So i know it gets cold in toronto wind off the lakes or coming south from further north can make it pretty brutal. KNowing this i still wildly under packed and froze my ass off for 3 days, while it got just about down to freezing and sleeted and rained on us while I painted and the Canadians commented on how it wasn’t ”that bad eh?”. “yooou knoow honestly this weather is that bad ehy?”. Really? then why is the only dude with a return flight to worry about painting in the freezing rain? Sure enough as soon as i left the temperature picked up 15 degrees or so the following weekend they finished in warm beautiful weather- f-you guys!

All in all though i had a blast, Bacon, Kane, and Kwest are a hard lot to hang with and not have a good time regardless of weather.

Rath & Bacon Upsetter Crew Toronto 2011. Sorry lil jenky photo shop job to connect these...

On a side note if bacon ever gave up writing he could easily be on the PBA tour. I forgot how fun bowling is…

Bowling....

3a Sketch Ups

By my ‘I&iPhone Digital Computer Multi-tool Device’ it was noon-thirty before sketching started, Great Caesars ghost in the shell, we moving slower then Hell. We had a lot of Poopy diaper stories to catch up on, i guess, and i slowly found my desire to paint anything fading faster then Krylon grape in sun. It wasnt too hot, the last two walls i painted beat this day by 15-20 degrees, we had some breeze too. This was was closer to the crib by an hour then the last few places i painted, so it wasnt the trip time. I had food with me and had eaten before i left the house as well (fat america). Still something was off ALL day… I fully blame Kem5; hes generally the spark that brings action to the dark, and when hes kinda eh-eh about the day, it trickles down like Reaganomicss. 3a is all about Business before pleasure, one of the reasons I have so much respect for these guys is the work ethic they bring to everything they do- I try to just not embarrass them as we go.  So I was ready to be at the wall at 9am, but Kem said theyd arrive at 10:30, sheeeit thats like half the day down the tube already, totally out of character. Extra medium in Effect! Generally as a team, even if Kems is half dead from re-arranging his socks and t-shirts, and playing the alphabet game with his wife while via facetime, there is one of us hyped enough to keep everyone else up too, that “i wasn’t gonna jump off that bridge but fuck, if im going to let you be the only one”, type spirit enough to carry the team. UPS/3a is like No gorilla left behind, but for some reason no one picked up that slack,good work JIMBOE!, and we all ( i say we all but i liked everyone else’s joints save mine, I say we to make ME feel better) struggled to get it in above the bar. Up until getting into my car to go home I was ready to blast my piece with a burner chrome simple and call it a day, which is never how I roll, ill fight the wall for days until I win or at least break even; i stand on two feet no in defeat; but today my inner sisyphus was ready to tap out early.

I know you can’t win them all, but it sucks when you don’t even feel like your’e shits competitive….dead last in a two man race is kinda wack!

Rath X Ges X 3A_2011 X Molotow

In the end, im not mad at the wall, but have no recollection of what pulled it together. But when painting you want the dope monkey on your back, the one thats like, ‘keep it cool player you’re in the process of rocking some shit. Take it easy and don’t fuck up this gimme’; never had that for this wall. I want shit to ‘pop off’ or at the very least ‘drop off’, hanging mid stride in limbo is unsatisfying. I strive  to be ‘markedly better’ then last time or SOOO much worse people think i fucked around and caught a crack addiction in between walls.  I Shot for gorilla status; ended up on some starving midget spider monkey shit. Ugh. I shoulda had a v8.

Molotow Colors

Sketch:
sahara Beige
cadmium yellow
tele magenta

Piece:
Poison green
Evil Olive
Traffic red
Pastel Orange
Light orange Brown
almond
white
Toast Gloss Black (SOOOO GOOD)
light Kiwi (ran out of poison)

Background:
Dark Shadow Grey
Esher Dirty Red (among the favs)
Butterfly
Light Piglet Pink
grapefruit

The wall was supposed to be black, which much of it was, however my section was a city buff grey, which through off the game plan of having a black background, sometimes half the fun is working with what you got, which can also then turn into the main source of heartache, regrets and shattered dreams; Ive seen it happen. At any rate, after the heat almost KOed me i drew down on some of the plans to fill the vacuous grey background area. As Usual there was a good selection of people present to while away the day, shoot the shit with. Hotta Fya, humble I.

