MILTON GLASER 'TO INFORM and DELIGHT'

From Arthouse Films: Milton Glaser "To Inform and Delight"

"For many, Milton Glaser is the personification of American graphic design. Best known for co-founding New York Magazine and the enduring I ♥ NY campaign, the full breadth of Glaser's remarkable artistic output is revealed in this documentary portrait, MILTON GLASER: TO INFORM AND DELIGHT. From newspapers and magazine designs, to interior spaces, logos, and brand identities, to his celebrated prints, drawings, posters and paintings, the documentary offers audiences a much richer appreciation for one of the great modern renaissance men..."

NYC SIDEWALKS: TOURISTS vs NEW YORKERS

In a city teeming with graffiti, a recent piece stood out hands above the others. The stenciled piece of pure genius was recently spotted on a sidewalk at the intersection of 22nd St & 5th Ave. The unknown sharp-witted graffiti artist hit this one home for all native New Yorkers who have ever had to deal with confused & slow-pokey tourists that insist on taking up valuable sidewalk space.

CRO aka RAY NOLAND 'DALEY RIOT'

Dig the behind-the-scenes footage of CRO aka Ray Noland as he builds his "Daley Riot" canvas.
If you're in Chicago June 11th, I hope that you're going to check out CRO's "Sweet Tea and American Values" inaugural exhibition at the Chicago Urban Art Society, 2229 S Halstead St. (at Canal Port)...the joint is 4,200 square feet of pure, unadulterated gallery pleasure!

Daley Riot from CRO on Vimeo.

DENNIS HOPPER ON ART

We lost one of the great men of our time yesterday. Prostate Cancer won out over the 74-year old actor, God bless Dennis Hopper, an amazing actor and an avid art collector. Mr Hopper was also a well accomplished photographer, with a number of published books under his belt.

I remember going to the theater to watch Blue Velvet, back in '86. Dennis' presence and performance affected me greatly and has stuck with me ever since. The vision of a sharp-dressed Dennis huffing the Nitrous while whining 'mom-my, mom-my!' is forever burned in my brain.

*The video below briefly touches on his reasons for collecting art for the better part of half a century.

RYAN DOOLEY: GENIUS or MADMAN?

On a semi-recent trip back to NYC I snapped a random picture of this primitive bird-man figure scrawled on a wall, somewhere around West 23rd & the West Side Hwy. I had absolutely no idea who the artist was, until last month, that is. With a wee bit of research and a dash of dumb luck, I found out that dudes name is Ryan Dooley and I'm convinced that he's either a freaking genius or a complete and total madman or both.

PS: when you view the attached video, titled 'Home 3", be on the look-out at the 2-minute mark where you'll see the bird-man figure again.

Check out his 2-dozen or so Vimeo's HERE or hit up Ryan's website HERE

FRANK CHIMERA: ILLUSTRATOR, GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Frank Chimera is an illustrator out of Portland, Oregon who has a penchant for mid-century graphics and some damn good design. PS: Frank did some stellar designs for the '08 Democratic National Convention, too.

The image below is from his 'The States' series and if you haven't figured it out yet, those Chuck Taylor's are in the shape of Kansas...man, that's some cerebral shit!

OS GEMEOS: THE OFFICIAL BLOG, FINALLY!

Christ on a cracker! The Twins have finally got a blog out...my tits pricks with joy. I've got some catchin' up to do.

WHEN THIS CREW BUFFS, THEY BUFF HARD!

Alright, don't get your pannies all twisted...I'm sure these boys are just having a laugh. Check the faces of everybody on the trains, they're all kind of dumb-founded by the fact that instead of a bunch of hoodlums bangin' out some graffiti in broad daylight on their pretty little trains, these fellas are stone cold cleaning them! Now that's gangsta.

OS GEMEOS ANIMATED SHORT for 33rd MOSTRA

Os Gemeos never cease to amaze and their animation for last years 33rd Mostra - São Paulo International Film Festival is no exception.

