chumpchampion

The paint is still drying and the time is almost upon us. The highly anticipated show will open tomorrow night at the Laforet Museum at 6pm! Like the sign says…

ESPO vs. Valentino? Find out what it’s about in a few days!

Steve Powers, a.k.a. ESPO, has long been one of my favorite artists for both his sarcastic signs and clean lines. Along with the rest of the artists putting together the show, the studio gangster is currently holed up in the exhibition space cooking up punchline after punchline. When he’s not perusing the aisles of Tokyo Hands of course. Here’s the hand made myth himself along with Jo Jackson, Aaron Rose, and Yours Truly.

Yesterday I failed to mention half of the other artists involved in the Beautiful Losers opening at the Laforet Museum. Here’s whose crates of artwork arrived yesterday: Thomas Campbell, Shepard Fairey, Harmony Korine, Chris Johanson, Geoff McFetridge, Mike Mills, and Ed Templteton (Mark Gonzalez sculpture to be included as well if we can track it down somewhere in Shibuya). And here’s who arrived via plane last night:

It’s the lovely Jo Jackson straight out of Portland!

Elevator at the Laforet in Harajuku.

This week I’ll be chumpchampioning from the far East as I’m in Tokyo for the Japanese Premiere of Beautiful Losers on August 2nd. A bunch of other peeps are out here as well as our director Aaron Rose will be curating a group show with Steve Powers (ESPO), Jo Jackson, Josh Lazcano (AMAZE), and Alexis Ross of the Gents of Desire, and will also include original pieces by Margaret Kilgallen and Barry Mcgee. The show also features Nike’s Lightning Bolts artwork and will open at the Laforet Museum in Harajuku the day of the film’s premiere. I’ll be documenting the setup of the show leading up to the premiere, so stay tuned as there’s much more to come!

With my editing roots stemming from the world of music videos, it’s always great to see clips that push the boundaries of conventional music video making. Radiohead’s latest, “House of Cards”, instantly comes to mind. I hate to admit it, but these types of videos are few and far between these days. Anomalies even. But every now and then one pops up that instantly grabs your attention and reminds you that there’s still much more to explore within the medium. And when your friend is responsible for such an offering it makes it even better. Have a heart and peep Chris Milk’s latest video for Gnarls Barkley’s “Save My Soul” which also reminds you what it’s like to be in a failing relationship. Bastard.

If you’re not going to be lining up to see one of the thousands of sold out Dark Knight showings this Saturday the 19th, you might want to check out the Santa Monica Pier anywhere from 7pm to 7am for the event known as Glow. After perusing the website and checking out the scheduled events (DJ’s, live bands, parades, and a possible Grunion run sighting!), this fairly huge and ambitious art offering may not be right for me. Maybe if I had gone to a Burning Man or two I would be all over it. But lucky for me I’ll be enjoying a glow of another kind, namely the glow of a 60 foot Joker’s smile on an IMAX screen.

From the Glow website (not to be confused with the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling-G.L.O.W.):

This Friday night, July 11th, at the Hollywood Car Wash on Sunset come get clean. Squeak E. Clean that is. One of LA’s finest party starters brings us another evening of Sudsy fun with ass-shaking, skating by the Girl Skateboards team, live screenprinting, more ass-shaking, and art and video installations created by Aaron Rose and edited by yours truly.

Don’t forget to RSVP!

SUDS

Friday, July 11th

10pm-2am

Hollywood Car Wash

6200 Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90028

(Another fine flyer design from Keith Scharwath)

This Sunday June 29th, kick down your old new shoes for a good cause. Nike, Undefeated, and the illustrious Gents of Desire are kicking off a benefit for the East LA Community Youth Center where every pair of unworn shoes donated will be generously matched by Nike. In addition to helping out your fellow peoples, Nike and Undefeated will be hosting a picnic for you filled with food, drink, music, and a “lady pants” competition in their back alley featuring the artwork of the Gents of Desire. Your ticket in is the pair of shoes you’ll be donating. Read on for more info:

Time and place:

June 29th

5pm-9pm

UNDFTD Los Angeles

112 1/2 South La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036

If my memory serves me correctly, and it rarely does these days (what am I even paying you for you stupid brain?!), graduation ceremonies for the younglings are currently in progress across the country. Which makes me wonder how well our future leaders and followers are being educated for the real world. Which in turn leads me to this segue to an excellent video from the annual creative idea conference, TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design). In February of 2006, Sir Ken Robinson went on to explain how creativity is not necessarily nurtured in our educational systems but rather brushed aside in favor of conventional thinking. Needless to say, this strikes a chord with me as I’ve always been an ardent supporter of logic but in my old age I’ve come to realize that being overly analytical may deprive oneself of being freely creative. This English chappy “makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.” It’s a must see for all you creative types, as well as for anyone with a brain. Especially those new brains just graduating from high school. But not for me, my brain and I are still fighting.

Thanks to Denny “Cool Breeze” Devries for dropping the science.

Extra credit! Sir Ken’s definition of “creativity” so you don’t need to watch it over and over like I did:

Creativity-Process of having original ideas that have value, more often than not comes about through the interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things.

Last month I took the time to chuckle at our lovable mums for Mother’s Day. This Sunday, the 15th is Father’s Day so I thought why not honor them in the same way? By laughing at them. Now I don’t intend this to come off as mean spirited or hurtful in any way, but more as an alternative to the greeting card/gift giving mentality most of us are accustomed to. So take a look at some funny pictures (see above) at a site called manbabies where fathers and sons heads are chopped off and affixed to the latters bodies and maybe you’ll be inspired to do the same for your pops. Sure it sounds a bit morbid but hey, it’s Friday the 13th after all!