WAR

Free Buket!

Always On The Phone

Add: UPSET MAG!
Heelllo!
Style Chuds!

MIRF

1134NYC teams up with NYC Art Toy Brand Thunderdog Studios to release the first ever graffiti based, wall mounted, vinyl toy. Designed by 1134NYC members MINT&SERF, this toy is a pure collaboration, merging their styles to form the iconic ‘MIRF’. More of a sculpture than a toy, the 9″ long MIRF is rotary molded in soft-vinyl and made in 4 color-ways, each limited to 200 pieces.

A limited amount of signed versions available @ Coat Of Arms.
themirf.com
~
www.myspace.com/themirf

Hello There

Patrick Griffin from Hamburger Eyes has a new book out with TV books.
"HELLO THERE" by Patrick Griffin. Check it out on the new web site and store: tvbookshop.com

Patrick Griffin lives and works in New York City and is the author of the infamous zine series Frenemies.

"Hello There", featuring recent photographs, found objects and collages, is Griffin's first book.

"Street Art"

Duffed Out video zine cartoon short "the street artist"


thedustward.com

R.I.P. Camu Tao

On stage in Minneapolis, Aesop Rock announced that emcee Camu Tao had died after nearly a two-year bout with lung cancer. The Columbus, Ohio native born Tero Smith, was just less than two weeks away from his 31st birthday. He reportedly passed in his hometown.

Camu Tao rose to fame with the MHz crew, which also consisted of producer RJD2, emcees Copywrite and Jakki Tha Mottomouth, plus DJ Przm, who passed away just under a year ago as well (R.I.P). As the crew ascended to the ranks of the underground Hip Hop community through releases on Fondle ‘Em and ABB Records, Camu would end up at High & Mighty’s Eastern Conference imprint as a solo artist. There, he would record his most significant album, Nighthawks with Cage, after a reported three-day recording session. The album was inspired by the Sylvester Stallone film of the same name.

Camu was also active with Def Jux Records. There, he would be a part of The Weathermen crew with Aesop Rock, Cage, El-P, Breeze Brewin and others, as well as one-half of S.A. Smash. With Metro, the latter group would release 2003’s Smashy Trashy. Additionally, Camu did release two editions of the limited Blair Cosby solo albums, as well as 2004’s Going For De Gold. None of the three efforts were distributed nationally.

Throughout the last three years, Camu’s career had been feature appearances and production on peer albums while he readied his Def Jux solo. Highlights include producing and appearing on Cage’s critically-acclaimed Hell’s Winter ”The Death of Chris Palko” (Lyrics) comeback album appearing on Aesop Rock’s Danger, Fire & Knives album (”Rockety Rackety”), as well as Slow Suicide Stimulus album (”Cutty Sharks” / “Regardless”).

REST IN PEACE.


warfour.com/rip-camu-tao
via hiphopdx.com

Krink

Fortune Small and Global business did a feature with Craig Costello about his custom ink Krink on CNN


www.krink.com

Bomb! Bomb! Bomb!

Bomb It the Movie

bombit-themovie.com

Bounce Dat Ass!

Dj Funk

myspace.com/djfunk1

Upset Magazine Now Available Online: Part 1

Our first issue of Upset Magazine is now available to view online!

Open the publication to see it in full size!

Mic Terror

Chicago's Mic Terror speaks on what he spits when he raps, the gentrification in the city and it's resulting effects on the surrounding Riverdale suburb of Chicago.

Mic Terror was put in Urbs top 100 artist to watch and we're definitely paying attention!

Black Label

NYC Bicycle Gang

www.bike-films.com

ACT LIKE YOU KNOW

Upset Magazine Art Show Closing!

This Saturday and Sunday is the closing of the Upset Art show with newly added ARTIST COLLECTIVES:

THE ALMIGHTY DUSTWARD NATION

thedustward.com

AND

Cleveland SGS

clevelandsgs.com

Two really amazing groups worth checking out!
The gallery will be open Sat, May 24th, 12-6pm and Sun, May 25th, 12-8pm for the closing reception.
@ The Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219-21 South Morgan Street
Chicago Illinois, 60608
USA
Click here for directions!

Thank you again to all the artists and everyone who came out for your support!

MUTO by BLU

Pick up a copy of the mag!

There are a limited amount of copies of our first issue available at Quimbys, Rotofugi and The Basement in Chicago! Get 'em while you still can!

