BLOG — ART

One of the most talented people on the planet is about to have an art show. We are taking about the one and only Greg Simkins AKA "Craola". May 17th at the Merry Kranowsky Gallery  in Los Angles. Why are we talking about something that's not going to happen for another 2 months? Because we don't want to hear any excuses, you need to start making your plans, book your flights, reserve your hotels..now!  You are going to look back 20 years from now and kick yourself for not seeing this in person. It would be like having the opportunity to see Salvador Dali or Norman Rockwell's art in person and not going, only to live the rest of your life in regret of what could have been, and what you could have seen with your own eyes. Maybe you need to be reminded of the talent of Greg Simkins....

We've made our point, we will see you all on May 17th.

This exclusive piece was designed and created by Mark Hoppus and Rich Simmons. Rich, who you may know already from the collab he's done with HMNIM, but in case you don't, he's an award-winning street artist. Do they give awards to artists? Apparently they do and Rich has the trophies to prove it.

Rich described the piece so we didn't have to and here's what he said, "the painting was done to compliment the print run we did for HMNIM and has the same color pattern and was sprayed by both myself and Mark. The background is created using reclaimed billboards and the skullapus stencil was created just for this painting and collaboration. The money raised from this exclusive painting will go towards running more exciting art workshops with Teens Unite and Art is the Cure".

The canvas has been signed by both Mark and Rich as both of them worked on the painting in Rich's London studio. And the painting is 1 of only 3 that were made. The other 2 are owned by Mark and Rich.

100% of the proceeds will go to the charity Teens Unite Fighting Cancer.

The canvas is 24 inches wide by 24 inches high and will be shipped by courier or can be collected from the Teens Unite office in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire (just north of Hogwarts). Click HERE for the ebay link to the auction.

If you have any questions please email info@teensunitefightingcancer.org

You know darn well that you were going to carve a pumpkin anyhow, but now you have a better reason than Halloween. $100 dollars worth of HMNIM. Now that you are properly incentivized what are you going to carve? Standard triangle face with square teeth? Witch on a broom? The world is your oyster as they say. Be creative, be weird, be original and that's how you will win. 

You can submit entries to the HMNIM facebook page, or just tag your photo on Instagram with #HMNIM

Every October the internet is flooded by amazingly carved pumpkins. If you see a pumpkin that totally takes your breath away, you can be 96% sure it was carved by Ray Villafane. It was as if Ray was put on this earth to do one thing, carve pumpkins. Sure he can do other things, but his pumpkins are masterpieces, so why bother to do anything else? The downside to being this good at this one thing is that he only has a short window of time to show the world what he's capable of. Such a shame.

The take away from this post is not that you suck at carving pumpkins, but that you should strive to find the one thing in this world that you can be amazing at. Keep your mind open, try new things whenever you can. The world's best surfer probably doesn't live by water, the best musician, may never pick up a guitar, the person who could cure cancer might never take a science class, you get where we are going with this. There is no way to know what you could be great at unless you make an effort to try to do everything.

Last night, London saw the opening of the latest Lazarides annual art show, this time aptly titled "Brutal."  It took place in an abandoned bank building on The Strand.  First recorded in 1002 as "la Stranda," meaning "shore," The Strand runs along what used to be the north bank of the Thames River, before the construction of the Victoria embankment. It now delineates the southernmost edge of the Covent Garden district, and is in no way pertinent to this blog post, or the art contained herein, other than the fact that it is the name of the street upon which the show took place.  Also, my wife almost tripped crossing the road and her friend dropped her phone, but the screen was okay.  Let's move on, shall we? 

Lazarides is the gallery at the cutting edge of the intersection where fine art meets street art, and this show is no different.  Walking into the venue, you feel like you're entering a zombie apocalypse, or a rave from the early '90s.  Decaying walls, exposed concrete, darkness, and loud music.  We arrived early and were met with performance artists beating the walls with metal pipes and baseball bats.  A crowd gathered and watched as they eyed the audience members and launched into a macabre contortion act.  

We wandered the dark ground floor halls of the forgotten financial institution, and around every corner we encountered work from some of the world's foremost artists.

Conor Harrington.

Antony Micallef. 

Miaz Brothers.

Pete Hawkins.

And other works from Know Hope, Estevan Oriol (photographer for the blink-182 untitled album and director of the "Down" video), Todd James, Katrin Fridricks, Faile, and on and on and on.  Paintings, sculpture, wall projections, installations, video art, and photography.  

There was even a cafe in the back serving soup.

We spent the night hanging out with artist and collaborator Rich Simmons, and here's a photo of us awkwardly standing next to one another.

Here's another photo from the night, of me standing next to my wife in front of work by the Miaz Brothers.  She's the one standing on the right.

As we were leaving, the event was in full swing, and as we approached the exit, I got to meet Antony Micallef.  We spoke for a few minutes about art and and the importance of honesty in expression, and I'm happy to report that the dude is friendly, smart, and very down to earth. It's awesome when you meet one of your heroes and he turns out to be a great human.

Brutal runs through the 27th.  You can book tickets online.  Steel yourself and enjoy.

If you know your punk rock history, then you already know that the Descendents were the pioneers that influenced the genre as you know it today. And like every band, it all started with a couple friends in their parents' garage learning to make mistakes and make music. 

We here at HMNIM are huge fans, and when the opportunity came along to be a part of this movie, we jumped at it. Now, Mark is already in the movie as they interview him about the influence that the Descendents had on him, but where could we fit in? Sure, we could re-edit the entire film and use the latest CGI technology to drop ourselves into the movie's key scenes (more thought went into that than you probably know). But in the end, we felt the best way to be a part of the film, was to host our own special screening of FILMAGE here in San Diego with our friends Vannen Watches. 

We'll be talking about this more as we get closer to the 21st. Don't wait until then to get your ticket as all 3 shows are expected to sell out. And did we mention that there will be an exclusive HMNIM X Descendents tee? Oh there will be, and you'll be super bummed if you don't get one.

We're expecting all three FILMAGE screenings to sell out quickly, so do not delay. Seating is extremely limited… and tickets are only $10 each! Tickets are available online HERE and at the Digiplex Mission Valley 7 box office.

For more information on these screenings, please visit HiMyNameisMark.com and VannenWatches.com for updates.