Mister Brainwash Exhibit

While driving down Sunset blvd. in Hollywood and walking into a warehouse where Mister BrainWash (MBW) held his art exhibit, it becomes clear that this particular type of expression is considered low-brow culture. The Getty didn’t approach MBW to place the graffitied police car inside their museum on top of the hill. The Andy Warhol alterations that hung on the wall, displaying Marilyn Manson’s face with the signature Marilyn Monroe hair and colored portrait certainly can’t take much credit for artistic originality. In fact, most of the pieces on display at the exhibit are framed reproductions of classic artwork with elements of contemporary pop culture painted into them to make them relevant, useful and recognizable for people in the present.

In this picture, originally Claude Monet's "Girl With Umbrella", MBW painted the Teletubbies walking up the hill in the background.











This one, originally Grant Wood's "American Gothic" now shows the man and woman with paint rollers and masks, their barn covered in graffiti behind them.




You are first confronted with a 20 feet tall pyramid pile of books when you walk into the outdoor entrance gates leading to the warehouse. A sign at the top of the pile reads the exhibit’s name “Life Is Beautiful.” There are several ideas at play here. One is that art doesn’t necessarily have to be created from a seemingly original idea. The entire exhibit makes you question “authenticity.” It could definitely be argued that there is no original idea, only people who expose an already existing idea to the public first. I think the moment we stop forcing ourselves to come up with something that we believe has never been done before, the moment we let go of ideas as something created by a single mind, then we can find freedom in artistic expression in a way that MBW has been able to do with what he acknowledges already exists around him.

We had the opportunity to meet the man himself when we first walked in. Champ was putting one of his stickers on the MBW guest book when he heard a voice behind him say “hey, don’t do that. Put the sticker on the police car behind you.” He looked up, and there was Mister BrainWash.







I wouldn’t have recognized who the hell he was, but Champ asked if I wanted to take a picture with him so I pretended of course that I’d recognized him right away. He’s French, in fact most of the little guys running around behind the scenes of the warehouse were moustached men with funny accents. Here are our smiling faces with the artist.




I found the exhibit to be a fun, worthwhile experience. The thought crossed my mind (as it probably has for anyone looking at a piece of art deemed ‘worthy’ to be put up and admired) that anyone could do what MBW has done. In fact, artists like Banksy are currently and have been doing it for years. Someone will undoubtedly take the credit for being ‘the original’ of its kind, but really, that’s not the point. The point is to show people that art is all around you and if you get that feeling in your gut that you could be doing what is being done, you should respond to it by creating as much as you can. Perhaps what you create, whether it be a song or a drawing or a story will be considered a copy of someone else’s idea. Does that mean it is not worth creating? That is up to you to decide.

Perhaps you will make something that you think is crap but everyone else will praise you for making something innovative and groundbreaking, opening doors to adoration, money and fame. Everyone else will tend to follow, even if they don't agree anyways. Kurt Cobain said that he was just trying to write songs that sounded like Pixies songs. Now, he is an icon, a star, hailed by many as a genius. The Pixies will be remembered as a great band, but Kurt Cobain has been given credit for starting something, something he knew had nothing to do with him. Perhaps that is why he chose to step away from this life too soon. Perhaps he is remembered as a hero because he did not live long enough to become something stale, something old.

Ideas are recycled again and again. Taking credit for them is merely a distraction. The world around us is beautiful. Life is beautiful, therefore we must share our experiences and uncover what it is that already exists within us and around us, so that others will be inspired to do the same.

What The Hell Is Psychomagic?

What is Psychomagic?

Well, the short answer would be that it's a form of psychotherapy invented by Jodorowsky and practiced only by him, his son Cristóbal Axel (who starred as Fénix in Santa Sangre) and his wife Mariana Costa, that combines art, Eastern philosophies (particularly Zen Buddhism), mysticism and modern psychotherapy to heal patients with emotional problems. Louis Mouchet's 1994 documentary La Constellation Jodorowsky contains footage of one of Jodorowsky's weekly Paris workshops in which he treats patients at no charge.

So, is Psychomagic just a rehash of previously existing religions, philosophies and schools of thought? Not at all. To better understand what Psychomagic is, read what Jodorowsky says about it.


