April 30, 2008
Mural in progress
The atmosphere of the new LA Weekly seems to have a "modern” look to the newly bought out paper. I am hoping the new Phoenix based owners will let the paper keep the same flavor, I also hope that the people who have worked hard for this paper will be heard. Anyway I wanted to bring some of the raw LA elements into the picture using the hand styles to create a border. I then gave it a white wash to tone it down a bit.
April 30, 2008
Mural in the New LA Weekly building
close up of LA Weekly mural
This is the mural I painted in the lobby of the new LA Weekly building in Culver City. I took the reference photograph from the roof of the Taft building on Hollywood & Vine. I’ve been playing with this loose, abstract style and this was an opportunity for me to explore it further.
April 30, 2008
Ron English & Saber Billboard
This billboard kind of landed in our lap. Ron invited me to collaborate on a public advertisement, and of course I jumped at the opportunity. I brought some camo colors to match his background a bit. I was up there for a minute and everything went smooth. The bird circled a couple of times but we must have been perceived as proper. What could be better than painting a full sized billboard on a major street in the middle of the day with the man himself, Mr. Ron fuken English. Priceless....
April 16, 2008
Saber and Cool Disco Dan
still catching wreck
Here is a shot of the D.C. old school legend " Cool Disco Dan" and myself catching some tags in the Los Angeles river.
April 15, 2008
Saber Piece for Robert Berman show
Saber painting Will Rize
Here is a shot from my piece at the Will Rize show at the Robert Berman gallery at Bergamot station in Santa Monica. This show has been great for us as a group as Seventh Letter and as individual artists. It just shows how the art world is realizing the potential of Graffiti art movement.
March 28, 2008
Vote Saber 08
Saber for President
Here is a shot from Vice magazine. There were a couple of shots taken, one is in Juxtapoz, and the other are in MetroPop....... Watch out America or a vandal will be running the free world... Get off your ass and vote. Make a positive change!!!
March 12, 2008
American Graffitti Artist in London
Upper Playground
LONDON SHOW
Recently I took a trip to London for an art exhibit sponsored by Upper Playground near Carnaby St. This exhibit gave me a good opportunity to show case new pieces and give London a little dose of Los Angeles style. At the same time, David Choe had a blow out exhibit at Lazrarides Gallery.
Dave and myself painted a couple walls together and got quite a reaction. It turns out the city council and the police couldn’t believe that we had the audacity to represent “bloody anal sodomy rape”, and I quote. Although it was not our direct intention thinking of this sort of topic while painting the this ,I thought that was a good way to end a piece. Pretty sure it’s still up too.
The guys at Upper Playground were on point with their help and the show went extremely well. I think the show got such a good reaction for two reasons, one, the street art market has exploded in London via the frenzy and excitement surrounding Banksky which brings attention to all street artists, and two, the style that I represent is such an exotic and esoteric strain of graffiti art that it brings a different point of view.
London is a very exciting city, and there’s a lot happening at once. They weren’t kidding when they said they had a lot of cameras on the streets. I can understand how the physical act of tagging and marking surfaces has evolved into the under cover, clandestine, yet out in the open, one hit message street art. Slowly the tag and letterforms are slipping away into oblivion.
This leads me to places like Brighton; where our newest crewmember, Aroe, has been holding down the tradition through painting large scale, elaborate murals. Him and his people where great hosts and we all got to paint a freshly buffed wall right off the main train station. We all did a nice production.
London seems to be receptive to what I have to offer. I can’t wait till my next trip.
March 12, 2008
Brighton
Good day of painting
Here is the connecter of our wall with Aroe and crew, Reyes ,Gary, Saber, Aroe, Retna, Insa, Odisie
March 11, 2008
Bling Bling
wood/ leaf sculptures 6inx6in
These three pieces are covered in various gold and siver leafs. Put a touch of royalty to letters.
March 11, 2008
Saber abstract white version
acrylic , spraypaint on wood
Here is some quick and straight to the point brush calligraphy vs biomech graff. If you breakdown the letter structures it is a representation of Los Angeles cholo hand styles. Also It is fun to play with the interferance colors. It brings a new dimention to color theory.
March 11, 2008
Saber abstract black version
acrylic, spraypaint on wood
This is the counter part to the white abstract. These two paintings are at battle with eachother,
oppisites attract!!
March 11, 2008
Oiled raw wood sculpture
Wood sculpture *8inx 3.5 feet
Just pure wood letter structure. I put this piece together in the hotel room. I made a big mess.
I still have splinters in my foot.
March 11, 2008
Close up , Saber Choe, Bloody Sodomy
Close up
Straight on shot.
March 11, 2008
Choe, Saber vomit spider
Spray paint
Street art at its finest, You get bit and vomited all in one.
March 11, 2008
Choe, Saber, Bloody anal sodomy rape
Spraypaint on local establishment
Here it is!! From the local officials in London this was the worst act of heresy in years. "Cheers Mate"..........Great way to end a piece.
January 2, 2008
Hello World
Saber at temple of the moon
Hello world,
This is my first official blog. I am really excited to have this opportunity to share my personal experiences and perspective with you. This intense art movement has taken me to many places and given me some interesting insight on life itself. So I hope you’ll come back to see what I get into next.
Recently Chaz Boroquez and I traveled to Mexico City to paint at the No Limit festival. Tekpatl crew organized this event, and Mibe, Humo, Peque, and their crews were excellent hosts. I also met the MAC crew out of Paris. Lazoo, Mere, and Pose, these guys are great painters.
Mexico City is an amazing place. It’s easily ten times the size of Los Angeles County and with 29 million people obviously traffic is insane. It was moving experience to see murals done by some of Mexico’s most famous artists, and to stand on top Teotihuacán’s pyramids of the Sun looking down on the Avenida De Los Muertos. Mexico’s history is ancient, prevalent and alive through their interpretation of modern art. Getting a clear view of the richness of this culture has been inspiring to me. Everyone there had a nice and even tone and I felt relaxed in the intense atmosphere on the street.
You have to realize graffiti has demolished every inch of the city, and the kids are hungry for it. There is a tradition of hand painted bubble-styled ads everywhere, cluttering all fresh painted white walls in site. Some character named “DJ Nigga” was the most up ad. The walls constantly shift with new layers, from ads to tags and back, changing everyday.
The environment makes the situation. The ability and need to find a voice through the act of graffiti is screaming out in Mexico. These kids take this craft seriously and with passion. It’s still a newer, developing scene but in the next coming years I know its going to explode. It just makes me think of all the little things we take for granted. They understand it’s about focusing on art as a culture, a movement, something I fear we are battling to hold on to.
I met some good friends, and I’ll be glad to go back to find an even deeper understanding of Mexico City. It’s going to be interesting to see graffiti art evolve under this massive pressure cooker.
SABER Mad Society Art Work Rebels
