BRICKMOB: NORTH END URBAN ARTS FEST

Brickmob, the art and clothing collective I'm working to get off the ground, has it's first show this weekend at the North End Urban Arts Festival! It's totally free and should be pretty rad. We'll be unveiling a new shirt design at this event so come check out our art wares, meet the crew and talk of revolution!

About the North End Urban Arts Festival
We provide a vibrant, high quality urban arts festival that engages and benefits the Wichita North End community, along with local artists, crafters, musicians and performers. This festival is a free community event, open to the public, where all are welcome to come and experience Wichita’s urban arts!

BRICKMOB IRS LETTER

Brickmob, the artist collective and clothing line that I'm helping found, is really building steam. The first show for us will be at the North End Urban Arts Fest in Wichita on October 4th. That being said, the crew and I have been busting ass to get everything in order. Planning, designing, building... the works.

What did I get in the mail today?

Oh laws... we are an official business/brand.

SUMMER OF SWEAT

Wow, the last time I posted a blog was on Jun 5, 2014. Time really flies when you're... short on time? Anyways, this summer was hectic indeed. I won't barf all of it up in one blog but how about just the top three.

New nine-to-fiver as a sign painter
Yep, I now lay paint to wood to create signage. Sometimes it's hand lettering with a fine brush and others it's by stencil and airbrush. It's actually given me quite a lot of ideas for pieces and prints and I get to paint all day which isn't half bad.

My brother and I launched a Kickstarter campaign
Spearheaded by my brother, we have launched a fundraiser to help us start a photo business. But not just any clicky-clicky studio, our backbone is that we will use a high definition aerial drone and support it with ground based imagery. Can you imagine the rad stuff I can video or take a pic of with a flying freaking camera and multiple angles? Click here to jump over to our Kickstarter campaign just in case you want more info or possibly have the desire to assist us to reach our goal. Time is in fact running out but... no pressure or anything.

Brickmob is growing
I have yet to post anything online before this other than the occasional vague Facebook update that I'm working on a clothing concept. I initially wanted to play the whole thing close to the chest just in case all the parts didn't line up. But the gears are really falling into place and it's time to start tapping the vein. The quick synopsis:

Brickmob is a clothing company with it's premiere article of clothing being tactically designed and hyper stylized hoodies based around the graffiti artist, guerrilla art and freedom of expression fueled by the generally pissed off 99%. Each hoodie has a mask to help deter fumes, overspray, the elements and maintain anonymity. There will also be pockets designed to hold aerosol cans but usable for anything from water to Molotov's, though I don't officially condone the latter. It's meant to help art thrive by any means necessary and look good doing. All art will be hand printed by real artists and a portion of the proceeds will go to a charity that has yet to be determined, preferably urban and/or art concerned.

That should do it for now. There will be more to come on all of this and so much more! Oh and I'll also try not to suck and disappear for so long.

LAWRENCE STEAMROLLER PRINT EVENT

I recently had the chance to be part of a steamroller event alongside my fellow Wichita State University printing guild members. We were asked to carve a block of wood that was 4 ft tall and a little over 2 feet wide. This is not really my area of artistic expertise but then again, when have I ever backed down from a challenge?

Most people that revel in this medium use old school hand wood carving tools. I have poopie el cheapo versions that uber suck. So I decided to work smarter and not harder... and snagged my buddy Duane's rotary tool, otherwise referred to as a Drimel.

This still took quite a lot of patience and precision that obviously can only come with practice. I think it's proven quite useful and time saving so in my next attempt at this medium I'm going to really design something with this particular tool in mind.

Then it was off to the main event! It was held during the Art Tougeau Pre-Parade Street Party Friday, May 30 at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kansas. So a quick two plus hour ride from Wichita and I was in the thick of it. It was hot, fun and I made a short 30 second video of the inking and pressing of my piece. Check it out:



It was one hell of an event with many talented artists and people that fight to keep the art scene thriving. I can't wait for the next ink smeared heavy roller happening that I can be a part of.

Ink slathered woodcut

The first print on muslin

BEAD EAR

Today when I got home after picking up my two and a half year old son from the sitter, we began our daily wrestling in the living room. I hemmed him up into a ball and when we were face to face upside down, he whispers "Daddy, bead ear." Thinking he had said bee ear and was being a jokester, I continued tickling and wrestling. Then after a loving body slam he says to me again, bead ear. So I took it a bit more seriously and busted out the flashlight. Upon further inspection, I found the following little treasure lodged in his ear.

