New limited editions coming to E7S!
New zines, books, sticker and button packs and other merch available at our shop. Works by Abraham Menor, Pacolli and many more to come.
Come by to pick up some limited edition pieces to add to your collection!
KFJC Record Swap returns! Save the date: Saturday, April 2 (10am-5pm)
KFJC 89.7fm is partnering for a second time with Empire Seven Studios (E7S), to bring this free and all ages event to San Jose. The event will feature local shops and avid record collecting vendors. Guest DJs will spin favorites from their personal collections while shoppers browse. In addition to music there will be refreshments and food.
KFJC began the tradition of the Record Swap in the 80’s. We are excited for to present the 2016 Spring KFJC Record Swap at E7S. Once again, we approached this swap with curators’ ears, seeking local vendors and DJs with a variety of styles and merchandise.
Local vendors will be selling music of all styles in various formats. Local vendors will have one of a kind music memorabilia, cds, cassettes, records, clothing, and accessories for sale. E7S will be showcasing artwork from various artists.
We have curated a handful of DJs from the area to play favorites from their record collections. The schedule is as follows:
10-11am: DJ BELLA
11am-12pm: EDDOUXXL
12-1pm: DISCOSMAS
1-2:pm: AKRO1
2-3pm: TURBO SONIDERO
3-4pm: DAVID MA
4-5pm: B-RICH
A complete list of vendors will be updated and available at www.kfjc.org/swap
Opening of Space 236 in SF
We are happy for our friends Barry and Nancy who opened up their concept gallery located in SF's Tenderloin District. Curated by Design Rehab. They opened up with new works by Erik Otto and Chris Stokes. Looking forward to many more new exhibits!
For more info, please visit www.space236sf.com
E7S and Ben Henderson was hired by Pace Gallery to paint the exterior of a old Tesla warehouse in Menlo Park, CA. For these last couple months, the team had been working in between the rainy weather to paint the exterior building, map out a color schemed floor and create various signage.
This empty warehouse and transformed into a magical space for TeamLab, the Japanese art collective recognized for challenging and expanding the digital art making practice. Pace Art + Technology is presenting Living Digital Space and Future Parks. The large-scale installation invites participants of all ages to immerse themselves in the multi-room environments spanning 20,000 square feet and showcasing twenty digital works. Viewers are encouraged to partake in this digital playground for all ages and experience the pioneering concepts and visually morphing beauty of the dynamic works. Inherently interactive, the exhibition is a powerful testament to the advancement of and growing interest in digital art, as well as its unique ability to nurture creativity and curiosity through technology.
Saturday night art openings in SF and Oakland
Last Saturday night, we drove up to Oakland to support our very own Jessica Eastburn's solo show opening at Totally Rad Gallery. Jessica's work portrays contemporary digital overload by illustrating layers of pop culture iconography that's created within a collage of patterns and shapes. In a world of“drag and drop” digital technology, everything is hand drawn and painted by Jessica. Most people cannot believe her work is not digitally produced!
While we were visiting Jessica, there was the opening of a new space called Somewhere Else Gallery, opened by a mutual friend HellaBreezy (and her friend Mexakitsch). The show was "Midnight Love" with artwork by El Oms. Werewolf cholo art....pretty cool stuff!
In between there was a vintage shop, a DJ playing records and some bomb ass home made tacos!
Next we headed over to SF to visit our buddies having a show at Luggage Store Gallery.
"Gentrifried" with new works by Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Erlin Geffrard, Daisy Ortiz, Daylin Ra, Jaque Fragua, Don't Fret, Robin Birdd
This was a fun show with a serious underlying message on gentrification in San Francisco.
Team San Jose X E7S at Super Bowl City
This past week we have the opportunity to work with Team San Jose to have artists paint live at Super Bowl City in San Francisco. Team San Jose wanted to show visitors that San Jose is a City full of culture, diversity and artistic minds....not just your typical Silicon Valley.
Team San Jose took a shipping container and had it created into a space where people could come up and receive info, get their faces painted, check out diverse entertainment such as Aztec dancers, live bands to local ballet performers and the ability to watch artists paint live on blank panels.