PICS FROM THE ART SHOW!

PICS!!
www.flickr.com/photos/fotoflow
http://www.flickr.com/photos/frankserpico

THE UPSET Thanks You

It was hard work but we want to thank everyone who came out to support.

Special thanks to Logan Bay who got that shit jukin'. Props to Intel, Thor, Chile, Jare, and James.
We wish it could have gone longer but with those new promoter laws I'm just glad it went as long as it did.

The gallery will be open 12-6pm today and tomorrow. Same hours next weekend. The first issue of THE UPSET magazine will also be for sale for $6.

THE UPSET ART SHOW
@Co-Prosperity Sphere
3219 S. Morgan (3 blocks west of Halsted on 32nd)

This Friday: The UPSET Art Show + Magazine Release

Selected work from the show (from top to bottom): Haculla (NYC), Chris Kerr (Chi), Oh My Godzilla (Chi), Porkchop (NYC), Sara Condo (Chi).

THE UPSET ART SHOW
Co-Prosperity Sphere Chicago
3219 S. Morgan Street
Opening Friday May 16th 6-11p

Chicago enforcing new “promoters’ ordinance”

Apparently the City Council Committee on License and Consumer Protection passed a new ordinance further restricting the party/music scene in Chicago . If approved by the full City Council the new law focused mainly towards “underground” promoters would require anyone promoting any event drawing more than 100 people to obtain a license even if they are working with a well-established and already licensed promoter or venue.

Licensees would have to carry at least $300,000 in commercial liability insurance (even if the venue is insured), and they would have to be at least 21 years old . The law would also only allow venues with “fixed seating” to host one-time events by unlicensed promoters

Chicago already has a well established “anti-rave ordinance” passed in the ’90s threatening “rave” promoters and those who allow their buildings to be used for a “rave" with criminal prosecution.

The ordinance goes to the full City Council on May 14.

If Ald. Eugene Schulter get's his way you'll also be required to take your shoes off and sit down quietly and listen to your elders as they tell you about the good old days when candy was a nickel, shhh!

"We aren't looking to stop dancing or keep people from having a good time or going to parties," John Roe, Chicago lobbyist.

Where's Kevin Bacon when you need him?!


Read more about the new law and it's impact on the Chicago music scene here

U.S. Slow to Help Anyone but Themselves

The death toll due to the massive cyclone that hit the area of Myanmar in Southeast Asia is currently at 22,500 with an estimated 40,000 people still reported missing. The U.S. has yet to send aid.

During a massive disaster when timing when is critical to survival (didn't we learn this during Hurricane Katrina already?), President Bush was very busy lecturing the junta for being bad. The Junta, a political group in power in the area, shot into a crowd recently during a non-violent protest.

We’re prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation,” President George W. Bush said Tuesday in the Oval Office. Bush was busy signing legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy advocate who has long been under house arrest in Myanmar.

The policy was presented by the first lady, Laura Bush, along with a lecture to the junta about human rights and disaster relief.

“This is a cheap shot,” said Aung Nain Oo, a Burmese political analyst who is based in Thailand. “The people are dying. This is no time for a political message to be aired. This is a time for relief. No one is asking for anything like this except the United States.”

Read more at NYTimes.com.

NYPD to Stop and Frisk Record Number This Year

The NYPD wants to "Stop and Frisk" a record number of people this year--more than 580,000.

"They're back to doing what they've been doing, which is stopping and frisking as many people as they can," says Chris Dunn, associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

NYPD officers in 2006 stopped more than 508,000 people on the street and questioned them.
Records indicate that 55 percent of the more than 508,000 people stopped and searched that year were black, and nearly 30 percent were Hispanic. Be on your P's and Q's!

Stop and Frisk: (n.) a law enforcement officer's search for a weapon confined to a suspect's outer clothing when either a bulge in the clothing or the outline of the weapon is visible. The search is commonly called a "pat down," and any further search requires either a search warrant or "probable cause" to believe the suspect will commit or has committed a crime (including carrying a concealed weapon, which itself is a crime). The limited right to "stop and frisk" is intended to halt the practice of random searches of people in hopes of finding evidence of criminal activity or merely for purposes of intimidation, particularly of minorities. (See: search, search and seizure, probable cause, search warrant)

Michael Genovese: 'We All We Got"

Packer Schopf Gallery
942 W Lake St (Morgan and Sangamon Sts)
Date: Through - May 10th
Address: 942 W Lake St, Chicago
packergallery.com

The Wackness

Photos by Suzette Lee

Suzette Lee was born in San Francisco, California and resides in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently working on A LOT OF SHIT.
You can see more of Suzette's work at the upcoming Upset Art Show.
smallmediumlee.com

Interview With Marty Cooper

Interview and photo by Frank Serpico

At an opening at Ad Hoc Art Gallery in Brooklyn, I met up with Martha Cooper, the renowned street photographer and co-author of Subway Art. We sat down inside and caught up.

