RIP RAMM::ELL::ZEE
Sad news yesterday when we heard that Graffiti, Hip-Hop, and Art Pioneer, RAMM::ELL::ZEE had pasted away. If you don’t the name, the history, or the legend, feel free to Google Rammellzee and you will see the impact his has made on urban culture for the past 30 years. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family and close friends.
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Shepard x Shred x NYC
Carlo McCormick, a good friend of OBEY and Senior Editor of PAPER Magazine, has just recently curated an exhibition of some the best and brightest in the art world. Be sure to catch this show if you are in NYC. Shred, curated by Carlo McCormick opens on Thursday, July 1st, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
Featuring work by Martha Colburn, Bruce Conner, Brian Douglas, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Leo Fitzpatrick, Mark Flood, Erik Foss, Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Jess, Shelter Serra, Dash Snow, Bec Stupak & Malcolm Stuart, Judith Supine, Swoon, Gee Vaucher, and Jack Walls
Perry Rubenstein Gallery
527 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011
T 212.627.8000
www.perryrubenstein.com
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Shepard on Iggy Pop
Iggy is one of my favorite rockers of all time and is undoubtedly the godfather of punk. Iggy grew up outside of Detroit and got the name “Iggy” because he played drums in a high school band called The Iguanas. Iggy formed the Stooges around 1967 and released 2 great records, their self-titled 1969 debut, and Funhouse in 1970, on Elektra Records, who had recently seen great success with The Doors, and were eager to sign high energy rock acts. The two Elektra albums were commercial failures but attracted a small but passionate following including burgeoning Glam star David Bowie. When the Stooges were dropped, Bowie helped get them signed to Sony Records for whom they put out Raw Power adapting their name to “Iggy and the Stooges” because Bowie was primarily interested in Iggy. Though now seen as an influential classic, Raw Power was a commercial failure as well, and the band imploded around 1974. Iggy dealt with drug addiction issues for the next few years, but maintained his friendship with Bowie. In 1977 Iggy and Bowie collaborated in Berlin on a pair of Iggy’s albums, The Idiot and Lust For Life, yielding songs like “Nightclubbing”, “China Girl”, “Lust For Life”, and “The Passenger”. To me, these two albums represent a creative high point for Iggy, and though I love Iggy’s Stooges material, I think the Berlin albums don’t get the love they deserve because they don’t fit a genre archetype the way the Stooges records set the template for punk. This poster was created from the canvas I painted of Iggy based on a Berlin era 1977 photo taken by Ed Perlstein. I think the image captures Iggy’s intensity, which has remained undiminished, and his trademark, even as he has matured. Iggy has done great material since 77/78 including collabs with Steve Jones, and the Teddybears, but I think this poster may reflect Iggy at the peak of his powers. For a good career overview get the two disc “A Million in Prizes” or just pick up all the Stooges records and the two Berlin records.
Check out this interview between myself and Iggy Pop for Interview magazine. It highlights our conversation that lasted about an hour and a half. http://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/shepard-fairey/ We are hoping to get the full transcript from Interview soon.
-Shepard
Photography by Ed Perlstein, www.MusicImages.com
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Shepard DJ Set x Portland, Or
For anyone in the Portland area, I’ll be DJing at Ground Kontrol, a really cool old school arcade that also serves drinks on Thursday July 1st. My friend John Goff who helps me with some re-edits and re-mixes will be DJing too. It’s the right price, which is no price, A.K.A. free! As an added bonus, while you might be playing Pac-Man, I definitely WILL NOT be playing “Pac-Man Fever” by Buckner and Garcia (I’m still pissed that I can’t dislodge their name from my memory since the 80′s, possibly causing them to displace something far more important, or at least relevant, I should remember). Oh well, whether you want to remember or forget, either will be more pleasurable with good tunes, drinks, and 8-bit bleeps.
-Shepard
Ground Kontrol
July 1st, 2010, 7pm
Portland, Oregon
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Glass Houses Explained
The Glass Houses print seems fairly self-explanatory, but l should explain some of the ideas and motivation behind it. A basic idea is that we, meaning we as a society, are familiar with the cautionary anecdotes about “glass houses” and “houses of cards”, yet despite warning signs we allow dangerous practices to go unchecked. People with money have the power to change many things in the world. Unfortunately money and power are often used to prevent change, no matter how broken the current system may be, especially when their wealth is a direct result of that system. Over the past couple years, the U.S. has seen several chronically toxic systems—healthcare, energy, finance, auto manufacturing—melt down into large-scale catastrophes, causing widespread suffering. The administrators of these systems, from Wall Street to big oil, haven’t been spared from suffering, but instead of letting the perpetrators bear the brunt of their disastrous judgment, our political leaders have done what they usually do: whatever their financial (read: corporate) backers want them to.
I don’t want to diminish some of the positive reforms that have been passed by our Congress, because I think that things like making it illegal for health insurers to deny coverage to people with preexisting conditions or mandating an audit of the Federal Reserve are better than nothing. What saddens and angers me is that all these systems have proven themselves unsustainable and in need of massive change, yet the only changes made have been minor and mostly cosmetic.
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ATRAK x OBEY X Dirty South Dance 2
The much anticipate release of A-Trak’s Dirty South Dance 2 Deluxe Pack is finally here. Shepard and OBEY Clothing once again teamed up with famed DJ ATRAK for a new Dirty South mixtape, t-shirt, and print. Get YOURS!
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE DSD2 PRINT SET
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THE DELUXE PACK
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