There was a different artist daily with some coming out to paint for 2 days. It was a fun and "once in a lifetime" experience to be part of such a epic event. We are thankful for the opportunity with Team San Jose, for our artists pulling through last minute and for all the visitors who stopped by to appreciate arts and culture!
Artist roster: Bigfoot, Jimmy Fonseca, Chad Hasegawa, Will Moran, Lauren Napolitano, Drew Roulette, Kori Thompson.
#SB50 #IKnowTheWay #WeAreSanJose #E7S
SAVE the DATE - next Record Swap
SAVE THE DATE - "Club Lido: Wild Eyes & Occasional Dreams"
Opening reception: Friday, February 12
Exhibit on view: February 12-March 4, 2016
Works by Angelica Muro and Juan Luna-Avin.
The Club Lido project examines the impact of Asian and Latino cultures. Although San Jose, CA is home to a large Mexican and Vietnamese demographic, these two cultural groups rarely come together. Collaborating artists Juan Luna-Avin & Angelica Muro propose a narrative where these two cultures intersect in both a fictional space as well as a real location, an entertainment venue in downtown San Jose called Lido Night Club. The cultural balance at this venue teeters between a downstairs Mexican cantina and an upstairs Vietnamese dance club. Luna-Avin & Muro look at the cultural similarities of these two immigrant groups through the lens of this unique dance club and bar through sculpture, drawing, and video.
Since 2006, artists Juan Luna-Avin and Angelica Muro have collaborated on various inter-disciplinary projects that revolves around the cult of personality in pop culture through fictitious characters, sub-cultures, urban myths, and legends.
Painting live for Super Bowl City in SF, CA
Have you heard Super Bowl 50 is coming to the Bay Area?? We are collaborating with #TeamSanJose at Super Bowl CITY! If you're in San Francisco, stop by our booth #17 starting January 30th through February 7th.
Artists will be Painting Live representing arts culture for San Jose at the #iknowtheway custom container booth.
Live Painting Roster:
Bigfoot (@bigfootone) • Jimmy Fonseca (@fonseca.jim) • Chad Hasegawa (@chad_hasegawa) • Will Moran (@wi1_7) • Lauren Napolitino (@peptalks) • Drew Roulette (@drewroulette ) • Kori Thompson (@kori15 ) • Juan Carlos Araujo (@juan_carlos_araujo_art)
#SB50 #IKnowTheWay #WeAreSanJose #E7S
A successful VIP and Opening night weekend!
Last weekend we had two jam-packed opening nights for the Screaming Hand 30th Anniversary show. Friends, family, artists, media....they all came out to support over 50 artists who have created a piece that tributes the original Jim Phillips Screaming Hand icon.
For those of you who had to wait in line, thank you for your patience and we hope you had an amazing time! This exhibit started off in LA early 2015 and has been traveling throughout Europe and Asia. It's now back at the States for 2016....kicking off at San Jose and then traveling throughout the US. The final destination will be back at Santa Cruz, CA.
For those who missed the openings or just want to come back, the show will be up daily until January 30th.
Below are the hours:
Monday-Friday 12-8pm
Saturday-Sunday 12-6pm
Don't miss out!
Jim Phillips Sr. has influenced many artists since the 1970’s, with his biggest impact being the body of work he created in the 1980’s skateboard industry, including his creation of the Screaming Hand logo in 1985. The primary goal of the art show is to honor Jim Phillips Sr., The Screaming Hand, as well as all the participating artists by displaying their unique interpretations of the iconic Screaming Hand.
When visitors leave the art show, they should say to themselves “I just saw a piece of original skateboarding history and was able to connect with Jim Phillips, Sr. and these many artists, to see how they were influenced by Jim and for a moment, get inside their artistic view of interpreting an iconic piece of art.“
Many of these artists remember the moment they first saw a piece of Jim Phillips Sr.’s artwork. It could have been a skateboard deck graphic, a rock poster or this Screaming Hand logo. The art show will display their interpretation of “The Hand”, but also give a brief back story of what their first Jim Phillips experience was, as well as background on why they created and chose the piece of art on display.
