On Saturday, November 19, graffiti artist POSE and photojournalist KC Ortiz will unveil Whitewash, their second exhibition at Known Gallery, and their most cohesive to date.

For POSE, Whitewash references society’s attempt to eradicate graffiti and stifle human expression. “Shortly after I started writing graffiti, Chicago took an extremely hard-line stance on its eradication, outlawing the sale of spraypaint and implementing Mayor Dayley’s Graffiti Blasters program,” POSE explains.

With this exhibition, POSE will recall a time before the buff. “I am digging into my fondest childhood memories of riding the train and seeing all the colors, letters and cartoon characters along the lines. Making these paintings has been an incredibly rich process, and it makes me thankful that no city official can eradicate my memories.”

POSE will show 15 new works in the main gallery. The work is rendered in his signature style—aggressive, hand-painted collages of pop-culture icons and ephemera—but feature deeper abstractions and new mediums. “I have six paintings on Plexiglass that were kind of an experiment,” POSE explains. “I wanted to be challenged by a new medium and process.”

For KC, Whitewash is about the people and places he photographs. “Much of the work I do covers those who have been ‘whitewashed,’ so to speak, by history and policy,” KC notes. “Specifically, the work I will be exhibiting is from West Papua and Burma. You won’t find either of those ‘nations’ on the map, as both have been essentially ‘whitewashed’ away. Burma has been renamed Myanmar by its ruling junta in order to establish the fantasy of a unified nation, and West Papua has been occupied by Indonesia since 1963 after a very controversial handover from the Dutch that was orchestrated by the United States.”

In the project room, KC will show 12 photographs of West Papua and Burma’s armed struggles. “The struggles are unified in their nature under the theme of resistance, the victimhood of whitewashing by the world at large, the beauty of their people, and the strength of the human spirit and dignity,” KC notes.

About the artists:

POSE
Hailing from The Windy City, POSE has made an indelible mark on a multitude of cities around the globe. Best known for his progressive letter style and technical precision, POSE is an influential contributor to the contemporary graffiti movement, and his work has appeared in numerous magazines, books and films. POSE grew up a half block from the CTA’s elevated train line, and started sneaking out to practice graffiti there in 1992. Coming of age during the golden era of Chicago graffiti, POSE put in endless work on the streets. His prolific output led him to become a local legend, and the city’s most internationally recognized graffiti artist. In addition to his achievements in graffiti, POSE set out to conquer every medium visual art has to offer—both on and off the streets. His artistic exploration led him to become a jack of all creative trades, with successful endeavors in the commercial and fine art worlds. POSE currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of the acclaimed West Coast artist collective The Seventh Letter, as well as a founder of his own Chicago based design and art firm We Are Supervision. He has traveled internationally on his own and with The Seventh Letter, specifically to showcase his skills as one of the best graffiti artists out there. Almost two decades into his artistic career, POSE shows no signs of slowing down.

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KC Ortiz is an award-winning, self taught photojournalist with a split base between his hometown of Chicago, Illinois and Western Thailand. Ortiz’s work focuses on the world’s forgotten and overlooked people and issues. He has covered conflict throughout Southeast Asia, focusing on the human suffering and the policies that enable conflict, as well as humanitarian issues throughout the world. The aim of his photography is to bring awareness to the masses of those that are suffering most, often times completely unseen by the majority. His work has appeared in A-Magasinet, Global Post, Juxtapoz, Newsweek, Time, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications across the globe. Ortiz’s work has been exhibited in a number of museums and galleries including The Newseum, The Corcoran, The Frontline Club, Known Gallery, Rivera and Rivera Gallery, Guerrero Gallery, and others. In 2011, Ortiz’s work was recognized with a first place award from the prestigious Pictures of The Year International.

POSE & KC Ortiz | Whitewash

Opening Reception Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 8‑11pm
On View November 19 – December 10, 2011

Known Gallery
441 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90036
T: 310-860-6263

KNOWN GALLERY

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KC ORTIZ

AAAHH The Splendor Of Pareee……….. No place better to get twacked out on Cafe Au Lait and Spliffs….

Risky and I recently stumbled upon this amazing mural in the Terminal Annex building on Alameda in Downtown Los Angeles. Boris Deutsch painted the mural, from 1941 to 1944 during the tale end of the Great Depression and in the run up to the Second World War. This mural was made possible by the WPA (Works Progress Administration), which put Americans to work during difficult times. The WPA is responsible for a variety of projects throughout the country including hiring artists to create beautiful historical pieces of artwork.

Without the WPA we wouldn’t have this amazing mural in LA, not to mention hundreds of other amazing murals all over the country. This particular mural reflects what was happening historically at the time. The artwork ends with a visual description of the beginning of World War Two, leaving the viewer with a sense of anxiety knowing what was ahead for our country.

Now fast forward to my generation. The timeline we reside in is coined ”The Great Recession”. We are facing severe economic difficulties due to the decisions of current and previous lawmakers that created a wealth gap so vast that there seems to be no end in site. To put things in perspective the current city government of Los Angeles actually spent millions of dollars each year to remove art and criminalize artists. New laws have been put in place that actually ban public murals and deem them signage and not art. Groups of sheriff go to local business to harass them for having murals on their premises and threaten them with fines and jail time if the owner does not comply and remove the artwork. Basically taxpayer’s are providing the funds to pay many private “Graffiti Removal” companies to censor art at will.

