** Special Edition** - I AM HIP HOP

Tips: allow 5 or so seconds for all the video to load. Be advised that some of the current tv links have continuous feed. The featured video may end and transition into another unrelated story. Feel free to pause or stop the video to move on to the next featured video on my post.
Thanks!

Eye Candy

Shxpir  &  Will

I got a hold of the work of this Shanghai based fashion duo of stylist/photographer while poking around a china based arts collaborative that I was interested in. Will has her background in styling and fashion design. Shxpir (pronounced Shakes-peer as in William) has his formal training in fine art. They collaborate seamlessly to make vibrant, irreverent and sometimes unmistakably tongue in cheek editorial fashion photography.  

    

Try it

seeing is believing go to: http://www.shxpir.com/personal-work

to get up close and personal go to: http://www.shxpir.com/personal

to contact go to: http://www.shxpir.com/contact

More on the Artist(s)


'Will and Shxpir started collaborating early in 2009. They both share a passion for fashion and sense of style that compliments each other perfectly. Shxpir brings to the team  his fine art background while Will brings her fashion design experience. Together they create photographs that tell amazing stories full of color, humor, and with strong ideas. This unique style puts them on the cutting edge of the new wave of Chinese fashion photographers.'

The Black List - volume 1

Snacks - throwback edition

the Cryptic

                                                                                                

"envy your life" ~2004

                                                

David LaChapell

The art elite and the laymen art enthusiast (like myself) all have mixed feelings about this near legendary photographer. Among other things, he's revolutionized the world of 'pop' photography for print and the art world.  He draws on art history, historical, biblical, socio-political and (most transparently) pop culture references for his work. Its kitsch. And grimy. Its over the top and frankly... 'American in every way like apple pie and Chevrolet.' And yet his work can be deeply thought provoking. Inducing powerful emotions for the voyeur, who feels as if they are peeking in on their own most base desires. Some see him as a sensationalist. I think he's a genius, documenting the beautiful hideousness of modernity and more specifically American idiocy, one frame at a time.  

the Rape of Africa ~ Photo Installation 09'

'I visited the national gallery and began looking at Botticelli's venues and mars. I wasn’t in love with Botticelli in the way I was in love with Michelangelo, but I saw this painting and was so excited by its personification of the gods in a figurative way. having people represent war, greed, love and beauty, and the fact that they were post-coitus, seemed incredible. it occurred to me that the painting could be contemporary; the ideas in it still seemed so relevant today; as fast moving as our world is, we haven’t progressed with our morality or spirituality.

the use of Africa in my photograph is about it being the cradle of civilization, the idea

of mother earth and mother Africa. the production of gold in Africa is destroying both

the society and the country itself but continues because of our obsession in the west.

the human suffering and the cost to the environment are incalculable. we are degrading our mother and we are raping mother earth in our quest for financial security, but while doing so we are ensuring our own insecurity.' 

David , on his concept behind 'the rape of Africa'

Try it 

seeing is believing go to http://www.lachapellestudio.com/exhibitions/

to get up close and personal go to www.lachapellestudio.com
to support this artist go to http://www.lachapellestudio.com/news/

More on the Artist 
David LaChapelle's photography career began in the 1980's in New York City galleries. After attending the North Carolina School of Arts, he moved to New York where he enrolled at both the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts. With shows at 303 Gallery, Trabia McAffee and others, his work caught the eye of his hero Andy Warhol and the editors of Interview Magazine, who offered him his first professional photography job. 

Working at Interview Magazine, LaChapelle quickly began photographing some of the most famous faces of the times. Before long, he was shooting for the top editorial publications of the world, and creating the most memorable advertising campaigns of a generation. His striking images have appeared on and in between the covers of magazines such as Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ, Rolling Stone and i-D. In his twenty-year career in publishing, he has photographed personalities as diverse as Tupac Shakur, Madonna, Amanda Lepore, Eminem, Philip Johnson, Lance Armstrong, Pamela Anderson, Lil' Kim, Uma Thurman, Elizabeth Taylor, David Beckham, Paris Hilton, Jeff Koons, Leonardo DiCaprio, Hillary
Clinton, Muhammad Ali, and Britney Spears, to name just a small selection.

After establishing himself as a fixture amongst contemporary photography, LaChapelle expanded his work to include direction of music videos, live theatrical events, and documentary film. His directing credits include music videos for artists such as Christina Aguilera, Moby, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, The Vines and No Doubt.

His stage work includes Elton John's The Red Piano, the Caesar's Palace spectacular he designed and directed in 2004, which just recently ended its five year run in Las Vegas. His burgeoning interest in film led him to make the short documentary Krumped, an award-winner at Sundance from which he developed RIZE, the feature film acquired for worldwide distribution by Lions Gate Films. The film was released in the US and internationally in the Summer of 2005 to huge critical acclaim, and was chosen to open the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

Recent years have brought LaChapelle back to where he started, with some of the world's most prestigious galleries and museums exhibiting his works. Galleries such as the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York, Jablonka Galerie in Berlin, the Robilant + Voena Gallery in London; and Maruani & Noirhomme in Belgium have housed his works as well as Institutions such as the Palazzo delle Esposizioni and Palazzo Reale in Italy; the Barbican in London, and The Helmut Newton Foundation in Berlin.

