The first feature length doc on the iconic Chinese contemporary artist, Ai Weiwei. Coming 2011.

Producer/Director:
Alison Klayman

Show your support, and follow the latest on Ai Weiwei at:
Facebook.com/awwneversorry
Twitter.com/AWWNeverSorry

aiweiweifilm.org/

Here’s a cross-section of thoughts, ideas and reactions. See what audience members said, and add your two cents below.

	Carrie Knoblock, 42, Little Italy What might you go visit? Probably a lot of them. I’ll probably go check out the opera. I’ll definitely look up the literary series. I definitely want to go to the park. I was really interested in the public art. I want to go to the campus to see those pieces. What idea is sticking with you? One of the ideas is that everyone was kind of down on San Diego, like no one can believe people stay here. And I find that a very unusual thing about a city. And I’m really grateful for everyone sticking around.
	Jane Eguez, 60, Bonita  What idea is sticking with you? The jazz musicians, that was very eye opening. I knew about Moody, the tenor saxophone player who just died. And I’ve been starting to follow Joshua White, which is really exciting. But I didn’t know about all the other musicians that are here in town.
	Enrique Meza, 35, Barrio Logan What might you visit? Obviously, Barrio Logan and my neighborhood. I walk through the park every so often. So, one of the things that brought me here is the scaffolding, and getting an update from Mario and looking at the before and after pictures. Of the other presentations, I was very intrigued by the art at UCSD and the jazz.
	Bennett Peji, 48, Mission Village What might you go see? Well, definitely D.A. Kolodenko’s speech showed us a part of San Diego that we’ve been missing. We didn’t know how rich the jazz scene history is in San Diego, so we’ll definitely see more of that. And there’s no question we’ll go to Chicano Park right away. What idea is sticking with you? I’m actually an arts commissioner for San Diego and my passion is working with communities to teach them how to live their neighbrhoods through the arts. This opens our eyes to great stuff that’s literally in our own backyards.
	Colleen Finnegan, 61, Golden Hill What idea is sticking with you? Tonight, as I listen to everyone, having come here more than 30 years ago to work in the arts in San Diego, the main idea I had is that if we had this meeting 30 years ago in San Diego, we would not have had three-quarters of these things to talk about. It is so exciting. I came to a town that barely has the oldest anything, because in Southern California, when you find the oldest anything, you tear it down to make the newest something. The arts doesn’t do that. The arts preserves our history and builds upon it. And I looked around and thought, we’re always being told to apologize because we’re not Los Angeles for visual artists, and we aren’t New York for jazz and theater. And I’ve been to those places, and you know what? We have way better theater than Los Angeles, we have as good of art as anybody, and we have a dedicated community of people who are willing to really get together and understand each other.
	Shannon Roark, 31, South Park What idea is sticking with you? I think the great thing about this event is you get introductions to things that I’ve heard inklings of, but to have more thorough introductions is wonderful. And then, things like the Chicano Park mural and the installation at UCSD felt like a virtual tour. So when I go there, I’ve felt like I’ve already had the tour guide experience and I can relate to what I’m seeing more.
	Lucia Hermans, 32, Golden Hill What idea is sticking with you? Chicano Park. I live in Golden Hill and am basically walking distance so I’m looking forward to going down there and looking at it live and seeing the virtual tour. It’s motivating. I noticed the scaffolding a while ago being put up. And to see the finished project so vibrant just pulls you in.
	Charlie Compuesto, 38, Paradise Hills What idea is sticking with you? I’m really amazed by how deep our jazz history goes. I’ve always known that San Diego had something with jazz, but to see how rich we are with music is something else.
	Joel West, 27, Golden Hill What idea is sticking with you? I love Nuvi Mehta, just because our city is not like L.A., where (here) you can just be one person that loves what they do and it resonates with somebody even though they’re not connected with it. He doesn’t have to do as much as he does, but he just loves to do it. And you can feel that and it makes the whole experience really exciting. So that sparked the whole night for me.

MIKESUMOTO   <——————————————————

(via graffart)

Volcom crew heads down to San Diego (Space 4 Art)  for the Hydrodynamica show to support team rider / shaper Ryan Burch and check out some surfboard design history and innovation.

