LA Photographs.

When
June 14 – Sep 15
Mondays (10:30am–4:30pm)
Wednesdays–Sundays (10:30am–4:30pm)

Price $15 - 20

Where
Huntington Library
Art Collections & Botanical Gardens
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California

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Sunday, June 15, 2008

Greg Gossel x The Shooting Gallery

The Shooting Gallery Presents:

"Make Believe" by Greg Gossel
opening reception Saturday - June 14th, 2008
from 7pm - 11pm
showing through July 5th, 2008


The Shooting Gallery
839 Larkin St
SF CA 94109

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The Art & Crimes of David Choe

Here's the preview of Harry Kim’s highly anticipated documentary on street art’s favorite badass, David Choe.

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Friday, June 13, 2008

ANDREW SCHOULTZ 5 SIGNED COMPLETE BOARD SERIES


Andrew Schoultz's sold out board series from Western Edition. All the boards are signed by Andrew and for only $400 (starting bid) you get this amazing series. There aren't any more complete sets available anywhere, so this is your shot to get this amazing set! Start your bidding now here at EBay:

EBay

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Film: Documentary: BOMB IT


A modern-day incarnation of 1983's groundbreaking Style Wars, graffiti documentary Bomb It moves past the boroughs of New York to survey the global community of spray-paint artists. Twenty-five years later, the questions remain the same: art or eyesore, vandalism or political voice? Although this film doesn't settle any of these issues, it does provide a tantalizing look at graffiti's history, from late-'60s pioneers Cornbread and Taki 183 to contemporary artist Blek le Rat. The most entertaining aspect of the film is the juxtaposition between scorning Graffiti Blaster-types and the bombers who consider their work an art form.

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Scion Installation Art Tour: 'It's A Beautiful World' : Paintings

Scion presented the fourth installment of the Scion Installation Art Tour: 'It's A Beautiful World'. Launched in 2003, Scion Installation is a revolutionary art tour featuring work from an unprecedented collective of contemporary artists. For 4 years the tour has evolved, and each year the medium with which the artists showcase their work evolves. For Installation 4, the theme "It's a Beautiful World" was interpreted by each artist in one of four mediums; painting, photography, sculpture, and collage. Scion Installation 4 visited 9 cities around the country with a final stop in Los Angeles where all of the artwork was auctioned off to the public.


James Jean was born in Taiwan in 1979, raised in New Jersey, and educated at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Upon graduating in 2001, he quickly became an acclaimed cover artist for DC Comics, garnering three consecutive Eisner awards, two Harvey awards, two gold medals and a silver from the Society of Illustrators of LA, and a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators of NY. He has also contributed to many national and international publications. His clients include Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, ESPN, Atlantic Records, Target, Playboy, Knopf, among others. A book of his work entitled Process Recess was published in 2005, and a second book of his art entitled PR2: Portfolio will be released in the fall of 2007.


Through striking visual imagery, Jeff Soto communicates profound visions and fears, nostalgia of his youth, and themes of love, lust, and hope. Soto's distinct color palette, subject matter, technique and bold themes resonate with a growing audience. Inspired by childhood toys, the colorful lifestyle of skateboarding and graffiti, hip-hop and popular culture, Soto's representational work is simultaneously accessible and stimulating.

Environmental issues also take precedent for Soto, who is concerned with conflict of humans trying to harness, or take advantage of nature. His paintings exude this tension, as robotic creatures duel, organic tentacles and flower bouquets thrive, and black smog looms amidst floating, ominous skulls.

In 2002, Soto graduated with Distinction from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He currently lives in Southern California, with his wife Jennifer and daughter Shannon.


London Police. Complete bio to come.


Fueled by nostalgia, Michael Sieben's work deals primarily with a loss of innocence. Combining the aesthetic languages of skateboard graphic design and children's book illustrations, Sieben works in a style he refers to as "soft-core gore." Monsters tread a fine line between sweet and grotesque and serve as a friendly reminder that everybody has problems, but that's no reason not to smile.

Michael Sieben lives and works in Austin, Texas with his wife Allison and their two cats Nathan and Josie. He spends his days designing skateboards for Bueno (The Good Company), writing and illustrating articles for Thrasher Magazine (The Bible), collaborating on projects with the Volcom Art Loft, operating Okay Mountain Gallery with his fellow mountaineers, and riding his skateboard on his backyard ramp.


