LA's new Montana (graffiti) paint store...Ma'claim and Risk

Although the new Montana store has been open for a couple of months last night was the official "opening."

Montana sounds American, but I was told it's German, so it was no surprise some of the German graffiti crew were in the house. Parked outside was a truck called the "Mobile Mural Lab." And painted on the right panel was Ma'claim's (Akut, Tasso, Case, Rusk) photorealistic work. On the left panel was Risk's piece.

Ma'claim, Germany

Risk, WCA Los Angeles

 LA's Graff O.G.s I don't know many of the graffiti names in LA, but I did recognize Slick and Risk.

Pic borrowed from Slick's blog

 Live and Direct Supported by LA Art Machine, Ma'claim will be painting live today at the Gothe-Institut Los Angeles which is the German cultural center that hosted another hip hop event this year, the screening of Florian Gaag's Whole Train film. There's also a panel discussion with Retna and Tom Kummer (who I don't know much about.) Read more about Ma'claim at their blog.

"AKUT, TASSO, CASE and RUSK a.k.a. MA’CLAIM have managed to paint their way up to the very top of the international Graffiti scene in no time.  The crew from the former GDR has breathed fresh air into the world of graffiti writing due to their peerless workmanship of a mix of classic graffiti and photorealism.

Their extraordinary productions have set new impulses within the scene. Ma’Claim have attracted an international fan community and are an inspirational source for other graffiti artists. 

Individual members Case and Akut ( one half of the duo "Herakut") already had solo exhibitions at renown galleries in Los Angeles, this is their first visit and collaboration in Los Angeles with the crew." Goethe-Institut

On the move Although there's no website yet you can read about the Mobile Mural Lab here.

"Providing communities with visual space...Free of charge...No permit required."

Mid-City Arts: Painting "On a Sunday afternoon"

A slew of West Coast (LA, SD) and East Coast (Miami) graffiti writers are congregating at Mid-City Arts this weekend for "On A Sunday Afternoon."

Some of the artists were due to paint as early as Friday with a live mural installation by Retna and a closing reception on Sunday March 7 from 2pm-8pm.

Not sure how those plans will work out since as I write it's raining cats and dogs in LA.

Axis (Los Angeles)
BooksIIII (Miami)
Dabs & Myla (Australia)
Jim Darling (Los Angeles)
Kofie (Los Angeles)
Kopye (Los Angeles)
Mear (Los Angeles)
Retna (Los Angeles)
Risk (Los Angeles)
Skem (Miami)

Slow (Miami)
Surge (San Diego)
Thelus (Los Angeles)
Typoe (Miami)

Location:
Mid-City Arts
5111 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles Ca. 90019
(310) 694-3460

Mid-City Arts hosted Retna and El Mac

I didn't get to see Retna and El Mac paint, but I was there early and watched Kofie and Codak put up their collaborative piece. Here's Kofie's time-lapse video of him painting a character from his sketch book.

Mid City Arts Backwall: Live art time lapse from Augustine Kofie on Vimeo.

LA heads represent...Cali love

MySpace was my social calender this weekend. I got news of the Crewest Gallery Fotograff photo show from Make One's bulletin. His bredren, Vyal One, curated the show over a two-month period, but did the installation in a single day! See the spray-painted fence patterns and other overlays that really show the pictures in the urban environment they were taken in.

I love that Crewest space - it's huge, full of aerosol, markers, t-shirts and other graff paraphernalia. Man One runs this place - see him on my LA River Hall of Fame event video. His partner hit me up to the T-Kid visit later this month at the record store, 33Third. Expect more graff madness then!

Give the drummer some Afterwards (and avoiding the big scuffle outside ;) ), Ja and I tried to get to our fave Indian spot for dinner, but it was late so we hit Lil' Tokyo instead before going to Funky Sole to see the Root Down and Stones Throw crew dedicate a whole night to "Mr. Please Please", James Brown! It would've been his 75th birthday yesterday and in tribute Cut Chemist came out with his James Brown t-shirt and a signed framed photo which he placed beside the turntables and proceeded to rock the 1s and 2s till closing time. That was a funky, funky session. Jimmy's Lounge rocks!

Perfect for another photo blog, but you'll have to imagine the jam down instead as I left the camera in the car... ;) Go to Cut Chemist's website and listen to his album. Nice.