…と似ているけどスペル間違えた、僕。これや：
…looks like it, but spelled wrong – Here it is:

2010年1/08.09.10@CASO, Osaka City

外人の客の為、英語の説明：
I know I post a lot about Graffiti art related events, and the effect is usually the same: If you’re into it, you already know about it and plan to attend. If you aren’t into it, then you couldn’t care less. So I’m making it a special point to say: Even if you have absolutely zero interest in graf – even if you have never attended a gallery in your life, if you are in Kansai for the next couple days, go. Go. GO.

Osaka’s beautiful bay side art space CASO is holding the gallery. Several massive rooms, housing pieces of over 30 artists. Writers from every Japanese island are at this thing – no joke – for the full list of talent check out the flyer/sticker at the organizer’s site!

Best of all, there’s going to be live painting on all 3 days (as I understand it). Unfortunately, this is a super limited engagement but well worth a few hours of your weekend! (If you’re in Minami, just hop the Chuo subway line to Osakakou and hoof it south for about 5 minutes.)

PS – not to be confused this with “Lucky 13″ which I blogged a few weeks back. That’s at Prohibit on the 16th. (Many of the same participants – different works)

運が良くて、イベントの前日に少し入らしてくれた。残念やけどあの日iPhoneのカメラしかなかった！！
I was lucky enough to sneak inside and sneak some preview images! Sadly I only had the ol’ iPhone cam on hand. (but as they say, “the best camera is the one you have with you”)

スプレー缶は半端ない数や！
No,…this is a lot of paint.

あなたは真腰さんの目に命令されている通り、このギャラリーに遊びに行ったら良い！
Do as Magoshi’s eyes command!

新年に面白そうなギャラリーが開始される。町の周りにこのステッカーはめっちゃ貼ってあるはず。（もう気付いている人もおると思う）めっちゃ近所のPROHIBITで日本全国のグラフィティ達人の展示！（２０１０年１月１６日〜２月１６日）
It’s going to be sweet to sing in the New Year with this sick exhibition opening up only blocks from the shop. You might have already seen the stickers around town – PROHIBIT is hosting the gallery (running from 2010.1.16~2010.2.16) featuring graf talent from all over Japan.

2ヶ月前の１９７７展示にいけなかった人、いろんなライター先生の作品をいっぱい見るチャンス！まだ先やけど楽しみやわ。
If you missed the 1977 Inkspot Exhibit 2 months back this is your chance to check out some serious writers that run the gamut of graffiti.

現場で会おう！
See you at the opening!

INKSPOT 1977から帰って来たとこ。アートやグラフ好きが多くてめっちゃえぇパーティやったわ。
Just got back from Ink Spot a few hours ago… the party raged all through the night. At some point I think every level of the downtown building was balls-to-butts with wall-art aficionados.

ギャラリー現場はすごい感じやった。コラボの新作、新しい材料の実験、作品になりかけDJブースも本当にイベントのプラスになっていた。
CASPER, JOTA, KE-1, ZYS were all in rare form at the reception. New collaborations, material experimentation, and even a DJ booth that doubled as an installation really punctuated an already talent-packed show.

私の話より、写真の方がおもろいんでチェックしてくださいね！
I could talk about it all day, but I’ll let some of the event photos speak for themselves.

お知らせ：先週、僕はやっとSLRのカメラをゲットしたんで色々実験して撮ってみたんだが…機会の動きに全然慣れていなくて上手く撮れなくて申し訳ないが。よろしキュ！
Full disclosure: I finally got an SLR this week so all these photos are the result of an amateur masquerading as a pro.

DJブースにダミーカメラが付いていて、ちゃんと動いていてえぇ雰囲気やった！
The DJ booth was fashioned out of pipes, corregated cardboard, and foliage to mimic a typical Osakan abandoned lot. Littered with tags and complete with a moving dummy camera – they really nailed it! The booth filled the whole rear of the room and really made the environment.

ピンストでHELLOシールを描いているのは初めてみたゎ！
When’s the last time you saw someone pin-stripe a “Hello, my name is” sticker?

They’re at it again – some of Japan’s finest graffiti virtuosos (All born in the same year – 1977!) are at it again featuring a two part gallery – Yokohama in the East and Osaka in the West! 4 amazing artists – a single generation:
CASPER / JOTA / KE-1 / ZYS
For those of us fortunate enough to live in the Kansai region, the opening party is October 24th. Do I see a rooftop BBQ in our future? I sure as hell hope so!

TEH BASIC INFOS:
Reception Party: 10月２４日 @ 21:00
Location: Downtown Bldg. 2F
Normal Gallery Hours: 13:00~21:00

画像はちっちゃすぎて読みにくくて、すみません〜！詳しい情報はこちら！
A proper description – too small to read! More Details HERE!The Japanese blog-o-sphere has been abuzz with reports of the Yokohama turnout – don’t miss your chance to witness firsthand the skill level to which these artists have risen today.

オリジナルポスターも発売中！エキシビション記念ポスター（A2サイズ）はZAKAIと一二三屋にて発売してそう。とてもえぇ用紙に印刷されていて、シンプルな白黒デザイン、立派なプリントや！
These are the event posters printed on heavy duty high quality stock. Simple. Clean. Beautiful.
They’ll only be available from Zakai and Hifumiya (same floor as the Osaka event space)

I am legally obligated not to elaborate upon what's happening in this photo.

