No, this is not gibberish and don’t worry, we haven’t lost our minds over here at Sharpie either.  These words are in fact a work of Sharpie art and the newest permanent fixture at Jbar, a well-known Chicago hotspot neighboring The James Hotel. 

“Everything inspires me.  Some artists paint pictures and shapes, I paint using words.  Words create images in my head, but I like the way words look when they are placed next to and on top of each other, taking on a form of its own.”  “My technique allows the viewer to think simple letters form complex words, serving to create language as a form of art.”

-Brian Graves

Local Chicago artist, Brian Graves made his Sharpie mark on the bar’s walls with Jgrooves I & II and Jposition I & II, installations from the Jbar Project.  For this project, Graves drew inspiration from different areas, including famous one-liners from popular club songs that have been fixated into his own mind.  The words above are from a portion of the installation, stating the precise location of Jbar itself; beginning with outer space progressing to its exact coordinates on Earth.

*I would like to take this moment to thank you, Mr. Graves, for cursing me with the musical mash-up that is repeating in my head, consisting of Madonna’s Hey Mr Dj, U2’s She Moves in Mysterious Ways, Tina Turner’s Proud Mary and P!nk’s intellectually stimulating, Get this Party Started.*

Graves focuses on the development of self-taught expression of both feeling and emotion in his own form of abstract painting. Letters, words, everyday expressions and emotion combine and collide with color and texture through layers of acrylics, oils, pastels and yes, Sharpie markers!

Artist Brian Graves (second from left) and friends at Jbar

Trust me when I say that you need to see more of Brian Graves’ artwork. Absolutely incredible!  BigArtChicago <— Check it out

Hey, why not see his work up close and personal?!  Grab a cab and jet on over to the JBar at The James.

*A BIG thanks goes out to Raul Ruiz, Sharpie Highlighters Brand Manager for suggesting Brian’s Jbar project for the Sharpie Blog.  Follow Raul on Twitter! (He has a great profile pic)

Urbane Apartments celebrated the grand opening of their new Michigan location in a unique way.  On October 22^nd, owner Eric Brown hosted the Sharpie “Draw on the Walls” contest by opening up the space to the public and inviting 12 local artists to create innovative and eccentric designs on the walls of the building’s Co-Work space’s meeting rooms.

*The Co-Work space is designed for small to medium sized companies needing a trendy office space, as well as for Urbane residents’ use of office machines and desk space.

 The winner of the Sharpie “Draw On the Walls” contest and $750 was Urbane resident, Ryan Gardner.  I think that the best way to describe Gardner’s creation (this pun just happens to fit perfectly) would be this:  Uncapping What’s Inside of an imaginative mind. Now, I know that you think I’m just plugging the Sharpie campaign, but seriously, look at the pics and tell me that’s not a pretty accurate description!

1st place Winner, Ryan Gardner

Gardner, Writing on the Walls with Sharpie!

Spotlight on the Winner!

With about 100 attendees, the event was a success.  Taking place in the Co-Work space, the 12 artists drew live on the walls with an assortment of Sharpie markers.  The outcomes are pretty amazing! (See pictures below.) I don’t know about you but I get nervous writing my name on a nametag with 1 person watching, let alone 99 people watching me draw on a wall –Talk about pressure.  I have to give big props to the artists.  Great work guys; you’ve made Sharpie proud!

In addition to live art, Urbane Apts. also provided drinks & appetizers, gave property tours, hosted a live raffle, all the while, moving to the beats of DJ Terry Hall, with photographer Rachel Wade capturing every Sharpie moment!

Here are some pics of the artists drawing at the Urbane Apt. event!

For more on the event check out Urbane on Facebook and their blog.  Of course get the scoop about Urbane Aprtments at www.urbaneapts.com

Sharpie? Yes, please! www.sharpie.com

This is no ordinary 17-year-old. This man's got skills...

Garcia: I’ve been drawing since I was 13. I was influenced by a graffiti drawing my sister brought home from school one of her friends did for her. Since then I’ve taught myself new techniques and forms of art there was to be learned. I would really like to explore the different types of art and things there are to be offered, but then again…money isn’t always around to help out. 

Dragon Ball Z

Q: What are the main types of shoes you draw on?