The supposed war on graffiti is actually a war on small business and freedom of expression. The City Of Los Angeles, once known as “The Mural Capitol Of The World”, is now specializing in the criminalization of public art. In 2011 its more probable that an artist will go to jail to quench the private prison industry’s feeding frenzy then a tax paying citizen of the city actually get a permit to paint a beautiful mural.

As we left, a group of security guards told us terminal annex is no longer a federal building, and we needed permission to film the murals that once belonged to the people of the USA. It seems a private company that doesn’t appreciate visitors enjoying the historical artwork that was originally for everyone now owns Terminal Annex. Of course as we leave we acknowledge the generic large corporate sign “corpocorp” displayed outside that basically is equal to a no trespassing sign. Is this the future of America?…………………………

Graffiti is Graffiti, StreetArt is StreetArt but what is in this show is ART. The reason these works were even in the museum is because the art work speaks for itself. All of this hype centered around the idea that “StreetArt” only belongs in the streets and that this museum show has some how disrupted this code is a limited argument. Its only the named label of “Street” art that seems to cause conflict.  Graffiti and StreetArt are an act of a public artistic display but the idea that it only belongs outdoors falls short of the bigger picture that this art has greater merits than it being on someones walls. To prove that point I started this blog off with Chaz Bojorquez’s Graffiti Mandala as a perfect example of a timeless hand painted masterpiece. Graffiti/StreetArt label or not nobody can deny the crafted ability of this piece yet again proving the fact that its all about the work. We Graffiti artists just happen to come from painting ART In The Streets…..

Here we come to the end of the Art In the Streets show at Museum Of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. Over two hundred thousand people came to see the show. I would say the show was a huge success!  Over ten years ago I can remember scratching my name on the toilet seats in the museum restroom hoping that someone would notice my name. Now I can say I painted a huge mural on the museum walls with many of my friends working besides me.  Thank You to the people at MOCA for allowing us this opportunity to share our art work with the people…. This may be the end of “Art In The Streets” but its only the beginning for art in the street.

Art Work Rebels In The MOCA

“Outside In” Trailer

As Their Work Gains Notice, These Painters Suffer For Their Art

The Devil Wears A Pink Suit: A Response To “Radical Graffiti Chic”

Citing Finances, The Brooklyn Museum Cancels Plans For Graffiti Exhibit

Estevan Oriol X Spaghetto: Art in the Streets collab short film from Levi's Film Workshop on Vimeo.

It was a bright Sunday afternoon and I was standing outside with my good friend Push.
We were chatting about the latest bullshit, when a passenger plane flew over and we both looked up at it. As it passed we noticed a small bright dot in the blue sky. We both acknowledged it as something out of the ordinary so I ran inside to grab my camera.
I came back outside and the object was still in the same place. It stayed perfectly still for a minute and then suddenly moved in a slow and steady pace West. It seemed at the highest point in the sky at which my eye could recognize detail of that size. I shot the photos with a 12 mega-pixel G-9 Cannon camera. I uploaded the images and increased the dots per square inch to 20,000 to see it close up. I was lucky enough to have a great camera that always shoots clean shots.

So, do I believe the photographs I took are evidence of little green men lurking around the edges of space waiting to abduct their next colonoscopy victim? Perhaps I can look at this from realistic point of view. I have seen many missiles launches over the west coast for as long as I can remember. Twice I’ve captured the MinMan3 Missile Defense system exploding in the atmosphere. It’s launched from Vandenberg air force base, to the north of Los Angeles. I even used those images as reference for some of oil paintings. When most people see the paintings they think they’re extraterrestrial.

The point is…. we really don’t know what’s flying around in our skies. We really have no idea what crazy projects have been developed at taxpayer expense. If I saw the Stealth Bomber blasting over my head, while on liquid at Burning Man I sure as hell would think that something was going on. It’s our imagination that created the boogeyman and it’s our imagination that built the machines that bombed him. Personally I really wish there were little green men, maybe we can learn something totally new. Anyway, I still can say I have seen an Unidentified Flying Object…………

I like building the layers on a light board. I think the light mesmerizes me into a cathartic state. Trying to separate the outline layer was seriously a bitch. I widdled down the charcoal pencils all they way to the stubs. My man Justin saved the day with this last piece of scrap film that had a tooth to the texture. The other film was too smooth for the pencils and the paint pens would just clogged up. Tony printed a test piece red so I could see the lines to register too. We also printed a subtle pearl sheen on the white parts of the letters. This guy Tony is a machine. He is an amazing printer but also a great problem solver. I’m used to approaching things unconventional, that’s just because I do what feels best. Working with Tony at Modern Multiples has taught me how to approach problem solving in a whole new light. Print making is no joke but we talk a lot of shit while doing it…….

PURCHASE INFO….

It was a great opening, with a large eclectic group of artists. Definitely some heavy hitters.

Saber- “Mini Birdwatching”

Here are some photos I took recently of some real nasty looking spiders.

The second one is an scorpion impostor (Solfugids, not technically spiders but belong to an order of arachnids known for their speed and their large, biting fangs). I think it’s a camel spider or a sun spider.

I found this site called Spiderzrule that has more info on these guys, and loads more images.