For a while now I have been inspired and drawn to the work of photographer Estevan Oriol. Estevan is a photographer who has done a remarkable job to capture the persona’s and vibe of street life in Los Angeles. A lot of his subjects are old neighborhood friends in the low rider and street scenes. Oriol has also been sought after by many well knowns in the Urban Hip Hop community, and has photographed Rap icons such as Snoop Dog and Eminem.

Some of my favorite photographs were done in conjunction with tattoo artist Mr. Cartoon, a world famous LA based Artist. Back in 1995, the two created Joker Brand Clothing which has continued to gain world wide success. Oriol and Mr. Cartoon were featured in a special two cover edition of Juxtaopoz’s 2006 November issue. Other magazines that have featured Oriol’s photographs include Rolling Stone, COMPLEX, Flaunt, Details, The Fader and Vibe.

In 2006, Oriol did a series of photographs depicting street life in LA that ended up on skateboard decks, t shirts, and of course photographs at Upper Playground in San Francisco’ Lower Haight area that covered the walls and shelves back in March 2007. Oriol has a lot on his plate these days. He remains a full time photographer, CEO of Joker Brand Clothing and is directing music videos for Eminem, Cypress Hill, Linkin Park, and the list goes on and on. Compilations of his work has been released in book form this past year. The three releases include Adidas 1979, which he worked with Adidas to chronicle street ball, East of Havana, on Cuban Hip Hop, and another called Ink, which is a retrospective of his last ten years with Mr. Cartoon. Check him out, well… everywhere.

I have been feeling very colorful street art lately and decided to share a few of my favorite murals. These collaborative pieces by El Mac and Digital Retna are absolutely amazing! I love the bright colors and incorporated design elements. I have yet to see one of these in person but sources tell me that the both murals below are in LA. The Los Vandales blog has some great pix of the two touching up one of their murals here.

It is always exciting to see artists come together and see what turns out. The mural on the top right is based off of a photograph taken by Estevan Oriol who is an absolute favorite. This piece is located on Fairfax Ave. (1 block East on Pico) in LA. Check it out and shoot us some pix!

I got to see the Beautiful Losers film last night and it was AWESOME! Aaron Rose was there to answer questions and respond to criticisms which made it that much sweeter. First off, let me tell you that I have been looking forward to this since the windy San Francisco day in April that I came upon it while perusing the the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts website. I don’t have to tell you that I am a die hard fan of these talented artists and can only dream of having attended the Beautiful Losers exhibition off of which the movie was loosely based. The Beautiful Losers traveling exhibition took place at San Francisco’s very own Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and it was refreshing to have seen the screening at the same place some years later. Artists featured include Shepard Fairey, Ed Templeton, Barry McGee, Chris Johanson, and Harmony Korine to name a few. With the staple 12 artists featured in the film, many others who greatly contributed to this movement had to be left out. We can look forward to interviews by these artists and additional footage on the DVD release said to be in late December. Is August too early to start a Christmas List?

The film was beautifully done and truly captured the spirit and pure motivation of these artists. For them, creating was something they couldn’t live without doing and it just so happened that were able to attain some sort of “success” by doing it. I do feel that without all of the press and attention received, that these artists would still be creating. This film really communicated that and flowed nicely without feeling contrived or pushing opinions like so many documentary films where you either love or hate the characters based on the light in which they were presented. Aaron Rose allows the viewer choose which I respect and admire, and even solicited advice from fellow artists/film makers Mike Mills and Harmony Korine in order to make the film more cohesive and presentable. The artists were as is, no make-up or props and I enjoyed the old gritty footage and nostalgic feel of this group of friends who really came together to create something bigger than themselves.

To share the love and celebrate the screening of this film which has been 5 years in the making, art workshops for children are being held in San Francisco and other big cities where the film is being shown. Sketchypad has a complete list of workshops happening at VASF which started yesterday and will continue through the 21st of the month. What are you waiting for?! Get out there and make something out of nothing!

The lovely ladies created by Stina Persson are bold, exotic and intriguing. Persson works in various media. Some of her girls are watercolor, others ink and acrylic, and my personal favorites, her collages. All are stunning and beautiful and I can’t help but want to know the stories behind each one.

Persson is a Swedish-based designer and has a background in Illustration. She has been featured in various magazines such as Elle, Travel & Leisure, and Print, to name a few. Her artwork has been exhibited worldwide. For the most part her women are like quick sketches for fashion designs, while others feel premeditated and thought out with perfectly cut out papers serving as dresses or design elements. She has also done “photo incorporated” work where she digitally works in bright colors and shapes to bring attention to and transform photographs of you name it, beautiful women.

My favorite compilation of her work was a show titled “Immacolata and her Friends” at Gallery Hanahou in May of 2007. The gallery featured works that were all titled with old southern Sicilian names she picked out of a Sicilian name book. In an interview with Poppytalk, Persson says that her imagination is triggered by “Sicily’s mix of beauty, saints and corruption” and with the names and background, each of her women are unique and exude a feeling of mystery and intrigue. You will be happy to know that she is still up and at ‘em. She showed four original pieces at Gallery Nucleus in May and I can not wait to see more!