Professor KAWS gets out of detention early to teach his character design class…

Celebrating the global release of the new “Beautiful Losers” documentary movie, head loser AARON ROSE, in conjunction with NIKE SPORTSWEAR has organized a series of over 30 artist-led “Make Something!” workshops in Tokyo, NYC, San Francisco, and LA. Designed to bring street-level art instruction to disadvantaged urban youth, the roster of instructors includes such youth culture art heroes as Shepard Fairey, KAWS, Eric Elms, Mister Cartoon, Todd James (REAS), Tommy Guerrero, and Geoff McFetridge, to name a few. To date, seven of these four-hour sessions have been wrapped up in NYC, including character design by KAWS, mural painting by Eric Elms, Animation by REAS, Tattooing with Scott Campbell, Photography with Cheryl Dunn, cinematography with Tobin Yelland, and zine making with Aaron Rose. Tomorrow, August 21st sees master imagist Eric White taking the reigns of a painting workshop, and on Friday, August 22nd, Nike design whiz Jesse Leyva teaches Sneaker design. Meanwhile, PEEP THE RECAP: Read the rest of this entry »

You’ve been warned…

It’s been a painfully slow year in streetwear but the event of the summer kicks off this Friday in Hollywood when NEIGHBORHOOD, STUSSY, and NIKE unveil their “Boneyards” collaboration at the 144 LaBrea installation space. Unabashedly celebrating OG Southland beach and skate culture, the Boneyards project brings together a like-minded group of skaters and artists including JUAN PUENTE, JEREMY CARNAHAN, JOHN HALL, JACK RUDY, JESUS “CHUEY” QUINTANAR, ERIC DRESSEN, MISTER CARTOON, ROB ABEYTA, and ESTEVAN ORIOL to create a hard-edged clothing collection and sneaker collab that real SoCal skate rats have been dreaming of. Event space is extremely limited, RSVP now (see below) if you’re even dreaming of showing your ugly mug at the spot. Don’t sleep… HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »

As part of their ongoing celebration of the upcoming 2008 Olympic games NIKE has pulled yet another trick out of the hat by projecting images of some of China’s greatest athletes onto the sparse sides of superstar Dutch architect REM KOOLHAAS‘ new governmental CCTV building in downtown Beijing. Transforming the city’s sleepless skyline into a nighttime multimedia event, the projections highlight one of the country’s most significant architectural endeavors and their greatest hope for Olympic greatness at a time when the eyes of the world are all focused on the rapidly developing Red giant…

Beyond BMX Thunderdome...

In China, BMX is an obscure sport at best, a fact NIKE aims to change. Last week the 6.o squad including riders MIKE SPINNER, MAXIME CHARVERON, and NIGEL SYLVESTER rolled out to China and proceeded to set up shop in the Eastern equivalent of Thunderdome as designed by Richard Serra for a demo in honor of freestyle BMX pioneer BOB HARO called “Lightning Bolts.” Transforming an abandoned water tank—that was full of two feet of stagnant, standing water up until the day before last Tuesday’s event—into a BMX paradise in the round was no easy feat but when all was said and done a former Communist industrial wasteland was converted into one of the world’s most incredible street courses. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Nike event without an art component and Hong Kong toy designer Michael Lau stepped to the plate, creating a huge painting and special toy for the occasion. Also on display were a series of original-style Bob Haro BMX number plates as customized by an array of young artists to be auctioned off in benefit of The Land of Plenty foundation that introduces at-risk youth to the world of BMX. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »