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Oakland, California is a beautiful city—beautiful people, beautiful scenery. It’s also a very fucked up city, and perhaps nobody exemplifies that dichotomy—a beautiful person silenced by the evils in his hometown—better than Mike Francisco a.k.a. Dream. The Town’s long had one of the most vibrant hip-hop cultures on the planet, and for the better part of two decades, Dream was the living embodiment of the city’s graffiti scene. Beginning as a teenager in the early ’80s, Dream was at the vanguard of his hometown’s world-renowned graf aesthetic, pioneering a flowing style out of his 23rd Avenue Yard stomping ground that was uniquely Oakland. On February 17, 2000 he was murdered at the age of 30 during the course of a robbery, leaving behind an infant son, Akil, as well as a shattered artistic community.
Tonight Dream’s friends and colleagues will gather for a reception and show marking the 10th anniversary of his passing at the New Parish in Oakland (details below), with proceeds going to benefit Akil (who’s now 10 years old, and just last month lost his mother to breast cancer). Complex recently got with Marty Aranaydo, a one-time protege of Dream’s and later a member of his famed TDK Crew, to talk about what his mentor meant to the worldwide graffiti movement, as well as the community of Oakland.
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TODD JAMES, Make My Burden Lighter, 2010, Installation view, Gering & López Gallery, New York, NY.
Tonight, Todd James (REAS) opens his show, Make my Burden Lighter, at Gering and Lopez Gallery in New York. It is a solo show of original work, and if you live in New York you need to get yourself up there and check it out. Todd took the time to talk us through some of the key pieces, and his inspiration for the new show:
This show “Make my Burden Lighter” is about some of the themes in my recent work global conflicts and economic disasters that have been tied into it and trying to find the finish line to them and maybe finding some humor on the way through it all. As Skeme’s mom said in Style Wars, “You have to laugh to keep from crying.” These are really everyone’s burdens, I’m just discussing them visually in my voice.
Hit the jump to check out the art from Make my Burden Lighter and the rest of the interview with Todd James about the show, his process, and his inspirations for the new work…
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This week, a fresh new documentary called Beautiful Losers dropped on DVD after years as a touring art show. Featuring luminaries like Shepard Fairey, Stephen Powers, pro skateboarder Ed Templeton, Kids writer Harmony Korine, and directed by Aaron Rose, the film tells the stories of a group of do-it-yourself artists who joined together to create an anti-establishment movement based on the subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip-hop, and graffiti. The artists featured—including Geoff McFetridge, famed graphic designer and ex-art director for the Beastie Boys‘ Grand Royal magazine—made history almost by accident, and Beautiful Losers is a testament to that truth.
McFetridge is no stranger to creating art on both big and small scales. He has designed for such corporate giants as Pepsi and Burton, as well as exhibited his own gallery shows for a number of years. He can count Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze as friends and collaborators, having creating the graphics for The Virgin Suicides and Where The Wild Things Are, while also making his own short films. Geoff’s latest project is a return to his skateboarding roots: his very own skate company, Solitary Arts, which doubles as an undercover art experiment. Complex chatted with Geoff recently about his definition of a Beautiful Loser and what skate shoe receives his loyalty for life. Read on for the interview, samples of Geoff’s work, and a clip from the documentary…
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You win some and you lose some. Unfortunately, for those who choose to get tattoos of impermanent things (basically anything but death, taxes, your kids’ names, and Chinese characters that don’t mean what you think they mean), you lose twice. And yes, your girlfriend’s name definitely qualifies as “impermanent.” Sorry to burst your bubble.
A tat for an ex is one thing, but branding yourself with a company or crew name is a whole ‘nother bottle of ink. Rap’s walking emotional rollercoaster Game was spotted recently getting a particular producer’s record label logo tatted on his forearm, but he’s just the latest to get an allegiance tattoo that will probably last longer than the association it commemorates. Check out 9 tats that made us shake our heads…
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Each year during the first week of December, the art/cool guy world descends on Miami to party its ass off look at cool art and the awesome world of Miami “fashion”. This year was no exception, and if you’re down there right now, we wish you the best. We got a little preview of some of the best stuff to check out, and between the new Audi A8, Kaws and KR at O.H.W.O.W. and some of the crazier baller stuff at Basel, this year did not disappoint. Hit the jump to find out more about it and see photos of our Miami highlights…
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December 4, 2009 |
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For a while now, ego trip founder/Complex big homie Sacha Jenkins and Dave “CHINO BYI” Villorente have been holding it down for graffiti by compiling writers’ sketches; Piecebook: The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers and Piecebook Reloaded function both as dope art books and historical archives of graf legends’ hand styles. So of course we had to bring the crew around to join forces with us at Complex HQ. Sacha, Dave, and five all-city writers (DOC TC5, KAVES, STEM, CES and KEO) dropped by to lend their visual talents to a photo shoot with an insanely hot model. Read on to check out the visually arresting result, plus our behind-the-scenes video complete with interviews with the writers themselves…
• CLICK HERE TO SEE COMPLEX’S EXCLUSIVE PIECEBOOK GALLERY!
…OR CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO
Tonight, Eric Haze opens ‘NEW ABSTRACTS AND ICONS’, a three week exhibition of new works
at the LEVEL 2 Gallery at 812 Broadway (@11th Street), in New York City. If you’re around, go check it out. A-Trak and Neil Armstrong will be spinning, and the work is guaranteed fresh.
