Brain Food
One thing that’s been a brain teaser for me is perceptions. Doing community service at a community development office I see everyone and everyone is said to have their own style. I think otherwise. Majority follow trends and a few create their own. It’s always easier to walk a paved path. Your style is suppose to be like your two-minute pitch. Boom, they say women know from the first minute of meeting you if they want anything to do with you [and I'm saying that gently]. That last minute you better sell yourself. So why not spend time creating. Otherwise, she might as well be dealing with Gucci or Trey. Not comparing the two. I digress, all she’s getting is a copy.
I can’t stand for anyone telling me what’s cool to say, dress, or act, etc. [I'm not a fan of the over usage of the word wavy now]. I’m doing whatever the fuck I want. I be in outer space, but I got inner peace [beaming]. I move to the rhythm of my own beat, and that’s what alot of people forget to do. Not that there are no flaws with me – that’s just what I’m seeing. The last convo I had with one of my boys, and a interaction I had with a little kid I knew growing had me like, damn. Everybody recognize it eventually. I don’t have a definition for my style, but that’s good. After you label something your stuck to that. Intellect? Nope. I’m not always looking for answers [ignorance is bliss... to an extent]. Graphic Designer? Nah, I do more than that. I just do what I do, you know?
Stop’n Traffic
How powerful are books? Well they can apparently stop traffic if there’s enough of them. The clever folks at Luzinterruptus, put together temporary light-infused guerrilla art installations that are surreal and create a lovely scene in Brooklyn that I wish I could’ve encountered in person. More pictures and information about the piece can be found HERE.
Video: Wiz Khalifa x Toads Place
I procrastinated creating a Vimeo account, which prevented me from publishing this video. Anyway I decided to hit the Wiz Khalifa concert at Toads Place on York Street in New Haven. A few local artist hit the stage before Yelawolf opened for Mr. Khalifa man. Toads was packed like a regular Saturday night, except steady blunts and paper planes were being passed around. I managed to get the last song he performed on video despite the madness in the crowd.
Graffiti out in Israel
Enjoy this first animation clip from Tant and Unga of the Broken Fingaz Crew out of Israel.
It’s Surreal: The Radiant Child, Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat became notorious for his graffiti art in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene. I’ve been on Basquiat since the beginning of my blogg’n days. No secret as to why I labeled one of our tags, “SAMO,” Basquiat’s moniker. In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. Literally making his mark with graffiti on public walls under the nom de plume “Samo” (short for same old thing). It definitely made its mark on me. Debuting at this years Sundance Film Festival, “The Radiant Child” is a film on the legendary art icon Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.
Past Articles:
Keep It Surreal >> SAMO
Keep It Surreal >> Lee Jaffe x Basquiat
Keep It Surreal >> Basquiat x Peter Relic
It’s Surreal: Kanye speaks on nostalgia x opinion x creativity
Kanye gets real deep with this one. From where he’s been to where he’s at now, the need have an opinion and the need to create. ‘Ye makes a heart felt address on Alexander McQueen’s contribution to fashion, damn, that was a big blow. The only fact is “COMMON OPINION”.
I’m on the plane listening to the college dropout. It brings back so many memories. When we made it I had all 6 parents, 4 grandparents and my mom and dad. Now I have my dad and my grandfather.
Music is so nostalgic. Every song I listen to brings me back to when I first played them for my mom, when I first played from for Dame, when I first played them Jay, when I first played them for Kweli, when I first played them for my niggas back in Chi, when the album first came out, when I first called Ebro from Hot 97 and begged him to play through the wire, when DJ Pharris blew me up in the Chi.
We used to be the niggas rocking polo shirts, Louie back packs, paper denim jeans, and exclusive Adidas from Sporty LA. We were the underdogs. I never feel like I’m not the underdog. I never felt completely comfortable. I’m tormented by the need to create. With the loss of McQueen I feel like we lost one of those faces of modern creativity’s Mount Rushmore.
There were times that the only thing that kept me on this earth was the need and responsibility to create. Maybe McQueen felt his job was done because his last collection was the greatest of the decade. We are all so hurt. I know we’re selfish because he brought us so much joy and inspiration.
I know how it feels when the night demons come. We can’t let them control our hands and feet. Sometimes when it hurts so bad we have to just lay in the bed. Just lay in bed and don’t move please, I know how it feels. I wish McQueen could have just been still. Don’t let the psychiatrists give you their drugs because it slows down your wings. Society and public opinion can beat the wings off of angels. When god sees they can’t take it anymore he brings them back home.
During this new album process sometimes I turn the music up and drink and cry. When something sounds so amazing and ground breaking I’m reminded of why I live. I drink the pain of now 2 generations and breathe our melodies and messages. The music keeps us alive.
