5:00 am. April 16 2011
Its early. Stayed up late working on protest flier. I should be tired but my adrenaline is already pumping. I wake up the wifey, whose gonna give us a ride to greyhound, then go to the kitchen and make some coffee. Turn on the light in the living room where Pauly Nade slept on the couch. He pulls himself up and grabs the bubbler. The party begins, CAMP TRASHED STYLEE!
We make it to downtown San Diego with plenty of time to kill. We buy our tickets then hit the block. Must have been a good party last night cause the streets of downtown are quite. Across the street from the station there's a new Federal Courthouse being built and next to that is a Federal Prison. What better place to smoke some weed. My cousin Josh gave me a pinche the other day so i figure we are good. (For those who don't know a Pinche is one of those sneak-a-tokes that looks like a cigarette, it's short for pincher) We walk the couple blocks around it and don't see one guard. I wonder whose checking in who in this GHOST TOWN? We burn the hour then head back to the greyhound.
10:00 am
Woke up in Long Beach. More people get off then on. The people in front of us get off so Nade moves up. We take off. Bout an hour till we get to LA. The guy in back of me is talking really loud so I could hear him over everybody else. At first it sounded like he might be handling some legit business. Then I started to hear something about his "team" was doing good. Then he started to refer to this "team" as "bitches". Hmmm. Next call and he's setting up an appointment and discusses prices. It becomes obvious this guy was literally pimping out of the back of a greyhound bus, and they say it ain't easy. Anyways that's the greyhound for you. You can meet some cool folks but you can also sometimes see some pretty sad shit.
We drive over the now blank LA RIVER into the greyhound terminal. Jump off the bus and land on 7th. Beautiful day for a protest. I pack the pinche. Neither me or my friend Nade are fluent in Los ANGELESE nor do we know our way around this town. All I know is that the museum is in a place called Little Tokyo. We decide our best bet is to head for the tall buildings just off in the distance.
11:45
We get about 5 blocks down 7th and the area is starting to look a little grimy. There is a gang of trash on the street. On the side streets I start to see some homeless camps. A couple more blocks and I pass this 250+ lb. lady in a spandex dress, with a thick layer of make up on her sweaty face, limping across the street. We walk past a pile of human poop. Is this somebodies idea of STREET ART? Some guys on the corner are selling drugs to a crackhead. We keep it moving. Another block and we pass a building with a Freemason seal and OES seal across from what looks to be a cop shop. HMMM. Another block down I see a throw up and next to it says SKID ROW.
We push on through to the Fashion District. There are people sewing everywhere in the storefronts. Nade says he's hungry and wants a Burrito and Beer. I've decided that as part of my protest today I will be staging a hunger strike. I wanna stay on my toes and eating will only slow me down, but BEER on the other is a just the type of carbs I need. The sugar will give me lots of energy and the hops will take the edge off what may potentially be a tense situation.
12:15
Weve been walking for blocks and the only taco shops we can find don't sell BEER? We ask the locals but none can tell us where one is. They seem as surprised as us when they realize that they don't know of any. As if they just went to one the other day but can't remember where it is. STRANGE? There are still a lot of homeless people mixed in with all the seamsters and fashionista's looking for something new. Some dude skips by with no shoes, dirty as a the cellar, with a pink fluffy boa and some busted ass pair of highwaters. Nobody else seems to notice him as he fairy skips right past them. I'm thinking folks down here must be used to this type of behavior. AWESOME!
We get out the fashion and push into downtown. There's gotta be a place around here to help us out. Heat, Hunger Strike and lack of fluids got's me feeling dizzy. People in costumes start to show up all around us. Marathon numbers are hanging from their costumes. The thought of running makes me hot. Peoples faces are starting to LOOK strange. I think the fumes from all the cars are starting to suffocate me. How are these people running a marathon in this maddness? The answer to that is DUBLIN'S.
Like an Oasis in the desert this well spring of beer named Dublin's appeared. A cool little Irish Pub with way too many tv's and a very nice selection of alcohol. Me and Nade slide into some seats at the bar. I decide to see what a San Diego beer tastes like when drunk in LA so I get a Ballast Point Big Eye IPA. We do the beer chant then proceed to victoriously drink. First one goes right through me. On the way back from the bathroom I run into a pack of the girl runners. When I ask about the marathon they laugh and tell me it's a scavenger hunt not a marathon. SCAVENGER HUNT IN DOWNTOWN LA. WORD! Back at the bar Nade's decided in the name of adventure we should keep all bars to a 2 drink minimum and since Dublin's doesn't sell food til later we finish the second beer and head out. One of the runners is dressed like a big weed leaf so I get a picture with her. NICE!
Totally refreshed we make it about 2 blocks till we find Mas Malos! From the front it looks like it might be some busted ass place. You walk in and its like you stepped into some 20's jazz club. Vaulted ceilings with all types of ill crown molding. Mirrors all the way up and like a 40 ft bar. Bartender is Chris. I get an organic margarita and Nade gets something and a burrito. Burrito is massive. Margarita is the best Ive ever had NO JOKE. SPENDY but TASTY! Chris asks what brings us to LA and we tell him about the protest. He knows all about it. He was not happy bout the BLU buff job and was pumped to see us. Next we drink some Bloody Maria's. Nade gets a call from his friend in town who has a hotel up the street. He gives Nade an address and Chris,being the swell guy that he is, draws us a map on how to get there. Having reached our 2 drink max we say our goodbyes and slide back into the strees of LA.....
