Big Honkin’ Catch-Up Post

Ok, the Big Catch Up post. Yes it would be much more interesting to accompany the post with pics, but I haven’t gotten to color correction yet and don’t have the time to resize everything. But how’s this: I promise that I’ll post at least some highlights by mid-December, and maybe even something that hasn’t already been on 50mm.

6-09: Really nice SKA production in the Art District that I still haven’t been able to shoot without cars in front of it; Acme, Galo, Miser and Ezra in Highland Park; Zes heaven IDT (Industrial Downtown); Nice range of work at the Crewest Belmont Tunnel show; Thanks to Owen who told me about a permission alley in the Valley. A ton of pieces there including Solve, Vox, Wram, Gabe, Astek, Dytch, Hert, Scom, Von, Stake, Owen; PDBs with a Wild Things production on Melrose; a lot going on at 33 1/3 for the El Mac and Retna show; Augs, Bonks, Zes and Rime in Hollywood; Buncha nice things in a lot Downtown including Blue (from NY), Kyte, KRH, Sek, Drop, Sonek; Revok, Rime and Risk doing a joint piece, Selek, Gil, Kopye, Gabe88 and a real nice LOD; Spiro, Kalm, Kopye and Solve working together, Cab, Mosh; another MSK corner with good work and toy disses; before and just after an international MSK meeting, a ton of great work could be seen at several locations Downtown (Rime, Havok, Aloy, Screw, Norm, Hense, Gary, Roid, Steel, Kress from Japan, Nekst from NY, Push, Hael, Trav, Augs, Sever, Zes, Ewok, Revok, Pose from Chicago, Fate, Mystic, Bus (!), Reyes from SF, Dame and a bunch more that I forget or still need to ID) and in Hollywood (Kress, Roids, Rime); Ruets, Ewsoe and ? keeping it funky in El Serreno along with Ider, Mock, P82, Pryer; Laker Pride in Hollywood by Tank and Augs; Squid on a freeway work site about to built over; Xpress and friends in Echo Park; Versus, Squid and Arums in Hollywood; Kopye, Codak and Kofie along with Slow at 33 1/3; A bunch in South Central including Versus, Ruger, Mark7, Lokus, Cre8, Secret; Augs, Bonks and ? in Lincoln Park; Prone, Midzt and Evol north of C-Town; Rime, Dabs, Myla, Tyke Witnes, Gary HA (UK); a group in Silver Lake I’m not familiar with on an auto shop (I’ll have to ask around); nice character production by Ewsoe and Ruets in Echo Parque.

7-09: Dribs, Berst, Rime and Augs on walls at a demolition site in Echo Park (amazingly, there are people that would still consider this “vandalism”); Plek, Hael, Revok, Hense, Trav and more in Industrial Downtown southeast; Buncha UTIs at a regular spot around the corner from that with Spek, Bazar, Vert, Chi, Erups, Chem (?); out of towners Berst and Dribs with Rime doing at Nace piece at Soto; Plegr at Sear’s; Aloy, Trav, Pysa and Dame in the Art District; Back to Hollywood with Ewok (super technique), Dribs and Berst; a “Movement” piece by Rime, Revok and Augs in Hollywood. The Movement was explained to me as pieces that may or may not be permission productions, but are easy to read by public standards so as to be a bit more comprehensible. Onward… a Kofie commissioned wall on Melrose; “Agenda” I believe by Able; nice big honkin’ production by CBS (some I recognize, some not. Still have to color correct and ID, but I know Mers, Dytch and Plek were in there); Fearo on the opposite wall; and just down the alley a great jungle theme CBS production (again, I need to ID, but Anger, NicNac and Rasha are immediately recognizable); found an OLD RF wall just off of Beverly with Kofie, Dom, Trixter, Dye and Tyer; Harry Potter billboard additions by Rime and Augs; Swaze (Australia), Relax and Else doing a vertical letter production in the AD. While we were all there, Marie Poppins, a really fine popper/locker dancer was doing a video which you can check out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnQElr6i04Q ; Just off of east Pico near the old Dickies wall, Rime, Ruets, Berst and Dribs did the usual quality work; a bit east of there on walls both permission and not, were a bunch including Selek, Pemex, RK (Ruthless Kings), a nice Blackletter-through-the-graff-filter “When Hell Comes” (THC, get it?) by Chore, Afex and Strkr; next to that a Seeking Heaven with Panic, Bash, WR, Precise, Asylm and Acme (although I don’t know if all those names were present); then just down from that, some of those folks and others doing individual pieces, including Acme, Strkr, Versus, Ones, Demos(?); Lincoln Park with Visions Crew, 254 and OTR including Gil (“2FightFor”), Keo and more; South Central with K4P including quality work from Chelo and Crae (great gang-influenced blocks), and Brek GAW there too (still a lot of ID to do); across the street to a permission spot with more K4P/MAKs including Brisk, Crae, Chelo, Sims, Biser, Cache and Felon; Augs, Revok and Rime beautifying a Hollywood wall; on Mission, caught Sand and pal working on a truck legally; back down to the K4P/MAK alley in South Central crew and friends Aloy, Noek, Pysa, Siner, Aybon, Exalt, Crai, Ruets, Tony, Zuco and Dsrup; additions to a downtown spot with Saut and others to be ID-ed; El Serreno with a strong mix inc. Asylm, Atlas with his new angles, Skypage, Sherm and Acme, and at the other end of the alley Ewsoe+; a big mash-up invitational with LODs and friends including Hael, Oiler, Vyal, Besk, Colt45, Mosh, Make, Volt, Bash, Acme, Cab; back to the Arts District for Pysa and Typo(?); Kofie and Ewsoe in East Hollywood; Selcyis, Ween Whoelse, Owie and ? mid city; just down from that was a wall wih Vox, Wram, Scud and Ekura; South Central with Drop, Strker, Cab; not far from that, a finished Bonks next to an unfinished Augs and ?; the start of the UTI redo of the Bode wall in mid-city with a ton of talent working the wall; in South Central that I believe Drop got the permission to start, with too many to list there, but including Cab, Sonek, Versus, Asko; El Serreno with Czer, Vox, Duem, Pops, Whale, Drop; Lokus and Tank on an east Downtown wall.

8-09
Industrial Downtown with Jestr, Obee, Kueso, Rely, Altos, Jolt, Zul, Eros; Arts District with Sate(?); El Serreno with Ween, Saute, Fucte (hello Bevis and Butthead), and ?; L. A. River made more interesting by Moz, Brek and Srome, NHCs, Chrome and Acme; down to Costa Mesa to shoot Tyke’s 7th Day piece and then to the RVCA headquarters to shoot Twist and Retna; Commerce with Fear, Dove, Plek, Nerv, Acme, Slow, Asylm, Ideas, Enve, Chrome, Chelo, Ricks, Sram, Seroe and a bunch I’m not sure about the ID of; came across a really nice Mear legal mural just east of Downtown on the way to shoot Asylm, Ewsoe, Eye, Spurn Cache and Ruets; back to Hollywood where Dabs and Myla have gotten a nice little legal wall going by where they live, this time with Persue, Rime, Dabs, ?, and Myla; another Hollywood permission spot with Sug (?), and Tyke and Rime doing a nice two-piece production on a very hot day while I hung out in the shade, with Persue and ? painting around the corner; on the way home, came across a formerly blank billboard with Augs, TLG and ?; back to South Central for a new production by K4P and an always interesting Mural STK on the roll-up door next to it, a real nice Biser wall around the corner, Noek and ? in the alley, and Sims and Chelo on the street side and permission truck side by Dsrup; across the street I caught up with Might, with a nice KRH (?) nearby.

