I love the irony in Banksy’s works. I’ve noticed that more and more people are getting into his works because a lot of his books are disappearing off the shelves lately. If you don’t know…now you know. I’m assuming these are his latest hits. If not, then it’s new to me.

–dinoxsketchpad

photos via FecalFace
–dinoxsketchpad

No, not really. But for all the 80’s babies, this is an interesting, and pretty random, show. He-Man and the Master Of The Universe will have their own art gallery show at Gallery 1988. If you have no clue who, or what, this is all about, it means you’re either too young…or too old. The show is focused on the theme of how pop-culture has inspired a new group of artists with its annual ‘Under The Influence’ group shows. Of course, He-Man, Skeletor, She-Ra, and Castle Grayskull are all going to make an appearance. I’m pretty excited about this show, because He-Man made up many years of my childhood when Saturday morning cartoons were worth waking up for.

Gallery 1988
7020 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
323.937.7088

Friday, January 8th 2010 (7-10 PM)

–dinoxsketchpad

“If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It seems as if I’d given up on a project that I gave birth to with a lot of passion and heart. I side-tracked and gave attention to many other miniscule things. Or an excuse I could easily rely on — Life got in the way. There hasn’t been any progress or product as of late, though coming off of a success with our last batch of shirts. I’d hate to sound cliched and start anew because of the new year, but I’ve started working again.

I’ve spent a good amount of time within the last month browsing and scouring many art books at Borders and going through pages and pages of my own sketchbook to get my hands warmed up to drawing again and build a small catalogue of things I can work with on this ‘Sketchpad’ project. This isn’t a ‘momentous’ blog post — even though it is a first in a long time — but I just needed to get this thing going again. For the people who come here only to see pictures, here’s a few things that’ve inspired me back to this very passionate project:

I had a chance to see some of James Jean’s paintings up close and personal. Met Dave Choe. Listened to one of the most creative albums of 2009 — Kid Cudi’s ‘Man On The Moon’ LP. Became the owner of all four Mike Shinoda skate-decks from his Glorious Excess (Ends) Art Exhibit. A lot of inspiration. A lot of encouragement. Thank you 2009.

–dinoxsketchpad

This is a Street Fighter IV Tournament.  There should be quite a few recognizable players if you are active with the Street Fighter IV tournament scene. Local San Diego clothing stores including UnSteady Boutique and Willy’s WorkShop have sponsored the event with prizes and The Miramar Speed Circuit has offered their venue to The Box Arena.  Besides that, A Sketchpad Brand will be giving away shirts as raffle prizes as well as to a few of the top players of the event.  Make sure you mark your calendars and take the drive to the Miramar Speed Circuit on October 3rd, 2009.

My brother-in-law, Noel, hooked me up with a flyer of J Ross Parrelli, his co-worker’s album release party @ the Rhythm Lounge here in Long Beach. She’s got a really nice jazzy-Hip-Hop-neosoul vibe to her music and I personally think it’s well worth supporting. I’m just starting to listen to her CDs which I also just recieved and it’s very chill. The show will be on Saturday, August 15th and you will recieve a copy of her new album FREE with paid admission.

Can’t wait! All these good events at around the end of summer. So come, enjoy, and support good music.

–dinoxsketchpad

I just got an exciting E-Mail from Mario (LA ArtLab) today about an event that’s going to take place this Thursday. He messaged me a while back about a project he’s working on with Freshjive, The Hundreds, and Hellz Bellz…and it seems that it’s coming to fruition. Here’s the official press-release:

Join three of the most influential and innovative street wear designers for a frank discussion about what it takes to start a label, develop it, keep it sharp and maintain its creative integrity. Rick Klotz, Bobby Hundreds, and Lanie Alabanza-Barcena will speak about the ideas and challenges behind running their companies, and keeping their designs relevant in a world with serious problems.

Bring your thoughts and questions to the table – this is an open forum for youth, design students, entrepreneurs and creative activists.

LAartlab is an all volunteer project helping teens and young adults engage in the various facets of the Los Angeles art scene and California’s creative economy by providing hands-on opportunities to help design, produce and host free art events!

Oh, and the admission is FREE. It’s summer so I know a lot of you aren’t doing anything splendor so call in sick from work and support a good cause, get some free education, and the icing on the cake — free giveaways from the different brands. What more do you want? And thanks Mario for the heads up. I shall be there.

