This Friday

Flyer says it all. I’ll be showing some photos and will be selling a zine titled “Poor Traits Of My Friends”, featuring drawings from our van trip last summer. Come out, drink stuff, buy stuff.

Heroin Stamp Project

"In the New York City drug trade, as in many enterprises, marketing and branding is key.

The words and images stamped on packets of heroin — from the phrase “Cop n Go” to “White Fang” - serve the same purpose as a corporate logo. The images and phrases are used to brand a particular set of stamp bags, and brand a particular batch of heroin known on the streets by that stamp.

For decades these stamps have bred brand loyalties that walk a very thin line between dying and getting a good high: the most popular stamps are most often the most potent and deadly. Blown up larger than life these beautiful, fascinating and unsettling images of the stamps hint at a complex chain from supplier to dealer, the dynamics of drug markets and the story of the marketing of addiction on the streets of NYC."

Great idea for a show. Looking forward to checking it out. Read the New York Times article here.

NY Art Book Fair

Looking for something to do this weekend? Well if you're in NYC, you should definitely be checking out the NY Art Book Fair hosted by Printed Matter. If you're a zine and book nerd like us then it's definitely worth checking out. The fair runs from Friday Oct. 2nd- Sunday Oct. 4th with a preview/benefit on Thursday night. Here's some info about the benefit:

"Following the preview, Deitch Studios, Long Island City, will generously host a benefit for Printed Matter, featuring industrial punk-and-dub duo, I.U.D. (Lizzi Bougatsos of Gang Gang Dance and Sadie Laska of Growing). DJs Tim Lokiec and Gary Murphy play vintage house. Tickets begin at $20 and include limited artist editions by Elmgreen & Dragset, Jutta Koether, Tom Sachs, and Mungo Thomson."

Should be fun. Plus, a side project of Gang Gang Dance and Growing is worth the price of admission alone.

LOCATION:
Deitch Studios, 4-40 44th Drive, Long Island City

Click here for more info.

This is one of the many works of my former teacher, John Langdon. He invented the ambigram, and has gained notoriety with his work for Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I payed him a visit last Saturday up at his mountain home in upstate PA. His house is like a private museum, filled with his work, inspiration, mid-century style furniture, and one of a kind works from other artists and designers. I got a first hand look and his newest paintings and ambigrams, his amazing wood block type collection, and sketches of his first ambigrams that dated back to 1968. With no formal education in design, John's education has developed through his constant observation of his surroundings, and it is apparent in his work. Using common phrases, well-known logos, and clever juxtaposition of words, John's paintings are a harmonious combination of simplicity and smarts. A show of his paintings is in the works at Pure Gold gallery in Northern Liberties in Philly. Check out John's website for a full scope of his work.

Come check out some of my graphics work at this upcominig show in Philly.
www.placeyourarthere.com

Place Your Art Here - Opening Night Show
Friday, September 4th, 2009
7pm - 11pm

Place Your Art Here will feature 100 + entries from 50+ artists with a variety of backgrounds. There were endless possibilities, but each entry had to follow a specific set of guidelines and fit within an existing template.
All entries are black & white only and placed within a 5 x 7 vertical format.
Entries include: graphic design, illustration, typography, collage, photography, screen printing, finger painting, and everything in between . . .

Sorry for the delay with things, but here are the photos from my show a few weeks ago at Division East. Thanks again to everyone who helped me set up and to everyone who came out to the show. And thanks to Dave and Pad for putting on the show -- it's much appreciated!










And then Ryan, who took care of orders because I was too drunk, decided I should pose with everyone who was there. Politician thumbs up.



Overall we had a bigger turnout than expected, so thanks again for coming out. Shirts will be available in the DE online store soon, or if you're local, just go by the shop and pick one up.

printed up the tags for the shirts last night.

if you're doing any sort of lino cuts, don't buy the linoleum blocks that aren't reinforced. they suck and they break very easily.


see you all on friday.

(click to enlarge)

Hope to see everyone there.

A little update: The photo show/shirt release party at Division East will be on Friday, May 15th. A portion of the proceeds will be going towards the DE warehouse fund, so come out, buy a shirt, a photograph, and drink some brews. Photos will be priced to sell so everyone can go home with something. I'll post the flyer soon.

There have been talks of doing a release with Midnight Poncho. No info on that really, other than that they rule and it will look awesome. Really good stuff.

Been tossing around a lot of cool ideas for the Win Some/Lose Most zine. Awesome things will come of it.

That's all for now, I'll have a better update for you soon.