Earlier today, I noticed a substantial jump in site views for an old article that I wrote a little over 2 years ago.  The post was about the notorious UK street artist, BANKSY and an animatronic pet store that he had set up in NYC and made available to the public during that time period.  Not unlike his other work, the project was a remarkable and innovative effort, charged with abrasive tongue-in-cheek social commentary.  Sure, it was a fascinating endeavor, but why all of the interest now?  Why today?  I didn’t know myself, until the latest episode of The Simpsons aired and the introduction had BANKSY‘s name written all over it (literally).

According to a post today on Wooster Collective, the artist is responsible for both storyboarding and directing the intro.  In BANKSY‘s typical irreverent fashion, the elusive stencil-master utilized this “unheard of” opportunity to design one of the most legendary opening sequences in television history to take jabs at the program itself.  References regarding heartless and unapologetic capitalism/consumerism are addressed through biohazard containers, a sweatshop unicorn, and kittens in a woodchipper.  Serious subject manner?  Yeah… but, BANKSY‘s strength has always lied in his ability to fuse these loaded topics with light-hearted humor and biting wit.  Judging by our own search stats alone, seeing BANKSY‘s name on Matt Groening‘s program was enough to intrigue unfamiliar viewers and set them off on a Googling mission.  We’re sure that this latest platform will result in some additions to the graffiti hooligan’s fan base, but we’re also confident that it will, undoubtedly, rouse up quite a few more haters… as usual.  He seems to have that  polarizing effect on people.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For additional info on BANKSY and to view footage of the Village Pet Store & Charcoal Grill CLICK HERE

For a solid chronicle of information and images from BANKSY, we highly recommend picking up a copy of the hardcover book,  BANKSY Wall & Piece.

A few months ago, I was watching Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network when an image of a giant pie-chart that was painted on the side of a building was shown.  The pie-chart was divided into 4 sections, representing what viewers could expect to witness on Adult Swim during the 2010 year. Descending from largest to smallest percentage-wise, the divided portions of the chart were as follows: “EXPLOSIONS“, “MEAT“, “P’TOOTS“, and “LOVE“.  The bottom corner of the screen identified the location of the mural as being in Seattle and I recognized the spot immediately.  It was on 45th St. just barely on the West side of Interstate 5, which separates Wallingford from the U-District. The building that it’s painted on contains Milano Pizza, a joint that stays open and delivers pizza until 3 am every night.  Since first noticing the image on television, I’ve traveled by it and seen the painting numerous times.  I’ve also seen various other locations with almost identical murals in other cities, shown on Adult Swim, generally with somebody posing in front of it.   I’ve thought about taking a photo myself, but never really got around to it.   On the day of the opening reception for the 179 exhibit at Upper Playground, my bus traveled past that location as usual but, as I looked off to the right to glance at the painted wall once more, I noticed that somebody was painting something else over it.  At first I was disappointed but, upon further inspection, I recognized that what was being painting on the wall was a 100 times more awesome than what was on there before.

Two men with ladders and a van full of spray-paint were diligently creating an elaborate mural over the last one, so I pulled the chord to stop the bus and jumped off early to get a closer look.  Adult Swim has been running some of the most forward thinking advertising campaigns over the last few years and this removal of their last promotion was only being done to make way for their latest.  You may remember that one of their most notable marketing schemes involved L.E.D. versions of the Mooninite characters from the show, Aqua Teen Hunger Force being posted around various cities.  You may also remember that the placement of these little neon spacemen resulted in a bomb scare in the Boston area.  Since then, the network has found new ways to continue to create visually bold statements throughout communities, while avoiding the unnecessary waste of tax dollars caused by paranoid citizens and the summoning of bomb squads.  This new campaign involves a giant aerosol rendering of actor, John C. Reilly‘s face and, even without that threat of explosions and destruction, the image of this new ad is no less jarring.  Here are some images that I was able to capture of the piece, both finished and in progress, which was created to build hype for an upcoming show called CHECK IT OUT! The new program is a spin-off set to revolve around Reilly‘s socially awkward character of DR. Steve Brule from the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

Working on the Mural

Bottom half

Lettering work

Wayne Skylar, one half of TV’s “only married news team”

Tim Heidecker as Jan Skylar

Yep, he’s free-handing this shit from a simple image that he’s holding in his other hand.  As if it wasn’t mind-boggling enough that this mural was created strictly from spray paint.