9-09
Evol and ? in South Central; Hollywood with Dabs, Myla and ?, and a Zes heaven post across the street; El Cartel (?) in the Art District; Kofie, Eye and Cache work together on a beautiful wall in Echo Park; Gabe88 and Pack in El Serreno along with a bunch of folks on a legal wall including Sims, Biser, P82, Plek, Thanx and many to be ID-ed; Hollywood with a small MSK by Rime; down to Garden Grove for preliminary pics of a Tyke and Ewok production; Long Beach for an SOB (?) I2W; while reshooting an old Atlas 101 landmark (and a relatively new Script), I came across a great shot of a Zes heaven with the Downtown skyline in the background; West L.A. in an auto shop yard with many, including LTS, KOG, CSM, NBC, KTE/Cult/P2I/ETB, STP, UTI; mid-city at 33 1/3 for a black/white/grey series of pieces with Kofie, Enks, ? and Shok, some color with Kopye and Gil; and just down from 33, another legal wall with Frame, Slow, Saut and more; South Central for Might, BAMCs;

10-09
Woken up EARLY by a call to get down to Risky’s studio where Rime and Revok were working on the second billboard to put up in Hollywood. Able had contributed a hand, literally on the canvas, and was already gone. The other billboard was with Retna, Augs, Risk, Tyke, Revok, Ewok and Rime; Up to Oakland to speak at the event organized by Estria and on Friday a gang of folks showed photos and spoke about “graffiti for social change” and then the next day was the invitational battle in Little Bobby Hutton Park with a many working on canvas (google EGIB to see flicks). I was there with Jim Prigoff and it was interesting how many guys from SF graff history stopped by to say Hey and pay homage; to 33 1/3 to shoot the Shok, Cope2 and Chore Boogie walls; Downtown for walls that included Ruets, Fear and others TBI (to be identified); 33 1/3 for the SH 20 year anniversary show opening, with the Usual Suspects in attendance (including of course LODs and OTRs with much overlapping membership) and a very happy Panic who was feeling better after having recently driven himself to the ER just before his appendix burst; Hollywood for MSKs Reyes, Steel, Revok Dabs and Myla, Rime and two TBI and Saber on a Motor home across the street; Ween and Whoelse on a rooftop in mid Wilshire; Kofie working his magic in Downtown; Else and ? in El Serreno, with Gabe88, nearby and Ruets, Ricks (not to be confused with OG Rick One); Ewok, Pose and Rime in Hollywood for an interesting Exchange wall and Tyke and Hour on the other side of the alley; down to Paramount for a bunch including Thanx, Gozer, Rvee and Plek (and I would have gone there just to flick Plek!); to Montabello for a wall by Roten (not to be confused with “Rotten”), Nerv (now SH) and Acme; down the track to the THC yard for a bunch including Versus, Might, P82, Afex, Cab, Tony, Fear, Tuner and King Plek; another nice Versus at Soto which I hope to be able to reshoot without a shadow on it; Zes and Tank going strong in mid-city; Eagle Rock for Werc, Vyal, Ezra, and some east coast friends including Ces and Apose(?); mid-city shout-out portraits of Kobe and Magic by Asylm and Spurn; you knew it was going to happen, right? Pieces based on Where The Wild Things Are, and who better to do it than Augs and Bonks in Hollywood; finally caught the semi-redone RF wall in East Hollywood with new pieces by Trixter and Joe Joe; just down the street were bits by Augs, Bonks and Rask, and near that an old now-dissed LTS; Evol and ? (Seist?) east border of Hollywood, right across from Dame’s Seventh Day piece.

