One of my favorite artists (I’ve been following him since 2004), Ogi just had a show in Tokyo– here are some pictures. The new work looks really fantastic. Congrats Ogi!

The creative industry: Yeesh. On one hand, working in it can result in the most un-careery of all careers; an endlessly fulfilling extension of what you love into what you do. On the flipside, that same industry can be the ultimate soul-smoosher; a creativity killing monster leaving utter suckness in its wake.

If you’ve worked in it, chances are you’ve experienced both sides of it. The ideal client, the idol client, the client that shouldn’t even be a client because they should be out of business; they’re everywhere, and we’ve each developed our own way to deal with them. But when times get rough, we need reminding of why we’re in it in the first place– and when we need reminding, we need Joshua Gajownik.

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Josh Keyes is a tough artist to put into words.

Initially, “painstaking” seems like the most appropriate term to describe his hyper-realistic paintings– after all, the detail is above the average human being’s level of artistic devotion. What else would describe the process? Focused? Acute? Zoinks? No matter. When words fail in an introduction, we always have the rest of the interview to suss it out.

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If you consider yourself a graphic designer, you’ve probably heard of Joshua Davis. As one of the first adopters of Flash, a significant new media artist, an author, and one of the design world's weightiest members, Joshua Davis is a name that rolls off many tongues during discussions regarding progression, experimentation, and development. A pioneer in the word's most technological sense, Joshua has never been one to find a niche and stick with it, instead choosing to find what's next — or in what's often his case, to create it. We chatted with Joshua about things like Praystation, philosophy, and his plans for the future, and wound up feeling a little bit like we do when we look at one of his mathematically composed graphics. In other words: utterly enthralled.

Joshspear.com: For our readers who aren't as familiar with your background, can you give us a brief rundown of your life up until today?

Joshua Davis: My name is Joshua Davis, born 1971 in San Diego, California, moved to Littleton, Colorado where I pretty much grew up. I had always been interested in art and in high school I entered a statewide competition and took second place in the state for painting. After spending ‘89, ‘90 in Huntington Beach, California skateboarding and ‘91, ‘92 moving back to Colorado living in Frisco to do some snowboarding, I moved to New York in November 1992 and eventually attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. At Pratt I worked on Design and Illustration and through fellow classmates got into working on the web in 1995 (Netscape 1.1). When Netscape 3 was released (at the end of 1996) I had a moment of clarity to use technology and the web to create my work. 13 years later I run Joshua Davis Studios where I use design and technology to create work for corporate clients, private collectors, galleries, museums, and personal exploration.

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According to Chris Torres, there is a new dandyism. Perhaps born of his own creation, perhaps a child of necessity, his renewal of the term, like its predecessor, defines a gentleman. A particular type of gentleman, to be sure – a dandy, by eighteenth century standards, was a well-spoken, well-dressed, well-mannered, revolutionary; a tireless rabble-rouser, threatening in his premature acceptance of the world to come. To paraphrase, he was a gentleman of the sort that — were you a lady falling prey to his guises — your father might wish to shoot.Today's dandy, so it seems, bears certain resemblances to that gentleman. He is daring; he is respectable; he is a tad fearsome; he is the closest representation of idealized manhood since Clark Gabel. And, according to Chris Torres, the man behind the online men's clothier/lifestyle brand, NewDandyism, he exists.

The question we leave you is this: New Dandyism — lifestyle or fashion statement? Like those who debated the term in the eighteenth century, you may find that the answer to that question is muddier than first imagined.

Joshspear.com: How did you become involved in the men’s apparel industry?

Chris Torres: It was actually through footwear. I have an industrial design background and have spent my whole career designing footwear, most recently at Reebok. My involvement in the apparel industry, professionally, came through the friends and connections I've made throughout my career. I've worked with people behind really great labels, like 6876, Call of the Wild, Maharishi, and even RVCA.

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Those SAGxOGI bags Josh gushed about not to long ago are finally up for sale, and the fact that there are only two available (alas, neon pink’s a goner) certainly won’t stop us from posting about them.

San Francisco-based OGI created these bags as good-looking study in art and ethics, and pulled his inspiration from the storied “seven dirty words” of American culture. Each one-of-a-kind bag, while entirely G-Rated on the outside, is filled with nicely hand-painted and mom-unapproved words and designs, and is running at a $600 pricetag. I sort of favor the neon green one, but that gold-on-suede also has a something wonderful going for it (perhaps it’s that “God” is written on the inside?). If you are a fan of OGI, or just in the market for a really, really incredible bag/piece of art, I recommend high-tailing it in this direction as fast as you can click.

JoshSpear.com mainstay and friend OGIgraphics has an opening at Receiver Gallery (Valencia at 25th) in San Francisco opening on June 9th. It has been more than 2 years since Ogi had his first solo show and he’s very happy to be back. The works are entitled “My Life is Your Problem” and include a handful of new paintings, drawings and even some sculpture work. OGI actually gave me a mini-tour of Tokyo last time I was there– Pop by Receiver’s site to see a sneak peak of his new work. Welcome back Ogi! Full flyer after the jump…
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We’re loving these stellar looking SAG vs. OGI Graphics messenger bags, goregous! Details are a little scarce, but here’s what we know: they’re hand painted, available in gold, neon pink, and neon green– all on white suede. The insides are illustrated by none other than OGI (check out many of our past posts on him here). The bags are all one-offs and will be shown at OGI’s up and coming solo show, “My Life is Your Problem” in June at Receiver Gallery in San Francisco. No word on how they’ll be priced, auction or otherwise– but these are hot! More shots after the jump.
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Our friend OGI just dropped us a note about a group show he’s in from Feb 1st through Feb 25th at the Compound Gallery in Portland, OR. The group show has Deth P. Sun, Jack Long, Manny Silva, Monica Canilao, Rizen and of course, the one and only OGI. The opening is February 1st at 7pm– above are some sample pieces from the selection of new work OGI will be showing. Full flyer after the jump.
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The news it out! Bong Vodka just launched a gorgeous artist bottles series in collaboration with some of our favorite artists: Jason Thielke, Yosoh, Matthew Curry and Ogi. The limited edition bottles (and boxes) will be available in stores throughout Florida, Texas, New York, Las Vegas and California at the end of August. Check out the Spirit Of The Brand site to learn more about their unique program– they are constantly searching for artists for new bottle designs, boxes, t-shirts and music compilations.

More detailed pictures after the jump!
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Time to kick off the year in review. Here are some of the most popular Art posts on JoshSpear.com as well as some of my favorites! They’re in no particular order…

Few Many has a show in Tokyo called “TOY2R EXPO” (Toys Save Children). Half the profits will be donated directly to the UNICEF. This is really the most interesting collection of ‘designer’ toys I’ve ever seen– with literally dozens to choose from. All the toys are originals and are for sale online through PayPal. If you’re a hardcore toy collector, you should be all over this– there are some really great designs. The show starts Monday October 10th and runs through Sunday the 16th. Thanks OGI!

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I’ve never gotten a chance to sit down and chat with Tokyo bread and SF living OGI, but we have exchanged some phone calls, some emails, and he recently sent me a set of his kick ass buttons. He’s redefining Asian Pop Culture, his work ranges from huge pieces of canvas to tightly digital rendered art. His diverse styles mix a little graffiti, a little urban, the obvious anime and magna influence, a lot of skill, and whole lot of pop. His characters are love-able, colors are always interesting; and you get the idea, I dig his work His site OGI GRAPHICS hosts a nice portfolio of both canvas and digital prints available for sale.

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