I needed to keep moving and didn’t want to bother them during their work.  I knew that it would be a little while before the mural was complete, so I waited 2 days and went back up to shoot the following images.

I commend the network for their constant innovation, as well as their employment of talented aerosol artists across the country.  I expect to see a lot of these images popping up on the internet from various cities over the next few weeks, so keep your eyes peeled.

According to this advertisement, the new Steve Brule program, Check It Out will debut on Adult Swim on May 16, 2010.  From my understanding, the newprogram will air as 15 min. long episodes and will run consecutively after the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!.

Here are 3 promotional trailers specifically created for the program.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out our related posts:

Taking the Awesome Show on the Road: Tim & Eric Live in Seattle

Tim and Eric Presents: “Father and Son” (a Story Poem)

I don’t know what the fuck has changed lately, but I’ve been receiving a lot of emails with requests for me to post shit on the site.  Help has been few and far between, so I’ve been getting backed up and don’t generally have time to check out someone’s myspace tracks or research some random bullshit that isn’t already on my radar.  I do like receiving the requests, however, but far too many of these emails show clear evidence that the senders have absolutely no idea about Monster Fresh or about the type of material that we would even be interested in posting anyway.  Nothing against anyone because, in thruth, we just don’t have the manpower right now and I haven’t even had an opportunity to look over most of the stuff.  Who knows?  Maybe there was actually an original idea hidden in there somewhere but, if you think that I give a fuck about the new David Gray release,  then you are obliviously mistaken.

The other day I received yet another email from a stranger with a project, but this was different.  Something in the message caught my interest immediately and prompted me to delve further.  Now, I am only recommending the same of you.  Take a moment from from what you’re doing, refocus your attention, and deposit these two terms into your memory bank:
1) “PaperMonster” and 2) “Dirty Pilot“.

I have heard the name “Dirty Pilot” before and am fairly positive that I’ve even visited the website but, for some reason, I have never completely absorbed what was going on over there.  Site founder, Alan Bortman, has created something more than just an art website.  DirtyPilot.com does feature merchandise, apparel, and other cool shit from a variety of artists, but the site also functions as an on-line gallery.  I know that may not sound too impressive, considering to the general connotation applied to the term “on-line gallery“, in reference to websites, but this is much more than a series of images from a personal blog.  If you’re anything like me, you’ve grown tired of hearing about amazing Art Gallery openings in NY, SF, LA, and other cities that are located nowhere near you.  Without the burdens and limitations presented by existing as a physical gallery, Bortman has remedied such issues by providing a 24/7, globally accessible viewing space that allows for anyone to observe and/or purchase exclusive ,high-quality artwork in the, hopefully, pretentious free environments of their own homes.  Past shows have featured works by such artists as, critically acclaimed grafitti artist, Ewok 5mh and living  art/music legend, Daniel Johnston.  Along with a brand new show by Johnston,  DirtyPilot.com boasts another, equally impressive, virtual exhibit this week.  The latter is entirely focused on the world of stencil art and was curated by an amazing young New Jersey artist that goes by the moniker of PaperMonster.

