Upper Playground

We like Phunk Studio because they work on their fine art and commercial projects not like an art collective, but like a band composing a single song. With all four members of Phunk having met in art school in 1994, the collective has spent the last 16 years commenting and creating a body of work around the theme of globalization and the universality of the modern existence. We ask a few questions about the state of their new work. —RB / The Citrus Report

Being in Singapore, you have seemed to find a global audience for your work. What is the key to not be isolated?

Singapore is a young cosmopolitan city-state in South East Asia. We have a unique hybrid culture. Our ancestors are migrants from China. We speak English as a first language, celebrate Chinese New Year, sing our national anthem in Malay, eat Indian curry for lunch, read American magazines, listen to British rock music, watch kung fu movies from Hong Kong and dig Japanese anime. Our multi-cultural identity, background and environment have helped shape our collective visual language and ideology, which is globalized, multi-disciplinary and diverse. We are lucky to be living in the Internet age, where information and travel is open and accessible. The world has become more connected. The culture and audience is more globalized. Our icons and symbols are common and shared. In a way, our visual language communicates across different cultures and territories. The audience can relate to it emotionally and culturally. We also try to explore artistic themes that are “universal” through our artworks.

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I’ve had to be real patient. It all didn’t happen right away. Even in the midst of the whole gallery art world I thought this was the greatest thing in the world, but there was more.
-Futura

Known for pioneering a more abstract style of graffiti writing, Futura played a major role in the NYC’s graffiti scene of the ’70’s. As the popularity of graffiti art flared in the 70’s and 80’s, Futura’s work was shown alongside artists such as Basquiat and Keith Haring. As his style developed, he began designing, and has collaborated with numerous artists and companies, including The Clash, Supreme, and A Bathing Ape. Get an inside look at his workspace, his love for B-movies, video games, and apparently all things Sony in an interview from “The Run Up,” available to the public for free for the first time, on Walrus TV.

Although Hong Kong’s art scene has been dominated for years by very commercial elements, it’s always refreshing to see cutting edge shows that showcase street art and innovation pop up.  Featured at the inaugural POW WOW show in Hong Kong was Britain’s Will Barras, Canadian illustrator Pat Lee, Paris-based Wu Yue, Singapore’s Jahan Loh, and Hong Kong-based Jasper Wong alongside DJs Verbal and Yoon (of AMBUSH fame) for what turned out to be a two-day event that traversed through three different venues.  Check out the pictures below.

Day One

Day Two:

Snapped photo of Mr. Powell from his visit in SF a few weeks ago…

Ricky Powelll

Herbert Baglione’s amazing black-and-white piece in Italy had to be buffed at some point.  And that point is now.

(Photo credit: Kalevkevad)

Before

After

Our boy Jeremy Fish has been trucking vanning along the southwest part of the United States as part of his “Road Less Traveled” tour.  He has arrived in Austin in preparation for his show at the Okay Mountain Gallery which opens on March 13th…  Be sure to check his blog for more detailed updates, but here’s his logs via his Facebook page of the trip so far:

Van Captain’s log: Day One. Quick stop in so cal for a pre-SPB-convention meeting with the San Pedro Dons, puked in my mouth, saw a rainbow(looked for the LepreDon),sat in typical LA traffic, listened to some ZZ Top in preparation for Texas. Trip status thus far receives double thumbs skyward.

Van captains log, day two: power steering went out outside Phoenix. Van still running strong, just no u-turns. Anybody know a rad mechanic in Phoenix, or anywhere between here and Austin. Current status: lurking hard in Phoenix.

Van captains log, day three (lil late): drove through scenic Arizona, bought a rad drug rug poncho, slept in a parking lot at the entrance to nowhere. Enjoying new mexico’s finest chile sauces. Current status: beyond rad

Van captains log, day four: woke up in the van on the side of the road, feeling like a couple of scummers. texas is bigger than france. should be in austin by tomorrow night, any austin-ians know a good bowling alley? its our league night, and we have our balls in the van. current status: more or less rad…

Van captains log day 5: arrived in Austin, went bowling with m. Sieben and coons, ate breakfast tacos, cruised austin, and ate THE BEST BBQ I’ve ever had. Wow. Current status: I’m fat!

Upper Playground’s artistic network has been tapped for the ongoing MANIFEST EQUALITY Gallery in Los Angeles. MANIFEST EQUALITY is a pop-up gallery in Los Angeles who’s show runs from March 3rd – March 7th. The catalyst of the gallery was an idea to get some of the top visual artists in the world under one roof to promote equality for all people, and to make that idea a reality they contacted Upper Playground to curate the art for the gallery.

The result? Works by Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Clare Rojas, Sam Flores, Munk One, Swoon, Tim Biskup, a mural by El Mac x Retna x Kofie One, Barry McGee, and many many more are on display at what was at one point a large furniture store at 1341 Vine Street, Los Angeles, CA 90028.

Check out pictures from the setup at The Citrus Report

El Mac x Retna x Kofie One Mural

Munk One

Upper Playground x Snoop Dogg x Jeremy Fish

Upper Playground has produced a t-shirt in conjunction with Snoop Dogg to celebrate his arrival to our neighborhood for a concert at the historic Fillmore Auditorium on March 3rd, 2010. Although Snoop has defined the music of a generation and has achieved iconic mainstream success, he has always been one to remain true to local and upcoming artistic movements, regardless of their discipline. So, on his current “More Malice” tour Snoop is connecting with the community and working with local artists to create merchandise authentic to a select number of cities on the tour.

For the San Francisco stop, Snoop has teamed up with Upper Playground and San Francisco based artist, Jeremy Fish, to create a t-shirt for Snoop’s current tour in support of his upcoming record, “More Malice.”

A limited number of tees will be available at The Fillmore (1805 Geary Boulevard San Francisco, CA 94115) the night of the show, and down the street from The Fillmore at the Upper Playground San Francisco location (220 Fillmore Street San Francisco CA 94117). The rest of the production of t-shirts will be available on the Upper Playground online store.