Pez
We are pleased to announce our upcoming Holiday Print Show entitled "Playground Legends." The show includes limited edition prints from artists including Brian Flynn, Greg "Craola" Simkins, Dora Drimalas, Estevan Oriol, Herbert Baglione, Jayde Fish, Jeremy Fish, Mars-1, Miss Van, Morning Breath, Munk One, Nate Van Dyke, Pez, Sam Flores, Saner and Smithe.
Opening Saturday December 14th, 6pm
We spent the evening at the SF Fine Art Fair, where we unleashed MQ and PEZ on a wall and van, Jason Jagel took care of 4 walls with some great 3-dimensional pieces and paintings. We will be at the Fort Mason space for the entire weekend, come check FIFTY24SF Gallery out.
Jason Jagel's work:
Back to Jagel:
Noise Pop x FIFTY24sf present PEZ “Louder Than Bombs”. The title “Louder Than Bombs” is in direct reference to The Smiths compilation album released in 1987, the band, and Morrissey, being a personal favorite of the artist. As a long time Bay Area staple PEZ’s hand style and graffiti has been seen most places you’ve looked—but his record covers and limited edition zines have reached cult status over the last few years and this exhibition reveals what makes the underground music, art and culture of the Bay Area so special.
About the Artist: PEZ is widely recognized around the world as one of the earliest sticker taggers in the history of graffiti, following in the footsteps of the legendary and infamous graffiti artists, Cost and Revs. He documented his experiences in with his Nikon FM2 35mm camera, and continued to post his stickers and other printed work around NYC. Today, Pez continues to make stickers and publish photography zines. Pez has exhibited in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Tokyo.
Opening Feb. 2nd at the Noise Pop Up Gallery
Maria brought PEZ and I to a hidden fortress on top of a mountain. It was probably the best part of the trip. We walked for like an hour in each direction in total darkness, through the woods the get to a stone house where we chilled and listened to sick Dub music and smoked cigarettes. I actually got like 20 minutes of sleep there, as well. Honestly, to go there at night like that was something out of a dream.
Read the rest on here.
A new update from PEZ and Joshua Blank on their route to their FIFTY24PDX show on September 2nd via Upper Playground:
After we arrived in Eugene the first place for food we found was called Big Apple supper market in this photo you could see our bikes parked outside. We feasted on 2 dollar sandwiches which where huge, I had pastrami and Pez had turkey and provolone. We met another back packer who told us that we should find a place to stay on couchsurfing.com. However, we decided to start heading north of the city to find a place to camp. With out a map we were spun around and met a nice couple that gave us directions to a campsite and a route with which to begin out journey.
The place we camped was filled with scary looking biker couples and people in RV’s. We set up our small one-person tent and where the only cyclists at that site. Our tent was missing some essential parts but we improvised with branches torn from trees and twigs found on the ground. It was hot, even at night and sleep was less then replenishing. We woke late in the day around 10 and it was already getting hot. We posted some records, and explored the wooded area.
This is Steven Nicolas. He has the worst case of a rare disease, in which his body is filled with lethal neuro toxins. He had lived in San Francisco briefly but could die from touching just about anything. He really likes rock music and claims to have a computer file of it that you could spend your whole life listening to and never hear anything. We tried to give him a zine but he refused to touch it.
We began our journey North in the scorching heat.
The first town we arrived in was called Harrisburg, small towns in the middle of what seemed to be know where. This tattoo “No Worries” belonged to our friend the Phil the Leprechaun. He offered for us to come eat at his house but instead brought us to Harrisburg Skate Park.
Yeeeeeeeee, Skate or Die
This is what the other people in Harrisburg do for fun.
We took 99E north many miles in the scorching heat until we found this nice little bridge to rest under. There is a record there; if you find it and bring it to our show, we will give you a hug.
Our Next rest was in Halsey, because it was just too hot to ride. They are where some hicks dressed all in digital Camo, and milkshakes. There was no bike lane at this point and many trucks on the road. Therefore, we decided to detour east toward I,5.
The heat was killing us, literally, before I,5 we found a nice little creek covered in trees and stopped there for a few hours while the heat dissipated. While there, a biker couple appeared in yellow raft. They where searching for precious stones and petrified wood in the bottom of the lake. They hung out with us for a while and taught us about the stones they where searching for. They also gave us instructions on the best way to get to our next destination, Albany. Reminder there are records in this creek get hugs.
As we arrived in the southern end of Albany we stopped at a friendly truck stop dinner. Tired from riding in the heat and with night on the horizon, we started planning a place to camp. These fantastic hick truckers told us that we should ask a church if we could camp on their property.
This is the church that we stayed at, I walked in and asked the priest if we could stay in our lawn and him and his army of nuns said that they would have no problem with it. We slept as the sun was still going down. In the middle of the night, I awoke to two wild dogs sniffing around us. I yelled and shined my Cell phone light at them and they ran. It was very magical, they where like ghosts in the night.
We awoke as the sun was coming up, and rode in the cool morning light 29 miles to Salem, mostly on the highway. Today the weather is 20% cooler. It was hectic riding on the highway but we where determined to cover some ground. We arrived in south Salem at 10 AM.
Our breakfast at Mc Donald’s consisted of bacon egg and cheese Mc Griddle’s, three hash browns, coffee and coke. This place was a meeting place for old folks who where offended by the way we smelled. This was not your ordinary Mickey Deez.
Salem is weird.
To be continued………
Last night, on a platform in Emeryville, California, Upper Playground said goodbye to PEZ and Joshua Blank as they embarked on a train and bicycle trip to Portland, Oregon, ending in a new “You Can’t Win” show at FIFTY24PDX Gallery opening September 2nd. So the show is going on a tour, with the FIFTY24SF Gallery in SF show coming down tomorrow.
PEZ and Josh are on the train now headed to the south or Oregon, and then on their bikes for the rest of the excursion. (They fly home, hence the “Planes” reference in the title).
If you live in Oregon and want to say hi, get on the side of the road and wave as they bike by… don’t scare them, they are on a mission. Or maybe just said a hello via Facebook?
Stay tuned to UpperPlayground.com for daily updates from the PEZ and Joshua Blank “You Can’t Win” SF to PDX tour…
Photos by Joshua Blank
Baker Beach
The End of the World
7Eleven Hot Dog outside of Mollusk surf shop
Gordo Burrito
The Outer Richmond
The Citrus Report Office
Jason Jaworski
Jason Jaworski, Pez, Amanda, Charlotte, Andrew, Andrew's friend from NYC and Evan
Matt Gonzalez, Evan Pricco, Jason Jaworski
Opening this Friday at FIFTY24SF . . .
See the rest of the Pez and Joshua Blank shots at The Citrus Report... show opens next Friday, August 6.
Joshua Blank is showing with PEZ in the gallery in August. This is one our favorite series from him.
