Another Year Has Come to a Close!!! Thank You 2014!

What a Year what a year what a year!  This was probably my most focused year to date!  When I established the production calendar for 2014 I was a bit nervous to be honest, anxious in a healthy way though.  I found myself saying "Holy shit can I really do this?  Can I really handle this entire chain of events and stay sane with a job and my AA program and all in between?"  But it was a healthy thought, a positive forward looking sort of nervousness, an affirmation that I was meant to take this challenge and push forward!  And sure enough, it all happened, and more that came down the pipe out of the blue, and honestly I have to say I fucking rocked it (Hahaha)!  I definitely hit my limit, and it is good to know ones limits for sure.  Needless to say, I will be in NYC in 2015, and Coby Kennedy and I are coming for you (hahaha)! Blade Runner Steez!

As I grow and change and move and progress and love and live, coming to understand ones self and ones strengths, ones weaknesses, ones limitations and once fierce powerful drive, to find those things that keep us going, to find those things we need to let go of, to find those relationships that hurt and those that help and nurture us is really at this point in my development what life is all about.  It is this process of seeking that is LIFE to me.  It is not how many shows I can do, it is not how many instagram followers one has, it is not how many things one can pile on and accomplish, it is not praise, it is not critique, it is not money, it is not recognition, it is not affirmations of love and working through loss; it is all of those things, it is every piece of the cosmic puzzle, it is the SEEKING that all of those elements are a part of, that creates the road map and the experiences and signs and guides and milestones and failures and successes and insights that one can truly manifest and become knowing of their own energy so as to continue seeking as a part of all things.  We are all a part of all things in the universe, we are all connected constantly whether we realize it our not. It is how when I seek, when I concentrate inward my spiritual center can be found amidst and working through all of these things.  It is simply to be aware, to be positive, to be seeking, and simply BE.

I have to say, the spiritual practice that I have come to find as the cornerstone of my life has really expanded and been investigated, and really is what saw me through this year and made me come to find what true happiness is.  I can honestly say, this year I found what happiness truly is to me at this point.  I had an awesome partner in this journey, my friend Jen, that I was fortunate enough to have come along for what we ended up calling TTT or Transcendental Taco Tuesday, where we explored some new heights and complexities and simplicities in exploring the world within our selves that is a gateway to the universe and all of its different dimensions and planes of existence.  Needless to say, I say some visions, saw intricacies and portals, guides and animal friends, pure energy and the elements of creation and destruction and all that is everything and nothing.  We also ate some incredible tacos and talked about life and the universe and contemplated our places in it all to an extent I have never really experienced with another person.

I experienced pure love like I have never felt before as I grew and learned and felt and loved with Julie Moon (the illest Piano player ever btw) and saw another person in recovery climb up out of the ego and the fear that is addiction and alcoholism, through trauma and pain, to find herself and help me find myself, and in the process find ourselves together.  We experienced new heights in understanding, compassion, exploration of ourselves and each other. We found what acceptance, patience, intimacy, chemistry, attraction, arousal, sexual exploration and openness, respect, willingness, compassion and an utter devotion to one another's creative evolution and freedom, to understanding that we have to be happy with ourselves in order to love one another, to what respecting and truly loving another human being for who they are on all levels truly means. She is in Korea right now living out her own dream of seeking, and playing music, and re-investigating her homeland and confronting so many things that she needs closure and clarity and growth from.  She is a force of nature and continues to be a magnetic energy everywhere she goes.

I drove across the country with an amazingly talented young tattooer and artist name Carolyn.  We shared an intimate two weeks that people do not often get to experience.  Intimate in the fact that neither of us had ever driven cross country and we established some incredible memories and a real friendship in the process.  We got to see  some family in Austin Texas as we hung with Terry Addison, saw Bob MaCready in Houston, Nathaniel and his amazing restaurant Boucherie in NOLA, hung with my mom and ate BBQ in NC and more. We ate our way across the nation and brought an incredible happening to New York City, building with Superchief and making life long bonds!  And a huge thanks to John and Lizz for their hospitality and friendship!  We will never forget that damn trip, or South of the Border!  I further got to know Joel and Rhea St. Julien and there amazing daughter Olive as Joel and I made soundscapes and connected our creative minds on multiple projects.  I appreciate that I have such an amazing family everywhere I go now!

