By Way of the South, Going Home

Opening tomorrow night, Saturday, January 12, 2013 at the Guerrero Gallery in San Francisco. The last show assembled by the late Justin Van Hoy.

Vinyl Revisionists

I'm proud to be one of the exhibiting artists in Vinyl Revisionists. Opens Friday, March 30, 2012 at Warner Brothers Records in Burbank, CA.

JRF for Obey Clothing/Artist Series

JRF x OBEY from OBEY CLOTHING on Vimeo.

SOUNDGARDEN

I'm not sure how, but I got on Soundgarden kick a few weeks ago...only the first few records still do it for me; UltraMega OK, Screaming Life/Fopp and Louder Than Love. I love that early stuff.

Six Stair Super 8 Scraps

Great stuff from the boys at Six Stair, who've also been doing the Grosso/Loveletters series for Off The Wall TV.

Eames: The Architect and The Painter

The missus and I ventured out to an early Sunday morning Laemmle screening of The Architect and The Painter a few weeks ago. It's a new feature length documentary on Charles and Ray Eames, and I highly recommend it.

Thankfully for you, PBS has recently posted the entire film over on their site. Check it out here.

Bill Daniel

Bill Daniel is a pretty interesting guy. He's most well known for his documentary, Who is Bozo Texino?, which is an amazing film about a nearly-extinct slice of American subculture.

Daniel has also spent years wandering the country, doing still photography, hand-crafting silver gelatin prints, making zines and generally doing good stuff. Check him out.

Go Faster: The Graphic Design of Racing Cars

LOUD FLASH: British Punk on Paper

A little late with this posting, but above is a small sampling of 'Loud Flash: British Punk on Paper' exhibit from Honor Fraser Gallery in LA. It's a well-curated and very rare selections of prints, flyers, zines and other ephemera from the personal collection of Brit, Toby Mott. No doubt, THE most impressive presentation of the era that I've ever seen...most of which, in terms of design, is absolutely brilliant.

Press release from Honor Fraser:

Honor Fraser is pleased to announce Loud Flash: British Punk on Paper, opening Saturday July 16, 6 to 8pm, and on view through August 27, 2011.

This exhibition is a compelling portrait of a particular moment in British popular culture, at the bitter end of the post-war period. It tells its story through a unique collection of several hundred posters, flyers and other ephemera assembled by artist and erstwhile punk, Toby Mott. With the passion of a true fan and an artist's eye for an image, he has gathered the evidence of the short life and premature, messy end of British Punk. There are iconic images by artists such as Jamie Reid and Linder Sterling, as well as flyers, gig posters, and zines, crudely cut and pasted by anonymous hands. A fascinating collection of political material supplies further context of a nation of unrest, torn by extremism, recording attempts by political extremes of both left and right to co-opt the power of youth.

Ephemeral and throwaway as each of these objects were, collected together they tell, in uniquely immediate and visual terms, a part of the history of Britain, the history of ideas, and the history of art. Punk has always exerted a fascination, but perhaps never stronger than at this moment. The legacy of punk has permeated modern culture and society, and its visual vocabulary infuses much contemporary art, while the punk spirit resonates in particular with the anti-elitist, DIY ethos of today's young, blogging artists and musicians. This exhibition recalls the anarchic spirit of authenticity and amateurism, the volatile and ambiguous celebration of negativity, creativity, violence and protest that was Punk.

Field Research / Indiana / Vol.1

A few of the vintage typography/lettering samples collected during recent field research in my original hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana.

REFERENCE LIBRARY

....a great one from Jim Thiebaud's Instagram via his Twitter feed; Black Flag setlist.

The History of American Graffiti

New on my bookshelf this week is the recently released The History of American Graffiti, a comprehensive survey compiled by Roger Gastman and Caleb Neelon. It's a hefty, 400 page hardcover that represents years of extensive research, rare photos, ephemera and interviews. Gastman and Neelon were interviewed about the book on the PBS NewsHour, and you can watch that segment here.

Gastman writes: "On April 5, HarperCollins released our book The History of American Graffiti, which traces graffiti's evolution from its early freight-train days to it's big-city boom on the streets of New York and Philadelphia and to its modern-day influences. The book features behind-the-scenes stories and profiles gleaned from more than four years' worth of interviews with more than 1,000 photographs. If that's not enough reason to purchase the book, here's what a few more people had to say:

Roger Gastman and Caleb Neelon have written the definitive history of the origins of the graffiti styles that emerged in Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles in the early 1970s and inspired young artists around the world. - Jeffrey Deitch, director, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art

The History of American Graffiti is the first truly comprehensive history of graffiti's secretive, illegal culture. - Shepard Fairey, artist

On a side note, I designed the above endpapers for the book using Gastman's vast personal collection of anti-graffiti pamphlets, propaganda and ephemera as source material.

