Michael Alvarez in Da House

New webstore and holiday goodies for sale

2011-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

I have a new webstore up with some new items including

a new print

a new shirt

and a Puro Party Pack! which includes 1 sticker, 3 pins, 1 baggie and 1 surpise

Check it out!

MichaelAlvarezStore

works in progress

2011-11-25T18:05:00.000-08:00

Amoeba Music mural, progress shots

2011-11-25T17:50:00.001-08:00

Started the mural about a month ago with my friend Tony Tee, and will be done by December.

We are stoked to the maxxx to be working with Amoeba Music.

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2011-05-05T20:46:00.000-07:00

2011-05-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

2011-05-05T20:22:00.000-07:00

2011-05-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

4Johnson

2011-02-13T19:56:00.000-08:00

2010-08-30T23:34:00.001-07:00

2010-07-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

2010-06-25T00:07:00.000-07:00

beautiful colors on Mednik and Cesar Chavez, out the maravilla projects

2010-06-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

Return of the Mack

2010-06-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

Dayoooooo's Back!

Illustration Mundo

2010-06-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.illustrationmundo.com/wp/3876

Illustration Mundo featured my Creepy Stalking Asshole Perverts piece on their website recently.

Thanks Illustration Mundo!

2010-06-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

Nice Drawings

2010-06-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

These are some drawings by my student Francisco Juarez. I really dig his drawings, and hopefully he'll be down for a trade.

in progress

2010-05-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

crappy photos

This is probably my favorite book ever

2010-05-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

it was pretty hard to track down, but i'm so psyched I got it

Mothers Day Gift

2010-05-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being #1 mom

say cheese

2010-05-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

and cry

Beautiful Decay

2010-05-03T20:42:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of having a little inclusion in the new Beautiful Decay book 3, which is in stores and for sale now. Go cop it!

It features Allison Schulnik on the front and back covers.

She's one of my favorite painters, and this is one of the pieces from her Mark Moore solo show. .

My Billy Dee Williams illustration

became a sticker design. Stoked!

and my good friend LLLLLeovardo Gustavo Gallardo Eguiarte , a.k.a Leo had this awesome piece featured in the book. We've been friends for about 8 years and he keeps amazing me with his artwork and his hi-jinx.

spot check

2010-05-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

My friend Tomas basically found the tightest place in the world.

Fun

2010-04-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

times painting at another event at the Pasadena Museum of California Art for the UGLARBook.

This is my new friend Carrie Adrian, and this was her first time painting.

Cool

2010-04-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

stencil that my student Diego made. It looked really cool when the light would pass through

T.G.I.F

2010-04-15T20:52:00.001-07:00

PMCA part 2

2010-04-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

I had the honor of being asked to participate in a panel discussion that included Chaz Bajorquez, Rob Sato and Ako Castuera at the PMCA. I had a great time, and didn't sweat as much as I expected too.

BGP's

2010-04-07T23:55:00.000-07:00

Mini Guy getting background (or foreground) props at a Heart Project benefit dinner.

kidz incorporated

2010-04-07T23:31:00.001-07:00

This is a mural that my students from Frida Kahlo High School and I made, based on the theme "Inspired by the Blues".

Got to paint with some friends of mine a few days after.

my contribution was an East Los tribute to Eric Cartman

Christopher Branddashboard confessional

4 Johnson

2010-03-05T10:10:00.001-08:00

Hopefully this will make your time in Japan a little more psychedelic

Billy Deeee!

2010-03-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

Keeps it classy.

Here's a link of the finished installation of the L.A River at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

The opening night was fun and super packed. Had fun doing the installation, and pscyhed to be a part of the project

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uglarbook/

Here's on of the murals my students and I are working on. These kids don't play!

Girl Open House 8

2010-02-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the Girl Skateboards open house last month, and a Girl Orientation video to help understand the radness that was going down.
Free In N All all day
And a petting zoo, when want to take a brake from all the gnar going on.
The offices were open, so we were free to roam and check out the history. This is shrine dedicated the the memory of Keenan Milton. Rest in Peace.
Crew Shots!
Andy Jenkins was nice enough to let us tour his office, and check out some memorabilia. Thanks Andy.
Original Gabriel Rodriguez 101 graphic.
Original Mark Gonzales art.

The first run of Girl boards ever.

Got to take a picture with Guy Mariano, and Anthony Van Engelen. Both amazing skateboarders and some really cool guys.
The reason I was invite to the open house was because of made a sculpture based on Guy Mariano, back when he was a little dude. I was commissioned to make this piece along with some others for the Heart Project(the organization I teach for). I brought the piece down to give to Guy, out of gratitude for being and influence on myself and many others.

See you around Lil Guy!

Local rippers were invited to skate the contest being held in the GirlPark. So much good stuff went down,

he is some of it documented.

And here is some homie footage put together by my friend Tomas Diaz. In case your wondering I'm the guy who breaks his back!

UGLAR @ PMCA Feb. 13

2010-01-30T00:14:00.000-08:00

Artstravaganza

2010-01-29T23:24:00.001-08:00

Bros & Brahs

2010-01-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

Two of my good friends had amazing solo shows during the month of January. My good friend Jesse Hazelip had a solo show at White Walls in San Francisco, Ca which I'm really bummed I missed, but am really proud and stoked on the work he created. Congratulations, I'll see you soon mang

Andrew Hem, is another good friend and big inspiration. His solo is up at LaBasse Projects in Culver City, Ca. The show is still up, so if your in Sothern California this is a must see. He's got the bluest blues I've ever seen

Last but not least shout out to my long time c0mpadre and loyal blog follower Jonathan M. Johnson out in Japan. Miss you brah!

2010-01-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

Holiday Trade

2010-01-29T21:53:00.001-08:00

This is one of the holiday trades I made this winter. I made a few other trades for artwork and cookies, that I'll post up later.

I did a painting for my friend Kristin, of a glamour shot taken of her and her mother at the now defunct HeadShots at the Buena Park Mall. She made me this awesome pillow, which is large and comfy. On the other side of the pillow is a little ninja. Thanks Kristin!

Goldfish

2010-01-29T21:49:00.000-08:00

Ashley, one of my students from this past winter made this awesome diorama

2009-12-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

Vote for Eazy!

2009-10-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

This a shirt design I did for a contest held by Karmaloop.com. The theme is to spread HIV/AIDS awareness to the youth culture. I felt an image of Eazy-E would be powerful, because he is/was major icon in urban/youth culture. Since he was such a legendary figure that passed from the virus, the illness felt much more tangible and real. I tried to make an something that could spread awareness, and celebrate the life at the same time.

http://www.karmaloop.com/tshirt-browse.asp?cid=197029

Also while you can, come through like the Wu and cop one of my friend Dave's ODB shirts.

http://thedesigngiants.bigcartel.com/product/ol-dirty-bastard

They're selling out fast, so get there while you can. I didn't take mine off for two weeks straight!

1988

2009-07-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

This piece based on one of my favorite movies-Gummo,

will be in the cult movie show at Gallery 1988, hopefully all you can make it through

more work from Alex Ponce

2009-07-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

2009-06-30T20:39:00.001-07:00

This is some artwork done by one of my students, Alex Ponce.
This kid's done some really remarkable work during class. This is some of his outside work.

His work is so intuitive, and his ability to get savage with his materials is amazing.

Keep up the good work lil homie!! Looking forward to seeing what the future has in store.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson

2009-06-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

Nothin' but a Good Time

2009-06-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

The past two weeks have been really fun. Got to see some TV Carnage at the Silent Movie Theatre which was really fun, and got to go to the Animal Collective show which was also really fun and psychedelic.

I'm also on summer break from teaching, so I get to recharge the batteries.

These are some sculptures I made for a fundraiser that the organization I work with had a week ago.

www.theheartproject.org

These guys were inspired by some of the students I've had over the past year

The Krew
In process...

I was working at this painting at the time, and it seemed like the the 3-D pieces and the painting were feeding off each other.

Interview in New York

2009-05-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks Simone, for finding this.

Landmarks

2009-05-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

I caught this bad boy rolling through my neck of the woods last Saturday, and it easily made my day.

I also had a little feature on the Beautiful Decay website a few weeks ago.I have been a big fan of the magazine since the beginning. Thanks so much guys! The newest one will feature an interview with my big homey, David Jien. He's been super good for a long time. Dave why you gotta kill it so hard?!

Also at there are t-shirts for sale for the upcoming show at Vermillion Gallery in Seattle. Cop one soon, because they are limited edition! There are also interviews with many of the artists that are participating in the show, such as Marco Zamora, and Albert Reyes, whose works I have dug for a long time.

Last but not least I wanna give a big birthday shout out to my main man, the One and Only, Big Bad EKUNDAYO!!! Happy 26!!!.

(Artist depiction by David Jien circa 05-06)

Ekundayo continues to drop lyrical science throughout his path.

2009-04-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

I got a lil interview at http://desmadrearte.wordpress.com/ for the upcoming show in May.

The website posts an interview with one artist participating in the show per day.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the work that the artists are making for the show, and really wish that I could make it out to Seattle. There are a lot awesome artists that I'm exited to show with, including my schoolyard chums Ana Serrano and Jeaneen Carlino.

This is a really cool and funny interview with Rob Sato at his recent show at Giant Robot. He has awesome work!

I've never met him, but we both have artwork in the UGLAR Book, which speaks about the history, biology, architecture, art and scumlife of the Los Angeles River.

