Murals at CELL

tito-na-rua-mission-street-comic-at-cell
Street comic by Tito Na Rua (Rio, Brazil) at CELL (3/2012)

My mural curating continues in 2012. Late last week I had three meetings about three different murals. I also have been in contact with Dia, the artist who painted the “Liberty” mural (now for sale) as well as the “Dia del Toro” mural over on the ACT shop entrance. Dia is going to paint a new mural at the ACT spot as soon as the weather cooperates.

Last Thursday, I met with Ray Balberan and artist Carlos Gonzalez. Mentioned in an earlier post, several panels from the 1980s RAP mural “Education is Liberation” magically appeared in the back of CELL. I took the panels, contacted the journalist at Mission Loc@l, and Ray finally met with me and Gonzalez to pick up the panels. Ray and Carlos were extremely happy to see the panels. Most of what has been found show gang banger skeletons committing violence. Though the message was education is the way out of the hood, the art is still quite powerful and a historical representation of the Mission District in the 80s.

Carlos Gonzales (R) and Ray Balberan celebrate the return of two lost 1980s mural panels
Carlos Gonzales (R) and Ray Balberan celebrate the return of two lost 1980s mural panels

Then I met with Paz de la Calzada to discuss her painting at a few spots at CELL. She will paint either wisps of hair or roots on the curved wall of the women’s bathroom as well as somewhere on the exterior walls of CELL (possibly the sidewalks). Then I met with Cy Wagoner to discuss the continued concept of the Native American themed wall at the 2048 Bryant entrance. I think we have an idea of how to move forward on this. The mural will possibly incorporate stencil, wheatpasted paper, free spray, and maybe other styles. If the rain ever stops.

Finally, Tito na Rua from Rio, Brazil stayed briefly at 2048. He does great street comics on walls. The Vexta stencil had been defaced by a tag, so I had Tito spray up his characters next to Meggs’s crazy SF monster. Looks great.

I Display Found Mural for Mission Loc@l Article

rap-mural-panels

Article and Photos by Noah Arroyo (more photos on their page)

Artist Russell Howze isn’t sure how they got to Cell Space, but five more pieces of a historic mural series appeared at the art collective on Monday and will be turned over to its caretakers.

Howze said that when he arrived at Cell Space, at 2050 Bryant St., the pieces were in a back room. Continue reading “I Display Found Mural for Mission Loc@l Article”

See if it Sticks, Feb. 25

see-if-it-sticks-feb-25-flyer

Back in December, I started cutting circles. Dozens and dozens of tiny circles that made up half tone images of money. I cut out the easy one first: Tom Jefferson off of the $2 bill. I took the other two to South Carolina and managed to cut out the buffalo off of the buffalo nickle. My sister and niece helped cut a few dozen of the circles out. The last piece proved to test my bounds of sanity as well as a cramped index finger. I finally cut out the liberty head half dollar a few weeks ago.

All the while Todd Hanson has been holed up in his rotting Noe Valley bungalow madly cutting anything that comes to mind. He’s only been cutting stencils for a year or so but has already become a master at it. He practices on magazine ads but has begun to really just cut what he imagines. So he has developed a truly unique style that I like very much.

Sabrina Enrique from Density on Valencia St. emailed me months ago asking about my having a show at her store. She started selling my book too. I had to include Todd. We met Sabrina at her store and talked about the Mission, art, and stencils. She had a great Michael Kushner show up when we stopped by. After agreeing to set up an exhibit, Todd and I both kept asking Scott Williams, the SF king of cut paper, to be part of the show. He finally relented. So as the show loomed, I had to think up a name that wasn’t a lame stencil cliche.

Todd and I began to throw ideas around. We started to meet up and stencil USPS stickers and would try to think up title ideas in between wearing respirators. Ana came over one day and worked on her Love Aqui hearts. None of the title ideas really worked that day. On the second sticker jam, as I was getting on my bike, I threw out some more title ideas to Todd. “Well, I guess we’ll see if any of them stick.” I paused, and let that last word hang in my brain. “Hmm, how about ‘see if it sticks?'” It sort of connected with Todd, who now had a 25th title idea to mull over.

