Justin Simoni - News

DENVER: DOPPELGANGER DREAMS

2009-12-04T02:19:32Z

And... if you so happen to rather be in Denver, CO, USA, go see, DOPPELGANGER DREAMS and Rhinoceropolis, please:

BERLIN: Berlin Everyday on Saturday

2009-12-04T02:01:46Z

If you just so happen to be in Berlin this Saturday, please check out Tattiya and Lëla's exhibit:

Links for you:

How I Almost Died: Traveling sparsely and the creative process

2009-10-28T00:56:23Z

This is the video from Ignite Boulder #4 that I did a few months back (in April?) At the time, I didn't think it went all that well - the slides were all out of order, so my carefully crafted narrative was torn to shreds.

But, looking back, it went alright.

A similar talk was done at Pecha Kucha Denver, with a different (correct) slide order. Although I don't have a video of that, I really wish I did.

Thanks to both Pecha Kucha Denver and Ignite Boulder for having me speak!

Dirty Fake French Velo T-Shirts are back! Order for $15

2009-09-26T22:49:19Z

The entire world may now rejoice! We are reprinting the Dirty Fake French Velo T-shirts one more time and changing up the colors: Boys-Style gets "Royal Blue" and Grrls-Style is, "Avocado Yellow". Yes.

Why the reprinting?

I'm journeying to France with my bike for the rest of year! It's true! These shirts proved popular in the small D.I.Y. run we just did earlier this year that we're gonna... do another small, D.I.Y. run! Yeah!

So order away and help me offset the costs of me having to box up my bike and send it with the airline (it's not free anymore, ugh!)

FEMMES - $15

HOMMES - $15

"Avocado Yello" Grrls Style

"Royal Blue" Boys Style

ONE-COLOR PATCH - $3

White on Black

Here's the CATCH:

You only have until NEXT THURSDAY to order. Why? Because after that, I will be in France! Sorry hurry up already and put a little double entendre on your poitrine and show your amour pour votre vélo!

CMYK+RGB Show This Friday

2009-08-21T03:04:52Z

I've been pretty lucky be able to take part of so many awesome shows this summer and this event coming up this Friday is no exception:

On Friday, August 21st 2009 Illiterate brings its mission of creative collaboration to Denver's Space gallery with "RGB + CMYK", an interactive arts event exploring the interactions between print and digital media. With print and digital installations, live screen printing, a conceptual fashion show and a print exhibition by some of Denver's most prolific contemporary artists and designers, "RGB + CMYK" places two forms of reproduction side by side asking the question on every newspaper publisher and online entrepreneur's mind: are these formats complimentary or in competition?

In my usual style, I've side-stepped this issue, by doing a piece that deals with some thing I'm really interested about, namely: Sex. Or, Love vs. Sex. I mean, let's drop the whole analogy game and get right down to brass tacks on these Important Issues. And yes, I understand that, "brass tacks" is also an analogy. Onward!

Here's the kick-ass flier from Illiterate:

Here's also some in-studio shots of my process. I had just set up the studio to make posters, since my last show was nothing but posters, so this show was perfect for me to contribute to. Here's the four screens I used to print with:

Burning screens always gets me nervous, even though I have almost every part of this craft down and if I run into problems, I know how to correct them. this bunch came out perfectly.The only colors I used were, in fact, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. I don't use pre-made screen print ink (ever, really), but rather, I use acrylic paint, mixed with various mediums. This helps me control the consistency, transparency, drying time and most especially, the color properties very tightly.

Printed out:

Far away, these look almost photographic, but up close, they break down into beautiful patterns, pretty well:

Sweet!

I have some stuff on the Illiterate site, if you want to check out here and their blog is pretty sweet to.

See you at the show! This Friday, August 21st, 2009 8pm - 2am at Space Gallery - 765 Santa Fe - Ten Bucks. I'll be selling these prints for cheap, because I love you all and want you to go away with something beautiful.

French Velo T-Shirts are Now Available - $10

2009-07-30T02:15:00Z

I've been up to quite a lot of no good, down-and-dirty fun, drawing up and designing some t-shirts for you to wear. Because of my love of language and my love of cycling, I give you the French version of the venerable, "Put The Fun Between Your Legs" t-shirt.

Like France, they're distinctly, well, French and makes little sense outside of the context of themselves. And that's what I love about 'em. So go grab a shirt as they're currently only $10, shipping is included and you get a FREE patch along with the order:

http://justinsimoni.com/procure/dirty_french_velo_shirts

They're available in boys-style and grrls-style and if you like the design, well, that's available under a CC license as well. Spread the love, give a handlebar ride for someone you fancy and go order a t-shirt for your favorite Francophile Cyclist Enthusiast.

Denver Pecha Kucha on July 21st

2009-07-10T05:04:15Z

Denver's Pecha Kucha is going to be going down this month! (July 21st) Here's the fancy flier:

I'm definitely going to be here (if you come, come early! It fills up!) if I'm not on some sort of secret outrageous art mission trip super adventure - as I sometimes get myself into. Every time I've gone, I've had a wonderful time and the people who run it, were nice enough to have me talk about my adventures on bicycle. And how I almost died at age 27 in a flash flood.

Last Pecha Kucha was one of the best themed talk nights I've ever been to, so I have high hopes for this night.

Here's some links to check out:

Gary Isaacs Art Opening, "Closer to Video" this Tuesday at City o' City

2009-07-07T04:23:59Z

Gary Isaacs makes some extremely moody photography that could also be described as, "lush" and his work will be up in Very Large Format this month at City o' City in Denver, CO. The opening is this Tuesday, July 7th.

