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Rouge: A Summer Group Exhibition July 20 6-9PM at Katherine Cone Gallery

KATHERINE CONE GALLERY Presents
Rouge
A Summer Group Exhibition
July 20 – August 24, 2013
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 20, 2013 /6-9 pm

Inspired by recent travels to Paris, Katherine Cone Gallery is pleased to present
a summer group exhibition, titled Rouge. The exhibition consists of original
works of art that will include the color red by renowned artists Edith Baumann,
Sean Cheetham, John Eden, EL MAC, Shepard Fairey, John Van
Hamersveld, Brad Howe, Eric Pedersen, DeWain Valentine, and Suzan
Woodruff.

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Billy Morrison’s Dirty Little Secrets x Shepard Fairey Wednesday night

 I’ll be joining my friend, fellow Sex Pistols enthusiast, Camp Freddy member, art lover, and guitarist, Billy Morrison on his radio show tomorrow night. Tweet or call in some questions if you have any good ones! (@BillyMorrison or 1-855-TRV-INLA)

LA RIVER LOGO Contest

The LA River is a continuous, 51 mile corridor running all the way from Canoga Park to Long Beach. I’ve always enjoyed the graffiti as a bit of flavor along the river, but few would call the LA River a scenic destination. That is about to change! The Grenway Project wants to turn the LA River into a useable green space for everyone to enjoy by 2020; #Greenway2020. Think LA’s own version of Central Park or the High Line but running along the LA River.

In case you missed the tweet last week, I want everyone to know about the project and the opportunity to create its logo identity through an online logo contest. Only today and tomorrow are left.  Submissions are due Tuesday July 16, 5pm pacific. I’m judging the logos alongside Marcus Bartlett,Casey Caplowe,  Harry Chandler, Van Jones, and Sofia Polyakov. The winner gets $2020. More info here. Give it your best shot!
-Shepard

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Zimmerman verdict

 I’m devastated by the Zimmerman verdict of not guilty in his shooting of unarmed Trayvon Martin. Self-defense is not a suitable legal defense when Zimmerman aggressively stalked and instigated a confrontation with Martin. What if the clash had lead to Zimmerman’s death… would the jury have come to the same verdict? Zimmerman was an unnecessary aggressor and created a situation that never needed to happen. Zimmerman should have been found guilty of manslaughter because it is very difficult to prove the malice required for a murder verdict. There need to be consequences for instigating a confrontation with, and then killing, an unarmed teenager. Justice was not done in this case. Please use whatever outlets you have to voice your opinion if you feel the trial result was unjust.
-Shepard

Arianna Huffington on signature strikes and our Drones Project

I have written before about my opposition to drone strikes bsaed on indiscriminate civilian casualties which are absolutely unacceptable. This article by Arianna Huffington pointedly focuses on moral questions and failings of the drone program. She links to a very compelling and informative video created by Brave New Films who I create art for and support passionately. If you have a conscience and don’t want the U.S. government killing indiscriminately in your name, please read this article and watch the video. Thanks for caring.

-Shepard

Arianna Huffington
‘Signature Strikes’ and the President’s Empty Rhetoric on Drones
Posted: 07/10/2013 5:56 pm
On March 17, 2011, four Hellfire missiles, fired from a U.S. drone, slammed into a bus depot in the town of Datta Khel in Pakistan’s Waziristan border region. An estimated 42 people were killed. It was just another day in America’s so-called war on terror. To most Americans the strike was likely only a one-line blip on the evening news, if they even heard about it at all.
But what really happened that day? Who were those 42 people who were killed, and what were they doing? And what effect did the strike have? Did it make us safer? These are the questions raised, and answered, in a must-watch new video just released by Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Foundation.
The attack was what has come to be called a “signature strike.” This is when the CIA or the military makes the decision to fire based not on who the targets are but on whether they are exhibiting suspicious patterns of behavior thought to be “signatures” of terrorists (as seen on video from the drone). Given that the CIA is killing people it’s never identified based on their behavior, one would assume a certain rigor has gone into defining the criteria for the kinds of behavior that get one killed.

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Closing Reception and Catalogue Release Party for Good Intentions

We are hosting a closing reception and catalogue release party for Good Intentions on Thursday, July 18 from 6 to 9 PM. Artwork by kids who participated in the Free Arts workshop will be installed on the gallery walls in conjunction with the exhibition. Casita del Campo and Modelo will be providing food and beverages and Mister Goodnight will be providing tunes. The printed catalogue will be available at the gallery for a limited time only. No need to RSVP…just show up!

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The Art of Punk – Black Flag – Art + Music – MOCAtv

Black Flag is one of my all time favorite bands and Raymond Pettibone is one of my favorite artists. This video is F*#@ING AWESOME!! Watch it now and then make some noise or art or both.

-Shepard

Thank you Jay-Z for the shout-out

I got an email from Fab Five Freddy last week and he casually said “cool that you got a shout out on Jay-Z’s new album”. First of all, it is pretty crazy that I know Fred since I bought his book “Fresh Fly Flavor” , a hip hop lingo dictionary, in 1990 and read about the origin of B-Boy and other phrases…. but to get the heads up that I’m mentioned on Jay-Z’s Magna Carta…Holy Grail album from him was surreal. Over the years I’ve met Evan Bernard, Haze, and Ricky Powell who were all mentioned in Beastie Boys songs and I was in awe of their status as pop culture reference points at the hands of one of my favorite groups. I’m very honored to join with them, since I’m a huge Jay-Z fan.
The song is called “Oceans” and is a collaboration between Frank Ocean and Jay-Z. I like Frank Ocean too which is a plus! The lyric goes:

“Shepard Fairey they finally gave me some hope
Can’t believe they got a nigga to vote
Democrat, nope, I sold dope”


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Kings of the Mic

NEW UPDATE!
Prints will be signed by Shepard Fairey, Z-Trip, and LL COOL J!   We got LL to sign the full edition, special thanks to LL for making the time!

I was asked to create the poster for the “Kings Of The Mic” tour stop at the Greek Theatre in LA. The tour features some of my all-time favorites from hip-hop, plus my favorite DJ is Z-Trip, so I was incredibly hyped(believe the hype on this one!) to work on the project. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a lineup featuring acts this strong  from hip-hop’s golden era. I’m tight with Z-Trip and I know LL so I think they are both going to sign the print. The price will depend on which signatures I can get, so stay tuned for that and the release date, but it will be sometime around the show on July 7. Word.

-Shepard

$65
Release date: Tuesday,  July 9, 2013, NOW Thursday, July 11, 2013

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An inconvenient truth?

When the government justifies its domestic spying by saying “if you’ve done nothing wrong then you have nothing to fear” then the reciprocal has to be true… I guess philosophical consistency can be really inconvenient.

-Shepard

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