Find out more at: AugsDraws.com

Find out more at AugsDraws.com

Notable participating artists have included Augor, Bask, Blek Le Rat, Boxi, David Choe, Crome, Cycle, Michael De
Feo, Dare, Depoe, Dolla, Ellis G, El Mac, Ewok, Frerk, Logan Hicks, Andy Howell, Kofie, Lady Pink, The London
Police, MSG, Kenton Parker, Retna, Revok, Reyes, Risk, Santiago Rubino, She Kills He, Chris Stain, TCP, Tes One,
Typoe, WK Interact, Marc C. Woehr and Agustina Woodgate. Primary Flight is a launch pad for some Street Artists,
and a homecoming for others, such as Shepherd Fairey and Ron English, both of whom transitioned from Street Art
to the Fine Art arena.
Find out more at: primaryflight.com

This month will be a little different than others. We will be having multiple TSDPs from different artists being released randomly. This is the first of many videos and coverage from CLASH OF THE TITANS, an event in Australia organized by the one and only REVOK of The World Famous Seventh Letter Crew. Special thanks to: Willie T, Good Times Media, Rev Barnes, REVOK1.com, Risky for the amazing studio, Janae at Teasemarketing.com, Ironlak Paint and everybody putting in those 40-50 hour shifts on this project.

Ironlak Team USA get down in Chicago.

A Supervision x Noah Banks film.
Featuring: Augor, Jaes, Pose, Enue & Ewok.

Photos: KC Ortiz
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some preview shots from the Ironlak USA team in Chicago. Finished production photos and video coming soon. Find out more at: kcortizphoto.com, Ironlak.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find out more at AugsDraws.com & Ironlak.com

Photo credit: Noah Banks

Augor - So Called Artist book. Set to be released in December by Upper Playground. 96 page hardcover. A collectors item for all true graf heads and illustration buffs.

Cover photo credit: KeeganGibbs.com

Order your AUGOR print HERE

Friday, September 4th. 2009

Bandit Gallery
1549 Sunset Blvd Echo Park Ca 90026
From 8pm to 2am
Art By: AUGOR, DAME, EVOL, LAUREL, PHONO, SEVER, SHIELDS, TRAV, WITNES
Music Provided by Exile, Johaz, NghtPrwl, Cal Cutters, OneName, Recworm

_{This isn’t called the seventh letter because it’s the seventh e-mail (it’s not even that). This is about the legal arm of the largest graffiti crew in the country (probably the world), called The Seventh Letter. Bear with me. This does apply in an abstract way to our business.}

_{While still studying filmmaking at Chapman University (awesome film school by the way – blows USC out of the water), our eldest son Keegan directed a documentary about graffiti titled Piece of Mind. He has always been fascinated with street art of all sorts, from random scribbles to Shepard Fairey, Banksy, and Robbie Conal.  During the filming of the movie he became quite familiar with the artists and ethos involved in graf, and so by extension I did as well (albeit to a much smaller degree). Two crews in particular are featured in his film – MSK and AWR. These guys are the artists (or vandals if you prefer) behind the The Seventh Letter.}

_{The guys who are good at graffiti are amazing artists, all the more so because they do their art at a breakneck pace while perched on a narrow scaffold 30 feet or more above the ground in the wee hours of the night, ducking whenever a car goes by. Granted there are plenty of guys that just make a random mess of everything in sight – but the ones who do it right are beyond.}

_{Where it gets interesting is in the crossroads of art, ethics, money, and law. Back in 2007 there was a fantastic exhibit at the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art featuring the artwork of Murakami. For those of you not familiar with Murakami, suffice it to say he is kind of the Andy Warhol of Japan, but bigger. MOCA put up huge pink billboards around town promoting the show that basically just said MURAKAMI in big white letters. Two of the MSK guys, Revok and Augor, bombed one of the billboards one night. Murakami saw a photo of the result, then had the billboard taken down and shipped to Japan for his personal collection. Even though it was illegal art Murakami appreciated the beauty of the work.}

_{Have you ever noticed that graffiti on billboards only goes so high? Makes sense when you think about it – the artists can only reach to about a foot over their heads and the bottoms of the billboards are usually at least several feet above the scaffolds.}

_{Now check this out:}

_{Notice that the artist, Augor, has pretty much covered the billboard of There Will Be Blood from top to bottom? How did he pull that off? There is a clue if you look closely. Look at the big wrinkles in the canvas in the lower left hand corner. You get it?  They simply went down to Melrose late one night and actually stole the billboard – or more accurately the canvas that covers it. Ballsy, ya? They then took it to another location where Augor could repaint it ,top to bottom, at his leisure. Then, in the ballingest move ever, they went back a couple of nights later and put it back up!! They didn’t quite have the gear and/or the technique to stretch the canvas completely taut, hence the wrinkles. wThis made the nightly news on Fox – the anchors couldn’t seem to decide whether they were outraged or amused. Look really close at the shoutout at the bottom. Don’t ask.}

_{I tracked down the guy at Paramount Pictures who is in charge of billboard advertising for the studio. Here is the exchange (with his name redacted):}

_{Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 8:05 PM
To: xxxx – Paramount Vantage
Subject: Melrose billboard}

_{Hello xxxx,}

_{I am betting that you are aware of the ‘There Will Be Blood’ billboard}

_{on Melrose just east of Highland and the alteration thereof. I would}

_{like to know what Paramount’s intentions are with this – are you going}

_{to leave it up for the rest of the rental period as is? Are you going}

_{to replace it? And in either case, what will you do with the canvas?}

_{Would you be so kind as to give me a call?}

_{Thank you,}

_{Richard Gibbs}

_{Good Morning Richard}

_{Wondering what your interest is in this, and how you got my contact information?}

