rural benching, and a bit of history.

here is a post i wrote this summer. i finally got around to finishing it. just a little about me and why im here, doing what im doing. 

today i realized that i have not given any back history of why im so interested in art and especially street art and graffiti. some things you want to do for a living end up becoming a hobby, for a long time i was to be a photographer. i took a few classes and even had my own darkroom. i miss the darkroom. but that was not my role in life. one of my favorite subjects to photograph were trains. my home town(currently 1,300 people) was actually moved around 1902-ish about 3 miles south of its original spot to be around train tracks, for farming purposes. while in high school, i realized that every thursday new trains would roll into town and “park” there for a week. and almost all of the trains would have writing on them. and let me tell you, most of this writing was beautiful. i was hooked. this art would come to me every week, all of my friends thought it was “lame”, but to me, it was amazing. every thursday there i was, out at the grain elevators taking pictures. i looked forward to it. me, my headphones, a portable CD player pumping out the best of 90’s punk, and my  camera. after that i spent a lot of time playing music, and this obsession fell to the wayside. i moved up to chi and BAM!!!! “this shit is everywhere!!!” i was so happy. then i started getting into street art and all that goes with it. and here i am today. i was home this summer and looked for these old pictures i took a lifetime ago, but could not find them. so i walked out to the old grain elevators, face to face on the ipod, and my digital camera. and even though it’s not the the best writing in the world. the experience felt really good. i missed it. and i wanted to share a few the pics with you.

after the jump.

EMENPHOTOS.

welcome to 2010acious. i wanted to start the year off with someone who spends all year round photographing graffiti. with thousands of photos, and probably one of the most comprehensive collections of graff pics in chicago. he also contributes to upset magazine. going by the name EMENFUCKOS on the internets, he kindly agreed to answer some of my questions.  after the juuuuuump…..

stuff i liked from 09′

this is just some stuff i really liked this last year. and found interesting and what not. if you come to the site often you will recognize a lot of it. this is just a super-rad-awesome recap of some of 09′. 

starting with my fav some shows this year. keep in mind i missed meeting of styles. so…..ya.

curated by shwanamals at new wave. bits and pieces…blutt, shwanimal, unicorn, revise, and the grocer.

no offense to anyone but the collab blutt/shanimals stuff stole the show here. silly, creative, and well done.

 

jason brammer at the star lounge. time machines. remember this name people. 

 

next is two shows from ohno doom. first off. tetralogy, and then trophy. both amazing shows

tetralogy was a colab piece by emily cunningham, joey d, unicorn, and francis kmiecik. this show was epic. epic. 

and lana crooks’ show trophy was a breath of fresh air. some really cool mounted plush. 

 

ok, on to to other stuff. 

best street campaign of 09. this is a tough one. 

but coming in at number two. the run blago run, campaign. god bless you blow-go. it was everywhere and amazing. 

 

and number one…who the hell do you think?!?!?!? goons and viking. with the blues series. there are like 50 pieces some funny, sad, really funny. all very impressive. 

 

and now, the two best new artists defacing our beautiful city in 09

first off is “dont fret”

 

and next is snacki. dude is getten up everywhere..

 

and sense im doing all this last minute. hows about one more section. creepily called man-crushes of 09′

the entire THC crew. i love everything that comes from this here group. 

 

ok so this is a kind of lame best of list but im low on energy and only had about an hour to do it. ill step up my game in 10.

 

ciao for now

holiday shopping. keep it local, and art-y.

dont know what to buy that special someone, random cousin, or picky brother, this season? dont want to end up in target at 9pm on christmas eve? or buying dad another tie? well here are a few great places to buy art, shirts, books, plush toys, ect, from some  chicago artists.

-the orange alert blog and press, has a holiday sale going on.  some great writers included.

-as mentioned early in the week. lindsey markel’s book you are among friends is a perfect buy for any lady.

-of course the massive amount of fun, silly, cute stuff shawnimals has for sale are always  good stocking stuffers.

-artist cody hudson, has teamed up with an artsy online thing to bring great big wall decals that look just great.

-three hearts club have some really rad t-shirts for sale.

-the dudes at ohnodoom have plush, shirts, and arts all for sale.

-the post family folks have some really great prints and stuff available for sale.

-featherproof books just plain rules. get a book or two.

-black market caviar is a new print shop right next door to rotofugi. go to both places for some great xmas suff.

happy shopping….

birthdays…and such.

