what?!?!?

this has nothing to do with anything….but holy crap is it cool. it just makes me think that any original thought we could have has already been done. this video is from 1907!!! ill be posting something worth while real soon. thanks.

more about "what?!?!?", posted with vodpod

uhohmove

ohnodoom is moving to a new location. it will take most of november and december. if you missed their last opening, you can still go check it out during store hours until mid november. 

it’ll be bigger, better, and doom-ier….

tonight…

im a little late on this but there are two shows tonight that need to be checked out.  

one: friend jason brammer is having a show at april 7’s new spot on chicago ave.

Jason’s new exhibition, titled “Fragments From The Future”, will feature new works on paper as well as original paintings from Jason’s “Time Machines” series, including many new pieces not yet shown on the website. Join us at the opening party on Saturday, October 24th to see Jason’s latest artwork in April 7s Custom Frame Shop, at their great new location in the Ukrainian Village.

 

A portion of proceeds from this show will be donated to Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

April 7s Custom Frame Shop

2636 W. Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 

 

and at oh no doom. thought processor, the last show in their current spot and its a good one.

 

THC-can be good for you.

the thc(the hash crew, three hearts club) used to all reside here in chi. but have sense gone a few separate ways. iv interviewed not one but  2 members before. and let me tell you these guys are dope. great style and good work ethic when it comes to their craft. you can see stuff by most of guys all around chicago. i just wanted to show some pics and steer you towards their t-shirts that are now for sale. all of them sick. check the t-shirts.

it’s been so long…

 

all in two weeks, i moved, started a new job, and started playing music again. i went from doing nothing to doing a lot. so iv not had a lot of time to work on stuff for the site. a couple more weeks and ill be back in it. promise. so here is some “filler”.

 

got a press release from artist Ruben Aguirre jr. for a new gallery opening up in pilsen this weekend. 

“I want to inform you with great pleasure of the grand opening of The Beer Run Gallery this weekend in coordination of Pilsen Open Studios. Our mission is to exhibit the work of local lowbrow, urban, graffiti, and tattoo artists for your viewing pleasure. I hope to see most of your faces this weekend for some art and beer, and if not, please stay tuned for our future events. The Beer Run is both a collective studio space and gallery that houses tattoo artists Jimmy Virus, Dahveed, and Paul Nemchausky of Native Rituals Tattoo, Nuco of Studio One, designer and visual artist Jova, and mixed media artist Ruben Aguirre Jr.  The gallery space will officially open this weekend with its innaugural in combination with Pilsen Open studios. Located in the heart of Pilsen, the mission of this gallery is to spotlight emerging and established artists that come from tattooing, graffiti, and street art backgrounds

Oct. 17th &18th 12pm-8pm

The Beer Run Gallery
1104 w. 18th st., Chicago, IL”

 

friend tip-toe got picked up out in barcelona putting up his new piece “get a rhythm”. dont worry tho, they let him drink his beer the hour or so he was in lockdown. killen it tip.

the dudes at ohnodoom just finished a mural out in oak park at a cool new store called fly bird.

love it.

 

and to end todays random stuff post. if any of you computer savvvvy folks want to. i’d like to have a different banner for the homepage. it would be nice to change it once a month or so. and do a little thing about the artist who did it. so if you want to design, paint, spray, photograph, a banner for the pod collective. id love to use it. right now i use a pic my friend merrick brown took a while back. i love it. but want to change it up a bit.

blu…again

 Blu has done it again. this time with the help of David Ellis.

this is a fantastic video. and the sound affects are great. i try to stay away from this sort of stuff just cause it has nothing to do with the city and you can find it anywhere at this point. but ill be damn’d if i don’t love the stop animation.

more about “blu…again“, posted with vodpod

seattle part 2, artist 2. bald man watching.

From spray paint, to furniture, woodcuts, to stickers, window clings, to chalk. Its no doubt seattle’s bald man gets up. i asked him to tell us a little about himself. so here you go. he even sent me some sticks to put up here. so if you see them around….

