Kaws Vs. PIPO!

I’ve always been a big Kaws fan, although I couldn’t afford the vinyl toys he makes with Medicom, I recently had a chance to purchase a book he released in a small show he did in Japan a few years back.

Here is his latest work, inspired by Pipo, the mascot of the Japanese police.  Spot the difference.

The Original

The Kaws Version

Think About It

A thought came to mind while I was at the office earlier.  Why am I so insistent in trying to become an active part of the art, design and music culture?

I’m not really sure what to say, but this idea came to me while thinking about it. I think partly it’s because it allows me to make my mark in this world. In today’s current age where products and ideas are pushed by multinationals, being involved in culture is one of the things that I feel is something that’s achievable by an ordinary citizen like me. It’s one of the things that you can still try to grasp and feel with your own hands, not just something mass produced by or built up by factory or marketing machines just to sell. Something like a song, when written honestly can feel like the artist or the band is sharing part of their soul or their personality to the listen. It feels genuine.

But these days, even that isn’t safe from the prying hands of the big players. It’s funny though, because even before some of these subcultures have already crossed bounderies to mainstream markets. However I feel that these days, what’s happening is that companies are integrating into the culture and making it seem that they are supporting it’s ideals and history.  But the truth is they are bastardizing it and making it fit into their mold, while still selling it to people who don’t know better. And as you see more and more people are getting into these cultures or subcultures under the assumption that it is real, when in reality this just the same machine under a different guise.

I hope I made sense. Think about it.

On Further Cultural Studies

In the name of continuous learning, I spent the past few nights watching some classic films in the graffiti, hip-hop and b-boy scene. I started with Wild Style, then with Beat Street and finally Style Wars. Funny thing is that most of these films were released in between ‘82 to ‘84, I reckon the period looks like one of the key periods that catapulted the culture to the level it is currently. It is also the last few years of subway “bombing” as New York adopted more stricter security measures and harsher penalties to violators which lead to many graffiti artists hanging up their cans and pens.

Personally I feel that this change helped open up people to the artists themselves as they started to focus their work towards art galleries and shows, although some bombers might contest that the trains was the best medium for their work, I think art shows is something that was bound to happen when you start generating interest like they did in the 80’s. While some might coin this as selling out, I simply think that it is evolution, albeit somewhat forced. It’s funny how fast graffiti moved from being just vandalism and now it is considered to be part of modern and pop art. Artists like Keith Haring, Futura, Jean-Michel Basquiat, once the vandals of society and now their paintings probably cost more than the salary of the Mayor of New York.

It’s great to see how the vibe of New York at the time was, it was like in the infancy stages and now it’s fully grown. While I never really knew how it felt back then, watching these films at least gives me a glimpse of the culture’s past.

For me, the really interesting insight I got was how influential the 80’s were to the current generation. I can only wonder if our current generation can leave as great an impact as the past has done to us.

Conversations

Yesterday, I had what I would say was one of the most stimulating conversations I’ve had in a while. Although I’m unable to divulge the contents nor the parties involved at this time, all I can say is that it is an exciting time for design, art and lifestyle here in the Philippines.

“because it’s not just graphic design.”

and in a totally not related to the local scene but something just to satisfy your visual cravings, here are a few time lapse videos by New York artist Rostarr. Enjoy!

We Need To Change, 25 Years Ago.

I’ve always believed in the Philippines. That’s one of the reasons I came back, I want to be part of the change. I was to contribute. Unfortunately, this is not an easy task. One of the few things I realized since coming back is that change in the Government isn’t enough, the very root of Filipino society must be shaken apart. We absolutely don’t have any love for our country, there’s no REAL pride in our people, and NO, Manny Pacquiao doesn’t count. I guess it’s the result of our colonial years under the Spanish, Japanese and American rule, where we look down on ourselves and have this great notion that all things western-made is great and everything that we can do pales in comparison.

Another thing is that we are selfish, human beings are naturally selfish but Filipinos are on some next level “me me me me me” shit. I rationalized it to the thinking that because it seems so hopeless, that looking to the future isn’t an optional anymore, which leads to this type of mentality. If you’re looking for sacrifice for the greater good, well, don’t bother to look here friends. Granted that any significant change possibly won’t be seen by the current generation, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to improve our situation, and improving our situation can’t be done by changing Presidents, it can’t be done by changing policies or lowering the prices of electricity and food. All those help but our attitude and our philosophy must change, society itself must change, because we are to be blamed. Yes, me, you, all of us are to be blamed for our situation, in our own little way, we have slowly damaged and corrupted our society. By listening to crap ass songs and crap ass shows that hold little intellectual value, by saying don’t take those stupid shows away because it’s the only avenue of happiness that we can afford. That’s bullshit, because by saying that, we again are looking down upon ourselves.

