Well if you’re rolling down to Vegas from Los Angeles this weekend, then I’ll see you there.  But on the way, try to make a stop in the lovely and very exciting city of Victorville, California.  The RVCA team will be visiting Pharmacy store in the Victorville Mall on Saturday, December 6th. 

Come out to meet Leo Romero, Kevin “Spanky” Long, Josh Harmony, Austin Stephens, Ed Templeton, Keegan Sauder, Cairo Foster, and Julian Davidson.  And if the weather permits, they will even put on a little session for you kiddies.  If I make it, I’m going to try to pick up some RVCA Mixed Martial Arts FIGHTING SHORTS.  Those things are tight. 

It’s time to depart with the old and get with the new.  If you’ve been to the newsstands lately, you probably have noticed a shift in the way some of your magazines are being published these days.  There have been downgrades in the paper used.  Instead of seeing a high end glossy finish in the pages of your favorite mags, you’re probably now noticing your fingers getting stained by the newspaper like pages now filling those same mags.  Except for magazines like Hustler, and Big-Uns, or Trunks (for you more adventurous readers). Those people haven’t changed a thing.

Slap have jumped on the digital bandwagon and are coming on strong.  They will be having a coming out party up in the Bay Area on Saturday, December 6th at the On Six Gallery.  The event starts at 6PM and will last until your little heart desires. 

This event is also a group art show featuring some of the sickest and slickest skateboard artist in the industry.  Ed Templeton, Arto Sarri, Chris Pastras, Jason Adams, and Don Pendleton are among the 20 artist featured on December 6th.  Check out the flyer for all the info. 

If Ed Templeton lived during the Renaissance, he would kick every other artists’ arse when it came to artwork.  In his new show, Map of the Inner War, Ed Templeton saturates the gallery with over 250 new works including painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper. Now the only medium he needs to add to his aesthetic is woodcarving, sand castles, and performance art.  Templeton documents his life, and the lives of the people around him, in a rich stream of images – images of himself and his wife, Deanna, in their day-to-day lives, and images of others, at home in Orange County, California or during the many tours he makes as pro-skateboarder and artist.

Templeton likes to present his photos, drawings and paintings in a non-hierarchical manner, large quantities all mixed up together at once. He’ll often hang clusters of works in the shape of “image clouds.” In these installations, the to and fro of the clouds feels like a metaphor for the appearance and disappearance of images, like those of a traveler acquiring countless new impressions every day. In Templeton’s way of seeing we also recognize something of the fascination of the passer-by, the transient, gripped, at some unexpected moment, by the “extraordinary of the ordinary,” the exceptional and surprising existential qualities of daily life.

Check out this Ed Templeton interview over at Anthem Magazine.  Pretty dope.

The Toy Machine Halloween Demo was the coolest and quirkiest Halloween parties of the year at Active in San Dimas.  The entire team showed up in full gear head to toe with some of the most amazing costumes you could imagine.  We’re not talking those crappy costumes you buy from the supermarket either.  These things were top notch. 

So who showed up?  We saw Ed Templeton, Josh Harmony, Nick Trapasso, Billy Marks, Johnny Layton, Austin Stephens, Matt Bennett, Grant Hatfield, Rob Straser, and more Toy Machine rippers. Go over to the Active site to check out one of the hundred photos that were snapped on Halloween. You’ll notice Billy Marks came as Darth Vader, Ed Templeton came as a cop with a nice tear in his crotch, Johnny Layton was a Mexican drunk, and look at the photos to see what your other favorites came as. Also, the Tapatio guy won the best costume contest and landed himself a hooked up Toy Machine package.  Check out the video below. 

Anyway Toy Machine will at least do their part by sharing this October 31st (Halloween) by having a team demo and signing at Active San Dimas.  The festivities begin at 4PM and will go till 6PM.  The flyer says to make sure to wear your Halloween costumes.  I’m actually an expert at good costumes so here are some suggestions to you kids out there that might want to impress the Toy Machine Team.   

