Monday, August 31, 2009

Vintage photo & new "THE USED" album!




Hey yo.
As you may or may not know, I had worked with the band "The Used" for over 4 years on their last 3 album and DVD releases, and they continue to remain some of my best friends, despite me gaining weight and them traveling a TON;)
So, naturally I am very proud of them for the release of their brand new album, "ARTWORK", which comes out everywhere today! (cover shown above)

And though I didn't work with them on this release, it doesn't mean I am any less excited about it. "The Used", both as friends and as musicians, has collectively had a huge positive impact on my inspiration and my career path. And to celebrate the release, here is a never before seen picture of us, the very first day we met to discuss the "in love and death" album back in Feb of 2004.
So get out there and buy their new album tomorrow, or get it on itunes, or go listen to it on their website BY CLICKING HERE


Enjoy:)
And if you see the guys, tell them i love em.



Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Shia, Chadam, Sparks, Speed & Uncomfortableness, all in one place!

IT'S A VIDEO POST!!!!
Are you as pissed as I am that that shitface from VH-1 had to go kill himself and force VH-1 to take away all of my TV??
Well, to fill your void (maybe) I uploaded a few videos the other day, some you might have missed, some you might be tired of, but regardless, here they are! Enjoy.




Official trailer for "CHADAM", my animated series coming out eventually from WB & HD Films. Seriously, I know its been a while, but its coming out great;)





One of the best weeks of my life. Directing voice-talents like these people was insane. Good times. And Sid Haig is a hypnotherapist, which is rad.




A segment from the comedy series "The Jace Hall Show" (jacehall.tv) where i am interviewed by goofy intern Corey about my upcoming Warner Bros Animated series CHADAM.




Invaded the home of Shia Labeouf and ruined his walls with love and cake.




Me, Sam Flores & N8 Van Dyke went on a little painting tour around the US with Upper Playground & SPARKS. This was our first stop, where we sweat a lot.




One of my favorite timelapse vids, simply because of the fan, and because of Gary's cameo.

Until next time....

Every Time I Die, "WANDERLUST"

Yo, these guys are the homies! The song kills and Jordan's art coming to life in it makes me tingle with smiles. Check their new video for WANDERLUST.
word.
Every Time I Die - "Wanderlust"

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Full Re-cap of the Seattle show, minus most of the blood;)




So, like the probable future of Robert Pattinson's career, my Seattle trip has come and gone in a flash. And though I previously have thought this in the 2 other times I have been to Seattle, I continue to stand by the fact that Seattle is one of the only other places outside of the Bay Area that I could see myself living and working. Its gorgeous, and (most) of the people are awesome.
The original plan for my Seattle appearance was to move my Portland show, "Self Portraits" up to Seattle for a second round. However, because almost all of the paintings actually sold out at the Portland show, I was left with very little to show and absolutely no time to produce a good amount of new work that wouldn't bum everyone out. So I decided to team up with my dudes who run Zerofriends, the clothing/art company that I co-own, and set up an entire Zerofriends experience, showing off a bunch of our prints, comic books, t-shirts, & some original art that was used for the clothing. On top of that, we carted up a shitload of Zerofriends merch and the kind folk at Upper Playground Seattle let us basically take over the store. That means we got to do things like get the mannequins naked, burn pillows and throw away original paintings by Nate Van Dyke and Sam Flores cuz they were IN MY WAY! :)
So myself, Sean "Leopard", Darren & the whole UP SEA crew spent a good part of Friday resetting up the store and filling it with Zerofriends stuff. It was a really cool feeling to actually have our stuff on display like that in a proper setting and it's exciting to think that we are going to be doing more of that in the future (shhhhh, thats kinda secret tho). And then I got to spend the night, from like 6pm to midnight, just meeting fans and drawing for folks and chatting about art, demons, school, swords, Alaska, and narcolepsy. It was non-stop and awesome. And though i normally don't like doing this because of the pressure of the situation and the permanence of it, but a REALLY REALLY sweet girl named Kayla asked me to draw on her back and she was going to get it tattooed the next day, and her mom was there who insisted it was alright, so I did it. Can't wait to see the tattoo if she gets it. I think she said she had to hide it from her Dad, though, so good luck, Kayla, i drew it kinda big;)
Anyway, here is a visual run-down of the event. My camera died toward the end of the night, so I don't have any pics of the after-show shindig where I ate mac-n cheese, put make-up on Sean, got my signature psycho-analyzed by old friend and illustrator Kyle Kesterson, chilled with a beautiful narcoleptic, and ran into the homies Reyes & Steel (MSK), who happen to be up in Seattle opening a new GOORIN BROS. retail store up there by Upper Playground. If youre up there you should check out that spot soon, i think they are painting the whole inside. So check the adventures below, next up is Dragon-Con in ATLANTA in about a week! See you there, dirty south!





