Monday, November 20

SHANGHAI - trip #3

SHANGHAI














The next leg of the tour was to Shanghai. This is the trip I was most excited about since I have heard amazing things about Shanghai. I don’t think I could write enough to properly describe this city. It is massive. I have heard that it is almost 4 times larger than all of Los Angeles. In 2000 the population was at 17 million. Today it probably tops 20 million. There are more people than I had anticipated.







Every place you walk there was somebody else there. It was a great experience to visit, but I could not live there I don’t think. It was like one massive ant colony.





























Everywhere you look, and everywhere you drive, you just see building after building. I must have taken close to 2000 photos in the 4 days that I was there.




Day 1

After 13 hours on a plane, or in an airport, we made it to Shanghai. Waiting for us at the airport was Daisy, the K-Swiss representative for this trip.





Daisy giving me a fuck you look, and jimmy caught mid sentance



Daisy is really nice, but has no problem speaking her mind. She has a tongue that is worth of a sailor, but she gets shit done. Also waiting for us was Jimmy Au. Jimmy works freelance for K-Swiss, and had organized the 5-city Asian K-spray tour last year. Jimmy is like my Chinese brother.





jimmy acting a fool




I love this guy. I have never met someone that is positive as much as he is, and is organized beyond description. He had our days planned out to the hour before we ever arrived in China. Jimmy is the oil that keeps everything flowing smoothly on these trips. If wanted me to fly over to China to pick flowers, I would do it as long as he is in charge of organization.








yummmm, meat



We were whisked off to a restaurant where we had enough meat to make a vegetarian cry. Food was good, and the beer we had never tasted so good.







terrible photo of spa. they had little rocks down the hallway for the walkway.



After dinner, we were taken to a massage spa for an all over massage. Anyone who has traveled for 13 hours straight understands how amazing this can feel. Before we went, I felt like someone had beaten my shoulders and neck with a baseball bat. I cannot begin to tell you how great my life is. Where else can you get this type of treatment??















After the dinner and massage, we made our way to the hotel. This hotel is unbelievable. it was like a friggin city inside a building. it was huge. the view was fucking incredible.



and the view? i cant explain. here is a little 180 degree photo for you, i couldnt fit it into one shot, so it is in 3 pieces





this is to the far right




this is in the middle




this is to the far left





a view during the day



See that building on the bottom of the photo? that one with the four squares on the roof? that was the same building that was used to hold the Sneaker Pimps show about a year ago.



Day 2

Today we went to this temple, whose name I forget. it was an amazing place. it was gated behind these huge walls. The picture below was from the neighborhood it was in. it had this really unassuming entrance, then when you walked in, it was like paradise opened up.
















































do you know why the bridges are not straight? the Chinese believed that the spirts, or ghosts could only walk a straight line, so if they made the bridge with many turns, they could not follow them over the water.









see, we are not ghosts










It was an amazing place, and had bridges that snaked over the water to little buildings. It looked like it was out of a kung fu film.








I kept expecting guys to jump out with swords and to start fighting. Guess that is the problem when the opinion I have formed on china is based on the martial arts films I saw as a kid. I must have taken hundreds of pictures there. Every turn was picture perfect. We walked around for an hour or so, then emerged out from the walled temple to the outside





outside the temple





i fucking hate starbucks



There were beggars and desperate tried to get money from us by hawking bootleg watches. You kept hearing the persistent sound of 'hello, hello, sir, hello, watch? Rolex?’ but the Rolex came out "Lolex" instead. It would have been funny if they didn’t follow me half a block every time I looked up.











We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai.



























































The museum if beautiful, with huge windows, and tall ceilings. The Shangai Biennale was up and the art was great. I wish I could tell you the names of the people who I liked, but I can barely remember a name when it is in English. Asking me to remember a Chinese name is like asking me to fart rainbows.















We checked out the show for about half an hour, then we made our way to the roof top patio for a meeting with the director of project development at the museum. I have no idea how Jimmy and Daisy arranged for this to happen, but I was happy they did. We sipped on kiwi juice drinks and talked about future possibilities.There has been chatter about maybe doing another k-Swiss event in Shanghai, and I think they were trying to see if this was possible to do in Shanghai. Outside of the K-Swiss business though, we kicked around the idea of doing a show at the museum that showcases urban art. No guarantee that it will happen, but if it were to happen it would be the first intensive museum showcase of urban art in Shanghai. How insane would that be? Me in a museum! Fuck yeah! We also pitched the idea that Sixten ten and myself curate the show. I am excited to see what w can make happen.














lesson learned: dont eat the jellyfish



Daisy before eating jellyfish:




Daisy after eating jellyfish:










talking w Himm outside



For diner we went to a famous Chinese restaurant that I can’t remember the name of. It was an interesting place. Some days I feel adventurous and want to try new foods, then other days I just want to eat comfort food. This was a nonadventerous day for eating. I can tell you now; the fried jellyfish wasn’t my favorite. It tasted like eating a gummi worm that had been left in the sun for a few months, then had the flavor extracted. For dinner, Himm of Urban Look (www.urbanlook.com) joined us for dinner. Urban Look is the first magazine of urban art in China.



after dinner, we went to some swanky outdoor place and had a drink. i was the usual gluttonous pig, and ordered desert too.






Shola looking at blurry daisy




how chris looks after a long flight



the night was getting late, so we made our way back to the hotel and met up with Chris, the production manager of K-Swiss, and Shola








Day 3

Woke up this morning and had breakfast with Chris, the production manager for K-Swiss. We went over some of the production issues with the shirt and shoes. I always enjoy hearing about the behind the scenes stuff. How the factories work, how things are made, etc. Chris filled me in, and we managed to relax and have a great breakfast while overlooking the skyline of Shanghai. I love my life.