Here is a recent mural that some of the artists in the book did, which is located on Venice and La Brea in L.A.

I wish I could've helped out, but I've have to hermit out at the lab, for the past few months.

Have a good weekend

SikWidit

2009-04-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

I 've been sick for the past two days. Other than sleeping, going to the doctor, some gross stuff, I've been on a heavy computer binge, which gives me the opportunity to let you know what's the haps with the craps.

Wednesday is the best because t 9:00 there is a brand new episode of Epicly Later'd.

There is no show that I look forward to as much as this, and the episodes are only 5 to 10 mins long.

I especially fiend because, the series in on Guy Mariano. One of the best skateboarders ever.

Ever.

I also saw the movie Bigger Stronger Faster, which is a great great documentary on steroid use in the United States.

Also catching up on my novelas.

makes me feel very nostalgic .

I also got my pieces finished up for the Street Fighter show at Nucleus this weekend.

I have a lot of old drawings saved up from when I was a kid, and there was a phase when I was always drawing Street Fighter characters, scenarios, and crossbreeding them with my other favorite games.

I was about 10 at the time so I was also drawing characters based of the artwork of Snoop Dogg's debut album Doggystyle.

And I also mad an anti-drug comic starring Beavis and Butthead.

Unfortunately I had to call in sick for work today. The kids I am working with are real cool

Here's some artwork from one of the classes I taught last semester. Fun Times

Fun TimesFun TimesAlso BIG BIG ups to my friends that just graduated from Art Center!

Leo, Forelli-do, Alysa, Big Nick, Brooke, Dimitrius and anyone else I forgot, Y'ALL DA MAN!

Leo YOU DA KANG!

Show in Seattle May 14th

2009-04-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

This is a show I am very pround to be participating in that will take place next month. It will have a whole bunch of amazing artists, that im stoked to show with, and my friends and former classmates Jeaneen Carlino and Ana Serrano.

There is more info here at this link, and also an interview with my friend Ana

http://desmadrearte.wordpress.com

JAB STRONG FIERCE!

2009-03-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

April 25, 2009 - May 11, 2009Opening Reception / Apr 25, 7:00PM - 11:00PM
Gallery Nucleus 210 East Main St, Alhambra CA 91801

I'll be participating in a Street Fighter Tribute show at Nucleus on the 25th of April.

Like millions of people, I was rediculously obsessed with Street Fighter and am stoked to do some work for the show. It is easily in my top 3 favorite games of all time list.

(In no particular order)

1.Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (or Super Street Fighter2, or Street Fighter 2 Turbo Hyper Fighting)

2.Mortal Kombat II

3.NBA Jam Tournament Edition

I wish my piece of shit scanner was working right now, because I have so many drawings from elementary school. I'll post up some oldies when I get my technology working.

Hopefully yall can make it out, It'll be a fun time

SPECIAL FEATURES:-Cosplay competition (Details HERE: http://www.gallerynucleus.com/page/446)-People who come in costume receive 15% off all store items (excludes already discounted items and artwork)-SF4 TOURNAMENT sponsored by EVO (Details HERE: http://www.gallerynucleus.com/page/447)-Free Raffle give-aways (free raffle ticket to the first 100 guests) 1$ a ticket after-Free refreshments served-Music by Ronikus

Rest in Peace Primo

2009-03-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

For the past two months I have been spending time working on a portrait on my cousin Vincent, and my Nana Margaret. I have used my cousin as inspiration for some previous pieces.
http://michaelalvarezart.com/vince.htm
http://michaelalvarezart.com/vincent.htm
Particularly because we grew like brothers. We were always having fun doing kid stuff, and pretty much went through most of our phases of growing up together,(skateboarding, girls, weed, graff), thanks to our older cousin Johnny. We were a trio. When we 14 he got more into the ganglife, and I stayed a skaterat. We always stayed in touch and hung out as much as we could, until he got sent to juvie. From there he was pretty much in and out of incarceration for the past 10 years. We lost touch for a few years, but luckily for the last 3 years we were talking alot, and writing each other as much as we could until he was free. Unfortunately, his life was taken only 3 months after he was free. I still miss him and think about him everyday, but feel extremely fortunate to have someone in my life who cared about me so much, and that I was able to share so many great experiences with. Here's some documentation of the process of the painting.

The head was the hardest part, I worked out so many different variations. Luckily I found something I was kinda stoked on.

shooting some reference

This is a picture of the last piece he did. July 08'

NAACP Awards/ Russell Simmons Painting

2009-02-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

We started off working on the mural at the studio, sketching stuff in so when we got to the Shrine Auditorium, we could get straight to business.

The next day we went to the auditorium to set up and start working. The plan was for us to have a good amount of our painting done, so we could be doing live painting for the event, while having something recognizable.