Sean "Leopard" & Darren Scott, of Zerofriends, starting the setup.





Doing what i do best: Being confused and unprepared.





Meeting the store's security guard, who was actually USELESS! (see below)





Starting to overrun the store.















Sean "Leopard" doing his best E.T. impression.



Before the show started, we got a really quick chance to look around Seattle a little, where I stumbled upon these 2 things that made my insides happy:




A gigantic TROLL under the bridge that I am convinced SKINNER built in his formal life, as you can see the comparison.




And THIS THRIFT STORE, which was unfortunately closed, which meant that I came home UNICORN-VELVET-PAINTINGLESS.





Show about to start. The calm before the blood-storm.





First in line: A super young artist named Zinn who ruled the school, along with his father. He was rad. Well, they were BOTH rad.















To read about what is actually going on in the photo, go to my previous blog here: http://eyesuckink.blogspot.com





Sam Wallis being way too close the evidence as part of the clean-up crew.




Attention, clean-up in aisle EVERYWHERE.










Sean, Me, Darren and the worst security guard in history.





Afterparty dinner with the UP SEA Crew.





That night, Sean Leopard was tuckered out, and continued his day of imitating things by imitating my favorite ancient mummy photo.

Overall, awesome trip. Thank you Seattle. Even you, crazy-pants.
See you again soon. I need to learn more about narcalepsy.

To clarify the "incident" at my Seattle signing. NSFW!

Warning: PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH OR WILL HATE ME FOR NOT WARNING YOU THAT THIS POST CONTAINS BLOOD AND GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE. NOT VIOLINS. VIOLENCE. NSFW. For reals.

The signing at Upper Playground & 5024SEA in Seattle was going great. From the beginning, There was a steady line of old fans, art collectors, local kids and fresh faces that all waited patiently for me to chat with everyone, draw everyone sketches and let me ramble nervously about why I draw naked dudes with spider arms and happy faces.
About 2 hours into the signing, as I was drawing something (probably a weird worm with wings and a boner or something) for a local husband & wife, I noticed toward the back of the line stood an awkwardly tall man with an even larger presence thanks to his sloppy and spiked mowhawk, resembling a gutter-punk version of Lurch from the Addams Family.
I didn't think twice.





(The first appearance of Lurch, in the gray hoodie)



20 minutes later, as he moves closer in line, I notice he has a large safety pin piercing the bridge of his nose/eyebrow region.
Once again, I didn't think twice about it.
Another 20 minutes go by, and he is now standing only a few people away. I then notice that the safety pin that is jabbed through his brow is freshly infected. We make eye contact and he grins at me like a wide-eyed car salesman.
While drawing and chatting with a group of 3 Seattle skaters, I now notice that there is an older gentlemen in his early 50’s next to Lurch wearing an old Andy Warhol t-shirt and a hand painted sport coat, looking simultaneously artsy and friendly. And he also appears to actually be there WITH Lurch. After 2 more people come and go, Lurch and Warhol start walking up side by side, but Warhol succumbs, steps aside and lets Lurch approach me first.

Lurch’s demeanor, though he said nothing, was that of a street magician. A shit-eating, soulless grin adorned his face, his eyebrows arched in the spirit of a mime about to show me a fake flower. I glance to my left. And Warhol is standing aside patiently, looking at both Lurch and I with a similar grin, or perhaps that of a proud father.