What does it take to be a psychomagician? (According to Jodorowsky)

# A true therapist cannot be trained in less than five years and a psychomagician in no less than seven years.
# A psychomagician must first be an actor, artist, poet, writer, painter, mime, musician, etc. He should have mastered all art forms.
# Studied a martial art, Eastern philosophies and shamanism.
# Experimented with hallucinogenic mushrooms and other elements.
# Have an occupation outside of being a therapist to work free of financial pressures.
# Be familiar with tarot, alchemy and cabbala.
# Had contact with a well known healer.
# Been psychoanalyzed, know the history of psychoanalysis and its many theories and know the works of Freud, Jung, Grodeck, Lacan, Erickson, Dolto, etc.


Psychomagical Advice
A ten step recipe to being happy, by Alejandro Jodorowsky.

1. When in doubt between "doing" and "not doing," choose "doing". If you're wrong at least you'll have the experience.
2. Listen to your intuition more than your reason. Words forge reality but they are not it.
3. Make some childish dream of yours come true. For example, if you wanted to play but were forced to become an adult before your time, save some 500 euros and go play them at a casino until you lose it. If you win, keep playing. If you keep winning, even if it's millions, continue until you lose it all. It's not about winning, but about playing with no end.
4. There is no greater relief than to start becoming what one is. Since childhood, we're coerced into other people's destinies. We are not in this world to pursue the dreams of our parents, but our own. If you're a singer and not an attorney like your father, abandon your law career and record your album.
5. Stop criticizing your body right now. Accept it as it is without concerning yourself with the stares of others. You're not loved because you're beautiful. You're beautiful because you're loved.
6. Once a week, teach others the little or lot that you know. What you give to them, you give to yourself. What you don't give to them, you take away from yourself.
7. Every day, look for a positive story in the newspaper. It's difficult to find one. But, amid all the atrocities, somehow, there always is one. A new species of bird was discovered; comets transport life; a boy who fell from the top of a five story building landed unharmed; the daughter of a president intent on drowning herself was saved by a laborer with whom she fell in love and married; young Chilean poets bombarded the palace of La Moneda where Allende was assassinated with 300,000 poems from a helicopter; etc.
8. If your parents abused you when you were a child, calmly confront them in a neutral place that is not their territory, developing four aspects:
This is what they did to me.
This is what I felt.
This is what, because of that, I now suffer.
And this is the reparation that I ask. Forgiveness without reparation has no use.
9. Even if you have a large family, assign yourself a personal territory where no one may enter without your permission.
10. Stop defining yourself: allow yourself every possibility that could be, and change paths as often as necessary.




# Failing does not exist. With each failure, we change paths. To arrive at what you are, you must go through what you are not. The greatest happiness is to become what you are. In every sickness there is: A prohibition: You are prohibited from being what you are.
# A lack of consciousness: When you don't realize what you are.
# A lack of beauty: When you lose beauty, you become ill.

Colorful Pattern

Its not as fun as the drawings that I make but right now this is what they pay me to do. I made this a week ago but put it on hold due to other projects. Finally got it done!

Jing Quek

Great photography by Jing Quek

Work Never Ends.

Whisper Kid Flyer

Heres a flyer I made for a June 11 show at Tribal Cafe.

another short story in the making

Cat Fancy
(part 1)

I remember the first time I ever experienced boredom. It is a frightening feeling to have for the first time because we are born into a world of saturation constantly titillating the senses. There is always something new to experience. An experience capable of shaking the very center of our existence. But with all that surrounds us, we sometimes feel that it is not enough. The senses tire and inspiration turns to a lump of coal awaiting combustion from a source we do not seek. All that is mundane begins to stew around the pit of the intestines in viscous bile until the blood boils. The skin becomes irritated, yet we feel we can not satiate the itch. The itch lies beneath the surface, struggling to puncture its surroundings and find release. Amongst this turbulence, we always manage to find something to sooth this irritation. A spark. Something intriguing to the sleeping senses finds its way to our consciousness and we react. The coal ignites and the fire within once again pushes us to move on, to seek further inspiration and deeper purpose. We feel relief and a renewed sense of strength. We strive to become the warrior as we run from the belly of the beast.

I was ten years old. I am sure that I felt restless with things before, however this was my first realization of what it meant to be bored. I wanted nothing to do with what surrounded me yet I didn’t know what would alleviate the feeling. I was sitting at our kitchen table in the mid-afternoon watching my mom bake cookies. She stood at this sink with her back to me as I stared blankly at multi colored pieces of construction paper. I drifted in and out of listening to my mom tell a story about my grandfather’s missing teeth. Apparently he took his dentures out at a restaurant while he was eating soup and forgot to put them back in. The waitress chased him down Lincoln Boulevard with his mouth in her hands screaming, “Sir! you forgot your teeth!” She shook her head and chuckled. I knew the story was supposed to be funny. I just forgot to pay attention to when I was supposed to laugh.
My mom turned around and gave me a look of disappointment at my lack of a reaction. I smiled and let out a forced giggle of approval and she resumed her mixing. I began to pop the caps off each of my Mr. Sketch markers. I liked to line them up side by side and take turns smelling each one with my eyes closed. Sometimes my friend Alexandra would come over with her own set of markers and we would compete to see who could guess the flavors fastest. I always won. Sometimes I could smell two or three at a time and be able to distinguish them individually. We always ended up with rainbow moustaches and we’d laugh so hard that sometimes tears would stream down my face and blur the colors into a giant fruit bowl around my mouth.

