It’s a Familiar/Failure Friday!

Almost a year ago I put up the original in a different area of Chinatown.

The idea for this painting on Plexiglas was for it to be backlit.

It looks gorgeous backlit. The layers come to life and the colours shout.

I wanted the fence pattern to come through too.

I thought it would work. This alley runs east-west, and, as boyscouts could tell you, the sun rises in the east and settles in the west.

But this alley never seem to get enough light for the plexi to be properly backlit.

Ah well.

The green of the fence still goes well.

It’s a Familiar Friday!

Original here. It took me a long time to get around to this…

Man, I was really drunk when I finally did it.

Like, falling down drunk. I fell down doing this.

And I fucked it up. In many ways. Arhggtttph.

This is what it was it was supposed to look like. She was supposed to be sitting inside my three triangles. It was going to be inverted, so the central triangle could accommodate her. like this: \//\\/ But I flipped the two flanking triangles only? For some reason? WHAT IS THIS \/\/\/

I’m lucky I spelled my name right.

Be aware that going on a major mission totally drunk out of your head will result in some truly spectacular artwork and at least one night in the cells.

Banksy

NOT ALWAYS TRUE.

Sometimes when you’re drunk you can see better.

Damien Hirst

AND SOMETIMES WHEN YOU’RE DRUNK, YOU ARE AN ASS.

People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish… but that’s only if it’s done properly.

Banksy

YEESSSSSSSSSSS

Damn.

In the dark and rush of the night I didn’t notice that this flap had folded over.

It’s not a big enough of a mistake to make this a Failure Friday….

…maybe a Fucked-up Friday…

It’s a Failure Friday!

This was the first vent project that I tried last summer. It was meant to be a sort of wire frame of my helmet.

I underestimated the power of the vents! It was torn to… ribbons!

I thought it was still kinda pretty.

Ah,

Anouther failure friday…

Somtimes when you struggle, cool shit happens.

and sometimes just shit happens.

At least Saul Williams is coming to Toronto!

Saul Williams gave hip hop to white boys when nobody was looking. We found it locked in a basement when they gentrified Brooklyn.

April 14th, 2008- Mod Club

Hey-oh!

Its another Failure Friday!

What fun.

This time it’s for a Stencil Revolution Stencil Challenge. The theme: Stencil Revolution!

What does that site, where so many of us share work and meet other stencilers online, mean? How do you represent it visually?

Well, I thought I would do it by melding some of the constantly flogged SR dead horses- Che and Stormtroopers!

After making the stencil, but before spraying it, I realized that it might have been done before, and, sure enough, a google image search for “Che Stormtrooper” revealed no less than 4 previous designs! (Though, I must say, I like mine best…)

(The most well known design is by Urban Medium, and they’re selling photos, prints, and even a statuette of it! Actually, they’ve sold out!)

I was quite upset at first, it sucks thinking you just did a clever backflip only to check over your shoulder and see a small crowd of people performing backflips in the same way! But then I thought “How perfect!” So much of SR is biting, both intentional and unintentional. People “Bite” all the time just because they’re covering the same material, referencing the same things, and using the same techniques! I mean, I bit those other folks (who knows who really did it first) without even knowing because we’re flogging the same horses! It’s can be even worse on SR, where the mechanical photoshopped stencil technique dominates.

Here’s how it goes; two artists both decide to make a stencil of a popular band. They both do a google image search and they both choose the same common picture of the lead vocalist. Then they both put it through an identical or almost identical photoshop process to make their stencil. They print, cut, and spray, and the one that uploads their stencil pictures first calls the other one a biter!

Anyway- I then went out to spray my stencil, and everything went to hell. It was only drizzling, but the paper I used to cut my stencil (garbage-picked Hip-Hop posters) was very sensitive to the moisture, and I watched, feeling helpless, as my stencil disintegrated underneath my floundering hands!

This crap (I’m glad that SHIT is written underneath it) is what I managed to get, and my stencil was destroyed, so there’s no chance at re-spraying.

I was quite upset at first, But then, once again, I thought “How perfect!” So much of SR is fatalistic excuses for not getting up, not having photos, not making art, not trying again, not buying paint, not doing it, basically.

Anyway, I think that all in all, this stencil is very SR.

BTW, I don’t dislike SR, I realize that I’ve made it sound terrible, but it’s more than repetitive, generic styles, excuses and defeatist attitudes.

But it’s got that too.

UPDATE!

Holy friggin frick!

I was just browsing thru their website store and it turns out they did a skeletal, skull-like kool aid man holding graffiti accoutrements too!

Only theirs is jumping right, and holding a poster and a brush!

While mine is jumping left, and holding a spray can!

GOOD GOD DAMN, I DIDN’T THINK THAT DEAD KOOL-AID MEN WERE A STENCILING “DEAD HORSE”.

Chee!

It’s another Failure Friday!

This spot is w-w-way out of my normal range. It’s close to Aurora for crying out loud.

But it is such a nice spot- An unused billboard… right off the highway…


easily viewed by passing cars.

But, once again, I failed.

It was rainy, windy, frustrating, excuses, excuses.

Cie La Vie. Even though it’s hard to tell what the image is, I think it still looks good. I like it.

Hey, here’s a thought!

Instead of me just telling you what artwork I’m referencing, how about we have ourselves a little contest!

I will make a stencilled portrait of the first five people who can correctly tell me what artwork this stencil is referencing.

Here’s a hint- It’s a sculpture.

Send me your answer, and if you’re right, I’ll reply with a request for a headshot.

Fun?

fun.

Hey Hey!

It’s a Failure Friday!

Usually I try to get things nice before showing them on Blade Diary, but today I thought I’d show you one of the times when everything goes wrong.

This is a stencil made specially for this spot. It’s BIG. Big enough to be seen from street level easily.

The spot itself is quite exciting- High up on a rooftop, it’s accessible by a quick climb from a back alley ladder.

So I climbed up, slathered the back of the poster with paste, and went to work.

Everything was going fine, except for the blustery weather. The wind was so strong (and cold) up there, the poster was tearing and flapping around like CRAZY.


I managed to get the poster up, however, even if it was in several pieces.

So I climbed back down, and went to bed.

But as you can see, the wind must have been blowing hard all night- it must of taken the poster down.

It was heartbreaking to see.

But I suppose I didn’t really want to go over the nice SAKE piece anyway. I had mixed feelings about that from the beginning. It was just such a nice spot, you know? I thought maybe the two would look good together.

So, since I’m not going to try and get it up in this spot again, I thought I’d show the failed attempt.

You can see men in the photo installing a (Possibly Illegal?) gianormous Telus advert that covers the whole side of the building.

I’m sick of all these crappy sell-phone commercials with all their animals conscripted into duty hocking disposable consumer electronics. ( BTW, Is the Telus monkey even a real species, or is it just a computer-generated simulation designed for maximum cuteness?)

It’s ironic, you know? Like those SUV commercials that show you getting “back to nature” by driving through it. What an American way of communing with the natural world.

Anyway, I think these photographs reflect on the whole “Street Art vs. Advertising” thing quite nicely.

P.S.!


My work was featured in the latest issue of TRUE EYE, a online magazine.


My Buddy PRVRT is featured as well! This was a pleasant surprise for me. Check us out!