2:30pm
The parks in LA are home to some interesting people. There seemed to be people from all walks of life here. One park in particular we went to was a real trip. Next to families playing on the swings would be some wino passed out. Then on the bench some guy would be reading and on the next bench some homeless man just staring into space talking to himself. All of it being watched over by a security guard. It was all a bit surreal. The type of park you can go eat lunch at but at the same time might catch or a shank to the stomach. Despite its diverse human ecosystem we decide it is not cool to smoke at so we bounce.
3:15pm
Wandering through the LA. Its crazy how the transvestite crackheads and the downtown business people move in harmony with each other. The city is crawling with dope fiends and well dressed people on cell phones. Seemingly out of nowhere pops up MOCA building number 2. A man is standing in front of it with his family. I ask him if he is a human being. He says yes. NICE! He asks me if I am. OF COURSE. I tell him we are on assignment covering the art show and were protesting the censorship. His family laughs cause he was just telling them about it. Apparently he is a local artist who had worked with MOCA and had some things censored while working with the museum. WHOA! He wishes us luck and says that if we are interested in corruption we should check out the Disney building across the way. Somehow as we were walking over there we got sidetracked and ended up heading back into downtown.
4:00 pm
My friend Adrian calls me. He is driving around downtown LA. He swoops me and Nade up and takes us to his loft where he runs his clothing business. We drink a bottle of champagen, twist a couple blunts and proceed to shoot breeze. Adrian listens to my protest and gives me some good criticisms. He says that he can drive us down to the MOCA whenever. He kicks me down some gear and then we jet.
5:30pm
Walking up to MOCA my adrenaline starts to pump. There is a crowd already outside. First person I see as I'm walking across the street is Risk so I ask if he has a second to talk. He is all ears. After voicing my concerns about the censorship I tell him that because America is currently leading at least 4 wars I didn't think that this was a good time to be downsizing the issue of war. He agreed that killing people was not a good thing and thanked me for being concerned. He shook my hand and then kindly excused himself. That Risk was the first person that the universe sent my way was in my opinion a good omen.
An hour goes by and the crowd of people is swelling up. At random I'm picking people out of the crowd and handing them a flier which was titled "The HamblogggerMan's guide to Art In the Streets ". Being that 3 out of 4 people would take one I ran out of my first stack pretty quick. Not only were they taking them but a lot of folks were stopping and talking to me about the protest. Most of the people that I spoke with had already known about the BLU CENSORSHIP situation so I figured it must have received a lot of local coverage. Some agreed with me others argued on behalf of the museum, but either way everybody was very respectful of my right to voice my opinion. All the PEOPLE at this show were HELLA COOL. Knowing that the party just began me and Nade ran up to staples to get some more copies of the flier.
We get back to the spot and there are now people everywhere. It's a warm southern cali night, the air was crisp and my mind was fluid. The perfect conditions to get pumped for another round of chanting down the military industrial complex. This time though I figure I need to get more attention so I start yelling out "BLUUUUUU. BLUUUU." Like he was my lost kid or pet dog. People were bugging out not knowing if the should try and help me out! Some little kids came walking by with their parents and started yelling "BLUUUU" These are the burgers of the future...FRESH! The mobile mural lab would routinely come up and park in front of the museum which was cool because it had a dope TEMPT piece on the side of it. People were now hanging everywhere inside and outside the museum. A huge graffiti show was going on and NO BEEF! This was pretty damn cool I must say.
7:45
Round this point I see somebody dressed in a wedding dress covered in white make up and powder. They are creeping up the front walkway. They look old and hunchback. Very witch like. Their eyes are bulging and completely black. They circle around me a couple times chanting what seems like some sort of voodoo spells. The hunger strike mixed with the adrenaline and alcohol inside me were starting to produce some interesting visual effects. Slowly it starts walking up to me. I'm trying to play it cool and hand out some more fliers but this person is crazy looking. Finally about 2 ft from me it put out its hand and introduced itself as "The Phantom Street Artist."
9:00
I'm not sure how many thousands of people have walked by but soon agian I was almost out of fliers. The Phantom, who is actually dressed up like Jeffery Deitche's wife, has been creeping around the front of the museum for a while. I've asked a few hundred people if they've seen BLU. The Phantom leaves and says we should roll through to Senor Fish. Me and Nade are posted up on the stairs for a few just watching. I decide its a good time to break the fast so I eat some fungus that I brought. Talk about a POWER UP. Pass them to Nade then get to looking for BLU! I think I might be starting to annoy some people with all my yelling. GOOD. Enough fun. I close my eyes and see the dollar draped coffins. I open them and see America partying. I realize I haven't been to the other side where the BLU mural actually was so me and Nade pack up and head around back. There are some candles burning in remembrance. We burn a blunt and listen to Los Angeles. The sky is black and purple. Cop sirens sing past us. Some people in the parking lot are drinking and smoking. I feel good about the protest but there is something missing?
