GAME BATTLE !!!

Conan O’ Brian’s farewell message from the last episode of The Tonight Show.

Shepard Fairey says “OBEY Obama”

Shepard Fairey, famous artist and mind behind OBEY clothing is giving his support to Barack Obama by offering limited edition prints of Obama with all proceeds being donated to the campaign.

“I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience of young art fans and I’m delighted if I can encourage them to see the merits of Barack Obama.” -Shepard Fairey

To purchase 1 of the 5000 Limited Edition prints and show your support for Obama click here

Bob Hoover – The Illest Pilot

from www.asterpix.com posted with vodpod

Feds raid River North art gallery

On Thursday, January 31st the FBI and postal inspectors raided Kass/Meridian, on Huron street; one of many art galleries and showrooms in the upscale River North art district.  Agents walked out of the gallery with artwork seized as a part of an investigation into art fraud.  Kass/Meridian specializes in contemporary art, and has been open since 1986.

Dzine keeps it real. Real Expensive!

Dzine, a Chicago based painter, former graffiti writer, and founding member of the famous 90′s Chicago graffiti crew “Aerosoul” has now officially catapulted himself onto the mainstage of the American Contemporary Art scene by having a successful showing at Art Basel.

Art Basel which ended last week (Dec. 6-9) is the largest North American art show; held yearly in Miami, it has always been considered the Super Bowl of the American art scene and a privilage for artists to be able to show their work there.

On the opening day of the show Dzine sold a painting of his to a private collector that flew in from London for a handsome price of $30,700.  Also by the end of the first day, news spread that a foundation in Spain had purchased a customized 24-carat gold bike from Dzine at a price of $35,000.

$65,700 on your first day of the show is not bad;  not bad at all.

What makes this article interesting isn’t that an artist sold his work for alot of cash, but more importantly because a former Chicago graffiti writer who took incredible amounts of criticism, and heat when he started venturing off into the world of contemprary art has come back like a terrible nightmare to remind all the critics and all the hiphop heads back in the day who preached to keep it real, what REAL success looks like.

In the early 90′s, Chicago’s hiphop scene was so vibrant that there was a plethora of talent waiting to be noticed which included artists, dancers, dj’s, and mc’s.  With the large amounts of talent came large egos, and crews trying to control scenes with ghetto celebs spreading hate and jealousy which had everyone judging eachother and had everyone trying to prove how to “keep it real.”

Nowadays when we look for all these old cats with talent, you’ll find them doing other things, and talking about how they had to “grow up”, and now “keeping it real” has a much more sober meaning now.

Nowadays hearing news about successes like Dzine have me wondering what was it that we were keeping real anyways?  poverty?  ignorance?  low self-esteem?

More importantly now,  the question nowadays should be-

What is real?

Dzine - St. Louis Museum of Contemprary Art

Dzine – Chicago Magazine (July 2007)