Good thing I have mad Operation skills.
Kids man. Kids.

THE PATRIOT

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. My bad. But I haven't been lazy. In fact, I've been working in a new medium, video. I worked up a mock Showtime series title sequence for my motion graphics class. Here's the scoop:

Retired detective sets out across America finding the scum that slipped through the cracks in our crooked legal system. This aged gunslinger uses his police and military background to add a cold and calculated approach to his methods which is mirrored by old school brutal Louisiana justice.
Enter, The Patriot.

 
The Patriot - Title Sequence from LASTDEVIANT on Vimeo.

INTERNATIONAL TYPE THROWDOWN WINNER

My letter took 1st in the Sanskrit category of the TypeThrowdown competition! 615 to 226 votes… a landslide victory. Endless thanks to ALL OF YOU and your support! http://typethrowdown.wordpress.com/

Posing with the Wichita State University mascot and my art college homie and winner of the Greek category, Christina Jacks.

SHOP: NEW SHIRTS AND PRINTS ADDED

4 new women's shirts, 2 new mens, and a new art print just added to the shop!

TYPE THROWDOWN SEMIFINALS

I'm here to ask for your help yet again. One of my three letters that I designed for the International Type Throwdown is now in the Semifinals! There's an exhibit at the Ulrich Museum that has all of the brackets hung and allows for in-person voting as well. It would be awesome if you saw it in person but if not, please help me by voting online. You can vote as often as you want so bookmark the Sanskrit Type Throwdown page and vote away!

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

Then refresh... and vote.

This is my Sanskrit letter:

If you DO decide to check it out in person, it's the letter I have circled in this pic.

The Ulrich commissioned me to do the event posters that have all the info and the sticker at the bottom which you get free when you vote at the museum!

•••••••••• VOTE NOW ••••••••••

KAVINSKY'S OUTRUN

My oldest friend Xander came over this past week to make a mix CD. Yes, people still do that. This tends to happen at random intervals with a decent amount of time in between so that we can find new musical goodies to share with each other. This time the album took a little more electro feel but with some random choice selections tossed in for variety. You also might notice that there are a few soundtrack snags in there. We both find a lot of decent stuff from soundtracks and movie trailers. Usually, movies have a nice assortment of bands to explore and sometimes some pretty obscure ditties. This was mainly an album for him so he chose the odd ones below like the Conan and Miami Vice tunes. The new ones that Xander brought to the table that I had never heard before are the ones in red.

1. I'll Be There For You - Mount Eden
2. Midnight City - M83
3. Sail - Awolnation
4. Crockett's Theme - Jan Hammer (Miami Vice TV Soundtrack)
5. Nightcall - Kavinsky (Drive Original Soundtrack)
6. Time to Pretend - MGMT
7. Stripped - Rammstein
8. Born To Be Wasted - 009 Sound System
9. Hands of time - Groove Armada
10. Anvil of Crom - Basil Poledouris (Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack)
11. Never Wanted To Dance - Mindless Self Indulgence (Combichrist Electro Hurtz Remix)
12. More Human Than Human (Big Black Delta Remix) - White Zombie
13. Vice - The Crystal Method (London Soundtrack
14. Oblivion (feat. Susanne Sundfør) - M83 ( Oblivion Original Soundtrack)

The above CD is dope but it's only the preface to what this post is really about, song 5. I had completely forgotten about this track as I had originally heard during the credits in the killer movie Drive. After re-hearing this top-notch tune I decided to look up Kavinsky and check out his other works. He has but one studio album, OutRun and I have to say, I can't stop listening to it. I love every damn song on this album save for the remix at the end. It's like Daft Punk melded with a Ferrari and got infused with the collective power of every 80's movie that ever existed.

I especially like jamming to this while working out, driving and working on art. I seriously need a faster car to truly enjoy this CD. I mean the album is named after Sega's 1986 arcade game of the same name, which featured the Ferrari Testarossa for Pete's sake! See the concept behind OutRun follows Kavinsky's backstory of a young man who crashed his Testarossa in 1986 and reappeared in 2006 as a zombie. How bad ass is that?! Kavinsky said he had influences from 80's video games, television cop shows such as Miami Vice and the films of Dario Argento. The intro and outro have semi-corny voice overlays that set the mood for the entire album but I think it's 80's kick-ass-cheese-tastic.