From R + I Creative:

From the schoolyard kids to the marketers everybody wants to get close to the cool guy…so what defines cool?
R+I Creative presents “The Pursuit Of Cool”, a short series about hedonism, sharing and meeting cool people with stories.

It all started with one quote…
“There is no algorithm to define cool, you just know it when you see it”.
ricreative.com/​The_Pursuit_Of_Cool/​TPOC.pdf

Featuring: Coltrane Curtis, Michele Savoia “The Tailor”, Ron Grant from “Ron grant & Friends” at The Village Underground…

Pt. 1 Featuring Mike Savoia

Chicago by boat: A timelapse journey from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Taken from Arrested Motion:

The last time Barbara Kruger had a solo exhibition in Los Angeles, it was for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in 1999. Thanks to L&M Arts in Venice, Angelenos are once again able to immerse themselves in a one-woman show filled with her recent work.

Consisting of a multi-channel video installation running 13 minutes, a room “wrap”, exterior wall projection, and room filled with smaller-sized text pieces on panel, the legendary conceptual artist provided a multitude of options to receive her messages and ideas. Striped bare of color and images, Kruger’s text-based work contained the minimum of just letters and words in black and white. The audience interacts by reading and walking on and around the work. We have images here, but to truly appreciate the exhibition, you need to make the trip to L&M and experience it as it was meant to be seen.

Go here to see more pics of the exhibit…

GoWhereHipHop Sits Down With Common & Dr. Maya Angelou from Cam Be on Vimeo.

I don’t really have to provide an explanation on why you should watch this do I?

Oh. Props to Chicago Now (GoWhereHipHop)

From Kiss My Black Ads and New Black Man

Here is a summary from PBS and commentary from Michael Ray Charles on his art:

“Michael Ray Charles’ paintings investigate stereotypes drawn from the history of American advertising, product packaging, billboards, and commercials. Charles draws comparisons between Sambo, Mammy, and minstrel images of an earlier era and contemporary portrayals of black youths, celebrities, and athletes- images he sees as a constant in the American subconscious.”

“You’ve got to think of how these images were used in American culture…they were everywhere and they were used to market anything from oils to ink, from food products to clothing…People operate from an emotional place when they see these images because they think of the past as being something that happened and that the concepts don’t linger. But these concepts continue to affect us in many ways, in modern concepts of advertising as well as in contemporary advertisements.”
- Michael Ray Charles

Props to Kiss My Black Ads
To see more of his artwork visit HERE

Word to 2DopeBoyz for the vids

Now they have collaborated with the art magazine JUXTAPOZE to create a video magazine clip showing some of the artists involved in MOCA’s most recent exhibit.

From Curated Mag:

Activism, art and politics are the intertwining topics of a new book from Gestalten, Art & Agenda. 100 young and established artists are covered, leading to a rich exploration of the many ways art combats social ills and the various methods of artists to build an activist vocabulary. The volume is edited by R. Klanten, M. Hübner, A. Bieber, P. Alonzo, and G. Jansen.

Under the “The More You Know…” act.

Courtesy of Kiss My Black Ads

From Arrested Motion:

Patrick Martinez recently opened his newest series of works entitled Hustlemania at LA’s Known Gallery. Patrick draws our attention to the everyday things that most may not think is conventionally beautiful. Using his environment as inspiration, he often focuses on the phenomenology of his surroundings to peak the interest of his audience. Exhibiting in the heart of Los Angeles’ Fairfax district, it looks like Patrick figured out a way to meld the hustle and flow from the City of Angels with the gallery world of fine arts. Utilizing numerous mediums from neon installations, sculptures and classic painterly techniques, this is one artist that will definitely entertain you.

Taken from Arrested Motion:

<

The Chief went to see this not too long ago and said it was a good show. If you're in the area, check it out!
Patrick Martinez recently opened his newest series of works entitled Hustlemania at LA’s Known Gallery. Patrick draws our attention to the everyday things that most may not think is conventionally beautiful. Using his environment as inspiration, he often focuses on the phenomenology of his surroundings to peak the interest of his audience. Exhibiting in the heart of Los Angeles’ Fairfax district, it looks like Patrick figured out a way to meld the hustle and flow from the City of Angels with the gallery world of fine arts. Utilizing numerous mediums from neon installations, sculptures and classic painterly techniques, this is one artist that will definitely entertain you.