And with that introduction, there are some topics I’d like to tackle for today:

1. Increasing oil prices -

With the past few weeks, one of the major issues in the world is the big increase in oil prices on almost a daily basis. And I believe, currently it’s hitting slightly above the USD 120 mark. And naturally 3rd world countries like ours, the Philippines for my international readers, will be heavily hit. Not only will the increase in oil prices affect our petrol consumption, it also affects prices of goods and services. People will grovel most at the fuel prices increasing on an almost bi-weekly basis. And the reason why it’s terribly bad on our side of the world, is that we lack the proper mass transportation that is available in most metropolitan cities around the world. Cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and the like, because of good mass transportation facilities, there are less cars, because simply, the need isn’t there and add to the fact that car prices are mad expensive. The math is simple, due to less cars, the consumers won’t be affected that much by the increase in fuel, unlike in our situation, our people depend highly on non-efficient consumers of fuel such as the jeepney and the tricycle. Funny how proud we are of our jeepneys, when these things are badly engineered, cause tremendous traffic with their unruly driving and probably are cause for many car accidents on the road. The message is there, WE NEED BETTER MASS TRANSPORTATION. Enough with the “para po, manong”.

2. Kontra Magazine -

Okay, still trying to get this ball rollin’. I kinda have my sections in mind and some concepts written down. Interviews and articles still need to be started on. What I really need now is somebody who can do basic layouts and who’s willing to do it pro-bono. If you’re looking for an opportunity to work on something different and fresh, this is going to something you’ll enjoy, I promise. So layout gurus and artsy folks, hit me up now now now now!!!

3. NBI Clearance -

Related to the bureaucracy and redtape that our government and our professionals are oh-so famous for. Today I went to the Carriedo office to secure my NBI clearance which is something like a police clearance in other countries. I was relatively surprised that despite the shabby structure of their offices, badly placed signs and slightly messy queue structure, I was able to finish within just slightly over an hour’s time. This is the same clearance, that used to take at least a day to finish. I applaud the effort but definitely there are many things that could’ve been done to cut down the time even more. From what I could see, there was definitely an inefficient use of space, the process flow is still kind of messy, even though it helps that there were big ass cardboard signs saying “STEP 1″. Lots of things that can still be improved upon, but props must be given for the effort in improving the system. Oh, automated payment machines were available too, that impressed me a bit.

The Kontra Zine

The Kontra Zine is an idea that I’ve been messing around with since around mid of 2007. It started out to be a webzine for local art, music, film and the like. In fact, I have developed some idea for certain sections of the zine and have lined up some possible features and topics that the zine could take on, however due to manpower constraints as well as limitations on my experience in creating a magazine, even though quite simply it’s just an online magazine in a blog format. I’ve kept postponing the whole idea, for the fear that I wouldn’t have enough ideas to keep the webzine afloat consistently.

And now, I’ve decided to take another shot at it, in a printed format. This allows me to control the timeline for the releases of material better, that even if I can only churn out 1 issue per year, it wouldn’t feel like such a waste. It’s a personal preference and probably because it’s tangible, it can be the same issue but it can be passed around and would have different effects, hopefully profound, for each and every reader. Nothing is set in stone for now, but I will try to work this thing out. Definitely, this will not be your ordinary magazine or digest. We will be very focused on the content of the features and really get behind the ideals of the topics that we will be featuring. It will be very tough, and I don’t know shit about editing or magazines, but it should be quite fun.

“‘Cause we like to shake things up!”

Doodling

For as long as I can remember, as long as I have a pen or pencil on my hand and a piece of paper in front of me, I will definitely doodle. Whether this act is just a necessary impulse, or just a habit that I’ve grown into, it just happens. Anybody who has been my seatmate or has seen my notebooks and books throughout my schooling life from early elementary to college can attest that no page is safe from my doodling, sometimes it just takes up one small corner and other times it takes up whole spaces. I think it’s a sort of a release for me, a way to channel my focus into something else. I’ve always had a difficult time focusing on a certain task for long periods of time, I need something to distract and shift my attention to, I guess you could say I get bored easily.