Holy Grail of shoe stores



















Tom knows whats up







Afterwards we went to Sole Society. Solesociety is a sneaker shop that is beyond description. Next week they are having their grand opening. For the Grand opening the list of people flying in is like a streetwear list of whose who - Hiroshi, Stash, Futura, Jeff Staple, and Edison Chen. The show had a display that was like a sneakerheads wet dream. Almost every single shoe I have seen over the past 3 years on sneaker blogs were here. The shoes were loaned to Sole Society from Hiroshi, Stash, Futura and the rest of the bunch. I don’t consider myself a sneaker head, but even my jaw was on the floor. My only regret is that I wont be around for the opening next week. Would have been good to meet Hiroshi and everyone. Jimmy took us upstairs to meet the owner of the store, Tom. Tom was a super nice guy and really humble. He took time out to chat with us and give us the background on how the store came into existence. Come to find out he lived in Los Angeles for years and went to Art College there.






Epha looking a cute as a bugs ear
















tape drawing













After that we headed to the Ground Floor Gallery to check out my good friend Ephameron. This falls under the 'small world' category. Epha is the one who helped organized the Brussels Exhibit I was in 2 weeks earlier. As it turns out, she also had an exhibit at the same time in Shanghai. Even stranger, her hotel was next door to the same building that the K-Swiss event is going to happen.



Nigel's work:
















Epha was showing with a guy by the name of Nigel Peake, who was from Ireland. He was a nice guy, and I enjoyed the art he had. We chatted for a few minutes, and then we had to head out to get ready for dinner























ummmm, desert



That night we had dinner with the Chinese distributor of K-Swiss. We went to this swanky Thai restaurant that was inside some compound. It felt like we were driving into Lord Bruce Wayne’s manor or something. It was straight out of a comic book. The tops of the building were lit, and there were security guards checking to make sure we were supposed to be there. Once we were inside, we had one of the best dinners ever! Dish after dish came out, and out of the 15 dishes that were served; there was only one that I wouldn’t eat again. We finished our meal, and parted ways with the distributors. Me, Sixten, and the whole k-Swiss crew hit the town for an evening of drinks.

















First stop though was along the Hangpu river at The Bundt. The Bundt is on the river, and boasts one of the best views ever, and some of the most impressive architecture. beautiful















This is what we looked at as we slugged down drinks.




First place we hit was the Shangri-la. It was on the top floor and must have been 20 floors up. We ran into Diana from MOCA there. In town for 2 days and already feeling like a local. Somewhere along the way somebody (me?) had the bright idea that we should order a few shots of Patron. That was the beginning of the end.











Drinking makes you do this




drinks make us happy




at least one of us looks sober.







We had a few more drinks then went to another roof top bar on the other side of the Hangpu River. It had a great view, and great drinks, but there were 80% westerners there, and maybe 20% Chinese. It felt kind of odd, but with our crew nearly 10 deep, we were pretty self-contained. More shots of Tequila, a few more shots of something else, and a few more beers, and we were done. Back to the hotel to sleep it off, hopefully.




Day 4

Today was great. Woke up and had breakfast with Ephameron and Nigel in the hotel. The hotel had one of the most extensive buffet style breakfasts I have ever seen. You had to walk half a block to go from the hot food to the breads. Crazy. This was the first time that we could sit and chat since we were both in Shanghai. We finished breakfast and decided to go to the ovservation level of the hotel. the views are incredible.









my hotels view can beat up your hotels view






















After stuffing ourselves with a large breakfast and checking out the view, we parted ways until the evening time. Met up with the K-Swiss crew, and we did some errands, and then made out way to the venue.

























Jimmy with preshow jitters.





Carl decorating






















the roof with no box










This was the view from the rooftop



The venue was amazing. Jimmy had this box fabricated that was huge. It kinda looked like a fish aquarium. The front and back were clear so that the crowd could see into the box. The border around the glass wall was the pattern I use in my art, and on the other side was Sixten's. For this show we were to be inside the box, and paint the inside of the glass wall. We figured it would be kind of cool, but it was a little tricky. Normally when I spray a stencil, I start with the lightest color, which has the most detail. This means it is easy to line up the next color because there is so much detail to register it with. The only problem with painting on glass is that you have to start with the black, which has the least amount of detail. Trying to line up the stencils backwards with little detail to work with was difficult at first, but turned out pretty good.








when the interviewers become the interviewed




More, intensity!




Their enthusium is contagious!




This is how you say 'fuck you, stop taking pictures of me' with your eyes





Before the show however, we needed to do some press interviews. Press interviews in English can be boring because they ask the same questions, but press interviews in Chinese just plain odd. I was asked questions like 'which building is favorite', and 'what is future of Graffiti Shanghai?'. How the hell am I supposed to know??? I am not a graffiti artist, and I have been in this city for 72 hours. Luckily, we had Shola and Daisy translating for us, so suspect the stepped in to make sure some sort of intelligent answer came from me once it was translated back. Every time I do interviews in any Asian country, I just keep thinking about the 'Lost in Translation' scene where Bill Murray's character is doing the Suntory commercial. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It is funny as hell.

















calm before the madness



After the press stuff, we went back to the hotel to relax for an hour, then back to the venue for the event. We started about 8:30 and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. I had made the mistake of going into the Art Aquarium once, and had a posse of photographers line up outside and start taking pictures. It was a little overwhelming. The only problem with the whole painting on glass thing is that people seemed to like getting 1 inch from the glass and taking pictures of me while I was painting. A picture here and there is fine, but I was ready to paint the camera of this one guy that had a camcorder and was filming with the lens nearly touching the glass. I finished my piece and was happy with the outcome.





Sixten preparing




sixten and me painting












































crowd seemed to like it

















my finished piece






sixten in front of finished piece





this happened when i walked in front of my finished piece




Chatted a bit and then we were off to a diner. It is a bit odd to go to a traditional American style diner in the middle of Shanghai, but I wasn’t in the mood for food roulette, and the others with us were really in the mood for it too. Jimmy drooled over the menu as he read the names of each dish. Jimmy lived in San Francisco for years, so it had been a long time since he had American diner food. I ordered a Reuben. It was good, but when you have had a Reuben sandwich at Canters deli in Los Angeles, it’s a standard that is hard to live up too. We finished off the night and went back to the hotel to sleep. You know you are getting old when a soft bed sounds better than going out on the town. Got some sleep though,







the end of the night






Day 4

Got up, met the crew, then made the long drive to the airport. This was the end of a very long, very exhausting, very exciting trip. As I type this I am en route to Los Angeles for 3 days of rest before heading to Baltimore for a wedding.













Here are a few pictures that have nothing to do with nothing, but i liked them for various reasons







no underwear, see through skirt. mercy




its like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder, how i keep from going under








crab dumplings, what you know about that??






saw this jacket with Lucy Maclaughlan's artwork on it.come to find out it was a bootlegged shirt. she never licensed the artwork out. thats china, folks!





round round, i get around, yeah!






The End

Thursday, November 16

LOGAN HICKS X KSWISS X EVIL MONITO

its coming!


6.box_top_closeup.jpg


la_kswiss.jpg

Friday, November 10

MELBOURNE - trip number 2

MELBOURNE







Next it was off for two K-Swiss sponsored events. The events were to commerate the release of the shoes that Sixten and myself designed. I had shown with Sixten during the 5 city Asian tour that I did in 2005, and was anxious hang out a bit with him now that we had become closer friends. First stop was Melbourne Australia. I love Melbourne, but the flight over sucks. I have been told that the Los Angeles to Melbourne trip is the second longest continuous flight. At 16 hours in the air, it makes you go a little stir crazy by the end of the flight. Luckily I had been given some pills to help out with the flight. I normally can’t sleep on planes but thanks to these little helpers, I managed to sleep 7 hours before waking up in airplane hell.



Tuesday 3rd -

Back in Melbourne. I love this city. There are more creative people than anywhere else I have visited. After 16 hours on a plane, I was looking forward to getting settled in to the hotel and relaxing. I landed around 9am. Got off the plane, and looked around for a half an hour for my ride.








I soon found out that the organization that was handling things for this event didn’t send anybody to pick me up. They didn’t tell me they weren’t going to pick me up, but I soon found out. I was lucky that I written my hotel address down before I left LA. Normally when a company flies you in for an event, they just send someone to pick you up so there is not a need to write this stuff down, but I am a bit neurotic so I write anything down that may be useful along the way. After a $60 dollar taxi ride, I was at the hotel. Checked in to the hotel, told my hosts I was here, and then made my way to Everfresh studios.





(photo by Sixten)










Typical day at Everfresh




the screenprinting facilities at Everfresh



Mural inside Everfresh



Phibs doing it up at Everfresh





I have written quite a bit on Everfresh in the past, so I wont repeat that. If you are interested, you can read more here: http://www.workhorsevisuals.com/2006/06/melbourne-travelogue.html. One of the residents of Everfresh, Rone, was kind enough to store my work while I was gone. I stopped by to get the work, then made my way to Per Square Metre to hang the show that was opening on Saturday. I had only talked with Darren from Per Square Metre over the past few months, but I finally got to meet the owners - Em, Sam, and Bernie. As I would later find out, they are some of the nicest talented people. But then again, I Melbourne, I could say that about most of the people there. Seems like everyone I meet in Melbourne is friendly, and has more talent than most. It gets a bit sickening after a while. The Per Square Metre gallery is only about 5 months old, but is already getting a great reputation for having quality shows. The gallery itself has huge windows that face a busy road, so the walls can be seen while driving down the street.



After dropping the work off, chatting with the Per Square Metre family, I made tracks back to the hotel and had a well-needed date with my bed.




Wednesday 4th -


Today Sixten got in. Sixten is the same artists who I was with on the 5 city Asian tour last year. The reason that he and I were flown to Melbourne was to celebrate the release of our K-Swiss shoes. Sixten is an amazing guy who works just as well on the computer as he does with dirty stencils. His stuff is beautiful. When we did the tour last year, I didn’t know anything about him other than the work I had seen online. Over the past year, we have become closer friends thanks to our conversations on instant messenger and emails. I have more respect now for his talents than I ever have. It will be good to chill out and have those stupid conversations that can only happen in person.



Today we had some press things to do, so we headed over the host organization. Got some K-Swiss shoes to represent, and then smiled like retarded monkeys for the cameras.




First photoshoot of the day



Then we headed to Hooiser lane so JTV some could get some video of us in the most famous alley in the stencil world.





Sixten in his 15 minutes of fame






Sixten and me getting out shine
(photo by Sixten)




Hoosier alley is crazy. For nearly 500 feet the walls are covered with stencil on top of stencil.




The guy in the center is the one later that would proclaim “Logan, you’re the sexiest man alive” Keep reading for the full story




City Lights is also on the alley, so we headed inside to catch up with Andy Mack




Andy striking a inadvertent GQ pose agains the Hoosier lane backdrop




We also got to catch the current show from Kill PIxie before it came down. Last time I was in Melbourne I became familiar with Kill PIxie and I loved his stuff. Luckily we caught the show one day before it was to come down.










Andy was hospitable as always, but we only had about 10 minutes to catch up before JTV showed up to start taping. The guy from JTV, Damien, was super nice and respectful. I kind of feel bad because I had been frustrated with some of the organization of things unrelated to him, and probably took it out on him a little. Nonetheless he was a champ and we got along really well. After the JTV interview we headed over to Per Square Metre so he could get more video of me spraying some stencils on the walls. After rambling on camera a bit, we were off to the last stop, Everfresh.




