Huge Zerofriends Group Show July 7th!

Want a chance to see some original Craola pieces in person? Thought so! What about Chet Zar? Jon Wayshak? Jason Edmiston? Thought so part two! Well, right before we get ready to head down to San Diego Comic Con (Booth # 5502) we are gathering the crew together for a huge group art show at the Zerofriends Oakland Gallery! The regular band of misfit artists are displaying some amazing pieces, as well as some newcomers and crazy crazies. The lineup is crazy. And the art is amazing.
The show will be on display in time for First Friday on July 6th, but the actual Artist's Reception and official opening event will be on Saturday, July 7th from 7-10PM. See you there.
ZEROFRIENDS OAKLAND
489A 25th St (at Telegraph)
Oakland, CA
510-735-9405

Skinner and I are heading up to Portland to SHINE some shtuff! Shee you there! July 5th. 7-9PM Upper Playground PDX 23 NW 5th Ave Portland, OR

Now! The "Tu'Maury Povich Show!"

Hello, middle american maniacs! Tu'maury Povich here!! Tu'day is Father's Day, and I am excited to share with you one of my favorite episodes of my show.

Last week, we did something a little different on the Tu'maury show. Taking place off site, in a magical location called the Cotton Candy Machine in Brooklyn, NY, we had special guest artist Alex Pardee create a game show where the audience had to look at famous silhouettes and GUESS if the character beneath had a tumor or not! Everyone got prizes, laughs were had and NO ONE found out they weren't the father of any of their 9 children. It was glorious.

Now, with the help of my editor and co-host, Vanna White-Blood-Cell", you can (kinda) play along on your computer as we reveal all of Alex's artwork from the show in this clip from our show!

And don't forget, all of these original paintings, plus even more than you see here, are NOW UP FOR SALE on COTTON CANDY MACHINE'S ONLINE STORE. Enjoy the show!

Tu'Mor Recap #1!

This weekend marked the opening of my first solo art show in the ultra-inspiring Empire State at Tara McPherson's COTTON CANDY MACHINE where I also attempted to turn an art show into an interactive ongoing game show, complete with prizes, a host (me, as Tu'Maury Povich), a lovely co-host (Chloe, as Vanna White-Blood-Cell), and an announcer (Sean, as The Leopard).
The actual game show part of the event went a lot smoother than how I can imagine a real game show even going, so for that, I thank all of YOU!
Then after the game show part we just hung out and let everyone watch me try to draw with one eye while standing up. It was amazing.
The show will be on display at the gallery for the rest of the month and the originals will go up for sale online very soon, so if you are in Williamsburg, make sure you stop by and check it out, as Cotton Candy Machine also carries a ton of Zerofriends products too. Curious about how the "game" part was played? This video should tell you.

We are currently working on a full video so that you can see/play the whole game so until then I'm holding back on showing a lot of the paintings, but meanwhile check out some of the photos from opening day and night, where shit got weird, shot amazingly by Chloe Rice.

MOVIE KNIGHTS RETURNS! Plus New Ltd GELA SKINS!

I'll send another reminder tomorrow but THIS FRIDAY, we are teaming up with GelaSkins again for another super limited signed & numbered Iphone HardCase release! This Friday, at Noon pacific time, only on the ZEROFRIENDS STORE we will be releasing 50 of these non-adamantium but still gorgeous iphone cases!

DON'T MISS OUT! Your iphone may never forgive you. It's like missing the opportunity to get your phone a tattoo from a tattoo artist that will only be in town for one day!
It may throw a fit.
Now, additionally, TOMORROW NIGHT, IN PORTLAND, at our ZEROFRIENDS Pop-Up Store in conjunction with Upper Playground PDX, will be the first of 6 FREE "MOVIE KNIGHTS" events, where anyone who shows up will get to hang out and watch one of our favorite movies with the PDX crew and get a FREE movie-related print from either Dave Correia or myself.
To kick things off on the right creepy foot, Dave Correia will be providing the first 45 people to show up with gorgeous free print you will get just for hanging out and educating your brain about slugs and puns as you watch "NIGHT OF THE CREEPS", my all time favorite sci-fi flick!
Thursday, June 14th at 7PM, the first 45 people to show up and watch the movie get this free Dave Correia "Night of the Creeps" Print!