Ron English, a New York-based painter, billboard liberator, and toy designer has exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide for over twenty years his unique sensibility, in which the familiar is reflected through funhouse mirrors into something startlingly new. Recently his commentary and art were featured in the hit movie "Supersize Me," widening his audience beyond the boundaries of intrepid art seekers, and he has appeared on television in the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan. He is also the subject of an award-winning documentary, "POPaganda, the Art and Crimes of Ron English."

In addition to painting, Ron English is widely considered to be one of the seminal figures in the culture jamming movement, in which artists and activists subvert existing advertisements to encourage free thought. He has pirated more than a thousand billboards over the last twenty years, replacing existing advertisements with his own "subvertisements," ranging from his "Cancer Kids" campaign featuring preadolescent camels hawking cigarettes to children, to Apple computer's "Think Different" campaign, where Ron added such 20th Century luminaries as Charles Manson to Apple's roster of spokesmen. Most recently Ron staged an elaborate "tribute" to Ronald McDonald in San Francisco, in collaboration with the Billboard Liberation Front, featuring animatronic sculpture, billboard art and the spontaneous performance of fifty-odd Ronalds, Hamburglars, and assorted clowns.

In July of 2006, Ron premiered his 12 x 27-foot interpretation of "Guernica" at the Station Museum in Houston. Ron's painting, Grade School Guernica, is one foot longer and one foot taller than Picasso's original, featuring a psychodrama acted out by his children, and viewed from the point of view of the bomber airplane. In 2007 the artist celebrates the 70th anniversary of Guernica with a series of billboard installations in Spain depicting modern variations of Picasso's classic painting.

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Scion Installation Art Tour: 'It's A Beautiful World' : Paintings


Xavier Prou aka Blek Le Rat
Born on the 15th November 1951. Paris France.
Live and work in Paris, France.

1971-1976 Studied Etching, Lithography and Painting at the "Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-arts de Paris".

1976-1982 Studied Architecture at "United pedagogiqued'architecture No6" Paris, France.

From 1981 to 2005 his work has focused on urban art in different cities of the world. He is the pioneer of stencil graffiti art, introducing the technique into graffiti in Paris in 1081 and now followed by many artists across the world. He introduced to the urban art landscape the concept of creating life size figures of people.


Caia Koopman was born in 1968 and raised in Livermore, California, just outside San Francisco. She majored in fine art and earned a B.A. at UCSC in Santa Cruz, California. While in Santa Cruz she was seduced by the local skateboarding scene and rounded out her formal education by skating ramps, street, pools and Derby Park. She instinctively started creating skateboard graphics and soon became equally entranced with snowboarding. Her interest in board-sports and the art the flourishes in and around these scenes inspired her to strive for a career creating snowboard graphics. She has become not only a successful commercial artist but also a fine artist. Caia explains her addiction to art, "I've always been an artist-as a kid I would draw to escape, to travel, to explore...and I still do"

Her artwork has been featured in numerous national and international print media including Surfing Girl, Mademoiselle, Details, Girls' Life, Snowboarder Magazine, Teen, Teen Style, Teen people, J-14, Fine and others. Caia has also been featured on MTV, "mtv sports" as an athlete/artist for her snowboarding and painting. She has shown her paintings in a number of galleries around the world and most recently at La Luz de Jesus in L.A. She is currently working as a freelance illustrator and painter in Oceanside, California. There's a political and environmental undercurrent in much of her work, she is an environmentalist at heart so she often paints an interaction between humans, flora and fauna. Caia is inspired by color, dreams, politics, and life.


David Ellis. "I am an artist from a family of musicians. My uncle plays and restores pianos and my brother travels the world playing tenor saxophone. As a kid I had no patience with piano lessons and learning to read music but absorbed everything I heard on the "Super Mix", a Saturday night radio program that was broadcast from the Fort Bragg military base near where I grew up. It was just far enough away that reception required one hand on the pause button and the other on an elaborate assembly of coat hangers, duct tape and tin foil jammed into the hole that was once an antenna on my boom box. I recorded the show every week with the volume low so not to disturb my mother’s ultra sonic night hearing which would result in radio confiscation. Each week a new style of early New York hip hop found its way into the mind of a 12 year old boy living in the attic of a log cabin in rural North Carolina. By the time Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 dropped "The Message," I was writing my own rhymes and banging out beats on the desks at school. Those beats have been in the back of my mind all my life."

