old skoolin for the children

Art whino is putting on this incredible show filled with some of today's finest artists, including myself, and all for a good cause. Do yourself a favor and check out this show, you won't be disappointed.

Koleszar coming to Flagstaff

I will be showcasing all new works at Black Hound Gallery on October 2nd. Come on by and see the stencil process in the flesh. This show will only be on display through the weekend, so don't miss out.

Melbourne Stencil Festival 2009

I am pleased to say that I have been selected for the Melbourne Stencil Festival again this year. I will have five pieces in the show, so if you are in the Melbourne area, don't miss out on an opportunity to see some world class stencil art.
Here is the list of artists in this year's festival:
085c3n3 - ADi - Ben Howe - BOO - Dan-e - Dean Christ - DrewFunk - E.L.K -
GODADI - Haha - Jak Rapmund - John Koleszar - Joshua Smith - Keags - Keys - Lachlan Widdison - Logan Moody - Max Berry - Monkey - Ololo - PSALM -
Rachael Miller - Rhen Fray - Stephen Bettess - Tom Civil - VEGA
For those of you unable to attend, here is a preview of the pieces I will have on display:

Friends with knives

I will have a few pieces in this show next week. Check it out if you have a chance. Special shout out to Paper Monster for including me in this amazing line up of talent.

Urban Decay @ Bherd Studios

If you find yourself in the Seattle area on August 14th, then head on over to Bherd Studios to check out the urban decay show that i will have several pieces in. This is a great lineup of artists including friends Soule and Paper Monster. Don't miss out.
August 14th 2009

Bherd Studios

8537 Greenwood Ave. N,

Suite 1,Studio D

Seattle, WA 98103

Interview with spraygraphic.com

Last week, Chuck B from spraygraphic.com came by to photograph me and my studio. Despite the heat, we managed to get some really great shots.
You can see the entire shoot in two parts on
sprayblog.net

Stencil Nation Pictures

Here are the pictures from the Stencil Nation show that was held at wet paint on Cinco De Mayo. Russell Howze brought his nation wide book tour to Tempe and Jes Jordan put together a great stencil show in coordination with the book tour. We had a big crowd show up to see the stencil process in the flesh. Cartel coffee shop displayed stencil art on their walls, chuck B from spraygraphic.com stopped by to take some pictures of the event, we had live painting, live music and enough stenciling going on to make even me go cross eyed. Thanks to everyone who made it out to support the event, we had a really great crowd.

Stoked Sessions LA

I have a piece in the Stoked sessions show at Upper playground LA this weekend. If you are in the the area, please come check it out.

Stencil nation hits Tempe for Cinco De Mayo

Author of "Stencil Nation" Russell Howze, is making a special stop on his nation-wide book tour at Wet Paint art Supply in Tempe on May the 5th. There will be a presentaion of his book, live stenciling demos, music, works on display, and all kinds of other stencil-goodness.
So if you dig stenciling, want to know more about stenciling, or just want to see some really great art, you need to get yourself on over to Tempe for the festivities.

Your Kid can't do this

I will have a few pieces in this show next week in Melbourne. An all-star lineup of stenciling talent

pictures from the shaded show

Thanks to everyone who came to the opening. I got to see a lot of people who I had not seen in a long time and I had a blast.

"shaded"

I am excited to announce that I will be having my first solo exhibition opening on February 4th in Arizona. Come check all of my new works at Tryst gallery in historic downtown Chandler.

spraygraphic vinyl show

Here is a quick video from the spraygraphic vinyl art show that was at hoodlums in Tempe last week. Special thanks to spraygraphic for including me in the show.

DC pics

Here are the pictures from the stencil show at art whino. My sincere thanks to paper monster for having me in the show, and to Shane making the whole thing happen.

stencil show

Art Whino Announces:
STENCIL
A group show focusing on the art of Stencil


An exhibition celebrating stencil art featuring over 30 artists who
work in this provocative medium. Art Whino will be bringing a traditionally secretive, outdoor based art form inside gallery walls. Come see the amazing installation by 15 artists from all around the world, and meet them and talk about their work at the Opening Reception. Learn about this creative trend that is present all over the world. Meet Russell Howze, author of Stencil Nation, and attend his presentation on the incredible art featured in his book. Get your copy of Stencil Nation signed at our book signing and panel discussion about the origins, popularity and integration of stencil art into the gallery world.


Friday November 14th from 6-Midnight
Opening reception at Art Whino Gallery.

