Tokyo

Thoughts.

in

MWolfe-JohnFelixArnoldIII-MOMA-Print-14 So I haven't written a blog post of rambling ferocity in a while.  Maybe this one won't be furiously written because I do not find myself furious about anything today.  Let's suffice to say that life is good right now.  While there are always ups and downs, the world we live in is constantly in a realm of serene chaos and force fully calm bedlam, I find myself right now knowing that I am just where I should be as an artist and a person in this world we all share.  Recent events in travel, meditation, love, art making, work, and self work have led me to a place of growth and understanding that I have never really known before.

M6

This year has been absolutely unbelievable as I find myself in process and in the present so much more than I have ever been.  I have awakened over the past few years to the understanding that today really is not the end of the world, that decisions made today are not going to the be the end all be all of life, but that being said they do all matter, and all create the whole sum of working parts that have allowed me, day by day, to be given the life I now have.  To make work that I love to make, to get excited every day about the possibilities that the future holds and believe that the sky is the limit as long as I am rooted in creating and not ego.

IMG_4099

When I arrived home from Japan, the most amazing experience I have had in my life to date to say the least, I quickly enjoyed the opening of the largest accomplishment of my art career to date.  The SFMOMA exhibition, "In Memory Of..." opened June 8th, 3 weeks after I returned from my month residency.  The roller coaster of life shot up pretty high, and then afterward it was on to Minneapolis for a month of work for the non-profit that is my day job and helps to support my art career in an effort to not exhaust my presence and my ideas too quickly and keep me financially intact (burnout syndrome is the worst syndrome).

IMG_1237

Upon this trip in the middle of America I experienced the drop of the roller coaster so to speak.  The pit of my stomach stuck in the Mall of America felt like it was eating itself from the inside out. And it was beautiful in all of its anxious, low, depressive glory, for I knew that this is the balance that is life.  The scales will always weigh themselves out even in the long run if we just keep our ear to the street and smell the air with each step.  While inside it was painful to have gone up so high and then down so low, it was amazing to experience all of these things without any substances, without anything to change the way I was feeling.  The gifts of sobriety I must say are the most beautiful and true gifts I have received in my life.  Listening to Yeezus on the light rail wishing I was back in Japan watching the toxic, dripping heart of America go by on my way to the church of consumerism made me really understand that I am fit for this lifetime. I am right sized and in my place.

2013-07-13 14.20.55

A new found love and affection has recently come into my life, and has made me really grateful for everything that I have ever been through.  Whether it was being locked up and in central bookings reflecting on how to not live life, being so twisted on drugs and alcohol that I would end up in the E.R. with tubes and fluids going in me while I was somewhere in a pain so deep it almost consumed me, or going bowling with friends, or drawing a figure that every mark made me feel a sort of explosive, orgasmic love of life,  or on a mountain top in Japan in a Buddhist Temple making love to a beautiful woman on the tatami floor and then going in a hot spring, or driving to Pt. Reyes with my partner engrossing ourselves in one another's lives and stories.  Like I said on stage right before Japanther performed at my "Past From the Blast" show in 2011 at Kitsch, "We All Do This Together!"

IMG_8239

It is a beautiful thing when one can reconcile and be allowed to understand their purpose in this lifetime, in this phase of the energy that we are part of while on this earth.  When one can lean back and close their eyes and smile because they know what the universe has asked of them and they seek with their entire life until the end to fulfill that mission. I rest happy every night knowing that I am meant to make art, to create things for humanity to experience, to share my world and my perspective on the world, and to be a conduit of creation for a power and an energy so much larger than myself, that I still am a part of, that we are all a part of.

koya7

It's awesome to know that my purpose is to bring people together, to open eyes, to challenge sight and thought, to excite and entertain, to love and be loved.  It feels amazing every time I create something new, or get a flood of ideas and plans into my psyche about where my work, where the work that the universe wants to flood through me, is going and what possibilities I am going to share with those dear to me as we all march on and trudge the road to happy destiny!  It is true, "We All Do This Together!" And I would have it now other way.  Love life, live this life, because its the only you get in this lifetime... Thanks for reading! -John Felix Arnold III  P.S. Horiyoshi III in the image below definitely shares my thoughts on this, we kicked it hard in his studio, his energy is infectious, dude is the fucking man!!!!!

IMG_6910

 

Heading to Minneapolis....

in

...for work.  My full time hustle is bringing me to a new city I have yet to explore.  I look forward to making some new connections, checking out some new galleries, and also starting a new body of work for 2013/2014.  I am pretty excited actually, this year seems to be all about travel and new experiences so I am jumping in the wind and going with it.  I'll also have time to be bringing some more extensive updates on the past few months while I am there so look out for new, in depth posts on everything from Japanese Ramen Shops, my last days in Tokyo, getting ready for the SFMOMA opening, building a new installation for the up and coming Eye of the Tiger Tattoo Shop in the Sunset, and more... Much Love-Felix

IMG_4158Kanae in Nezu checking out the Sketchbook.  April 2013.