今日の言葉は英語だけで御免下さい！

There were more tears than beers flowing last night at Bar Babylon as they closed for the last time. My chums and I made one final stumble down the stairs of Amemura’s Mittera building to pay our repects. A cast of subculture pioneers were on hand to wish well Bonzin and his crew including Lukas Zpira, his wife Satomi, Territory’s Taiki, Desperado’s Hori-Tsuna, and a whole mess of friends and supporters too numerous to name.

It is difficult to describe to the uninitiated the uniqueness that Babylon brought to the Osaka Minami area. They distinguished themselves from among Osaka’s other shot bars in numerous ways – the venue iteself was a veritable panacea for the cultural boredom plaguing America-mura in recent years. Where else could you watch Mexican autopsy videos, body suspension performances, Kubrick films, showa-era ero-guro anime, or body modifications while nursing your absinthe? Babylon was chock full of cultural curiosities and various oddities including a vast library of art books, videos, DVDs, cages of various reptiles, and of course Bonzin’s portfolio of body-modification experiments. (Not to mention the assortment of H.R.Giger dildos, the plastic baby parts in jars, the Ayanami Rei cardboard standup which I endlessly coveted….)

I met Bonzin only a few weeks before he and I both did some body-suspension a few years ago. He introduced me to his space after the event – the black leather couches became a refuge for me when waters were rough and I frequented it on an almost weekly basis. If you met Bonzin before than you know he’s a super affable guy and his smile is always a welcoming site at the end of a hard day (before the start of an even harder night!) I met a lot of friends and clients at his place as it was a staple for tattoo, piercing, and body-mod aficionados, both Japanese and foreign alike.

If it weren’t for his implant studded body tattoos, I might not have recognized Bonzin last night though. In a traditional Japanese gesture, he had ceremoniously sliced off his signature dreadlocks. (Seriously, these things could make the Predator blush!) It was surreal seeing him standing there, still grinning, minus his waist-length mane. Bonzin saw my face and just smiled back and held up a mobile phone. Dangling from the plastic character mascot army was a long thick black rope – almost like a leather whip. “Don’t worry Ben-chan – I made each one into a keitai strap for everyone who came down tonight!” Now that’s a true Japanese mutant!

In 2008 we saw the demise of galleries like Subterraneans, venues like Pipe69, and an almost complete disappearance of graffiti in the Minami area in the last year. It’s too bad Babylon had to be chalked up to one more cultural pioneer lost in the line of duty.

But Bonzin isn’t giving up – he’s moving on to start something new… and we’ll all no doubt hear about it in the coming months. (sorry I can’t tell you about it here!)

Whenever and wherever it happens, I’m sure I’ll see you there!

RIP Babylon – you’ll be missed and never forgotten!

Titi FREAK (3rd from left) last year in Osaka

TiTi Getting tattoo'd by Wataru (2008)

Enough for one day (2008)

Tattoo Trade w/ Wataru!

If you've ever seen this in the shop then you already know.

Piece done for the Kansai HB Familia

FREAK Cover.

Brazilian graffiti legend TiTiFreak is back in Osaka!… and he’s packin books! An incredible volume chronicling some of his earliest art work as a young manga-ka/animator in Brazil to the graffiti virtuoso he is today. FREAK weighs in at nearly 200 pages and is chock full of amazing imagery.

でた〜！ブラジルのグラフレジェンド、TiTiFREAK来日来坂！！今回は新作品を持って来てるぅ！めっちゃ凄い画集やぁ！若い頃からのイラストや現代のグラフィティワークスがパンパンのっている。約２００枚、FREAKの本は本当に最高な写真がいっぱい入っている。

No words, Only works!

あまり文字無し、画像ばっかり！！

From Brazil to London to New York to Japan, this collection contains large swaths of TiTi’s work in vibrant living color (including a few shutter pieces only minutes away from America-mura here in Osaka!)

ブラジル、ロンドン、ニューニョーク、そして日本、TiTiFREAKのアートキャリアーの全てがこの本にある！（もちろんアメ村にあるシャッターペイントも含まれている！）

If you’re after one, I’ve got a few of them at the shop, but call me quick because there’s only a handful of them here in Japan – just 20 to be exact… Only ￥５０００_JPY！

日本限定発売、２０冊しかあらへん！何冊も手に入ったので欲しい人は是非連絡ください。

Don’t forget to CHECK OUT:
TiTi Freak’s Official Site
Titi interview in Juxtapose Magazine
TiTi’s Freak’s Flickr Pool

UPDATE: Found it! Ame-mura shutter paint:

Graffiti Monsters ESOW and ESPY from Tokyo will be teaming up with DEPAS and CASPER from Osaka for another amazing art show!!! The live painting of the front shutter of the DownTown Building (Chopstick 1st Shop) will kick off the opening party. Work from all artists will be on display on the 2nd floor.

If you caught the ’13th floor’ opening on Nagahori last winter then you already know the show is liable to take a few unexpected twists along the way. (Impromptu silk screening, lady-painting, black book swapping, and guest drunks just to name a few)

DJ Very will be keeping the beat topside while the artists work below.

The show opens August 20th – live painting starts after dark!