PLINC / Photo Lettering Launch

Attention designers, type nerds, illustrators and related creative people:

The folks at House Industries (along with a few, dedicated associates), have finally brought the long lost tradition of the analog typesetting service into the 21st century with the online launch/archive of PhotoLettering.com. There's so much research, history, craft, preparation and process involved with the PLINC legacy that I suggest reading some of it for yourself...

I'd also like to say thanks to Photo Lettering for allowing me to be part of their Beta testing team for the past 18 months!

Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread Doc on Don Letts

Although this trailer views like a mishmash of archvial (but still great) footage, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this new doc on Don Letts, Superstonic Sound.

And, as you already know, I'm a fanatic for all things Don Letts.

The History of American Graffiti/PBS News

Co-authors Caleb Neelon and Roger Gastman discuss their newest book, The History of American Graffiti, with PBS NewsHour. The two have been working on the book for several years and it's finally being released next week, which will no doubt benefit from the upcoming major MOCA/Art In The Streets that opens April 14, 2011.

BENNY GOLD

I excited for fellow creative/skateboarder/East Coaster/SCAD Alum, Benny Gold, as he continues to steadily grow his signature brand. Only a year after opening his first retail location in San Francisco, he's already outgrown his current spot and expanding into a new one. I'm looking forward to visiting again next time I'm up there.

Congrats Benny!

video courtesy The WereHaus.

Mr. Brainwash/Thierry Guetta and Exit Through The Gift Shop

I've been getting emails and texts all week long from people that want to know the 'inside scoop' on Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop, which has been nominated for an 2011 Academy Award/Best Documentary. Well, my 'inside scoop' is this:

-Yes, Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash/MBW) is a real person. Yes, he lives and works in LA. Yes, he's a real Frenchman and I've known him since about 2002.

-Yes, I did illustrate and execute Thierry first stencils for him (above). This was several years ago and was done to help him promote his upcoming 'film', Life Remote Control. It was all 'pre-MBW'. I had absolutely no part in distributing, applying, or otherwise disseminating said image in anyway whatsoever. Once Thierry had his own stencil/sticker/poster to work with, it was all downhill from there.

-Yes, the unbearable and schizophrenic vignette of Life Remote Control shown in Exit is real.

-No, I have not done any additional work for Thierry or Mr. Brainwash since the above assignment.

-No, Banksy is not Thierry Guetta (or vice versa). No, Thierry is NOT a character 'fabricated' by Banksy. What you see in the film is pretty much, 100% objectively true and factual. Banksy is definitely a brilliant artist, but I assure you, all he did was allow the world to see the madness that is MBW. You know what they say, truth is stranger than fiction.

-Yes, I have met Banksy. No, I will not confirm his identity or speculate on alleged photos of him. Why keep trying to peek behind the proverbial curtain? You'll ruin it for everyone, especially yourself.

-Yes, I was invited to be interviewed for Exit by the director, but I politely declined. But, if you absolutely must have a sound byte from me (tongue-in-cheek), cut-and-paste your pick:

"Thierry is the Inspector Clouseau of street art."-JRF

"MBW was that last bit of dead weight that broke the rear axle of the street art bandwagon." -JRF

-Yes, I'll probably be contacted by MBW's legal team (eventually) as a result of this posting...something about NDA's, copyright violation, and other such nonsense.

Here's to wishing all the best for an Oscar win to Banksy, Jaimie D'Cruz, Thierry Guetta and everyone else associated with the Exit. It's a great film.

(above image MBW©2011)

FALCON MOTORCYCLES / KESTREL VIDEO

My friends over at Falcon Motorcycles recently posted this beautiful video documenting Ian Barry and his crew during the design, fabrication and creation of the Kestrel. Directed by Inigo Oleaga, the short captures the spirit of alchemy and mystery of that defines Falcon.

CLASH POWER

Featuring vignettes and montages from their legendary 13-consecutive-show run at Bonds in NYC, This Is Radio Clash from 120 Minutes.

GLEN E. FRIEDMAN/941 GALLERY

Say whatever you want about Glen E. Friedman, the typically-irascible photographer and activist, but the fact remains that his work speaks for itself.

Last month, Nine Four One Gallery in San Francisco hosted the latest incarnation of Friedman's Fuck You All. Complemented by an assortment of paintings and prints by Shepard Fairey, the show is a testament to the amazing influence of self-empowerment via skateboarding, punk and hip hop culture.

Above is a great piece that montages the show via Warholian.com.