His subjects include Munly of Munly and the Lee Lewis Harlots and Slim Cessna's Auto Club,

Devotchka! and whomever this extremely stunningly exasperating-in-beauty is,

Gary has even tempted his camera and risked cracking his len's on my own ugly mug,

(This photograph is well and truly officially, "unpublished") The photograph used was extremely better and captured Gary's, "Enjoy Camera Life" idea much better (link):

to me "enjoy camera life!" is like a state of mind - it's about me reminding my self of how much photography has brought to my life - most of the people i know and almost everything that's happened to me over the last 20 years goes back to living with a camera - it's my path - it's how i move through life - it's my version of a spiritual practice - for me it's about the shared moment and what comes out of that - i've learned to see my self in my work - it's been a big part of coming to know who i am - And when i get all hung up or twisted about things i just say gary "enjoy camera life!" and it helps me to return to my self, to lighten up and to appreciate life

There's more information about the opening on the Facebook events page and a back log of amazing photography from Gary can be found on his Flickr.

Tour de France Diary

2009-07-07T04:13:57Z

I put back up my Tour de France Diary, which was missing from the site redesign, you can check it out:

http://justinsimoni.com/le_tour_08/

The reasoning behind putting it back up will become clear within the coming days...

Some DIY Marketplace Highlights

2009-07-06T20:52:05Z

Survived the DIY Marketplace! It was a very very long day and a long week to get ready/make the loot to sell, etc. I'll have an official announcement of the stuff I have for sale and get it online post-haste, but before that, here's a few things I check out from the marketplace:

My friend Derek has started a new gig called, Mukee, in which he reclaims old skateboards and turns them into fancy jewelry and accessories. For example:

You can browse and order Derek's stuff at his etsy shop, if you're so inclined.

I also picked up a new wallet for myself from Marybeth Mungovan's mmsomewhere line:

The photography used is from her travels, both home and abroad. I bought a wallet of an Aspen grove, to give it my wallet it's own home-town flavor.

Laurie Lynnxe and I shared a tent and Laurie was, amongst other things, selling new jewelry she was created from resin casts of found objects. Ms. Vivienne VaVoom grabbed up one of the necklaces:

There was about a million more things happening at the DIY marketplace, so I think it was a great success and congratulations to Tran for putting it on are in order. Here's to next year's Art Marketplace and DIY fest!

DIY Art Marketplace this Saturday

2009-07-02T08:21:26Z

Hey!

I'll be at the DIY Art Marketplace that the Fabric Lab is putting on this 4th of July and you should definitely stop by:

(bigger version wanted? Just click the flier and behold!)

Look for me at Laurie Lynnxe Murphy's tent. Say hello! Stop by and buy a print, etc. I'll have many surprises also available which I will keep tight lips about, until I get them all finished.

Also check out The Fabric Lab's site and get a cupcake next door sometime, at The Shoppe

More Terry Campbell. Terry Campbell for all!

2009-06-30T08:45:19Z

Speaking about Mr. Terry Campbell, I just moved over all the content for the Friend. paintings to the new site:

You may also have recognized Terry from the latest series I did (Emotional Response), playing a Dionysian character:

We've lived a vast majority of our adult lives, drawing and painting one another.

Some past work of Terry's:

Terry Campbell's, "Present State of Mind" Opening

2009-06-28T00:19:39Z

I hung out at Terry's opening at Pirate most of the night, here's some photos from the opening, itself:

Mr. Harry C. Walters and Mr. Terry Campbell, outside looking sharp. Polyester Shark Skin suits and handlebar mustaches seem to have made a very big comeback.

Terry and I re-creating the pose for his painting in the background. Lord knows I can't ever keep a straight face.

Some detail:

Justin Beard takes in a somewhat intimate painting, somewhat intimately

Skate Deck Show is a GO!

2009-06-25T09:32:12Z

Picked up my board or, "Stick" as the cool kids call it, to decorate with designs for the Great Denver Skate Deck Show of 2009. Comp'd out an idear which I'll keep under wraps until the show itself, but I'd plan on seeing stark white background, big type, halftone protrait and scratchy drawing pairs, as seems to be my modus operandi as per recently. It should also be quite non-sequitor, as it's, you know, a skate deck and deep meaning in a skate deck illustration is probably sort of silly.

Here's the flier, with bizarre, Black Flag bars in the background:

Here's the relevant links to the choice organizations that are taking part:

http://www.indyink.com/

http://www.tsboardshop.com

http://www.plasticchapel.com/

Indian Food with Nikki Biefel

2009-06-23T08:54:27Z

Nikki invited me to have lunch with her, so we met up at the all you can eat Indian Food restaurant on 18th/Blake.

Nikki is going to have a show, I believe this coming September at Kitchen's Ink and was nice enough to tip off those guys to me and that's how I got to show there, so guess what? Lunch was on me.

Nikki does a lot of work with photo clippings/montages of exceedingly complex patterns, based on sacred geometry:

The pictures do fairly no justice, as the colors are quite lush and are sealed behind a thick thick application of resin.

She recently completed a workshop at the Other Side Arts as well as finishing a few commissions for Paulo Bandi who you may see behind the drums on tour with a few small time acts such as, "CAKE" and, "Les Claypool", as well as touring Egypt and just sort of killing the whole percussion thing. Here's Nikki's bass drum head for Paulo:

Quite a natural application of her work, you must admit. Paulo's a super nice guy himself - I had the oppourtunity to meet him myself after Cake's show at Chautauqua in Boulder last summer.

Nikki and I talked about her forthcoming show - she tells me she's been working with different materials this time, most notably seaweed, fish scales and old coins, inspired by her Father's own bizarre collections. We were brainstorming titles for her show, but I couldn't get past trying to figure out how to give everything ostensible meaning and came up with, The Tribute Money bible story and Nikki had none of that. We'll all have to see what she comes up with. Seems like challenging raw materials to use!