The, Puerto Rican born, PaperMonster is actually the one who initiated contact with us about the show.  The sincerity and passion of his email, along with his brilliantly colorful work, is what drew me into the project immediately.  The header image ["Whatever She Likes"], as well as the picture above ["Skin Deep"], are both examples of his work.  Each of them are 24″ x 30″ stencil collages on canvas and will be featured in the upcoming exhibit.  I immediately noticed Lichtenstein-esque Pop Art elements, mixed in with aspects of Parisian stencil art godfather, Blek Le Rat, but there was clearly more to it than that.  Beyond the incorporation of comic strips and stencils, PaperMonster has created a collection of striking imagery that is all his own.  At times, the work feels flat, yet layered and textured… chaotic, yet precise.  Wild, frantic clusters of color are contrasted against solid, bold spaces, while Asian typography pops subtly in the background, like the Baroque patterned wall paper commonly found in a Western brothel.  The style sounds schizophrenic and, in a way it is, but it also possesses a strange cohesion.  It’s not unlike when the Ghostbusters took a risk and crossed their proton streams to enhance their powers as one solid force, or when all 5 elemental rings unite to project one powerful beam and manifest Captain Planet; the overall effects are much greater than the sum of their parts.  It’s not supposed to be logical, as much as it is visceral and emotional, however, there was something cerebral triggered by PaperMonster‘s work.  I found there to be a realization and a message being projected about the possibilities of the craft, as a whole.    It was clear that, beyond the simple, pure intention to create something visually stunning, there is a driving force behind the artist that pushes him to experiment and take his medium in new directions.  Hopefully, through his curating of the stencil-centric exhibit, PaperMonster will be able to further prove that there is more to the art of stenciling than many of us may all ready be aware.

The cleverly titled Friends With Knives runs from Friday, Sept. 18th to Oct. 18 and will showcase the work of 15 different stencil artists from around the world.  While graffiti has been gradually fighting it’s way towards gaining more mainstream recognition, stencil work is having an even more difficult time attaining such acknowledgment; often being labeled as no more than a sub-genre.  At first thought, a strictly stencil-based exhibit may sound too one-dimensional, but my feelings are that it will prove to be just the opposite.  Displaying the various styles of the individual artists side by side should be the most effective method to present the differences in their techniques and the multitude of unique approaches in the field.  Make sure to check out Friends With Knives; it’s free and you don’t have to adjust your schedule.  It should prove to be a “must see” for anyone that wants to expand their knowledge of the genre beyond Warhol, Banksy, and Shepard Fairey and/or is interested in seeing what the future of stencil art has to offer.

Following statement comes VIA PaperMonster’s official site:

“Putting the show together along with DirtyPilot, I wanted to showcase a broad range of stencil art styles and techniques including photo-realism, pop, and political stencil works that emphasize the power behind stencil art. As a group I feel like we all have something very valuable to offer to the art world. We all work extremely hard and deserve larger venues to showcase our talents. Some of the artists name you will recognize right away and some you will want to keep a close eye out for in the years to come.”

Full List of Featured Artists:

LECKOmio (Germany)
E.L.K. (Australia)
SOULE (Seattle)
Peat Wollaeger
PaperMonster (New Jersey)
L.E.T. (Germany)
Nathan Phaneuf (Georgia)
A1One (Tehran)
Billy Mode
Ben Slow
Koleszar (Arizona)
Dave Lowell (Austin, TX)
Mefee (France)
Roy Schreuder
HAHA (Melbourne, Aus)

Use These Links:

DirtyPilot.com
PaperMonster’s official site

After leaving, I was pretty amped and was even more focused on making it to see Kool Keith this time around.  Even though we’ve had a preview in our suggested events section for two months, I had still completely spaced the date of the show until the last minute and never bothered to try and get passes until that week.  I spent the next few days tracking down whoever released the rappers latest album, while waiting to hear back from my connection at the venue about if he was able squeeze me into the overly packed guest list.  He couldn’t help me this time and it was my fault but, I did have a few back and forth emails with Threshold Recordings, Kutmasta Kurt‘s label.  The first email that I received from them went as follows: “Sorry, kool keith does not encourage show reviews, only show previews“.  I was a little confused because that is usually only the case with venues.  Reviews don’t help the venues because they are written after the events have already passed but, reviews still work to promote the artists.  I responded by pointing out that I had already posted a preview to which they replied with “Sorry keith’s policy is no show reviews“, “…we meant a full preview with interview etc etc“, and that they may be able to get me a pass if I “promise not to write a show review” and if I would, “guarantee a feature article on the new dr doom album“.  Of course, I would have been down to squash this article, if they would have worked out an interview and sent me the album but, it was taking days at a time to get a response and, by this time, it was the day before the show.  Plus, I had never been offered passes to NOT review a concert before.  It was all a little strange yet, somehow fitting for Kool Keith.  Fuck it, I already bought a ticket at this point anyway.  I sent them an email stating that, if they arranged an alternative option for my article, which included an email interview and an album for review, I wouldn’t write it.  Otherwise, I was going ahead with my plans.  Out of respect I waited but, it’s been long enough and I haven’t heard back.  Next time they should try leaving a sixer of Magic Hat and a sausage grinder out on a table in front of me and ask me now to eat it while they’re out of town.  I might wait an hour but, eventually, I’m gonna drank that beer and eat that sammich.