Over the week, I kept mentioning “see if it sticks” to friends. It consistently got chuckles and smiles. I wrote out some punish sentences about sticking stencils and sticky art. Then I realized that Todd and I had made stickers to give away at the show.

So…. “See If It Sticks” will open Feb. 25 at Density. Still working out the time. You’ll probably find the time on FaceBook anyway! I think we might serve peanut butter and lemon squares. Or possibly honey and crackers. Might as well run the idea in the ground. Oh… the initials of the show – SIIS – sound like a the propelling pigment of a spraypaint can.

Nice!

Photos featured in Vienna zine

During my 2008/9 Stencil Nation book tour, I set up an event with Matteo Grieder at his art space Zeitvertrieb in Vienna, Austria. Matteo was nervous about the turnout (a common anxiety during my European tour), but I had Pod and Austrian artist Dieter Puntigam backing me up with live VJ and DJing. A nice crowd came for my presentation, bought books, ate and drank, and made a great scene for the event. Matteo was surprised and happy with the results.

A month ago, Matteo approached me with a request for photo submissions to his fun art zine “Artyfucked”. It is mostly a sketch zine, but he also features street art from cities around the world. Issue #8 features my stencil photos (the cream of the crop) from SF. They mostly cover 2011’s greatest hits. He also put them all in an online album.

Support a great project and buy a copy of “Artyfucked” today!

Wrote an Essay for Upcoming Blek le Rat book

Blek le Rat, the “godfather” of stencil graffiti commemorates 30 years creating art on the streets with the launch of new retrospective from Art Publishing, Ltd.

http://www.artpublishingltd.com/new/

http://www.artpublishingltd.com/bleklerat.html

This retrospective features the artist’s private family photos, point and shoot images of his graffiti artwork from around the world, and full-color reproductions of his gallery pieces. The book is separated into two distinct sections: “Street Art” and “Fine Art,” both of which are augmented by the writing of celebrated scholars, critics, experts in relevant fields, fellow artists, journalists, collectors and gallerists. Lavishly illustrated with more than 200 images, “Blek le Rat,” the 30 year anniversary retrospective offers the first full history of this seminal artist’s tradition and legacy, featuring:
Continue reading “Wrote an Essay for Upcoming Blek le Rat book”

Sign Painting now in business

Spent the past week down on Folsom St., in the fog up on a ladder, painting a sign with Chris Benfield. Justin Fraser just changed his business name from digipop to Mission Web Works. We finished the first sign on the Folsom St. facade today, so I took some photos of the work. Chris and I already have another job lead. Justin asked me “what’s your sign business name?” hmm. After several hours of brainstorming while up ladders, Chris and I were still undecided. Two women walked by and one looked up at us and said “You sure do have steady hands!”

So Steady Hands it is. Ready to stencil and pounce our way through the Bay.

[u] well, Chris googled Steady Hands and a guy in Walnut Creek has that name. So we’re still working on a name. Stay tuned….

Al’s Comics Logo

Was hanging out with Al and Antonio last Saturday for what ended up being a random, spontaneous night of laughter. Antonio started asking Al about content for his website and we then brainstormed some animation ideas about the logo. Al’s calling his site “VirtuAL’S” which was why we laughed so much. Anyway, I had an idea for making a “money” logo for Al, especially since money is what keeps kicking his ass all around Market Street.

Got the urge tonight, probably since I was painting stencils earlier today, to make the logo. It’s fun!

Al's Comics Money Logo
Al's Comics Money Logo

I put it in that square for Al’s Facebook usage. I Googled “color of money” and got the CMYK mix for this green. The font is “United States” which is kinda like the dollar bill font. The bubbly font is from a San Diego Comicon font site. Or a geek comics font site. I just deleted all the links so just feel like guessing. 🙂