I was blessed with the opportunity to bring my and others dreams to life. It’s like performing magic or something. It’s surreal. We bring the unrealistic to reality. “Go hard, go hard, go hard” echoes in my dreams. When I wake up and brush my teeth and look in the mirror it’s like I see Michael and my mom and Malcolm. Who’s that African in the background mom? Oh he created the original layouts for the pyramids but was written out the history books and his MTV award was given to “aliens”.
There’s no such thing as fact anymore, only opinion. The closest thing we have to fact is “common opinion”. Everything is an opinion. The way you dress is an expression of your opinion. Your religious beliefs are your opinion. The music you turn up loud is your opinion. For most people it’s easier to just agree. For me the hardest thing is to ‘just’ agree and that is what sparks creativity, the feeling that something can be better, the feeling that something’s missing. The feeling that something’s needed.
Fly on the Wall
Swedish photographer Magnus Muhr seems to have a lot of fun with insects, especially flies. He makes some quite funny compositions with dead flies and draws around to create some funny pictures.
Gorker Gallery
SITUATED ON THE CORNER OF GORE AND KERR STREETS FITZROY AWAKES THE SLEEPING GIANT THAT IS GORKER GALLERY. AN UNASSUMING YELLOW BRICK WAREHOUSE COMPLETE WITH ROLLERDOOR FROM THE OUTSIDE AND A LOFTY CONTEMPORARY EXHIBITION SPACE WITH WET POLISHED CONCRETE FLOORS, WHITE WALLS, TRACK LIGHTING AND EXPOSED INDUSTRIAL FEATURES ON THE INSIDE. IT’S A LITTLE TOUCH OF NEW YORK IN THE HEART OF MELBOURNE’S ART DISTRICT.
OPENED IN JUNE 2008 BY GALLERY DIRECTOR LUKE MATHEWS, TIMBA SMITS (WOODEN TOY QUARTERLY), NATHAN HOLMES TRAPNELL (THE SOUTHPAW) AND LAUREN BIEDRZYCKI, GORKER GALLERY AIMS TO SUPPORT BOTH LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL EMERGING (AND ESTABLISHED) CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS BY PRESENTING THEIR CRAFT IN A PROFESSIONAL, CARING AND SUPPORTIVE MANNER. GORKER GALLERY IS A HAVEN FOR ARTISTS AND ART COLLECTORS ALIKE AND WITH AN EXCITING EXHIBITION SCHEDULE PLANNED FOR 2009, GORKER IS SURE TO DELIGHT YOUR EYES FOR YET ANOTHER YEAR!
- Gorker Gallery
More photos after the jump.
Video: The Ear
THE EAR. A new short film by Yi Zhou FEATURING PHARRELL WILLIAMS MUSIC BY ENNIO MORRICONE. Inspired to Gogols short story entitled The Nose from the Petersburg tales, Yi have written her latest short film about the absurd story of the loss of an ear. The ear is actually the key element of the film, shot in RED and partly to be made in 3d animation. Throughout the film, the ear and inner ear as a whole turn themselves into an EarBrige as they get crossed by a bridge. The EarBridge is part of a public project proposal for Baku, Azerbaijan that includes a number of important international contemporary artists.
Glow In The Dark Book
KANYE WEST: GLOW IN THE DARK
Interview with tour collaborator Spike Jonze
288 pages with gatefolds / 9⅝” x 13” / 400 photographs /CD with unreleased music and interview
HC w/jacket $50.00 U.S., $62.00 Canadian, £30.00 U.K.
Deluxe edition with Clamshell case: 12½” x 16½” / 978-0-8478-3294-1
Trade Edition available on amazon.com; Limited Edition available through
Rizzoli Bookstore 1-800-52-BOOKS
Rizzoli International
Publications, Inc.
More photos after the jump.
Phantom Bike
An unusual bike design, “Forkless – Cruiser” by Olli Erkkila. He built it for his graduation project at the Institute of Design in Lahti, Finland.
Source via: Illusion 360
The Rose that Grew from Concrete
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it’s dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
Written by Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)
The good thing about being optimistic is that you get to see something truly for what it is, rather than what it’s not. Stop. Just marvel over the rose that grew from concrete and all else is trivial. Judge something for what it is, and what it over-came to get where it’s at, regardless of what’s wrong, the mistakes, or imperfections. LOVE. LIVE. LIFE – PROCEED. PROGRESS.
el fin.
Can I Kick It?
Can I Kick It? at SoleFood NYC is looking to be one of the best events of the summer, for me that is, hosted by some of my favorite painters, PESU from Old Soulz and Concep. We missed the official date, but I still want to get out there. You never know! Just being in the atmos and the possibility of meeting these guys are satisfying, and hopefully the sample sale is still going on. PESU ART x GOODWOOD has some cool necklaces, it’s making me think if there can be some Bizy Dreaming accessories as well.
Who’s down for the trip?