I still doodle to this day, like I said earlier, a pen and a piece of paper, that’s all I need. I would say it’s something that became part of my life and it lead me to a path in my life which led me to where I am now. Let me further elaborate, during my early years of doodling, a lot of what I drew was influenced by comics which I read growing up. I read mostly Marvel and DC superhero stuff with some occassional manga like Dragon Ball. Of course back then I thought that I had enough talent to maybe pursue a career in drawing comics, that was before I realized that perhaps it wasn’t the best way to make a living. Money isn’t everything but growing up in a capitalist society and a family that put emphasis on business and making money, it’s not so easy to put passion over money. It’s a struggle that I have with myself until this very day, but more on this in the future.

From this dream of becoming a comicbook artist grew my love for the arts, particularly in the early years, graphic design. Now, this was something I thought I could really sink my teeth into, but at the time, I was past the midway into finishing my degree in Business Administration, and I just couldn’t push through with a resolve to shift courses and finally pursue something that I felt passionate about. I still tried to learn about it and with the help of the internet, I self-studied and actually was able to become decent with Photoshop, but the basics of art wasn’t there and it just fell apart from there.

If there was anything good that came out of learning more about design, I was exposed to a big variety of arts and it’s various mediums, and it’s something that I follow to this very day, in particular graffiti as well as pop art derived from different sources like album covers, magazine covers, promotional materials and the like.

And now I am back to where it began, I’m doing what I do best, doodling. Funny how things have come to a full circle or rectangle, whatever. I don’t regret much that I wasn’t able to pursue a career as a penciller or a graphic artists. Trying them out as possible careers, opened my mind up to so much more things and ideas, and basically a lot of who I am now and what I know myself to be now. It is the path that took me to where I am, perhaps if I took a different road earlier, I would still end up here, the most important thing is that this is who Jason is.

And with this parting, I share something I read in the Philosophy Zine which inspired this whole post. From a verse written by Naoyuki Inoue:

“The path you have taken has led you to where you are now. Who you are now creates the path from here on.“

Banksy Strikes Again!

I’ve been enamored with Banksy’s work ever since I had chanced upon his book, “Wall And Piece”, at Kinokuniya in Singapore. Usually the themes for his pieces have connotations geared towards modern society.

Here’s his latest work on a Post Office building -

Read the rest of the article here.

I’m kinda excited to see some of his actual work in an upcoming exhibition in Hong Kong. The show will be together with some other artists like Keith Haring and Damien Hirst. Should be quite a show, I will try to take pictures if I am able to.

Here is the flyer for the Banksy show, courtesy of Freshness mag -

Preview

Here are snaps of some trial illustrations that I did.

Sketching on paper is the easy part, doing the finish on Illustrator is harder.

I need to learn how to use Illustrator.

Your Lifestyle - A Top 10 List

Hi! I figured this would be a good way to introduce myself. Basically it’s a list of things that are ‘must haves’ in my life today. Idea and title jacked from Superfuture.

1. Family

Not much explaination needed. Family is the basic foundation of society, yes? We are not the perfect family, but we do okay.

2. Basketball

Flashback, the 1993 NBA finals, Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson and the Phoenix versus Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the Chicago Bulls. Jordan with his swagger moves, Barkley with his power plays, it was a Wednesday night I think, it wasn’t even a live telecast. But ever since that time, I was hooked to, no, LOVED basketball. If there was any one constant thing in my life, this was it. My interests have come and go and some come back again, but this was one thing that never changed while I was growing up.

Not just limited to watching basketball, I grew up playing the game, I was never and ever will be good at this game, but I’m a decent player. I could probably do better explaining the technical aspects of playing basketball like shooting, defense, running plays,etc. than actually playing in the game.

I’m 25 now and it’s been 15 years, and this will be forever.

3. Sneakers

Playing basketball meant you needed the proper kicks to play. Most people just wore whatever back then, as long as it was ‘rubber shoes’, it was okay. But I saw more than just shoes, I saw great design and a certain connection to the player wearing or endorsing the sneakers. Early years I was enamored by the designs on Reebok shoes, the Shaqnosis worn by Shaq or the Kamikazes that were designed for Shawn Kemp, as a kid unknowingly learning to love how good design affect our lives. Eventually I caught up with Nike and Adidas, with Penny Hardaway rockin’ Zoom Flight 96s and of course, Jordan with his Air Jordans. Later on was the love for the 3 stripes, with great Feet You Wear campaign banned by then-rising stars Kobe Bryant and Antoine Walker.