 

The Adventure in Japan Part 2 : Painting Commission and More...

in , , ,

So the latter half of my trip was begun with a painting commission for a native New Yorker.  My friend I-Am-Jesse, a killer DJ who has resided in Japan for many years now, hit me up around the same time I was contacted by Ken South Rock to make a painting for his amazing Shibuya apartment.  I crashed at my good friends Frankie and Emi's house for a couple days near Shinjuku as I began to work on the piece, and then made it over to Jesse's in Shibuya to finish.  Upon completion my last few days in Japan were numbered and the insanity ensued.  The latter half of the trip was full of art making, book buying, amazing food, awesome city lurking, people watching, mad partying, building new relationships with some amazing artists, spending time with really good old friends, and all around general mayhem.  I was even introduced to a group of artists who run an alternative space called Spes-Lab in Ebisu, Tokyo, and was coincidentally invited to come back in the Spring to rock a solo venture at the space.  I was dumbfounded, honored, intimidated, and pretty much floored when I was asked to do this, as I have always wanted to have something like this come about and had never imagined it would be this soon.  Big thank you to everyone and everything that made this experience possible.  It was amazing.

The video store near Frankie and Emi's crib was pretty cool.  I was into the character design on this one and...

I found John Rambo in Japan.  Japambo!  Then I found the "adult section"  holy shit, craziness.  Also they have some truly bizarre and intense porn out there...

This temple is right down the street from Frankie and Emi's place.  One of the most amazing things about cities like Tokyo is that you are bombarded with a truly modern even futuristic high tech setting all the time.  Yet every few blocks you are reminded of the city's rich, thousands of years of history shown in structures and places like this amidst the Blade Runneresque developments.

Super sick monk statue at a temple in the middle of Tokyo.

Temple Graveyard near Frankie and Emi's.

So after the graveyard it was time to get to work and start painting my commission...

Commission Painting Stage one at Frankie and Emi's House.

And then...

So I got the back ground worked up to where I really liked it at Frankie and Emi's place.  Honestly once I got it to this point, I seriously considered not taking it any further for I felt I had never gotten an abstract piece to this level before and really questioned letting it just be.  It felt good to just sit there and stare at and it felt balanced, so I took a break and distracted myself with other things like...

Talking deliriously to Emi's stuffed animal friends, like this pig, and...

Watching Frankie and Emi come in from the hottest fucking day of all time and totally zone out on the couch as the air conditioner cooled them down to "human" levels.

Then it was time to get on the bus to go to DJ I-Am-Jesse's crib and finish working on this piece.

I had to get some sushi before I got back to work.  This was a wopping $7. True Talk.

I-Am-Jesse's crib in Shibuya, sickkkk!

Sayin cheese for my own lens.

So after a lot of pondering, a lot of reference research, and a lot of plain old compositional thinking, I started putting down line work.  It literally took about three hours of looking and adjusting the direction and order of the two panels to finally make my first marks.

Work table in full effect.

And boom, just about finished product.

Detail.

Right Panel Detail

Right Panel Detail

Finished Paintings.

What a view from I-Am-Jesse's Crib.  Talk about an amazing place to make art!

Shake Weight is even weirder in Japan!  Japanese TV time.  The pieces are still "Untitled"  but they as a Diptych should just be called "Dream Adventure" because that's what this trip was. Each Panel was about 2'x3' and the paintings were a mixture of spray paint, house paint, and plastic model kit enamel. Here are a couple more shots.

Left Side Panel "Things Do What They Will" I think I should call it.

And the right panel should be called "Learning How to Fill My Lungs".

So the night I finished the commission we went out on the town, and we ended up at the amazing Spes-Lab.

Next Post to Come.  Japan part 3!!! The final installment, Spes-Lab, Yoyogi Park, and getting weird all the way to Haneda airport.

Ken South Rock : July 2012 Tour Photos : The Adventure in Japan

in , ,

Beautiful Lady at the festival in Osaka in traditional clothes doing the damn thing.

To continue on with the amazing trip to Japan I recently had the honor of experiencing, here are more photos of the hard hitting band I was with, Ken South Rock.  They are in Taiwan right now reaching out to a whole new audience, and I heard from drummer Adam Amram that they are loving it!!!  So as stated in my last blog post, we went from Tokyo to Kamisuwa to Gifu to Nagoya to Osaka to Kyoto and then I came back to Tokyo to begin work on a new project for the latter half of my journey.  So here we go, hold on to your hats, Ken South Rocks Hardest!!! We Started off in Tokyo in a rad neighborhood called Shimokitizawa at a place called Club251, from that moment on it was madness.  My jetlag felt like a long lingering acid trip for the first four days, which made the whole thing even weirder.