Thursday 5th-


Today we caught the opening of Anthony Listers opening at the Metro 5 Gallery. Anthony and I have both shown with the same curator in Rome for the past few years, but have never had an opportunity to meet in person. It was great putting a face to the email address. I have seen plenty of pieces of Anthony's over the years from the Wooster Collective and other online sources, but I have to say, the work in person is a thousand times better.




Here are some of his pieces I found laying around Everfresh









Here are some photos from his show at Metro 5 Gallery










The man himself!













His work is on another level. For the show he probably had 30 pieces total. Many of them were 6ft wide by 4ft tall and the prices ran from $3000 to $5000 dollars, and every single one of the large pieces were already sold out before the show even opened. It was one of the times where I was speechless. Fucking amazing work. Found out that Liter is going to be moving to New York at the years end, so I am looking forward to hopefully seeing him more often




Friday 6th - K-Spray event


Today is the day of the event! Here is where things go comically wrong



In Melbourne, K-Swiss Company didn’t handle release party directly. This time the event was handled by a contracted company that does the marketing and PR for them. I had some reservations before coming to Melbourne because on previous tours Red Agency handled all the organization. I can’t say enough good stuff about Red Agency. They could probably organize the Chaos theory in less than a day if they needed too. Because of this I was concerned that things may not live up to what I was expecting. I was right. From the beginning of the event to the end, things just seemed to go wrong. I would hate to turn this blog into a bitch session, so what I will do is pick the 2 events that stood out, and defined the over all 'feel' of the event.




First here are a few flicks of the venue, and the event.


The head of K-Swiss enjoying a swill of hooch






this was the piece that I sprayed out for the KSpray event



Here are the pieces carl finished








The piece at the top – skulls & drips & splats – has to be one of my favorite pieces ever





This was Rone’s piece and shoes. I love his stuff




The venue before it got packed




The venue after it was packed:













Here are a few shots of the actual artwork that was displayed during the event. These were taken by Sixten






































The first event happened while I was in the middle of doing the live spraying event. While there was a packed crowd around watching me on the stage, when one of the host organizations employee flag me down, motion for me to take out my earphones, and then shout in front of everybody " Logan,.... you’re the sexiest man alive" then say to the effect of "I want to sleep with you". The term he used was a tad bit cruder, but you get the idea. It seemed to me that the with the amount of coke that was being snorted, his perception must have been skewed. Perhaps I should make all new acquaintances snort massive amounts of coke before introducing myself because apparently I look pretty damn good after you have a kilo in your nose. I figured it best to hold my tongue until I get paid, so I continued my work and pondered how a paint covered, grimy, scowling, angry looking man like myself could appear as the 'sexiest man alive'. I mean, that is a pretty big title to hold. There are many people that are alive in this world, so how could he be so certain that I was THE sexiest man alive. Hum, well, it gave me something to think about as I sprayed out the rest of my piece.






These were the people that were standing by as I was showered with compliments about my physical aspects





The second event happened after Sixten and I had finished the spraying event. I was speaking with the host organizations owner about selling my piece. At the same time the director of the organization was speaking with Sixten about buying his. In the midst of negotiating with Sixten, the director started to talk shit about me!!! Not the typical 'you know that rascal, Logan' type of talk, but leaning towards the 'fuck Logan' view. What kind of director does this? How professional is that? Well, it ended when Sixten stated, "You are not the type of person that should own my art, and you can't have it". It was said in a much more blunt tone, but you can imagine. What kind of person things that it is acceptable to come between friends by talking shit? Crazy, isn’t it?






This is the guy that would later shit talk about me



There are plenty of other instances but those are the two that stood out for me. Aside from that though, the event was a bit odd. Even though the event was a shoe release party for Sixten, and myself it was presented with this "studio 54" vs. "Americas Top Model" type of steez. There was a fashion show that had models that were no bigger than my finger. I wanted to force feed them meatloaf sandwiches all night. There was one model that had a spray-on tan that was orange. She looked like a basketball with eyes. It was nuts. Surprised they didn’t have scurvy too.




yeah, see the model trying to rock the ‘come fuck me look’? that is how many of the people were at the event.




After the event, I was tapped. I went home and was asleep by midnight. Not much of a party animal, am I?



Saturday 7th


Today was the opening of my show at Per Square Metre.




The Square Metre family




After the previous night, I was looking forward to a smaller opening where I could actually have a conversation with people. I was happy with the way the show was coming together, and the only thing left to do was pick up some collaborative pieces. For this show, I brought over some canvas that only had my patterns on them. I asked some of my friends in Melbourne if they were interested in collaborating and doing something on top of the patterns. They agreed, but with only 3 days to produce a new piece of art, the timetable was tight. For the collabs, I was lucky enough to have Anthony Lister, Sync, Ghostpatrol, Miso, Strafe, Rone, and Phibs. Got the last of the pieces, got them hung, and back to the hotel to shit, shower and shave.



Here are the collabs


This one was with Anthony Lister. I fucking love this one. I had to buy it myself





Miso collab





Ghostpatrol collab





Phibs collab





Sync collab




Strafe collab




Rone collab – this piece was huge too. 4X6 ft








Made it to the gallery and the people started to trickle in shortly afterwards. The show was a success. It was never packed, but pieces of art sold nevertheless. I sold almost half of the works. After the night’s events, and because of the previous nights events I was exhausted.




Here is the gallery before the opening













During the opening:









Rone, Strafe, and myself headed to a Japanese Restaurant. I was so tired that I barely remembered anything the next day. I felt like I drank too much, but it was just from lack of sleep.



Looks like Sixten felt the same as I did




Sunday 8th


Monday - Lunch with Alex from Nice Produce


Today Sixten and I we were lucky enough to catch up with Alex from Shadow clothing. We were joined by his partner and Manny from the Red Bull Music.