David Ellis lives and works in Brooklyn; where his "motion paintings" travel through time like music, where beats are orchestrated and performed on "drum paintings" stretched and tuned to bass, snare, etc. and played via analog drum machines propelled by air, where player pianos meet SP1200s meet improvisational wild style sign painting.


For the last ten years, Francesco LoCastro has been South Florida's thoroughfare to the national Lowbrow art scene, as both a respected artist and as the curator of intrepid art exhibitions. LoCastro was born in Catania, Italy in 1976, raised in Germany, and transplanted to sunny-yet-strange Ft. Lauderdale during high school. His collegiate employment at a commercial art studio opened his mind to art as a life-long career, as well as being the place of introduction to fellow artists and Europeans, Colin and Sas Christian.

As a painter, LoCastro's works are bound together by a hallucinatory surreality, and along the way have featured appearances by pop culture icons such as Tom Waits, controversial figures like Charlton Heston, and a motley assortment of unearthly creatures affected by intensely earthly afflictions and dispositions. His stylistic influences are widely varied - from Sebastian Krueger's exaggerated pop portraiture, Alfonse Mucha's ornate art nouveau illustrations, Chuck Jones to Chuck Close, and beyond. LoCastro's current series of portraits depict a more human identity, but his scintillating touch of the surreal remains. He has shown in numerous galleries all over America, including Copro Nason Gallery in Culver City, Lineage Gallery in Philadelphia, Perihelion Arts in Phoenix, The Shooting Gallery in San Francisco, L'Art Noir Gallery in New Orleans, Fuse Gallery in New York City and Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles.

As a curator, Francesco LoCastro's electrifying shows in Miami's Design District and Wynwood Arts District have ushered in a caliber of Lowbrow art previously unseen in South Florida. "Parallel Universe", "Culture Shock" and "Monsters of Lowbrow" delighted local and national audiences with their vibrant colors, hand-painted and silk-screened mural backdrops, and eye-catching works by many of the biggest luminaries of the movement. LoCastro's curatorial series culminated with "We'll Make a Lover of You" during Art Basel Miami Beach 2006.

LoCastro is featured as one of the distinguished artists who have forged the New Miami Art Movement in the upcoming book "Miami Contemporary Artists" to be released in Spring of 2007 by Schiffer Publishing.


Cody Hudson, who works under the name Struggle Inc., is a Chicago based commercial artist and painter. He is known for work that has a bold, organic and modern feel to it. He has worked on everything from skateboard graphics to national billboard campaigns to mixtape covers. His paintings have been exhibited throughout the US, Europe & Japan. He enjoys ice fishing, sleeping, reading and things made of wood.

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Scion Installation Art Tour: 'It's A Beautiful World' : Collages


Tim McCormick. Born in 1969, Los Angeles, California. lives and works in San Diego.

Tim McCormick brings to his work a unique perspective on issues of fame, pop culture, and self. Perceptions of suburban banality set against the surreal backdrop of Hollywood as well as the influence of San Diego's early surf and skateboard subculture. With a self-taught methodology McCormick currently exhibits in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and throughout the greater U.S.

"My life is an experiment, and my paintings a journal of my daily life. In Spirit my work is a combination of surrealism and figurative expressionism, through those core principles, honest introspection, and an improvisational working process, I paint the images that tug at my subconscious, Each finished painting adds a small part to the whole, and slowly I attempt make sense of the world to myself. Through endless painting, I let these bits and pieces of myself grind and churn against each other, swaying in and out off focus until the message becomes visible. I then can step back and observe myself and those moments of my internal life. This simple reason is why I started painting and will continue to paint for the rest of my life".


Mel Kadel is an artist from the Pennsylvania suburbs, living in Los Angeles for the last 8 years. Mel creates loosely narrative ink drawings using found paper, tiny pens, q-tips and glue. Her drawings have been exhibited widely across the U.S. and abroad. Mel has also been involved in commercial projects for Volcom, Foundation Skateboards, and various bands including Silversun Pickups "Pikul" album. She is represented by the Richard Heller Gallery.