Eric Araujo, one of my best buds that I met in SF, connected me with the amazing people at BRIC arts in Brooklyn for the opportunity of a life time to work with some incredible people during the winter vortex!  Julie Kim and the Littlefield crew flew me out yet again to paint on of the best large scale paintings I have ever done. There were the great people at the Shooting Gallery that helped me realize the biggest show I have ever done with "Pilgrimage". "Champagne Tigers" at LeQuivive, hanging out at Old Crow with Sean and Evan and Victor, talking about the world with Dre and Bleu Cheese with Chris Burch.  I went on a couple trips to LA where I got hang out with Stephanie Inagaki, meet Andrew Kline from CMHHTD and Strife, and finally explore the city with an open mind and heart which made me finally love that place! Spent some killer times with Salem OFA! I reconnected with Joseph Gross, and was so incredibly happy to see him thriving and doing great things with his gallery.  We have continued to build and I am super happy to announce that I have a solo show with Joseph Gross Gallery in October of 2015!  Joey is a intensely positive force in this world and will continue to do amazing things!

I experienced the most amazing send off I could have ever had with Rachel Ralph and John Trippe at Fecal Face as I closed out 8 years of living in the Bay Area with my solo show at FFDG, "No Destination".  Lale Shafaghi helped spread the word and vision of my artwork to the big world we are a part of as we built a friendship.  As things wrapped up, I came to an end of over 4 years of working with the best people on earth at Clean Water Action, a place that showed me that people do care about others and have a desire to work hard for a cause that aims to help others and the world as a whole.  We had a lot of fun, and that job helped me grow up into sobriety and work hard with a sense of purpose.  It also goes without saying that every moment I spent with my AA peoples in Oakland and SF and my rad Sponsor Bucky were great and vital to my development as a human being.  Timmy the Optimist kept popping up with  a lot energy and a great vision of things to come.  Manley Tantuico and his amazing family facilitated the biggest commission I have ever done.  They showed me a lot of compassion, friendship, and treated me like family every step of the way (and we have some designs for some things to come in the next couple years!).  Birthdays, break ups, hook ups, sign up sheets, late night calls, early morning flights, babies being born, people getting married, Fed EX, memories worked through, new pain, new pleasure, new love, old habits broken, new habits made, great food eaten, its all life, and it's all important and amazing!

I sit here in Durham, NC, in the house I grew up in writing this, seeking, living, and loving the fact that I have been given this time in this world on this planet with all of you to keep moving forward and to be grateful for all of it.  The good the bad the ugly and amazing... Everything is everything.  My friend Jen and I will be living in the same place again soon and will continue our TTT vision quest. May Julie Moon continue to make the world feel deeply with her music and build amazing new heights as a person and my partner.  May Chris Burch keep climbing the way he is meant to, opening the eyes of all that come into contact with him.  May Alfonso Cosio Monique Delauney keep tying the Bay Area art world together and supporting the arts passionately and with all the energy they put out there in the world. May Dana James keep moving up to the sky tattooing amazing work and being the prophetic voice and compassionate person he is.  May Rachel Ralph keep bringing intricate and beautiful conversations that involve all of us with FFDG.  And may I continue moving to NYC, one of the places that raised me up to the man I am today, and where I shall call home again and continue seeking.  To all those I didn't mention, you know that you are as important as anyone else in this world!  May everyone have a full 2015 and continue to grow and evolve and change!!!  We All Do This Together! Thanks to everyone for making the Unstoppable Tomorrow one that I am incredibly happy to be a part of. -JFA III 12/31/2014

Ahhhhhhhh, Friday.

Ahhhhhhh Friday.  As an artist that does in fact work for a non profit org as well (fighting the good fight for the future of our drinking water no doubt), Friday's still do hold a special place in my heart.  I love Friday.  Tonight I even have rather wonderful plans after work and I think it is going to be a late night.  What can I say, life is good.  So as I have been working on pieces for my Fecal Face solo show in the studio, my commission piece for an awesome collector of mine, planning my east coast journey in the winter and much much more, I found myself thinking back to some nostalgic moments in the past few years and wanting to look at some things that I hold dear memories of.  I have always thought phrases like "throwback Thursdays" and "Flashback Friday" were corny, but nonetheless I am kind of having a flashback Friday.  Here are some photos of some great moments in the past few years. Thanks to everyone out there for all the support, those that have brought negativity which made me grow stronger, and to those who work hard and make the world a better place to be.  Thank you all. -JFA III 07/25/2014

Street Conversations

UPDATE TIME!!!! Cool, so life keeps winding on and getting more and more awesome.  I would like to thank everyone at Superchief, everyone at BRIC Arts, everyone at Littlefield, everyone at Shooting Gallery/White Walls, everyone at Fecal Face, and everyone at LeQuivive for what will, by the end of it, have been a seriously accomplished year of art making and growing.  So first things first, this Thursday, Superchief NYC is having a massive group show, seriously, massive!  I can't be there, I wish I could, but if you are in NYC and you can be there then you better be there.  Nuff said, here is the flyer and info!