Alex and Manny




Alex, Manny and Sixten walkin the walk



It was great hearing about the line, and how things are developing. It is clear that these guys are doing it up the right way. In a few weeks they get the first production samples back of the all over print hoodie I did, as well as two other designs. Shit is going to look good. We ate at some Chinese dumpling place. It was tucked away in some back alley, and was the type of place that you wonder how anybody finds it. Apparently many other people found it as well because there was a Twist sticker outside, and a Neckface tag inside. Odd how people in the same circles travel to the same places.










After lunch was kind enough to take us on a tour of the Red Bull Music Academy. If you don’t know about the Academy check the site- www.redbullmusicacademy.com. What happens is every year they pick a different place around the world to hold a month long seminar/lecture/workshop type of thing where DJ's from all different genres come together and work together. Red bull pulls in leaders in their respective fields related to music and the participants attend lectures on everything from writing contracts, to technical lectures and everything in between. In past years they have had it in New York, Cape Town, Dublin, San Paola, and this year Melbourne. There are talks of it being in Istanbul next year, but nothing has been confirmed yet. The Academy was held in this massive 5-story building. Each floor had its various purpose. One floor for lectures, one for studios, one for mixing and so on.



Here are some shots of the academy












Here was where they chilled out. Behind me were computer work stations















Shots of the private studios that the participants are allowed to work in



Alex, Sixten and Manny. I love the ‘Rocky’ look that Alex has in this one. “Yo, Adrian!!!!”




This was in a ‘lecture hall’. I took the photo from where the screen is when they view movies and stuff.



In the studios and stairwells they hired local artists to come in and paint murals. Some amazing art was inside that building.





Here are some of the murals in the academy


































We took an hour-long tour, and then parted ways with Manny and the Shadow Clothing guys. We made our way to the hotel, then down to Everfresh for drinks with the boys.




Monday 9th -


Today we caught up with stencil artist, HAHA.


(photo by Sixten)




(photo by Sixten)



You have to meet Ha-Ha to understand him, but he is a funny guy. He has that kind of face that you always feel like is getting ready to crack a joke. His name, Ha-Ha comes from the Simpsons character, Munsen who always hays Ha-Ha after he cracks a joke. Funny stuff. We visited his studio and checked out the work he was preparing for a show in Hobart, Tasmania. Always inspiring to see him working. He was doing these 15 to 25 layers stencils that were beautiful.




HaHa spraying out a piece in Sixten’s blackbook



We stepped out for lunch and were joined by the artist, Nails.





One of Nails pieces in Hoosier lane




Andy Mack, Nails, and Sixten in front of one of Nails’ pieces



Nails is another guy who I became familiar with on my last visit to Melbourne. I immediately loved his work. It isn’t the typical type of work you would see on the street, so it really stands out from the other stuff. It has this aboriginal type feel to it almost. The color palette is full of browns, oranges, and yellows. I was hoping to get one of his canvas pieces while I was there, but no luck. He said he has been staying pretty busy lately, and has a waiting list of people that want work from him. I was hoping to get piece before he gets any more popular because I can tell that he is going to blow up in the next few years. If he had been in the US he would have already been making bank.



Here are a few flicks that I took of Nails work last time I was in Melbourne




















These were a few pices I put up in Hoosier lane. They were the Unicorn and Pegasus pieces that I put up in Brussels, I just thought it would be funny to put up mythological creatures because they are so stupid






(photo by Sixten)




Pegasus power!




That is a Deb piece to the right. I like how the crotch has been defaced.




you can’t fuck with the unicorn






Tuesday 10th



This was our last night in Melbourne so we took it kind of easy. We caught up with Prism, who founded and maintains the StencilRevolution.com website. That website has provided me with more opportunities that I have time to mention. I owe a great deal to that site, so it was great to catch up with the man behind it. We grabbed some fish and chips and drank and ate until midnight. During our talks, Prism showed us a very early sneak peak of the upcoming StencilRevolution.com redesign. It will probably be another half a year before it goes live, but it will be much improved with a lot of new features. Can’t wait!



After dinner, we caught a cab back to the hotel. I started packing because I am a neurotic freak who cant stand last minute packing when it comes to travel, and Sixten headed back down to Everfresh to pick up some stencils he left there, and to catch up w a few more of the stencil artists that he knows.



Wednesday 11th


Caught the taxi to the airport at a time that was too early for a normal man. No person should have to get up at 5am. Made it to the airport, and we were on our way to Shanghai!





Sunday, November 5

BEGINNING OF A VERY LONG JOURNEY


ok, well here is a very lengthy travelogue of my recent travels. Last year I took to documenting the day-by-day happenings of my trips. Now I am beginning to regret that decision. With the amount of traveling I have been doing lately, it seems I am spending as much time writing as traveling. Don't know if any body finds these self-indulgent diatribes interesting, but it helps me remember, since my brain cells have been eaten away by the massive quantities of paint I huffed over the past decade. One day I hope to put together a book with all the photos I have taken.


First is Brussels, which i traveled to in September. I am just now getting around to posting these images. In the next week, i will be updating the blog with info from Melbourne/Australia, Shanghai/China, and Baltimore/Maryland. Stay tuned

BRUSSELS


Brussels was amazing. I have to thank my good friend Ephameron for this one, cause she hooked up the show.



here is Ephameron 'drawing' with tape

I met Epha 3 years ago when I was showing at Studio 14 in Rome, Italy. Epha has this amazing style. I have always been secretly jealous of people that can make every line count. I guess it is because I am a shitty when it comes to drawing. I can eventually get something to look right, but it takes 10 minutes of sketching and erasing before I get that one line that looks right. Ephameron on the other hand can make 4 strokes and have it look like a perfectly rendered object. I have a great deal of admiration for Epha. When I first met her, she was working at this skate shop and it seems like she was just starting to take off. In the past 3 years she has organized the Art Trek shows in Antwerp, came out with a book, and now is organizing multinational art shows. Oddly enough, when I arrived in Brussels I found out that she was having a show in Shanghai at the same time. I would meet her in China. 2 weeks after this show ended.