R. Grimes was born in 1974 in Columbia, South Carolina. He spent his childhood in the Florida Keys. During his teen years, Grimes got into skateboarding. Through the skateboard culture R. Grimes was introduced to new art and music. During that time he was influenced by the strong visual language of the skateboard and punk rock community. These influences are apparent in his work today. Later, R. Grimes taught himself how to silk screen. In his late teens early twenties Grimes was simply producing punk rock patches and t-shirts for his friends and their bands. During this time R. Grimes developed a strong Do-It Yourself ethic. R. Grimes is a self taught artist whose methods of producing work would seem archaic to most people. He avoids the use of presses and other machines to produce his art and various projects. By minimizing the use of machinery Grimes preserves the human element in the art of creating. He also believes the more expensive it becomes to produce a piece of work the less personal it becomes. To this day, he uses the same method to produce his silk screens though other expedient and technologically advanced methods are available. The imagery R. Grimes produces in his work are strong, unapologetic and are aimed to speak to our time. His work speaks to a wide audience of various socioeconomic and demographic back grounds.

R. Grimes was late to begin showing his work in galleries. In 2002 he got his start in Objex Art Space once located in Miami, Fl. Since then Grimes has shown work abroad and across the country including, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami), Scion Space, Think Space, The Autopsy (Melbourne, Australia). His work has also been shown by some of the most respected curators including Roger Gastman and Francesco LoCastro. Recently, Grimes worked next to LoCastro during art Basel in Miami Beach to transform the South Florida Art Center into one of the most talked about art exhibits of the world’s biggest art fair. Furthermore, work by R. Grimes has been published in prominent publications such as Swindle magazine and Juxtapoz magazine.

Grimes is also known for his live performance where he brings his screen printing before an audience in an interactive environment. He started printing live in Miami, Fl in small clubs and various local events. Recently he has taken his version of live screen printing beyond the boundaries of his hometown. He has printed live at events including some for Swindle Magazine, Museum of Contemporary Art (Miami), and Juxtapoz Magazine. His performance has been seen in many cities, including, New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami.

Besides being involved in showing his art in galleries and printing live, R. Grimes operates a project he calls Faction. With Faction, Grimes defies the standards that have been set forth by the paradigm of mass production. All items produced under Faction are hand printed without the use of presses or machines. Most recently his project has been available in Urban Outfitters thus, making his work available to thousands of people.

Currently, R. Grimes resides in southern Florida with his wife and three year old son.


Retna from Southern California. Detailed bio to come.


Chris Yormick lives and works in New York City. Growing up, he bounced around coasts and settled his teen years outside of Washington D.C. In the nations capitol is where he cut his teeth on an unhealthy diet of skateboarding, graffiti, and harDCore music. A self taught artist and designer, he was also the art director for Skateboarder Magazine, éS skateboard footwear and worked for such clients as Def Jam and Comme De Garcons. The past four years Chris has weaned away from design and concentrated his time purely on art away from the computer. Chris has shown his work across the globe and is constantly working in ways to expand his vision and voice in the art world.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Scion Installation Art Tour: 'It's A Beautiful World' : Photography


Andy Mueller was raised in the midwest on a healthy diet of BMX, skateboarding, music and magazines. At an early age, Andy became addicted to the art of image making and photo taking. In 1993, Mueller founded OhioGirl, a small design/photo/film studio. After relocating to Chicago in 1994, OhioGirl's client list grew to include companies like Burton Snowboards, RCA Records, Capitol Records, Jade Tree and Thrill Jockey Records. In 1999, Andy relocated again, this time to California to become art director for Girl Skateboard's new shoe company, Lakai Limited Footwear.

Andy continues to work full time for Girl Skateboards/Lakai Limited Footwear and is a member of the infamous Art Dump. In his free time he continues to do freelance projects under the name OhioGirl, runs a t-shirt line called The Quiet Life, and is spending more and more time on his personal photography and art work. Much of Mueller’s work has appeared in graphic design annuals and design books, as well as aired on MTV, and published in numerous magazines; he has also shown his artwork in the U.S., Europe, U.S.Japan, Australia, and Canada.

Andy Mueller currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, son, two cats, a bird and a ping pong habit.


Angela Boatwright. Hailing from Columbus, Ohio where she attended the same high school as Patrick O'Dell, Angela moved to New York City in June of 1993 to follow her dreams to become a photographer. Fast-forward thirteen years and Angela is now blissfully devoid of free time and has shot for almost every reputable magazine in the rack, from "Nylon" to "Vibe" to "Guitar World" to "W." She then took a turn as a photo editor herself at "Mass Appeal."