In 2009, exhibitions in Mexico City at the Museo del Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, in Paris at the Musee de La Monnaie, and in Guadalajara at the Museo de Las Artes all broke attendance records. These shows presented his latest series of works with which LaChapelle has broken out of the frame, presenting three-dimensional sculptural murals.

Snacks- Mayer Hawthorne

Free Blog Counter

YOU should know

Derrick C. Brown 

makes me nervous. A feat that few can achieve I assure you. But something about his undeniable talent, effortless demeanor and disarming humility can frankly, leave you drooling slightly. This is the only way I can describe experiencing his poetry live.  Or should I say witnessing. Rest assured, when you see Derrick Brown perform, you feel that you are in the presence of true and tangible grace. . . Reading it ain't so bad either.

It's like eating cotton candy. Except those little speckles of sugar you see are actually fine shards of glass. His words can be sweet and melt on your tongue. Yet gritty. Sharp, raw and sensual. Poignant, tender and a pinch sinister. It feels like watching your life pass before your eyes, but less frightening. More like an exciting ride that feels personal. Deeply personal. Trust me, you LOVE this guy. You just don't know it yet.

Try it 

seeing is believing go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrpN2_oEi1M

to get up close and personal go to www.brownpoetry.com 
to support this genius go to brownpoetry.com/store OR   writebloody.com

More on the Artist

Derrick Brown, former paratrooper for the 82nd Airborne, gondolier, magician, and fired weatherman, now travels the world and performs his written work.  From Long Beach, CA and Nashville, he is dedicated to bringing  American poetry and prose into rock and roll status. He has also been  applauded for his copy writing work and his romantic and comedic screenplays.  Brown was the director for the children's television show, KIDMO. He has consistently been the opening act for Indie rock act, Cold War Kids  and has been booked with The White Stripes and performed with  Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. His work has been featured in books with  Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Viggo Mortensen,  Jeff Buckley and Jim Carrol. As one of the most original and well-traveled writer/performers in the country,  Derrick Brown has gained a cult following for his poetry performances  all over the U.S. and through Europe. A poetic terrorism group has taken  to sticking and tagging his metaphors across the globe. To date, Brown has performed at over 1300 venues and universities  internationally including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,  La Sorbonne in Paris and The Nuyorican Poets Café in NYC. Known for being  a page poet who can also perform, Brown's word show incorporates spoken word,  minimalist music, and even sound fx. He has won the California Independent  Book Critics' Award in 2004, and his performance poetry has won six  first-place poetry slam finishes in Venice Beach, England, and Germany. Brown is the owner and president of Write Bloody publishing.  He funds many of their poetry and prose projects on his own through freelance work.

Snacks

the Cryptic

                                                        




Ray Noland


" the Sweet Tea & American Values exhibition (on June 11th at 2229 S. Halsted Street in Pilsen) was a glimpse into the absurd and at times distressing reality of our social experiment called the United States. The show is primarily comprised of meticulously hand-cut stencil work on canvas. Some of the work entitled, No Race Creme references vintage skin whitening advertisements of the early 1940s – ’50s with contemporary ‘new’ and ‘improved’ enhancements. While other works such as, The Oath Keepers engage conservative Christians and their historical commingling with war, violence and terror in America. A few works humorously highlight pop icons and political figures including; Michael Jackson, Thriller Zombie and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Shoe Shine Blago, Run, Blago, Run w/ balloon and Jailhouse Elvis Blago. The show also envisions a possible future of a dream realized in works like, People Party, and Everyman. The result is a candid perspective at times bittersweet yet always sincere."  [1]


Try it
seeing is believing got to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEU22UjZZQY
to get up close and personal go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=els3g-00xj8
to support this artist go to http://chicagourbanartsociety.tumblr.com/

More on the Artist

Artist Biography: Ray Noland is an artist and designer working under the alias CRO. He is the creator of “Go Tell Mama!” – a grassroots Obama art, video and street campaign which began in 2006 and toured the country during the election of ‘08. He is also the artist behind the now iconic “Run, Blago, Run” street art phenomenon. Noland also independently published the now-defunct online magazine BLACKLIST® (‘03-‘06). He has a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (‘95) and has worked professionally as an art director and brand designer. His art & illustrations have been published throughout the US and Europe and are in the collections of the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian. Though Noland’s work has been exhibited in galleries in Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland and Atlanta, he is most familiar with renting vacant storefronts and converting them into DIY PopUp art spaces.

Artist Statement: Since the early 1990s, my work has involved the creation of conceptually based sociopolitical screen-printed posters, imagery and art activism. I embrace the hand of the artist and technology — carrying this philosophy through my process. In my work, I comment on the American dream and the subsequent gap between it and reality. My work also addresses racial identity, pop culture, politics and underlying social behaviors historical and current which continue to shape American society. I document a moment in time (DAMIT) by creating imagery that resonates with people. I’m trying to engage in social and political discourse in a humorous way. Often times these themes are combined into work reflecting heros and/or villains of our society. Like a vessel, I constantly receive stimuli from the environment which becomes part of my work. I present the viewer with a mirror reflection of the world as it is. My social commentary weds graphic form with brazen content. The result is at times stark and brash and at others photographic and honest.

Ray Noland currently lives and works between Asheville, NC and Chicago. [2]