KEE UTILTY: ANALOG iPHONE DOCKING SYSTEM

Korea's Kee Utility has one of the sickest docks for your iPhone, perfectly marrying iPhone's tech with the beautiful looks of the analog phones of yesteryear. The Desk Phone Dock is a new aluminum and white plastic iPhone dock allowing users to initiate and receive calls on their iPhones via a traditional handset. To enable this functionality, the Desk Phone Dock features a built-in dock on the right side, which also houses stereo speakers, a headphone port, and a volume knob, with a traditional handset on the left. Hell, I don't know how well this baby works, but it sure has peaked my interest!

CONVERSE 'SKOOTS' NAZI-ERA SNEAKERS

eBay is an amazing platform. If you want it, it's gotta be on eBay (or at least, was or will be at one time). eBay seller Mad4Mod Vintage of Columbus, Ohio recently sold a super-duper rare find, a pair of Nazi-era Converse Skoots for a staggering 1825 bucks!

I know some of you out there are getting all pissy, thinking to yourselves 'how the fuck?! what the hell?! Nazi sympathizing Converse?!' Chill, I don't think Converse said anything like 'hey, let's make sneakers for the future genocidal maniac, soon to be known as Hitler.' when these Skoots were originally produced. Take 'em for what they are...rare Converse memorabilia. Remember, emo-music did not invent Converse, they've been kickin' around since 1917.

*Check out Mad4Mod Vintage's link for more images.

TOTTI WOLF Mash-Up by Sten & Lex

Holy Moses, this has to be the largest mash-up ever! Sten & Lex's wheatpaste measures roughly 26x12 meters and since I attended public schools, here in the USofA, I can't translate that very well into the American equivalent (unless I'm counting on my fingers & toes), but I will guess-ti-mate that to be approximately 'huge-as-shit!'

Totti Wolf is hand-painted and integrates imagery likening to B-movie wolf-man, the late/great Lon Chaney & footballer Francesco Totti (who's kind of a National treasure for AS Roma)...and note the beautiful soundscapes of DEVOs 'Gut Feeling/ Slap Your Mammy".

*okay all you math nerds out there chillax, we're ball-parking this piece to be about 85x39 feet...that's still 'huge as shit!'

Check out sten's flickr spot HERE

'WINNEBAGO MAN' VIRAL VIDEO BEFORE THERE WAS A VIRAL VIDEO

Winnebago Man was a viral video years before there was You Tube. This flick is guaranteed to make you piss your britches and choke on your popcorn. Hits theaters July 9th...bring a fresh change of drawers & a buddy proficient in CPR.

The following synopsis was lifted directly from the official Winnebago Man site..."Jack Rebney is the most famous man you’ve never heard of — an RV salesman whose hilarious, foul-mouthed outbursts circulated underground on VHS tapes in the 90s before turning into a full-blown Internet phenomenon in 2005. Today, the “Winnebago Man” has been seen by more than 20 million people worldwide, and is regarded as one of the first and funniest viral videos. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer goes in search of Rebney — and finds him living alone on a mountain top, unaware of his fame. WINNEBAGO MAN is a laugh-out-loud look at viral culture and an unexpectedly poignant tale of one man’s response to unintended celebrity."

Kelsey Dugan: Prints, Drawings & Lil' Paper Houses

Kelsey Dugan is an artist from Chicago. The image below is a drawing that Kelsey has put to vintage atlas paper.
Check out her Etsy shop HERE and her Blog HERE

ESPO aka Steve Powers: NYC 2010 PSFK Guest Speaker

ESPO aka Steve Powers, giving us the scoop on his career as a graffiti writer and giving back to his fans & community as a guest speaker at the New York 2010 PSFK Conference.

Frank Lloyd Wright's USONIA: The Movie

Get the popcorn ready, there's a movie in the works involving Frank Lloyd Wright and his New York state co-op known as USONIA. Get the movie clip HERE and visit the film's website HERE

*above was lifted from PrairieMod

VANDALIZED CHICAGO BANKSY PIECE GETS A FACE-LIFT

In an earlier post, I reported that Banksy's 'You Concrete Me' piece (in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood) was vandalized by a local 'crew'. It is quite clear that a segment of Chicagoan's were strongly opposed to the anti-Banksy graffiti. This morning, in the wee hours, a 3-good Samaritans, paint & wax pen in hand, made the needed repairs to the stone-faced Banksy.
Banksy fans across the globe can now raise a pint to the awesome persons responsible for the face-lift.