!0:30
We meet up with El Fatom in the back of the bar where his crew his hanging. He is no longer in costume but rather he is wearing a clean ass jogging suit with a matching b-boy hat. Im amazed at how quickly he cleaned up. We talk for a sec about the party and he introduces us to his friends. Everybody is hanging the vibe is relaxed, but inside of me is a whole nother story. Protesting cultural imperialism has stimulated my nervous system to a point of blast off. Throughout the protest my level of energy continually grew. Each person I spoke with charged my battery a little bit more. This made it easy during the the protest to talk to any and every person but something in me had changed and in the state of mind I was in now it was hard for me to talk to anybody because all I wanted to do was SCREAM. There was this feeling of frustration building inside of me. I didn't understand this feeling? Hadn't I been successful in my mission? I made it to LA. I found BEER. I kicked it with the fam. MY VOICE WAS HEARD. What was left?
I had spoke with Joe B. on the phone one time but this was the first we had met in person. He had a friendly handshake and and wore an intellectuals smile. He still had some remnants of his powdery costume on and in the low lights of the bar he took on an angelic look. We spoke about the exhibit and other things going on in the LA. His low voice was comforting to me and was helping me to mellow out. He started to tell me about some of his travels and the influence that street art has in different places. This brought us back to the BLU mural.
Until now I didn't know that there was a federal building across the street literally towering over the MOCA wall. All the media that I had heard prior to the show had not pointed this out as perhaps one of the groups that might be offend. Being that these guys are the ones pushing the wars I could see how this mural might make them uneasy. When Joe referred to the wall as a reflection I immediately understood. The image of a FEDERAL somebody standing in their window,looking out over at BLU painting a mural, of what to them would look like a big middle finger, all the sudden became very clear in my inner minds eye. A reflection indeed. Of all the reasons why Blu's mural should of stayed it was this one. Too often the people on top don't ever have to look at themselves in the mirror. They have people who do that for them, but if every day your sitting in your office looking out over your empire and their is a huge banner that calls out your murdering treacherous ways, you might start to think about what your doing. Joe was right in pointing out that this is the power of the wall. The wall can be a reflection. I was amazed that this was the first time I had heard this connection mentioned. It was getting late and I had gained a deeper understanding for the situation. I felt like It was time to go so we say our goodbyes and once again find ourselves on the concrete paths of LA's urban jungle....
12:00
We realized we just missed the last greyhound. FUCK. We are wandering around little tokyo. I'm thirsty. That feeling in my stomach, even though relaxed a bit now was still present. I start to realize what it is. I wanted to talk to more people in the show. As a journalist I had not done my duty in successfully getting any inside information. I was an outsider and I felt like one. We find a bench and talk about getting a hotel. Sounds expensive. I say lets get a drink. The feeling is weighing me down. The streets are still filled with people. Adrian texts me some hotels addy's. We decide to walk some more. We get about a block then I realize I left the drawing Phantom gave me on the bench so we head back. Can't believe I almost left it. This feeling is overtaking my mind. We start walking up the block when across the street I see Saber walking by.
He is walking quickly. I yell out his name. He looks over and and smiles. I ask if he has a moment to talk about the show. He says yeah but not much cause his fam is waiting. Me and Nade start to walk across the street and he greets us both with a handshake. He seems genuinely happy to talk to us and asks if we went to the show. I told him that I would have liked to go in but that I was protesting MOCA because of them painting over the BLU mural. He laughed and said he had heard me yelling outside. He said it was cool though and that he was going through the same issues with the city buffing his murals. He said wasn't happy with Blu's mural getting buffed but that he was going to do everything he could to keep GRAFFITI ART alive and that he wouldn't let something like that stop him. He took time to break down the dynamics of the business as he saw it and positive things that he wanted to do. He spoke with a passion that I rarely see people speak with. It's like when you hear somebody lying and you just know there lying, except the exact opposite. He was telling the truth and I knew it. We talked about some other art stuff, including this blog of which he was so kind to give some painfully helpful advice. He then shook our hands and wished us luck. A true gentlemen.
1:00
The knot in my stomach is gone. I feel like I can breath. My thoughts are starting flow fluidly again. In the place of frustration I feel accomplished. The streets are still pulsing with life. I get a call from Adrian who was checking the bus schedule. Next one is 2:30. COOl. Me and Nade find a bar to go into it for a drink. The band is playing some thrash punk. Its perfect. I order 2 stones but get 2 stellas. FUCK IT. Every drink is love. The guitar feedback is ear piercing. I'm in ecstasy. Mission accomplished. Story got. Protest handled. People friended. Tree smoked and drank drank.
Get to the greyhound with enough time for one more blunt. Nade twists it up and we relax on the bench out front. A Rasta man named Tony comes up and joins our session. Dude is jolly. We speak on the tree game and fractional reserve banking. He says all one must do in life to be free is declare their own sovereignty. In the next hit I do just that. He is a refreshing experience and testimony that you can meet cool folks on the bus. we finish that say our goodbyes and jump back up on bus. SOUTH BOUND.
HALF SPIDER, HALF TAGGER, HALF POLITICIAN or THE ALL SEEING EYES or THE HAMBURGER MANS GUIDE TO ART IN THE STREETS
THE HAMBURGER MAN’S GUIDE TO ART IN THE STREETS
Hello Stranger.
Agents of the government are all around you. Listening, studying, observing our every move. This is because you are currently taking part in a data mining operation. Pictures are being taken of you and sent to headquarters. You are on HIGH DEFINITION SECURITY CAMERA right now. This museum is a petree dish and street art is the "CULTURE".