The stage

These paintings were really tight. They are all paintings of Barack Obama done by different African artists.

Scupltures

red carpet status foo!

Here are some pictures of the process of the mural.

Me, Ekundayo, Johnny "KMNDZ" Rodriguez, Ted Mendenhall

The final product.

We got to meet Russell while we were working on the mural, and he is one really nice dude. I don't have a picture of all of us, but when I can find one online, I'll post it up, or photoshop one. That was one of the most intense minutes of my life!

Michael Alvarez x Ekundayo x KMNDZ x Russell Simmons x NAACP Awards x Halle Berry x Tyler Perry!

2009-02-11T00:53:00.001-08:00

Sup Dudes,

Dayo, Johnny and Myself are really excited and fortunate to be able to work on a mural in honor of Russell Simmons for recieving the NAACP Vanguard Award. We will be working on the mural tommorow at the Shrine Auditorium and also on Thursday during the award show.

We will be painting at the award show, which will be televised nationally. I'm kinda nervous, but very excited. It'll be my big television comeback, since I made my debut on the UPN back in 99'.

The awards will be on Fox at 8 p.m on Thursday. Tune in to see the excitement, and to watch me look like a spazz! I'll post pictures of the piece, the event, and the work in progress later.

Cogratulations Russell Simmons on this prestigious award!

and thanks to Ted Mendenhall for making it possible.

http://www.naacpimageawards.net/40/vanguard.php

This is some artwork from one of my students Chris a.k.a C-Smoove at a school I teach in the Pico-Union area in L.A. These kids are killing it!!!!!

Show in P-Town in February

2009-02-02T21:44:00.000-08:00

I will have about 3-5 really small pieces in the show. Pomona has a really cool art community and the Artwalks are really fun

Red Forest Show

2009-01-31T22:08:00.001-08:00

My friend Adrian took shot some footage of the Red Forest show at Thinkspace with KMNDZ/Ekundayo and me/Jeaneen Carlino from this past October
Think SPace Gallery

December To Remember

2009-01-31T20:41:00.000-08:00

Around Thanksgiving time I was skateboarding down a hill, hit a rock and fell. It turned out I ended up fracturing my clavicle(collarbone). I couldn't move my arm for about a month, was in a cast and was in exrutiating pain. Luckily it was my right arm, and I am left handed. I am pretty bummed that I didn't get a picture of the bruise. The color was disgusting. I'll post a drawing I did of the bruise, once my scanner starts working. Here's what I would watch to occupy time.

All hail Cardiel!!

One of the craziest skateboarders of all time, with one of the most inspiring outlooks I've seen or heard of. THE SHIT! http://www.vbs.tv/

Battle at the Berrics

World Class games of skate. http://www.theberrics.com/

During the month I did a commission for my friend Johnny "KMNDZ" Rodriguez, of his three sons. When I finished my girlfriend and I went to drop the piece off at Johnny's house, and I started fanning out when I met them. I guess from working on the painting for a while, it was like meeting celebrities. Thankfully the family dug the painting, even the kids, who are usually the toughest critics. The kids were full of energy, and we were there for about two hours looking at their cool toys and making jokes.

Here's the painting of the youngin's

Got to do a little bit of painting with the fellas

Patrick Ewing
Check out Andrew Hem's travels throughout Asia.

I still gotta finish Pretty Tony's sign.

Dreams to Reality Benefit

2009-01-19T21:53:00.000-08:00

I am a little late here posting this information, but there is show up that I am participating in with some friends a Nucleus Gallery in Alhambra, Ca. The show is called Dreams to Reality, which is a benefit show to help out my good friend Alvaro Sanz, who is going through some hard times in Spain, so we wanted to help him out in his time of need. The show was curated by another good friend David Jien. The opening was fun, the show has some really nice artwork by a roster of some great artists. Hopefully all yall can make it out.

Thanks big Dave for putting it together, and thank you Nucleus for helping us out and letting us show!

Since Dave and Andrew have included flicks they have of Al and us, our adventures out, and other moments, I thought I'd post whatever I could find on my computer too. You can also check out my friend Al's great artworks here.

short film of Alvaro and buddy friend Beau

Also , I have piece up at Gallery 1988's under the influence show which will be up until the 29th. I had fun participating. Here's some pictures of the process.

Inauguration Day!

2009-01-19T19:48:00.001-08:00

Hello Everybody,

Welcome to this monumental occasion. It is Inauguration day, perhaps the biggest in our country as I commemorate my website with a news section, then Barack Obama had to come and steal my thunder by being sworn into office.

Please stop biting my shit, this is supposed to be my day! jjjjjust kidding! Congratulations to my boy Barack Obama, on becoming the new President of the United States!

I hope everybody out there is having a great Martin Luther King day, had an awesome holidays and is having a great 2009.