As with every other person that stood in line, I put my right hand out and said "It's nice to meet you, thanks for coming out, what's your name?" Lurch said nothing, but shook my hand limply while his grin, though now weakened, was still twisted across his face like a hand-drawn roadmap. I let go of his hand, and in true street-mime form, he produced a dirty, 3-inch razor blade from his left hand and showed it to me as the lights from the gallery caught the one spot on it that wasn't filthy. It sparkled for an instant, mimicking every cheesy Photoshop lens flare. I glanced to my left once again and still, Warhol was standing with the same anticipation as I was.
"Ok, I'm game," I thought to myself, "you and this Warhol dude are going to show me a trick or something like some lame Criss Angel shit. Ok, cool."
Unbeknownst to me, however, there was no trick. The exact words escape me because of what followed instantly after, but he said something along these lines in a mixture of both excited yet calming tones:

"I've been waiting to show you something amazing".

Within 3 seconds, Lurch rolled up his stained black t-shirt, exposing the lower half of his torso, placed his left hand with the razor blade over the right side of his speckled and girlish beer belly, stared through my eyes, pushed in the blade almost the entire 3 inches, and gracefully sliced it horizontally across his stomach almost the entire length of his torso. There was no blood at all. The skin, tissue, and 2 inches of fat, however, separated from itself as if a tiny Moses had been living in this dude’s beer gut and the razor commanded Moses to part his red skin. Still, no blood.
"You see??!" Lurch said, in a tone reminiscent of Francis Dollarhyde’s 
from “Red Dragon”.
I was confused.
"You see how it separates?!” Lurch continued. “You see how beautiful it can be?"
I was still bewildered, but overwhelmed with both curiosity and amazement. “Shit,” I thought, “I always figured Criss Angel was a fucking hack but if this is what it looks like in person than holy shit I retract my statements.” I wanted to see him finish the trick!
"Yah man, that's pretty crazy", I said, surprisingly calm, not horrified or scared in the least.
"That's not all. It works here too."
He then practically teleported the razor to his right hand, rolled up his left sleeve and dug even deeper into his wrist, slashing violently twice, carving a lanky number "11" along a 40 degree slant on his entire forearm. Immediately upon this action, the blood-race was on. Almost to the exact millisecond, his blood began hastily oozing out of all 3 wounds simultaneously, as his stomach incision caught up with his wrist, which was much more immediate. Lurch’s grin was permanent and he looked at me for approval, like an obedient Labrador with a fresh dead mallard in his mouth. 3 things flashed in my head at that moment. #1: The scene in Nightbreed where the crazy bum slices his face off in front of the doctor. #2: Edwin Neal’s hitchhiker character in the original Texas Chainsaw. This guy is a fucking nutbag. And lastly #3: Why was no one around me freaking out? Why was no one tackling him or yelling. Granted, Lurch was facing me and no one else, with the exception of Warhol could have fully experienced it, but clearly everyone else could easily tell what was going on as blood pooled on the floor. And because that #3 thought entered my head, and because of the sheer ridiculousness of what had just occurred, I did something that I kind of hate myself for.






I’m overcritical of clichés in movies. Especially in horror movies. Overused clichés, especially ones that I am convinced NO HUMAN WOULD DO, ruin good horror movies for me. My most hated cliché? Easy. The one where the group gets separated in a crisis situation and then strange noises or lights or voices surround the lone straggler, and their reaction is "C'mon, this isn't funny. You better stop joking around." As if ANY actual friend of theirs would be so diabolically evil as to choose a severe time of crisis to pull a practical joke on them in the dark. No, no ones ever joking, you asshole, there's a fucking killer on the loose and they are going to kill you.
Well, I now officially hate myself for the simple fact that I have to back track on my previous statement regarding that cliché. Because whether it was a defensive reaction, adrenaline, or shock as to what the fuck I just watched occur 12-inches away from me.... I clichéd. I looked at Warhol and said out loud,"Dude this isn't funny, this joke needs to stop, it's fucked up." I continued to treat it as a joke, and pulled out my iPhone and camera and began taking photos, all the while saying, to no one in particular, "C'mon guys, where's the punchline, what's the joke? I don't really get it". While posing for photos that I made a horrified onlooker take, a bleeding Lurch was muttering things under his breath, and I, still joking, reacted to his mutterings by saying "Are you fucking CURSING me, man? Awesome."