And here is the remaining schedule for the other "Movie Knights" events as well as my signing on July 5th! (which now has an added bonus of the one and only SKINNER joining me!)
June 14th:  Night of the Creeps, free print for the first 45 people by Dave Correia
June 21st:   Toxic Avenger, free print for the first 45 people by Alex Pardee

June 28th:  The Fly, free print for the first 45 people by Dave Correia

July 5th:     First Thursday art walk from 6:00pm - 10:00pm.   Sketching and signing with Alex Pardee and SKINNER from 7-9.

July 12th:   Chopping Mall, free print for the first 45 people by Alex Pardee

July 19th:   Dark Crystal, free print for the first 45 people by Dave Correia

July 26th:  Trick 'r Treat, (2008 version) free print for the first 45 people by Alex Pardee

Full Tumor Details

In case you missed it, I am heading back out to NY this week and having my FIRST solo art show in New York with all new paintings at Tara McPherson's COTTON CANDY MACHINE Gallery in Brooklyn this SATURDAY, June 9th, from 7-11 PM. (Yes, please note the opening date CHANGED!)
But, unlike anything I have ever done before, and in the spirit of my life-coach, Maury Povich, I am going to attempt to combine a completely irrelevant game show with an even more irrelevant art show!
Before you bother asking me how such silliness can be taking place, and before I apologize ahead of time for it possibly going about as smoothly as the Miami cannibal incident, I'll try to explain how it will work.
Around 7:15 on the night of the show, the first 50 people to show up to watch the game will be given a raffle ticket. We will then have a drawing to pick the contestants. There are 14 slots open to play the game. The game is simple:
I show you a silhouette, and you have to examine the silhouette and tell me if you think the actual painting behind it features a character WITH a tumor, or WITHOUT a tumor. It's easy. It goes like this:


Both winners and losers will be given out a secret specific, limited edition prize!
And after the game, all of the paintings, along with a new handful of additional paintings straight from TumorTown will all be on display.
Anyway, I was going to show you TwoMore paintings as examples, but I figured that one was enough. Hope to see you there, this SATURDAY!!The gallery will also act as somewhat of a ZEROFRIENDS pop-up store as well, as Cotton Candy Machine are a main retailer of our products and we are bringing some more stuff!

HEART FELT!!!!

Simply put, nothing has had the creative impact on me as much as Chloe Rice has. My whole life I have always lived in multiple imaginary worlds to escape a lot of the aspects of the world I live in. But after going on adventure after adventure with her, one of the things that fascinated me about her brain is the ability to inject those imaginary worlds into the one we are living in. All of a sudden, in addition to sitting in the dark imagining a world where people have animals living inside their deformities, or where rabbits with no arms can be comedians, and that everyone rides on the back of metropolis-sized cities, I am now noticing those things while walking around in the streets. I'm noticing when fire hydrants are waiting for the bus. When trees look like they are hugging, or at least trying to hit on light poles, that when laying upside down, most dogs look like Martin Short, and that there are a ton of creatures living amongst us that I never noticed before. I look at existing things and existing shapes in a way I have never done so before. Even my new upcoming art show is based around seeing shapes in a different way. It's been an amazing realization.
So with all that being said, it makes me super excited to share CHLOE'S NEW ETSY STORE with all of her handmade felt creature toys, called "HEART FELT"!
Stumbling upon a strange gun with a little felt heart on it, Chloe accidentally pointed it at an angry squirrel and POOF, it turned that angry squirrel into a fun and playful huggable friend. There's rebelious teeth that have crowned one of there own a king. There's sitcom-and-Costco loving Lampreys, polite Yeti's, and more!
So if you get a chance, take a trip through her store (with more one-of-a-kind, handmade creatures being added regularly) to see some of her creations while they are still available to adopt! Hugging has never FELT so good!

Our 24 hour Print release starts NOW!

New 24 Hour Print Release This FRIDAY!

