Babylon Falling-Blog-

Jialin over at SF Station just posted up a Best of 2007 List of San Francisco stores. See it here

I am honored to have Babylon Falling included in that list….not bad company at all.

Forward to 2008.

Click the Picture above to see pictures from the opening reception for the artwork of John Felix Arnold III that we held this past Thursday.

In addition to taking the the pictures for the night Odell also set up an intervalometer and made a quicktime time lapse movie of the set up and opening reception. You can see it here.

Also, just put an audio slideshow of the studio visit and interview that Shaun and I did with Frank Kozik. Here. He will be at the store on January 10th at 7pm to sign copies of his new book Plasticland.

About the Book

“The man credited with single-handedly reviving the concept of rock posters as an art form, Frank Kozik was first exposed to the counterculture world of “designer art toys” on a trip to Japan in 1996. His collecting hobby soon mutated into a new profession, and in 2002 Kozik made the leap from illustrator to toy designer. Now considered one of the world’s top three underground toy designers, Kozik shares all the secrets of this arcane and cutting-edge art movement in Plasticland. This deluxe oversized volume, the first collected work of Kozik’s foray into this explosive new phenomenon, offers a fascinating look at the creation and end result of modern toy design. A dazzling photographic record of all Kozik’s production and custom pieces through early 2006, the book also features his new works in serigraphy and oil painting.”

We will be giving away free 11×17 posters with each copy of Plasticland. And as always all hardcover new releases are 20% off, Plasticland is no exception.

Holiday Hours

The store will be closed on Christmas Eve and we will re-open on Thursday, December 27th.

Happy Holidays. Stay Warm. Be safe.

Click Here for a great interview with our good friend Shaun Roberts over at SlamxHype.

“Slam got to chance to talk recently with director Shaun Roberts in Melbourne where he was promoting the Australian release of his 2006 DVD ‘The Run Up’(screening this Saturday at Fed Square). Clocking in at four hours, The Run Up, which Shaun made in conjunction with Upper Playground (they teamed previously to shoot ‘Dithers’), is a landmark release. It’s an artistic who’s who of street culture today. We got taking about the film, the people and stories behind it, before moving on to the relationship between art and mass commercial media. It’s an interesting, wide ranging discussion, with a peek over the horizon at some of Shaun’s future solo works, including a new project with Upper Playground that’s planned for the coming year.”

“I have the impression that the images that surround us today are worn out; they are abused and useless and exhausted. They are limping and dragging themselves behind the rest of our cultural evolution. When I look at the postcards in tourist shops and the images and the advertisements that surrounds us in magazines, or I turn on the television, or if I walk into a travel agency and see those huge posters with that same tedious image of the Grand Canyon on them, I truly feel there is something dangerous emerging here. The biggest danger, in my opinion, is television because to a certain degree it ruins our vision and makes us very sad and lonesome. Our grandchildren will blame us for not having tossed hand-grenades into TV stations because of commercials. Television kills our imagination and what we end up with are worn-out images because of the inability of too many people to seek out fresh ones.” - Werner Herzog in Herzog on Herzog.

Been anxiously waiting for this release….

VinylPulse Stories on Sancho

Wikipedia

$100+tax

In Store Only.

Click the picture above for a pdf of a list of NYC Graffiti names (over 3,000) from the ’70s.

The list comes from one of the appendices of ‘Subway graffiti: An aesthetic study of graffiti on the subway system of New York City, 1970-1978′ by Jack Stewart. It was was his Ph.D. dissertation and was published by New York University in 1989.

Some hilarious names in there…many that gained serious fame and many that were influential but also many writers who would otherwise never have been remembered.

Meticulously researched, the dissertation itself is a treasure trove of information about 1970s graffiti culture in NYC. I’ll post up more random shit from the appendices and a few excerpts here and there.

One of my personal favorite books about 1970s New York graffiti is ‘Fuzz One - A Bronx Childhood’ by Vincent Fedorchak. Available at the store but not online.