Archive for October, 2007
French artist SPACE INVADER finally brought his 8-bit style street art indoors when his first solo show in London, "Space Invasion & Bad Men Part II" opened at the tastemaking LAZARIDES GALLERY last Friday. Divided into two halves, the first part, "London Invasion," documents the artist's extensive street work in Fogtown through a series of photographs chronicling 100 individual applications of his iconic ceramic tile appliqués on city walls and monuments. The second half, "Bad Men Part II," located in the gallery's dungeon-like basement features all new 3-D works depicting Hollywood bad guys like Freddy Kruger, Scarface, and Frankenstein, in large-scale tiled panels exemplifying his trademark "Rubik Cubist" style. Love it or leave it, TAKE A PEEK: Read More
Ron English's triplets of Mars...
Lucky London shoppers had the rare chance to take home fresh pieces in a trio of sizes from some of their favorite artists when ELMS LESTERS' innovative "Small, Medium, and Large" group show featuring art by ADAM NEATE, ANTHONY LISTER, DALEK, DELTA, FUTURA, JOSE PARLA, MARK DEAN VECA, PHIL FROST, RON ENGLISH, SPACE INVADER, STASH and WK INTERACT opened on Friday nite in Fogtown. As the show's title implies, each artist created works in three different sizes and price brackets allowing collectors with radically different budgets a chance to hit the cash register with equal force and, as expected, there were no shortage of takers. We can only hope it becomes an annual affair. TAKE A LOOK: Read More
...In what must be the most out-of-left-field collabo of 2007, art-minded skate brand SUPREME has teamed up with the certainly street fashion oblivious R CRUMB to produce this limited run of shirts & hoodies bearing panels from the Zap Comix artist's 80's era work. We can't say that any of these images would have been our first choices given the master draftsman's massive archive of "A material" but we're stoked to see the crossover nonetheless. Gear is set to hit shelves in mid-October, let's see if the streetwear kids get it (not that it really matters, they'll buy anything)...
The artist circa early 1980s...ÂÂ
Underground comix legend R CRUMB still churns out incredible work at breakneck speed but few of his modern images are as compelling as his incomparable vintage work. Case in point: This phenomenal faux rock poster Crumb created in 1967 as a sort of "calling card" to drum up work on the local San Francisco psychedelic concert circuit, particularly with the legendary (and late) CHET HELMS who hosted epic rock shows at the AVALON BALLROOM. As a tongue-in-cheek homage to Helms' FAMILY DOG production company, Crumb created this piece promoting a show called the "Cat's Meow" featuring the fictional lineup of Fess Williams, The Royal Flush Orchestra, Butterbeans & Susie, The Midnight Airdales, and Pegleg Howell & His Gang, all scheduled to appear at The Avalon for a three nite run (customary in the day) from May 9thâ€â€11th in the real summer of love. Hidden away in private collections for years, this may be the first time this piece (painted on a board approximating the size of a Family Dog poster) has been publicly exposed and one can only imagine a young R Crumb showing it around to Helms and Bill Graham only to be passed over in favor of more established psychedelic artists like Rick Griffin and Stanley Mouse who ruled the circuit. FEAST YER EYEBALLS:
Supertouch's own rock legend-at-large and underground culture expert BILLY F GIBBONS, "dat ZZ boy" checks in from our favorite dining room in the city, the basement of LA ESQUINA ("The Corner") where he snapped this quik flix of "La Nina Triste". If you haven't been yet, you best make friends with the management quik, cuz it's not open to the public, and it's the best Mexican grub on the island of Gotham...
Art by matt Furie...
Hollywood's underground art hotspot NEW IMAGE ART was awash in color when the "In Full Cry" group show curated by MATT LEINES & TAYLOR McKIMENS opened its doors this past Saturday nite. Featuring an eye-popping array of big and small works by MARK BELL, MELISSA BROWN, ETHAN HAYES-CHUTE, JAMES BENJAMIN-FRANKIN, MATT FURIE, LEIF GOLDBERG, JOSEPH HART, JASON HOLLEY, MISAKI KAWAI, JEFF LADOUCEUR, MATT LEINES, TAYLOR McKIMENS, and RYAN MROZOWSKI, the exhibit represented a closely-affiliated group of East Coast artists whose faux-naive styles often mask their technical virtuosities. Artspeak translation: a lot of this stuff looks like a fourth grader made it, but trust us, these cats can really draw. SNEEK A PEEK: Read More
Dropping today is THE CULT's first new album in six years, "Born Into This," featuring album artwork by Supertouch buddy KOSTAS SEREMETIS. Says our boy of the project, "I used to sleep out for tickets with my brothers back when 'Electric' dropped. Go out and buy this. The new tracks are fantastic, a refined mature sound that, for lack of a better word, rocks. Enjoy the artwork in and out. I did my best to capture what I was listening to..."
Last weekend Brooklyn's emporium of high tattoo art, SCOTT CAMPBELL's SAVED TATTOO played host to the East Coast installment of the American Breast Cancer Foundation's charity art show "Seul Contre Tous ('Alone Against All'): Art for a Cure" where tattoo art heavyweights like CHRIS CONN, FILIP LEU, HORIYOSHI III, GRIME, CHRIS O'DONNELL, TIM LEHI, and DAN TROCCHIO, showed original works alongside modern art stars like BANKSY, SHEPARD FAIREY, DEREK HESS, MICHAEL HUSSAR, and BLEK LE RAT. All work sold benefits the research foundation directly and is tax deductible, so break out those black cards and ring up our boy Othelo (718 486 0850) now to take home some original art. HAVE A LOOK:
"London Ink's" sleeping giant in London's Victoria Station...
Showtime's bloodbath in Houston for "Dexter's" season premier...
With all the massive ad campaigns, urban billboard forests, ubiquitous building wraps, and endless publicity stunts that inundate our senses on a daily basis, it's pretty hard for advertising to impress us here at Supertouch, but two very distinct international campaigns did just that this month. Hyping the forthcoming Read More