I have always been an artist it’s probably the oldest thing i know besides eating breathing and of course sleeping. Graffiti came in to my life because of my father, he walked the streets and and forgotten areas of our world tagging Hindu scripts and other things. In the beginning of high school i started exploring bombing tagging stickering and anything i could find to get up with. Letters were my focus and i spread my names far and wide. After a few years i began to get tired of letters, after all i had always liked to draw the human face. One of my favorite graffiti artists was jaber kyt dtc, jaber had a character and it was this that inspired me to make up a character of my own that i could reproduce and proliferate. That was almost nine years ago now, and since then i have decided to take this character on as an image that i will reproduce for the rest of my life, i will let it change and evolve as it will, and in return i have a vehicle for exploration through artist process and the metamorphosis that will happen over my life.

I have a hard time staying with the same artistic process for very long. That is what fascinates me about deciding to make the bald man for the rest of my life. I have this character the bald man but the way i make the bald man can will and has changed in many different ways, and after seeing the changes that have happened over the last nine years i can only imagen what will change over the rest of my life. Apart from the bald man i am fully supported by art i spend all my time creating and for that i am extremely poor and happy.

the art of war

an interesting conversation was started on the flicker “chicago street art” pool last week about gang tags. and a guy chimed in on the conversation, his points were very well articulated, and intelligent. and i wanted to know more about why he dose what he dose. his flicker name is chicago cold war, and he photographs gang tags. 

its a funny thing to interview someone about this subject. what is art? can gang activity be artistic? and if you think so, will people think your glorifying gangs and there activity? what will the response be to posting such a thing? whatever. ill see i guess. i do however think that this is something worth covering, and talking about. just cause the buff hits this stuff first dose not mean its not there. and even if you dont in any way think its art. it is to some. and its a reality that lives in almost every part of this city. like it or not. oh and please excuse the kind of silly title to this post. i got it in my head and thats all i could think of.

so, your not affiliated with these gangs, nor do you want to glorify actions taken by the gangs. what made you want to document the tags?

As you said I am not gang affiliated. I have friends and acquaintances that either gang bang or used to gang bang. I had a cousin who gangbanged and was murdered in prison. As far as the tags and pieces go; I think they are pure expressions of some of the most intense emotions humans are capable of. They reek of pride and hate…imagine the courage it takes to go to a neighborhood where you could get shot or beaten on sight based on where you are from and who you are affiliated with, just to paint in the alley or corner and basically tell them that they are weak and that you are better. It’s almost suicidal. I know some of the neighborhoods have changed with gentrification so it isnt as dangerous as it used to be, but these gang conflicts are still alive and well in Chicago. Look at our murder rate. We have kids getting shot in places like Logan Square and Wicker Park that are supposed to be “up and coming” (whatever the fuck that means), and they go under-reported. They might get a small blurb in the papers. No big deal, can’t let some long standing gang rivalries stand in the way of real estate development. That was kind of a ramble that deviated from your question but I think to summarize; whether they are marking their own territory or getting up in someone elses; theres a lot of emotion behind those symbols; and in a way they are true forms of art in terms of their intentions behind them and what is at stake. Aesthetically many are crappy but if I thought I was going to get shot at any moment while spray painting I would probably do a lot worse. 

On a personal note I get a rush finding these tags; especially if I am walking the alleys in areas that I know are dangerous. There is a part of it that is unexplainable and probably resides in my consciousness somewhere but I’m not going to go looking for it. It’s a hobby like anything else; one day I found it appealing so I went for it.

to you, what is the importance of having this collection of photos?

As far as importance; I don’t know if it is important. It’s important and interesting to me; I know there are a few people that think they are interesting or at least, they appreciate the translations I provide so they know more about who is in their neighborhood. It’s pretty crazy how so many people are moving their families into these areas yet couldn’t tell you the name of the gang nation that’s been operating there since the 1960’s or 70’s. Come on family guy and college girl; do a little bit of research and learn about your environment, even the aspects of it that you think are “icky”. In my mind it’s irresponsible to move to an area and not know what the risks are. I kind of laugh when I hear someone shocked or surprised when someone gets shot in their new hood, like it’s something new. It used to be way worse. 