A really simple D.I.Y Project

When I spot a box on the street labeled 'free', chances are you can spot me pulling over to the side of the road to rummage through someone else's abandoned clutter in hopes of finding a temporary treasure. Often I feel inclined to take something just because it's free, whether it be a book I don't need or a children's toy for a baby I don't have. A few years ago I found a miniature skateboard in one such box. I decided to take it home with me and was determined to turn it into something.

I love to make collages. Cutting out interesting pictures in magazines and books is a relaxing activity and discovering how the found images can come together and make something new is rewarding. I decided to decoupage (glue pictures onto another surface using a special glue called Mod Podge) these little skateboards and give them to friends as gifts. A few months ago, I found a magazine lying around called Stop Smiling (a great magazine for writers and people who like to read). This particular issue was largely dedicated to the O.G Gonzo himself, Hunter S. Thompson. I cut out some pictures and words of him and searched through other magazines and found elements that came together as a common theme and new creation.

How to make this really simple craft:

1) Get a small skateboard at a toy store, or anywhere that sells kids stuff.
Price - 5.99 (This is just an example of a brand that makes them)


2) Get a bottle of Mod Podge at any crafty store (There is both Matte and Glossy kinds. Sometimes I just buy the glossy kind and do a coating over the top to make the pictures look shiny, but sometimes that just looks cheesy)
Cost - about $5 a bottle


3) Cut out pictures form magazines or books. Pictures form postcards tend to be too thick to stick to the skateboard material.

4) Fit pieces together and arrange a collage on the skateboard. It's not a completely flat surface, so don't get frustrated if some of the skateboard shows through.

5) Use a sponge brush and apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to the back of each image as you glue them onto the skateboard. You might want to arrange your collage on a flat surface off to the side to remember which images still need to be glued on.


6) Delight in the fact that you made something pretty easy and badass looking! Share Your Madness with someone or keep the skateboards you make for your greedy little self. However, if you place it in a free box outside your house, don't be surprised if I snatch it up and post it on our blog.

Here's my Hunter S. Thompson skateboard fit for a gnome.

short story in the making

Taco Sauce and Semen
(part 1)

Everytime Duncan walks on the street, he keeps his head down and his hands in his pockets. He hasn't owned a watch or a clock in over two years. Duncan's roommate, Rusty, gets up for work at the same time as he needs to be awake, so each morning, Rusty turns on the shower at 7:00 A.M and bangs loudly on the bathroom wall, adjacent to Duncan's head. Rusty doesn't mind the routine. Duncan is a reliable person, he just rejects technology and because of this, feels isolated from the rest of the world. A watch may be considered a basic necessity, but Duncan always says that he "doesn't want to be a slave to the forces that drive the hands in circles."
Luckily, at the senior home Duncan works at as a caretaker, no one seems to be bothered by his inability to track the hours, minutes, even days. Duncan has his most fulfilling discussions and close friendships with the patients, especially Harry. Harry lectures the young caregivers about the state of culture and the world in a way that challenges Duncan's cynical ideals. Their conversations mostly begin when Duncan looks smugly at Harry and tries to make an assertion based on whichever latest philosophy book he was reading at the moment. Yesterday, as The Price is Right began its opening credits Duncan made a comment about television being the "epic novel of our time." Duncan speaks of decline while Harry speaks of hope with a gentle guidance that "all things are as they should be."

WORK

Today I made this fabric design at work. Hopefully, they will pick it one up for an upcoming line.

BASTIDAS!

I'm currently working on album art for the band, BASTIDAS. I tried to make something that visually represented their sound.

