Finally. After a beast of a project, I’m back in NYC. Spent almost 2 weeks in L.A., which is cool but it’s great to get back to my own bed. Here’s some flicks of the Feb. 21st opening reception for my gallery show, Hype Hustle Rip-Off:
To start it off, opening the “Hype” concept up to the people, we had a sick sign-spinner: the evening was jumpin’ in Culver City on the 21st, with multiple openings including the mayhem of the Kaws show across the street, so we had to come correct!
Maurice the sign-spinner, booked six weeks earlier to ensure his expertise would be present, killed it out on the street! I mean, this dude was good - apparently he won a sign-spinning contest for L.A. last year or something - he was wilding out, spinning the ‘HYPE’ sign on his head, in the air, on his back… Nuts. Definitely a highlight.
Some buzz on the internet about this ‘R2D2 Boombox’ that I made for the show - Gizmodo ran a photo of the thing that they found on the Mishka blog (Thanks for the nice review of the show, Greg! Learning that someone at Gizmodo is up on Mishka is sort of startling in itself!) and there were some really positive reviews of the show on other blogs.
John C. Reilly and Adam Yauch stopped in after the Spirit Awards, where a film Yauch’s Oscilloscope Pictures had distributed, Wendy and Lucy, had been nominated for best picture. The film didn’t win, but getting a nod like that within your first year of business seems like a good start for his film distro company, I’d bet. Reilly was really friendly, we had a quick chat about The Wrestler. Seeing those guys in suits made me want a better suit - I have some thrift-store thing that isn’t even as cool as it sounds when you say ‘thrift-store.’ Something to look into for the ‘09. Anyway…
It breaks my heart that this photo is out of focus, but it also looks sorta cool:
A lot of people rolled through and it was great seeing everyone - from left to right: Here’s my man Tony Chan, just in from MAGIC where he was showing his new BoChan line, sorta some sophisticated heat, Selim (a friend of Dante Ross’ that I just met), Adam Yauch, Dante Ross, and myself. Dante’s a bigger-picture dude you really already ought to know about, but if you don’t, just Google a few combinations of his name, De La Soul, Leaders of the New School, Brand Nubian, Pete Rock, or Everlast. Then go look up the Wax Poetics magazine interview. Then look up “SD-50 production team,” then you might have an idea of what sort of key ingredient this guy has been to hip-hop. Dante: Good to see you in L.A. and thanks for the support, my man!
Here’s yet another picture with Yauch in it (sorry about that, it’s really not his style to show up in every photo!) but I’m actually putting this pic in to give thanks and props to my friend Charlie Becker, on the left with the red shirt on - he was essential in pulling the whole show off. He helped coordinate a lot of aspects that just had to happen, with a knowledge of how to do it and where in L.A. to get the parts needed, or where to get them done. Invaluable. Thanks again, Charlie! Also on the right of Yauch is my friend Patrick Li, who made the trek west with a few other long-time NYC friends to see the show.
The gallery filled fast, and was full on until around 8:30, when a second wave floated over, no doubt people from the Kaws show ending at that time. We stayed until about 10pm.
A day later, before heading down to SD, we got together for a lunch at an L.A. institution, Philippe’s - french dip sandwiches and the illest mustard with a horseradish kick to rival wasabi. It will take your tonsils and send ‘em limping home past curfew. I fucked up and forgot to buy a jar when I left. I’d been to Philippe’s before with Dov from DKE Toys, but didn’t realize it until I saw the place again. The way they’ve set the language to ‘French’ on the ATM in the place is a nice touch. Looking at this photo below, I look like I’m wrecked, and I suppose I was: preparing that show really took it out of me. Here’s a bunch of dudes that look like they really ought to be eating healthier food than double-dipped roast beef sandwiches:
Mike B, Matt Diehl, Me, Nikos Constant, Charlie, Colby Parker Jr., Tony Chisel
That’s enough about this art show. If you want to see it, it’s up at the Constant Gallery in Los Angeles until the 28th of March - if you can’t make it and you want to see the pieces, I just put up a full catalog on my website, click here to see it.
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Aw yeah! Shout-outs! 1989 inner-sleeve from the LP style! Thanks to all who made the show possible and a success: Nikos and Linda at the Constant Gallery, my mom, my dad (I hope you’re watching!), The patient and talented folks at Axelle in Brooklyn, SuperSample, K-Boom, Sign Expo, Eric Z on droid duty, Tod at ThingM, Glen E. for digging up the Ice-T flick when things were looking bleak on the research tip, Joe at Brooklyn Machine Works, Soho Crates, The ill trifecta of advice: Kaws, Reas, Ryan McGinness - thanks guys! The almighty Yuki, Charlie, Yauch, Geniveve, David, Sinuhe, Sam, Wendy & Ruby, Colby, Miguel, Patrick, Linda, Marion, Christina, Jamie, Zoe, Andre, Tony, Alex, Migdallion, The Villareal fam, Stan, Grant, Zasimo, and everyone who got stoked when you saw the show. I want to do it all over again.
Posted by Bill McMullen on March 03, 2009 at 01:04 AM