Chicken Karage on a stick from 7/11, early in the morning before we embarked to Kamisuwa.

Chiaki "Cheese" Minami!

The Green Room at Club 251Ken and the owner of Doors live house holding up my Wolf Power painting from our performance in Kamisuwa.

Temple near Shinjuku Tokyo the morning we left Tokyo.

Adam Amram Passed out at Doors Live House in Kamisuwa.

Detail from the Wolf Power live painting at Doors Live House in Kamisuwa.

This is one of the best photos from the whole trip.  This girl was totally enthralled and confused by Adam trying to untangle a pair of sun glasses from his major Jew Fro.  It was one of the funniest and most precious things we had all ever seen. Adam and Chiaki cracked up when they saw the photos.  We are leaving Kamisuwa here on the way to Gifu.

Got off the train in Gifu  and there stood a giant Golden Oda Nobunaga statue!  It was my first major geek out orgasm moment of the trip! So sick to to see this, it set the tone for me for the rest of the trip!  So after rounding the bend of this very well planned station in Gifu (where Nobunaga actually began to unify Japan from in the 16th century) we descended into Gifu, and into one of the most awesome shows of the whole trip!  the people in Gifu are fun loving, loud, hard working, hard partying, amazing folks who love music and love to embrace others and have a great time.  It felt like a good hard working blue collar city that works hard plays hard and treats its people and visitors with respect and good humor!  We had a fucking blast.  Satomi from Casper Live House is a fucking fox for sure, tattooed up and had the best "I don't give a fuck" attitude I experienced on the trip.  Her boyfriend ended up being the bass player to one of the best bands (a screamo black metal band) we saw all tour, and they took us to an awesome Izakaya after the show! And we finally stayed in comfy as hotel rooms that were crazy cheap!  Success!

Ken Minami looking sexy in front of an awesome, classic, well kept ride in the parking lot of Casper Live House.

Reminds me of Durham, NC.

This was one of the best places we ate on the entire trip.  It was $3.50, I had a pork katsu bento box that was delicious and filled me up. Here we are with Suichu Blanco and Walter Wlordarcyck.

The lovely Satomi and her dude at an awesome Izakaya post show!

The amazing Chiaki Cheese with Adam Amram at Izakaya.

End of the night in Gifu

One more shot of the Nobunaga Monument.

Ken, worn the fuck out at Izakaya after the show in Gifu!

So the next day we traveled to Nagoya, we stopped for Gyoza first, and then were on are way.  I was exhausted by the time we got to Nagoya, but we still faired well.  Nagoya was cool, but I was definitely missing Gifu and looking forward to Osaka big time!

Walter, the official tour photographer, on a train headed for Osaka.  Getting for photographed for a change.

The schoogirl fans were pretty awesome!

Adam Amram catching some zzzzzs on the train to Nagoya.

Strange Nagoya Pudding at the Tokyu Hands Department store.

This was a CRAZZYYYYYY sculpture inside of an underground shopping mall in Nagoya.

Styled Out in Nagoya.

This was the set up that I painted with at each venue on tour. We would set this up on a table with a drop cloth on stage, and I would set up all of my supplies so that when I was called on stage by Adam in the second song I would jump around, yell and scream and then go in super hard on the painting.  It broke down really easily and folded up and was super easy to transport on the trains from city to city.  There's walter right next to it on the couch backstage at the Live House we performed at in Nagoya!

I love this shot of Adam and Ken Rocking out in Nagoya.

And then it was time to embark to Osaka!  Now Osaka is one of my favorite places in the entire world, seriously, it rocks.  We bid farewell to Chiaki, and went on our way to the region of Kansai, ready to rockkkk out, and eat Takoyaki!

We even ran into my good friend Frankie G at random on the way to Osaka, good Omen!

Adam at sound Check at Fan J in Osaka.

So Osaka is the shit, I took a lot of pictures of the city as I went out alone exploring before the show and the next day.  I also got some great images of Suichu Blanco at this show.  The promoter unfortunately was a bunch of talk and didn't get nearly enough people there, but none the less we went super hard.  The show was really crazy and the after party in the club was mad fun.  A tiny super cute girl actually rode me around the club like a giant animal. It was nuts.

Walter and I embarked onward into Osaka during sound check.

Yes, this dog has on infrared goggles, yes you are actually seeing this, it is real.

This is one of my favorite Osaka Street Shots.

Serious Old World to Modern World Juxtaposition.

Style Points in Osaka.

Takoyaki Time!!!

First band at Fan J in Osaka.

Yui from Suichu Blanco.

