Here and there in Toronto this past October

Graffuturism

Montana Colors

This past summer I worked on a project with Catalog Gallery, Dan Climan Robert Squire, Alex Rhek and Mark Brand. We took a trip to do an arts install at the brand new Okanagan Crush Pad winery in Summerland BC. We came in to paint a few weeks before the grand opening, so the building was still a work in progress. I had never before painted on such fresh and new concrete, it was such an interesting quality of surface and very cool to paint, it felt like a rare opportunity. Rob shot a short video for the Okanagan Crush Pad, including the art production and their first crush at the new winery. The people at OCP are amazing and a well of knowledge when it comes to wines. Check out the video and pictures from the trip below.

As mentioned in the video, the Okanagan has a unique climate. For the most part its scorching hot in the summer, but we got rained out in the evening one day and had to stop painting because of a storm warning. We packed it up and were headed to a dinner at Kristine Coletta’s place on the Okanagan Lake. Driving down we saw scattered clouds and a double rainbow. As the sun went down it seemed to reflect light off the low clouds and as a result the entire sky turned bright orange. There was lightning striking ever 3 minutes too. it was an incredible sight! and kind of reminiscent  of some of the ‘washy cloud’ aesthetic we were working into the mural. The winemakers also mentioned how storms can charge the soil with nitrogen which is good for the grapes. Picture perfect.

A particularly interesting aspect of this project was the design phase. We were working with the architect and designer of the building, Brad Tone. Bouncing ideas and conceptualizing with Brad was awesome. Our main focus was the harmony between two dimensional artwork in the three dimensional space of the building, landscape, and given perspectives. The challenge was to have all the 3d elements work with the geometry and angles painted in our mural. We ended up drawing a lot of inspiration from ‘Dazzle Camouflage‘ a Camouflage paint scheme found on ships, it  consists of a complex pattern of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other. It wasn’t meant to hide the ships all together, but to confuse the enemy as to the direction it may be heading, its orientation, type, size and speed. we started out mapping our main geometric planes on the wall based on the landscapes and perspective points, aiming to blend, or play into that interaction, the idea of geometric camouflage.

Cant wait to visit the Okanagan next summer.

Catalog Gallery
OCP
Montana Colors

Recently Meggs from Melbourne rolled through Vancouver to do a wall at the Endevor head office.

Cruising around SF..

RIME has just written a great article on the term “Old School” in the context of graffiti. He’s gathered some interesting perspectives from writers from old and new generations (myself included), and from across the globe. Check it out on his blog HERE.

Action shots and Opening night:

Poesia

Suiko

Mike Bam

Jaybo

More pictures of the art work and opening night from Scott La Rock

Feel free to browse through all the artwork in the gallery’s Online Store

Big thanks to Montana Colors and 1am Gallery

Artists:
Jaybo
Mike Bam
Poesia
Suiko

Now accepting challangers.

SONEROCKS

Curator and artist Mike Bam Talks about his work, and early inspirations for the show. Fast Forward Opens tonight at 7pm at 1AM Gallery

My body of work for this show is also my first attempt to do all my canvases with only Montana Colors spray paint.  I also wanted to show my graffiti writer peers that spray can art in a gallery does not have to look like what it looks like in the street.  It’s much more mature conceptual, abstract, and sophisticated than the public spaces that get smashed in the streets.

Full Article HERE

I am pleased to announce that I will be Participating in a exhibit in San Francisco this Friday. Hope to see you there!

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

1AM Gallery and curator, Mike Tyau, are pleased to present “Fast Forward”, a group exhibition that captures the progressive evolution of spray can art. The collection includes works from Jaybo Monk from Germany, Suiko from Japan, Sueme from Canada and Poesia, Robz, and Bam from the Bay Area. In the past year, 1AM has showcased graffiti’s roots with the exhibition “The Classics” and present form with “Outside In”. “Fast Forward” is a journey into the future and an imagining of what graffiti as an art form can and will be. Immersed in the experimental, this exhibition aims to excite and surprise fans, artists, and collectors, alike, of the controversial medium’s progression.

The opening reception is on Friday, September 23rd, 2011 from 630 to 1000pm and is a 21+ event. DJ Don Kainoa will be on the wheels of steel. The exhibition will run through October 30th.