Chances are if you follow a number of art accounts you've come across these two guys on your Instagram timelines. They both present valid takes on art and the 'art world' while providing actual value to the general art conversation online. Instead of rage bait talking head art posts to generate views, they share art they're interested in and the reasons why they enjoy art. This conversation is pretty good. Jeff Magid is a little too forgiving when discussing the elitist sentiments he's engaged whilst navigating traditional art spaces, saving face it seems and treading lightly when we all know exactly the issues looming which bar people from not only collecting art but feeling they even have the right to participate in the enjoyment or conversation about it. I don't expect him to call it out as he's found his way into a space which initially didn't welcome him and is doing good work to inform people, while proving one can enter regardless of the barriers which can be present. Also, the global art market is tremendous. It's important for anyone who is looking to collect art to see the much larger picture. The traditional art market ain't all there is. Collect C.

On a stroll up Kent I spotted these giant Polymarket advertisments. Everyday feels like a scene from They Live. God bless Roddy Piper who didn't live to see our world in it's current state. 

I started pulling cards in 2023. I use tarot for personal development. I finally got around to purchasing a Rider Waithe deck this year in March from this lovely bookstore in Kingston, NY called Spiral Mirror. The fact of the matter is my readings are the most serious mirror I’ve ever had to face in my life. My relationship with this deck has evolved. Essentially an extension of my inner world which is undeniable. A mirror I cannot hide from. I’m exposed in the best of ways. I’m also rewarded with confirmation. There is no guessing. It is the plain truth like that 80’s magazine you’d see at the end of your grocery journey in some stores. Between the carpet cleaners for rental and a cigarette machine.

While most sleep in this city that’s supposed to never, I pull Temperance, The Hanged Man and The Emperor reversed. Suspended animation describes this period of my life. Patience is needed, like for real for real. I’m paused. I’m waiting. Waiting for me to address some things still. 

There’s healing happening concurrently. Downloads of new modalities for use throughout this stage to consider while reminders of older working ones resurface. Use your tools. Make decisions. Decide what you want for yourself. 

Take your time, but hurry the fuck up. 

Let go, allow and notice. You are where you focus and you’ve been focusing on the wrong shit for way too long. A butterfly clearly free of chrysalis lamenting caterpillar life. Da fuc? 

I met Steve on Bedford ave in Williamsburg, he was outside displaying some large paintings street gallery style. Bright and vivid the imagery, you see and have to pause to take in and process the work. I stop and we chat for a minute. Honestly, I‘d been having one of those days where the conversation was needed. It redirected me. I gained a bit of energy and it confirmed some things for me that day. I took some photos and shared them with him later, also posting them on IG. Since then Steve and I have continued to chat. He had an opening in Long Island I attended and brought another Brooklyn artist who just happened to have grown up in the same neighborhood. I only found this out while on the walk over from the LIRR.

Recently I started assembling different pieces of mine to wheat paste in various areas I'd been staking out for a while. One day I'm chatting with Steve in the DM and it dawns on me he has the perfect work to be made into posters for street art. I tell'em send me an image so I can make posters like the ones I've been making. My thought was it would be cool to get them up in proximity of the area where he sells his paintings. A tactic no different from ads plastered everywhere in Chelsea close to a venue leading up to an event. Steve’s never done any wheat paste and he asks if I can give him some pointers. Steve has also been dropping knowledge about various things art related, introducing me to other artists, people with venues and galleries. We use the DMs effectively with a healthy balance of ideas and opinions exchanged. 

There are so many ways to collaborate. It’s just working together with a person or group of people to create something with a shared goal. Far too often we overcomplicate things and stop before we even give opportunity to possibility, simply because we’ve not truly considered what collaboration means and or what it can mean. Also, sometimes collaborations fail outright because people aren’t fully vested or not actually clear on the full details and everyone's intentions within a project, something which should be well established before any manner of actual work is done. 

Everyday I think about how much we all could be doing to reach individual and collective goals if we collaborated more. In order for this to happen we first need to be clear on what we can and cannot offer especially when approaching others. What our capacity is for any given project. Knowing well ahead whether or not we have the bandwidth to engage collaborative work. Most importantly a true understanding of what it means to collaborate and a desire to do so with positive aims.

You can see more of Steve’s work like the one in this video of me assembling a four panel poster on his Instagram @steve.camillone.

If you’re interested in making posters of your own here is a link to the site I use to create mine. https://rasterbator.org/

These days it's hard to break the internet, but one thing you can count on is a big brand every other year pulling an ad and apologizing for some campaign they've run as people take to not so social media to express their collective outrage. This time the company in the spotlight (tourchlight even) is Converse, which is wild considering the host of black entertainers who've been endorsing their gear for years.

Last years launch of Love, Chuck with both artists and athletes features Tyler, The Creator, Chalrie XCX and Lil Yatchy to name a few of the music artist included. Added Vince Staples within the last week dropped a commercial and the timing is insane considering the recent release of his album, Cry Baby considering its overall theme. 