The art show has been traveling all of 2015 in places such as: Vancouver, UK, Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Australia, Japan and Taiwan. Starting in 2016, the show will be traveling to 10 USA locations such as San Jose, New York, Boston, New Jersey, Atlanta, Miami, Austin, Phoenix, Kansas City, Denver, Seattle, and Portland and then end back into Santa Cruz, CA.
The opening will be on Saturday, January 16 from 7-10pm.
Nosego blesses Japantown with new mural
As part of the E7SwallSJ Project, we brought out Philadelphia artist Nosego to paint the side of Japantown’s Nichi Bei Bussan, located at 140 Jackson Street in San Jose, CA 95112*.
Without a preliminary sketch, Nosego met with the business owner, Arlene, to hear some of her stories about the history around her family establishment and ties to Japantown. The inspiration that helped create the beautiful mural titled “Little Moment”
Many of the neighbors and business owners came out to support and see the progress of the newly emerging mural. We also met many dogs who came out to enjoy the emerging blue creature. I saw creature because it is left up to each individual’s imagination. Some say it’s a wolf, a dog and even a dragon!
*This particular mural was funded from a grant we received last year from the Knight Foundation.
Andrew Schoultz new mural in San Jose, CA (April 2015)
Back in April 2015, Andrew Schoultz started work on a new massive mural in San Jose’s Japantown neighborhood. Measuring at 150ft wide by 24 ft tall, Andrew, with friends who came to volunteer, worked over 10 hour days to complete the mural in just 5 days! This is our 11th mural…. part of our E7SWallSJ project.
Much of Andrew’s work is based on the relationship between humans and nature and current political/social issues. It’s really interesting to hear Andrew discuss his views on these things as he gets deep into these issues and really makes you think twice about many of the things people are blind to these days.
Just having the ability to see how he works as an artist by adding layers, colors and textures was an experience of its own. During his time in San Jose, we were able to spend some quality time, taking him to some local arts shows and having him try local eateries.
Many people came throughout the 5 days to check out the mural in person. Some just drove by slowly, admiring the vibrancy and majestic quality to this piece. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, it’s located on 6th and Empire Streets in San Jose’s Japantown. Grab a bite to eat and walk on by to see in person!
E7S travels to Hawaii (Feb 2015)
A few weeks ago, we went on a short vacation trip to Oahu, Hawaii! It was the first time for both of us so there was a lot to explore. The first couple of days, we stayed on the other side of the island, called North Shore. It was less touristy and LOTs of beaches and greenery. With a car rental, we were really able to experience the beautiful landscape of Hawaii! As much as we went for vacation, we planned to go during the launch of Pow Wow Hawaii. This is a week-long festival full of art, live murals and a closing event.
The next few days we stayed in the upper part of Waikiki….again away from as much tourists as possible. We were pretty close to the downtown area, where all the murals were taking place. Didn’t get to stay until the very end of Pow Wow but enough to see the murals in progress and catch up with or meet artists involved.
While in Hawaii, we got to try some really good food but what topped it off was our last night when we went and did a 7 course dinner at Morimoto’s! Yes, Iron Chef Morimoto! It was definitely the art of food.
Having some R&R was definitely a treat and being able to see all the murals come alive was an amazing experience! Can’t wait until we can go back to relax in Hawaii!
For more info on Pow Wow Hawaii, visit http://powwowhawaii.com/
Teaching at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall
A few weeks ago, Carlos and Zak taught a 4 weekend mural painting class for the juvenile hall students. Held outdoors, once the murals were completed, they planned to have installed somewhere indoors.
Carlos taught a more loose, expressive technique while Zak taught with more control using lines, shapes and bold solid colors. They ended their session with a small pizza party for everyone to enjoy!
Teaching the youth has been a fun and learning experience. Carlos and Zak really had a connection with the students and hoped they were able to take something away from this experience!