(continue reading for N8 Van Dyke exhibit or click here to jump ahead to the Kool Keith review)

The Exibit


The art reception started at 5pm but O.G. and I pulled up around seven.  As I stood out front and finished my cigarette, I looked in through the glass  store windows and saw a large crowd mingling around.  Behind a large Mear One mural in the corner, a DJ appropriately spun hip-hop and soul, adding to the vibe without overpowering it.  This was a real art exhibit with free alcohol and the whole shabang.  I’ve been to plenty of exhibits before but it’s really nice to see something like this going down on a street like University Ave in Seattle.  For someone like me, the fact that UP opened a location in Seattle at all is a godsend.  Events like these are necessary for the community, especially with the fact that many smaller galleries like the Mcleod Residence have been closing down in the area.

The minute I reached the back gallery area where the art was displayed, I noticed N8 Van Dyke immediately.  It’s hard not to; he was the only 6 foot 9 white guy with a shaved head in the place.  He was was very engaging and personable with the gallery visitors that he towered over.  He casually drank microbrews and took the time to interact with anyone who was interested.

Jen ran up to me, looking like the polar opposite of Van Dyke.  Finally seeing someone that was shorter than I was, I got to feel like I was tall for the few short minutes that we spoke.  With a huge smile on her face, she confirmed that she had an assignment for me and wanted me to write something for the Upper Playground offshoot, The Citrus Report, next month.  Her enthusiasm was contagious and, as I looked around, It was clear that everyone was excited about the events for the evening and was in great spirits.  I told her that Threshold actually requested that I not review the show and was unsure about how I should feel about that.  She replied with, “Are you kidding?  If they don’t want you to write about it, this show is gonna be sick!“  Hmmm…maybe she was right.  She left as quickly as she arrived and and we took time to view the art.

Based on the footage that I’ve seen from the Fifty24 galleries in SF and Portland, the Upper Playground in Seattle has a comparatively smaller viewing area.  There may not have been as much room for an as extensive exhibit of Van Dyke‘s work, but the artist definitely made sure to bring pieces that demonstrated his range and which gave a sample of his stylistic tendencies and over all approach to art in general.

Much of the work displayed revolved around Van Dyke‘s more recent focus on skulls and death.  Although it is commonplace for the illustrator to incorporate violent subject matter into his art, many of his newer pieces seem to turn a broader spotlight on the subjects of mortality and human frailty, as opposed to the simple potential for destructiveness by the human race.

N8‘s trademark chimp figure easily graced about half of the images presented at the Upper Playground that night.  I always viewed these apes as commentaries on the human race as being animals themselves and on their inherent natures as reactive primitive beasts.  Often, I think that they simply just stem from Van Dyke‘s own personal struggles and inner frustrations, as well as his own realization that he himself is a mortal creature composed of muscles, tissue, and flesh pulled tightly over his near 7  foot skeletal structure, which holds it all together.  This becomes especially apparent through titles of illustrations like “The Beast in Me” (not featured in the exhibit), which centers around a somber chimp sitting amongst bottles of hard alcohol and emitting the drunken apathy of a Bukowski novel.  The appearance of the chimps even resemble Van Dyke a bit.  This may be a coincidence, however.  I’ve been accused of drawing myself before because I often touch my own jaw line or reference my own features for compositional reasons, but I would not be surprised if the comparison between the artist and his characters are intentional.  Then there’s other art that, after careful investigation of the brushstrokes, any well studied scholar with a masters in fine art and versed on it’s fundamentals could surmise have intentions rooted in simply looking bad ass.