Not content with just one full-time job, she kept moonlighting, getting a multi-page feature in "Arktip" and shooting an ad campaign for the Truth anti-tobacco campaign that allowed her to work with several of her favorite graffiti artists like Espo and Dave Kinsey. She then went from being the photo editor at "Mass Appeal" to their Special Projects Editor, which means that she contributes story ideas, finds writers, pitches stories, and has input in every aspect of the magazine short of the paper it's printed on.

While she's been involved with "Mass Appeal" for an impressive 9 years altogether, she continues to freelance commercially. She's also shown her work all over the globe, from Texas to Tokyo. "Sorcerers," a collection of metal-related photos, debuted in L.A. in March of 2006, and was featured in the magazine "Dazed and Confused." Part of that show continued on to Max Fish in June, and was shown alongside photos from fellow esteemed NYC photographer Patrick O'Dell. The whole collection then crossed the ocean in August for a show at the 96 Gillespie Gallery in London.

To fill the odd moments between working for clients, Angela created her own company to work for; Killer of Giants which allows her to showcase her work with “Mass Appeal” as well as art shows she curates and produces as well as other projects that she creative directs.


Dalek. For many artists, inspiration comes from experiences they had when they were young children. For DALEK, these experiences were nothing short of traumatic. "When I was in second grade, these workers were building a deck on the back of our house. There were lots of wooden stakes being used as markers with very sharp points. I saw the workers throwing lots of wood out of the back of their truck. Being a kid, I tried to imitate them. But I was a dumb kid and I threw one of the wooden stakes straight up in the air. It came down and planted its self right in my skull. It did a good job of sitting in there for a few seconds. It bled a lot and was a very messy scene. My mom was pretty stressed."

This painful experience could have something to do with the amount of decapitations and puncture wounds often present in DALEK's Space Monkey pieces. These creatures have become a calling card for the artist, and continue to evolve in scope. "The Space Monkeys are human representations for me. They are self-portraits in a lot of ways, and also portraits of humanity. They are floating in nothingness. I didn't want it to be a cartoon strip, like a Space Monkey in a house, then a Space Monkey in a car, so I avoided all of that. I didn't want to develop scenery like a house and trees. Once you put Space Monkeys in that kind of context it looses any kind of fine art quality to me."

Somewhere between head injuries and Space Monkeys, DALEK found time to become a respected graffiti artist and work extensively in the skateboard industry. As for his future with the Space Monkeys, nothing is certain. "That's kind of the beauty of it. I don't have a clue. They always transform rapidly from me drawing the same thing repeatedly. They switch up in undetermined ways. Where it goes depends on a lot of things, but as long as people are interested in seeing them I'll be able to pursue them, grow them out and work with them. Obviously, I would love to be 90 years old and cranking out some form of the Space Monkeys.


David Choe is one of the most diverse and prolific artists working today. He is one of the youngest artists to ever have solo show at the MOCA. He has had his art shown on every surface from canvases to human bodies to third world ,war torn walls, it can be found in every facet of society, from fancy galleries, museums, t-shirts, shoes, movies, billboards, cars, murals, buildings, from New York City to the Congo, Africa to everywhere in between.

David has spoken and lectured at Princeton, DUKE, Dartmouth and other art colleges, he works in every medium, and can paint anything and everything as well as on anything and everything. He has designed and created fine art, murals, movie sets, movie posters, album covers, shoes, t-shirts, toys, calendars, commercials, cars, magazines, books, illustrations for porn and children’s story books, comics, animation, curated art shows, art directed books and magazines. As well as self-publishing all his own books which have all won numerous awards and are sold out.

He has traveled, train hopped and hitchhiked all over the world many times over spreading his art. He’s been homeless, he still sells art out of his parents garage and his beat up mini van.


And our boy from San Fran, Mike Giant.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Scion Installation Art Tour: 'It's A Beautiful World' : Sculptures


Andrew Pommier's work is a mixture of the cute and the "it's funny because it is sad." It's work that speaks about the outsider: a lone figure that has chosen to remove himself from the day-to-day, by outwardly displaying his inner thoughts of detachment and singularity. People that spend their days in costumes that once made sense in their lives, as if mascots for disbanded sports teams, now refusing to return the outfits and no longer sure how to live without them.

