Philly’s 9th St. Italian Market

If you ever spend some time in Philadelphia, I highly recommend starting your morning at the Philly Italian Market. Bill and I got ourselves a cappuccino at the most Italian place Ive been to in a long time, then strolled down 9th street and saw hundreds of fruit, millions of kinds of veggies, fresh fish and creepy seafood crawlers, handmade pastas and all kinds of meats. IT WAS THE BEST. If I lived in Philly, I would be a regular at this place.

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artist daniel thouw

Daniel Thouw has been working hard! He is making some really cool drawings and I love seeing his progression as an artist and friend. Daniel is also the guy behind this super good movie about graffiti called Alter Ego. Check out his new blog.

My friends are a true source of inspiration and motivation. I’m very proud. Here are some examples of his latest work…

AlterEgo – The Movie

I watched this movie last night…and I am incredibly impressed with Daniel’s work. It all really came together and it’s a solid piece of documentation. This movie is a robust view of the art form, its history and its current perils. It’s exciting, informative, absorbing and personal. I love it, can you tell? If graffiti is somehow part of your life, you need to watch this. No, actually, everyone should. The DVD is available here.
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I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while now. My good friend Daniel has finished his film. He has traveled the world to capture great graffiti artists doing their work. I am so proud of him and this will be a kick ass movie. If you happen to be in Berlin, go to the premiere. If you are stuck at work (like me), check out the website alterego-themovie.com.

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“Tags, throwups and pieces are part of almost every major cityscape around the world, and are more or less part of our everyday life. Continue reading “AlterEgo – The Movie”

Gawker’s MOM & POPism

Gawker Artists presents MOM&POPism


Gawker Artists presents MOM&POPism

Gawker Artists got 28 graffiti/street artists to contribute their work on these wallpaper store fronts (curated by Billi Kid reinterpreting James and Karla Murray’s latest book, Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York), which were surrounding this very nice rooftop at a Soho party last night… I was torn about it during the evening. I sat with a friend and took in the environment, people watched and exchanged thoughts on the situation.

I have to admit, it felt a bit awkward for me. Contrived. Out of place. I see the graffiti/street art world as the anarchists artist medium, but the soho elite in their attempts to be part of a surfacing underground culture is part exploiting it, and the artists themselves are either allowing themselves to be exploited or are in on the joke. I do think it is important to bring up the conversation of graffiti picking up momentum and gaining praise as an art form… but it just seems wrong to force these two completely opposite (and mostly clashing) worlds together. But then again, some might argue that street artists trickling into the gallery world would be just as blasphemous. Yet it does bring up an interesting conversation. What do you think of this mesh? Are you comfortable with it?

Gawker Artists presents MOM&POPism

I thoroughly enjoyed the work by the way, as I enjoy and respect graffiti. It just sparked this question that I thought I’d share and would love to hear from you. Pictures from the party on my flickr.

lost and found


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Sometimes I get some rolls back with pictures I had taken a while back…I just got a roll of slide film which I shot during my trip to Berlin 3 years ago… I posted just a few on my flickr if you want to take a peek. mostly street art and graffiti.

banksy

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I had a chance to go to the ‘banksy nyc’ exhibit at the Vanina Holasek Gallery in new york city. I had no idea he had nothing to do with the show.. but once I walked in, I noticed it was ‘set-up’ kinda cheesy…90% of the work were prints and maybe one or two street pieces (a locker door and sign). There were fake rats all over the place, splattered paint on the walls and caution-tape all over. The pieces were hung crooked and some had ripped bubble wrap around them….the gallery was selling posters, t-shirts and christmas cards (25$)!.
I much rather see banksy, or any graffiti artists, on the street. I know its much harder in the U.S., but I did have the opportunity to see some of his rats in LA a few years back. Having a show where the artist has nothing to do with it, kinda threw me off, specially when they tried so hard to make it look legit. it was weird. I did enjoy seeing things with my own eyes, as I would with anything, but would have rather been at his LA gallery show or stumbled upon it on a walk.

click image above to view my flickr set of the exhibit.