Yeah it opens this Thursday night and is going to be wild.

So in other news, I have begun making new work rather diligently.  A lot of the experiences I had in Okonuin Graveyard on Koyasan Mountain in Japan, the meditations I experienced in Kyoto, Nara, here in the Bay, visions I have had, are coming up in my practice and it feels amazing.  The premise of the exhibition is that the people in the Pilgrimage from my Shooting Gallery show, the tribe of Unstoppable Tomorrow that is seeking a new positive future, wake up one day on their journey to find they have all shared a collective dream.  A dream of universal truths, a dream of visionary colors, textures, nostalgic imagery, future past visions of places and paths, sounds, images of rebirth of cyclical destruction into creation, of signs, guides, the past into the future.

The first major meditation I had in Kyoto last year was proof to me that collective spiritual resonance exists and that anyone who had meditated and crossed the dimensional threshold in the temple of Tenryu-ji has seen a universal sort of vision or imagery there.  An intense materialization in the mind and spirit and body of forms and movement, of the essence and basics of the flow of energy and its way of weaving our human forms from this physical "reality" through levels and landscapes encompassing pure energy and beyond.  So what more fitting way to explore Unstoppable Tomorrow further than through a state that is beyond logic and this physical world.  The saga has been concerned with actions and lives in the here and now, not with the ethereal or specifically illustrating the spiritual, the visionary, the guided world of the unconscious and the visualizations that collectively lead it.

The work has an air of nostalgic tranquility, explosive aurally representational flow, entering a calm and almost magically blanketed future past.  It will feature rough drawings on paper, diamond like found wood deconstructionist abstractions, paintings focusing on the figurative and organic abstraction, another round of even more explorative strangely shaped pieces, on bringing color back into the equation, on the erotic (blatant and subtle), on creation, on reuse and respect, on lovemaking, evoking guidance through minimalism and pure color and the way in which it carries tracers and trajectories through life, and much much more.  I spent hours in the studio yesterday working with found pieces that I have had for a while, creating this gateway back to my experience in Japan, back to the dream like memories of my childhood in Durham and New York City, back to a place that wraps me in almost hallucinatory vision of spirits, and points in time, and shape and color, and moving textures and patterns.  While exploring these nostalgic moments in the present through my process I found myself realizing that this is also carrying me into the future, as if to say "you will go back to Okonuin, you will see Southeast Asia, you will find places in New York and LA where these environments that you are reliving will embrace you like a cool moss blanket and give you love and inspiration."  The show will be at Fecal Face this coming October.  It will narrate this collective dream in a lot of different media and will at the same time give insight to the journey which my inner workings have developed through over time, specifically in the last year and a half.  Not all of it will be explainable even for me, but it will all make sense as an experience.  This comes at a time that I am really reaching inward to know my path as begin to transition back to the East Coast for a while.

This show is as much a step in Unstoppable Tomorrow as it is in a continued exploration of process and just letting go of my idea of a "willed plan" and letting the magic happen in the studio as I go about fleshing out the original ideas.  It is a celebration of my unconscious guiding my conscious hand and feeling, intuitively coming to solutions that once cause chaos in my mind, and explorations of these images, sounds, visions, dreamscapes that I have locked in my psyche.  It is as much therapeutic in practice as it is thoughtful.  Street Conversations, talking with my surroundings, letting the effect of my being in its natural state, knowing that I am a part of all things and not simply one thing apart from it all.  It's about me with the world not against it, always and forever. Knowing that each action and each movement needs to be felt and needs to be streamlined with my path, and if it isn't that is okay, as long as I can stop and pay attention to my guides my gut and the way which the universe needs me to move.  The tribe of the Pilgrimage wakes up from this dream, this conversation with the streets and paths and plants and trees and sounds and breeze and rain and everything and knows that they are on their path, that the path is the way and the way is life.  That it is not the outcome but the process that makes each next step in the evolution, in the present and in hindsight, so amazing. I will be having street conversations until the day I die.