Pommier uses very graphic inspired techniques. Bold lines, which are informed by a youth spent watching cartoons and reading comic books. Pommier mines the world of his youth much like the Japanese artists Yoshimoto Nara and Aya Takano but he also finds inspiration in classic works such as Manet's "The Fifer" and his Beggar-Philosopher series.

Most of his creative output begins within the pages of a sketchbook. In the past few years he has started to introduce more drawing elements into both his watercolors and also in his larger paintings. The pencil line within the completed pieces translates an energy and an honesty of construction. The viewer can see the process involved in getting to a completed painting and this is laid bare in his recent work.

Pommier has crissed crossed from commercial work for such companies as Virgin Mobile and Toy Machine Skateboards to the gallery world were he has shown in far afield places such as Australia and Germany to much closer locations such as Toronto and Denver as well as LA and New York.

For almost three years Andrew Pommier has found himself living and working on the west coast of Canada. He moved to the west coast for no other reason that he needed a change of scenery after living in Toronto his home after graduating in 1996 from the Ontario College of Art and Design.


Blaine Fontana. Born in Seattle, WA and raised on Bainbridge Is. (a small and private artistic community west of Seattle), Blaine began his interest in art at a young age. Always encouraged to use his imagination, he continued to study and practice the arts whenever available. During his teens he commuted to two High Schools in order to study graphic design, photography, sculpture and life drawing. After graduating in 1994, he pursued his education of life in the streets of Seattle and Portland as a Writer (Graffiti Artist).

After about 4 years of being in and out of towns and community colleges, Blaine and his younger brother decided to put their talents in the professional arena. Both choose to attend Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. Four years later Blaine left with a BFA in Communication Art/Design at the top of his class with the "Best in Show" award that is presented upon Graduation in 2002. During School he worked as an Art Director at a cutting edge design firm (Abound LLC.) and also as an Art Director at a Fashion/Lifestyle Magazine (Metro.Pop). Recently Blaine had worked as an Art Director at a young men's apparel company (Drifter), but in January of 2003 he decided to leave the 9-5 world and be self-employed as a fine artist and designer. Since then he hasn't looked back. Blaine has been doing paintings, licensing, graphics and shows for Lineage Gallery, Limited Addiction Gallery, Scribble Theory, Upper Playground, Don O'Melveny Gallery, Pr1mary Space, The Lab 101, Distinction Gallery, Keep A Breast, Pacific Sunwear, Ocean Pacific, Sessions, SCION Installation Art Tour, KID ROBOT, NIKE, Ubiquity Recordings, LRG, Volcom, Metro.Pop, Liquid Force, FLIP, FELT racing & Morey Boards. He keeps busy with commissioned paintings and is represented in numerous galleries across the United States.

Currently Blaine relocated back to Bainbridge Island, WA USA after living in Long Beach, CA for 10 years with his creative partner and girlfriend Eugenie Jolivett, a photographer and designer along with his dogs "Zeus" & "Athena" as a full time fine artist and designer. He shows frequently all across America and keeps busy with commissioned paintings, and high profile company licensing of his artwork and design.


J. Shea. Born and raised in Boston ,Ma.... J.Shea was influenced at an early age by the art of the catholic church..........classic sci-fi film........the pride of the Boston Celtics....and the music and posters of punk rock..........

while attending art school.....Shea created hand bills and posters for rock shows in Boston.........later.....after relocating to the westcoast to design sneakers......Shea began creating color posters for shows up and down the California coast........

it was around this time that Shea began exhibiting his personal art in many forms......
painting....sculpure......assemblege.....and collage....while building a career as
a sneaker designer.....a poster artist.....a puppet fabricator......an illustrator.....
and a muralist..........

Shea works in narritve/surreal themes......in all media.....all by hand...the work is more a folk art meets decrative art style then a traditional art style....his work is exhibited all over the country........and he currently works out of his studio in downtown Los Angeles.........


Sage Vaughn. Born 1976 an hour and a quarter after the bicentennial in Jacksonville Oregon. Lives and works in Los Angeles.