A short film about letterpress and one of the few remaining movable-type printing workshops in the UK, situated at Plymouth University, featuring Paul Collier. plymouth.ac.uk

Subtitles available here: goo.gl/iuaKY

A film by Danny Cooke dannycooke.co.uk
Soundtrack by Tony Higgins tonyhiggins.org
(Available to download here: goo.gl/exGL1)

Street art is moving online. If you’re a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed that street artists are making art on the street for the purpose of photographing it and sharing the images online (and maybe you remember these posts). I think it is too early to say for sure whether this transition is a good thing, a bad thing or just change, but it has gotten so pervasive that street art that comments on street art now often focuses on pointing out this transition from in-the-flesh street art to art that was intended to be shared digitally. Here are a few recent examples…

1. Reblog This by mobstr (shown above). This piece was painted in Shoreditch, a spot where it would have been seen by countless street art photographers, but it only lasted 7 hours before getting buffed. No matter. Mobstr got a great photo of it and put that photo online. Now it’s all ready to be reblogged on tumblr.

2. What ever happened to street art on the street? by Lush. Both a comment on the proliferation of street art online and the commercialization of the movement. This image is available as a print at Backwoods Gallery. Lush has also made animated gifs of his work, something else that can only be viewed digitally but is created on the street.

3. Fine by Elfo. The text is in Italian and references this work by Giuseppe Chiari. It translates to “Street art is finished, stop all together.” Rather than painting this in a busy city center, Elfo put it on an abandoned building in what looks like the countryside. The audience for the work is (primarily) the audience that will see this photo online and Elfo is well aware of that. Does this mean the death of street art though? Of course not. Chiari continued making art after his declaration, and Elfo has already made more street art. It’s just that Elfo’s public is primarily a digital one, either seeking his work out or coming across it randomly on a site like tumblr, but either way viewing it for free.

For more about this shift towards a digital street and a digital public, here are two posts I wrote a while ago.

(via Vandalog)

The Bay Area is the place to be in late August for Barry McGee’s 2012 exhibit. If you haven’t heard of Barry McGee and you are interested in urban art you definitely want to look him up. I’m excited to announce that the California’s Berkley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive have been awarded a $100,000 grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation to hold an exhibit for Barry McGee showing over two decades worth of his work.

Barry McGee, often known as “Twist,” the name he used in his graffiti art, was born in 1966 and raised is San Francisco. Most of his creditability started in the 80′s on the streets tagging anything he could find to display his talents. He uses comics, sign paintings, and folk art inspired by Margaret Kilgallen, to express himself and the style which he loves most. It’s a rarity that you see Barry McGee’s work displayed in a gallery, but starting August 23rd through December 9th you can catch it all in Berkeley.

(via visual news)

It’s often disputed in the world of graffiti just who was the first writer to put their moniker up illegally. The vanguard of American graffiti artists, including REVOK, RIME and SABER contribute to the legend of Larry Lovebone, who many art historians have disregarded and omitted from the chronicles of style-writing due to his other cultural contributions during the sexual revolution in the 1960s. In his own words, Mr. Lovebone tells the tale of his infamous tag and its origins in his ability to bed copious amounts of women from every race, culture, creed and religion.

