Monday, June 22, 2009

Helmets, Barry McGee, Joes, Johns, Huge Heads, and Art Galore

"I bet she gives GREAT Helmet..."
-Rick Moranis

I don't know if you know this, but I'm obsessed with Nip/Tuck. It's one of my favorite shows on TV. In the course of one episode, more plot twists, death, drama, and nipple reduction happens than on an entire season of 24. I'm not joking. I love it. So you can imagine my jizzy surprise a few years ago when I spotted John Hensley's character, Misguided Matt, sporting a shirt that i designed in the Nazi episode! or was it the tranny episode?! Either way, it was awesome randomly seeing something i drew on TV. Flash forward a few years, i work in LA a lot and because LA is super weird and weird shit always happens, I ended up crossing paths with John a few times and became friendly with him, and he's dope. He is ALSO a professional motorcycle racer and can probably out-speed Cykill from the GoBots, which is a tough feat.

Here is John Hensley and I at my Suru art show last year:






Anyway, John Hensley and Joe Hahn (artist, director & dj of Linkin Park) have put together a jaw-dropping art show at SURU and they were kind enough to ask me to be a part of the show. At first, i said "FUCK OFF" because i hear things wrong sometimes and i thought Joe said "will you be a part of me" and I thought he was asking me to marry him. But when he clarified, I was more than honored. The concept of the show is really really dope.

Theres about 15 artists who are all painting original pieces on these custom-made motorcycle helmets hand picked by Joe and John that will be sold for charity. And the best part about the show is the line up of artists. There's artists in this show that I have not only looked up to for years, but never even considered that I would ever show alongside of them, so yes, Joe, i really AM honored. DO NOT FUCK OFF. I mean, Jim Lee(!) Futura, Jesse James, James Jean, Barry (Twist) McGee??!!! Back in 1992 I used to take a bus from Antioch to Concord, then BART to San Francisco (like a 3 hour ride all together) every weekend JUST to walk around SF and see what new Twist characters were floating around town! So ill.

So yah, if you are around the LA area on Sunday, July 12th (or any time after that for a month), come check out the all-day sunday afternoon opening! Here is some more info, as well as a sneak peak at the helmet that I painted for the show. Enjoy.

Info:
SURU Presents CELERITAS
A Gallery exhibition featuring a body of work from a phenomenal group of artists who have chosen elements from motorcycle culture as their medium.
Sunday, July 12th, 12PM-8PM (show runs through august 16th)
Admission is free.

Hosted By:
John Hensley & Joe Hahn
@ SURU
7662 Melrose Ave
LA, CA 90046
www.suru-la.com

Featured Artists Include:
Barry McGee, Joe Hahn, Mike Shinoda, Mark Dean Veca, Audrey Kawasaki, Jim Lee, James Jean, Stash, Futura, Jesse James, Jeff McMillan, Alex Pardee, Troy Lee, Usugrow, Estevan Oriol, Nathan Cabrera, & Dr. Romanelli!

Here is me painting mine, using my too-big-for-the-helmet head as my easel. And yah, i know my bathroom is cleaner than yours, you don't have to tell me;)






Here is the flyer:






PS: Here is that screenshot from Nip/Tuck: