Harmony and Dissonance

A Twelve Year Journey

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:54:00 +0000

For a few months in the winter/spring of 2000, I lived in the house my Grandfather built in Milwaukee. There in the basement, kept warm by a wood stove, I painted a portrait of jazz legend Curtis Counce. Fast-forward to 2011 - while living in Argentina, I sold the piece to a patron visiting from L.A. and agreed to deliver it when we moved back to the U.S. Today , in my art studio in L.A., 12 years after it's creation, I am putting a final varnish coat on it in preparation for delivery. When painting "Curtis" over a decade ago I never would have guessed the journey he and I would have to go on before we found his home.

Currently Listening To:
Song: Headlong Into The Abyss
Artist: We Are Augustines (official site)

Headlong Into the Abyss by We Are Augustines on Grooveshark

Danko Video 13 (HD) | "Funkyland" | Music by K.Flay

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:53:00 +0000

(having trouble viewing the above video? go here)
Relax. Breathe. Fast-foward.

MUSIC IN THE VIDEO

Artist: K.Flay
Album: K.Flay EP
Song: No Duh

The song in the video comes from the mad lyrical skills of K.Flay, off her self-titled EP. You can download her latest greatest EP Eyes Shut from her site here. Do it to it!

More K.Flay news and goodness can be found online at the following places:
kflay.com
facebook
twitter

ART IN THE VIDEO
Funkyland (click image to enlarge)
Converse opened a new flagship retail store on the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica. Behind the cashstand is an 11ft x 16ft wall where every six months they will feature a new L.A. artist. I was selected to be the featured artist for the grand opening of the store and this is the mural I brought to life.

The Converse Mural | "Funkyland"

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:37:00 +0000

The Orange Gorilla, the mohawk, and me, have been quiet the last few months as we transitioned to living back home in the United States after three and half years of meandering around South America. Rest assured though, that during this recent span of radio silence we've been busy here in L.A. setting up the new Gorilla Studio while simultaneously conspiring when and how to UNLEASH the Orange Beast back on the home front.

As it turns out "when" is now and "how" is the 11'x16' mural I did for the grand opening of the new Converse retail store on the 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica. Check it out!

We're back, and it's good to be home...bringing the funk.

(Having trouble viewing the images? They can also be seen on flickr here.)

Funkyland (click image to enlarge)

Signed with the Chucks I paint in

Day 5 - Yeah, so we're gonna need you to come in Saturday to finish those TPS reports and add another 5 inches to the bottom of the mural.

Captain of the Scissor Lift

A blank canvas

Reacclimating After Three Years Abroad

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 01:35:00 +0000

It's been two weeks and I still catch myself at random moments, like in line at the grocery store, being blown away by the fact that I'm actually living in the States again. Forty months was a long stretch to be away from friends, family and the culture that resonates subconsciously in my bones, and now suddenly it's done. After learning how to numb the distance, it's been invigorating to not have to anymore. I guess maybe that's part of what they call culture shock. It's ~~good~~ f@#%ing awesome to be home.

Right now our actual home is an old warehouse building turned into loft spaces in the Arts District of downtown L.A., near Little Tokyo. I've gotten used to living out of my suitcases, which is a good thing since the cargo ship carrying the rest of our stuff won't arrive here until some time in November. Being forced to live minimally has been a good reminder that there's a lot of crap I don't really need (except for my books and art supplies. Missing that stuff for sure).

Re-immersing back into U.S. culture has been a trip. Little things blow my mind. Giant stores like Ralphs and Target that carry anything and everything. Cars yielding to pedestrians. Everyone speaking English. Then there's the food. After friends and family, food has definitely been one of the highlights since returning from the land of beef, especially since I'm not much of a beef eater. Mexican food. Sushi. Vietnamese. Thai. New York style pizza. Did I say it's good to be home?

