2.22.2012

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Fashion Rip.  Limited to 50. Each #'d.

Mid February California Trip

I just got back in from a week's trip to California.  I mainly visited parts of L.A, Santa Monica, Culver City, Venice Beach, Beverly Hills, Redondo and Hermosa Beach.  No, I didn't loose wallet in El Segundo, I did that in Fort Worth the day before I left town.  Luckily I had a passport to be able to hop on the plane.  
Unfortunately a lot of the galleries were closed because of President's Day, but I checked out quite a few of my favorite brand shops: The Hundreds, Johnny Cupcake, Kidrobot, Toki Doki, Stussy, Vans, Diamond Supply, Undefeated, Active and multi shops like Fred Segal's, shoe and record shops.  One of the most exciting surprises was at the Stussy shop on La Brea.  It sported murals by two of my favorites: Brain Donnelly aka KAWS and Todd James aka REAS.

KAWS in LA @ Stussy on La Brea

KAWS in LA @ Stussy on La Brea

REAS in LA @ Stussy on La Brea

And of course I had to take a few pictures of the Shepard aka OBEY mural wrapping the parking garage near bye.  It was a busy day so I had to climb a tree to get a decent photo of the front over traffic.  Plus the nice box truck driver who stopped for a few seconds to let me snap a few shots.  thanks!

OBEY in LA mural on La Brea

OBEY in LA mural on La Brea

Local OBEY upkeep in LA

When I walked in the alley to photograph some details, there was a man cleaning up his home where some graff writers had tagged.  He was covering up a small obey stencil with newspaper to paint over the black graffiti next to it.  I stopped and talked with the man and he explained how he met Shepard while he painted the huge mural on the neighboring parking garage.  He told me how he invited Shep into his home and as a gift, Shepard painted a small stencil on his home facing the parking garage.  Phillip, the man painting, said how Shepard used to graffiti this parking garage for years time and time again in the past and how the garage was deteriorating and becoming an eyesore until Shepard came in and made it pleasing again with the mural.  (I still laugh when I hear stories like this.  Artists invited in and/or getting paid to come paint on a venue where they have been throwing up illegal street art for years)

Overall it was a great trip and will definitely go back to Cali soon.

 

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Shepard Fairey (OBEY) takes to the streets of Dallas

Shepard and I on the streets in Big D

Obey mural in progress

Shepard dj-ing the Neon party in Dallas

Earlier this month Shepard cruised into town on a mission.  The Dallas Contemporary commissioned Shep to install several large murals, mainly along Singleton located just northwest of the I30-I35 junction in West Dallas.  The murals took Shepard and his crew about a week to accomplish.  I was lucky enough to take some time out and meet Shepard not only at the Contemporary to help celebrate his murals, but also in the streets while he worked.  From the few conversations we had, I could tell he was a caring guy, and definitely passionate about his work.  The murals all turned out great and hopefully will last for years to come.
Hopefully the city will also back it's own local artists for such murals in the future.

Shepard started his art career in the 1989-90 era when he began his sticker campaign of Phenomenology.  The sticker campaign was meant to awaken the viewer from normal every day propaganda and question the large numbers of Obey stickers emerging into the surrounding environment.  The sticker campaign then grew into other mediums such as larger screen prints, paste ups and stencil collages as well as t-shirts.  Working both legally and illegally, Shepard was on a mission to get his name out.  Many of his images were figures representing equality, peace and love.  With his love of music he also began making pieces of important musicians and singers.  Over the years his fan base grew, but in the election time of Bush vs. Obama his name became internationally known.  Shepard designed the widely used Obama Hope posters used for his election campaign which I believe helped in the election win.  With a huge portfolio of prints and billions of stickers later, he is what you now know today.