Amongst these agents are scientists whose job is to break down the chemical makeup of this culture. They want to see how we dress. How we speak. What we love and what we hate. What we eat, drink and smoke. Names, crews, beefs must all be collected and put into the data base. When this is completed they will move onto the next phase.
THE NEXT PHASE?
Once the DNA of graffiti has been decoded these scientists will clone armies of their own genetically mutated writers (GMW'S). Through MASONIC contracts with law enforcement these GMW’s will be given special treatment. While most “ordinary” writers will have their houses raided for sharpie tags this new class of GMW’s will not worry in the least when they have the biggest pieces in town. High budget new magazines will appear that will focus only on these GMW’s who will openly share their true identity. This will confuse other writers initially but then it will mistakenly be seen as testimony to the fact that these GMW’s are bad ass and truly don’t give a fuck. This will insure the GMW’s place at the top of the graffiti underworld.
As soon as these GMW’s have secured their position as leaders they will willingly move the wild packs of savage writers onto the FARM/MUSEUM. Their first act as chief will be to move the tribe onto the reservation. Staying true to the CASINO GULAG ECONOMY banker protocol ART careers will be given out like rigged slot machine jackpots. As the THOUGHT POLICE show up to GALLERY OPENINGS and snatch up dissidents the GMW’s will point in the other direction and say "Isn't my painting awesome". At this stage all of the natural laws that kept graffiti alive and growing, like not painting legal’s over illegal’s, will be intentionally broken in order to try and discredit its integrity.
Who will stop this? Who can stop this? Will this be some sort of new Chimera half spider half tagger half politician type shit? Will they be robotic? A new breed of TERMINATOR taggers. Will they be capable of creative thought? Will they send tweets back to you?
Hard to say really, one thing I do know for sure though is that YOUVE BEEN WARNED!!!
This is the future. This is the now.
whos watching who? so many faces in this crowd.
For more info visit thehamblogggerman.blogspot.com
Hello Stranger.
Agents of the government are all around you. Listening, studying, observing our every move. This is because you are currently taking part in a data mining operation. Pictures are being taken of you and sent to headquarters. You are on HIGH DEFINITION SECURITY CAMERA right now. This museum is a petree dish and street art is the "CULTURE".
Amongst these agents are scientists whose job is to break down the chemical makeup of this culture. They want to see how we dress. How we speak. What we love and what we hate. What we eat, drink and smoke. Names, crews, beefs must all be collected and put into the data base. When this is completed they will move onto the next phase.
THE NEXT PHASE?
Once the DNA of graffiti has been decoded these scientists will clone armies of their own genetically mutated writers (GMW'S). Through MASONIC contracts with law enforcement these GMW’s will be given special treatment. While most “ordinary” writers will have their houses raided for sharpie tags this new class of GMW’s will not worry in the least when they have the biggest pieces in town. High budget new magazines will appear that will focus only on these GMW’s who will openly share their true identity. This will confuse other writers initially but then it will mistakenly be seen as testimony to the fact that these GMW’s are bad ass and truly don’t give a fuck. This will insure the GMW’s place at the top of the graffiti underworld.
As soon as these GMW’s have secured their position as leaders they will willingly move the wild packs of savage writers onto the FARM/MUSEUM. Their first act as chief will be to move the tribe onto the reservation. Staying true to the CASINO GULAG ECONOMY banker protocol ART careers will be given out like rigged slot machine jackpots. As the THOUGHT POLICE show up to GALLERY OPENINGS and snatch up dissidents the GMW’s will point in the other direction and say "Isn't my painting awesome". At this stage all of the natural laws that kept graffiti alive and growing, like not painting legal’s over illegal’s, will be intentionally broken in order to try and discredit its integrity.
Who will stop this? Who can stop this? Will this be some sort of new Chimera half spider half tagger half politician type shit? Will they be robotic? A new breed of TERMINATOR taggers. Will they be capable of creative thought? Will they send tweets back to you?
Hard to say really, one thing I do know for sure though is that YOUVE BEEN WARNED!!!
This is the future. This is the now.
whos watching who? so many faces in this crowd.
For more info visit thehamblogggerman.blogspot.com
TRAUMA BASED MIND KONTROL
did she really have to put her hand inside this little girls pants?
What could she have not felt when she did the pat down? NOTHING.
This is cattle training. Acclimation. Trauma based fuck your mind up type shit.
ARE YOU OK WITH THIS?
What could she have not felt when she did the pat down? NOTHING.
This is cattle training. Acclimation. Trauma based fuck your mind up type shit.
ARE YOU OK WITH THIS?
KATSU MAGICA or It aint over till its over- Starring Jeffery Douche as Dorkzilla
As the day gets closer this ball of nerves in my stomach is getting bigger and tighter. For the first time in my adult life I will have the chance to meet neckface!! The universe I assume is also feeling as anxious as me because just today she sent one of her agents extraordinaire to get shit crackin off real tight. Here's the video.
Could there have been a more appropriate time or place for KATSU to do the damn thing? I think not. This could have actually worked out very well for Jeffery Douche had he not suffered from a serious case of spinelessness. We saw how limply he capitulated to the demands of ghost critics when he painted over BLU'S antiwar-prohumanity/conciousness mural because "people MIGHT be offended". Katsu's piece on the other hand offered no potential threat to the emotional well being of the community. Odds are most people would have thought that it was part of the show and reacted to it in somewhat the same manner as they would all the other ILLEGAL fire extinguisher tags that blanket the Los "Home of the Fire Extinguisher Tag" Angeles metropolitan area, THIS IS THE PROBLEM.