The walls were mounted with a nice mixture of mediums and showcased Van Dyke‘s unique vision, coupled with evident nods to some of his favorite comic and fantasy art influences.  The mixed media “Hamburger Hill” (pictured) is comprised of an anthropamorphic primate brandishing bloody hunting knives and working  Mike Tyson-style on his victim’s ear.  This and other pieces feature a washed out color scheme, blood, gore, color splatter, strained veins, and chunky muscle tone that are reminiscent of graphic art by influential legends such as Simon Bisley (Lobo, Judge Dredd, etc) and Frank Franzetta (Conan, Molly Hatchet cover art, etc).  Van Dyke‘s personal illustrations even feature him taking a shot at illustrating his own versions of Lobo, while the exhibit contains an ink and paper homage called “With Apologies to Frank Frazetta“.  Another ink and paper work, “Guardian’s Domain“, is of a winged and horned character that merges a taste of comic art with another of N8‘s influences, H.R. Geiger, and even a bit of graffiti text to help form the wings.  In typical Fifty24 gallery fashion, the artist decorated the gallery walls themselves.  To create “Dead UP“, Van Dyke put his spin on Upper Playground‘s trademark walrus by spraypainting off, on, and around the canvas; later finishing off the painting with acrylics.

The new wave of artists like Van Dyke, Alex Pardee, and Luke Cheuh, who are often categorized as “low brow“, are part of a much larger concept and realization that I’ve had the older I get and, which I feel should work as inspiration for those who are now in their adolescent and tween years.  N8 and I are the same age, in fact we were born in the same month.  It’s clear to me that he was just another kid collecting Image Comics, when they first came out, and who was also taken into drawing the amazing new characters that were featured in their pages.  I was led to believe that everything that I was interested in from skateboarding, video games, art, comics… whatever, was a dead end and a waste of time.  The truth is that the youth really does grow to decide what’s relevant and important in the future and, in turn, they bring what was important to them with them.  Van Dyke‘s “day job” is actually creating video games and he has been able to move a lesser accepted form of art, that held importance for so many of us,  into a field that was not previously considered “fine art” or given it’s due credit.

The exhibit runs until March 18th and, after that, there will be more to come, for both the gallery and the artist.  To see the art in person, is a whole differentexperience and Van Dyke‘s work is more than modestly priced.  Limited edition signed and numbered prints for pieces like the ink on antiqued paper “A.D.” (featured on flyer) were selling for only $40 and some original pieces were even as cheap as $250, and that’s framed.  Get off your ass an support something.  If you are in Seattle go to the Upper Playground and Roq La Rue.  Support these establishments now and while we still have them.  Don’t be another asshole that wishes you took the opportunity after it’s too late.  If you live in a place like NY, SF, or LA and you don’t take advantage of the plethora of exhibits that do come through your area regularly, you deserve to be tazed in the junk.  Remember, there are art starved children in the Midwest who are less fortunate and would love to be able to take even a bite of these finely prepared meals of acrylic, spraypaints, clay, and oils that you so casually take for granted.

-Dead C

Read and interview with N8 Van Dyke on The Citrus Report and….
Go to N8′s website with features his art as well as his interview with Juxtapoz where he speaks about kicking the windows out of Taxi-Cabs.

(CLICK GALLERY THUMBNAILS BELOW TO ENLARGE)

Banksy is one of the most influential and forward thinking graffiti artists of the last 20 years. He is well known for his stenciled bombing which he honed in the Bristol area of the United Kingdon.  In his book “Banksy: Wall and Piece” (2005) he states that he decided to start doing his tagging with a stenciling format after being caught and running from the cops at the age of 18.  He claims that, while hiding, he “spent over an hour under a dumpster truck with engine oil leaking all over (him)“.   He looked up at a stencil on the fuel tank and realized that he had found his answer to cutting his painting time down to a fraction of what they currently took.