Not only is it local yokel Shawn Smith’s(creator of shawnimals) birthday today. happy bday dude.

*nothing art related beyond this point.

But it is also my cousin Amber’s birthday. And this year its a much happier one. A year ago this week the symptoms started for what would soon be found as ovarian cancer. Ill spare the details, and story here. So its been a long year for her. But she is strong, really strong. And i am extremely proud. Also happy to be able to say she is cancer free, and i will see her on xmas. hugs all around.

If you or someone you know is going through or has gone through this. I would like to steer you towards Ambers blog. awesomely named bald heads are sexy, its informative, funny at times, and also sad, but always full of hope.

happy birthday Amber.

winters coming….here.

A. Lewellen. a chicago fav. love it. and boy am i not looking forward to riding this winter.

YAAF book release.

 

friend and contributor to the torn pages show, Lindsey Markel released her book today. im not much for being serious. but seriously, lindsey’s writing, and ideas, have more honesty and love in them than most of us could ever hope . the book is called “YOU ARE AMONG FRIENDS: advice for the little sisters i never had”. it started out as a zine, then podcast, now its a book. sorry boys, this might not be a good read for you, but im sure you know a girl, or lady who needs this book. im telling ya. its worth it. 

and the cover was done with old boyscout field manuals in mind. love it. 

good job Markel….and nice haircut.

gonna spend the next couple days cooken some tasty treats….

 

see ya next week, interwebs.

goons cleans it up.

thats right mayor daily, a street artist promoting a cleaner world, wrap your mind around that one. goons has been kill’en it recently. some new colabo work just went up with viking. and this….good job goons.

more about "goons cleans it up. ", posted with vodpod

saro’s world record postal combo project.

i have been following saro’s postal project for about a year now. (and do plan on devoting my VERY little artistic ability to a sticker to contribute.) it takes a lot of work, time, stamps, time, to put together a collection of stickers that number in the 1000’s. and saro has put all of that and more into this project. and he’s still not there. recently i sat down with saro, in the internets. and found out more about the project.

you started the postal combo project over 2 years ago, what brought on the idea?

well i was puttin up sticker combos around Chicago and it was always fun. Then Me and Artillery started puttin up BIG combos. then i was like, shit, i wanna set some kind of standard. something big ya know? I wanted people to try and brag about a combo they put up to one of their friends and have their friend tell em ” uh, did you see this dude Saros world record combo?” haha i dunno. its all fun

you mention a few times in the forum about this project not being about one person, but the group as a whole. why is that so important to you?

a bunch o’ reasons really. the idea of 1000s of people coming together to set a record in an underdog catagory of art (Street art compared to graff) just gets me teary eyed. Its just crazy how well people can work together if they just tried. when you look at collectives versus solo things, collectives are so much better. its like a thousand different stories rolled up in one project for Chicagos viewing pleasure. haha

when you started did you have any idea you would still be working on it two years later?

(ear-muffs)

FUCK NO! haha didnt think people (including myself) would drag ass so much. Ive had mad help from people world wide too which is awesome. I mean, if it takes me 3 years to do it so be it ya know? i cant rush it, cause the outcome is gonna be stellar.

   

what are your plans for all the work? a show? or will you just cover an entire empty store front? 

A: Well, im in the process off talking to the Oh No Doom guys about settin up a show there for the project. im still debating how im gonna go about this tho, do i show the actual stickers and no ‘in the process of being put up’ pictures ORRRRR do i only show medium format pictures of the stickers, envelopes, sequence shots of them being installed and other awesome pictures. im leaning towards the later.

and i hear speak of a book also?

Yeah i deff want to put out a book. i mean something ive worked on for damn near 3 years deserves to be published haha especially since its a vision of mine of having everyone come together and all that. the book wont be over the top super high budget extra glossy book but itll be a good quality book worth the price.

how great of a recourse has flicker been? 

Flickr has been responsible for about 95% of my sticker entries. so yea, im pretty stoaked about that. flickr is a great network of willing people.

how much time is left in the project? and how can people contribute if they want?

I put a rough deadline of the end of this winter and ill narrow it down as the last stickers come in. if theres people out there reading this that wanna throw down in the worlds largest themed sticker combo and have their art work memorialized in a book then they can either visitwww.flickr.com/groups/streetarthistory or email me at sarorockster@gmail.com (prepare for a small grilling and 20 questions due to the illegality of the project) or wait for the website coming soonwww.postalwreckord.com