Sitting in LAX

I am on my way back to Oakland form yet another awesome trip to New York City.  The amazing people at Littlefield showing me love once more that they contracted me to fly out there and paint a massive 13'x12' three panel commissioned piece in there venue.  We had been discussing this for sometime, and then boom, it happened.  So excited to be in NYC more often this year... and before I get into the real news and the stories and photos and philosophical wanderings and such, I will leave you with this photo of the piece and yours truly as I get ready to board the last leg of my trip back to the Bay Area on this Virgin American Party Plane.  57, Peace to Ben Robey all day.  Be back soon Brooklyn.

Press & Pilgrimage...

The work has really begun for Pilgrimage, a new green and orange color fusion that feels really amazing and new for me.  Out of the darkness we see the light. Speaking of light, I recently got some shine of the Juxtapoz website for the Triangle Magic show at Littlefield (which is actually part of the Gowanus Open Studios art walk this weekend).  It is a couple weeks belated to be posting on my blog but better late than never.  Also soon I will be updating a press section to my website, and finally getting my online store together so there will be all sorts of goodies and things to be had from the world of Unstoppable Tomorrow.  Here is a link from the Juxtapoz piece, just click on the image...

And while we are on the press hunt...here is a link to a Fecal Face post from this summer about the final chapter of the "Bright on Time" Japan adventure...

And for now Angie and I bid you farewell...

In the studio with Triangle Magic and more...

Upcoming...

So there is a lot coming up...first off I have some older and newer works going into a show at the Ian Ross Gallery which opens on the 27th.  There will be a V.I.P. opening on the 26th that I will be attending, but I won't unfortunately be able to make the big opening on the 27th due to a trip to the East Coast for my cousins wedding...I will post the info about the show at Ian Ross Gallery soon.

In other news, Triangle Magic is looking great.  I am almost finished with all the works, just doing the details at this point and getting ready for my week of insanity that will ensue in New York City.  Expect a lot of photos from this trip as always.  The show will also be Littlefield's representation for the Gowanus Open Studios.  I am very, very proud to have been hand picked for this exhibition and to be representing Littlefield for the Gowanus Open Studios.  Thanks Julie Kim! Here are some images and press info on the show (downloadable press release is at the bottom of the this post).  It is at Littlefield (622 Degraw St.) in Brooklyn just at the foot of Park Slope. http://littlefieldnyc.com I am really excited...

The work for Triangle Magic is a very new a fresh direction for me.  While it does completely exist within my world of Unstoppable Tomorrow, using signs and signifiers from my body of ammunition, the way in which the narrative aspect is portrayed, the idea of relics that are actually, or were actually used in ceremony, and the entire approach to the thinking and making of them shows a new turn and a new re-inventing of my process.  I am very proud of them and feel that they are a great first step into a widening of my scope of creation, and an expansion of my intention and thought behind my art.  The intention that lays within the making of them is a bit different from my hard hitting, figurative, representational work.  I truly enjoy how the viewer really can continue to make their own experience out of them with more freedom (much like, and more so even, than the work in the SFMOMA) than the highly spoon fed narrative work seen in "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" and previous shows in that vein.  This is a departure from representation, and an emergence into abstraction and chain of thought steeped in process and ceremony.  See you there...more to come! IPD 

For Downloadable Press Release Click the Link  JFAIII Triangle Magic

In the Studio...

...making a ton of new work as Littlefield prepares for my Triangle Magic solo show October 4th, and I continue to make work for my Superchief Gallery Solo Show in April!  I am really enjoying what is coming together and I spent a gung ho weekend in the studio making new abstract panels ready for line work...here are the finished pieces thus far and some studio shots!  The brainscapes have been up and down, smiles and frowns, and like all things worthwhile, I find myself going from intense anxiety to calm acceptance and enjoyment of the moment as well as reflection on the steps of creating that have been explored.  This sort of ebb and flow of mental and emotional states really has always shown me how work is involved in a multi dimensional, truly human conversation with myself, the world, and despite moments of fear and anxiousness the work always is a breath of fresh air as it nears completion and the resolution is felt within.  Each piece is a life and exhibits growth in and of itself and I love that about art making.

Putting in Work!

