The very first time I saw a Barry McGee drawing of a sad, anguished face on a wall in the streets of San Francisco in the early 90’s, it was the first time I began to look at “street art” as my art. At the time Barry (aka TWIST) and his wife at the time, the late great Margaret Kilgallen, were tearing up SF with murals, signs, stickers and tags, large scale pieces and beautifully detailed line work the likes of which had previously not been seen in the streets. The art, which could easily be seen walking or riding the bus, completely blew my mind and would help usher in a new format for a different type of artist to showcase their talents.
Fast forward to over ten years later, when in the summer of 2007 Aaron Rose gave me the opportunity of a lifetime: edit the film Beautiful Losers. The documentary, which featured Barry and Margaret and many other artists I appreciated and looked up to (Shepard Fairey, Steve Powers, Geoff McFetridge, Ed Templeton, and more), was an absolute dream job come true. I can proudly say we made a film that captured the spirit of creativity and inspiration I saw on those San Francisco streets that had a profound effect on me so many years ago.
“for a week (more or less depending on demand), the only artwork that will be on offer will be all Steve Powers, all week long. All your favorite icons, punchlines, poignant reminders of the futility of life, hilarious illustrations of our inadequacies, True depictions of true love from the Love Letter project, and of course, PIGEONS. Its all here, it’s cheap, its permanent. No, I’m not tattooing, no skills. I will, however, sign your arm and let one of the skilled pros on staff at Todd’s shop re-ink it, fair enough?”
“Another Elebration, another storm bringing massive precipitation. In spite of the snow, Espo’s Love Letter Tattoo Shop (a division of ICY SIGNS, a subsidiary of Mark Surface Intl.) opened right at the happy hour of 5. Two excellent co-defendants stepped right up: Nick encouraged me to invent something on the spot, while Michelle chose “whats mine is yours” and got it bolder on her shoulder. WHOA, I’ve got that feeling I get when I put work in a good spot. It’s like a seeing diamond in a moonbeam. 10 sheets of flash are in the shop now, we’ll add 10 more on tuesday, 10 more on thursday, and 10 more on friday. Dont see that special piece of flash? come again, rewind till you find the fine line to put on your spine. Or if you want, you can suggest to Es what works best, HELL YES”
I know I said I wasn’t going to do any sort of year end lists the other day, but there’s just something about lists that I just can’t resist. And when I can cherry pick from all the “best of” lists that suckers esteemed writers have diligently compiled on the interwebs, well it pretty much makes this list the list to look at. I mean, where else can you peruse a list that includes street art, Quentin Tarantino, NSFW music and viral videos, Manny Pacquiao, conservative conspiracies, repurposing tricks, National Geographic photos and iPhone apps all from one webpage?
So without further ado, and in no particular order other than alphabetical, I present to you my humble list of the best “best of” lists for the year 2009.
Click headers or corresponding images to see complete lists.
Fresh off of Valentine’s Day weekend comes ESPO’s latest love lettering via Pictures on Walls. These 12 color signed and numbered screenprints come in two different color flavors, on cream and black and are only limited to 100 per color. Must. Have. Now.
Tonight the high-topped tight-tipped sultan of the subversive, Steve Powers (a.k.a. ESPO), brings his artistic stylings overseas to Belgium, Germany for his latest show “Semaphores of the Soul” at the Alice Gallery in Brussels. For years now ESPO has been bridging the gap from his roots in graf to fine art to installations, indoors and out, and those who know know ESPO runs the show. And yes, I know most everyone who reads this won’t be making it out to Deustchland for the opening or even during the shows run. But I just had to post this and support Steve as he’s one of my all-time favorite artists, dead or alive.
“Semaphores of the Soul” opening January 29th, 2009 from 6-10pm
Smashing Magazine recently came out with a list of “40 Exquisite Independent Film Posters“. And it is an exquisite list indeed. After viewing their list of modern day classics such as The Life Aquatic (above) as well as Requiem For a Dream, Lost in Translation, and The Savages among others, two others instantly came to mind. For your viewing pleasures, here are the posters for Dedication designed by Steve “ESPO” Powers and of course our own Beautiful Losers exquisitely designed by Keith Scharwath.