YYCOFEE Pushes The Color, Hard

yycofee comes from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and he pushes the color hard during his post-production. Some truly amazing imagery.

CHICAGO BANKSY PIECE GETS DEFACED BY LOCAL CREW

Never mind worrying about the good ole' Mayor Daley & his merry band of Po-Po buffing the few Chicago Banksy pieces out, worry about the locals!

Banksy's "you concrete my" piece in the Pilsen, Chicago neighborhood was destroyed late last night. BANKSSUCK was sprayed across one side of the humorous image, as well as whiting-out the word 'concrete' in the dialogue bubble. I can only imagine that the vandals possibly intended on ad-libbing some of Banksy's dialogue.

The crew believed responsible for this act seems to have given themselves credit, but I won't print their name here. You can see for yourself, look closely. And we Chicagoian's wonder why Banksy and other internationally well known artists fly past us on their travels? Bummer, dudes, bummer.

GOONS for Orbit: A stop Motion Flick

Ace Norton directs one of Chicago's most prolific street artists, GOONS in this stop-motion flick for Orbits chewing gum.

Get GOONS here: http://goonswood.com/

Nick Adam: Hi-Jacked Political Advertising

Ever notice how many of those corrugated plastic political advertisements there are out there? They're everywhere. They're tied to lamp posts, strung to fences, nailed to board-ups, they litter sidewalks and I've even seen dozens of them dumped in vacant lots. Shouldn't the wanker running for office be billed for the clean-up? Can't I bill that power-hungry douche for my next eye exam...because his or her over abundant 'vote for me' poster boards infest my every waking moment?
Well, in the mean time, local Chicago artist Nick Adam has found a solution for these particular eyesores and three things are obvious:
1: Nick has a liking for typography.
2: Has sourced a never ending supply of canvases, or in this case, corrugated-plastic political poster boards.
3: Is a talented & resourceful chap with a sense of humor.
Paint brush & signs in-hand, Nick practices his letter writing skills, A-Z, over and over, and over and over. The signs are then re-hung where they were left by the douchey would-be politician (or the street-team said douche paid to hang them) who yearned to be put into office by the voters.

I Got You by Mark Searcy

Mark Searcy hails from the Pacific Northwest and is a collage-ing MF!

I Got You
8.5" x 11" | Digital

www.thisdotcomtaken.com
www.flickr.com/photos/thisdotcomtaken

SWOON Celebrates The Release Of Her Self-Titled Book

One this generations most recognizable wheat paste-graffiti artists, SWOON, did an uber-rare meet and greet at Urban Art Projects in Williamsburg, where she signed thousands of copies of her self-titled book and celebrated with her fans.

Alex Williamson: George Orwell '1984'

Alex Williamson's silkscreen printed images commissioned by Random House for illustrated 50th anniversary edition of George Orwell’s ‘1984’, published by Random House / Secker & Warburg 1999.

CRO aka RAY NOLAND 'SWEET TEA & AMERICAN VALUES'

CUAS (Chicago Urban Art Society) will be hosting Ray Noland's (aka CRO) 'Sweet Tea & American Values' exhibition June 11-30 in the Pilsen Arts District. It's a solo gig and it's bound to kick some ass.

Chicago Urban Art Society
2229 S Halstead St
Chicago, IL 60608

Chuck Palahniuk Book Reading in Chicago

Chicago's Harold Washington Library Center will be hosting Chuck Palahniuk, as he discusses his newest book titled 'Tell-All'. Sorry guys, there won't be a book-signing, but Chuck will have pre-signed copies for sale at the event. No reservations. Limited seating. Get there early.

When: May 10th at 6pm

Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street 60605
312.747.4300

NEUTRA FACE: TYPEFACE vs LADY GAGA

Jason Kinney (and crew) rewrite Lady Gaga with his/their parody 'Neutra Face'...giving wood to all you/us typeface geeks out there!