Billy Idol | Kings and Queens of the Underground

I have been fortunate to work with Billy Idol on several creative projects including his “Devil’s Playground” album package and his “Idolize Yourself” greatest hits package. Billy invited me once again to help with the art for his most recent album “Kings & Queens of the Underground.” Billy played the record for me and I was impressed with the stylistic range and especially loved the songs “Can’t Break Me Down,” “Save Me Now,” and “Whiskey and Pills.” I asked my friend, photographer Michael Muller (with whom I’d collaborated on the “Walk the Line” movie poster), to shoot the portraits for the package and he did a great job. I’m happy with the way the album package turned out, and as part of the project I was able to make an illustration of Billy based on one of Michael’s portraits, which I incorporated into this poster to accompany the “Kings & Queens of the Underground” album and tour. I’m very happy with how the poster turned out. On a side note, the “Kings & Queens of the Underground” album is heavily autobiographical because Billy was simultaneously working on his autobiography entitled “Dancing With Myself.” I’ve had the privilege of hearing amazing stories from Billy about his days in the London punk scene seeing the Sex Pistols, forming Generation X, and then moving to NY to go solo. His book tells all of these stories in an amazingly vivid and evocative style. Billy is a superb writer and I’d recommend the book for any fan of rebel music and personal creative evolution. Billy puts on an unbelievably energetic and charismatic live show, so check him out on tour if you have the chance. Oh, Steve Stevens, Billy’s guitarist and long-time collaborator is an absolute shredder. They shouldn’t be missed.
-Shepard

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Not One More

This variation on the print Shepard Fairey and I first created with Zack de la Rocha and Marco Amador pays homage to migrants whose courage, sacrifice, and activism is helping to write the next chapter of civil rights history.   We are once again partnering with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), and all the proceeds from the sale of this print will be re-invested in its Art/Work.

For decades, U.S. immigration policy has broken the social contract and given way to the most ugly politics of fear and scapegoating.   Migrants’ labor is accepted, but their humanity is denied.  In addition to unprecedented deportations and mass criminalization, a war of attrition has been waged seeking to force immigrants out by making them miserable.

Those who fought back have used artistic expression as a means of self-defense.  We owe a debt of gratitude to this generation of immigrants, who in fighting for their own individual emancipation, defended national values and paved a path, often literally, for the country’s future.  This year, millions of immigrants will breathe easier due to changes in deportation policy won by immigrant rights leaders, but millions more find themselves left out and further marginalized.

“We must not allow the rights of some to come at the expense of others,” said Pablo Alvarado, executive director of NDLON. “All immigrants deserve equality.”

Just as it did with its AltoArizona campaign, NDLON is asking artists to once again submit their own works calling for #Not1More deportation.   NDLON will use its resources to disseminate these pieces and close the gap between so-called “deserving” and “undeserving” immigrants.  Let’s continue envisioning and working towards the ultimate goal: a country without deportations!

#Not1More Deportation is the goal. Help us achieve it by supporting this work!

-Ernesto Yerena

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Farewell to Freedom

I have been a fan of The Colbert Report since early in it’s run. I really love the character Stephen created, because he brilliantly illuminates and satirizes the techniques of cable news pundits while simultaneously using the aggressive nature of the character to ask tough questions of guests across the political and cultural spectrum. I’m in awe of Colbert’s intelligence and quick wit. I’ve had the honor of being a guest on The Colbert Report a couple of times and my artwork has been used or discussed on the show a few other times. Stephen is such a formidable interviewer, that I almost lost my nerve to go on his show when I was first asked in January 2009. Right before I went on the show, I found out that Stephen and I both went to the same uptight and elite prep school in Charleston, S.C. I felt that our shared experience at Porter-Gaud, a school where the key to survival was being able to verbally and intellectually eviscerate the enemy, made me more prepared for the interview. I hated Porter-Gaud, sought refuge in art, skateboarding, and punk music, and left the school after 9th grade, while Stephen obviously thrived and stayed through graduation. Regardless, I thought I did pretty well in my interview. Click here to watch the interview.

When Stephen asked me if I’d be one of the guests on his farewell show, I was incredibly flattered, but when I was also asked to do a graphic for the final episode, I was humbled. The pressure to do something strong for the FINAL Colbert episode was daunting. With Stephen everything has to be over-the-top, hyperbolic, life-imitates-art or art-imitates-life (who knows which?) ego-driven absurdity, so we conceived an image that would aspire to the grandeur of his final skit. Stephen liked the image I created enough to not only incorporate it into the show, but to allow me to make a limited edition of art prints. They will be available TODAY! I’m grateful to Stephen for his inclusion of me and my work on his show, but I’d mostly like to thank him for being a supreme leader in the war against bullshit! Even in character, it takes incredible smarts and courage to maintain the rigor of his show and bring the heat to George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The Colbert Report will be missed, but I’m sure that with his fierce intelligence, Stephen will bring a new dimension to the Late Show. I look forward to it.
-Shepard

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