So I haven't updated since July 4th weekend.  A lot has occurred since.  I am going to be in New York City on October 1st to do a show at one of my favorite places to show art, Littlefield NYC in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood.  The show will be called Traingle Magic and the opening is either going to be October 3rd or 4th...more concrete info coming next week with a press release.  This will be my second show at Littlefield and I am incredibly happy that asked me back, especially since they asked me to be their representative artist for the Gowanus Open Studios weekend October 18th - 20th.

In other New York City news, I will be doing a Solo Show at the awesome Superchief Gallery in the Lower East Side in April, 2014!  I am incredibly stoked about this and it will be a full on Unstoppable Tomorrow ragefest, bloodbath, Astroknot filled rad time!  Okay so maybe not literally a bloodbath (or might be??? who knows), but getting to show at Superchief (who just did the Vice Magazine Photo Show which to me is a rather big deal and they showed one of my favorite artist homies who I respect a immensely Coby Kennedy recently) is pretty damn awesome to me!  These guys show crazy, cutting edge, left field, fun, no holds barred, weird art that I really, really dig, so being part of it all is a blessing to me!  Because of this and Littlefield I suddenly had a huge energetic rebirth into my studio and have been painting my ass of literally.  Here are some studio images.  Oh and SFMOMA is still running too...that makes me happy as hell!

I made it back in one piece (physically, emotionally, mentally) from Minneapolis as I was there for a month for work.  I have more to post that will come soon, I have been very busy since I got back.  Also I have been selling some older work to some great people and that always keeps the train moving down the track.  So all in all things are great, and here are some photos to prove how epic the time in the studio has been!  See you again soon!

Eric Araujo Presents "Hole Up" Tonight at Littlefield : Brooklyn : NY

Littlefield 622 Degraw St. Brooklyn, NY

Opening 6-9pm

Eric Araujo is one of the most solid individuals I have ever met.  I don't say that lightly.  He is highly intelligent, driven, has his feet planted firmly on the ground, and makes incredibly well executed, thought provoking, and interesting art.  I met him at SFAI during my one year of grad school there, and we immediately became friends due to our mutual inability to understand the West Coast given our native East Coast upbringings (LOL).  We have remained friends and peers in this crazy art world, and he was instrumental in helping orchestrate the show "Eat Peter to Feed Paul" with Christopher Burch in myself in Brooklyn this past March 1st.  So with that being said, he has a brilliant show opening tonight at one of my favorite Brooklyn destinations, Julie Kim's Littlefield venue and art space.  Big congrats goes out to Eric for this show and I look forward to seeing it unveiled this evening.  Eric is going to go many places in lands afar with his no bullshit work ethic, forward moving attitude, and incredible bubbling talent.  And just as a heads up about the guy, I don't usually say this but its important to me, the dude can draw his ass off!!! I am not sure if he is going to have drawings in this show, but for the record, dude can truly use a pencil and paper!  Good luck with all of your future endeavors sir.  All the info for the show is explained and listed int he press release below.  Also check out his site at http://ericaraujo.com/archivesite/home.html

“Eat Peter To Feed Paul” @ Littlefield : Brooklyn : NY

Thursday, March 1st, 2012 New Works by John Felix Arnold III & Christopher Burch : Live Performances by Ninjasonik & Ken South Rock Art Opening Reception 6-9 with Food and DJs Reverend McFly and Chaz-O : Free Performances from Ninjasonik and Ken South Rock : 9-12 : $10 Pre-sale/$12 at the Door : 21+ Art Show runs from March1st-31st Littlefield is located @ 622 Degraw St. btw 3rd & 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY : 11217 : ph (718) 855-3388 For more info and for tickets please visit http://littlefieldnyc.com

Thursday, March 1st, 2012 Littlefield is proud to present “Eat Peter to Feed Paul”, a two man show by Bay Area based artists John Felix Arnold III & Christopher Burch that will feature musical performances and collaborations from New York based bands Ninjasonik and Ken South Rock. It is the two visual artist’s first show in New York together and promises not to be forgotten. For Arnold this is a bit of a homecoming, marking his second time showing in New York since he moved to the Bay from Brooklyn in 2006, and for Burch, being from St. Louis originally, this a new opportunity to branch out closer to his roots. The two will be exhibiting new drawings and mixed media works in their respective styles. The works deal with the changing role of human beings within a high paced technology saturated society where we are rapidly losing our grasp of anything reflecting a spiritual way of being and many are quickly becoming “self sacrificing parasites” within their own circles of living without even realizing it. They will also be composing an installation within the art space to guide the viewers through the show reflecting the push and pull and intensity of the present world we live in, using found objects to cut the space up into different frequencies of comfort and un-comfortability while viewing the 2-D work. After the show reception musical cohorts and collaborators Ken South Rock and Ninjasonik will be performing live in Littlefield’s amazing theatre/music hall space with a live painting collaboration from the two Bay Area artists as a full on art and music explosion. These two amazing forces of musical energy will bring the audience to climactic celebration of being alive through their powerful styles and relentless sound. The subject matter of their audio tour de force is extremely relevant to our present day existence and inspires a lust for life that that really brings a conscious ear to an energy that society needs to be impregnated by.

