Chicago Sticker Review in Photos: April 2012

While Supplies Last: An Inside Look

We opened the ‘ While Supplies Last’ concept shop last weekend at our space in Chicago,Illinois. The concept driven retail environment featuring Scumbags & Superstars and the work of famed U.K. illustrator, Jon Burgerman allows for the purchase of many artists exclusive works. Jon Burgerman supplied many very personal items, from signed,un-cut puzzle proofs limited to 3, coloring book wallpaper and a variety of Artist Proof Prints from past work. Chicago’s very own Shawnimals got involved in a big way with a limited Edition set of 7 ‘Ghost Filled’ Pork Dumpling customs made exclusively for While Supplies Last alongside Left Handed Wave who created an over-sized plush.

The interior of the space was designed with the aesthetics and artistic talents of NYC artist 5003 and fixtures from Chicago’s Agent Gallery. With a number of zines from graffiti writers, SNACKI, an amazing set of 3 from The Old New York, 131/PEST, Nice-One & SWIV as well as 5003 and a number of great book titles from German publishers, Gestalten books there is something for everybody. New York City based culture clothing brand Scumbags & Superstars headlines the apparel selection with a number of high quality shirts  as well as head wear from Chicago based street wear company The Joneses.  Local Chicago artist JC Rivera created some fabulous new custom toys for the shop and is also secretly working on a future project to be released in the coming weeks through ‘While Supplies Last’. From Skewville to Max Kauffman and back to Jon Burgerman, the print selection was carefully selected by the artists and though limited, offers some extremely affordable work from some high quality artists, most of which are all signed artists proofs. The ability to build your own sticker packs from the multitude of images as part of the Pawn Works Sticker Club allowed for many to complete their collections outside of the normal blind buy option via the sticker vending machines. All work and items will be interchanging throughout the entire 8 week run of ‘While Supplies Last’ so stay tuned. Also, most of the product will be available in our online store  as well at www.pawnworkschicago.com. Photos by Brock Brake.

Student’s, Sticker’s & Sharpies at The Hinsdale Center for the Arts

We were fortunate enough to be invited out to The Hinsdale Center for The Arts alongside Chicago based Sculptor, Niema Qureshi and street-artist Don’t Fret to be a part of the hosted workshop for The West Suburban Art Conference of High Schools here in Illinois. The conference hosted select art students from multiple high schools throughout Chicago’s western suburbs. With sponsorship and support from Sharpie and Dick Blick art suppliers we were invited to create a sticker workshop and discuss, briefly, the history of the sticker and more importantly, our sticker history and love affair with the medium. Thanks to the supplies from the sponsors, the students created their own stickers which were  compiled into an over-sized collage upon their completion. Some with sketchbooks prepared, even toting their own sticker books/collections in many cases and others free handing away on the supplied slaps. The conversation varied throughout the course as we spoke of brand management and marketing via sticker campaigns as well as the cross pollination of street art and graffiti into the more formal gallery setting. Much to the delight of the organizers and ourselves as well, as we are getting the hang of teaching workshops and lectures, the students were extremely engaged throughout the entire day. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to Sharpie, Dick Blick Art Materials, Don’t Fret, Niema Qureshi, all the participating students and teachers and the wonderful people at The Hinsdale Art Center for an extraordinary day.

Getting Into Character with HANKSY

The BANKSY-like images dawning the face of Tom Hanks have been garnering a bit of attention over the last few months. Depending on where you are and what your into, you may be over it, always hated it or just now getting informed and still unsure how you feel, none the less we’re sure giggling is still part of the process one goes through when looking at new images from this satirical street art parodist. Coming off the recent participation in an exhibition in New York City at  Krause Gallery, HANKSY, is back on the streets of Chicago. With photos, courtesy of Brock Brake, we’ve got an exclusive look at HANKSY as he creates his newest street piece in Chicago. Checkout that leather jacket, looking good Tom, haven’t aged a bit. Here is yet another giggle induced parody and shout out to one of Chicago’s all time favorite nerds, real or fake, Steve Urkel!

While Supplies Last: A Concept Store

While Supplies Last is a concept store providing an alternative retail environment for the discerning customer to browse and purchase exclusive products and unique gifts. With the visual aesthetics of NYC artist 5003 and Agent Gallery, we will be transforming the space into a fully functioning retail shop featuring an array of titles from German based publishing company Gestalten books, apparel from Scumbags & Superstars and The Joneses, and other small edition products created by the participating artists specifically for this project.Throughout the store’s limited run we will be releasing exclusive items including prints, zines, sticker packs and other multiples from a variety of artists like SHAWNIMALS, SKEWVILLE, KOSBY, 5003, THE OLD NEW YORK, AMUSE 126, SNACKI, JC RIVERA, MONTGOMERY PERRY SMITH, LEFT HANDED WAVE, MAX KAUFFMAN, NICE-ONE, SWIV and more while featuring a heavy involvement from famed U.K. illustrator JON BURGERMAN.