HAZE’s ability to stay ahead and on top of the ever-changing mediums of artistic expression over the last 30 years has allowed the native New Yorker’s creative impact to reach far beyond the City subway yards and skate ramps of the ’70s. From his early work with Def Jam to starting his own clothing label, HAZE was a predecessor of streetwear, being “big in Japan”, and getting down with Stüssy. Through the years, big brands have gained plenty from a HAZE co-sign, but in return the big homie got exposure and renown. Hit the jump for a history of HAZE’s work in corporate culture, from early logotypes to decking out Nike Dunks and Lotuses…
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The artwork for Chris Brown’s post-beatdown album Graffiti was released earlier this week (pictured above), and it looks like we might have spoken too soon with the Worst Album Covers Of The Year post we did a few months ago.
The cover is kinda reminiscent of something Prince might do, but since the album is entitled Graffiti, and it features Chris Breezy using an aerosol can, it might have behooved him to hire an actual graffiti writer to help illustrate his cover. In fact, big names from the graf world have been designing album art since the dawn of hip-hop. Check out 10 artists who could have helped Chris Brown’s Graffiti look less corny…
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If Ink Were Blood (Man and Woman) by Dustin Yellin. Resin, acrylic, and ink, 182cm x 60cm x 34cm.
Nike’s collaborative art project with Livestrong, entitled STAGES, opened in New York on Friday night at the Deitch Projects space on 480 Broome street. The collection is a series of art that features big timers like Tom Sachs, Ed Ruscha, Shepard Fairey, Kaws, and Jose Parla. If you live or are in NY for the next month, go check it out, the work is impressive and a great way to check out some contemporary heroes all in the same spot.
For the New York edition of STAGES, a few new pieces were brought into the mix, including a piece by Brooklyn artist Dustin Yellin, a two part sculpture titled, “If Ink Were Blood (Man and Woman)”. Before this, we didn’t really know Dustin’s work, so we took the opportunity to catch up with him. Hit the jump to check out an interview with Yellin where he explains his process, then peep some of his more recent work.
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Complex’s August/September Style & Design Issue is burning up newsstands this week with a bunch of pretty ladies and awesomeness in the world of—yup, you guessed it—Style and Design. Brian Donnelly, A.K.A. KAWS, collaborated with N.E.R.D. on Complex’s 2008 Style & Design cover story, so this time around we decided to profile the artist in our regular interview series “The Shotcaller.” Donnelly has had a breakout year, with gallery shows in NY and L.A., artwork on Kanye’s 808’s & Heartbreak, and a recent collabo with Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama.
We just put the uncut interview with KAWS online, where he speaks on Sorayama, Clipse, working with Supreme and BAPE, and new projects on tap. We also put together an exclusive bonus video that features a smoking hot model making out with the KAWS x Hajime Sorayama x Medicom/Original Fake NO FUTURE COMPANION figure…
• CLICK HERE TO READ THE UNCUT KAWS “SHOTCALLER” INTERVIEW
OR KEEP READING FOR THE BONUS VIDEO…
Sure he has an extensive celebrity clientèle like 50 Cent, Eminem and Marisa Miller, but famed California tattooist Mr. Cartoon is now lending his work to limited edition products like a Samsung r450 mobile phone from MetroPCS. The phone, which has a product run of 30,000, features Cartoon’s artwork in his preferred yellow and black scheme, and also features special pre-loaded wallpapers and ringtones. When Cartoon was in town, we got a chance to build with the legend and talk about his latest project. Watch the video below…
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You’ve seen the amazing art from our Keri Hilson cover story (catch up!), but do you know the artist behind the eye-popping work? Over the last few years, French artist/designer So-Me has crossed over into the U.S. market in a major way, thanks to his work on music videos for Kanye West (“The Good Life”) and Kid Cudi (“Day N’ Nite”).
When it came time to recruit an artist to help create the cover of our annual Style & Design issue, So-Me was at the top of our list. The man’s also in high-demand overseas, providing art direction for Ed Banger Records (Justice, Uffie) and designing for his clothing brand Cool Cats, so we were honored that he took the time to make Miss Keri look even better. Check out a quick interview we did with the elusive artist about his Complex collaboration …
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In Complex’s August/September issue, on stands now, we interviewed a variety of cultural tastemakers for our 2009 Style & Design Package, asking them to list all the things that are affecting their world now, and the things that they feel are going to have an impact moving forward.
One of our four tastemakers (representing the “living” portion of the package) is former Complex Shotcaller Aaron Rose, the man who put on pretty much all of your art heroes back in the day with Alleged, and continues to kill it with projects like ANP Quarterly, Beautiful Losers, and various art shows around the world. He gave us a rundown on the top ten things that he sees affecting his world/our culture right now, and for the next few years. Check out the extended version that didn’t fit in the magazine below…
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By now, you’ve probably peeped the cover stories from our annual Style & Design issue (Kid Cudi x Augor Cover | Keri Hilson x So-Me Cover), but do you know the full story? Los Angeles graf artist Augor, who collaborated with Kid Cudi to create one side of the issue’s striking visuals, took to his blog yesterday to give the world a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, including a gang of exclusive sketches that led him to the final product. Take a look at some of the images and artist’s insight below…
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Before there was Terry Richardson, there was John Rankin Waddell, known to the fashion and art world as “Rankin”. The dude was born 1966 in Glasgow, UK, and is a British portrait and fashion photographer. Rankin takes some of the sexiest photos ever, of the hottest models and most beautiful people in the world. A lot of them are naked as well, which we’re sure you’ll enjoy if you Google, “Rankin sexy hot Kate Moss naked”.
Today, a 25-year retrospective of his work (600 images) opens at the Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, in London. Since that is London, and we’re in New York, we’re not there. Instead, we’ve composed a brief history of what this guy does to help you on the way to learning who he is (so you sound cultured) and what he does (so you have a little inspiration on what to wish for/new T-shirt graphic ideas). Read on below for an abridged history of Rankin’s work and then go get your Google on. The man is a beast…
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