I recorded the track “If Only (Black Lives Mattered)” in 2014, summing up the year in Hip-Hop as well as a snapshot of varied years of the black experience in the US which came before, namely for young black Americans. When it comes to rap and rhyme for the most part the majority of what I've recorded over the years has been pretty much social commentary. I even produced and released two albums in this vein. 

It's been said many times before, black people are not a monolith. 

This song speaks to this reality as well as the complexities within black culture, from contradicting factors of black life/entertainment to the consistent gaslighting of black people in the US as this treatment has been mirrored in different ways through the rest of the world. I also mention Lost Voices, the activist organization which formed after the death of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. I had the chance to speak to some members on live radio during a day of protest in 2014. 

Dontey Carter (from left), Mel Moffitt, Lenard Smith, Ned Alexander and Allen Frazier are all members of the Lost Voices group, formed after Michael Brown's death in August. They say they want to ensure justice for Michael Brown and other unarmed individuals killed by police officers.

Photo - Cheryl Corley/NPR

[Lyrics]

God Bless America and no place else.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah

Stevie Wonder plays harmonica and the drums

Quiet as church meece, we ate the crumbs

They’s gettin paid for playin dumb

We gettin sprayed for bein young

Bein black, bein packed while not bein strapped

Bein capped, no snap-back

Now Smurder dances, like tribal actions

Millions marchin cross the globe

We in love wit coco, Pyrex odes

College dropout, hit the stove

Dear Angelou, D’Angelo a caged bird sings

The Black Messiah, Still I rise, and when I rise

I’mah Try Me some Dej Loaf

Iggy Iggy co-opt the culture

But T.I.'s are the real vultures

Yall ain’t hearin, need a Q-tip

And a Solange beatin

No elevator, I’ll take the stairs

No balloons, it ain't The Weekend

Lost Voices they found voices ain’t never scared

I said they found voices ain’t never scared

I love myself, gettin healthy eating pears

Its a Cole word so I stopped druggin hoes n druggin bitches

Can't stop sayin bitches but you don't care

Hung up on niggas sayin niggas

Merica still hangin niggas

Black on black crime figures

It’s all in yah mind nigga.

Got my shooters, I’m start a revolution Nigga, up in this club… 

I recently relistened to this podcast. Upon hearing it for the first time when it was released I immediately wanted to share it. Personally I felt alot of what Arthur discussed and I eventually would experience the Marcel Duchamp exibition at MoMA numerous times during the Summer. (I need to renew my membership actually. I have an artist one. Just a heads up if you weren't aware they existed.) The interview touches on a lot and I was reminded to post it after seeing Jafa has an upcoming show and the art news chose a click bait method to promote it by mentioning him being asked about Kanye. Before Ye started to publically have a mental break down he worked with him. Anyway... A great conversation is had here about many things and his assessment of Duchcamp's work and awareness of African art's influence on European art is spot on. 

With the privilege of witnessing so many incredible top floor shows at MoMA over the last couple years, I never fully get to process them. I have so much follow-up research to do about Duchamp alone. There's a book of interviews I want to add to my collection. Tis the life of an artist. Inner and outer study never ceases.

Come back and discuss after you've listened.

The journey begins. A vision which started in 2024 with a character drawn in 2020. Like many of my projects this one is expansive and about evolution. It's about the small steps aiding in transformation. SMUDGE is the culmination of a number of things but one of the larger portions of its purpose ultimately is an Art magazine. The bi-monthly zine will evolve with each issue in size and dimension, starting with this eight page one sheet.

Just recently at a live art event I was talking to an attendee about the piece I'd been working on, breaking down what exactly I created after a few hours. It led me to explaining how much of what I create has many tiers. How the work I do more often than not is tied to a specific and relevant theme (like mortality or transformation) with many components within the work that affect real world situations connected to people. My art has built-in use cases. I'm also thinking how do we get beyond the obvious in conversation and maximize the value of work. Webster's defines value as the monetary worth, utility, or importance of something. Not merely a price tag. My art is valuable as my projects live inside the full definition of the word. I could see the gears turning in the mind of the person I spoke to, introducing relatable concepts in real time. They confirmed it as we chatted. Art is a supreme tool for problem solving [so to speak]. Within the work and process I introduce ideas which are transferable into real life scenarios. I don't have to make a case for any of this simply because I can quantify the impact of my creations and ideas through each individual interaction my art elicits.

I'll pause here to say, watch as this project unfolds. You are more than welcome to collect a piece of it in the numerous forms it currently exists in or whatever the offerings are as it continues to grow. Keep your eyes open for SMUDGE.

Oh, one more thing. SMUDGE. also points to the smudging of ink on some print publications when touched. It represents the tactile, in a life we've become accustomed to living in a large part; virtually.

The inaugural SMUDGE. Zine is available for collecting via the link below.

https://agtraphaus.com/en-usd/products/smudge-zine-1-the-fool