The Brussels show ended up being good, but it didn’t start out as good. I am normally super neurotic about packing, preparing and thinking of every minute detail of a trip, but this time I had a brain fart and screwed up royally. It all started because I needed to get a Visa for my upcoming trip to Shanghai. I went to the Chinese Embassy on a Friday and dropped everything off. You have to physically go down to apply for a visa in person. It is a pain in the ass, and you have to stand in a line that rivals the DMV lines. When you get to the front, you have to give them your application, your passport, hope that they approve you, and hope you get somebody that can speak English well enough to understand you if you have a question. Well, I dropped every thing off and crossed my fingers that everything would go through. After I left the embassy I went home to continue packing and preparing for my flight - which left on Sunday. Everything was going swimmingly until Saturday night at midnight when I realized that I had dropped of my passport to the Chinese Embassy to get the Visa. The same passport that I needed to get on my flight on Sunday. I was screwed. I had to cancel my ticket and hope that I could get my passport back on Monday, then hope I could get a flight on the same day, for a decent price, then leave for Brussels. Well, it all worked out in the end, but I must have lost 10 lbs stressing out over the whole thing. I had to go to the Chinese embassy 4 times on Monday to get my passport back. Then rushed home to get a ticket. The price only ended up being 200 dollars more than my original ticket, so all was good. Got the passport, got my luggage, got a ride to the airport, then off to Europe!


September, Tuesday 19th




Harlan at Lunch


I love it when there I someone there at the airport in foreign lands. I become anxious when I have to read bus routes, and subway maps, and figure out the language, and all the joys that go along with foreign travel. Harlan was the organizer and Nico was the owner of the Mr. Ego shop (http://mr-ego.be/) where the show was hosted.




Nico looking a bit odd


Ephameron conceived the line up for the show, but it was organized by Harlan Levey of the No New Enemies Network (nonewenemies.net). All the people involved were incredibly generous. On a side note, Harlan is also the editor of Modart Magazine which is an arts magazine that is geared towards the action sports / urban realm. It’s a good mag, so you should check when you get a chance.


Made it to the Mr. Ego shop and rendezvoused with Lucy McLaughlan and Ephameron. It was good to see them. Although I had not met Lucy before I had followed her work ever since hearing about it from friend Freddi C of The Lab 101(www.lab101.com) in Los Angeles. We went over a game plan for doing the upcoming days, grabbed something to eat, then I checked into the hotel to get some sleep.





Lucy’s work





my work



September, Wednesday 20th



Today I made my way to the shop to finish hanging the show. The walk there was incredible. I had to go through this long atrium type of thing that had shops lining the inside. How in the world can you go wrong with a city that is known for Beer and Chocolate?? Seemed like beer shops and chocolate shops were every 50 ft. I made it to the shop eventually, but not before taking note for the decadent shops that dotted the trail. The other place that I had to go through was the City Hall. This place was beyond description. Before arriving in Brussels I had come across this article of the worlds most beautiful city halls. I had seen a picture of this building, but it doesn't do the place any justice. If I was an architect in a previous life, this is the building that I would have created. This is one of the reasons that I love Europe. The richness of the architecture, the cobblestone streets, the character of the city. It has so many layers to it that I can spend hours just walking around places like this.




Here was the hallway that I had to walk through every day to get to the venue




Here was the city hall that was on the other end of the hallway




And these buildings were to the right of the city hall




When I arrived at the shop I hung my work and had a chance to chat w Lucy and Epha a bit more. Because I got into town a day late (because of the Chinese Visa fiasco) I was the last one to hang my work. Luckily because my work is mostly the same size, it went up pretty quick.


Hung the work, and then started on the Nike wall. The Nike wall was something that was worked out before I came over. At the time, Nike was doing the 360 campaigns, where they re-released the old Nike Air 180 shoes with the new 360 sole. They were sponsored the show financially, but wanted me to paint the wall where the shoes were to hang in exchange for the sponsorship money. I said no problem and had sent the Nike folks a few comps to sign off on. They saw them, said it looks good, and so I started cutting stencils. Because my work takes forever to cut, I needed a few weeks to cut the stencils. Well, after cutting for a week, I got an email from Nike saying 'the comps you sent have nothing to do with the campaign; we need to do something different. The focus of the launch is 'hybrid', so you should think hybrid.". Think Hybrid???? I have been busting my ass for a week cutting stencils and now they tell me it wont work? This was the first time I heard about the 'hybrid' concept. I was so pissed; I thought to myself, I'll give them a hybrid. How about a fucking unicorn, that’s a hybrid, right?? I mean it is a horse and another animal, right? Or how about a fucking Pegasus??? That is a horse and a bird. How do you like that for a hybrid??? Well, I worded a very articulate email explaining the concept and fired it off. I ended the email with the question 'have you ever met anybody that HATES unicorns?’ That was the clincher, they went for it! So here I was, in Brussels, with a can of paint and a stencil of a Unicorn. What have I gotten myself into?? I started on the wall, and it actually turned out pretty cool. I mean, as cool as a unicorn can be. Got about half way done then took off to lunch with Lucy and Epha.




The completed nike wall


Here are the steps inbetween












For lunch, we headed to a Thai Restaurant. I kept thinking that everything sounded like the beginning of joke, so, as we walked into the restaurant, in my head, I heard " An American, and English man, and a Belgium walk into a Thai Restaurant". No punch line, but every place we went afterwards kept reminding me of the beginning of a bad joke. We finished lunch then made our way to this public wall that Harlan had lined up for us to paint. I always mean to do more street/public stuff, but never seem to get around to it. This time, I had no excuse. We had this nice garage roll-down that we were to paint. It was on this quaint little alleyway off of a main street. The ivy chased the telephone lines across the alleyway, and it almost looked beautiful enough to make you forget that junkies shot up there every night.