Messing Around With Photoshop Is Easy

I just started to rediscover how fun it is to manipulate and create images using photoshop. I took a short introductory class a few years ago, and like most things you learn and don't practice, many of the skills I once knew now leave me scratching my head. However, it is really simple to explore and teach yourself as you go along, with the satisfaction of quick results. Anything that you experiment with can turn into a creation, whether it me unintentional or mathematically calculated. Champ makes some pretty amazing fliers for bands using photoshop and he has mostly learned from teaching himself. It might seem frustrating at first, especially if you think you could do a lot more if you knew quick keys to hit for certain effects to save time, but sometimes the gratification of discovering something on your own is greater than having a million tricks under your belt because you know the shortcuts. The first image is a flier Champ made using photoshop. The second is my first experiments entitled "Midday and the world might be melting" and "Do you see me like I see you?"Get a bootleg version (I mean, pay for the program!) and see what you come up with, and share your creations with us!

Don't Let Them Get To You But Get To Them Instead.

Having to balance doing something for a commercial purpose and something more expressive like the drawings I do has always been a juggle. But it is a juggle that I am willing to undertake at this point in my life. For the most part, I don't mind zoning out for hours and hours in drawing. Most of the time , a lot of what i draw might appear unplanned, or not meditated at all but i guess that is part of the appeal that i like about it. It is like exercise to uncover my mental ability to conjure certain forms, images and visual patterns so that i can just go through them whenever i need to.

Doing the commercial work that I do designing fabrics for the textile industry gives me a different drive. Its the kind that makes me want to get things done in a matter of time. It is more labored and always springs from more conceptualized ideas based on different aesthetics. I am not bitching about what I do -I am merely recognizing that the balance. I never intended to work in a 9-5 kind of existence but for now, having this job is a good way for me to practice creative discipline.

Here is also something that I finished doing working on today. I'm glad that they just let me go crazy on this one.

Some Inspiration To Create.

Here are some really cool graphics that I stumbled upon at FFFOUND while i was surfing the web today. Really cool images and colors that just go "pop! " Ya know? My kinda thing. Don't hesitate to post comments here, people or simply just say hi or suggest a cool link -if ever you are out there. Also, we are gonna start shooting our first weekly v-log tonight over wine. Come one, Come all. Come multiple times.

New bunch of ciah-ciahs on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

RINZEN . In the Milky Night Carepack

Preframed ideas all mixed up on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Mural w. Erik Tangerud (250cm x 180cm) Acrylic on wall. on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

An Old One For The New Folks.

This is from a children's book idea that I aborted because I believe the story wasn't effective enough as a children's book. Rhea and I are hoping to do one in the near future. Either that or a children's show for kids who hate those really sterile children shows. Mmmmmmm...

One Of Those Things Again.

Whatever The Ink Unfolds.

Blogs are for pussies, its time to Vlog!

Champ and I are releasing the first episode of our Vlog.
Not now, not tomorrow or wednesday, but soon.
We will be giving spiritual guidance for people beyond help.
People just like you!

This vlog was inspired by a trip to Borders in which Champ and I love to frequent for the latest musical releases. We were searching for the band No Age when the cashier, a zit faced delight named Hambone pointed us to the New Age section of CDs by mistake. After politely pointing out the error of his ways, we all had a bubbly laugh together and realized that we needed to make a serious life change. We bought 6 Enya cds, some Yanni, Kate Bush and completed our collection of Creed. We went home, made incense from the insides of our bagless vacuum, braided our pubic hair, put on matching polyester unitards, drank five Red Bulls and began the transformative quest....once ours...soon to be your own.

After eight days without sleep and only the juice of a single can of tuna to keep us alive, we looked at each other and remembered there was still one small thing left to do. We released Hambone from a padlocked, handmade, organic copper wire cage
(available on our etsy site) and within a few hours made him promise not to go to the police.
We knew we'd finally found the heavenly divine light.

We're here to help.
It is the secret that the secret doesn't want you to know about.
.......keep watching out for our Vlog.......

GOOD TAG, BAD TAG.

You have to agree that this is a great job. I saw this at Santa Monica, it definitely caught my attention.

SMILE HARD

This one of the shirt designs that we are doing. We will soon have them available in Etsy.

Why I feel like an asshole getting my ears pierced at the mall

"He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl." -Exodus
Body piercing is historically recognized as a rite of passage, a sign of societal status, a testament to the pain one can endure in devotion to a God. In Egypt, certain body piercings were restricted to royalty. Romans pierced themselves to show valor and strength. Julius Caesar had his nipples pierced. Many gladiators had a genital piercing through the head of their penis to easily tie the organ to the testicles for more protection in battle. The Aztecs and Mayans pierced their tongues to show devotion to the Gods and had numerous body piercings to frighten and intimidate other tribes. I remember being around 6 years old and going with my mom to get my ears pierced. I kicked and screamed so much that the woman in charge of the slight procedure kindly asked us to leave. Later on I decided that my ears were big and stuck out so I wouldn't need to worry about a few seconds of discomfort. Granted I did pierce my own nose when I was 12, I'm going to be dramatic and say that the pain I was feeling inside my little awkward preteen body was more than the sting of a small sewing needle in my face. The infection that came later (who knew the needle was supposed to be "clean"??) gave me a brief battle wound story to tell kids at school. The hole closed up after a couple of weeks and I didn't really earn anything by putting myself through the pain. My rebellion backfired as well since my parents thought I'd gotten my first zit and lied about it in embarrassment.

