Monday, May 18, 2009

Alderman James Balcer: HATER.

Gabriel Villa spent two weeks painting this mural in Bridgeport for an arts festival on a wall owned by the mother of Ed Marszewski, a festival organizer. In other words, he was granted permission to paint a mural on private property. It didn't last long though, as Ald. James Balcer (Ward 11) had it buffed. In his own words, he was quoted saying:
"You know I don't know if there was hidden gang meaning behind it with the cross, with the skull, with the deer, with the police camera's. Was there something anti-police about it? I don't know what's in his mind. That's how I viewed it."
Hater? Or just dumbass? I call a combination of both. But on the real, this was an entirely unfair move on the governments part to squash the little guy because someone didn't like what was painted. It's art. One of many things art does is challenge you. Even though the wall now bears the infamous brown buff, I sort of consider it a win on Villa's part (even though, I would imagine he may understandably disagree), as he obviously challenged the alderman, and the alderman couldn't handle it.

BEFORE
AFTER

Feel free to contact him and express your disgust with his decision:

3659 S. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60609
jbalcer@cityofchicago.org
(773) 254-6677

FULL STORY HERE

Thursday, May 14, 2009

TONIGHT: Meat Number 5 at Sonotheque!

Flyer design by yours truly. Holla at ya boy if you have any design needs!!!

Meat Number 5's having a release party at Sonotheque tonight for The Oblivion EP. All those performing tonight had a part in the making of this EP which makes this show super tasty. Many will tell you Sonotheque has one of, if not thee best sound system in the city. I'm personally excited to see Meat Number 5, Phaded and Maker all on the same bill. Hopefully you can make it out and support their new release. I'll see ya there!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Studio News

As some of you know, I've branded my own line of apparel, but haven't done anything of great magnitude to see it flourish. It was a big day for me about a year ago, when I stumbled upon several stretched silk screens in an alley. Before then (and even now still), I've used an online service that, for the most part, has been a great resource for my printing, billing and shipping needs. However, they enforce certain restrictions that limited what I could design/print. Well, my friends Meat Number 5 inquired about the screens I found, and asked for my help printing shirts for their upcoming release party on Thursday. Naturally, I was glad to help, but maybe even better, it forced me to get my act together and finally screenprint at home. Tara helped me get the screens prepped, and the shirts were printed last night!

It had been since college when I last printed with silk screens. I learned last night why the shirt needs to be flat. That in turn caused a whole mess. A mess, for a moment, I was sure was gonna end our operation with a quickness. However, with some MacGyvering, we solved our problem and finished the job. They're now drying and will be for sale at their release party.


BE THERE!!!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Ricky Powell


Ricky Powell's another photographer whom I'd love to meet. He's lived quite a life. Here's a somewhat entertaining interview done by Walrus TV.

Monday, May 4, 2009

SHAWNIMALS


I met Shawn at the Bits + Pieces show a few weeks ago. Cool dude. About 20 seconds into this video, you'll see his Baby Frankenstein piece I am now the proud owner of, although it's still hanging at the coffee shop for another week, so hands off! In this video, they mention that they're working on a video game using his characters. That's awesome; Congrats!!