The gallery walls will be transformed as a 15 artists come out from all over the world for a huge install collaboration. Thirty artists will be showcased. Each artist will showcase 20 pieces created on found objects that will be integrated into and inspire the overall installation, bringing the gallery back into the realm of street art. These found object works will retail for $20 - $40, keeping the art accessible and true to its roots.

Music by DJ Face


Sunday. November 23rd, from Noon – 6pm
At Art Whino gallery
Stencil Nation book signing by Russell Howze.
Presentation by Russell Howze on the Art of Stencil 2 - 3pm
Panel discussion from 3 – 4pm focused on the popularity and growth of stencil art and it’s transition into fine art galleries.


This event is FREE and open to the public.


Show end date: Dec 6th

Stencil Artists

Alvaro Sanchez - Guatemala
BayTruthSeeker - California
Billy Mode - Baltimore
BLACKBOOKS - Miami
Chris Stain - New York
CUTTHROAT - Texas
Dark - Texas
Dave Lowell - Texas
E.L.K - Australia
Enos - Texas
farkfk - UK
Janet Bike Girl - Canada
Jazirock - Virginia
Jef Aerosol - France
Koleszar - Arizona
Kristal Blanco - Italy
LECKOmio - Germany
Logan Hicks - New York
Prvrt - New York
Mama Sass - Chicago
MEFEE - France
Mephisto Jones - Australia
PaperMonster - New Jersey
Peter Krsko - DC
Scotch - Texas
SOULE - Seattle
stncl.07- Texas


Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community, and Art
A Manic D Press Book by Russell Howze


"Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community, and Art" packs over 500 full-color photographs in a 192 page, 8 inch by 8 inch pound of paper and ink. The book presents work by more than 350 artists from 28 countries, including Iran, Australia, Japan, Canada, Spain, Lebanon, Israel, and the United States. Featured artists include: Banksy, Jef Aerosol, Logan Hicks, Adam5100, Arofish, M-City, SWOON, Hao, John Fekner, Peat Wollaeger, Klutch, and others.

Without a doubt, stencils are the fastest, easiest, and cheapest method for painting an image on a wall, a sidewalk, or almost any object anywhere. Stencil Nation focuses on the unexpected mix of this lively, accessible medium to reveal engaging aspects of an intentionally secretive international creative community. With dynamically illustrated perspectives from diverse niches of the art form, hundreds of photographs and numerous essays have been curated by StencilArchive.org’s founder, Russell Howze. Stencil Nation builds upon previous published works to give the most extensive and up-to-date history of stencil art, as well as how-to tips from the artists who work within the art form.


Stencil Nation Goes on an East Coast Tour: November and December, 2008


Russell Howze will be on the road this winter, giving his slide presentation for "Stencil Nation." This one hour presentation will give a great overview of the art form, using examples from the book as well as other outside sources, materials, and interesting items. Russell will also have actual cut stencils and will allow time for questions about all things stencil.


About the author:
Russell Howze saw his first stencil in 1990, which was J. R. "Bob" Dobbs on an apartment wall in Clemson, SC. In 1995, Russell saw an amazing sight on the exterior wall of the Reichstag in Berlin: a huge stenciled Bertolt Brecht poem. He snapped a photo of that stencil, then found one in Budapest, Hungary. Then a few more stencils appeared in Basel, Switzerland. When he landed in San Francisco in 1997, he found dozens on the sidewalks of the Mission and Haight neighborhoods. He's never stopped photographing the sometimes temporary, always intriguing art form.

In 2002, Russell created the first version of Stencil Archive, thinking that he would have time to scan and upload his own collection before anyone discovered the site and submitted their own work. He was gladly mistaken, so Stencil Archive (www.stencilarchive.org) took off, outgrew its parent site HappyFeetTravels.org, and ended up becoming a site with over 10,000 uploaded photographs. At the time of its inception, Stencil Archive was the only international stencil site out there (for a few months). Now there are dozens of sites with tens of thousands of photographs. Russell continues to curate his site, posting stencils from around the world and featuring dozens of amazing artists.

In June 2008, Russell launched "Stencil Nation" with a successful stencil art exhibit, his third curated show, in San Francisco, and then went on a six-city book tour up the West Coast. He will also took his one-hour slide presentation to Melbourne, Australia for the 5th annual Stencil Festival in early August. He will tour the East Coast in November and December, bringing stencil goodness to the holiday masses.

When not photographing, making, painting, and uploading stencils, Russell fills his time by doing one or more of the following fun things: being a carny for the Sustainable Living Roadshow, riding his bike, writing for his blog www.HappyFeetTravels.org, cooking healthy food, creating vector art and putting it on stickers and buttons, producing events, puppeteering, listening to good music, traveling, and volunteering/protesting to make the world a better place.