I have to applaud KATSU for his daring antics. Impeccable in timing, he has forced this institution to expose themselves as enemies to GRAFILITHY. Enemies who have attempted to infiltrate and lead the free spirited community of artists who are not interested in sponsorships or cash advances but rather find gratification in utilizing and protecting the free and uncensored medium of street art AKA. fire extinguisher tags! Now exposed it will be much harder for them to achieve their goals. As light expels the darkness so truth evicts the wicked.
Who will be the first to excuse this? Will they tell us to get over it because its just street art and we should be used to that type of HATRED! Maybe Shepard Fairey will have a similar reasoning as he did on the Blu situation. I think it went something like "The situation is unfortunate but I understand MOCA’s decision. Sometimes I think it is better to take the high road and forfeit a battle but keep pushing to win the war". I'm sure most of the self respecting artists in the show are probably not very thrilled on the matter. It must now really feel like that movie "sleeping with the enemy". Wither or not anybody will come out and speak against this bullshit is another question. I'm sure the Broad Foundation will be keeping their eye on this investment.
picture from chinkyeyed la
All in all graffiti proves to be the most cutting edge, controversial way of communicating the fact that everybody needs to take a moment and realize the true nature of your existence. in other words. GET ZEN MUTHAFUNKA!!!!
Could there have been a more appropriate time or place for KATSU to do the damn thing? I think not. This could have actually worked out very well for Jeffery Douche had he not suffered from a serious case of spinelessness. We saw how limply he capitulated to the demands of ghost critics when he painted over BLU'S antiwar-prohumanity/conciousness mural because "people MIGHT be offended". Katsu's piece on the other hand offered no potential threat to the emotional well being of the community. Odds are most people would have thought that it was part of the show and reacted to it in somewhat the same manner as they would all the other ILLEGAL fire extinguisher tags that blanket the Los "Home of the Fire Extinguisher Tag" Angeles metropolitan area, THIS IS THE PROBLEM.
I have to applaud KATSU for his daring antics. Impeccable in timing, he has forced this institution to expose themselves as enemies to GRAFILITHY. Enemies who have attempted to infiltrate and lead the free spirited community of artists who are not interested in sponsorships or cash advances but rather find gratification in utilizing and protecting the free and uncensored medium of street art AKA. fire extinguisher tags! Now exposed it will be much harder for them to achieve their goals. As light expels the darkness so truth evicts the wicked.
Who will be the first to excuse this? Will they tell us to get over it because its just street art and we should be used to that type of HATRED! Maybe Shepard Fairey will have a similar reasoning as he did on the Blu situation. I think it went something like "The situation is unfortunate but I understand MOCA’s decision. Sometimes I think it is better to take the high road and forfeit a battle but keep pushing to win the war". I'm sure most of the self respecting artists in the show are probably not very thrilled on the matter. It must now really feel like that movie "sleeping with the enemy". Wither or not anybody will come out and speak against this bullshit is another question. I'm sure the Broad Foundation will be keeping their eye on this investment.
picture from chinkyeyed la
All in all graffiti proves to be the most cutting edge, controversial way of communicating the fact that everybody needs to take a moment and realize the true nature of your existence. in other words. GET ZEN MUTHAFUNKA!!!!
THE WAR MACHINE FEEDS.
What did you think was meant by NO FLY ZONE. NATO dropping depleted uranium. Are you still unsure about wither or not this WAR is a good idea?
Shepard Fairey speaks on Libya or Global Warming is eating Shepard Fairey
Finally got that answer from Shepard Fairey in regards to his stance on the recent US led-UN Military action in Libya.(Read full text here) Truthfully my hope was that Shepard was not going to tow the party line, that this was a humanitarian issue, and that he would condemn Obama for ordering these attacks that would definitely be killing innocent people. I could not have been let down any harder.
Attempting to dismiss any accusations that it was hypocritical to not criticize Obama's wars while at the same time criticizing Bush's wars he wrote "Libya is very different than Iraq. The U.S. started the war in Iraq. In Libya there was already a popular uprising underway and it began to fail... possibly leading toward a massacre of those who rose up against the dictator." You mean like Saddam may have POSSIBLY had weapons of mass destruction. Really I don't see much of a difference. I also don't believe that the current United States Military Industrial Complex can or will act out of anything but their selfish imperialistic interests. So by getting involved in this POPULAR uprising chances are AMERICAN IMPERIALISTIC influence would only taint the victory if it were achieved. Shepard shows us here that he still has trust for the war MACHINE. Essentially he still OBEYS the war machine!
Further excusing Obama for this bombing campaign he said "Obama joined a UN coalition to aid the rebels with air strikes." Now I admit not everyone knows that the UN is a bullshit globalist organization but that Shepard Fairey had not heard the news that the LIBYAN REBELS are being led by AL QAEDA struck me as odd. I mean this is on the news everywhere you look. At the very least I would have thought that he would have had a suspicion that we may not know exactly who these REBELS were and that until we did the smartest and most peaceful thing to do would be to stay out of it. I'm starting to think that Shepard is not as down with this whole world peace thing as I was led to believe by pictures like these.