Frank Serpico: You’ve been traveling a lot lately?

Martha Cooper: Well, I just got back from Paris and Amsterdam, then I’m going down to Baltimore, then Phoenix, and then Japan for an exhibit.

FS: Wow! Is that for your new book?

MC: Well, in Paris and Amsterdam I was selling prints because the books don’t really make money.

FS: So what’s the title of your new book?

MC: It’s called Going Postal. It’s on postal stickers, and I think it was a good name because it sort of means going crazy. I related it to going crazy putting up stickers and I just thought that was a fun name. But it’s limited me because I’ve found some really good stickers that weren’t postal stickers, so I wasn’t able to put those in the book. But it’s okay because I’ve found so many great postal stickers.

FS: Is there a reason why you chose to do a book on postal stickers?

MC: I just began to get interested in these stickers. It was something I could look for as I walked around NY. I didn’t have to go up to the Bronx and stand around for five hours in a vacant lot and wait for a train to go by. I could do it on my way to somewhere else. It was fun and interesting for me to just walk around NY going about my regular business and keep an eye out for things I passed along the way. I hadn’t really thought about what they were so much, I just liked the way they looked. Like most things in life, you start loving the people who do it, and you learn there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.

FS: Do you think this is your direction or purpose in life, observing graffiti art?

MC: You have to be alert to things in your life that connect you with other things. It’s not a lot of this stuff I meant to do It’s more like I grabbed an opportunity when it presented itself, but I was alert saying to myself, “Oh, this is really interesting, lets take advantage of this opportunity.” I give myself credit for understanding what I like to do and seriously pursuing things that interest me. Someone else might have similarly met the kid who introduced me to Dondi and said, “I don’t want to meet him,” and I’m like, “Oh yes, please, introduce me to him!”

FS: How do you feel about more people taking pictures of street art and graffiti and it being put online?

MC: I’m more of a person who says, “lets watch this and see what it is,” rather then saying, “I don’t like this.” I’m just interested in seeing how things evolve. When Subway Art was published there was no internet. The book was rare. If you didn’t have the book or you didn’t live in New York City, or even if you did live in New York City, there was no way to study a piece on a train. There was no way to study the style or see how it was done. The popularity of the book was due to the fact that it was the only place where aspiring graffiti artists could sit and work and try to duplicate this style and see how the Masters and the Kings were doing it. For that reason it spread around the world. There was no internet.

FS: How do feel about Subway Art being available to read online now?

MC: Actually I wasn’t aware until somebody told me, and I was surprised because I thought, “Well now, there goes my royalties.” Whatever you know this is 2008, and the book was made in 1984 it had an amazing run. It’s amazing the reach that it had and that people are still looking at it. Henry Chalfant and I are working on the 25th anniversary special edition. It’s going to be a lot bigger, jammed with almost all photos.

FS: Is it true that before you worked at The Post and did Subway Art you rode a motorcycle through the Far East?

MC: In 1962 President Kennedy started the Peace Corps and immediately I thought, “I want to do that.” I remember thinking, “Do they take girls?” I applied, and I got accepted to be sent to Thailand. I didn’t even know where Thailand was. I never even heard of Thailand which now seems ridiculous, but you have to remember Americans were very provincial--it was like nobody knew where anything was. Anyway, I went to Thailand and I taught English for two years. The Peace Corps offered you money or a ticket to go home, so I took the money and I decided to buy a motorcycle. I drove it to England. That was a long trip—16,000 miles!

FS: Haha! Did you have to do a lot of motorcycle maintenance?

MC: Ha, well I didn’t know beans about motorcycle maintenance! I drove it down to Singapore and met this guy with a motorcycle along the way. He wanted to do the same trip, but couldn’t find anyone willing to go so he says, “Lets do it!” and I’m embarrassed to say it, but I let a guy do it for me! But it was a brand new motorcycle so it didn’t need that much. It was a real motorcycle--a Honda 150.

