Sure bets are few and far between. There’s Kobe in the fourth quarter, Young Jeezy albums, and any movie Jonah Hill is in. On the fashion side, a Levi’s collaboration is good as gold. After the successful launch of their Robert Geller for Levi’s collection, everyone’s favorite denim brand is back at it with a collection made with the help of famed illustrator and national icon creator Shepard Fairey and his clothing brand OBEY.
Launching today, the collection focuses on a number of classic Levi’s pieces loved by Shepard and head of men’s clothing design at OBEY, Mike Ternovsky. To get a little more information on the line we went straight to the source and got an exclusive interview with Shepard and Mike with them talking about their roles in the collection, their favorite pieces and whether or not they’re going to wear any of it. If that doesn’t get you amped enough to hit up the launch in Times Square today, maybe the chance to win one of the four limited edition posters (pictured above) will. Dope clothes and dope art? Seems like a sure bet to us.
After retiring from cycling in 2005, Lance Armstrong decided to come back for this year’s Tour De France strictly to raise awareness for his LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign. You’ve seen the bevvy of sneaker releases from Nike, and now the duo has teamed up again for the all-star STAGES art benefit at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin in Paris. Some familiar faces who made pieces especially for the show include KAWS, Shepard Fairey, Yoshitomo Nara, Dzine, José Parlá, Ed Ruscha, Geoff McFetridge, Tom Sachs and Cai Guo-Qiang (there are 20 in all).
The STAGES show opens to the public today, and Nike dropped a few videos to give you an inside look. The video above is an introduction hosted by Lance and Nike President Mark Parker, and the video embedded below is focused on Shepard Fairey’s piece inspired by 30-year-old cancer survivor Jessica Ikenberry…
First it was all black, then all gray, now it’s looking like all brown, or some permutation of the color blocking, is waiting in the wings for those of you who have taken advanced monotone color blocking. New brown/brown 51-30 watch by Nixon, delivering to retail in June. [Zozo/Fieil]
Lance Armstrong’s Live Strong x Trek bikes by Kenny Scharf and Shepard Fairey, coming soon. Worlds collide like freight trains in the night (or two friends in a coffee shop). [High Snobiety]
Whoa. Giant 6 foot tall matte black Be@rbricks. I can has that? [Freshness]
The Bape 16th anniversary T-shirt. Is bad. [Honeyee]
Always wondered why SMS text messages were 160 characters? Us too. Not anymore. [Gizmodo]
Alexander Wang for Gap is on the way for June. Yay for Wang! … Nevermind. [Pink Rock Candy]
You’ve seen one Barack Obama portrait, you’ve seen ‘em all. But even though the trend has run its course, we’re not mad to see it in LEGO form. Ebay seller legoman28 is slinging his toy take on Shepard Fairey’s “Hope” portrait in an auction that’ll end this Thursday (9/18/08).
The piece was constructed over 10 days using 8,000 multi-colored bricks, in a framework of 30 x 30 inches. With a reserve price of $600, the seller claims that 70% proceeds from the sale will go towards Obama’s campaign, because, as he explicitly states (in red), he doesn’t want John McCain to be prez. That’s building for a cause, son! See more photos below then start the bidding.
At this point, graffiti’s worldwide influence is so all-encompassing that it’s hard to really get a handle on exactly how things have changed since the street art took over America in the 1970s. Luckily, former music video director Jon Reiss has just released a new documentary called BOMB IT that looks at the state of the art by profiling seasoned vandals from five different continents.
Included in the film are well-known graf writers like KET, Taki 183, Shepard Fairey, Os Gemeos, COPE, Lady Pink and Ron English. The movie, which was just released on DVD last week (buy it here), was shot around the globe in major cities like Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tijuana, London, Paris, Amsterdam and more. Check out a few trailers for the film below.
At this point, graffiti’s worldwide influence is so all-encompassing that it’s hard to really get a handle on exactly how things have changed since the street art took over America in the 1970s. Luckily, former music video director Jon Reiss has just released a new documentary called BOMB IT that looks at the state of the art by profiling seasoned vandals from five different continents. 