Garcia: Plain white canvas Vans and High top Converse are the shoes I focus on the most for their material. High top converse and Vans are very useful for all the space they provide me with to draw. It’s so easy to draw on and works great with the sharpies. No smears or smudges except for water. That’s a big problem I have right now. Protecting the art. It would be nice if I could experiment with the different types of paints and art supplies to better my designs though. Other colored shoes aren’t great with multi colored sharpie art which is why I stick with white.

Q: Why are Sharpie products a good fit for this?

Garcia: Well I have tried pens and other plain school markers, map colors and pencils. No other writing utensils match up to the great sharpie. If only there were a greater variety of colors to choose from. I’m sure there is or maybe I just haven’t heard of them. But I love the easy glide sharpie gives when drawing on the shoe. It makes it so much easier than having to constantly go over the same spots again and again. Thin sharpies don’t bleed as much as thick sharpies do on the canvas that’s why I prefer them most. And sharpie also keeps its thick bold color on any surface.

Q: What specific Sharpie tools do you use? Markers, pens, etc.

Garcia: Since I discovered my talent for drawing on shoes from the beginning I’ve only been using thin sharpies. Once in a while I’ll use thick

Got my vans on but they look like sneakers...

 sharpies to save time for bigger spaces to be filled on the shoes. Everything I do is done free hand. I don’t use any stencils. As for measurements and shape placements, I just wing it and hope it comes out as I plan.

Q: How long does it take for you to complete a design on a pair of shoes?

Garcia: My last design took me three hours. And I believe that was the longest time than I took on any pair before. FYI my last pair was the pair with the Looney Toons and Cars on separate shoes that I just posted on the sharpie website. I have so many ideas and people’s opinions to help me out all I need is a great supply of materials to get the job done. Not only do I get to spend days and possibly my lifetime doing something I love but I also get paid for it.

Q: What’s your favorite design you have made? Why?

Garcia's favorite... I think it's mine too!

Garcia:The Looney tunes design is my favorite. Since I came up with that idea I knew it was gonna be a seller. I loved the challenge and the different characters it involved. So unique. That shoe itself took me about an hour and a half. The first day I advertised them I got so many compliments, requests and phone numbers. It was amazing to me and flattering at how many people admired my shoes. It was definitely worth the time and always will be.

Q: Do you wear the shoes? Sell them?

Garcia: I wear the shoes every day. I only have a pair for myself but I wish I had the money to have a different pair everyday. I do sell them as well. Right now for very cheap as a matter of fact. 40 dollars isn’t much in my pocket. Especially when I have to keep providing myself with more supplies. I’ve been told by so many people though that I’m under-charging and that I could be charging near the hundreds and possibly more.

Q: Have friends or family asked you to draw designs for them?

Garcia: Everyday. I do do my family’s shoes for free

Q: Anything else you’d like to share that I didn’t ask?

Garcia: Yes. Well, I’ve recently been offered a job in Corpus Christi for an underground clothing line. I don’t really trust the owners and my family knows how long I’ve been waiting for my time to be noticed. I’ve looked around so much and as far as this interview, this seems the closest I’ve gotten to being in that limelight. And even if this doesn’t go as I planned I’d like to thank you for requesting this interview and helping me out any way you can. Thank you.

See more of Aj’s Work  http://www.myspace.com/ajgarcia19

Hit him up for shoes!  snbntaurelio@hotmail.com

Visit www.sharpieuncapped.com for more ideas on how to get creative with Sharpie.

 

Now this is what I call HOT WHEELS! As a kid you were probablly told never draw on anything with a Sharpie.  Heck, you probablly tell yourself that even as an adult!  Well, leave it to two young guys in Jacksonville, North Carolina to break the rules and go to town on a $10,000 Honda sportbike! 

Spending over 50 hours tagging this bike, Jesse Lockhart, 25, and  Nick Schuman, 27, went by their own rules, took out their Sharpies and simultaneously began drawing on opposite sides of Schuman’s brother-in-law’s sportbike.  The duo decided to name it Shiyonin, meaning “Servant of God,” reflecting their Oriental backgrounds.  And with no professional background, Schuman and Lockhart, with a total of only 4 Sharpies,  uncapped their creativity and drew whatever came to mind!

You may want to take a second, third, even a fourth look at Shiyonin because every time you look, you are sure to find something new!  And no Sharpie fans, you are not seeing things- I asked and yes, that is the Michelin Man and Woody the Woodpecker!  Check out these pictures and learn about how Lockhart and Schuman used their talent to create one AMAZING piece of work.