Yoskay Yamamoto. Born and raised in Toba, Japan, Yoskay Yamamoto moved to the United States at the age of 15. A self-trained illustrator, Yamamoto’s artistic tastes expanded as he fell in love with the urban culture of the West coast. Yamamoto discovered a way to fuse the two different cultural backgrounds together into his work. Yamamoto nostalgically blends pop iconic characters from his new Western home with traditional and mythical Japanese elements, balancing his Asian heritage with urban pop art. He has sold out his work recently at shows in San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles.

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Scion Installation Art Tour: 'It's A Beautiful World'

I was able to score some really nice pieces on the final day at the auction. Most galleries take 40 to 50% from the final sale price but this is the only gallery that give 100% of the proceeds to the artist or toward art related charities.


Everything is still in bubble wrap but here's what I won:


Kofie'One is a self taught freelance Illustrator, Painter & Mix-Media artisan born & raised in the City of Angles. After being lured into the colorful & clandestine world of West LA Graffiti Art in his teens, Kof has maintained a steady, progressive fixture & a respected contributer to the Historic LA Movement. In the late 90's his work began to focus on exaggerating elements of his developing letter-forms & structures, quickly locking down his own architect like demeanor in his line works. These days Kof can be found at his East Los Angeles studio producing assemblage works, watercolors, mural installations & still finds time to manage his own personal clothing collection 'Draftsmen'. Distributed domestically & overseas since 2001, they incorporate his unique hand assembled cut & paste designs & a non-trend riding asthetic.

Recent clients Include Juxtapoz, Stussy, A+D Museum-LA, Parco-JP, Tronic Studios-NY, Frank 151 & Endeavor Snowboards.


Travis Millard is responsible for the Fudge Factory Comics operation headquartered in Los Angeles. The former weight-lifting prodigy found refuge in drawing after splitting his neck in a nasty competitive flexing accident as a child. Since then, his work has been exhibited in the US and internationally, and has been published in numerous books and magazines. Recent books by Travis Millard include the collaborative with Michael Sieben, "Hitten' Switches"; and the recent "Hey Fudge", a 240 page solo release with Narrow Books. His drawings are represented by the Richard Heller Gallery.


Freddi C is originally from London, England but has made Los Angeles her home for the past seven years. Before moving to L.A., she lived in NYC for eight years, where she worked as an art director for a textile design company. It was in New York that she also started painting. After exhibiting in NYC, she took a break from painting completely and moved to Los Angeles. In August 1999 she started painting a series of paintings entitled ‘Flyer Miles’. Following the success of this series, she has been working full-time as an artist, graphic designer and curator - founding ‘STREETWISE’. In 2003 she opened her own gallery in Los Angeles - The Lab 101 Gallery.


And this great photograph by Mike Giant, taken in El Salvador. Birth. Upstate New York. Drawing. New Mexico. BMX bikes. Heavy Metal. Skateboarding. Punk rock. Hip-hop. Thailand. College. Dishwasher. Raves. Lorelei. First tattoo. San Francisco. Dharma. Think Skateboards. Angi. London. Adult bookstore. Computer animation. Tattooing. New York City. Newskool. Skullz Press. Everlasting. Track bikes. Brooke and Leia. Tokyo. Tattoo 13. Plum Village. Albuquerque. Stay Gold. Rebel8. Manifestations. Penny farthings. Ordination. Megan. 35. Right here. Right now.

...can't wait for the next year's auction.

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Monday, June 09, 2008

KAWS 4FT COMPANION (Grey Version)


On June 6th, Kaws released his 4FT COMPANION (Grey Version). Because it was only available on his website, the product was sold out within hours. Limited to 2000 pieces with a price tag of $3000. This time, he was nice enough to offer it U.S. buyers only.

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Sunday, June 08, 2008

Guerrilla Marketing

The goals of guerrilla marketing are relatively simple: use unconventional tactics to advertise on a small budget.


Read the history of guerrilla marketing on:

Weburbanist

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Saturday, June 07, 2008

Afrika Bambaataa-Planet Rock Kraftwerk Original Video

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Dilated Peoples feat. Kayne West - This Way

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Friday, June 06, 2008

Van Gogh's last painting?

· Owner claims authenticity about to be confirmed
· Nazi war loot said to be third Dr Gachet picture


A portrait stashed in a bank vault in Athens could be the last painting Vincent van Gogh produced, according to some art experts and collectors who are attempting to determine the authenticity of the picture found among the possessions of a Greek world war two resistance fighter.

Click on the link for complete store:

Van Gogh

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