“Submerged in  a period of kitsch, we persevere, taking part in some of the fun along the way”

LEFT HANDED WAVE

The Hotbox: Alive & Well

Chicago’s own, Hotbox, The Hotbox is alive and well here in Chicago in 2012. In fact, what we have seen and will show here is just the very beginning of a long road ahead for the Hotbox and her crew. Thanks to our man Brock Brake and some mutual partners we’ve come up with the first of the new shots/look of The Hotbox. It’s no secret we have a love affair with mobile art projects i.e. The Sugar Junkie and our collaborative effort with Brooklynite Gallery, in fact we have even worked with The Hotbox years ago in conjunction with an exhibition we hosted. With work from the likes of Chicago’s own Amuse126, Brooks Golden and the leads on the chariot’s upcoming adventure (United Streets of America) , Lucx and Nice-One, The Hotbox is ready for its groundbreaking effort. Stay tuned as we continue to update you on the 2012 adventures of The Hotbox, Chicago’s one and only, pure, mobile contemporary art gallery. With a Kickstarter project launching early this month on 3/7, we urge you to do your best to contribute to this great project where you can. In the meantime, check out these photos of the recent work done to her by some of Chicago’s bright stars.Learn more at Letshotbox.com

Photos by Brock Brake

Recent Chicago Graffiti from the Scumstash

The freakishly warm weather really hasn’t let up that much since the start of the new year. In the graffiti world, practice becomes legit. Chicago’s north-side graffiti writers and more have been quite active during this,often, slow time of year. The Wolcott Ave. permission lot has seen multiple make-overs this new year and thanks to the quick shutter of Brock Brake we were able to pull these photos from his Scumstash/flickr page to keep those who are interested up to date. With quite possibly the best ever work we’ve seen from AMUSE126, as well as pieces from SEGE, ROGER and SIVEL. We also saw these pieces from both the well known NEKST and the extremely talented VIZIE, not too mention a few tagged up motor vehicles from the likes of POSE,NEKST,SNACKI and some more D30 love on an abandoned van.With some of the best current writers in the world snapping daily in Detroit and Chicago, the Midwest is bound to make a lot of noise this year. Also, keep your eyes focused on Cincinnati and St.Louis on down the road as well, we just got a feeling. PHOTOS BY BROCK BRAKE

AMUSE 126

SIVEL

D30

BRAIN

AMUSE126 & ROGER

POSE,NEKST & SNACKI

SEGE

VIZIE & NEKST

Pizza Party at Hubert Middle School w/ Nice-One

The Historical Hubert Middle School in Savannah, Ga was up to the challenge of hosting us for a Saturday pizza party of sorts. Armed with spray paint, an air compressor, stencils, and enough wall space for Nice-One to really play around, we had an amazing time partying it up with a handful of willing participants to work on a mural for their school. School on Saturday? No problem for these kids, especially once the spray paint came out. With enough t-shirts for all the kids to get their own customized shirts from Nice-One himself we became an identifiable crew, bonded by the days events. With pizzas from Savannah’s Screaming Mimi’s sponsored by Savannah College of Art and Design we were all sure to fill up and continue to push ourselves throughout the day but not before doing the ‘Dougie’ in the auditorium. We owe a huge thanks to Education Alive!, the extraordinary Mrs. Bass and her overwhelmingly enthusiastic students as well as the rest of the school administration at Hubert Middle.

Nice-One in Savannah,Ga: Windsor Forest High School

Inspired by Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Project (MAP) and similar projects, we are planning a series of events in which we work with muralists and graffiti artists to give them new outlets in which to work with schools and communities around the country creating in-depth arts experiences. The first of these events took place last week in Savannah, Georgia. In partnership with the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) student teachers group, Education Alive! we created workshops and lessons based around a mural that was completed with the students of a local High School. Savannah-Chatham County School District’s Windsor Forest High School and Education Alive! have invited us to their community to create the workshop and facilitate the mural with one of our local favorites, enigmatic Chicago street artist Nice-One. This project aims to continue the ongoing conversation between the art world and the interests of the youth and to educate and involve children in the creation of artistic murals within their daily environment, their schools.

Alongside the the student teachers of Education Alive!, the fabulous Ms. Sperry and her art students we created a stencil workshop where the students learned about negative and positive space while creating their own stencils that eventually became an integral part of the overall aesthetic of the mural. Each participating student’s work now lives on inside the fabulous works created by Chicago’s own, Nice-One. Working for two full school days with visits from students and faculty alike throughout the day Nice-One and the team we assembled including photographer Brock Brake worked diligently. Even through lunch which in this case was quite a joy as hundreds at a time looked on and shouted about while doing their best to ‘make their tummies happy’, well, not quite but it was their lunch period. Its still astonishing to think how welcomed we were to be ourselves and for the artist to just do his thing. We were overjoyed to have been able to leave something behind for these students and the schools in their communities.

During our visit we also worked on a special after school mural project/pizza party with the students of  the historic Hubert Middle School. This mural was completed in an effort to raise awareness through the arts while spending time with the less fortunate students during the weekend and providing a fun, safe atmosphere outside the normal lines of their standard school days. Way ahead of schedule, we are so excited to finally be working with the schools and more specifically, at-risk youth within their community. Stay tuned for more on The Hubert Middle School project insanity.

Photos by Brock Brake