Broke free of moms uterine walls
Just to build my own up tall
Now thats dysfunctional

How am I to know
when ive never been told No
Just gimme what im owed
cant be asked to round go.

Been told the world is full of life
maybe we just not seeing it right
Cause it all seems so out of sight.
Speak dumb ‘fraid of the work
cause by being seen as bright.

sketchbook pro, heavylox drawing. Unfortunately i couldn't do justice to what was an Incredible nose

sketchbook pro, heavylox drawing

sketchbook pro, heavylox drawing

As part of the restructuring it has fallen on the shoulders of HR people to ‘let us down easy’. Even in loosing a job youre not in love with kinda sucks. Im reminded of being the only loser to skip school on a skip day and then being bored to death cause no one else was around to enjoy the ditch day with. Whats worse is to have HR people try and sell you a bag of crap, only to find yourself in a position requiring you to thank them afterward. You’re firing me, How is that a ‘really good deal’? I’m all for making the best out of a bad situation but nothing is made better by pretending the a tragedy is really a blessing in disguise. I guess we can’t just call a spade a spade and move on.

Dear Spam bots, Please spam me with job opportunities and or other ways to get rich or die trying.

thank you, Sincerely
Heavylox

So the day after taking the photos i went to camp. I got there and being some what shy and out of my comfort zone i sat in my bunk with my black book and doodled bubble letters. At some point one of my councilors came over to see what i was doing. ‘oh you do graffiti he said?’, I was a lil shocked he even knew what it was, so i said yes, at which point he went to his bunk and returned with a sketch book, that was HOLY FUCKING SHIT one of the same dudes whos piece i had been jockeying like i was trying to win Preakness two days before. What are the odds that my camp councilor would be a writer, and slimmer still hed be one of the people who i had jsut seen pieces by. They were, if remember correctly, done as a farewell before he left the city for the summer to work as a camp councilor for knuckle heads like me.

In the years since i have tried to find anyone with photos of the building and or any other of jests work with not luck. There was such a lack of popper documentation in those days sooo much work went un recorded. At any rate i was at moms house over the weekend helping sort through and 86 any of my old crap still lying around. And i found my old camp trunk that had a jest tag on it, the only one i know off i couldn’t take the trunk so before ti got tossed it tried to take some final photos. They may not seem like much now, but back when it was done it meant the world to me as a lil stupid kid, that a ‘real’ writer hit my camp trunk and helped inspire me to ruin parts of my life in attempting to chase the style train. One in which he probably exited soon after meeting me, haha.

circa 1986

addressing the potential jury

The  potential jury pool for the day was assembled in an auditorium style room, where we all had to fill out some further information forms. As we were being instructed the issue of parking came up, caused a 25 minute digression concerning the fairness and clarity of parking instructions for the day. Seriously grown-ups should really be able to find parking and get to an appointment on time, barring any disaster. I bet if you needed to be at the court at 9am to receive  money, they’d be there with bells on and have found parking the night before. To be fair there were a few retirees and people who genuinely were pay-check to pay-checking it, but they were not the people complaining. Why is it always the more privileged and well off people who have time to mount some sort of complain-campaign, for no one else benefit save their own. TO be sure there were no outcries voicing concern for those less fortunate that might actually benefit form clearer parking instructions or less burdensome parking rules that make you not only take a day from a paying job but then force you to pay for parking, and pay for more time then you may need, just so as not to get a parking ticket that would then set you back even more. NO these voices were completely selfish, ‘woo unto me for i have suffered, i had to pay 5 dollars to park my 65k dollar car’. Seriously shut the fuck up. What is your democracy worth to you? If its not worth a day and 5 dollars, be sure those that complain were NOT losing a days wage, even my employer will pay you for your day of service.

Tokyos mayor, in a bit of whats been seen as a gaff and a super un-classy, atypical and inconsiderate thing to say has been quoted as saying something along the lines of ‘ japans tsunami might be divine punishment for the Japanese’s selfish ways’. Good job buddy, you might be a the kind of douce useful in america. We could sure stand to have some honest and self reflective light shown on us right about now. We are selfish and ruthless and holier-then-thou as a rule as well as in general practice. And its super annoying and disheartening to see in action. The American dream promotes upward viewing only and with the possibility of upward mobility it also promotes using those below you as stepping stones to continue on upward. There is no us in the USAs collective thoughts, there is me and an immediate we, which include family members. The national dream so eloquently stated by Dr King has dissolved into, personal quests of success without remorse or concern for those trampled underfoot. The means to my end is justified in the my Ends being grater then yours

