Stencil Nation: Da Da Berlin Fun….

Pod asked me to make a flyer for the upcoming 14 January event(s) here in Berlin. The flyer needed to be low budget for photocopying but fun and eye-catching. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of time working on this because I have many other things to do and take care of. Wandering around Mitte the other day hunting stencils, I came across Da Da Falafal eatery. What a great name for a food joint! Pod loves this place too so I took on some much needed da da influence (stencils are conntected to da da via Duchamp’s mostache cut out) and had a good time working out this two-sided piece. Some text might change and things might get moved around before we print it, but wanted to share anyay. The stencils are by, Ink (Atlanta, GA), el bocho (here in Berlin), and unknown in Florence, IT. The book cover is by Francisco Garcia with the photo by Francis Mariani (Toronto, CA).

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Leaves Begin to Peak

Drove up to Asheville Wednesday to visit with a friend up there. There’s a tiny one bedroom apartment below her place that’s for rent ($300!!) if anyone’s interested in moving to NC. Caught the leaves at the beginning of the peak, so the mountain sides are beginning to lose the green. Took most of these photos while stencil hunting in Asheville so you’ll get some nice urban decay mixed in with the leaves. Yellow has finally begun to show up in the palatte of earth’s autum colors. Fly out of Asheville tomorrow so abosutely cannot wait to see the colors from above. Oh, Obama mania was subtly in display up in NC. Didn’t see anything like I do in SF when the folks get on the streets with signs and go crazy for honks. Guess that happens in NC next Tuesday. Included in this batch is a nifty Obama stencil by the artist Apathy.

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Peace Among the Trees and Fall Leaves

One of my favorite places to hike in SC is the nearby Jones Gap State Park. The Middle Saluda River runs through the park, and an old 1930s trout farm pond shows visitors how the locals tried to survive the Great Depression. I chose to hike the Hospital Rock trail today, and made it just past the actual rock before turning around. Plenty of leaves on the ground, but most of the trees in Jones Gap are still green. I did manage to find some fall colors to photograph, and red once again dominates the turning.

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Fall Colors in the Blue Ridge

I haven’t lived in a Southeast Fall season since 1996, so have enjoyed the leaves so far. They’re on the bottom of the color curve at the moment, but I got to see the difference while driving through the Great Smoky Mountains the past two weeks. I took a day off from Stencil Nation tour planning, and family things, and hiked out to the Raven Cliff Falls today. I hiked there many winters ago, so was glad to get a look at the colors while walking under the canopy. Not much yellow, but many shades of red. As you can see from the photos, I caught things in transition from green to red. Hope to keep heading out into the woods for the rest of the month so that I can see the mountains change color.

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The Audacity of Desperation: LA Exhibit

The Audacity of Desperation
October 26 through November 16, 2008
Sea and Space Explorations
4755 York Blvd, Los Angeles, C

Once again, I have submitted art to the Audacity of Desperation exhibit. This version of the show (the first exhibit was in IL) will open in LA just in time for the historical election.  As things have gotten tough all over, Americans seem to be getting a clue that no one in government, corporations, and banks has a real interest in the common person’s plight. Over the past decade, I have met amazing people who do not rely on leaders, government, and Big Business to help them, and try their best, outside of those mainstream channels, to change the world and make it a better place. This show touches on the distaste these amazing, creative people have with the systems that support profit and unfettered growth over basic needs of the people. I wish that I could have made a second series of my desperation buttons, but my life did not play out in a way that gave me time with the right tools. So I sent a stack of an updated version of my “Crate/Destroy” stickers for the attendees to take home, slap up, and enjoy.

The LA event will have other activities going on as well. You should stop by if you’re in the area in the coming weeks.

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The Desire Project Plays This Weekend

Once again, I will don the black garb of the theater tech for this upcoming show. Let me know if you’d like to check it out.

The Desire Project
Do you still desire it once you have it?

Six compelling performers wrestle with the mysterious qualities that define desire. An unsuspecting scientist is seized by the data that he’s painstakingly acquired thanks to Victoria’s Secret. A woman propelled by Klezmer music devours the fruit that’s projected onto her naked, dancing body. Billie Holiday’s spirit manifests itself in the voice of a sixty-five year old poet who writes punk with a wiggle. A man leaps for a ringing telephone with the hope that it’s his girlfriend–it turns out to be her boyfriend. The Desire Project joins together the passion of soap opera, the mayhem of a three ring circus and the unpredictability of stand-up comedy. And then they invite the audience into the mix. One weekend only. Then it’s gone. Take a risk. Join in.

The Desire Project
Directed by Judy Cohen
With Dakota Phoenix, Julie Berlin, Robert Fitch, Edana Contreras, Judy Cohen and Ron Jones