Here at Zerofriends, we love the number 1, almost as much as the kids with those foam hands, and DEFINTIELY more than that guy that came in second.  In the spirit of the greatest number (not the lonliest number, as some of you may have previously heard) we’re having a Sale on June 1st, for 1 day only!  For those of you who are still learning how to speak binary, here’s the breakdown:

THIS FRIDAY, June1, starting at 12:01AM, we will be re-releasing one of our popular sold-out prints in an all new Limited Edition Colorway, and it will ONLY BE AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE AT ZEROFRIENDS (Both Online & In Our Retail Store) FOR ONLY 24 HOURS! After the 24 hour period, we will NEVER sell this print in this colorway and size again.

At the end of the 24 hour time period, the exact number of prints that we sell will be the exact number of prints released for the edition. So, if only 3 people, one spam email and one armadillo buys them, then the edition will be 5. Cool? We think so!

So yes, on June 1, from 12:01 AM to 11:59 PM and any single minute in between those times, you can purchase this new "HANDFUL: The Baby Grimace Edition" Limited Edition Print (as seen above) either online at ZEROFRIENDS or in person at our Zerofriends Retail Store in Oakland.
Our Oakland store is located at:

489A 25th St (at Telegraph)

Oakland, CA

QUAKE Retrospective Show!

Something really really exciting, humbling, and something that I feel honored to be a part of is happening at our Zerofriends Oakland gallery starting this Thursday (and all through June).
For about 17 years now, QUAKE, one of the most prolific, consistent, and influential graffiti artists in the SF Bay area has been both a best friend and a mentor to me through my entire life after high school. Over time, we have explored different directions and mediums art-wise, but we have been side by side the whole time, with Quake being 1 of the 4 vital owners and blood of Zerofriends, a company that we all started together 5 years ago. While I sit at home, or in a cave, or under a table with a laptop, or in a pizza parlor drawing dicks and big googly eyes with my girlfriend, Quake continues to juggle operating Zerofriends while traveling the world, pushing his aerosol skills incredibly, all while making a million friends and admirers along the way. Which is why I am excited to announce THIS...See you there!(and for fun check out some of our old work together,


Zerofriends is proud to present an enormous retrospective featuring 26 years of the continuous, uncompromising, vibrant pubic art of one of the Bay Area's most prolific and loyal artists, QUAKE. Showcasing hundreds of photos taken from around the world alongside sketches, relics, prints and a massive ongoing slide show, we will celebrate the insanely colorful career of not only one of our favorites, but one of our OWN.
Opening reception with the artist in attendance is this THURSDAY, MAY 31 from 7-10 PM and will be on display all through June.

Zerofriends Oakland
489A 25th St (at Telegraph)
Oakland, CA

(Above portrait shot by the incredible PUREBRED PHOTO team.)

and for fun check out some blasts from the past with some old times when Quake and I would adventure together in the middle of the night like awesome weirdos.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
In 1986, in an unknown locale, an ageless, faceless man was hunted and killed in the arms of a famous Necromancer, who, upon his death, whispered this to the man:
"All colors in your world have different powers when applied in different ways. I will resurrect you eternally on the sole condition that you dedicate every moment to painting as much of our world as possible. With every different color you apply, a different effect will take place in our world. Do not question these changes. With this power, you will alter the world....and stay alive." At this moment, that dead, faceless man was resurrected and given a name: Quake.
Spending the last 26 years unflinchingly and unquestionably performing exactly the task that he was given, Quake has travelled the globe, leaving his chaotic and beautiful marks in thousands of places with the intention of visually altering the world around him.
Throughout his travels, Quake has found inspirations for his artwork ranging from hip hop and heavy metal cultures, to alien conspiracy groups, Chaos magic, and tribes of train-hopping hobos. Over the course of his art-ventures, Quake has also managed to become not only a leader in the eyes of hundreds of other artists, but also one of the most consistent, prolific, and loyal Bay Area artists to ever hold an aerosol can.
He continues to live out his promise by traveling weekly, staying alive by staying creative, all while co-owning and operating ZEROFRIENDS, an art and apparel company that he started in 2007 with longtime friends and artists Alex Pardee, Darren Scott and Dave Correia.


Quake & I, circa 1996-1997

"Tu'Mor Or Not Tu'Mor?"

I have a fun new solo show opening in NY at Tara McPherson's Cotton Candy Machine on June 8.

Its my first NY solo show, so why not make it a game show too. Sound good? Cool. More info soon. Maybe. But I like secrets. Especially weird secrets.