Source via: Old-Soulz Ent. (OSE)
Video: Stevie Wonder – All About the Love Again
I might have underestimated or short-changed the entire field of animation. However, no one is to blame but myself. I might have taken a different position if I had an understanding of “creating YOUR OWN style of aesthetic.” One of my problems throughout all of my animation courses was that I felt each animation was suppose to look a specific way. And for those who know me well, Doug and my 8th grade tutor, I have a meticulous nature of making things exactly the way they are seen, so I allot all my time trying to do just that. For those who might be interest in animation, don’t make the mistake I made. DON’T get caught up in technicalities, create your own style of aesthetic, and manage your time properly – create your storyboard, and plan your approach.
All About the Love Again made me think about my attitude towards animation, and maybe I could have gave more effort in my courses, nevertheless, I still managed to pass both animation classes that I took. I doubt it will ever be one of my favorite thigns to do, but I might go back and try to better my skills.
Habana Outpost & Market
Great summer activity! Enjoi good food, musiq, art, design and bohemian folk in Brooklyn. That’s if you’re into those kind of things.
Outpost Market brings together the hottest local designers and artists in one big, colorful outdoor marketplace. Local DJs, frozen mojitos, and kids stuff make it the perfect opportunity for everyone to get together and support the community.
Look fly and shop local – shop Outpost Market!!!
Outpost Market @ Habana Outpost Fort Greene
757 Fulton Street at South Portland Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Telephone 718.858.9500
Weekends, noon to 6pm
NY Straightforward
Hey all, Keep It Surreal Online is slightly taking a different turn, nothing drastic. We’re just going to shine more light on the design culture, being that I am a young designer, young designers like myself might be more inclined to check it out, want to better their craft, or even get the chance to show off their work. I’m open to all ideas and any mediums of design. Especially if your in the tri-state area, SPEAK UP!
Check out NYSF after you leave here. NYSF is ran by two creatives from NYC, good friends of mine, Maine & Nell. Be on the look out for a Bizy DreamingxNYSF collaboration.
el fin.
Kahlil Gibran
“I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.”
-Kahlil Gibran
Recycled Cardboard Macbook Case
Architecture student Alastair Hunter has recycled some cardboard to create this beautifully crafted macbook case!
Red’s Friday Podplay
I haven’t created a new playlist in about 2 or 3 months, this being my first since then, and a ill playlist at that! I figured I share my splendor with some of the world. Usually I listen to R&B to put me sleep, but I’ve been listening to this throughout the week, on repeat. I was brought up in the care of a woman, so I’m led to believe, she comes first. This is a playlist the ladies and the fellas can enjoy.
- Musiq – Millionaire
- John Legend – Cross That Line
- Anthony Hamilton – Cool
- Musiq – Moneyright
- John Legend – Refuge (When It’s Cold Outside)
- Trey Songz – Love Safari
- Erykah Badu – Honey
- Anthony Hamilton – Chyna Black
- Lyfe Jennings – Midnight Train
- Musiq – Makeyouhappy
- Ryan Leslie – I-R-I-N-A
- Trey Songz – I Need A Girl
- Musiq – B.U.D.D.Y.
- Common – Faithful
- Lyfe Jennings – Cops Up
Video: Surf for the Cause Trailer
Surf for the Cause x Grassroots Films
Surf for the Cause
Surf for the Cause is a fundraising group whose mission is to make a difference in the lives of those living in Third World Countries, one wave at a time. Every year thousands of surfers travel the globe to ride the most perfect waves the ocean has to offer.
Surfing the world, rebuilding, and raising money for various charities.
Surf for the Cause was started by a group of guys doing what they love. They simply made an organization out of it – surfing waves around the world & in return they make quality of life better for those who preserve these waves and inhabit those poor countries.
Visit Surf for the Cause
IFC Center x Objectified
Directed by: Gary Huswit
Friday, May 8 – Thursday, May 21
From the maker of HELVETICA comes a new documentary that explores the stuff that surrounds us and the people responsible for it. Interviewing design-world stars who create objects for Apple, Muji, IKEA and others, the film looks at the inspiration at work behind everything from toothbrushes to hi-tech gadgets. In thoughtful and revealing conversations, some of the world’s most influential designers illuminate the process of making their ideas concrete, and the increasingly urgent need to find sustainable design solutions for the future.
Participants currently include: Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich), Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis), IDEO (Palo Alto), Jonathan Ive (Apple, California), Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany), Karim Rashid (New York), Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune), Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine).
“Beautiful… a fascinating analysis of the design business exclusively from the vantage point of designers.”
- indieWIRE
NR, 75 Minutes
Plexifilm, USA, 2009
Official Website: http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/
Source via: IFC Center
Chad Harris
Broccoli
Keep It Surreal we can talk about what we want, when we want, how we want. Bloggers keeping it real. Our purpose is to touch on topics from art, design and musiq to life and habitat. We try to give a shining light on all creatives, especially folks with aspirations of growing viral, as well as, already established folk in pop-culture. We’ll use this blog to explore a thing or two. Hopefully you’ll contribute.
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