Epha starting on the mural




Here is the completed mural


We painted the wall for a while, got some drinks, and back to the hotel to pass out from complete exhaustion.


September, Thursday 21st




I love streets like this


Today was a little more of the same. Got up. Finished hanging the prints and my art for the show, then wrapped up the Nike wall. Ahhhh finally finished the Nike wall. There is stood in all of its majestic unicornness. Took a break for lunch, then wrapped up the rolldown garage door. I was happy with the outcome. Had dinner and drinks then called it a night. Figured I may as well stay fresh for tomorrow night.




Lucy at Lunch




Me and Epha

September, Friday 22nd


Today was great. Got up early and started walking to the train station to meet my good friend Lesley Reppeteaux (www.reppeteaux.com) and her husband Robbie Bolick. I know Lesley from Los Angeles, but her and her hubby moved to Paris to live for 3 months. They took the train up for the show, and it was great to see them again. Lesley was one of my better friends in Los Angeles and the place hasnt felt the same since she skipped out of the country.




Lesley Reppeteaux


Met them as they got off of the train and we made it back to the hotel to drop their backpacks. We finally got to walk around the city a bit. Up to this point, all I had seen was the shop and the path between the shop and the hotel. We made our way from chocolate shop to chocolate shop buying gifts for those of ours back home.


We grabbed lunch at this street famous for its restaurants. We decided to order the snails.









In the evening we arrived at the Gallery where we had VIP opening. This was the beginning of the end of all of us. Chaz from The London Police (www.thelondonpolice.com) and Galo (www.galoart.net/) came down from Amsterdam for the opening. Any time those guys are in town no body stays sober.




The opening




Chaz looks pretty for the camera


Another person that I was happy to meet was Adeline of Street Player (www.streetplayer.net). I knew of Adeline through Epha because she had curated a show in Paris that featured Epha, Fafi, Swoon, Freaklub, and 123Klan. We had chatted a few times through email, but it is always good to put a face to the name. The downside to meeting her was that she was one of the only ones in our motley crew that didn’t drink. She had to watch the slow yet continual decline of our sobriety and intelligence.




Robbie, Lesley, and Adeline


As the night came to a close, I barely remember going back to the hotel. Lesley, Robbie and myself staggered home and at some point in the night Robbie decided to decorate the hotel with the remnants of his stomach. I slept through it all but woke up the next morning to see the carnage from the drunken escapade.




yeah, this is how the night went. Lesley couldn’t get enough of the beer




Drinking makes you do this


September, Saturday 23rd


Didn’t make it out of bed until around 1 in the afternoon because of the unfortunate decision the night before of drinking shots of whiskey and the massive quantities of Belgium beer. After dragging ourselves up and out of bed, we made it to get breakfast, and nurse our wounds. After a few hours we were mostly operational again and headed to the opening around 6. Unfortunately it was at this point that I realized that the opening wasn’t at night, but was from 1pm until 6pm. I made it into the opening to catch the last 5 minutes of my own opening. Lesson learned: don’t drink whiskey the night before your own opening.


For the rest of the day we took it easy, got dinner, and chilled out at Harlans house.


September, Sunday 24th


Today Lesley and Robbie had to head out, but before they did we did a bus tour around Brussels. It was a total tourist activity, but with so much ground to cover, we wanted to make sure we saw as much as we could. Got to see all the goofy stuff like the Atominum and some of the classic stuff like the architecture built by famed Art Nouveau Architect Victor Horta. Check out some of the stuff that this guy did: http://www.cupola.com/html/bldgstru/artnouv/artnouv1.htm








Here is the Horta House that we saw on the tour.




The Atomium


After the bus tour it was off to the Flea market where we managed to see more stuffed animals than one flea market should have. I don’t know why, but there were tons of taxidermy animals that looked like they had been discarded years ago. My favorite was the one that Lesley spotted of 3 squirrels playing poker. Yeah, classy stuff, huh?


After seeing Lesley and Robbie off I rested a bit before catching up Joanna Tsoni.




me and Joanna


Joanna is the Brand manager for Sabotaz Spraypaint (www.sabotazusa.com). I became the US Distributor for Sabotaz paint a few months ago, and have been in communication Joanna every since. Up until this point we had only talked through email, but Joanna flew up from Athens, Greece to talk things over seal the deal with a handshake. It was a gesture that was well appreciated on my end.


Joanna and I hit it off immediately. I have been thrilled to be the distributor or the Sabotaz line, and the fact that I was able to hear a bit more about the company me even more excited. It is a good feeling when you can stand behind the company that you are working with, and the folks at Sabotaz inspire confidence. The owner of the company is 27, and the brand manager is 24. I am the oldest geezer at 35. Don’t know how I feel about being the old fart, but not much I can do.



Joanna and I had lunch, and walked around and found these murals near the subway station. We ended up staying up all night talking about the potential of the Sabotaz and Workhorse empires merging forces. I went to sleep anxious to get back to the US and begin preparations for the first shipment of paint.







September, Monday 25th


Today I made my way to the airport with Joanna. As luck would have it, we were leaving around the same time, on different flights, so we shared the ride and chatted a bit more about things along the way. Although we said goodbye to each other, it was the type of goodbye where you feel like is more of a beginning than an ending. I left feeling great about being part of the Sabotaz team.


The only bad thing about the whole visa fiasco (see above entries) was that when I booked my new ticket, I neglected to look at the layover I had in Switzerland. After I got to Brussels, I noticed that I had a 16-hour layover before heading back to the US. Fuck. So I made my way to Switzerland to sit in a freaking airport for a full day before getting on a plane to sit for another 13 hours. This is the side of travel that I hate.