Evgen Bavacar:  here

DNZ85:  here

Seen: Dave Flores x Phil Stern Exhibition:  here

Guido Argentini:  here

Pave the Way Show:  here

Adam Tredowski:  here

C215:  here

New Bansky:  here

Minjae Lee:  here

Meredith Dittmar:  here

Jessica Hische:  here

Art in the Streets:  here

Allison Torneros:  here

Sincerely Hana:  here

Citeology:  here

Noah Doely:  here

The Story of Gardens:  here

Aschcick:  here

Medwish:  here

Oliver Chomienne:  here

Dao Hai Phong:  here

Dan May:  here

Albert Watson:  here

The Daily Claw:  here

Mobius Ship:  here

Henrique Oliveira:  here

How to Lead a Creative Life:  here

Patrick Gannon:  here

Joel Benjaman:  here

Neon Tambourine:  here

Vasilj Godzh:  here

Ross Gilmore:  here

Mattias Adolfsson:  here

Champions of Design:  here

Good Design is Tough Job:  here

My Painted Thoughts:  here

Rotini Art Gallery:  here

FOLDS:  here

Show Chicken:  here

Loretta Lux:  here

AJ Frena:  here

Kaspian Shore:  here

Rodney Smith:  here

Ho Ryon Lee:  here

ESAO:  here

Nicoletta Ceccoli:  here

Allison Summers:  here

Designer Preis:  here

STREET WRITERS of SWEDEN : Ola and Robbin
THE FILE CABINET PROJECT

WHITE BOX CONTEMPORARY

1040 7th Avenue, SD, CA 92101

JANUARY 12, 2012

7:00 – 9:00 pm

Watch the Video

http://vimeo.com/34949018

Artist in Residence – Alexander Salazar Fine Art

www.whiteboxcontemporary.com

619-531-8988

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE CATERING

PROVIDED BY EDEN in Hillcrest
http://www.edensandiego.com/

ALEXANDER SALAZAR FINE ART : ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROJECT EXHIBITION : January 12 : 2012 WHITE BOX CONTEMPORARY : 1040 Seventh Avenue : San Diego : 92101 : 619.531.8996 OLA Kalnins : ROBBIN Carlzon swedish street writers~ There are few things Sweden is known for besides… meatballs, Ikea, and blonde hair, but if you look a little closer you may find a few hidden gems. Influenced by the Golden Era of Hip Hop, graffiti found its way to the streets of Sweden giving the youth a new outlet for expression and also giving birth to the artistic futures of both Ola and Robbin. Born in the city of Malmo, Ola Kalnins began cultivating his craft at the age of 13 spray painting the tunnels, rooftops, and walls of industrial areas located just off the train tracks. On this street playground he slowly developed his unique style of abstract lettering and skillful precision with lines. Inspired by a mixed passion for music, film, art, people and just life itself along with a curiosity for foreign landscapes, the subways of Sweden soon served as the perfect canvas. Journeys through the Scandinavia train system began exposing Ola’s work to wider audiences catching the attention of another talented street writer from the south–Robin. Born in the small town of Lund located in the southern part of Sweden, Robbin Carlzon grew up yearning to escape the surroundings in which he strongly felt he didn’t belong, and at a very young age found a way out inside a pencil. Captivated by the imaginations of French cartoonist, comic book artist, and graffiti writers, Robbin’s love for drawing characters developed and would eventually mature leaving the paper to find the streets where he and Ola would first collaborate. Together Robbin and Ola, age 15 and 16, would compliment each others styles well. Ola’s masterful lettering alongside Robbin’s unique characters gave life to one of the most infamous crews, gaining notoriety for aggressively spreading street poetry across Europe’s subway system. They would spend their teenage years adventuring through the architecture of several countries. Whether it was climbing the rooftop of a train station in Naples to find a place to sleep, or hanging off the side of subway cars in Denmark just to capture a single photo, and dangerously surfing the tops of trains wedged between the roof of the subway tunnel to escape security in Paris, they risked everything for their art–devoted spirits. As life moved forward the two would grow up and take many steps in their creative paths both together and separately. Ola’s talented lettering and abstract expression would develop further and later land him prominent work among brands like Diesel, Adidas, and Carhartt. He would soon open his own artist studio in Malmo which for 7 years brought together artists from around the world. Meanwhile, Robbin’s characters evolved back onto the traditional canvas as two years of art school instilled technique in his work. Distinctly drawing inspiration for shading and light from the Renaissance era while maintaining his true style Robbin traveled to the remote areas of Thailand, India, and Burma to share pure imagination. An imagination that depicts beauty, darkness, and romance in a twisted harmony. True to their roots the two still maintain a presence in the streets of Europe continuing their adventures as they fight to express a voice that is free without compromise for authority, which needless to say has placed them behind bars together in their past. Today, they share a studio and gallery in Malmo called Konstwerk with a few other Swedish artists and mutual friends. From this studio to the U.S. after 15 years of journeying through life’s ups and downs they have collaborated to exhibit the love, pain, and passion cultivated in the streets and matured for the gallery–take a journey. –JOSEF (2011) ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE CATERING PROVIDED BY EDEN in Hillcrest http://www.edensandiego.com/