He went on to say that "The right wing would call Obama soft on dictators if he did nothing, and now they are saying he entered a war without approval from congress. Obama is in such a hostile political environment he's screwed either way." Shepard is obviously caught up in the false left/right pepsi/coke Edward Bernays style democracy. Or maybe he is just in the business of selling it. Either way he is heavily invested and herein lies the problem with this type of blind allegiance.
He allows Obama to go against his campaign speeches of peace so that his party DOESN'T look weak. Then he forgives Obama for breaking his oath to the constitution, by not getting authorization of congress, because it was the only way make his team look strong. In the end he throws up his hands in apathetic angst and blames it on a hostile environment, as if politics have ever not been hostile. SO in case you wondered wither or not Shepard was still down with team HOPE this should pretty much sum that up.
He ends his correspondence "I think Obama should pull the U.S. out of Afghanistan completely, but I'm not sure yet about Libya. The U.S. did not instigate in Libya and as long as we don't send troops there, and only help the opposition until things stabilize, that may be the least awful outcome." This idea of having no ground force is childishly naive but nonetheless pushed very hard. Without troops how will we know if the bombs we are dropping are working? How would we know when to stop? How do you know if there are kids around? OH YEAH DRONES AND SPY SATTELITES! Without troops on the ground we are just terminator planes dropping hell from the sky. Shepard may be ok with this but that doesn't mean that it would ever happen. Of course there will be troops there. What do you think the CIA is there for? To help the REBELS?
Now even though I may have went into this hoping that Shep would have strayed from the war mongering my instinct told me otherwise. If he hadn't spelled my name wrong I would have thought it was a robo-response. In my opinion he regurgitated a nights worth of MSNBC/GE/BOMB MAKERS nightly download. As a leading figure in the street art movement and an artist that is known as a voice of social justice I would think that his philosophy would be a bit more nuance and critical of the establishment. Perhaps its all that glue messing with his membranes or the side effects of global warming!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH
Attempting to dismiss any accusations that it was hypocritical to not criticize Obama's wars while at the same time criticizing Bush's wars he wrote "Libya is very different than Iraq. The U.S. started the war in Iraq. In Libya there was already a popular uprising underway and it began to fail... possibly leading toward a massacre of those who rose up against the dictator." You mean like Saddam may have POSSIBLY had weapons of mass destruction. Really I don't see much of a difference. I also don't believe that the current United States Military Industrial Complex can or will act out of anything but their selfish imperialistic interests. So by getting involved in this POPULAR uprising chances are AMERICAN IMPERIALISTIC influence would only taint the victory if it were achieved. Shepard shows us here that he still has trust for the war MACHINE. Essentially he still OBEYS the war machine!
Further excusing Obama for this bombing campaign he said "Obama joined a UN coalition to aid the rebels with air strikes." Now I admit not everyone knows that the UN is a bullshit globalist organization but that Shepard Fairey had not heard the news that the LIBYAN REBELS are being led by AL QAEDA struck me as odd. I mean this is on the news everywhere you look. At the very least I would have thought that he would have had a suspicion that we may not know exactly who these REBELS were and that until we did the smartest and most peaceful thing to do would be to stay out of it. I'm starting to think that Shepard is not as down with this whole world peace thing as I was led to believe by pictures like these.
He went on to say that "The right wing would call Obama soft on dictators if he did nothing, and now they are saying he entered a war without approval from congress. Obama is in such a hostile political environment he's screwed either way." Shepard is obviously caught up in the false left/right pepsi/coke Edward Bernays style democracy. Or maybe he is just in the business of selling it. Either way he is heavily invested and herein lies the problem with this type of blind allegiance.
He allows Obama to go against his campaign speeches of peace so that his party DOESN'T look weak. Then he forgives Obama for breaking his oath to the constitution, by not getting authorization of congress, because it was the only way make his team look strong. In the end he throws up his hands in apathetic angst and blames it on a hostile environment, as if politics have ever not been hostile. SO in case you wondered wither or not Shepard was still down with team HOPE this should pretty much sum that up.
He ends his correspondence "I think Obama should pull the U.S. out of Afghanistan completely, but I'm not sure yet about Libya. The U.S. did not instigate in Libya and as long as we don't send troops there, and only help the opposition until things stabilize, that may be the least awful outcome." This idea of having no ground force is childishly naive but nonetheless pushed very hard. Without troops how will we know if the bombs we are dropping are working? How would we know when to stop? How do you know if there are kids around? OH YEAH DRONES AND SPY SATTELITES! Without troops on the ground we are just terminator planes dropping hell from the sky. Shepard may be ok with this but that doesn't mean that it would ever happen. Of course there will be troops there. What do you think the CIA is there for? To help the REBELS?
Now even though I may have went into this hoping that Shep would have strayed from the war mongering my instinct told me otherwise. If he hadn't spelled my name wrong I would have thought it was a robo-response. In my opinion he regurgitated a nights worth of MSNBC/GE/BOMB MAKERS nightly download. As a leading figure in the street art movement and an artist that is known as a voice of social justice I would think that his philosophy would be a bit more nuance and critical of the establishment. Perhaps its all that glue messing with his membranes or the side effects of global warming!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH
OPEN LETTER TO MOCA ARTISTS or THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE
I've written an OPEN LETTER to all artists involved in the upcoming ART IN THE STREETS show at the Museum of Contemporary Art-Los Angeles. In this letter I've asked the artists (as many as I could get contact info for ) if they had any comments on the recent censorship of Blu's anti-war/pro-consciousness mural that he painted on the museum as an advertisement for the show. Not an unreasonable request I thought?