Here’s the info:

National Center for the Preservation of Democracy
111 North Central Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90012

Thursday, July 30th @ 7-8:30PM

–dinoxsketchpad

For more information on the show, visit 33Third’s Gallery Blog. Thanks again to Lucy for the update.

–dinoxsketchpad

Vice, the international arts and culture magazine distributed and published in more than 22 countries, comes to Scion’s Installation L.A. Gallery on July 25 for the ninth annual Vice Photo Show.

Best known for documenting youthful excess, questionable street fashion and powerful scenes of political unrest around the world, Vice presents this exhibition in conjunction with “The 2009 Vice Magazine Photo Issue” and is curated by the magazine’s managing editor Amy Kellner. The acclaimed annual edition has previously featured works from Terry Richardson, Ryan McGinley, Richard Kern, Jerry Hsu, Rennie Ellis and many others.

This year’s exhibition features Vice contributors Jamie Lee Curtis Taete, Maggie Lee, and former Vice photo editor, Tim Barber. Tim is also curating a mini group-show-within-a-group-show of photos featured on his online gallery, tinyvices.com.

Jamie Lee Curtis Taete is a 24-year-old English photographer whose candid images provoke intense reactions, often ranging from awe to disgust. His work has been featured in Vice, Chief, PerezHilton.com and The Guardian, and has been shown in Mexico, France, Britain, North America and Japan as part of the Tiny Vices traveling exhibition. Taete is a Vice UK staff photographer and maintains a photo blog at www.jamietaete.com.

Maggie Lee is a zine-maker, Pratt graduate and Vice staff photographer who has developed a chronological archive of her 21 years through captured light and photocopies. Lee has shown her work in New York, New Zealand and Australia and has recently exhibited her Frenching zine at the New Museum’s “Younger Than Jesus” show.

Tim Barber, a photographer, curator, publisher, designer and former Vice Magazine photo editor runs the online gallery TinyVices.com. Founded in 2005, the site reflects various approaches to photography and allows emerging and underexposed artists to upload their work onto the influential platform. For this exhibition, Barber will personally install a selection of works from the site.

–dinoxsketchpad

Ritzy Periwinkle, aka Marisa Estrada is a Los Angeles artist and designer with deep roots in urban art and music culture. The name Ritzy Periwinkle, a pseudonym that started among her and her crew, stems from “Maritza” (the way her birth name was originally supposed to be spelled) and the Crayola color, “Periwinkle”. The tight beats and poetic lyrics of Hip Hop fuel her artistic creativity. Graduating from California State University Long Beach with a fine art degree with an emphasis in graphic design, Ritzy has created designs and artwork for Dilated Peoples, Aterciopelados, Sonic Youth, Calle 13, “I Am Legend”, Slick Rick, Arcade Fire and many more. With art exhibitions in art and music hubs such as Los Angeles, Detroit and New York, Ritzy communicates a beautiful energy and respect for her community of women and people of color. Working in photography, illustrations, graphics, collage and creating a flourishing boutique t-shirt line, Ritzy compliments her gritty stylistic tendencies with a positive vibe that is attributed to her eclectic influences and unique background. Ritzy Periwinkle happily mixes music and art to her own beat, bringing pure harmony to her creativity.

Bic Plastics recently announced their first mini figures artist series, dubbed “Bic Buddy Artist Series 1.” The series features custom designs from 13 artists including: Ritzy Periwinkle, Marka27, COPE2, KANO and more. Ritzy’s design shows off the wings accessory, adding a new dimension to the standard figure shape. “I only had a couple of days to create two design options for BICS Plastics,” explains Ritzy. “The chosen design was inspired by my experiences of Dia De Los Muertos in Oaxaca, Mexico, as well as the ongoing struggles of women all over the world, the revolutionary acts we commit on the daily and the incredible strength of my mom, who passed away 14 years ago.” The Bic Buddy figures will be distributed in the USA by DKE toys and in Taiwan by Pixie. They will be available in August with a preview at SD Comic Con next week, and there will be release/signing events in L.A. (AUG 15), N.Y.C. (AUG 20) and CHI TOWN (AUG 22).

–dinoxsketchpad