Here’s the PROCESS graphic tee version of Chief Nokahoma, on press. We’re expecting this to be one of the most popular designs for our first season. As you can see, we’re printing the line by hand. No machines were used, giving real meaning to the Made In The Dirty South tagline we use. We’ll keep it that way for as long as we can.
In case some of you reading this right now didn’t know a very special guest is coming to EL BAR this upcoming Tuesday night, Ricky Powell aka The Rickster. He is based out of New York City and has taken some of the most famous images of people like The Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, and LL Cool J. You’ve more than likely seen his work on albums like Paul’s Boutique and publications like Mass Appeal. His grainy black and white style has been an influence to many street photographers out there. He’s coming to town to kick off a new night at EL BAR called Waxchaotics this Tuesday the 24th. I’m not completely sure about the format just yet, but I believe people will be able to bring their own vinyl to play out at the event. For more information check out the EL BAR website and for a little more information on Ricky Powell check out his interview here.
More of my favorite Ricky Powell photos and the flyer for Waxchaotics after the jump. Read more »
Contest winner, Kedarius Peoples, on stage performing in the GameChangers “Beat The Odds” tee designed by Epidemik Coalition’s Georgios Saliaris. Photo by Ross Martin
Atlanta high school students got together this morning to compete in a spoken word showdown on the subject of GameChangers in celebration of Black History Month. GameChanger’s emcee & “voice of Atlanta”, DJ Greg Street, introduced speaker Divine Bradley who came with a message to inspire the youth in attendance to follow their dreams. Georgios, Ross, and myself were really impressed with his presence and ability to motivate.
Soon afterward, the spoken word contestants assumed the stage while their student counterparts cheered them on with fervor. I was blown away with their performances and passion for changing-the-game with subject matter ranging from family members who inspire them, Rosa Parks, Correta Scott King, and Barack Obama’s ideal of change for America.
A panel of celebrity judges included Angelo Taylor (4-time Olympic Gold Medalist) and current Atlanta Falcons players Curtis Lofton and Jamaal Anderson. They crowned Kedarius Peoples of Cedar Grove High School (Senior) as the 1st place winner. He took home a $1,000 scholarship to pursue his dreams and a pair of the exclusive Nike Sportswear Black History Month Air Force 1 sneakers that were designed and inspired by the rich history of African American culture.
It’s great to see Nike’s involvement in the Atlanta community and as always, they do it right and they do it BIG.
EC’s own, Ross Martin, took some great shots of the event. Check out our selects from today after the jump. More to come in next week’s Photo Friday…
The good folks at Vimby.com stopped by our studio in downtown ATL the other day to learn more about Epidemik Coalition and PROCESS. It was a great experience for all of us to speak about our work on camera. I’m excited to see the finished segment. More details on that coming soon…
Name:
James McConnell
Aka:
I try to keep my aliases close to the vest.
Website:
www.beepbeepgallery.com
Where are you from?
Born and raised on the tough streets of Virgina Highlands, Atlanta, GA.
Who do you work for?
I co-own Beep Beep Gallery, I work for my partner in crime Mark over at Aurora Coffee, and I hustle a few other jobs here and there.
What are your Current Project(s)?
This year’s lineup at Beep Beep Gallery has been my sole project for a minute. We’ve got eight solo shows (Dosa Kim, Born, Michi, Sam Parker, Steven Dixey, Chris Carder, Alex Kvares, and Bethany Marchman) which is a big deal for us, and I’ve been focusing on contacting galleries in other cities to move those shows out of Atlanta. Can’t wait to go to Seattle and Portland for some future collaborations with galleries. I’d like to be writing more and making more zines but there’s only time for so much.
Who would you love to work with?
Since Beep is all Atlanta artists, the one local cat I would really love to work with
is Jody Fausett. I’ve had this one portrait he did of El-P for a Triple 5 Soul ad for like five years before we met. He’s such and amazing an inventive photographer but is unfortunately represented by one of my favorite galleries, Whitespace. One day. Nationally, there’s this artist from Louisville named Kathleen Lolley who does these amazing mythologically bent paintings. If we ever expand she’ll be the first I contact.
If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
I’ve never been a huge sneaker head, but my man VS hooked me up with this really sick pair of 80’s skate style high-top Nike’s. Love ‘em.
What’s on your iPod right now?
Animal Collective and Brian Eno pretty much constantly. Lately Jaylib, Ice Cube, Noot D’ Noot, Portishead, Slayer, MF Doom, TV on the Radiohead, The Kinks and mother fucking Ras Trent. If you haven’t seen it google it. That song’s been stuck in my head for two weeks straight.
What’s your Favorite ATL food?
The veggie burger at the the Righteous Room is the greatest food known to man. Oh god I wish I was there right now!
What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
The Local always. If I’m there I’m in the back room playing foosball, my favorite game along with chess.
What are your Pet Peeves?
I got plenty but I’ll bow out and keep this one positive.
Shout outs?