Before posing this question in the letter I first stated my concern that this act of censorship was actually a public execution of the anti-war element of street art and thus hoped to have a chilling effect on the rest of the artists, not only in the show but in the artist community at large. I stated my position to try and let the artist know that I wasn't just trying to start some graffiti beef but that I had legitimate humanitarian concerns (as all readers of this blog know to be true).
In my humble attempt to reach out to these artists I made sure to first and foremost extend my congratulations to them. I have been a fan to many of these artists for a long time. Seeing them succeed is very cool. In many ways they are setting the tone of the conversation between main stream and the underground. Its for this reason that I thought it all the more relevant that they all be weighing in on this matter of censorship.
It's been a few days, multiple emails, a couple afternoons worth of twitters since this initial attempt to contact them and although the responses have been limited they have also been quite telling. Espo, obviously tight on his PR game was quick to respond. When asked if he thought Art In the Streets was Graffploitaion or Respectable Exhibit he said "Both". When responding to the issue of Blu's piece getting buffed he said "graffiti gets buffed, big deal. controversy is another word for marketing." This statement I agree in and of itself is true, but can it be applied to this situation? Blu's piece didn't buffed because it was illegal. It got buffed specifically because of its message. This was an intentional form of censorship/media blackout.
Revok didn't seem to be to impressed with my timing on the matter tweeting earlier today "@hamblogggerman -that's old news, with so much amazing stuff happening within this show... Talk about something worthwhile." While its true that this particular event happened a few months ago, and in today's world of 24 hour news feeds stories get old quick, the struggle of artistic freedom will always be an issue that in my opinion is something worth talking about. In fact we should all fear the moment we stop talking about it because that will be the moment art no longer makes people think. I would have thought that Revok would have felt me a little bit more on the subject being that he often has blogs that deal with the oppression and tyranny of the state. Recently focusing in on police brutality. Is this act of censorship not just another form of this tyranny? Something else worth talking about is why ELI BROAD, the worlds 45th richest person worth 3.8 billion, is the one financially backing this whole GRAFILTHY show. Anybody got any thoughts on this? Please comment!
Askew1, who himself has recently suffered a brutal act of censorship was also cool enough to share his point of view. When asked what he thought of the matter he said "the censorship of Blu's work was sad but still the MOCA show will be amazing-with that line up how could it not be?. I know it's a simplistic view but I'm happy some people I rate are getting the chance to shine." I replied that if censorship found its way deeper into the show how fresh it was would not be left up to artists. Instead it would be left to the curators.
Askew and Blu have alot in common. They both got buffed and then given an offer to repaint under certain conditions. Askew said that he wouldn't work with those people and that "Principally I have to consider it working with the enemy." I'm sure Blu felt the same way. Shit who wouldn't? So when Askew gives this morally bankrupt museum a pass because his friends are getting a chance to shine I, with total respect, have to say that is a double standard and implies that as long as his friends are getting chipped up working with the enemy is ok. YES MOCA IS THE ENEMY. Lets remember here folks that BLU's mural was an ANTIWAR mural and we just happen to be leading at least 4 wars where milllions of innocent people will die. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS. The only people fronting like thats not the case are agents of the military industrial complex aka THE ENEMY of free humanity!
Anyways Im not really buying into this idea of a pass being given so that folks have a chance to shine. One of the beautiful things about graffiti is that it needs no museum, no internets, no magazines in order to shine. It shines wherever it wants to. These museum curators should be honored to have people, who have risked their lives for art, preforming at their place. Instead they are trying to set the limitations.
KNOW FREEDOM!! KNOW ART!! NO FREEDOM!! NO ART!!
Now!! I know there had to be some voice of dissent coming from the streets. And who better to articulate this then THE PHANTOM STREET ARTIST himself. In a recent critique put out by him he said "These factions and their cohorts present the age old argument that any release of information and or expression will lead to threats of national security or cultural, economical and political loss in place of discursive knowledge and expression." Apparently he shares some of the same sentiment of mine when it comes to what the implications of the BLU buff saying "What was significantly revealed through its censored act was that the Wall Street speculators and the Art world culture of speculation are all cut from the same patterned ilk. Both worlds resemble underworld seedy RICO backroom trading enterprises. In affinity both markets revolve around mercantile speculators who through clever inside trading, marketing and publicized means and objectives exist to inflate and hype the prices of so called blue chip commodities." Is the Phantom far off in his appraisal of the situation?
Now as we approach the end of this article I want to make something very clear. I don't believe that Espo, Revok or anybody in the show, who didn't reply to me, was happy to see BLU's mural slaughtered. I think they have too much emotionally invested in the show to talk about how they really feel. Just today we saw another horrific attack on the art community when a recent MSK wall was censored. Within minutes twitter was blowing up with SABER saying "The irony is too thick. We are being honored @MOCAlosangeles as graffiti artists while other testicles of the city are removing our murals." He goes on to thank the museum for putting on the show, but if the show is just becoming a safe place for graffiti to go when its removed from the streets then isnt it more like a GRAFFITI RESERVATION? Revok requested that"if your in the area throw rocks." but by this logic we should throwing rocks at MOCA? I just hope they dont expect anybody from MOCA to stand up for them in their own battles with censorship, because obviously inclusion in this exhibit does not insure that your ART IN THE STREETS will live on. There's just way to many haters!
