On my recent job search, I found myself at the doorstep of a super fresh interactive studio here in Minneapolis called Sevnthsin. From first glance I knew they had their shit together and it was a place I would fit nicely. After an email or two, I was invited in to their shop to meet a few people, see the space and share some work. Everyone was way too nice and had a lot of good things to say about the creative community. When I gathered my clutter to take off, the boss man ran upstairs and brought me down the super sick, rad fantastic promo poster that you see up top. It was done by Colin Strandberg a.k.a. TheWorkSteady. Super fresh!
The Yummies are going to holding it down at this years’ Pirate Invitational 2008! Word is the Ninja Nate, Mascot Mannie, Donut Dave, and the rest of the Yummies crew are traveling around the country on a press junket, so they won’t be able to make it… but I hear RYC will be in full effect showing off his ability to smile from ear to ear!
A mega hi-five goes out to RYC… getting invited to show at Pirate is huge. They have been showcasing the heavy hitters in obscure and niche genres of contemporary art here in Denver for over 20 years. Ray has been busting his ass for a few years now, not only opening doors for himself but others around him. One of the nicest guys you could meet, funny, eccentric… he has all of the qualities of a great! Swing through Pirate check out his work and pick up a piece… as his popularity rises so will his prices… get it while it’s gettable!
Pirate Invitational 2008 : Opening reception March 21 : 6 – 10 PM
Pirate Gallery :: 3655 Navajo Street :: Denver, CO :: 303 . 458 . 6058 :: www.pirategallery.com
Also after the show or before perhaps… I offer up the suggestion to swing through Gaetano’s for some mob Italian food. They are on 38th and Tejon just down the way from Pirate gallery. Calzones, Clams and Pasta… the Chauncey Burger… it’s all tasty! Super chill environment straight out of a Sinatra flick… tucked diamond upholstery and bullet proof glass!!!
Before Honeymoon VIII Trash Yourself will be playing in-store at Robot Love tomorrow the 21st! After soaking in the action at Robot Love, we plan to swing by First Avenue for Honeymoon VIII to see / hear The Moon Goons, Trash Yourself and Dance Robots, Dance! in the VIP room. So nasty! This will be our official first night out on the town in mpls and looks like it might be a good one. Maybe we’ll make some friends too.
I just watched a random Current video on Superheroes in the U.S. and apparently there are over 200 of them. They all possess secret identities and crime fighting skills. Other than the plethora of characteristics they each posses, they have one single goal in mind, to protect the citizens of the world. I was kind of thrown of by the legitimacy of this whole thing, but it seems that all of those involved are pretty serious about their roles. I was even more surprised to find we have one right here in Minneapolis. His name is Geist, the Emerald Enforcer. Here is the link to a City Pages article on him, and the link to the original Current feed. Stay smart, and stay safe.
Swing by The 400 this Thursday to catch the opening reception of the THINKMULE show Evolver. I’m personally super exited to see the show… I’ve been fortunate enough to catch a few THINKMULE pieces in the past at group shows. In my experience His work reads much better in person…. There is a sampling up online… but his work is much more tactile in person… lots of hand drawn/painted line work and intricate details!
Evolver-New work by THINKMULE :: Opening Reception: March 20th, Thursday, 7PM-10PM :: The 400 1010 Bannock Street, Denver, CO
I just followed a link on the JoyEngine blog to a Mania TV interview with Aesop Rock. Good stuff for sure, but Anthony asked Aesop about his MTV spot he did just a while back and how it all came about. So I did a little research and used some internet magic and voila. I found these little gems, had a chuckle (funny shit if you know any of the people invovled) or two and came straight here to share my delight. I guess the moral of the story being, that the internet can be a wonderful and magical thing. Have fun and play safe.
Nice little update at small-but-dangerous. I’m really digging the opening animation. There is currently no work on the site but if you click the link in the upper left hand corner it’ll bring you his mini-portfolio at JoyEngine. He also did this sweet ass tee in collaboration with Josh at The Fabric Lab…that bastard makes me jealous.
Last night we made it out to the Intermedia Arts 55408 show. We read that it was a showcase of some of the better talent in the area, so we made it a night. More than 40 artists showed their work, all ranging from illustration to sculpture and painting to photography. We had never been to the Intermedia space and it was only a few blocks away so we figured it was worth a look at least. The space was fairly large and was full of all ages, styles and talent levels. We sneaked around a few corridors and happily located some really awesome work. Some of the people that caught our eye were Isaac Arvold, J Namdev Hardisty, Katelyn Farstad, Tonja Torgerson, Jack Hanson, Ellen Mueller, Ben Olson, Tim Haugen and Eric Inkala. Im sure there are a few we left out, but to say the least we found some talented people. It got crowded pretty fast with “enthusiasts” so we made our way to the exit and over to a dope Vietnamese joint on Nicolett called Quang’s. We’ll have some more info on some of these artists soon enough. Until then keep comfy and take a peek at the flicks up top.