He currently lives in San Francisco's Mission District, and is usually seen on his bike with his camera slung around his shoulder.

In case you wanted to know...

Many people ask me how the whole radiation process works. This time I snapped a few photos of the lead container and the pill itself for your viewing pleasure. Please do not ask me who the clown was who typed my name on the outside.

Watch out! Radioactive man

My radiation treatment is finally over and today is my first day back in the saddle. I wanted to thank everyone for their kind words and support over the past week, it always keeps me going. Since my diagnoses 6 years ago, I have viewed life with a very skewed perspective. Somehow being confronted with a serious disease like cancer has made me appreciate the world around me more than I ever did before I became sick. I can find beauty and enjoyment in just about every aspect of my life. It led me to art, and remains to be the driving force behind the enormous amount of time that I dedicate towards my craft. As strange as it may sound, I view my illness as one of the best things that has happened to me.
I know I have said this before, but hopefully in a couple of weeks once I get all of my test results back, I will have promising news. Anyway, I will keep my fingers crossed, thanks again everyone.
Love,
Johnny pants

Stencil history x tour hits New York

Stencil history x tour

Stencil History X, curated by Samantha Longhi, charts the origins and history of this popular form of street art expression and Ink_d presents a leading roll call of stencil artists who have defined that scene.

Original works from C215, fellow French stenciller Sadhu and three quite amazing US artists - Adam5100, Broken Crow and Koleszar and UK artist SNUB, HUTCH & FARK- are taking over Ink_d to showcase the re-written rules on this artform.

Private view at the gallery - Thursday, 4th September

First Friday

Photos from Australia

Back Home

I have returned home from Australia this week and I finally have found a few minutes to catch up on my reports from abroad. This was my first true trip overseas and I can tell you that I was spoiled rotten from the get go. The People of Melbourne are some of the nicest, most generous, beautiful people I have ever encountered. I only wish I could remember all of the names of people that I came across in this great city. I would like to thank Coops and Adi from the MSF team for making my time at the festival so informative, the gang at the home on argyle for making me feel so welcome, A1one and Stefan for their friendship, Peat Wollaeger for taking the time to show us new guys the ropes, Meri Hietala for showing me the city and teaching me a lot about life, Russell Howze for showing me all of the best stencil spots in town, Phuong and the rest of the guys who patiently spent 2 hours with me in my workshop, All of the reporters and writers who were curious enough to want to interview me about my art, the good folks who came through the festival and made me blush with their flattery, and finally the people of Australia who for the first time in my life actually made me contemplate moving overseas with their generosity and humanity. I know I may sound like I am overstating things, but honestly I am not. This was an experience of a lifetime, and I wish everyone were able to experience Australia. Four days was not nearly enough over there, and I plan to return again one day.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart,
John

melbourne stencil festival

Hopefully I can make an impression on Australia

Tote show

Check out pictures from the tote show.

Color halftone bus

Still trying to push the idea of a cmyk style stencil. This time I worked with Blackbooks to try and push the idea a little further than the monarch piece before.
This one was 6 layers
stenciled on to canvas

Collab with jw miller

This is my portion of a collaborative effort with JW Miller. Total of 15 layers.

cmyk monarch

1st ave

Here is a new painting that I finished today. 15 total layers and somewhere around 20 different colors. 30 x 40" stenciled spray paint on canvas

click on the picture below to see the animation

Veni Vedi Veci

"'68 camaro" 12" x 16"

20" x 20"

walk on!

more 8" x 10" stencils

ozzy

"ozzy"
8" x 10" spraypaint on acetate

New painting finished

"the other end"
48" x 60"
15 colors
3 months of cutting

Home Grown show at the windup

Phelan building video

Here is a video that I made of me spraying the phelan building.
phelan building

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phelan building

After 6 weeks I have finally finished m most difficult painting to date. Overall size is 48" x 60", 12 layers, 12 colors, 45 total stencils.

Pictures from the namastic show

What a great night at the venue of scottsdale last night. Here are some pictures from the event.

Pictures from the stencil show @ the firehouse

beerlow hot off the press!

Thanks Eric for the great pose.

Pictures from The Clarendon

I think I would be scared to use this computer.

Install at the Clarendon hotel

I was recently asked by the Clarendon Hotel to hang some paintings in their lobby. Here is my wife with one of the pieces. Special thanks to Adam Allred for helping me with the install.

New collage finished

I just recently finished this piece for a friend. Overall size is 36" x 36". Spraypaint on masonite.