Before posing this question in the letter I first stated my concern that this act of censorship was actually a public execution of the anti-war element of street art and thus hoped to have a chilling effect on the rest of the artists, not only in the show but in the artist community at large. I stated my position to try and let the artist know that I wasn't just trying to start some graffiti beef but that I had legitimate humanitarian concerns (as all readers of this blog know to be true).
In my humble attempt to reach out to these artists I made sure to first and foremost extend my congratulations to them. I have been a fan to many of these artists for a long time. Seeing them succeed is very cool. In many ways they are setting the tone of the conversation between main stream and the underground. Its for this reason that I thought it all the more relevant that they all be weighing in on this matter of censorship.
It's been a few days, multiple emails, a couple afternoons worth of twitters since this initial attempt to contact them and although the responses have been limited they have also been quite telling. Espo, obviously tight on his PR game was quick to respond. When asked if he thought Art In the Streets was Graffploitaion or Respectable Exhibit he said "Both". When responding to the issue of Blu's piece getting buffed he said "graffiti gets buffed, big deal. controversy is another word for marketing." This statement I agree in and of itself is true, but can it be applied to this situation? Blu's piece didn't buffed because it was illegal. It got buffed specifically because of its message. This was an intentional form of censorship/media blackout.
Revok didn't seem to be to impressed with my timing on the matter tweeting earlier today "@hamblogggerman -that's old news, with so much amazing stuff happening within this show... Talk about something worthwhile." While its true that this particular event happened a few months ago, and in today's world of 24 hour news feeds stories get old quick, the struggle of artistic freedom will always be an issue that in my opinion is something worth talking about. In fact we should all fear the moment we stop talking about it because that will be the moment art no longer makes people think. I would have thought that Revok would have felt me a little bit more on the subject being that he often has blogs that deal with the oppression and tyranny of the state. Recently focusing in on police brutality. Is this act of censorship not just another form of this tyranny? Something else worth talking about is why ELI BROAD, the worlds 45th richest person worth 3.8 billion, is the one financially backing this whole GRAFILTHY show. Anybody got any thoughts on this? Please comment!
Askew1, who himself has recently suffered a brutal act of censorship was also cool enough to share his point of view. When asked what he thought of the matter he said "the censorship of Blu's work was sad but still the MOCA show will be amazing-with that line up how could it not be?. I know it's a simplistic view but I'm happy some people I rate are getting the chance to shine." I replied that if censorship found its way deeper into the show how fresh it was would not be left up to artists. Instead it would be left to the curators.
Askew and Blu have alot in common. They both got buffed and then given an offer to repaint under certain conditions. Askew said that he wouldn't work with those people and that "Principally I have to consider it working with the enemy." I'm sure Blu felt the same way. Shit who wouldn't? So when Askew gives this morally bankrupt museum a pass because his friends are getting a chance to shine I, with total respect, have to say that is a double standard and implies that as long as his friends are getting chipped up working with the enemy is ok. YES MOCA IS THE ENEMY. Lets remember here folks that BLU's mural was an ANTIWAR mural and we just happen to be leading at least 4 wars where milllions of innocent people will die. EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS. The only people fronting like thats not the case are agents of the military industrial complex aka THE ENEMY of free humanity!
Anyways Im not really buying into this idea of a pass being given so that folks have a chance to shine. One of the beautiful things about graffiti is that it needs no museum, no internets, no magazines in order to shine. It shines wherever it wants to. These museum curators should be honored to have people, who have risked their lives for art, preforming at their place. Instead they are trying to set the limitations.
KNOW FREEDOM!! KNOW ART!! NO FREEDOM!! NO ART!!
Now!! I know there had to be some voice of dissent coming from the streets. And who better to articulate this then THE PHANTOM STREET ARTIST himself. In a recent critique put out by him he said "These factions and their cohorts present the age old argument that any release of information and or expression will lead to threats of national security or cultural, economical and political loss in place of discursive knowledge and expression." Apparently he shares some of the same sentiment of mine when it comes to what the implications of the BLU buff saying "What was significantly revealed through its censored act was that the Wall Street speculators and the Art world culture of speculation are all cut from the same patterned ilk. Both worlds resemble underworld seedy RICO backroom trading enterprises. In affinity both markets revolve around mercantile speculators who through clever inside trading, marketing and publicized means and objectives exist to inflate and hype the prices of so called blue chip commodities." Is the Phantom far off in his appraisal of the situation?
Now as we approach the end of this article I want to make something very clear. I don't believe that Espo, Revok or anybody in the show, who didn't reply to me, was happy to see BLU's mural slaughtered. I think they have too much emotionally invested in the show to talk about how they really feel. Just today we saw another horrific attack on the art community when a recent MSK wall was censored. Within minutes twitter was blowing up with SABER saying "The irony is too thick. We are being honored @MOCAlosangeles as graffiti artists while other testicles of the city are removing our murals." He goes on to thank the museum for putting on the show, but if the show is just becoming a safe place for graffiti to go when its removed from the streets then isnt it more like a GRAFFITI RESERVATION? Revok requested that"if your in the area throw rocks." but by this logic we should throwing rocks at MOCA? I just hope they dont expect anybody from MOCA to stand up for them in their own battles with censorship, because obviously inclusion in this exhibit does not insure that your ART IN THE STREETS will live on. There's just way to many haters!
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