Hi Crowd!
Before we jump into it just a reminder that there are preorders available for my UNFINISHED PROJECTS photos book, as well as PUNKS NOT DED, my unofficial companion to Phaidon's soon to be published CRYPTOPUNKS: FREE TO CLAIM. I'm using a new printer for these, and just ordered 10 test copies of UNFINISHED PROJECTS which, if they look good, will serve as a limited pre-release edition before I do the full initial print run and those will be prioritized to the first orders I get on the book. PUNKS NOT DED will be available in both hard and soft cover, the hard cover being a special crypto edition for the super nerds. I also recently framed some of my photographs and they look great, but I'm out of wall space and since I don't want to have a house full of my own framed art (I prefer using that space for other people's art as much as I can) I think I'm going to privately offer up some of the previously framed pieces I have. These will be much more expensive as I get really nice frames made, but if thats something you might be interested in let me know. I'm also thinking about doing a book of these tree stump portrait things I've been doing (top image) but still kind of working through that idea.
Speaking of framed art, we just did some major re-curation around the house here. It's always nice to get new things framed and move existing things around to give new ways to experience art. One thing I really love in this iteration is a took one wall and decided that was only going to have music related pieces. I've typically always sorted visually, so this was a different take entirely. The result is a I have a wall of a photos and paintings and illustrations and cover art done by friends and musicians and designers and sometimes all of the above which don't necessarily match visually but tell a wonderful story collectively. the wall now features work from Glen E Friedman, Dwid Hellion, Travis Keller, Jesse Michaels, Skinhead Rob, Robby Redcheeks, John Yates and others and includes references to At The Drive In, Beastie Boys, Crass, Ink & Dagger, Joy Division, and Ol' Dirty Bastard. It's lovely and makes me smile every time I look at it.
Having beautiful art on your walls is a wonderful thing, when that art is made by and reminds you of your friends is even better. I also have my giant guitar amp and noise synths in the same room which helps whilst rocking out. Highly recommended set up.
So, this is going to be a week eh?
Depending on when you read this the US election is either hours away from kicking off or well on the way. There's still no clear cut winner, though it seems everyone is already assuming Trump will claim victory long before the count is finished and chaos will ensue no matter the actual outcome. So, buckle up. I saw this prediction map and it's the first one I've generally agreed with. I'll say this, the fact that we're here, today, and the situation is what it is, is a massive condemnation of both parties and the entire US political system. The damage that has been done, I don't know it gets fixed and it's wild to me to watch so many people acting like this all ends Nov 6th. Personally, I can say that what little faith I had in the system has been seriously eroded. I still think it's going to get worse before it gets worse, and George Carlin's position here makes more and more sense every day.
I made a note last week to tell you about Peanut the Squirrel (and poor Fred the Raccoon) but that turned into a political shitshow as well so I'm not going to touch it at this point. When I made the note to tell you about it everything was still cute and fun, and then it had a really depressing end.
If you have one of those ubiquitous black plastic spatulas now is a good time to throw it in the trash.
I don't want to be all pessimistic so I'll note that my friend Hiroko in Tokyo sent out this online petition to try and prevent a number of wonderful trees in Jingu Gaien from being cut down. If you aren't in Tokyo this might not seem like a big deal, but I've been there and they are beautiful and it's heartbreaking to think of them all being cut down for no reason, so I'm passing it along as well.
Speaking of art and optimism, Invader teamed up with Sea Shepard to make these limited shirts to support the Paul Watson foundation, if you like Invaders art and also like the oceans, this might be something you don't want to miss. We picked up some for the whole family.
I'm still a bit groggy from the latest COVID shot which I enjoyed this weekend, so going to end this there and get reading to start autorefreshing every news feed I have to follow the certain drama of the next few days. I took a shot and bet $10 that Harris wins Iowa on Polymarket though, so fingers crossed that one works out for me.
xoxo
-s