Sailors brought body piercings to Western culture, both as a response to religious superstition and curiosity to the art form. The majority of the last hundred years, however, has shown resistance to body piercings. Men did not want to appear feminine and women did not pierce much besides the occasional ear lobe. Piercing became a form of rebellion in the 1960s and since then a resurgence of experimentation and expression can be seen as piercings become popular once again. To me, piercing was a logical form of teenage rebellion.

Sailor Sid was a popular piercing obsessed guy known mostly in the 1970s. The first picture here is quite tame...he has a giant piercing in his nose. He looks like a friendly guys. The second picture shows a million piercings in his penis. You don't have to scroll down. But you will. And you will probably say "oh shit" "what the fuck" or simply "ouch".



This is not the kind of piercing I am looking to get now. I just want two little holes on my earlobes so I can wear earrings. I decided that the cheapest answer is going to the mall. This is a terrible decision for many reasons;
1) The mall is a breeding ground for anxiety and confusion
2) When consciously handing a stranger money to put holes in your body, choosing a place in the center of hell is poor form
3) Within the center of hell are a several locations to get your ear's pierced.
a. a jewelery station in the center of the mall. people will walk by and stare at you. they might even take pictures. you will smell Cinnabon, dirty diapers, burning hair and cheap perfume as you take deep inhalations to prepare for the puncture.
b. Claire's is a place where one can find knock offs of tribal jewelery next to a Hannah Montana garter belt. Radio Disney pumps out of the walls and ceiling. Teenage girls with the first sign of breasts stand next to their eccentric gay male friend. He is wrapping himself in a red synthetic feather boa, sucking on a lollipop and trying on Jackie-O sunglasses in a mirror. He is dancing to the music while parents turn around from the register..."kids today" the mom says to the cashier. The scene stealer is able to distract his female friends for a brief moment from the horrors of attempting to find themselves in a stripper's paradise. Ear piercing is done in the front of the store...with a tiny plastic gun...by a girl reading the manual as you sign your waiver.

I decided to go to Claire's. WHY? I have no idea. I used to shoplift from Claire's when I was a teenager and later blamed Karma for the fact that any jewelery I got from the store fell apart within two weeks. Champ and I stood and watched a guy get big shiny studs in his ears. He was a foreigner, that was his excuse for choosing Claire's. Then a girl about 16 went to get second holes in her ears. They were crooked, thats for sure. But her excuse was that she was her youth, she probably hasn't heard of sweatshops and she had her mommy's hand to hold. I sat in the chair, chose my slave-made studs and found a Mary Kate and Ashley backpack to focus on when the deed was being done. At the final step, I was suddenly rejected from being pierced at this circus shithole. I had left my ID at home. I guess the white plastic spring-loaded toy is serious business.

There may have appeared to be nothing culturally significant reflected in this tiny experience. Actually, going to Claire's to get my ear's pierced reflects a lot about our society's disconnection to pain, ceremony and culture. Choosing the mall instead of an actual body modification place is avoidance of the experience. Regardless of where you are, the discomfort of creating the hole will remain. The mall supplies an overabundance of saturation distraction, that people most often shop at the mall to remove themselves from real life experience.

Even though I don't go to the mall more than once a year, i subconsciously felt comfort. Advertisements strategically placed throughout the mall and in each store are done so that the shopper will process information without really being aware of the control the images and ads have on our minds. It functions like an anesthetic, covering up the problem for a moment without healing the underlying fear or issue. Perhaps going to a legitimate shop is more nerve wracking, but the deep breathing and personal mind control is closer to the admirable ancient practices than letting relying on corporate marketing strategies to make you think you are a stronger person.

I feel like an asshole getting my ears pierced at the mall. I might go back to Claire's with my ID and do it tonight.

Seattle In Pictures

Rhea and I came back from Seattle on Monday and its good to be back in L.A. Somehow, it feels weird to know what Seattle is like and still wanting to live here. And yes, unlike some people I don't mind the weather....