Yuta from Suichu Blanco.

The Hostel in Osaka was reallllly awesome.  Ten Hostel it was called. I highly recommend!

The cops were trying to get it together.

I hopped into a really cool parade at the beginning of a very long festival to honor the dead, this guy gave me the best mug of all time.

Sick Hair Designs.

This festival procession was really cool.  i met an amazing young lady named Aki that told me all about Osaka while we chatted.  And then I picked up some Okonamiyaki!

Yes, the best, the Osaka Style Okonamiyaki.  This edible delight concluded one of my food journeys on the trip.

They were throwing water on people, trying to make them fall off a giant super heavy temple platform in the middle of an intersection! Osaka is Crazy and super Awesome!

Ken Minami as we are about to leave the hostel.  From here we went to my final tour destination, Kyoto.  Kyoto was so amazing.  It is a beautiful and historical city, and the bands at this show were some of the best I have ever heard or seen, ever. No joke, they threw down in Kyoto, it was crazy!  Here is a super cutie for you and a whole bunch of photos of my last day of being on tour.

Yes, she was dope, and turned out to be one of the best drummers around.

Yet another procession in the middle of the street in the middle of the day. So Cool.

Crazy Dinosaur Pachinko Game at a five story fun zone.

Ken and Adam Going In!

Then I came up dancing to the stage...

What's Up Kyoto!!! Yabeiiiiiii!!!!!!!...

Tekkamaki Reigned Supreme...

Hugs on stage were definitely in order as we finished our last performance as a trio.  Then it was time to kick it for my last night of touring...

I hit the floor, super exhausted, and recharged with a Pepsi Nex, hahahahaha.  It's actually pretty good!

We gave this piece to Suichu Blanco for being such an awesome band to tour with.

These two were the first casualties of the night.

Then we poured into the street for a round of goodbyes, I headed to an internet cafe, and in the morning...

In the morning after the Kyoto show, Ken put me on a Bullet Train back to Tokyo.  We said a round of goodbyes and I embarked solo back to the point which I had launched forward with these amazing spirits.  This experience changed my life, no lie!

And thus ended the tour for me.  I arrived in Tokyo, went to Chiaki and Ken's house in Shinjuku and delivered the best painting that was done live on stage on the whole tour! (Coincidentally it was done on the last night in Kyoto).  Chiaki was stoked, I was exhausted, exhilirated, ready for more, yet needed some rest.  I thanked the gods for this amazing experience, Chiaki and I kicked it, I took a nap, then it was off to my friends Frankie and Emi's house to begin the next chapter in my Japan Art Tour.  Next to come was a commission for a friend and DJ in Shibuya, and some serious insanity lurking around Tokyo!!! Thanks to Ken South Rock, Chiaki, all the Live Houses, Walter Wlodarcyck, Suichu Blanco and everyone along the way.

I am back in Japan right now...

in , , , ,

The past few months have been fucking crazy.  We opened ArtNowNY, it was awesome, I just opened my solo show at Old Crow in Oakland, "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"  It was epic!!! Now I am in Japan, sitting in a rad little apartment in Tokyo about to go on tour with Ken South Rock!  This train just doesn't seem to stop.  I am too exhausted right now to really go into anything deep, or summarize anything as of late, or get into any long explanations of work process, art reviews, or even more personal shit.  Let me just suffice to say that tonight I am on the other side of the world, I am going to eat really well, be surrounded by awesome people, and start a live performance tour tomorrow that is going to change my life!!!

Here are some images of my opening at Old Crow and more.... I'll be back soon this time to update you guys!

Pretty Stoked on Life

in , ,

I kind of just wanted to say, yeah, I'm pretty stoked on life right now!   I am starting to see that the more hard work I put into this art thang, how much truly better and more fulfilling my life becomes.  It is pretty refreshing to wake up in the morning and be excited to go and tackle the day that chock full of eight million different things and details to take care of but all for one basic goal.  TO MAKE AWESOME STUFF FOR YOU TO CHECK OUT AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY OR AT LEAST MAKE YOU THINK.  That being said, someone that I have been really stoked on lately and really inspired by their raw creative energy and I don't give a fuck for conscious reasons attitude is definitely the homie Kool Kid Kreyola or Erlin Geffrand.  I just had the pleasure of being in a group show at the Luggage Store Gallery called "In the Moment" and he is going to be helping me with a project at Queens Nails in February, as well as performing inside of it.  Like I said, life is good, here me Rooaaarrrr! Check out my favorite K.K.K. video by Spencer Keaton Cunningham and some random photos of Japan because I feel like showing you them for no apparent reason other than I am stoked on them. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/4650403 w=400&h=270]

KOOL KID KREYOLA - Dance On The Moon from Spencer Keeton Cunningham on Vimeo.

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

in

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