When I made eye contact again with Warhol, though, I saw he was genuinely horrified. He was stiff with shock and backed up to the wall. I then realized the reason no one was doing anything was because, in all honesty, what the fuck ARE you supposed to do with a possibly Hep-C infected 7-foot monster who just sliced open his midsection and is waiting to die at the feet of whoever is standing there?

I snapped out of my shell-shocked goofy mode and, as calmly as I could, mentioned to Lurch that he should leave. At this point, finally, one of the guys in line that caught on to what was going on, ran to the front of the store to get help, and within an instant, Jay, Lil’ Jen, Jeff, Sam, Watson, and the rest of the Upper Playground staff had somehow managed to not only block off the entire blood soaked floor and table, but escorted Lurch out of the building without getting blood or AIDS on any of the other people still brave enough to hang around. I stood there, alongside Sean from Zerofriends and Warhol, staring out into the crowd of onlookers, with an empty, confused stare and a dopey sarcastic half grin that Punky Brewster would be proud of, and said, “Well, It’s not the WIERDEST date I’ve been on.”
Ten minutes later the room was disinfected, the table was removed, and the area was blocked off and we moved into the store sales-floor and I continued drawing and meeting people and the remainder of the night was a lot more intimate and relaxed, all things considered. I mean, everyone who I met after that was there for the incident, so we all had some kind of bond to chat about as I was drawing and talking to them. Especially Warhol, who turned out to be a really well-respected local Seattle installation artist who just happened to be standing in line next to him. We laughed as I accused him of being Lurch’s “handler” the whole time.




Warhol (look at that O.G. shirt!) and Lil' Jen, the manager of Upper Playground Seattle.



Having to jump back into “drawing” and social mode so hastily was a little weird, but it at least distracted me from freaking out over everything that COULD have happened, and how I SHOULD have reacted to the situation. I have never seen anything like that happen in that sort of setting, and it was surreal to say the least. In turn, I acted surreally.

I don’t think the dude was a fan of mine, and I doubt he even knew who or what I was there for. I simply think he was just some mentally fucked guy who saw a line of people and wanted some attention. The 2 additionally weird things about this was that A.) he waited in line for AN HOUR. He didn’t barge right up and do it. And B.) He didn’t have any other visible scars on his stomach or arms. He wasn’t a “cutter”. After all was said and done, like at the end of that movie 3’ O Clock High, everyone started talking about him in a fantastical way. “I heard him say he was on his way to prison.” “He had a whole POCKET full of razors, he was showing them to me.” “I’ve seen him around here before, I saw him eat a pigeon, I swear.”

Sean (from Zerofriends) helped the rest of the U.P. staff escort him out when the incident happened. As the police and ambulance showed up and dressed Lurch in a Hazmat suit and handcuffs, Sean managed to ask Lurch why he did that. And regardless of what rumors were true or not, he replied simply,
“I wanted to show him something unpredictable.”

For what it’s worth, I am not sharing this with you to glorify it, although, in a time of shock, that’s exactly what I did, out of confusion. I am simply telling what happened as there has already been a lot of speculation. This was a sad incident, and I in no way wish for something like this to happen at any of my future shows, or at any one’s shows. I hope the dude gets the help and the attention that he was looking for. And in reality, behind my “laugh-it-off” defensive shell, this whole thing scared the fuck out of me.

A full update of the amazing show will follow this soon, I just wanted to get this out of the way to clear anything up.

Thanks for listening, and thank you to anyone who helped with the situation and was brave enough to hang around afterward and keep the love in the air.
Word.



