Recently, on a sticky summer night in late July, gallerist and filmmaker Aaron Rose and Tokion Magazine gathered a group of friends & family for the very first NY screening of Beautiful Losers. This film has been long in the making. The book took even more years to compile.

For those who don’t know, Beautiful Losers is probably the most respected art book of this generations contemporary art movement. Its the history and melting of skater, graffiti, and graphic art worlds mashed up and mutating within the 4 walls of a small inconspicuous gallery called The Alleged. It truly remains some of my fondest memories when I first moved to NYC in the mid 90′s. It was also a symbiotic relationship between renegade artists who for the first time, felt a demand for their work, mixed with an audience starving for more inspiration which culminated into an explosion of shows within a short period of time. Lots of these guys have evolved to bigger commercial projects, but, I tell ya, there was something about that window of time. I’m honored to have met some of the best minds I know today because of this scene.

(artist ESPO hits a wall)

The documentary bottles up this era with class. Director Aaron went through hell (like all documentarians) making sense of too much information. He shares intimate footage with artists who’ll stand the test of time — ESPO, Mike Mills, Barry McGee (Twist), Margaret Kilgallen (RIP), and Shepard Fairey among others. Im sure Aarons footage contained 3 more documentaries on the cutting room floor. Whatever you don’t learn from the doc, you can read in the book. My guess is the book and doc will inspire an entire new generation of artists to march to their own drum, do it their own way, and create something from nothing….which is essentially, the story of all the great ones.

You’re going to have to wait for the Film to tour Festivals next year and hopefully reach theaters. Its a definite DVD staple. More here:
J

ART SHOW LINK
BOOK SOLD ON HUSTLER OF CULTURE SITE($26.37)

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Sooooo, I finally went uptown for the sole reason of checking out Kanye Wests anticipated new record, GRADUATION. I mean, is he gonna “one-up” himself or not?

First off, I’ve been to a ton of crappy industry “listening parties”. This was not one of them. Right out of the taxi, I spot old-school bud and MTV Producer/DJ/Journalist Joseph Pattel finishing his cig on the street corner. As we walk into the off-broadway theater Kanye rented for the night, he shares how pysched he is about his next gig, The MTV Presidential debates online. First one is John Edwards. By the time I reached my seat, it was a already a party. Joseph shuffled in with Kanye’s DJ, the charming Atrak, and sat in front of us. One of the coolest girls I know, Alex Wagner, Editor-in-Chief of The Fader, was my armchair buddy as we kept leaning over eachother sharing room commentary.

I was on my second Rum-spiked-smoothie. Perhaps my pleasant childhood memories of Strawberry Quick powder made me consume them faster than I should. Mos Def planted himself behind us and was full of love while screaming out from the balcony like he was at a football game. Rich Kleiman (second half of Mark Ronson’s Allido Records) sat near, and Qtip was in the house. In short, it was quite a scene with lots of genuine hip hop love.

The lights went down. Kanye gave his intro speech. He stroked himself alot. Then he stepped aside and played the entire record. Track by track. The new vibe is super futuristic. The art is tight, and created by none other than Takashi Murakami.

To be honest, some songs stuck with me tighter than others. The standout to me was “Drunk and Hot Girls” (presumably about groupies) played against a monster screen projecting a Japanese anime flick where 2 girls get their kink on and bump nipples — all while Kanye raps the catchy hook:

“We go…
Thru too…
Much shit…
To mess…
Mess with…
These drunk…
All of these drunk and hot girls”.

Each track played to a specific cinematic inspiration thrusting rap further into the future– with clips from Kubrick’s 2001, Tron, Akira, Wong Kar Wai’s 2046. If Kanye’s lawyers were smart, they’d allow these exact shorts to play on YouTube so the general population can enjoy the beautiful ride we all took in the theater last night.

My Final report:

“A+” for PRESENTATION.

“B-” for MUSIC. Didnt arrest me as much I’d hoped. I honestly need to hear the record several more times as there are already some tracks that are growing on me with a few more listens. This grade could change. Im trying to keep my initial love for the man, but its hard, because… well, this leads me to my 3rd thought…..

“D” for HUMILTY. Im reducing my excitement points due to serious cocky demeanor. Listen, I completely understand hip hop was founded on “braggadocious” behaviour, but there are limits to self-glorification. It’s hard to remain objective about a new body of work when Kanye stands before a crowd telling a room of jaded industry heads “I think this new album is one of the Best 10 albums in Hip Hop History” —– before we even heard it!

I don’t want to sound like one of those generic Kanye “haters” because the man is truly talented and gifted. But jeez brother, bring it down 1 notch? The music should speak for itself.
J

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NEW YORK CREATIVE HEADS.

Chris Pieretti was a fellow Fairchild cohort when I worked when I worked at JANE. He asked me and a few fellow artist friends to be in his photobook, and called it re:vision. Its really a sweet compilation of New Yorkers….

Others artists include Alife co-founder Tony Arcabascio, street artist Swoon, and Graphic artist/clothier Jeff Staple. Pleasure to be in such lovely company.

Here’s the trailer….. with a shout-out to moi. God bless him.
J

TO BUY THE BOOK AT OPENING CEREMONY, LINK HERE ($30)

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A Benefit for the The Whitney Independent Study Program.

Starworks helped out a little on this cool event and invited a ton of cool friends for the Whitney bash in June. Hosts included Lubov and Max Azria, Roopal Patel, Kate Bosworth among others… presented by Sotheby’s. Because it was called “Summer of Love”, I got to bust out all my trippy vinyl and DJ’d a 60′s/70′s set. The lighting show guy was none other than “Joshua Light Show” — quite a character. He created kaleidoscopic mind-bending effects for legends like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Frank Zappa. We were groovin’ together all night.

There was TONS of amazing art auctioned: Dennis Hopper, Jenny Holzer, Terence Koh, Ryan McGiniss, Ryan McGinley, Jack Pierson, Dash Snow, and roughly 50 more artists.

All the money went to the Independent Study Program for the Whitney which fosters innovative approaches to educate young curators, art historians, and critics. The ISP is all about hooking up the young bloods in the art scene as the next generations young leaders, so we can read about them in future history books of the Whitney Museum.
J

READ MORE ON FASHIONWEEKDAILY HERE…

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Buh-Bye to our cool intern.

Katie, our diligent summer intern, is leaving us and going back to school. We thought you should know about this quiet mysterious figure who’s worked magic here in the New York office.

NAME:
Katie Rudik

CRAFT:
PR extraordinaire

AGE:
19 going on 20

ORIGIN:
Born in Moscow, Russia

WHERE SHE’s AT:
I live on the Upper East Side although I would much prefer to live downtown in the East Village or West Village because there is more life downtown.

STUDIES:
I have no major as of yet, and I am entering my sophomore year but so far I am dabbling in literature and writing, sociology and communications.

WHAT SHE HAS LEARNED AT STARWORKS:
That Starbucks is a lifesaver! Just kidding. I’ve learned what a fast-paced world PR is and that everything is high priority and it’s important to be on good terms with people.

WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO AFTER STARWORKS:
I’m going back to school but interesting enough I’m totally taking more communications classes which I had no intentions of doing so before. I never thought of it before and this isn’t the end…I’M COMING BACK for FASHION WEEK!

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