Out side the court house is a statue of MLK, each time I passed it, I looked at it a bit little longer and was upset a little more. The statue, a bronze or a bronze want to be, is almost character-ish. The body seems short and the head seems too heavy and balloon like. The statue seems to be a representation of the way our memory works, which seems to highlight and memorialize the least actionable qualities of which it represents. Martin Luther King was a flawed man like all men, he was human, but the message he preached was done so with absolute sincerity and commitment. And yet this statue is not majestic. It is not humbling to stand in front of. It is not a powerful symbol to remind one of an important dream for america. And there it is a fitting reminder to the sham that is our American dream; a land of opportunity and fairness under the law.

candidate.

The days jury pool was selected, and we were ushered into a court room to begin jury selection. We were introduced to the defendant, his lawyer, the prosecution and the Judge. –Holy crap, if you ever get arrested and can afford a real lawyer please do. This poor defendant, had a fresh from the bar exam public defender and he seemed to have as little a clue as to what was going on as I did. and I haven’t been in a court room since being a minor. TO be fair im sure their are plenty of better than good PDs, however I couldn’t help but wonder how this lawyer, who couldn’t even make it three sentences into questioning the jury pool with out be admonished by the judge, ‘council you cant say that’, ‘council, stop, you cant say that, i understand what your saying but you cant say it that way’, would negatively affect his clients chances at a fairly waged trial between what should be equally matched lawyers. This poor PD who wasn’t even used to saying, ‘yes, your honor’ ( he called the judge, maam more than once), wouldn’t even back track to rephrase is question, he just accepted her ruling and moved on. So clearly this poor guy, guilty or innocent couldn’t afford legal council, while he was set to compete in the court with the state backed DAs, highly trained and well equipped team of lawyers. How can that produce fair results. I acknowledge the fact that had the defendant had the money to pay for council in the first place the chances of him being arrested or accused of his crime would greatly decrease for he’d already have the money, he probably was seeking in allegedly committing the crime to which he was being charged in the first place. However we should not discount the number of criminal endeavors undertaken by the well off, prompted by boredom or greed, or all other manner of ill conceived notions leading to mis-action. Fairness is not what i think of when i consider our legal system. It may be the best there is and get as close to ‘fair’ as it gets, but qualifying your shit as the best only when held up to and compared with other holy inadequate systems is a joke.

Those of us not chosen to trial service were dismissed, sent back to the auditorium to await our certificates of service. Even though we were instructed to not speak to one another about the case to each other it was apparent that many of the group were able to form quick bonds of chatty cathy-isms and were fast friends. I was the first to enter the auditorium and choose a seat in the back closest to the exit; safety first. This has been a pattern for me for over 20 years, I dont sit with my back facing an entrance/exit and when at all possible i like to be as close to the exit as I can be. This may seem odd and it might very well be and indication of undo paranoia in me, however if those options are not available it will not dissuade me from an establishment or room. Its just a matter of choice and practicality, and an area where the idea of last in first out actually makes some sense. At any rate seated near me were a group of woman verging on hysterics over the invasive and public nature of the jury selection process. They were all upset at having to ‘potentially’ disclose bits of information, ” i mean who knows what kind of criminals are in this room with us, they could here our names and the towns we live in and rob us!”, one said. To which all clamored in agreement. Mind you none of them had had anything revealed about them save had their name read aloud, in a string a 72 other names, which amounted to gibberish after the 5th name was read, who can remember all that. More to the point, what criminals show up for jury duty? what criminals even show up in the database the state uses to find prospective juries? God knows the amount of complaints id get to hear if the selection process was a one on one endeavor, you’d need a week to even do all of those interviews alone. We’ve become a nation of hysterical hand ringers, with enough motivation to complain loudly when personally wronged while being lazy enough not to do much about the actual causes of these issues. Individually we get guns, locks and security systems and largely ignore, education, healthcare and poverty levels.

—–

I entered this lil spot and it was filled with fools taking advantage. The plan was a quick, 1,2,3 style jump off, just a lil of the devil that bit you. everyone working fast with a little bit of gusto to get done and keep it moving before anything goes wrong… I look up and see a white security truck rolling by. time to pick it up a bit. Im pretty confident if shits gonna pop off ill get a warning from one of the other 13 people in my little area. Less the a minute later i turn around again just to check on the situation and my lil area is completely empty. NO P.I.C’s in site ,just Hev and a wet painted wall and a security truck across the street. Which brings me to the rules of the renegade, ALWAYS be first or expect to get caught. 2nd and third place never get you into the winners circle, ever.