So, just a few days ago, I brought mention to a new and super rad site that shares iPhone art and wallpapers designed by up-and-comers. It was also brought to my attention last night that the site is no more (Thanks Paula). It’s sad no doubt, but, I have a new site to share with you that resides in the same caliber of coolness. The site is called Poolga and has a very similar strategy. That strategy is very simple… Share art. New art is always showing up and the styles are always diverse. Do your part and be involved. Checky check it!
Here is an oldie but goldie for ya… The kind, concerned peoples over at Nitrocorpz put together this little dandy a while back. Granted it’s not groundbreaking, but it’s still functional and intriguing.
Recently the Colfax Block Party in Denver set motion to a whole bunch of artsy stuff. On that list was the custom toy show at the Plastic Chapel. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it (do to being nearly 1000 miles away) but the JoyEngine guys took care of documenting it pictorially in parts. TEEBEE of the JE crew sent me over a couple of flicks of the art/custom vinyl, and I was pretty impressed by all of the different styles and ideas. Word up on that Denver! I also took a peek at some of the stuff TEEBEE was working on for the show and almost pooped in my own pants. This dude is not only one of my secret idols but he is one of the most sinister artistic mercenaries in the wild west. If you look up top you get a small sampling of his power. If you have any idea what it takes to design, produce and finish something like that you’ll appreciate every inch (The largest one is close to two feet tall). I must say that I’ve been very impressed with a lot of what I’ve seen him and the rest of his crew do in the past year. Those gentlemen are raising the bar, no doubt. I don’t just say this because I’m extended family or because I used to work in the studio. They are my homies and my colleagues. I look at what they do with the utmost scrutiny and keenest eye. It’s like a sharing thing, you help them they help you, intentionally or unintentionally either way counts. Its how all people should interact. Respect!
So upon our arrival here in the beautiful frozen city, we made our way to finding the best places to eat, shop, view art and max out. Not only did we find one of the best spots for the maxxin’ and relaxin’ (sippin’ coffee and chewing on pastries) but we found a very close and comfortable coffee shop full of art, music and life. The place is the Urban Bean on the corner of 33rd and Bryant in Uptown. As I mentioned before, it’s only 4 blocks from our place but it’s very close to all of the shopping and restauranting you could ever ask for. Anything blocks from Lake St. is worth a look and I think that the Urban Bean should be added to your list. As you can see from the flicks, there is a super clean interior aesthetic with a lot of light, plenty of menu options for any persons beverage delight. All of this coupled with pastries, consistently good music playing and the designerly talent of local John Vogt on the walls, I was struck. What originally started as a hunt for a good coffee/wifi spot ended in finding the best coffee I’d had so far in the city. Make sure to keep your finger tips tingling for their website and Myspace page. I was told, all is in the final stages of production and should be up soon.
Surfing the ever lasting extensions of the internet, I came across this cool site. Iphoneky is set up to provide iPhone and iPod Touch user humans with a place to get some really nifty wallpapers and themes and stuff… I’m quite sure it hasn’t been around for that long and will surely be gaining more momentum as the weeks pass. It provides all of you thirsty for contribution type artists and designers with place to participate. Submit your work and win a chance to be on all the cool kids phones and iPods. Make sure to place this in your bookmarks and check back for new artwork and updates on the regular.
Moving isn’t hard, making friends isn’t hard. Not even finding a job is hard. It might be a little mentally taxing when it comes to reorganizing yourself but not hard to adapt. Our apartment is awesome, very comfy and much more appropriate in size than anything else we’ve had in the past. We still don’t have a couch or TV, which isn’t terrible but it’s something that makes me feel undone. Feeling undone might actually be a blessing in disguise. I’ve started to feel a little different on the inside, creatively and such. I think the move has sort of given me a reason to, not only go through the shit I own and get rid of unnecessary items, but sort of go through a little internal cleaning as well. I think I need to grow a little more spontaneous in a lot of ways. Maybe, I don’t really know? But I guess thats unimportant. I’m not even sure why I might be talking about this right now. Actually I think it’s because I’m kind of tired talking about being moved or being asked what I’m doing for work. It’s all the same really. It’s a big world and I know that I personally would love to try and start thinking more globally. I think it’s healthy to be unsettled and slightly uncomfortable and I’m looking to take advantage of my new state of mind. I guess this post ended up being more of a journal entry than one of the expected, “hey, there is some super fantastic are shit going down some place…”
I have a lot of stuff I want to write about here in the next few days, and I promise that I’ll make a point to do so. Maybe I can figure out some clever way of winning back some readers. Anyway, big ups to the people who’s attention we have captivated in the past and to those who’s interests we might capture in the near future. I apologize for the sloppy post but it felt right when doing so…