Thursday, August 20, 2009

Me and Zerofriends are taking over Seattle! (kinda)

So, I've got good news for myself, and bad news for you! The good news is that I am leaving for Seattle tomorrow along with the Zerofriends crew to do something awesome. The BAD news, for YOU, is that i'm gonna probably twitter the fuck out of the trip so you guys will most likely get annoyed like you did last week in Denver;) However, I promise this time i will post less, but be twice as offensive and juvenile. Is that a fair compromise?

Good.







Anyway, yes, I am heading to Seattle.
What am I doing aside from trying to find the haunted basketball court they used in the Smells like Teen Spirit video? Well, I am setting up a little intimate art show, print release & signing on Friday evening at 6:00 pm at The Upper Playground up there.
In addition to that, ZEROFRIENDS will be taking over a section of the U.P. store and selling a bunch of shirts and prints throughout the next month! We have been hesitant to jump into the retail game given the economy and all, but this will be a good test so please please go check out the clothing if you are in Seattle and help support so we can take over stores throughout the country;)

The art show, itself, is going to be a fun little collection of stuff. Because I just got back from my Denver solo show, and this was a little spontaneous opportunity, I will be displaying and selling a number of random pieces of art and prints. I know most of my shows have themes and stuff, think of this one as my favorite Jeopardy category, Potpourri!
We will have both framed and un-framed prints for sale, books, shirts, some never before seen original black and white drawings from some of my clothing and poster designs, as well as a few little paintings for good measure.
And as a special surprise, we are releasing a Seattle-exclusive limited Giclee print of 'THE HANDFUL", like this:






Also, we are gonna party with you Seattle-ites. And Satellites.


So come on by, i think there will be drinks and music. No charge, all ages, all that good stuff. And if you cant make it to the opening, come by the shop to support Zerofriends all through September!

See ya there.
Word.

Here's the info:
ZEROFRIENDS POTPOURRI!
@ Upper Playground in Seattle
4730 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 985-1000
Friday, August 21 @ 6:00 PM

be there.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Full Photo-Heavy DENVER NIGHTMARES Recap!

7 days. Maybe 11 hours of sleep total. 2560 miles. California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado. Tornado warnings. Bum-fireworks. Boner tattoos. An angelic Jackelope. Old friends. New friends. Good friends. And an ILL-ASS SUPPORTIVE ART SCENE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF DENVER, COLORADO!
Maybe, if you cross paths with me, some individual stories from the trip will sputter out of my excited mouth, but until then, it's all a blur, so I will do my best to narrate the trip via photos, compiled from iphones and a couple of ancient digital cameras. Enjoy;)






Sean The Pierce, Myself, & Ricky Watts departed my house in high spirits. Well, Sean & I were in high spirits. Ricky was all Home Aloned-out. I don't think he was as naive as Sean and I.





It only took a few hours before we were in the middle of Funs-ville, Nowhere.





We drove by the Paramount Logo, which is awesome since i love their movies, especially Footloose, which i think was probably shot around here.





We picked up our trusty guardian angel, Jackie Lopez, at a truck stop, and he assured us of our safety. Jackie Lopez rules.





We stopped in Salt Lake City, UT, to hang with Vic Back, one of the country's best tattoo artists, which makes perfect sense that I would be lucky enough to be friends with him, considering how my entire body is covered in non-tattoos. We ate sushi stuff. and took prom pictures, and then....





Sean decided to make my millenium and get his favorite Ghost Boner, Taco, tattooed on him by Vic, who probably deserves better, but since I'm a bully, we won! BTW Vic works at GOOD TIMES TATTOO in SLC, UT, which is one of the best shops in the west by far. Go there.





Sean and Vic, all saddled up, ready for an ink-boner.





Some of Vic's many trophies, but sadly, none of them said "Best Boner." I still had hope that he would do a decent job.





YES! He DID do a good job!!!!! Sean, are you happy??





"YES, I AM ANGRILY HAPPY WITH MY TACO!"





We got to the hotel in Denver, which was "high enough to safely throw fireworks at people without hurting them", according to Sean.





I decided a family portrait was immediately necessary. Maybe my best work in months.





This lady on the right, doing her horrible Tina Fey impression, haunted me every night on TV and i dont want to talk about it.





