Looking at David Ball’s mixed-media paintings is analogous to staring at alien creatures that function as your reflection. They exist in a parallel universe where life is represented through cultural fragments that are made to unlock as opposed to enslave. When watched, the paper hearts of these colorful creatures feverishly swell and sputter, “friend or foe?” Trapped in an undefined narrative, they are frozen in motion, in a space and time that dances on the inside of eyelids. Ball, who …
Tag: california
For the past seven years David Young V has been living in San Francisco, CA, obsessively building his career as an artist. His series of intricate pen and ink paintings reveal a future generation whose ancestral umbilical chord has been cut off from the past. There is no United States, it’s tribal country, a post apocalyptic San Francisco where there’s left, right, fascism and neutrality. Tribes co-exist in an effort to survive, oppress, liberate, enslave or uplift each other. It’s …
In October of last year, DJ and producer Marlon Williams, better known as Marley Marl, was here in Tokyo spinning at Speakeasy, a locally known mobile dance party that’s featured numerous pioneering DJ’s. Partygoers had him signing their vinyl copies of his classic singles like “Biz Is Goin’ Off” (1987). He was kicking it with loving fans, taking flicks, and the party’s promoter, Brooklyn Terry, brought him a sparkling cake to which the crowd sung him happy birthday. Marl was …
Weeks ago I got an email from Sarah Vinnett. After reading my article, she wrote to me about her family and some of the trials that they overcame. It definitely gave me a heads-up. Thank you Sarah for being so open. Appreciate you allowing me to publicly share your story. My name is Sarah, or in Japanese 聖良. I’m half Creole (my Father is from New Orleans) and half Japanese (my Mother is from Japan, specifically the Kansai area). …
If you haven’t read Part 1 of my interview with The Mega Late Show, or heard Late’s Liquid Wards mixtape, peep it here. The Mega Late Show is a Tokyo, Japan based hip-hop podcast. In just a short time, hosts Mega, Late, and Steze have helped foster a growing community of rappers, DJ’s, writers, and breakdancers. For ex-pats living in this homogenous society, MLS is a portal to connecting artists that otherwise, might not have linked. On the show, they’ve …
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