<

The Chief went to see this not too long ago and said it was a good show. If you're in the area, check it out!

Via Kiss My Black Ads

Again neither film nor art related BUT!

This brings to mind a discussion I had the other day about women being “video vixens” and King/Smooth mag “talent”. Sad state of affairs.

From the artist:

One month and seven hours of intense stenciling later and it’s up! With a lot of support from old and new friends, I turned the side of an abandoned house in my neighborhood into a giant chalkboard where residents can write on the wall and remember what is important to them in life. Before I Die transforms neglected spaces into constructive ones where we can learn the hopes and aspirations of the people around us. It turns out this entire process (including official approval from many entities) has been a great lesson, experience, and project in itself – more on that later. If you’re in New Orleans, stop by the corner of Marigny and Burgundy (900 Marigny Street) to add your thoughts to the wall and see what matters most to your neighbors. It’s a question that has changed me in the last year, and I believe the design of our public spaces can better reflect what’s important to us as residents and as human beings. The responses and stories from passersby while we were installing it have already hit me hard in the heart. More installations to come. Huge thanks to Kristina Kassem, Alan Williams, Cory Klemmer, Anamaria Vizcaino, James Reeves, Alex Vialou, and Gary Hustwit for installation assistance and many others for support along the way! Concurrently installed in East/West Galleries.

Check out her site for more info and pics!

Dear Highway Department,

I’ve lived in Japan three different times and have developed a great admiration for the people of that country. They are innovative, energetic, and enterprising workers. But I’ve never considered them to be all that different from Americans. I certainly never would have considered them to be superhumanly productive.

So how do you explain the picture below?

On March 11 the biggest earthquake in the country’s history shook Japan. Six days later construction workers and engineers arrived at the Great Kanto Highway in Naka, which had a 150 meter crater-like crack. By March 23 the road was completely fixed.

My question for you, Highway Department, is why are the Japanese able to fix a 150-meter crack in six days while you can’t fix a 15 inch pothole in six months?

Sigh. So much for infrastructure. We can’t even get a temporary fix like filling potholes with gravel.

NOVA the film from ROJO on Vimeo.

Via Rojo:
An inspiring 75min DIY documentary film on new art and the young artists behind it. Directed by Isaac Niemand, and produced by ROJO® in collaboration with BossaNovaFilms, it was all filmed on the heat of live action at ®Nova Contemporary Culture which happened in July and August 2010, in MIS-Museum of Image and Sound, and SESC Pompeia, in São Paulo, Brazil.

Starring: Yoshi Sodeoka, Rebecca Ward, Tofer Chin, KRINK, Base V, Yochai Matos, Max Hattler, Highraff, Lucy McRae, Kit Webster, Jimmy Joe Roche, Flavio Samelo, Felipe Brait & Maira Vaz Valente, Shima, Matt W Moore, Zeitguised, Mulheres Barbadas, Gustavo Gagliardo aka Defi, Filippo Minelli, Quayola, Javier Longobardo, This Time, Renaud Hallée, Mark Jenkins, Ljudbilden & Piloten, Lolo, Sosaku Miyazaki, Anna Taratiel aka Ovni, Robert Seidel, Heiko Tippelt, B.Fleischmann, Koen Delaere, Taras Hrabowsky, Cristopher Cichocki, MOMO, Yusk Imai.
Music by: Bradien, Roll The Dice, NOIA, B.Fleischmann, Ljudbilden & Piloten, Fase, Isan, Fuck Buttons. Curated by: David Quiles Guilló. Directed by: Isaac Niemand. rojo-nova.com

Via Wooster Collective:
Maxwell Colette Gallery and Pawn Works Present
GAIA: Resplendent Semblance
March 25th – May 7, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, March 25th 2011 / 6 – 9pm

Pawn Works and Maxwell Colette Gallery have joined forces to bring internationally lauded contemporary artists to Chicago, who are known for their involvement in the Street Art movement. The first of these joint ventures, GAIA: Resplendent Semblance, launches this month with a series of projects showcasing the artist Gaia. The events will include a show of new, large scale paintings and decollage on wood art works at Maxwell Colette Gallery, a site specific installation and show featuring additional pieces at the Pawn Works space and a massive window installation at State Street and Adams presented in conjunction with The Chicago Loop Alliance’s Pop Up Art Loop initiative.

