guerilla art

This was not my first guerrilla art experience, but it was the first time linoleum block printing since the 8th grade. I chalked the idea up as a success but the initial outcome was a failure, followed by a rendered save.

I spent a long time developing the concepts, carving the linoleum, and strategically picking effective locations for specific idea's. Gold, i was sitting on pure gold. I had a vision, a plan, and when it came down to the 5:00 AM attack everything crumbled. If I had more time, i would have used stencils (because they are easier to transfer on rough surfaces like ply wood, asphalt, and concrete). If i had more brains, i would have reversed my idea on the linoleum so that it didn't come out backwards in print.


This is my neighbor's house. Long story short, she was part of a lesbian love triangle, one of the other ladies got real angry and threw a Molotov cocktail though her front door. The lady who owned the house was not home but her 14 and 3 year old daughters burned to death on the 3rd floor. After the service master came by and cleaned out the building they boarded up the windows. Kids from all over the neighborhood come by to write to the two sisters on the boards. I had no connection to the family, but i have lost a few friends to freak fire accidents. So i can identify with the kids mourning. This piece is directed to the young friends of the victim's Someone told me "sadness + time= happiness." Over the years this theory has proved itself true, for me at least.

The linoleum press did not transfer on to the ply wood because of the rough texture of the wood. So i found a smooth surfaced electrical box on the street corner.

When i finally successfully transferred the image it came out reversed and made no sense at all.
I had to flip this photo so the design made sense, in real life its backwards

I grew up in a suburb 26 miles south of Boston and where i come from, we play basketball all-day-long. It's a small town that loves the game and most of the enthusiasm stems from my former high school coach. When i moved into the city 5 years ago i was excited to play at a higher street level than my hometown. I lost interest in the city street ball scene after 2 years because: (A) my life had been threatened 1 to many times on one particular court (B) I don't have much time between work, school, girlfriend and sleep (C) NOBODY PASSES THE F---ING BALL!!!

Sunrise at one of the baskets I used to play on...

Again, my great idea semi failed because it was reversed on the transfer. Its supposed to read: Passing is Greater Than Shooting(double meaning: better passing creates better shots/ pass on violent actions). This came out Shooting is Less Than Passing, which still works, but not what i had in mind. If you look to the left of the hoop you can see the first attempted stamp(i really wish i made stencils instead of stamps), the textured backboard didn't grab the ink too well. My friend who was helping me said the figure looked like an "Aborigine finger painting" so i dipped my finger in the block printing ink and finger painted the the image. I safely got my point across and that's all that matters, right? Dammit i wish i made stencils!!!

This is what the stencil (not the half assed finger paint print above it) was supossed to look like...

I'm not goin' out like a chump

I couldn't quit that easy and thought of this idea waiting at the bus stop. There was the water drain, right under my nose. There was a Jeep facing me across the street. Then it dawned on me

Water Drain

Jeep

Jeep Grill

Water Drain

Spongy roller and watered down, white, block print ink, done and done.