_{Have a nice day}

_xxxx

_{Media and Promotions}

_{Paramount Vantage}

_{Hello xxxx}

_{I don’t know if you’re aware, but that guy’s graffiti has become somewhat collectible. There was a piece about that billboard on Fox News Tuesday night that piqued my interest. I am wondering if Paramount will sell it.}

_{To answer your other query – I am a film composer here in town (I’ve actually scored two Paramount pix in the past, amongst 50 others), so I simply asked my agent to find who the marketing guru was at Paramount.}

_{All right, your turn. My questions remain. Call me if you like.}

_Richard

_{Well he never called, so I thought it best not to press my luck. Still wondering what became of that piece – it’s worth a pretty penny in the right (or wrong) circles. Those canvases normally cost about $10,000 each – I was prepared to pay at least that for Augor’s superimposed masterpiece.}

_{Now I’m sure some of you are outraged at graffiti, regardless of the quality. We are talking about destruction (or at least alteration) of private property. But is it really private? Just as Christian Engström of the Pirate Party argues that once a piece of music is published that it belongs to the public, one could make a case that these billboards exist in the public sphere. Why do the billboard manufacturers alone get to alter the public view? Personally I prefer the work the graf artists do over the mass printed ads anyway. I read in the LA Weekly that there are over 4,000 billboards in the city that are illegal – no permits issued for them. So I’d say they are fair game. TDOS indeed!}

_{The Seventh Letter makes and sells t-shirts, hoodies, and some pretty cool jewelry.  They also represent their artists for legit commercial purposes, corporate branding and art gallery shows around the world. Their sites: artist management – www.knowngallery.com; jewelry – www.tslarmor.com; and apparel, skatedecks, and other assorted merch – www.knowngallerystore.com. They don’t make money directly from their art (for the most part) but they do make money by marketing their outlaw image – legally. One of the pro-filesharing arguments is that musicians should do the same. I say they are right – but let’s go all the way. If we can’t make money legally let’s go illegal. Not sure exactly what I mean by that but I’m working on it. Any ideas? These Seventh Letter guys are creating art and making money, thinking outside the law, let alone the box.}

_{Another morsel in this food for thought piece. Revok was playing the newest edition of Grand Theft Auto when something caught his eye. In the desire to establish realism the coders who made the game had scanned in one of his illegal graf pieces. Revok contacted the company behind GTA, claiming copyright infringement – and received a hefty payment for the use of his work.}

_{Strange world we live in, yes?}

_RG

Find out more at TheDayofSharing.com

Augor MSK and Japanese cap manufacturer, Saiko collab to make this awesome ” ZOMBIE PIMP “ fitted hat. The only shot available and is expected to release sometime next month.

By now, you’ve probably peeped the cover stories from our annual Style & Design issue (Kid Cudi x Augor Cover | Keri Hilson x So-Me Cover), but do you know the full story? Los Angeles graf artist Augor, who collaborated with Kid Cudi to create one side of the issue’s striking visuals, took to his blog yesterday to give the world a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process, including a gang of exclusive sketches that led him to the final product. Take a look at some of the images and artist’s insight below…

It all starts with sketches. On his blog, Augor writes,

“Going along with the ideas herd in KID CUDI’s music a couple drawings were done on the plane ride from LA to NY in prep for a meeting that was to be held at the COMPLEX office about what ideas Augor had for the photo shoot.”

We’re not sure why the third person is needed, but hey, he’s good with the pen, so his choice! Check the preliminary ideas that Augor brought when meeting with Complex’s Art team and Cudi:

“After a few crude sketches were produced the realization that maybe the all grey toned approach wouldn’t catch the impact Cudi was trying to get with the shoot…Once back in LA Augor took screen prints and got to work with a 2 week deadline laying the base plans down of how his imagery would fit with the photos.”

Augor was on hand to help art-direct the cover shoot with Cudi, and following some input from the musicain and Complex, Augor began going in with color and some heavier line drawings:

It’s a step by step process, with many rounds of sketches. On his blog, Augor continues:

“After getting a solid idea of how the interior illustrations were going to fit, development took place on the finals.”

“After doing the analog part of the illustrations it was time to move onto the digital bond. Along side with co worker Sram we tossed around a few ideas on what would suit Augor’s illustrations the best. Here are some in process pics of making it happen.”

“After the hard part (of figuring out what was going to be in the illustrations) was done another hard part surfaced….how do we make the background pop without overpowering the monster and Cudi? A couple background elements were drawn and scrapped but one made the cut that was used in sections throughout the spread”

“With all the elements into play the final interior illustrations were produced”

“After knocking out the interior the hardest part is saved for last!!
Developing a cover. A cover itself is extremely crucial. It is what catches the eye and draws a customer in. So in developing this a few ideas were passed on before the final came out. The first idea was to have Cudi as some sort of sorcerer in the woods. Very Halloweeen like.”

“Even though it was a cool concept the first cover attempt didn’t mesh well with the summer heat the issue was due to drop in so it was back to the drawing board. Here are the ink drawings used to compose the final cover”

“After trial and re trial this is what came out of the new set up.”

“The background cover kind of felt a little mack and cheese and the snake man was clouding Cudi’s flow so the final cover that will go to print has a very aqua splash feeling… “

“Hope everyone enjoys the issue”

For Augor’s full behind-the-scenes look, be sure to visit his blog.