http://littlefieldnyc.com http://felixthethirdrock.com http://giantkillerz.tumblr.com http://ninjasonikmusic.com http://kensouthrock.com http://www.facebook.com/events/153773094740166/

For Press Inquiries regarding artwork please contact felixthethird@gmail.com &giantkillerz@gmail.com For Press Inquiries regarding music please contact radsalem@gmail.com & amramadam@gmail.com

Onwards to the East Coast : Fresh New Wheels on the Tar Mac

Sometimes I haveta use this blog to just speak my damn mind, cause its like a bubblin pot of gumbo ready get eating and savored and shit, and analyzed and rethought.  This has been a pretty amazing ride in a short amount of time entering 2012.  I haveta say life has thrown more at me, good and bad, than almost any other time in my life, but the amazing part seems to be this new found ability to cope, handle, stay on task, and move forward positively instead of falling back into old habits.

Sometimes I agree with the phrase youth is wasted on the young, but right now I don't because I am not that old and because I am glad I did all (almost all lol still have those selective "what ifs" for sure that I know I will hold onto for a long time) the things I have done and walked through all of the fire as well as ice cream cake I have in my life.  This show coming up in New York (Eat Peter to Feed Paul @ Littlefield)  and the show I just had in SF (The Love of All Above @ Queens Nails) are really a grounds for me to give appreciation to both places for really nurturing me through some of the best and hardest times I have ever known.  SF was a good foundation for me to lose it, in everyway (shit got dark yo lol) then rebuild, and New York was a beautiful pot luck of inspiration, temptation, and trial and error that I get to thankfully go give back to now with a good head, and right fit mind on my shoulders.  In other words I am ready to fucking rock this show in New York, not in a overblown big headed way, in a thoughtful, right step, calm and collected, do it well and go hard sort of way.  I asked God (my god at least) to please help me get back there someday when I first moved to the Bay, and now after years of becoming a much more "fit to live" person, it is all happening.

I know a lot of people who are very close to me right now that are going through some tough times, very tough times, myself included to a certain degree, and I want to make this trip and this show an experience that demonstrates how appreciative I am for my life and those around me that make it amazing.  We are all in this together, and we have to do all of this together, there is no other way to truly make things amazing. Self will only gets one so far. Building with others and living in love, or at least appreciating the little things and the big ones and always trying to make others know they are appreciated is what makes movements and creates change on a massive scale.  I am coming home New York, get ready because it is a whole different approach to getting on that tar mac this time.  Much Love to Everyone, they know who they are! NGO!  John Felix Arnold III

"The Love of All Above" Photo ReCap!

"The Love of All Above" @ Queens Nails Projects in San Francisco's Mission District on February 4th was awesome!!!  Everyone had a great time, we generated some amazing press, even Alfonso & Monique from Cosio-Delaunay and Ali Lain from the San Francisco Bay Area Guardian came through to check it out! Kimberly Chun from the Chronicle even gave us a shout out two days before the show in print.  It was amazing.  the performances were unforgettable and people kept popping up all night long to say hello and participate in the show.  So with that in mind here are the awesome photos of the night, with performers Kool Kid Kreyola, Him Downstairs, Daylight Curfew, and all of our friends and peers in the scene.  Can't wait to do it again with Christopher Burch, Ninjasonik, and Ken South Rock in New York in two weeks at Littlefield!!! Check out the slide show below.