-complete fiction.

this is based on the first sketch i did in the series of newer lettered pieces I’ve done recently, it was done as sort or proof of concept on paper and then it looked like it might make a nice little simple somehow, which lead to then making slightly more involved and refined sketches. I needed a another 15 minutes and could have made it a bit more exciting…

Art Basel, Miami, the largest arts centered festival in the US, Blocks and blocks of very organized to impromptu street art/style writing. And even more interior gallery spaces celebrating contemporary artists. Sounds like a lot of fun, and for the most part you couldn’t ask for a better time. It does however remind me of why (the lacking of talent aside) i have always shied away from the convergence of creativity and capitol, as it seems to create this odd space of tension and unease. Last year The Upsetters ad the pleasure of working in a relatively quite area, with some really focused but also enjoyable other people to share time and space with. This year due to companies sponsoring the event, i should add sponsoring in fairly important supportive capacities, the Upsetters were in the same location but said location had been bastardized in the name of product placement and advertising. In the center of what was once a quite 3 quarters closed lot Amp energy drink decided they should set up a both with a dj, slated to play 8 hours a day. Clearly there was some expectation the live painting and carnival set up by trusto-corp, were intended to draw in a crowd, who would be overwhelmed by the awesome DJ, and then drink loads of free Amp and then dance the day away in a hot black top parking lot with no shade or water. This did not happen. INstead each day the DJ would set up play about an hour of decent old schoolish hip hop and then transition in to tecnho-club crap; whilst nary a sole seemed to care about the music or the free amp; of which there were cases lying around for days then remained untouched and un-pilfered which for an event filled with petty criminals really says something about the desirability of the product. Personally it seems like it would have been more cost effective for Amp to private label a bunch of cheap waters and give them out, that way they’d have Amp logo in hands and in photos, and also be considerate of the climate and the people they hope to buy their shit. Water should cost less then their awful drink does, while they could also have some energy drink available, it seems like a no brainer that you can only drink so much energy drink before youre done ( for me the limit is zero), but in the sun all day long water seems like the thing to drink, call me crazy.

In the weeks preceding art basel I had been going through a lot of stress, and got to Miami in a really awful state of mind and being, and as i knew it i tried to contain it, but i think i managed to be a flaming asshole to pretty much everyone at unexpected and unneeded times. My frame of mind just exacerbated the stresses of the sparycation road trip. So before you call the whambulence, i say all of that to say that despite my salty attitude and outlook, both Kems and Preys managed to pull out awesome pieces and really made shit happen, while putting up with my non-sense, if only to just make it home alive so they can plan the next trip sans grumpylox.

In the times where i wasn’t on some stress related war path in Miami i managed to meet and talk to a bunch of, to me at least, pretty important, and talented writers/ artists, which was awesome. I’ll admit i was kinda disappointed that none of them came off as hollywood assholes, im not sure what the world is coming to, hundreds of artists all rolling on the humble for the most part getting in where they fit in and keeping it moving. I think this is Art Basels saving grace, and its a really big one. Complete Chaos, but community controlled and regulated; like a grateful dead concert minus the overwhelming sense of apathy.

I had a few outlines and ideas with me but i was pretty locked in on doing an outline based on simple shape juxtaposition, that culminated after some illustrator drawings. I also knew i wanted to paint some characters. I generally dont paint characters as they have never seemed to me to really work out compositionally when randomly placed next to typography. I often find myself viewing walls with characters as separate endeavors. ANd they can be awesome ones but somehow they never manage to fully related to the word they are accompanying. I could be argued they are hype men drawing the viewer in. You come to see what the noise is about and stay for the letters. Its always been about the letters to me. But i decided to make an exception and nike the fuck out of it. So characters there would be.

you'll learn one way or the other, Bible or the Gun

You’ll learn on way or the other; Bible or the Gun. This is how it seems the world is leaning. The polarized contradiction of doing exactly what you criticize your enemy to be doing whilst justifying your actions and simultaneously condemning the same actions by other actors.  Do as i say and not as i do.

rath BOG art basel 2010

BIG Thanks to: Primary Flight,  Molotow, Bombing  Science some much needed support.