5-Color Sharkasus Screenprint Now Available

There's something about the feel of a screen-printed poster that makes my fingers tingle with imagination. The smooth but subtly speckled texture of the dried ink feels like it was made from the crushed teeth of a brightly colored monster. Seeing the slight imperfections of overlapping inks when one of the colors gets too unruly to follow the directions and jumps ship. Or maybe it's just because I am obsessed with the color black, and you can't get a richer, darker black using any other printing method other than good old, hand-pulled, hand pressed screen printing.
Whatever the reasons are, we love creating screenprinted posters. So every once in a while we like to forget that there's been a technological revolution in the last 20 years and completely disregard modern computers and printers and instead call our friends over at Bloom Press in Oakland who still cook over a fire and make inks out of berries and burnt hair, and collaborate with them on some limited edition, old school art prints.
Our latest release is just that. Limited to only 100, these new 18" x 24" signed, numbered, and hand made 5-color screen prints of THE SHARKASUS are available to buy online NOW for only $50.00! Click here or on the pic to purchase. I actually wrote this newsletter on the wall of a cave with a stick and some bear dung, but only like 4 people saw it and I was forced to eat one of them so we couldn't TOTALLY disregard technology for this release.

HUGE PRINCE!

Attention, fans of the future! We here at Zerofriends have found an ENLARGER PISTOL buried under a raspberry beret that we found "beret'd" under the dirt behind our warehouse! And after shooting it at a pile of donuts and dying with joy, we are shooting it at my artwork!
In order to not get our new toy seized by the department of the government that is keeping THIS under wraps, however, we are just gonna play it off like we are using terrestrial technology to make such small things so HUGE!


Future space guns or not, this weekend we are taking a HUGE risk and doing something based on what YOU GUYS have been asking us to do for a while: starting this WEEKEND we are releasing SUPER LIMITED EDITION HUGE GICLEE ART PRINTS featuring some of our most popular SOLD OUT print images.


I don't know if any more explanation is needed, but here are some specifics as to what is being released and how much they cost. And make sure to read this whole thing so that you can find out how to get FREE TINY 5" x 7" PRINTS OF THE "HUGE PRINCE" PRINT YOU SEE ABOVE (as that image is guaranteed to motivate you to work out and/or weird you the fuck out!)


Q: What is being released?
A: 12 different OVERSIZED Super Limited Edition Signed & Numbered Giclee prints. 6 of the designs will be HUGE (40" x 60") and the other 6 designs will be BIG (24" x 36").
Q: How "Limited" are they?
A: The "HUGE" Prints will be limited editions of 20, and the "BIG" prints will be limited editions of 30.
Q: Can we expect the same quality as the usual Zerofriends Giclee prints?
A: Absolutely. They are printed using the same equipment, technology, and museum-quality inks and paper stock that all of our prints are produced with.
Q: Where will these HUGE prints be on sale?
A: They will all be released on the ZEROFRIENDS WEBSTORE this Friday, May 4th at 12PM (noon) Pacific Standard Time. They will ALSO be on display and on sale in our RETAIL STORE in Oakland, CA, starting Friday also, just in time for the First Friday ART MURMUR.
Q: How much will they cost, and will you ship them outside of the U.S.?
The "HUGE" Prints (40" x 60", LTD Edition of 20) will be on sale for $300.00 each. The "BIG" Prints (24" x 36", LTD Edition of 30) will be on sale for $150.00 each.
Q: Well then, that's all good and jolly, but HOW DO I GET A FREE TINY "HUGE PRINCE" PRINT??
A: If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, then that's EASY. If not, it may be a little hard. This Saturday, May 5, simply be one of the first 50 people to GO INTO THE ZEROFRIENDS OAKLAND RETAIL STORE any time between 11AM-6PM and ASK FOR ONE! But please note, this is an IN-STORE RELEASE ONLY. There will be no "Huge Prince" Prints distributed online at this time.


So anyway, hope to see you online or in the store this weekend, but tell NO ONE about our enlarger ray! We need it for all of the tiny giraffes that we have running around.
Meanwhile, check out these photos by PAUL BUSTAMANTE of the Zerofriends crew and I preparing the prints. Word!