[slideshow]

"It's Been a Long Time, I Shouldn't Have Left You!"-Rakim

It has been a minute since my last post.  Coming back from the most amazing, life changing trip to Japan, literally having traveled back in time and being mega jet lagged for days, going back to work immediately, moving into my new studio in Oakland, suddenly getting new freelance work and having my calendar fill up with shows for the year in a week left me a little claustrophobic for minute. But alas things are rollin'! So yes Japan was amazing!  I have already started planning next years trip out there and now it is a matter of writing proposals and finding sponsors.  The next one will be bigger and better, and have a larger more thunderous community voice of artists behind it.  I haveta say I truly miss waking up and having my ritual 7/11 Chicken Karage Yakitori (Fried Chicken on a stick) and my little Boss coffee drink to get me going, but not weigh me down, haha.  So yes many amazing connections were made, many friendships were established and strengthened, and we really have a new family out in Nihon that I look forward to building with till the end of days.  We raised about $800 for Ashinaga which is awesome.  It feels good to help the next generation of young artists, engineers, teachers, etc.  Here are a few photos of our experience!  Also an article about this will be coming out in Dig In Magazine soon so look out for it.  Tracy Jones from Microscopic Giant who lives in Tokyo now and was kind of the catalyst for the decision to make this trip and art show series happen put together the article.  Big Ups to Tracy Jones and Natsumi for holding it down in Tokyo through natural disasters, weddings, and me coming out there to visit.  Here are some photos as promised, for more photos of Japan and a more personal photolog of my travels and exploits throughout my life please check out my new sister site http://felixthethirdrock.tumblr.com . Most of the photos below are of the Live Performance I did with Ken Minami from Ken South Rock on Sept. 20th, with some added extra classic shots from the trip.  Look out for another, bigger collaborative series next year with Ken South Rock!

Masked Felix Ready to Rock!

Ken and I before the show.

Wailing!

Full Swing! Painting away while Ken Rocks out!

Finito!

Yoshitake Kogure and I showing off our grown man ink.  Was great to reconnect with this guy!  TWNY 4 Life.

Live painting at the last event of the trip, Art for People at Bar USA.gi

Isaac Schulz giving me a touch up!

Posca Markers are literally the best ever!

Anna and I got to meet Anpanman!

First night in Tokyo we went to a 200 year old restaurant and this elderly couple next to us on the tatami floor were really, really into my tattoos.  They were incredible and I don't think I could have asked for a better first night and experience in Japan.  They apparently had spent the whole day at museums looking at Edo period Japanese prints and were super stoked to suddenly see one of the artists' work (Kuniyoshi) all over my arms.

Yes I a Gundam Fan.

And yes when I went to Osaka Castle I had to dress up like a famous Samurai Daimyo!  Yes I am a mega dork and nerd out on pre Meiji Era Japanese Military History.

This is called the Daibutsu, it is one of the largest Bronze sitting Buddha statues int he world.  It is in Kamakura which is a very very important part of Japanese History on spiritual, developing, and military levels.  It was absolutely beautiful!

Mikiko And Alani taking me to a dope hole in the wall Izakaya Spot in Shibuya where we talked about Fukushima, Art in Japan, and building on new projects for the future.  Was awesome!

This was our last dinner in Japan!  Look at this crew, an international conglomeration of  insane artists that should probably be committed yet are out making international voices.  This was probably the thickest cut bacon I have ever eaten, so awesome!  Did I mention the food was worth moving to Japan for?  It is!

Worth Moving For!

This is the exterior guard tower at the wet moat of Osaka Castle at Sunset.  I don't have much more to say other than I miss Nihon.

Takoyaki Girl, Osaka, Dotonburi at night.

Okay so enough of Japan.  Check my Tumblr as stated before for more photos and nostalgia.

The end of the Year is coming up fast and 2012 is already off with a bang.  Nov. 11th at D-Structure I will be int he Someshine Art Show the Greg Moreno, the mastermind behind Someshine Clothing has organized.  Myself and other Someshine artists will be rocking the Lower Haight with this show.  I will be back and forth between New York through November and December working on a new Gallery (more to come on this) and collaborating with some really awesome artists out there.  February has something big sooking but I can't really get into it quite yet.  March I will be having an art show in Brooklyn at an awesome space called Littlefield NYC  and we plan to have Ninjasonik and Kid Codec performing live at the opening.  Then it is serious grind time because in July I officially have a solo show at Old Crow that I am extremely excited about!  I have been working with them for a long time and am honored to rock a solo show there.  It's going to be a monster year, I am sure there will be many unexpected ups and downs, additions, and surprises so I will be sure to keep you in tune.  Till next time...Love-Felix