11-09
Got some good shots at the SH 20th Anniversary show; back to Hollywood east for Myla, Crude, Sirum, Smooth and Rime; down to Garden Grove for a bunch TBI and Ewok, Tyke, a nice jungle production with Gil and ?, a UCA/WGS/IBS(?)/MSK(?) wall; a Hollywood alley wall with Ewok, Dabs, Tyke and Rime; think I finally ID-ed Vans as the painter of a fews pieces I’ve caught over the last bit of time; finally got a no-parking day in front of an unsigned Saber/Revok/Krush joint piece; to Melrose for Shok (feels Daim and Seak stole his style), Mers CBS (one of the few 3D guys doing trains), Esel; and in the north alley and interesting mix with Retna doing quick-hit letters with a character by Mainframe and Miss Baghe?; nice joint character production on the new 6ixty6 store wall for the Creature Feature 2 show including Vyal and Czer Dytch and ?; Revok doing a billboard for Charles Hamilton on Sunset; back to 33 to show the SH walls including Precise, Size, Asylm, Panic, Bash and Eye; great Zes roof in Silver Lake; Ruets going over himself in Hollywood; buncha stuff at the ICU auction benefit, but the Defer drawing and Swank paintings were standouts, along with strong others like Spurn, Asylm and I forget who; not sure exactly what to call the industrial area north and slightly east of Chinatown, but the gate was open and I always like to wander through an open gate in an out-of-the-way place, and see what I find, and here were folks including Gash (nice style but I’ve seen him on murals which is toy shit), Ansm, Ricks, Dreos, a little 3D by Enemy EMK (not to be confused with Neighborhood hand-style master Enemy K2S), a heaven by someone from GSF(?); then nearby to a regular GAW wall, this time with a nice “Los Angeles” by Brek I believe, and a Kofie in the KGB(not the early L.A. crew Kids Gone Bad) lot. And as long as I was up that way, I thought I’d do a little wandering by the River between where Main crosses over and the 110N, and was weirded out to see how the city has WASTED SO MUCH MONEY TO PAINT OVER CONCRETE WALLS, I mean who really even saw that graff to be offended by it!? And yet there are sections still running in the River and along the tracks, such as Rusto, then to Elysian Heights is I guess what it would be called on the map, under a bridge going over the River, and I saw something across the River there while flicking a Bonks (with a Dodgers shout-out character) off of 19th I had wanted to get for a while, and what was there past where there are always people living under the street (literally) and the burnt out and re-painted car-casses (Afex and Saroe there) and up the path that was once a scenic walkway (when the heck might that have been?), was Jailer and Skoe (??), next to that a very fun bunch of characters by someone from FTK/OGK, and some bridge bits on the way back to the car, an “FTW” (yeah, your life’s SO rough), Script, Esto and a Resh, and then a simple PDB over on the hillside; 33 1/3 for the Montana paint sponsored show, with Saber, Sever, Rime, Revok, and Vulcan, Apex, and Neon from SF. Unfortunately police wasting city money to arrest Revok doing a legal wall showed up and that was a real drag; Back the Dabs/Myla wall in Hollywood for Deb (character on the Myla piece), Myla, “Bank” by Paris, “Arsk” by Askem, “Graffiti” by Rime, Dabs, far right character is by another Australian (all Australian except Rime); Asylm doing a nice storefront wall in Little Tokyo. Whew! Like I said, I’ll select some pics to post soon!

3 Responses to “Big Honkin’ Catch-Up Post”

  1. on 18 Dec 2009 at 5:28 pmGraffHead

    Wow. Great review of the past 6 months!

  2. on 20 Dec 2009 at 6:58 pmsarah

    QUALITY I really like this blog, now im not 1 for adding links in my replies but I feel this is a great exception, I read a blog like this on http://www.graffiti-art-murals.co.uk by a graffiti artist called Banksy & another great bunch of graffiti artists called the Graffiti Kings.

  3. on 06 Feb 2012 at 2:45 amENEMYoneEMK

    Nice blog, you took me back to that day, that painting was a free style by the way lol, And to all my haters, I never said I was a graff artist, It takes skill to do what I do. ENEMYoneEMK http://www.youtube.com/enemyone365

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