 

is it hard to photograph this kind of subject and not feel in some way you are glorifying it? 

It may be slight glorification. To preserve something that will soon be removed is in itself glorification; you are saying that it’s memory should be here when other forces are saying that it should be gone. I accept that responsibility, but these kids out here shooting each other don’t need my flickr pics to inspire them to do what they do. They have been raised in that environment and already instilled with those values. A lot of them have suffered a lot because of these rivalries; they may have lost a parent, uncle, cousin, brother, best friend, etc. Maybe more than one either to prison or death. So these rivalries are deep seeded and it’s ignorant to dismiss those feelings as “stupid”. Put yourself in their positions; it’s so easy for an outsider to dismiss this side of life when they were never faced with the same choices. I know that many people have been raised in those kinds of environments and have been able to transcend and do other things; go to college, etc. and as much as they might hate gangs they will still tell you that it wasn’t easy for them. I myself did not grow up in an environment like that and I still had a hard time growing up; imagine how it is for these kids having to see people they know murdered in front of them and still have to figure themselves out. 

for those of us who dont understand the terminology, could you explain some of the terms you use when talking about a tag?

As far as specific terms; there are a lot of redundancies when I post notes to translate; but I can’t assume that someone is going to look at more than one pic so I try to be as specific as possible. We are in an interesting era with gangs b/c the old alliances of Folks & People are for the most part only relevent in prison; this is what I have been told by people who have been there and this is what I am seeing in the graffiti. There are a lot of Folks nations banging against other Folks nations and the same thing with People. For example the Pitchfork symbol drawn with the points facing up used to be universally a Folks symbol; but now it’s really only applicable to Disciple gang nations, as in MLDs, YLO Disciples, Satan Disciples, Gangster Disciples, Spanish Gangster Disciples. Maniac Campbell Boys still use it too. There may be one or two I missed. So you will see Folks mobs like the Insane Spanish Cobras or Gangster Two Six painting the pitchfork down as a way to disrespect a Disciple mob they are warring against. When I say “throw down, break” etc, that is how rival gang mobs disrespect each other. You can tell a lot about where you are at in the city based on which mobs a gang nation disrespects in it’s tags. That is just an example but if you have specific questions about other terms I use just let me know and I will try to explain. Also I have recently seperated the gangs into FOLKS & PEOPLE collections and for their specific pic sets I’ve listed their symbols, colors, and alliance.

and also there are so many symbols that have meaning. do you look at a wall and see more of a story, than just tags?

Absolutely. You can learn a lot of things. You can learn what streets or section that they are from. You can identify who they are at war with actively by how often they throw down or break certain symbols. You can learn names of the different mobs by who signs off on it; you can also learn who has died, either with an “R.I.P” or “ROTZ”. When a gang member writes a name and it says “Rots” or “Burns” after it, you know right away that that is a dead rival. Its a way to piss on someone’s grave. 

 

if there is anything else you would like to add?

Thanks for the opportunity to build on this and thanks to everyone on flickr that has shown an interest in these pics. If anyone wants to build more dont hesitate to contact me. If you think you might have a gang in your neighborhood but arent sure, send me the pics or ask me about the symbols and I’ll tell you what I know. I’ve had gang members hit me up and tell me where I can find their gang’s tags (good lookin out) and also interestingly enough the tags of their rivals. Finally; there is a guy on here who is an old school GL who has a more “artistic” collection than mine and a lot more southside pics. He is a good dude who used to live that life; but he doesnt really tag or label his pics. You can check him out atwww.flickr.com/photos/18031338@N07/

seattle part 2, artist 1, Claudius Phaedrus

this first artist caught my attention right away. newspaper, paint, and some paste, and the result is beautiful. i asked claudius to send a little bio. and i got a nice little artist statement. sooooooo introducing, claudius phaerus. 

