chumpchampion

Now that the excess known as Art Basel Miami Beach is all but wrapped up and ready to ship to rich art collectors around the world, the most interesting piece of Basel news I’ve come across was Barry McGee’s (TWIST) venture down to the Southeast. Barry’s reluctant art star status is well documented, so seeing him join in on the Miami madness was surprising at first but upon seeing the project he was working on it made more sense: a group of 15 influential artists from around the world brought together by long-time supporter Jeffrey Deitch of New York’s famed Deitch Projects to do what they please on warehouse walls in Miami’s Wynwood art district for The Wynwood Walls Outdoor Mural Project.

Joining McGee in the mural making were respected street artists and legends including Futura, OS Gemeos with Nina and Finok, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, David Ellis, Clare Rojas, Kenny Scharf, Aiko, Jim Drain, Stelios Faitakis, Nunca, Ara Peterson, and Ben Wolf.

(all photos courtesy of Martha Cooper and Deitch Projects)

Also there documenting the artistry was another legend, photographer Martha Cooper best known for exposing the world to the New York graffiti scene during the 70’s and 80’s. You can see more of her photos on Deitch here. And also more Martha photos of Barry here on Juztapoz.

one of the OS Gemeos twins

Futura

Shepard Fairey

Swoon, David Ellis and Ben Wolf

Kenny Scharf

Although the art fair has passed, The Wynwood Walls remain for public viewing ongoing on Tuesday through Saturdays from 12–8pm at NW 26th Street & 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33127.

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Now that Beautiful Losers is available on DVD through Adam Yauch’s (MCA of the Beastie Boys) film distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, your holiday shopping is now officially over (or at least made easier). With an inspiring message of how outsiders helped shape today’s pop culture landscape, I think our film is a great gift to give this year especially if you’re interested in the arts, DIY thinking, documentary films, graffiti, good music, skateboarding, and of course, these losers: Barry McGee (TWIST), Ed Templeton, Geoff McFetridge, Margaret Kilgallen, Harmony Korine, Stephen Powers (ESPO), Jo Jackson, Chris Johanson, Thomas Campbell, Mike Mills, Shepard Fairey, Deanna Templeton, Clare Rojas, Cheryl Dunn and Aaron Rose.

Buy it now and inspire someone this holiday season!

Also available on iTunes.

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The day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Black Friday, is upon us which of course means the holiday shopping season has officially begun (in the United States). Let the commerce commence!

• In a novel approach to bring the art to the people, artist/designer Parra drives around LA with his mobile pop-up truck where he’ll be peddling both his art and clothing from his Rockwell Clothing line including various Stones Throw collabos. Truck stops at UNDFTD in Silver Lake from 12-2pm, HVW8 Gallery on Melrose from 3-5pm, and Archrival in Little Tokyo from 6-8pm. Take a peak at what items you may find via Freshnessmag.com.

• Giant Robot stores in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and on the interwebs go the more traditional route as they conduct their salesmanship in-store.

• Possibly the best place to do your gift shopping on the east side of LA is at the uniquely school themed boutique, Reform School. They may not have the crazy sales that many other chain stores are having today but they certainly have an abundance of those not-so-common gifts that are the hardest to find.

• And last but certainly not least is this little show I failed to mention last week and I can’t forgive myself for missing this one. Barry McGee (TWIST) and Phil Frost, two masters of graffiti-to-gallery art opened their group show Mind the Gap at the Prism gallery in West Hollywood last Friday. Curated by RVCA founder and fight aficionado PM Tenore.

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“Rodney Dangerfield” - detail - enamel on powder coated steel - 61×61cm - 2008

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

Exhibition runs through March 7th, 2009

Also, here’s the trailer for Deitch Project’s legendary Street Market in 2000 featuring ESPO, TWIST (Barry McGee), and REAS (Todd James). Directed by Beautiful Loser’s director of special forces the one and only Joey G, Joey Garfield.

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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!

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(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!)

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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

Friday, Aug.8th @ 10:20 - Aaron Rose, Cheryl Dunn, and Lenny Mesina

Saturday, Aug.9th @ 8:20 - Aaron Rose, Tobin Yelland, and Lenny Mesina

Saturday, Aug.9th @ 10:20 - Aaron Rose, Cheryl Dunn, and Lenny Mesina

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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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…

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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!

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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!

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