FS: Any advice for up-and-coming photographers or people documenting graffiti art?

MC: You know, it’s a whole new world out there. My advice is pursue the things you really are interested in, but don’t expect them to be the things that are going to give you a way to live in the world. I would say it’s only recently that I’ve been actually able to make a living from graffiti, and it’s by selling prints to collectors--not something I had really planned to do. I work very hard, and I still work very hard. I still do assignment photography. If you love to do things like taking pictures of graffiti, make sure you know how you are going to make a living because it’s sort of like air--if you don’t have money it’s sort of hard to breath. I don’t want to say just do what you love and money will fall from the sky. It really doesn’t work that way. You have a job right?

FS: Yeah, my bread and butter isn’t just doing graf! It’s not something I can really put on a resume—“I did graffiti for over ten years,” haha.

MC: Right, I think there are a lot of things that happened in the world that were not documented. There are probably all kinds of graffiti and street art and all sorts of art that simply fell through the cracks because nobody ever took a picture, and nobody ever paid attention. So in the long run, think ahead to what you would like to look at in 20 years. The things that I shot 20 years ago--the kids in the street, the graffiti--those are the things that are still interesting to me now. So in terms of what you shoot, shoot the things that you like, but make sure you have a way to make a living.



Martha Cooper’s new book Going Postal is available Fall 2008. A new book of old school tags will also be available soon.
www.at149st.com/cooper
www.nycitysnaps.com

Young Philosopher and Thank You NYC

 
At The Upset Art Show and Coat of Arms Pop-Up Shop on May 16th in Chicago: T-shirts and copies of Albin Sikora's awesome magazine Young Philosopher:

The latest issue focuses on travel and features interviews with filmmaker Rob Perri, incredible photos of Africa from Barron Claiborne, and more: "Young Philosopher prepares us to reclaim the existential moment that we miss when we channel our time and senses into the gimmicks and trends that bombard us from magazines, billboards, and television."

Copies of the 1st issue of THANK YOU NYC, a great street photography mag, will also be available for sale at the UPSET/COAT OF ARMS Pop-Up Shop on MAy 16th. Double Up!

THE UPSET: A MULTI-MEDIA ART EVENT

Featuring artists from CHICAGO and NYC
Sponsored by NYC’s Coat of Arms
www.myspace.com/coatofarmsnyc

The Upset, a collective of artists and photographers from Chicago and New York City, is pleased to present a self-titled multi-media art show at Co-Prosperity Sphere in Chicago. The show features over thirty artists with work ranging from photography, paintings, illustrations, street art, and video installations. The show, which aims to champion the work of underexposed artists, runs for two weeks from May 16th through May 25th.

Opening night on Friday, May 16th features a pop-up shop from NYC boutique Coat of Arms selling hard-to-find vintage streetwear and fitted baseball caps from the 1980s and early ‘90s. The Upset will also launch its self-titled independent magazine of photography and illustrations with an interview from video and mixed-media artist Suckadelic. The opening also features DJ sets from Gutter Butter (Chicago), Pork Chop from Exceptor (NYC), and Intel (Chicago).

Artists in the show include: 5003, James Adam, Oscar Arriola, Katie Ashley, Bryan Bowie, Daniel Bremner, Sara Condo, Nicky Dieter, Emone, Falcon, Stefan Fitzgerald, FTrainer, Google Eyes, Patrick Griffen, Haculla, Infinity, Rick Jara, JARE, Juicy, Chris Kerr, Chris Kline, Suzette Lee, Bill McRight, Melon, Mint, Aiko Nakagawa, Pete Nawara, Caroline Voagen Nelson, Antonio Pazaran, Brian Procell, OMG Crew, (Goons, Stomach, Viking), Overconsumer, OZE108, Plasma Slugs, Pork Chop, Peter Puleo, Jory Rabinovitz, Serf, SGS, Christine Sorich, Suckadelic, Maki Terashita, Thor, Anthony Trujillo, UFO, Ryan Valvick, and Vickypages.

The gallery will be open free of charge. Additional hours are May 17th,18th,24th, and 25th from noon-6 pm. Co-Prosperity Sphere is located at 3219 South Morgan Street in the Bridge-port neighborhood of Chicago.

The Upset is a community of friends, photographers, and artists who have pooled their talents into an artist’s collective. With a focus on American street culture, The Upset currently curates art events and publishes an independent magazine.