Berlin, Germany - EL MAC/KOFIE

Right after ArtBasel in Switzerland, I hopped a train with my friend and crewmate Augustine Kofie, and we headed north to go paint some Berlin walls. I provided a little guest appearance during Kofie's painting event there, where I painted a quick portrait of my lovely girlfriend Kim. We also painted a small collaborative mural, where the figure was based on a photo I took of an older Mexican man at a lucha libre match in Phoenix. Berlin welcomed him and didn't even ask to see his papers. Many thanks go to Jaybo Monk of Projectroom, Cathy Boom of StyleMag, Zapato Chachi, and Marco Pho.

Here's a couple videos from Kofie & Projectroom documenting these pieces:

Basel, Switzerland - Art Basel/Volta

This is a large canvas I painted with Retna at Volta 6 during ArtBasel, in Basel Switzerland. Kofie & Mear also displayed with us.

I painted the face of an old lady I saw on the street in downtown Los Angeles. I painted it with the darks and lights inverted, which is something I used to do fairly often but haven't in a while. I was working from a normal uninverted photo, so I had to figure out the darks & lights on the spot which was pretty challenging. Thanks to Rivera & Rivera, LA Art Machine, & Gioacchino for making it all happen.

"Of Our Youth" - Culver City mural with Retna

This is the most recent mural I've painted with Retna in LA/Culver City. The title of the mural is "Of Our Youth", and it's on La Cienega between Washington and Jefferson, on the side of the Graphaids art supply store.

This mural was inspired by the time we spent in Skid Row painting our previous mural together. The figure is based on a photograph we took there of a man named Ralph, or Chato, who had some inspirational words for us on the theme of redemption. The text to the left was quote from our conversation , and reads, "So today I'm trying to change a few things to rectify the situation of my past. So today I'm looking towards the future (of our youth highlighted)"

This mural was made possible in part by RVCA, Graphaids, and Rivera & Rivera Gallery

As usual, I painted the figure, Retna painted the background/text.

Skid Row Mural - Los Angeles

This Mural painted with RETNA was a collaboration with Estevan Oriol and The Jonah Project, a non-profit, non-denominational Christian organization dedicated to aiding the homeless. Located on 6th and Crocker, in the heart of LA's Skid Row, the mural is both a tribute to the community and a reminder of the perseverance of Skid Row’s homeless. This is our second collaboration with Estevan Oriol. In preparation for the mural they went to Skid Row to interact with various members of the community and photograph people that they felt embodied the spirit of Skid Row. The text to the right reads: Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

More to come...

Summer Madness

So it's been a while since I've been able to update on here. Over the last couple months I painted in Basel, Berlin, Dublin, Hawaii, Singapore and Saigon, in that order, one right after the other. (Monterrey, Mexico was just before all this) It was an amazing, enlightening, exhausting and inspiring experience. Over this time I met a lot of really great people, and I owe them thanks for all the opportunities, help, and hospitality. I also owe a lot of people apologies for not keeping up with emails- I'll do my best to get back to everyone. If it's important please just email a reminder, thanks!

I will try and catch up on here with some of the recent work, adding in chronological order. Starting with where I left off, here's a mural I painted in Los Angeles with Retna for Ruger's new tattoo shop. It's based on a photo I took of our friend Dianne. The mural is by Thai Town, at Hollywood & Wilton. As always, I painted the figure, Retna painted the background.

Seres Queridos/Vitaliano mural with Sanez + Colorado

Here are some shots of the second mural I painted in Monterrey for the Seres Queridos project. The figure is Vitaliano Cerda, who runs a used book shop in the center of the city. A much more serious looking counterpart to Régulo. I painted this one a little looser and faster than usual. The red background designs were painted by Sanez, a super talented young artist from Monterrey. His designs often include a mix of animals native to northern Mexico and have a strong indigenous influence. Really cool stuff. That last wall was a little piece I did right afterward in Colorado Springs. He's a paletero (ice cream seller) I took pictures of in Phoenix.

Régulo mural at MARCO

These are photos of a mural I just painted on the side of MARCO, the contemporary art museum in Monterrey, México. It was the first mural I painted there as part of the Seres Queridos(loved ones) project. The portrait is of Régulo de Leon Santos, who works as a parking lot attendant near the museum. This was a very cool project and I met some great people. A lot of locals helped out, making the project possible. Thanks go to Anna of Nobulo who started the project, The good folks at ARTO-Art Beyond Museums, Marla and the people at MARCO, As well as the other artists: Jorge Rodríguez Gerada, El Niño de las Pinturas, and Atma. Special thanks also to Poeekz, Claudia, Buster, Sanez, Dose, Rene Almanza, los fotografos José Lara y Verónica Valdés Vega, los del taller de Grafica Miguel Alvarado, Bacalao, and everyone else that helped out....MILES DE GRACIAS