 

“I have always been quite poor so I only use materials that I can easily pilfer, or things that are free. 

When I was little me and my dad would always do projects involving paste and newspaper like making masks or model volcanoes and other weird things. He taught me how to make wheatpaste at home with flour and water.

 I started painting and drawing before I was in school. I got bored of regular painting pretty quick.

I hate galleries, they are so boring and dated, and all the good art is in the hands of private collectors anyway. So thats why putting art on the street is great. Everyone can see it. I still like having gallery shows sometimes though, because its fun to hang out with your friends and get drunk and be surrounded by cool art.

Sometimes I get letters from random people saying that they saw a piece of mine on the street and they totally didn’t expect it and it made their day much more interesting than they had previously anticipated. This helps to keep me going.

I paint people turning into plants and stuff because I wish that we actually were becoming closer to nature. I wish I could see buildings covered in vines and branches. I wish people would stop trying to bleach and vacuum nature away. I want to see wolves and foxes walk the streets again. I think pavement and cement is the worst thing ever invented. Its inevitably going to erode and crumble. We taxpayers are wasting millions to repeatedly facelift the hell out of our cities, its sick.”

-Claudius Phaedrus

seattle part 1. gallery 1, bluebottle art gallery

part art gallery, part D.I.Y. store. bluebottle responded to my email quickly and excitedly. so in order to not repeat stuff ill just get into it. i asked a couple quick questions and also asked for them to give me a short list of seattle artists they love.

About:

Bluebottle Art Gallery and Store is an art gallery and boutique focusing on independent handmade art, craft and design. We are located in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle, Washington. In business since 2002, it is owned and operated by husband and wife duo Andrea and Matthew Porter.

Bluebottle is headquarters for Matthew Porter’s infamous monkey world paintings and products. Matthew splits his time between working as a children’s book illustrator and writer and creating paintings and a product line for Bluebottle as well as other hip galleries and boutiques throughout the US.

In addition to Matthew’s artwork we showcase local and national talent in the art, craft and design DIY movement!

Our gallery section features monthly solo or group shows focusing on emerging artists who have a pop sensibility. We specialize in showcasing amazing and affordable artwork to a market that is just starting to collect work.

Our boutique section features items which are handmade and often one-of-a-kind, or produced as limited edition runs. We showcase work that is innovative and well-crafted. Our goal is to support a network of artists and provide an opportunity for customers to purchase pieces that are unique and exclusive!

How we got started:

We started out of a need to showcase Matthew’s work on a more regular basis. He had been showcasing his work in coffee shops and craft fairs but we found that people wanted a place where they could always find his work verse trying to remember to get to a coffeehouse one particular month or down to a fair which only takes place once a year. We really see Bluebottle as a stepping stone type of gallery for emerging artists. We don’t represent artists as is the case  with most galleries but we are more formal than say a coffeehouse or boutique. We wanted a place that felt comfortable for both artists and buyers. We didn’t want a space where people felt they needed to whisper and were scared to ask the price of a piece.

How we keep going:

We keep going through a tough economy because we know times are going to get better. We have worked really hard on focusing on our marketing avenues that are free to us and seem to be the trend anyway. Blogging, facebook, twitter. We are looking to really connect with customers. We want them to have the sense that they know us and want to support what we are doing at Bluebottle. We also hope that customers make connections with the artists we showcase. Our customers are folks who are understand how important is to our local community to support local and handmade. We feel we have found our niche of focusing on really high quality affordable DIY art, craft and design.

Matthew Porter - www.matthewporterart.com

Chris Crites - www.bagpainter.com

Sara Lanzillotta - www.devoutdolls.com

Ken Taya - www.enfu.com

Jessie Oleson - www.cakespy.com

check out all the artists listed and the bluebottle website. thanks to Andrea for filling me in and answering some questions.