This was the extent of my Switzerland trip. From the airport to the hotel


Made it back to the US for a quick rest before leaving again. I had 4 days until I was off to Melbourne, and in those 4 days I had to make frames for, and spray out 20 pieces of art. It was more work heading back home that it was staying in Brussels. Busted my ass, got everything done, and then headed to Melbourne.


Here are a few pics that I had to be included





WTF????




That was the end of Brussels

MIYA ANDO STANOFF

Got an email from my good friend Miya Ando Stanoff.


I met Miya during a show i did a few years back and we got along pretty well. I ended up writing an article about her for Theme Magazine. here is the photo that ran of her in the article. Miya is fucking rad!


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Miya has a few shows coming up. One in Japan, one in San Francisco, on in New York. If you get a chance, go check out her shows. Her work does not translate on the internet at all, but you can peek at one of her pieces to the left of her in the photo above. The best description i have been able to come up with is if Mark Rothko worked in monochromatic steel, it would look like Miyas.


Here are her shows:


Galerie Sho Contemporary Art

3-2-9 Nihonbashi Chuo-ku Tokyo 103-0027

Tel 81.3.3275.1008

www.g-sho.com

opening reception: september 1 6:00 pm - 8:00pm

exhibition runs from september 1 - 26, 2006


san francisco


concourse gallery in the bank of america building

555 california street, san francisco 94104

the exhibition runs now through october 7, 2006

contact Blue Tangerine Art at (415) 515-6094 or info@bluetangerineart.com.

http://www.bluetangerineart.com


new york

I will be showing new works at the ligne roset SoHo location

155 Wooster Street, New York (212) 253-5629


Took a look at the gallery that Miya is showing at in Japan, and they did these Basquiat shirts. Limited to 1000 pieces, but in one size only. Guesss that means that big western dudes like me are not buying them. haha. I like the shirt though. I think i was one of the only ones that actaully like the Reebok Basquiat shoes that came out.


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YOU THOUGHT WE WOULDNT NOTICE

In todays age of rip offs and artists getting screwed, it was only time before the artists started to fight back. With classic cases like 'johnny Cupcakes vs urban outfitters', and the 'Banksy vs. Masons Underground' highlighting the problem of companies plagiarizing artists it seems the only way to fight back is get organized. Take a peek at the http://www.youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com


Here is one jpg showcasing the 'Sixten VS. Espirt' rip off


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Banksy Photos

Just came back from the Banksy show. Love him or hate him, you have to respect his marketing. Apparently last night he had the 'hollywood' opening. All the actors and producers, and hollywood upper echelon came out. Brad Pitt and Angelina bought 8 of his pieces, and it is rumored that they dropped over one millon on artwork. A small 11 X 17 stencil was going for 20,000 Dollars!


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Banksy Photos

Just came back from the Banksy show. Love him or hate him, you have to respect his marketing. Apparently last night he had the 'hollywood' opening. All the actors and producers, and hollywood upper echelon came out. Brad Pitt and Angelina bought 8 of his pieces, and it is rumored that they dropped over one millon on artwork. A small 11 X 17 stencil was going for 20,000 Dollars!


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Belgium - Blenderhead - a little late too

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Next Saturday the Blenderhead exhibition will open in Brussels, Belgium at the Mr Ego shop. If you are in Europe, or know folks over there, tell them to come up for the show. It should be a real hoot!

As part of the exhibit each artist (including me!) will produce an extremely limited shirt (only 12 will be for sale!) and an extremely limited print (only 30 for sale)


The exhibition will feature me, my friend and exceptional artist Ephameron, and Lucy Mclauchlan


opening:

Sept 23rd 15:00-20:00

Mr Ego

29 Rue Des Pierres

Steenstraat 1000 BXI

For more info, check No New Enemies

Melbourne Art show - a little late

holy crap things are busy. I was in Brussels and Switzerland last week. came home to LA for 4 days, then back on a plane for Melbourne, which is where i am now. If you know peeps in Melb, tell em to come check me out at my show this Saturday. Next week i am in Shanghai, then back to LA where i can finally sit down and do a proper update. more to come soon.

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Shanghai - Soleciety

I got back from a pretty extensive trip last night. Brussels, Melbourne, Shanghai, and Baltimore in a few days. i am happy but tired. I have heaps of posts to type out, so it will probably take a few weeks to get them all sorted out. Here is the first one to get you started.


When i made it to Shaghai, one place that we visted was SOLECIETY. This place is amazing! I do not consider myself a sneakerhead, but this place was impressive for those that have even a rudimentary knowledge of the sneaker game. Basically every Nike shoe that i have read about over the past few years is on display like a museum. The shoes were loaned for the exhibit from Hiroshi, Stash, and every other heavy hitter you can imagine. The grand opening is next week and from what i heard, Futura, Stash, Hiroshi, Edison Chen, and Jeff Staple may be flying in for the opening. Thats one hell of a line up.


We had the chance to sit down and talk with Tom Chung, one of the three owners of Soleciety. Hanjin Tan, adn Edison Chen are the other two owners, but they werent there when we stopped by. Tom is a super humble guy and no pretense or ego.

Normally pictures are not allowed, but Tom was kind enough to allow me to go crazy with the camera so i took these photos.


If you want to read a bit more on the Soleciety life, you can peep Tom's blog over at UrbanLook. We had the chance to meet with Himm, one of the founders of UrbanLook while we were in Shanghai, but more on that later.

Here is Tom with all his shoe goodness:


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Tom, Sixten, and Allen shooting the shit:


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My long lost Chinese brother, Jimmy Au from Red Agency


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Look at this shop. this is nuts. clean, very very clean


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