"When people ask me about my art I tell them that I’m an operational crazoid - my own terminology for a multimedia conceptualist. Because my graphic work is so narrative and my written work is so graphic I don’t make a distinction between writer and artist. And because my artistic endeavors have allowed me to straddle the line between fine art and commercial art, I’ve also chosen to make no distinction between the two. My parents were responsible for my mutant classification. My daddy was a frustrated artist, and my mother seemed to be the writer of the family. They started my reading career with the Bible; my favorite books growing up were Genesis and Revelations, which somehow inspired me to become obsessed with science fiction. This led me to become fascinated with machinery, and subsequently, automotive technology. Though my teenage interest in sports cars may have been typical, my rabid studies of the infamous car customizer Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (who combined cartoon and horror imagery with automotive design) profoundly affected my outlook on life. When my high school art teacher told me that my painting projects followed a surrealistic theme I looked up Salvador Dali, and went on to study other artists and movements (especially Dada). Around this time my old man also gave me a copy of “Man and His Symbols” by Carl S. Jung, which was a crafty move on his part as he was unwilling to finance my model car purchases. By the time I attended Roosevelt University (under the often un-encouraging tutelage of Donald Baum of the Hairy Who movement) I had decided that the medium that would allow me to graphically express my ideas (with a text component), was album cover art.
Check it all out!
minitek is going to be quite
different
New York's Electronic Music + Innovation
Festival, September 12-14, 2008! minitek is going to be quite
different from other festivals you know.
minitek festival combines two aspects: electronic music and
innovation. While this seems to be a pretty straightforward at first,
you'll understand that Minitek is going to explore innovation not only
in respect to music but also to other forms of art, design and
technology. For three days and three nights, minitek will bring
together individuals, institutions and creative companies that are
pioneers in their respective areas and whose creations, visions and
inventions are shaping the future.
Check it all out!
WLIB AM:King of the Wigflip marks the end of an era. "As Dirty Harry
said, 'a man has to realize his limitations'" is how Barely Breaking
Even (BBE) co-founder and current label head Peter Adarkwah explains
the successful Beat Generation series coming to a close. "Evolution is
[the] key to all survival."
And few artists represent such evolution like Madlib The Beat
Konducta. The Oxnard, California native has become what writer Amiri
Baraka (nee Leroi Jones) once referred to jazz immortal John Coltrane
as – "a more fixed traveler…a peace idiom, and time, placement
of himself." Madlib is a fitting piece in the Beat Generation puzzle,
which has run the spectrum of top-flight producers with legends
(Marley Marl, Pete Rock, Jazzy Jeff), young lions (DJ Spinna, King
Britt, Will.I.Am), and the incomparable Jay Dee aka J Dilla, whose
Welcome to Detroit was the first artist album to be commissioned by
Read On
Land of the Rising Graffiti Artist
Mark Batty Publisher, a leader in distinctive books covering the graphic and communication arts, has released the first book to take readers on such a comprehensive and intimate tour of Japan's burgeoning graffiti movement. Written and photographed by Remo Camerota, "Graffiti Japan" provides a revealing Japanese perspective on a conventionally Western tradition.
Japan has long been a breeding ground for innovative angles and perceptions on Western traditions, such as movies and baseball. The fanatical acceptance of streetscape graffiti in Japan has torn the art form away from its Western roots and has given it a national identity of its own. "Graffiti Japan" documents that evolution with a multitude of photographs, artist interviews and author commentary.
Read More
"BLUES AIN'T NOTHING BUT A PIMP"
JOHN LEE HOOKER JR.
RELEASES ANIMATED VIDEO
WITH NEW CD RELEASE
"ALL ODDS AGAINST ME"
Son of Blues Legend John Lee Hooker
Becomes the Blues' First Animated Crime Fighter
All Odd Against Me
As the unacknowledged granddaddy of hip hop, the blues is one of the most powerful
of musical genres. Exploring and exploiting the subject matters of sex, money and
drugs, the blues has always had the uncanny ability to make you feel its lyrics
at a gut wrenching level. John Lee Hooker, Jr., son of blues icon, John Lee Hooker,
knows this subject matter first hand. You can hear it in his voice, feel it in
his lyrics and like a down home meal, taste it even in his music. With his third
solo release, "All Odds Against Me" on his own Steppin' Stone Records, and the European
label, Jazzhaus Records, the Grammy nominated artist is a living testimony to those
odds against him.
John Lee Hooker Jr.
Read On
Kurtis Blow, DJ Grand Wizard Theodore, Grand Master Melle Mel, & Afrika Bambaataa perfoming at All Stars Live Fest
The Royal Tribe arts organization will be joined by guest artists, celebrity friends, and top industry executives for the 1st Annual All Stars Live Fest Benefit Concert and Community Awards Gala. This major benefit event is destined to be one of the most important cultural events of 2008. This year's amazing line-up is helping raise essential funds and awareness for The Royal Tribe Life Options for a Village Endowment. Most recently, the Royal Tribe Music arts organization purchased and began renovations on a building in the East End community of Wilkinsburg which has been dedicated to be used as a Youth Arts Education and Business Center. Once renovated, this facility will house a state-of-the-art music educational center and recording facility to serve foster care youth and other at-risk teens and was made possible through grants from the Royal Tribe Music arts organization and community supporters.
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