1. Bilbo Baggins
2. A piece of poo
3. The Olsen Twins
4. G.G. Allin
5. Tony Little

Embrace my suggestions and be there at the demo to impress Billy Marks, Ed Templeton, Johnny Layton, Nick Trapasso, Josh Harmony, Matt Bennett, and Austin Stephens. And don’t miss the premiere of Flim’s Hail Skatan!

As I have said in the Nikita Photo Shoot posting, I think it’s important to get smart and awesome women onto the front pages of the media because the young girls of this country is in need of some real role models.  Well I’ve always been a fan of Ed Templeton as well as his artwork.  I always felt that he was way ahead of his time.  I have always been a fan of Deanna, his wife, as well.  Especially during the hay day of the Big Brother craze when photos of Deanna were plastered all over that mag. 

After years of seeing Deanna nude in Ed’s work, it’s now Deanna’s turn to be behind the lens with and there’s a celebration of her art.  Check out her photo exhibit next week. 

Deanna Templeton spent her summer making beautiful and elegant portraits of her friends swimming nude in our backyard pool.

Come see the stunning black and white fiber-based silver gelatin prints she has produced. You will not be disappointed!

Opening Reception Friday, October 3rd. 7-10pm
Show runs Oct.3rd – Oct.24, 2008

New Image Art
7908 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 654-2192
www.newimageartgallery.com

Back to the signing.  All the RVCA dudes will be there including , Josh Harmony, Austin Stephens and Raymond Molinar will be present despite the pungency.  The signing will take place from 2PM to 4PM this Saturday the 23rd at Active Norco.  They’re a really dope team so make it if you can.  Check the flyer for exact location and details.

If you’re a fan of skateboarding, art, nudity, or Orange County, you should really look into getting Templeton’s new book “Deformer” coming out this October.  The book entails 30 years of priceless material.  And although I haven’t seen a single page of this book, I’m sure it’s going to be loaded because I’ve loved his work since I was a little kid.  The dude’s work makes me feel a little ill inside but ambiguously stimulated.

Almost like Harmony Korine’ s film about a small Midwest town, “Gummo”.  So you should definitely check it out if you’re into that kind of stuff.  In the meantime check out this description of “Deformer”.

In Deformer, artist Ed Templeton explores his upbringing in suburban Orange County, California through photographs, stories and ephemera from his youth and teen years, giving readers–as he did viewers of the short Mike Mills film of the same name–an intensely close and personal look at his coming of age. He weaves disciplinary letters from his grandfather and religious notes from his mother in with telling images and brutal stories, creating an unresolved narrative that offers more questions than answers. Or perhaps the answers are these photographs, paintings, drawings and sketchbook pages, which plunge readers headlong into not just Templeton’s chaotic existence, but also his use of art to address its stresses and joys.

Deformer is the culmination of a vision 11 years in the making, and collects over 30 years of material. Its photographs illuminate being young and alive in the “suburban domestic incubator,” and provide–in the tradition of Nan Goldin or Larry Clark, with a sharp eye for the streets that recalls Garry Winogrand or Eugene Richards–a raw and unflinching glimpse into the artist’s own life and the lives around him.

Make sure you make it to Covina, California for RVCA’s team signing at Active.  Wait, sorry not Active, it’s at Utility.  RVCA is doing a team signing at Utility to give away plenty of free stuff and meet all their fans.  The team signing will take place on Saturday May 31st from 1-3pm.  Some of my favorite hessian minded skaters will be there including Leo Romero, Kevin Spanky Long, Josh Harmony, Ethan Fowler, Austin Stephens, Raymond Molinar, David Reyes, and Ed Templeton. 

Check out the flyer for all the details. 
 

Just like Lakai, Toy Machine too has a new site. While Lakai went the fine aesthetic route with clever flash cartoons and fancy buttons, Toy Machine went the straight to the point route with disturbing pictures and interesting content.  Not to say Lakai’s isn’t interesting, but Toy Machine is probably a better read with day in the life “diary entries” and breathtaking photography, just like the photo above.  You have to check it out for yourself.  I definitely bookmarked this site.