First and foremost everyone who supports local art, music, books, designs, clothes etc. It makes such a huge difference; thank you so much. Larry, George, and Ross at EC. My lovely lady Star. My family. Mathis, Dookie, and the Noot crew. Marky B the son of ODB. Evereman the ping pong legend. All the Beep Beep artists. Everybody at Aurora and Criminal. Arsn. Nathan and the future planners of America. Youngblood. SOPO. Mike Germon, Rebecca White, and Mint. Steve the animal shelter of East Atlanta. Twen and Shake. Jenn Brown and Susan Bridges. Travis Dodd the Cheetah escape artist. Bryan, foosball wizard, and artist extaordinaire. Get educated son! Everybody out of town and abroad and anyone I forgot.
As we wrap up production for PROCESS, I wanted to highlight the importance of these four screens. Together, they’re used to create our Crossed-Tomahawks graphic tee which is one of my favorites from the entire line. Most of our readers don’t know this, but this graphic was one of the last created for the line and almost didn’t make the final cut. It was definitely unplanned, but was a no-brainer when we incorporated our tagline, Made In The Dirty South. I think it was at that point where we decided it was totally relevant to what we were doing. If you must have one, hang tight until March the 6th, 2009. They’ll be available online at wearetheprocess.com and at Standard on that day.
Our house line, PROCESS, is going to be released on March 6th, 2009 and we’ll be planning a series of events for that day in our home town of Atlanta. We screen-printed an extremely limited run of these teaser posters that will be up for grabs at some of the events on 03.06.09. Stay tuned…
photo by Ross Martin
DJ Klever kept the crowd pumped for hours-on-end last night at El Bar. Afterwards, he was nice enough to let me catch-up with him for a portrait outside “Atlanta’s Best Kept Secret” despite his exhaustion from the evening’s events. Thanks Klever!
Our monthly El Bar party is tonight and we’re proud to announce that world-famous DJ Klever will be trading off on the 1’s & 2’s with resident DJ, Cristo Disco. If you wanna see Klever in action, check this out See you out tonight!
Name:
Megan Huntz
Aka:
I wish I were so cool to have an alias, but…
Website:
http://meganhuntz.com
Where are you from?
The ATL shawtay
Who do you work for?
Myself
What are your Current Project(s)?
I make a limited edition dress line from fine Italian silk fabric that I wash and dye by hand. First I make the dresses, then I do a series of washing and dyeing techniques, rendering each garment distinctly different. I think of my dress line as more of an art project than a fashion collection. Actually, it is incorrect to call it a collection because a collection means complete ensembles of various garments to make a total look. These dresses are unique pieces; made in series, like a series of paintings or art prints. In fact, each dress is hand numbered so the wearer can understand the handcrafted nature of my product. And maybe even more important than anything, they are sexy! I recently styled a photo shoot for Jamie Hopper and she rocked it. Her photos of my dresses are stunning and elegant and cool- a tricky mix to strike so effortlessly as Jamie has. Image is such a powerful part of my job because it communicates so much about my creative world; it’s not just about putting a dress on a pretty girl. I would have never gotten this thing off the ground in the first place had it not been the amazing photography of Jorge Menes, who has shot the first series of my dress line more than once. His photos can be seen on my website. The second series comes out next week, which I am really excited about. I’m heading to Italy this Wednesday to pick up my new samples. Can’t wait! They will be on display for buyers at the showroom that represents me, showroom Mistra of Treviso. And, I have loads of other ideas for 2009 but I can’t give up all my secrets now!
Who would you love to work with?
Peggy Guggenheim if she were alive… I love her, she was soooo kooky. Wouldn’t it be great to be around her and all of her artist friends making crazy avant-gard paintings and art objects??? I think so. Such an intense era, especially in Europe. Plus, I liked her way with the Venetians. She was the last grand dame of that sinking city, when it was still a magical place, it’s not really anymore. Apart from her, I’d really like to work with my friend Wendy who makes music videos. I have an idea to make a kind of performance dance video about my dresses. We’ll see if I ever do it. I’d really like to though. I feel embarrassed just talking about it, but we’ll see.
If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
The ones Larry told me to buy- my dirty old black on black horsehair Nike dunks.
What’s on your iPod right now?
Beyonce’ (but y’all knew that), an “I miss Atlanta” mix that includes lots of crunk and booty shake music, Roisin Murphy, most of the DFA remixes, some Italian music from the 60’s.
What’s your Favorite ATL food?
My Mom’s squash caserole. And biscuits. And the Flying Biscuit, Shrimp and Grits, Potato Salad, My Mom’s homemade pickles, “Meat and 3″, Barbecue. Mexican! I love to eat, and these are all the things I miss living so far away.
What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
The El Bar, of course, where I like to hang out with the Epidemik Coalition boys!
What are your Pet Peeves?
Those velvet track suits that college girls seem to be so fond of, Americans who come to Europe and act totally ignorant, and when there is music playing while the TV is on-that drives me crraaaaaaazzzzzyyy.
Shout outs?
I want to shout out to the entire city of Atlanta because I love it so much. But besides that: Larry, George, Jorge, Ted, Ross, Joe, Jamie, Amy- you are all incredibly inspiring to me, I am so lucky to have met all of y’all because I get so much creative motivation from our collaborations and friendships. Thanks! I’m a one woman show, but I couldn’t do what I do without y’all.