Tell me a little about yourself and everyone who contributed!  My name is Jesse Lockhart, I’m a 25 yr old male and  Nick Schuman is a 27 yr old male.  Our wives definitely had a big role in contributing to this bike because.  Alongside our 9-5 work week, we had to work on the bike after hours, LATE into the night.   One of our biggest contributors, we would both have to say is Jesus, for giving us the talent to do it.

How long have you been riding?  I started when I was 8 on dirtbikes, so for 17 years I have been riding.  Nick has been riding for 15 years, starting when he was 12, on a minibike.

Do you have an art background?  Professional artists?  We both have had artistic talent since we were young.  Our minds have always seen things differently that most people don’t usually see – Curves, Colors, Shapes, Texture!  We are not professional yet, but we are well on our way to becoming full-time custom painters. 

What made you decide to Sharpie up this HOT bike? We are in the process of opening our own custom paint shop and we wanted to do something that would definitely stand out amongst the crowd and shine some light on our business.  This bike was actually done for Nick’s brother in-law, who was more than willing to lend a bike to get tagged when he heard the idea of a “Sharpie bike.”

Why Sharpie? Why did you go with Black & White?  Nick and I have always been big fanS of white vehicles ( Both of us and our wives all have white vehicles).  White is very clean and the bike itself is mostly black, so it was kind of a no-brainer that we would both want to do black over white.  All our lives we were told to never to write on anything with a Sharpie because it was PERMANENT, so when we had the chance to use a Sharpie on something big and important like a $10,000 machine, we were all over it!

About how many Sharpies went into this? What kinds did you use? Believe it or not, I had 2 markers and Nick had 2 markers and neither of them ran out!  We both had 1 fine tip for outlining and 1 fat chisel tipped for filling in.

Did you have a plan? Tell me about the process!  NO PLAN!!! We both stepped back with a blank stare, he took one side and I took the other and we met in the middle.  Whatever popped into our heads went on the bike. Total improv.

I would be terrified to mess up…Who made the first mark?  How nervous were you?    We both started at the same exact time with both of us laughing at what we had gotten ourselves into!  We knew it was going to be a long process.   Then about 10 minutes later we started cracking up at the “squeeekie,squeeekie” sound that came from the tips of the markers- that never stopped.  It was hilarious...we weren’t nervous!

How many bikes do you own? Kinds?  I have a 2008 Suzuki GSXR 600. Nick traded his beloved Honda “Nicky Hayden Edition” RC51 in for his son’s new dirtbike.

Does anyone actually ride it or is it just for show?  Yes!  It is driven daily, we haven’t even been able to finish it.  He (Nick’s brother-in-law) was told to bring the bike back the next day for touchups and here it is a month later and it still hasn’t made it back (he just likes the attention)!

Any other designs in the works?  Yes, but it’s a secret for now.

What’s next for the bike?  Lowering it, extending it, finish custom exhaust, and Sharpie the wheels.

***

Be sure to visit Lockhart’s myspace page to see more photos of Shiyonin and the hard work that was put into creating the design. 

Also, look forward to their new website and new updates on http://www.shiyonin.com/

James and Karla Murray and friend Mike at the launch party of “Miami Graffiti”

James and Karla Murray are professional photographers who began documenting the world of graffiti artists in the mid 1990s. They started first with New York City (and two books about the scene there), and eventually traveled south to Miami where their interest resulted in Miami Graffiti, a new book just out showcasing some of Miami’s most vibrant work.

This is where I have to point out that graffiti has its critics and Sharpie wants to be sure you understand that we don’t condone its use to deface or damage property or hurt or harm people. That’s not the intention of most graffiti artists anyway. The artists featured in the book are clearly people driven by a passion to create. In fact, the majority of the works are located in places that are invisible to the public eye, painted inside abandoned factories and along trackside buildings.  And the graffiti artists seem to like it that way. 

Sharpie was part of the book’s release party in Miami Beach, serving as the official marker of Graffiti Miami. Sharpie markers have been used for years by many graffiti artists to create the works they draw on paper and in their “blackbooks’ (sketchbooks).  Check out the action below:    (For info on where to buy the book, contact Ali Gitlow at Prestel Publishing, agitlow@prestel-usa.com). 