I always wore mid-level priced kicks back then though, because my parents would never buy me expensive shoes. I would always buy at sales and shoes that were from the previous season, and I would wear ‘em till the soles fell off. It was only recently when I got into the working world that I had the capacity to purchase whatever shoes that I liked and still there was still a certain frugality that was instilled to me that prevented me from going wild with shoe purchases.

From basketball shoes I grew to love casual sneakers as well, and it just grew and grew to what it is now. Whatever pair I have now doesn’t just look good but appeals to whatever personal ideals I have, it’s many different stories in each pair. It’s not just something that conforms to the body but to the person wearing it, to me.

4. Comics

One of the other things I got growing up. This was one of the ways my father used to get me to read. I loved comic books, those Superhero types most of all. It kinda waned off when I grew older, probably due to the fact that I couldn’t afford to follow every issue, but later on I got back to it. Just like when people say it’s meant to be. The internet did help a lot with downloadable scans allowed me to follow the current storyline, and after a while I got back to buying the trade paperbacks and hardbound books as well. As of late, I’ve been buying hardbound books because I figured I would start my own collection and perhaps it could be something I could show my kids later on and hopefully they’ll love it too.

5. Internet

The Internet has been revolutionary, it’s been said a million times and they should keep on saying it. I’ve just learned some much online which I wouldn’t have access to without it. Growing up in a 3rd world country meant being limited to whatever resources available locally, and with people starving and jobless, those resources would be scarce as most funding would be needed for more important matters. I admit that I grew up on the Internet, most of my interests now are influenced someway by what I’ve learned online. From the type of music I listen to, to my personal ideals, even to the shoes I wear. I’m just sick and tired of being satisfied of the things that are just available here, I want something more, I want something different, something that not every Jack walking in the street is wearing, or every Manang is listening to. I want to say something is cool because it is, and not because everybody says it’s cool. The Internet helps me do that.

6. Design

I got into design by way of comic books. Naturally I dreamt of growing up and becoming a comic book artist one day, perhaps in the mold of a Jim Lee. I used to copy a lot of comic book covers and tried to make some of my own characters. Used to think I really had talent, but that kinda fell apart especially when I stopped developing. I can still draw decently but it’s nothing compared to the skills Pros have. But that led the way to me learning to appreciate design on another level, on how a certain line can change a whole scene or how proper placement of shadows can set the mood of the panel, just how color affects a certain piece. Graphic design was a natural next step for me, I did try to self teach myself and was able to decently handle Photoshop, but without the proper education behind me, all plans of doing design just fell off too.

Design will always be an interest, whether it’s a book layout or a great CD cover, I’m always looking out for that something, that spark of inspiration. It’s a great feeling.

7. Glasses/Contact Lenses

I’ve had glasses since grade 3, and been wearing contact lenses since I was in 3rd year high school. I wish I could live without them but for now this is something I must have, unless I want to walk around ‘blind’. I hope that someday I can avail of Lasik and live a life without worrying about my glasses getting broken or losing my contact lens.

8. Music

I’m a pretty late bloomer. While all my life, I was surrounded by The Beatles and The Carpenters playing in my parents’ radio, I never really got into music until I was around 13-14. And even then I only got into mainstream stuff, I was downloading songs since I was around 16-17, so it just grew from downloading songs that was on the Billboards Top 50 singles and discovering songs that were not available locally, and then hearing 2Pac doing ‘California Love’ or Jay-Z’s ‘Can I Get A’ was when I learned about rap and from then I kept listening and researching. I joined an mIRC channel back then where I got to know about the Wu-Tang Clan, and more underground stuff and I was lovin’ it. It was around 2000 and I was probably 7 years late. I moved on to more rock oriented songs while still maintaining interest for hip-hop and r&b ballads, and it just kept expanding, from mainstream alternative rock songs to more emo songs and to indiepop and the list just kept growing and growing. I just like good music, irregardless of genre and no, Akon doesn’t count.

9. Friends

Now these are the people that keep me sane. There will always be a side of me that most people won’t see unless I’m with friends, it’s the Jason who is totally unguarded and relaxed. A place where I can say pretty much whatever I want without any discrimination or fear of acceptance. Like most people I have a few sets or groups of friends but one in particular, the Monztarz, is like family to me, I’ve known most of these people for more than a decade now.

10. Water

I’m a water freak and I probably go to the john more often than most guys. I just have this need to be constantly hydrated and just feeling dryness for just a few moments will make me uneasy. So for me, it’s gotta be H2O for life!

So what’s on your list?