Our buddy, Jamie Hopper, had some people over the other day to take “school-portrait” style photos and the results are hilarious. People need to have gatherings like this more often. Maybe the next time we do this, we’ll have a 90’s alternative theme. Check out Jamie’s Frenemies series after the jump, and don’t forget to visit her sweet portfolio website designed by EC here
Georgios and I have been playing around with the idea of direct to garment printing lately. We’ve found that the printing process is quite fickle, painstaking, and pricey, although the results are usually really nice when done properly. It’s can become as irritable as troubleshooting your ink-jet printer at home. In my honest opinion, it seems that this will be the way of the future for tee printing, but the technology for consistency and efficiency isn’t quite “there” yet. Check out more photos of the PROCESS Iris tee from our direct to garment experiment after the jump.
Here’s a glimpse of your boy, Ross Martin, working on a studio session in our downtown ATL digs with the one-and-only, Demun Jones. I’m not allowed to disclose what the project is about yet, but I thought it would be great for everyone to see “Mr. Photo Friday” in action. All I can say is that you best get ready! Stay tuned for more details…
My latest poster is a redesign of the Mary graphic I created for El Bar. I liked it so much I decided to re-illustrate it as a poster. It’s a 2 color 13″ x 18.5″ screen print. I only printed 20 of these so get your hands on one soon. You can pick yours up in the EC Online Store.
View details after jump. Read more »
Name:
Ian McPherson
Aka:
Ian “ya face”, Ian-cognito, “That Old Guy”, R-Ian, Krewin, Supra-man, E-diddy, Ian-Bro, Ian-ebriated, Ian-tergalactic Pla-ian-itary Pla-ian-itary Ian-tergalactic, Cruel Ian-tentions, Ian-appropriate.
Website:
ruininc.com
Where are you from?
Mayretta, GA
Who do you work for?
Ruin, KR3W Clothing, & Supra Footwear.
What are your Current Project(s)?
Ruin x Spitfire wheel.
Nick Hogan’s Ruin LTD board and Tee.
Just got in the Yela Wolf x Ruin boards.
Beginning to prep on a new arty homie themed Atl Skate vid. (it’ll probably
be done in a couple years)
Who would you love to work with?
Rick Howard from Girl, already worked w/ Tim Thebaud @ Deluxe. Andy Muller would be cool. Oh and Jessica Alba, I’d love to do some work w/ her.
If you had to give all your sneakers away to charity except for one pair, which ones would you keep?
First edition Ray Barbee SK8 Highs from Vans. No one barely knows it ever existed.
What’s on your iPod right now?
No iPod here. I am proably the only one in the world w/out one.
What’s your Favorite ATL food?
Shit I cook at home. Just made my first batch of organic cornedbeef hash.
What’s your Favorite ATL hangout?
That’s a dumb question. Local.
What are your Pet Peeves?
Theives and Liars. Basically Scenesters, NetLurkers, and Bro’sness people anyone who misrepresents themselves. What a waste…
Shout outs?
Skate Homies, Dart homies, Homie Homie don’tcha know me’s.
Son & Sons, the creative agency of Wade Thompson in New York, came to me the other week in anticipation of their new site launch. Wade needed help with creating an interactive splash page embodying the attitude of Son & Sons: thoughtful, fun, and innovative.
Using solely my voice in a C-Major chord with an added sixth (C-E-G-A), I brought life to the landscape of ‘refrigerator magnets’ spelling out the Son & Sons mantra. Spell your own and listen to your creation!
photo by Ted Ullrich
The other day, Ted and I passed through Atlanta Bench on Marietta Street in search of some big, juicy, drippy graffiti markers for a special project. We were pleased to find a large selection of Montana paints, Krink products, and apparel by lots of local graf writers and artists such as Urban Medium. We spent some time talking to the store’s owner, Rich, and we’re looking forward to working with them in the near future. Also, we discovered a new ink called Soup, which is made locally right here in ATL. For any outside-the-box project, it’s definitely great having a boutique like this in our backyard.
Lily Allen did a cover of The Clash’s Straight To Hell with the original song’s co-writer Mick Jones. You might recognize the intro of the original song from last year’s mainstream-ster hit, Paper Planes by M.I.A. Although Lily’s version won’t cause your friends to do this or this, it is an interesting take on a classic song.
Download: Lily Allen - Straight to Hell
The Obama Poster is finally done and in the EC Online Store. Pick one up and support our new president. I’m working on some new designs this weekend so stay tuned. Sneak peeks coming soon.
View details after jump. Read more »
So this week we’ll be taking a look at the photographer Patrick O’Dell. O’Dell made his way up as a skateboard photographer for Thrasher magazine, eventually working his way up to photo editor of Vice magazine for a brief moment, and has now moved on to be the mastermind behind one of the best online television series, Epicly Later’d. If anyone out there is a fan of skateboarding or looking for something good to watch go and check out his television show. You wont be disappointed.