This hat "bearly" fit, but i bought it anyway because of how angry it made Sean.





In Denver, there are multiple places that "buy anything that doesn't eat." That's what it says, in case you're blind. NOTE: please no one comment to say "If anyone was blind they couldnt read ANY of this, silly" because i am well aware of that. I am also aware that i now have to point out my sarcasm. That means I'm getting worse at it. I'll work on it.





Weird Denver fact #4: Half of the population had been shrunk during a scientific revolution in the 80's. Tons of the residents and neighborhoods were tiny! It was weird at first but i soon grew to find it really cool....





JUST KIDDING I HATED THOSE TINY PEOPLE AND I TRIED TO SMASH THEM AND DESTROY THEM EVERY CHANCE I GOT!





I was SO PISSED that the world's smallest stripper was having a show the same night as me, because that meant she wasn't going to be at my show like she promised. So i destroyed that tiny bitch's house (see above.)





Riding 2-Dimensional dogs is not only fun, it's educational!





Decided it was time to stop fucking around in 2 of the 3 dimensions i live in and get to work on the installation for my art show.







Ricky Watts and I filling in the mostrously gay mural.





Line-dancing.





A really dope sketch Ricky did while patiently waiting for me to gently ink the huge violent orgy.





Every morning I sat in this chair and absorbed inspiration from the sunflowers and the litter.









Finished, and overcome with awkward sexiness.





The night before the show, Tom (the gallery director of ANDENKEN) supplied me and my crew with some genuine, hairspray-tasting moonshine, complete in a bottle decorated by The Date Farmers.





The show is officially starting, which IM TOTALLY PRETENDING TO BE SEXILY AROUSED BY! YES!!




Eating the famous "Iron Maiden" Pizza at The Walnut Room right before the show.















Me with Tom, ANDENKEN's Gallery Director and all-around cool hombre.





My Semi-Date for the night, the beautiful Ronnie WK, who's Photoblog, RADMOBILE ( http://radmobile.tumblr.com/) rules the school. The girl knows her CHUD & Supermarket Sweep trivia, which is probably the only 2 requirements for my friendship-approval.





The first person to show up was an amazing artist named Dalton who not only made this shirt he is wearing, but showed me a ton of his colored pencil portraits and paintings, and he is only like 16! He's gonna be a beast!









Zack, from OMERICA, a company that makes custom high end all wood products, came through and surprised me with 2 ZEROFRIENDS custom belt buckles for me, and they look so rad in person. 2 different types of wood inlays. Zack also gave me a painting, which was really fucking nice of him. I will put up a pic of the painting when I scan it.









These girls were adorable. Dani (on the right) drew recreations of my art on both of their shirts and they looked awesome.



Dani (on the right) is the artist who drew both of the shirts.





My elusive, demented, and prolific homie TASTES LIKE GOLD was haunting the streets of Denver and popped in to support. BLARRRGGGHHH.




This dude's neck is love.









Artist Skot Lefavor hung out and helped man the fireworks with Sean The Pierce and the Homeless Firework Brigade. Skot has a show at Andenken next month!





Artist and old friend, Alicia "Karma" Leigh completely surprised me since I thought she still lived in Arizona. We are still both fresh as fuck and tipsy off of electrolytes.





Continuing the night after the show with my semi-date, Ronnie.




And my boys continuing the night with their date, whiskey.





We slept a total of 40 minutes before taking Darren to the airport and starting our drive back, 1260 miles to San Francisco. I am pretty sure they were still drunk. And angry, as seen in this "as we leave" photo"







In Wyoming, we stopped off of the freeway to ask the guy who lived here A) what website he bought all 600 of his bones, scalps, and skulls that he had surrounding his porperty, and B) if we could use his bathroom. He grunted angrily, awkwardly danced, and waved a chainsaw in the air as he spun around, so we left, and peed down the street. He was a total dick.



I don't have any pictures of our safe return, but the trip was so much fun I'll just use this one again, as we all felt this way when we got back home. Thank you, Denver. You have Bronco'd my world. See you soon.