Gaia’s art is best known for his large scale renderings of human and animal forms, often in states of hybridization. Animals fuse with humans or other animals, blending visual characteristics and layers of spiritual and mythological relevance. Reclaiming a long dormant visual iconography, Gaia’s images transcend cultural literacy, achieving significance on multiple levels. As contemporary urban culture deemphasizes nature, Gaia invades the city of glass, steel and concrete with a breathtaking reminder of earth and life. Functioning as a contemporary visual shaman, he facilitates uniquely urban interactions with postmodern spirit guides who in turn force us to acknowledge our lost connection with the natural and the mystical worlds.

Pawn Works and Maxwell Colette Gallery will co-host an opening reception for GAIA:Resplendent Semblance at Maxwell Colette Gallery on Friday, March 25th from 6 – 9 pm. The artist will be in attendance.

Via Smoking Section:
Like a jockey riding high on a thoroughbred, Mos Def harnesses Madlib’s triumphant horns to deliver a “World Premiere” for the Fuel TV’s Daily Habit audience and the listening public as a whole. From the moment he steps on stage, Mos is on point. The man’s retro cool is strong, suit-fitted up and old-time microphone firmly grasped in his right hand. He’s animated, bobbing and weaving to the beat like a boxer warming up before the bout. And, from the opening bar to the falsetto breakdown, he delivers flame to the masses like Prometheus.

The track is vintage Mos. He switches fluidly from braggadocio (“Boogeyman so fresh and free”), to dropping jewels (“Life is exact, that don’t make it fair), to commenting on the state of hip-hop (“Seven emcees in a line, when it’s not the same. So let it be what it be, they got it like they got it, but it’s not like… Bucktown”) with the greatest of ease. And, despite those seemingly-biting words, he ends with love. Shaping his words around hip-hop’s familiar refrain, Mos delivers a heartfelt message. “And forever more, rock on.” I don’t know what project this cut comes from, or when we’ll see it in MP3 form. But, for now, I’m sitting back with a broad smile on my face. Hip-hop’s always in a better place when Mos Def is in full effect.

Back in The Days took some time to meet up with Jonathan Mannion and hear his story.

The reign cometh still…

And her voice… yes.

Thanks to Rappers I Know

Via Shadow and Act:

Back during the summer of 1968, just a few months after the assassinations of Dr. King and Robert Kennedy, and the country tearing apart at the seams, with cities becoming charred ruins from racial riots, CBS broadcast the documentary Black History: Lost, Stolen or Stayed, which was narrated by Bill Cosby. The program was a sensation, and I still remember it. Nothing like it had even been done on TV before, and I’m hard-pressed to think of anything since.

And you have to consider that this was a very daring thing for Cosby to do at the time. He was the co-star of one of the most popular TV shows at the time, I Spy, and was considered by many to be a “safe and non-threatening” black man. So, for him to show his angry, militant outrage against racism and how black people had been portrayed in films, and their massive contributions throughout history ignored, was shockingly radical.

Here’s a clip from the show:

Needless to say the show was a huge sensation. It was so popular, and of course, so controversial that the network re-broadcast the program less than a month later, to an equally high viewership.

Later Lincoln Perry, better known as the infamous Stephin Fetchit (for you young’uns, a black actor from the 1930′s and 40′s, notorious for his highly offensive stereotyped film characters) filed a multi-million dollar suit against the network, claiming defamation of his character, which he lost. But when you think about what we see today, you can argue not only have things not changed, they may have gotten even worse. Here’s another clip from the program:

Check out the rest after the jump