Obey icon poster

Obama Hope campaign poster by Obey

I have mainly been following his work since the early 2000's and have collected several prints, books, stickers, etc.  One of my prize possessions is a skateboard deck prototype made by Monkey with the vintage Powell Peralta rip bones logo.  I took my deck to the book signing to have him throw his John Hancock on it.  Unfortunately, this became a huge ordeal with the Contemporary as they only wanted him to sign books. (since they were selling books $$$)  It got to the point where all the employees had me under surveillance and kept telling me he can't sign that.  I figured I would stay in line and try anyways.  I figured worst case scenario they'll ask me to leave, though I didn't really believe they would stoop so low.  I guessed they wouldn't snatch anything out of Shepard's hand, so my goal was to get the deck into his hands, game over.  When it was my turn, the usher asked where my book was and again stated he can't sign my deck.  I replied, "ok, I don't have a book" and just stood there.  As she didn't know what to say next, I then just stepped up past her and handed the deck to Shep and he grabbed it as we began to talk a bit about how long he stayed the night before working on one of the murals.  As he then looked down at the deck and recognized what it was, he looked slightly disgusted, leaned back and said, "Those people never paid me!" (as he pointed to the Monkey manufacturing logo)  Then quickly followed that response with, "Well, I never paid Powell for the rip bones image either, eh."  He laughed and signed it.  Since the ushers were speechless and didn't know what to do since he signed it, I figured I would hand him a few other "non book" items to sign including a large obey giant face sticker and my blackbook.  Took a photo, and let him finish autographing books for the folks behind me so he could get to the talk he was supposed to be giving.  I just thought how small and futile the entire situation was, but how big of a deal the ushers turned it into.  Ironic situation as the title of Shepard's book they were selling: SUPPLY AND DEMAND.

Shepard Fairey aka Obey signing my Ripper deck.  image taken from http://obeyclothing.com/blog/

I'm getting geared up for about a dozen new paintings and am always stretching canvas as well as making art panel boards to paint on.  Are you itching to paint but don't want to spend 150.00 on a pre-fabricated canvas from the store?  If you need a custom canvas to paint on contact me about pricing and availability.  I make custom gallery wrapped stretchers with grade A canvas with 2 coats of gesso.  Centrally located in Fort Worth Texas, I am easily accessible to the DFW metroplex.

 

DJ Turntable Customizations

 I decided to dedicate a short blog to my friend Joel aka Crazy-J who customizes DJ turntables.  I think he is literally the best in the biz right now and he is out of my local DFW TX area.  Owner of Work It Records in Fort Worth since 1999, he has been in this industry even before then while operating more than just a store front in California since 1991.  Joel's shop not only sold the much needed DJ gear from turntables, records, lighting and more, but became a home for many established DJ's as well as a place that welcomed new inexperienced DJ's.  From DJ-ing, mix tapes, equipment sales, fixing up busted equipment and customizations, Joel is a man of many trades.  I have personally used Joel on several occasions.  From broken Technics 1200 turntables, mixers and speakers to modifying most of my equipment including several sets of Turntables.  I have only received top quality work from Joel.  Which I have to admit, the first time I used Joel I was skeptical mainly because he was charging the least amount of money of anyone I knew.  To my surprise, my equipment looked better than I could have imagined and Joel was my guy from that point on.  I have always believed in the phrase: "you get what you pay for."  Joel is the exception to this. I have never seen Joel take any shortcuts on any job.  When those troublesome times come when unexpected setbacks take more time, cash and effort, he doesn't complain and just works right through it to fix it right the first time.  Joel seems to keep busy these days with a few gigs here and there, but he seems to spend most of his time customizing turntables for not just prominent DJ's, but also new up and coming DJ's all across the states.  You can get details on contacting Joel at http://www.workitrecords.org  Besides Joel's workmanship as a business owner, he is a great person in general.  A family man with morals and someone that will give his time to anyone.  I don't think I have ever seen Joel angry or cussing up a storm.  Truly a nice guy and humble to boot!

 Here is a set of Technics 1200MK2 Turntables Joel Customized for me.

The bright blue lights set off the pearl white paint beautifully!

 SANTA CLAUS  KAWS is coming to town!

 

Old KAWS vs. Rihanna poster.

As you may or may not be aware, Brian Donnelly is having a show at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.  Opening up to the public December 11th 2011 and closing the 19th of January 2012.  With just a one month window, you are going to have to be quick to get in and see this grouping of artwork.  Many know his work from the street moniker KAWS back in the day when he used to post up graffiti around New York.  His style was nothing short of amazing.  It was fluid, clean, crisp and he always had his original touch as it flowed in and out of commercial billboard propaganda.  I remember seeking out the top pieces in the train yard during lunch at school.  Finding a Kaws piece was always excitement, but rarely happened.  Brian was always looking for heavily populated areas to throw up some street art.  Kaws later turned to bus stop advertisements to reconfigure and turn into his own.  This particular poster size ad style caught the attention of not only street artists, but those individuals in the original advertisements.  These pieces were so clean that passerby's thought his added creations were the original advertisements.  Soon companies, models and superstars wanted 'KAWS' to be apart of their campaign advertisements.  It has been gallery shows, museum shows, toy shows, clothing lines, photo shoots, videos and probably a ton of fun from there on out.  His popularity is ever so growing in the art scene on the streets and in the stores.  Check out his blog and news at www.kawsone.com