The Crew

James and Karla Murray and friend Mike at the launch party of “Miami Graffiti”

James and Karla Murray are professional photographers who began documenting the world of graffiti artists in the mid 1990s. They started first with New York City (and two books about the scene there), and eventually traveled south to Miami where their interest resulted in Miami Graffiti, a new book just out showcasing some of Miami’s most vibrant work.

This is where I have to point out that graffiti has its critics and Sharpie wants to be sure you understand that we don’t condone its use to deface or damage property or hurt or harm people. That’s not the intention of most graffiti artists anyway. The artists featured in the book are clearly people driven by a passion to create. In fact, the majority of the works are located in places that are invisible to the public eye, painted inside abandoned factories and along trackside buildings.  And the graffiti artists seem to like it that way. 

Sharpie was part of the book’s release party in Miami Beach, serving as the official marker of Graffiti Miami. Sharpie markers have been used for years by many graffiti artists to create the works they draw on paper and in their “blackbooks’ (sketchbooks).  Check out the action below:    (For info on where to buy the book, contact Ali Gitlow at Prestel Publishing, agitlow@prestel-usa.com). 

The Crew

By Mike Giant, a giant in urban art

You’ve got to hear about this AMAZING art show coming to L.A.   But first, we pause for a word from Judge Sharpie Susan of the People’s Court:

Graffiti has been around since the dawn of mankind.  Wikipedia describes it as “images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property… sometimes regarded as a form of  art and other times regarded as unsightly damage or unwanted.”  Well, before I let you in on one of the most exciting art projects to happen to L.A. – the world, for that matter — know that the graffiti I’m about to talk about is art and has nothing to do with anything harmful or illegal.  The gallery where the show is being held backs me up on this all the way.

By craola

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program. 

Crewest gallery is the master behind the madness. The gallery, in a show curated by renown graffiti artist Man One, is presenting The Sharpie Show.  It’s a first-of-its kind round-up of graffiti artists who will show their Sharpie-created work.  It kicks off with an opening reception on February 7 from 6-9 p.m. at the gallery on Winston Street.  Here’s your invite:

Here’s a little background from Crewest:  In the Graffiti subculture, practitioners are known as “writers” because graffiti is about writing your name on as many surfaces as possible.
Although many writers elevate their art form to the level of creating huge and beautiful murals, they all began their journey as an artist by first learning to write and perfect their name.  The Sharpie marker is often the first tool a writer acquires in his lifelong journey to hone his craft and in becoming an artist.

By King157

The Sharpie Show will feature original pieces created using Sharpies by some of the best known graffiti artists in the country (and beyond). Aside from graffiti artists, work by tattoo artists and known illustrators Lalo Alcaraz and Overton Loyd will be on display. From stylized hand signatures, to throw ups, piecebooks, stickers, and any other possible object that can be marked upon, this exhibit will demonstrate the level of creativity that can be achieved between an artist and his/her most basic tool – The Sharpie.

Here’s a list and links to the participating artists, a plethora of serious talent now available for one-stop shopping right here on the Sharpie Blog. 

20MG
AFEXONE
AUKS ONE
BRANDED
BROOKS B. GOLDEN
CACHE
CATCULT
COPE2
DASH”2000″FIDEL
DEB (AUSTRAILIA)
DENZONE®
DRILONE
DYTCH66
EGR
ERIBERTO ORIOL
ERIK DEBAT “RISK”
ERICK SCARECROW
EVAN SKREDERSTU 
FLYCAT(ITALY)
GIMIKS
GREG “CRAOLA” SIMKINS
GWEN MERCADO ­REYES
INDIE 184
JAMES “CASPER” JANKOWIAK
JOSE REYES
KING157
LALO ALCARAZ
MAD
MANDOE MaK
MAN ONE
MARKA27
MAX NEUTRA
MOE RADKE
MR “PUPPET” 201
OVERTON LOYD
PEAP (NEW ZEALAND)
PHOENIXARTNOW
PHONETICONTROL
PROJECT RABBIT
RANDY KONO
RELAX
ROA (BELGIUM)
ROME (CHICAGO)
SERGIO D. ROBLETO
SHERM
SLOKE ONE
TRAVIS MOORE
THOR
VYAL
WANE ONE
ZEN ONE

Also want to give a shout out to DJ.Phyz Ed who will be responsible for the music vibe at the opening.

 
For more info, contact:  Luna George  .  818-235-4598  .  luna@crewest.com  .  213-627-8272