I've posted eight new original ACEOs (Art Cards Editions & Originals) in my "Auctions" section. Each art card starts at $2.99. Every ten days I post new original pieces up for auction in the same place. There are never any repeats on these originals, so once a card is won or unsold they are gone for good. (every once in a great while I might place an unsold piece in my shop for sale if I think people were just sleeping on it, but don't count on it) To view my current auctions you can always just click on the "Auctions" link at the top of this blog.
I'm a big fan of origins. I like the origin stories of characters in hero comic books. I like the origins of popular samples in Hip Hop music. I definitely like the origins of art movements. Everyone knows that "early" graffiti (such as wild styles, burners, etc) was popular in the boroughs of New York City during the 1970's and 80's, but how far back does it's history go?
(piece by: Seen)
The script or "tag" form as-well as the colorful grapheme and character based form of graffiti is said to have been started by this man in Philidelphia...
Writing on walls in the 1960's may sound pretty old to your average Justin Beiber fan, but I wasn't born yesterday. I'm pretty sure it goes back much further than that. There have been more than a few art history classes that I've attended, and as far as we know, one of the first uses of art by humans was in the form of paintings on cave walls. We all know that they looked something like this...That's right, graffiti goes all the way back to the dawn of human kind. In fact, the first stencil ever used on a wall, that we know of, was an early artist blowing barks and pigments on their hand as they placed it on a wall. Check it out, it even looks like they were throwing up a "west side."
Street artist Banksy shows us what a more modern stencil piece looks like. Note the flat black shapes that make-up the city worker buffing out the cave paintings. (to me this piece is warning the cities that if they buff out street art and graffiti, they buff out our past and our innate need to communicate on walls.)
So every other art form owes it's existence to the act of painting on walls. Some people have argued that putting paint to wall is even born within us. If that's true, then why do most people associate the term graffiti with crime?
Man's law and God's law are often very different. So deciding what is truly right or wrong while talking about "the law of the land" can be a very complex process. Personally I refrain from altering anyone's property in any way without asking them first. If a person feels that painting on someone else's wall without permission is within their moral compass I like to remind them that they also have to be willing to pay the consequences of any action they take in life. In California, "bombing" the streets can quickly get you 2 out of 3 strikes on your record which would send you on your way to receiving 25 years to life in prison. I would rather see us and the state invest in schools, libraries, and jobs so please don't feed into that crooked system.
On the flip side, I don't think it's right that large corporations can rent billboard space in our neighborhoods without our permission. Currently my neighborhood has many instances of alcohol abuse destroying our collective sense of family and self respect. The alcohol industry never asks us if they can put their ads on our walls, yet they are everywhere. I wouldn't mind these images being replaced or covered up with more positive and useful images. If a billboard selling "spirits" was ever placed outside of someone's house or near a middle school in Beverly Hills you better believe there would be a ruckus.
I'm getting off topic. Maybe I'll return to the morality of graffiti at a later date. Speaking of God, as a Christian I know that my spiritual heritage includes graffiti. Under the city of Rome early followers of Christ refered to themselves as "fishers of men" or "pisciculi" which means little fish. These students of Christ were hated by the Roman powers and often hid and met in the catacombs. Since much of their practices had to be done in secret (or get arrested and killed) they had to communicate who they were to each other. Below is an image of how they would do that through images on catacomb walls. Creating art on walls or on the ground was a very important system for these people. They had to communicate who they were to others in the know as a means for survival. In the Biblical book of Daniel chapter 5 there is a story where God relays a message to king Belshazzar by writing on the king's wall. This is where the term "The writing on the wall" comes from.
(Belshazzar's Feast by: Rembrandt)
I could go into the Egyptian and Mayan glyphs on the walls of temples, altars, sun dials, and tombs. I could also write endlessly about fresco paintings or Japanese calligraphy, and their influence on graffiti, but that would take quite some time to get through. Generally, what I'm saying is that an art-form currently known as graffiti is as old as human history. There are deep historical reasons for a person to write or draw on a wall. I encourage all of us to not immediately link graffiti to crime. There are many forms. There are many reasons.
Please walk forward every day in a growing knowledge of the lives around you.
It is time to highlight one of the few- one of the last artists to understand the culture of Hip Hop. Blitz is an MC who has apparently studied the history, read the current times, and moves forward with the realization that he speaks into the future.
"... these kids that's raised on rap music are scared of their own voice that's why they're auto-tunin'" - what a true line...
Popular music, for the most part, is no longer concerned with art so much as it's concerned with business. They aren't selling us art, they're selling us a product. That's why they spend millions on marketing campaigns designed to tell us what to like. Please listen to an artist that cares about art, and the process. It's pretty bad when a person feels the need to beg us all to simply believe in something.
Every 10 days or so I post more ACEOs up for auction. The starting bid is $2.99 each. Art Cards Editions & Originals (ACEOs) are small baseball card sized pieces of artwork. The beauty of these is that I can create original ACEOs at a faster rate than I could a canvas piece, and they are more cost effective. With a starting price of just $2.99 more people can afford to bid on these one of a kind drawings and paintings. This also helps me stay in the habit of drawing every day. I always post 7 to 10 pieces every time. The image above is one of the current cards up for bid. To browse my artwork for auction click on the "AUCTIONS" link at the top of this page. Remember to check back every 10 days.
ACEOs are a growing art movement across the globe. If you want proof you can go to ebay.com and search "ACEO" and scroll through the thousands of art cards being sold and collected around the world.
When ACEOs are not sold, but traded they are called Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). There are many websites where trading can take place.
As you can see, ATCs and ACEOs are highly collectible.
An artist that I would recommend collecting work from is Daniel Flores from Los Angeles.
My encouragement to everyone is to try creating a few art cards yourself rather than just collecting them from artists. They are a lot of fun to create and collect, and you will be advancing an art movement.
I love stories, and I would love to tell your story through a custom caricature of you. Drawing a portrait or caricature of a person is one of the most satisfying art-forms that I know. My clients are left with a unique piece that portrays their identity in an image that lasts hopefully as long as they do.
After tinkering around I'm convinced I found a system that will allow me to provide custom caricatures to online customers for $15. Click on my shop at the top of this page and you should see the option to purchase a caricature. These caricatures are digital, and will be e-mailed to the customer after they have provided the necessary reference materials. If you want a caricature drawn on paper and sent through the mail you can contact me through the shop under the "Request Custom Item" feature in the shop.
New ACEOs are up for auction! Check out my tree frog friend up there. He's one of the pieces up for auction. Click on my "Auctions" link at the top of this blog to view all of the art pieces. Remember, each auction is only available for 10 days.
As of today there are seven new ACEOs (Art Cards Editions & Originals) posted for auction on my Ebay Shop. The images above are two of the cards that have been posted. Remember that each purchase supports my efforts to encourage and train young artists in the Los Angeles area. If you have bid on my work in the past, I thank you very much. Please keep an eye on both my Ebay store and my Etsy shop with the links at the top of this page.
Note: These auctions are only up for auction for 10 days. The cards are all one of a kind. If they are not bid on they will most likely never be available again in any way shape or form. I say "most likely" because a few of them could find their way to my Etsy shop or to an ATC trading post here in Los Angeles.