I highly recommend “Wall and Piece” because it is, not only an impressive composition of his collected work, but also full of quotes and passages that display the artist’s distinct vision and philosophies.  What makes Banksy’s work consistently relevant isn’t his ability to draw or paint, or even his cunning vandalism, but his voice.  I’m not going to claim that all graffiti is vital and has something to say beyond simple territorial pissings or blind destruction, because much of it is done ignorantly, but I will openly argue with anyone that claims that Banksy’s work isn’t absolute art in its purist form.  His graffiti work evokes thought, inspires hope, and contains strong social commentaries about capitalism, politics, and, most of all, humanity.  Like artist Ron English, Banksy’s hopeful, yet “illegal“, art pieces are often created in response to the corporate advertisements and “legal” oppressive imaging that we are bombarded with on a daily basis.

Wikipedia describes Banksy as “pseudo-anonymous“.  This is because he is obviously well-known enough to publish books and have gallery shows but it’s doubtful that you will see his actual face on the cover of any magazine, or program any time soon.  You won’t even find it on his website.  He’s been able to achieve the oft-elusive feat of transferring from underground renegade artist into one that commands universal respect, but continues to enjoy the freedom and versatility of street art that warrants such anonymity.

Galleries are great, but they sometimes have the ability to almost quarantine art and remove it from the rest of society.  They don’t provide the same effect as a giant, unexpected, apocalyptic mural in the center of Wall Street.  In the past, the tagger has altered large building walls, in both the UK and in San Francisco, to read as “Designtated Graffiti Areas“.  The scheme encouraged locals to come and vandalize the properties based on the fact that the walls were labeled to infer that the areas were permitted by the local authorities and government agencies.  In 2006, Banksy teamed up with DJ Danger Mouse in London to replace hundreds of copies of the Paris Hilton album with hoax versions.  Danger Mouse remixed tracks and renamed songs to have titles like, “Why am I famous?” while Banksy slipped the copies with alternate booklets into local retailers.

This August, Banksy spent time throwing up some new work in the New Orleans area, in his classic stenciled graffiti street art style.  The paintings were done to commemorate the 3 yr anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster and has been chronicled nicely on sites like Wooster Collective.  For this month of October, however, Banksy has made his way up to New York and it appears that the artist has been able to find himself the perfect middle ground between gallery-style artist residencies and the awe-inspiring specatacle of street art.

Banksy’s “Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill” has a giant storefront window located at No.89, Seventh Ave. South in Greenwich Village, New York.  It’s set up with the motif of a pet store but all of the “creatures” inside are constructed using animatronics.  I write “creatures” because, although there is a lifelike robotic rabbit with full make up, filing it’s nails in the mirror, there is also everything from fishsticks swimming in a tank to chicken nuggets with feet eating out of a BBQ sauce container.

His art has often contained images of rats and other animals in the past and his 2003 animal rights activist enraging work “Turf War” had the artist spray-painting graffiti directly onto the sides of cows and pigs.  There is a quote from Bansky on Wooster Collective where he says the following of the animatronic pet store:

“New Yorkers don’t care about art, they care about pets. So I’m exhibiting them instead. I wanted to make art that questioned our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming, but it ended up as chicken nuggets singing. I took all the money I made exploiting an animal in my last show and used it to fund a new show about the exploitation of animals. If its art and you can see it from the street, I guess it could still be considered street art.”

The project is scheduled to run until Halloween and is open daily between 10am-12am, but is also viewable at night.  If you are in the area we suggest going down there and checking it out.  If you are able to make it down but choose not to do so, we suggest punching yourself in the genitals.

For those of us who will not likely be able to view the splendor first hand a video is provided below.  The site Notcot.com commissioned artist filmmaker Seth Brau to make the following film which, at least at this point, appears to be the best video document of the exhibit available.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Big Cats
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IpriP5Bl20

Sausages
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVJtXiujDVQ

Fish Fingers
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbsPCaxS-ec

Rabbits
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emFgmo1UeQM

Nuggets
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxNjikJNjdk

Primates
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZAwOMrpCSU

CCTV
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u239zSO1tQ

For coverage on more amazing artwork, make sure to check out he following sites as well:
www.Banksy.co.uk
www.Woostercollective.com
www.Notcot.com

-Dead C