THANK YOU! Thanks to all of you East and West coasters who’ve come out to support Beautiful Losers and helped spread the films message to your friends and family! With good word of mouth continuing to extend from person to person, through the web, and in print, we’ll be bringing our little film up the coast to San Francisco for another homecoming of sorts. Here’s a brief rundown of where we’ve been theatrically in the U.S. so far:
Los Angeles: At each of the 4 Q&A sessions we did on opening weekend 4 different people from the audience stood up and paid us the highest compliment, they thanked us for making this film. Come see what’s moving people! Last show is TODAY, Thursday September 4th @ 5:00, 7:30, and 10:00.
Tickets available here: Landmark Nuart Theatre
New York: The attendance of the late night showings at the IFC Center have been so strong that they extended the run for an additional 2 weeks longer than we were supposed to be in the theater. Last shows are this FRIDAY and SATURDAY September 5th+6th @ 12:25 a.m.
Tickets and more info here: IFC Center
San Francisco: You’re next! San Francisco premiere this Friday, September 5th with Q&A’s following the 7:00 and 9:00 shows.
Tickets available here: Landmark Lumiere Theatre
If you have peoples up North, please pass along the info that we’ll be making our Bay Area premiere this weekend. Your help has been invaluable and very appreciated! Thank you all again for helping make Beautiful Losers such a success!
(Sneak peek of the Nike/UNDFTD billboard on La Brea and 1st St. Design by Keith Scharwath)
On Friday August 29th, Beautiful Losers makes it’s Los Angeles premiere at Landmark’s Nuart Theater. To date, the response to our little film has been overwhelmingly positive and audiences have eagerly embraced our message of inspiration and creativity with open arms. With no major film distribution company behind us, we’ve been fortunate enough to have gained the support and good will from audiences who have seen the film and have continued to spread the good word amongst friends, family, and something called the “internets”. Hopefully this grass roots approach can continue to bring our film to more and more cities as we have just added Boston to our tour which already includes San Francisco, Portland, and Chicago.
The 7:30 and 10pm shows on opening night will feature Q&A sessions with myself, Aaron Rose, and Money Mark. Tickets for the L.A. premiere and theatrical run are now on sale and can be purchased at Landmark’s website here(Make sure you’re purchasing tickets for the correct shows. Dates are listed in the pull down menu above the showtimes!)
Fresh from Tokyo, Japan after our official theatrical world premiere (much more on the Japan trip coming soon), Beautiful Losers makes it’s homecoming with the U.S. theatrical premiere on August 8th at the IFC Center in New York city. This release has been a long while coming as we’ve been on the festival road for over a year now, even capturing a documentary jury prize along the way. Select showings of this weekend’s special release will feature Q&A sessions with several artists from the film. The lineup goes as follows:
Friday, Aug.8th @ 8:20 - Aaron Rose, Steve Powers (ESPO), Chris Johanson, and Cheryl Dunn
Tickets can be bought right here. (Make sure you’re purchasing tickets for the correct shows. Dates are listed in the pull down menu above the showtimes!)
The New York theatrical release at the IFC Center will run from August 8th through the 28th before shifting to the West Coast with runs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and finally end in Chicago (the film may have a longer run depending on the success of this initial roll out).
In addition to the the film’s U.S. launch, Nike Sportswear has partnered with us to give back to the people. “Make Something!!” is a series of D.I.Y. creative art-based workshops taught by some of today’s best creators aimed at inspiring and educating young people. The first set starts in New York and runs from August 8th through the 22nd and then moves to Los Angeles and goes from August 29th through September 8th. The workshops range from sign painting, photography, skateboard graphic design, toy design, filmmaking, tattoo art, footwear design and zine making. Classes will be taught by the likes of Aaron Rose, KAWS, Todd James, Tobin Yelland, Cheryl Dunn, Mike Mills, Ed Templeton, Money Mark, and yours truly to name a few. Come by my class August 30th where I’ll be teaching kids the dark arts of film editing! More on the workshops to come as they happen.
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