Morning Ritual: The Ease

Jeremy Fish “The Golden Hills” Print Preview

May 16th, 2012

Next week, Upper Playground and Jeremy Fish will be releasing a new print, “The Golden Hills,” as an opening message to Fish’s exhibition at FIFTY24SF this summer. The print is made in an edition of 100, signed and numbered the artist, and printed at the fantastic Bloom Press in Oakland, California.

The print will be on sale at Upper Playground’s webstore on Monday, May 21, 2012.

“This drawing was inspired by that looming feeling that San Francisco is an isolated island from the rest of the country. As SF becomes more and more expensive, and the lower income creative folks that make this city pulse get squeezed off the island, “the city that knows how” will slowly transform into a sterile west coast Manhattan full of tech chads and internet gurus.” —Jeremy Fish

“the golden hills”
4 colors screen printed on Domtar Cougar 100# Cover paper.
In edition of 100, signed and numbered.
Printed by Bloom Press in Oakland.

Tags: Jeremy Fish, print

Alex Pardee Spring 2012 Capsule Collection

May 15th, 2012

Today we announce our brand new Capsule Collection for the Spring Season with Alex Pardee, the fine artist of all things grotesque and wonderfully zombified… with a touch of gruesome. Pardee has collaborated with Upper Playground for years, and this season, he has given us a grouping of new graphics with odes to pop-culture and a reworking of our classic Walrus logo.

So Alex, what were you thinking for this Spring collection?

“I love making sandwiches. The freedom to experiment with ingredients always allows me to create new flavors that I’ve never had before. Working with Upper Playground on this new capsule collection was the art equivalent of being the chef at some weird deli. Upper Playground knows what’s good, but they always encourage me to to take what’s good and play with those ingredients to create new colors, designs, flavors and jokes that I may not have tried before. And because of this freedom, I can draw whatever I want. And if that includes drawing a feminine wizard, decapitating Robocop or even making a public service announcement for irresponsible kids, then so be it.”

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Tags: 2012, Alex Pardee, capsule collection, Spring

Steve Powers “Distilling Daily Stories Into Art”

May 14th, 2012

In this video from PSFK CONFERENCE NYC, artist Steve Powers takes us through his recent public and private art projects. He explains love-letters to the neighborhoods he painted on the sides of buildings in Brooklyn. He also talks about his one-a-day art “Daily Metaltation” pieces that he paints on 8×10 pieces of metal. When you’re presented with any day you’re presented with a blank slate he says and as an artist its his job to find some form and boundaries and distill his experiences of the day onto that canvas.

Tags: espo, steve-powers

All City Canvas in Mexico City: The Final Looks

May 10th, 2012

Last week, Mexico City celebrated the public art festival, All City Canvas, featuring major murals on multi-storied buildings from Aryz, Vhils, Herakut, Escif, Saner, Sego, Interesni Kazki, El Mac, and Roa. Here are some of the final looks at the completed murals, and thank you to everyone at FIFTY24MX and their friends who helped us on the ground during the festival.

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Tags: al city canvas, aryz, El Mac, escif, herakut, interesni kazki, mexico city, roa, saner, Sego, vhils

Walrus Pop Shot by a Phantom Camera

May 10th, 2012

What we do around the office most of the time. Spraying a Walrus Pop Lighter with hairspray in super slow motion. Filmed at 1500 FPS on a Phantom camera.

Get your own Walrus Pop here: http://bit.ly/lktLvP

Or right here.

Tags: lighter, phantom camera, Walrus Pop

Boogie in Katowice, Poland

May 9th, 2012

Boogie was recently in Katowice, Poland for a big street art festival, and took some amazing photos in and around the town… we still got this classic Boogie tee in our webstore…

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Tags: Boogie, poland

Os Gemeos retrospective coming to Boston ICA, August 2012

May 9th, 2012

It may be hot as hell in Boston in August, but the Os Gemeos museum retrospective at the Boston ICA, the first for the Brazilian twins in the United States, will be a good reason to go. Known for their immersing installations and playful characters, Os Gemeos will surely turn the museum into their own playground… look forward to this one… it opens August 1, 2012.