DIWho?

A full week without a post!? WOW...wait no longer, loyal readers.

I have been thrashing on a what started as a little pet project; editing, designing and laying out a new skate 'zine, SK843. The content is based upon skateboarding culture within South Carolina, and the first issue concentrates on the Charleston scene between 1983-1989. In addition to that, I have been also working on new supplemental graphics, readying new webpages, burning screens, printing posters, skateboards, t-shirts and starting to sketch out quasi-point-of-purchase displays. 

The SK843 'zine is already evolving something much more substantial, as I have been asked to include it, along with earlier Streetscribe publications, in the upcoming Skate and Create exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art. Organized by the good folks at Pour It Now, the exhibit is intended to showcase and communicate the positive impact of skateboarding and it's peripheral creative pursuits to the general public. Kevin Earl Taylor is the other artist included in CMA/Skate and Create, and considering that both Streetscribe and SK843 are both collaborative efforts spanning 20 years, it's an ideal showcase.

The first edition of the SK843 zine will be traveling to Charleston and Columbia, but there a second edition is already planned for a January release. I hope to have that 'zine, along with the 20 year anniversary Streetscribe 'zines, available for purchase online via either/both SK843.com and Create and Destroy.

JASON ROACH

I recently lost a skateboarding comrade in a tragic accident. Jason Roach was a local in Savannah, Georgia and we became fast friends when I moved there in 1989. Jason was a powerhouse skater; speed and determination always punctuated his very natural style. He and his chaotic cohort in crime, Adam Holden, were like a permanent fixture in my Oglethorpe House dorm room during those early years. We skated together all the time and at all hours of the day and night.

Thanks to Art Ottimo who recently edited and posted this vintage footy; shot by Gabor Stibinger in Fall of 1990. It features Jason Roach, Adam Holden, Jeff Dorsten, Jon Stovall, and myself (slappies at 1:17 and 4:08) barging a downtown Savannah parking garage. And this footage summarizes most of my skateboarding memories of Jason Roach. R.I.P., Jason.

DRIP PAINTINGS for CMA

In addition to the skateboard-related material for the Skate and Create exhibit, I am also creating a new suite of Drip Paintings. For the first time, the selected colors within the paintings are based upon a very specific theme, but I am not yet willing to reveal what that theme is. Stay tuned for more in progress photos of the work. Better yet, go see the show in person at the Columbia Museum of Art.

(I have to work quickly though, as these need to be shipping within the next seven days...)

SNEAK PEEK: RISK

As mentioned a few days ago, I recently linked up with LA graffiti legend and Seventh Letter member, RISK. He has a new and comprehensive exhibition, Twenty Six, opening later this month at the museum-scaled Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica. And considering the aspect of graffiti that appeals to me most, typography, is the subject of the title piece, seeing his new 26 individual letterforms was quite an inspiration...

Twenty Six, recent works by RISK, opens at Track 16 on Saturday, December 13, 2008. Get more into at the Track 16 website, here.

AESTHETIC APPARATUS

Mike and Dan are two super cool guys who are really good designers and accomplished screenprinters. They also operate under the kick-ass name of Aesthetic Apparatus.  No matter if you're a seasoned and cynical veteran or an intimidated novice, check out this vid, I am sure you'll be inspired and amused. And go buy some of their prints! I have many and they serve my eyes kindly....thanks guys!!!

SK843

Getting closer...SK843 single issue 'zine featuring stories, memoirs and rare photos of the skateboarding scene in 1980's South Carolina. Logo is done, cover is designed, possible screenprint poster is designed, sticker sheets and T's are designed and 'zine itself is in the 2nd draft of the dummy...'zine with debut in Charleston on December 27th, 2008.

SALLY MANN: WHAT REMAINS

It's been a number of years since I have looked at Sally Mann's work, most notably when we met during her visit to the SCAD Photo Department/Savannah, Georgia in 1996 or 97. At the time, she was just beginning her 'new' landscape work, making a departure from the portraiture that had established her as a visionary photographer. Immediate Family never really spoke to me, although many of my colleagues at the time were absolute Mann FANATICS. During her informal SCAD residency, I was privileged to see some of her in-progress work prints; beautiful, nearly-opaque images of Kudzu. She was also beginning to work with the anachronistic photographic process of wet plate collodion. For the very first time, her vision began to resonate with me...

Fast forward to the present as I just watched a fascinating documentary, titled Sally Mann: What Remains. Filmed over several years (and released in 2007), it chronicles her intensely personal and contemplative relationships; her rural landscape, her father, her husband and, most notably, the subject of death. The body of work depicted in the film, large format images of human decomposition and decay, is nothing short of Robert Adams' notion of Truth and Beauty. 

For the first time, I am the now the one who is a Mann FANATIC. Thanks, Sally.

(Above is just a two minute excerpt from the two hour film. Thanks to Ovation TV for continuing to broadcast such culturally important content).