One of the biggest adjustments since returning, besides going from spring to fall and losing a summer, has been transportation. Annie and I made the decision to get bikes and Metro passes, and roll car-free. Mass transit in Buenos Aires is cheap and extensive, and we had gotten used to living in the city without a car. In L.A. it's definitely more of a challenge, and I admit being skeptical of it working at first, but not only does it seem totally doable living and working downtown or near the Metro lines, it's been the bomb to be out shredding a city on two wheels again.

So yeah, after two weeks, I'm still definitely dealing with some culture shock, but the only really byproducts of it have been giant grins and an occasional dance when no one's looking, so I'm not really sweating it too much right now.

Above: One of my favorite moments since being back was Day 10. Battled city buses across L.A. just so I could touch the Pacific and tell her I made it home.

Currently Listening To:

Song: Home
Artist: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros (official site)

Currently Reading:
Rant: The Oral Biography of Buster Casey
by Chuck Palahniuk

Homeward Bound

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:09:00 +0000

After three and a half years my time in Argentina is drawing to a close. In less than 48 hours I'll hop on a plane bound for the States. Bound for home.

It's been a wild crazy ride down here, full of ups and downs, like any good adventure should be. I would attempt to put what this all means into context for you now, but the truth is I still haven't been able to get my own mind wrapped around it. What I can say is that while one adventure is ending, a new one is about to begin. The Orange Gorilla, the mohawk, and I are bound for Los Angeles, where we'll continue our unending quest for world domination, and making cool stuff (not necessarily in that order).

Until then, I leave you with the last 4 things I made while living in Buenos Aires.

TO BE CONTINUED

20" x 34" (52cm x 86cm) | oil & acrylic on wood panel

BACK OF SUBWAY PASS #22

pen & pencil on subway pass

PHOTO: "One Day. 12 Trains"

I spent a day riding every line in the Argentine subway system. Check out the entire blog post here.

SUBWAY RIDER: THE LAST STOP

sketchbook | pen & pencil

Currently Listening To:
Song: The Last Goodbye (listen)
Artist: The Kills (official site)

The Buenos Aires Subway

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:12:00 +0000

Above: The entrances to the beginning and end of each line.

On a quiet Sunday morning, a day when the subway stations are relatively empty, I rode underneath the city for nearly 7 hours traversing the six lines of the oldest subway in the southern hemisphere from start to finish.

It is possible to do this on one ticket, which costs only one peso (U$S 25 cents), however I wanted to document the experience, so I exited each station at the beginning and end of each line and photographed the above ground entrance. Even after having to re-enter the system twelve times the whole trip still cost less than 20 pesos (U$S 5 dollars).

If you asked me why I did it I don't know that I could give you a definitive answer. Early in the experience, after realizing it would take much longer than expected, I wondered myself wtf I was doing. However once I stopped trying to rationalize the experience through the lens of a typical subway rider my time spent wandering subterraneously in the city that's been my home for the past three and half years started to make more sense. I wasn't aimlessly riding the train to "nowhere". I was taking it "everywhere".

Above: The doors of the 12 trains I road traversing the 6 lines start to finish.

Above: The "A" Line train.

Above: The wooden doors of the "A" Line train.

Click on map to enlarge.

Currently Listening To:

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://music.absofacto.com/track/nobody-on-the-subway"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Nobody on the Subway by Absofacto&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Remember Studio Alamo

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:03:00 +0000

It's my last day renting a room above a bar in Buenos Aires as my art studio. The room sits empty today, void of easels and brushes, looking more like its previous incarnation of a dry-humped old hostel room.

I suppose the art I created here will be my biggest takeaway from my 14 months in the space, although being above one of the city's popular (excessive) drinking holes definitely added a twist of lime and spritz of seltzer to my time here that I won't soon forget. Like the mornings when I'd cut through the bottom floors and was able to tell how crazy the previous night's clientele were by the degree to which my shoes stuck to the floor. Of course I won't miss the other days when a smell of barf hung in the air just a little too long, but thankfully that phenomenon was infrequent enough that other aspects of the experience like a presumably strengthened immune system or ability to sit at a bar "where everybody knows your name" easily canceled it out.

Above: Left behind on the windowsill

In the end the irony of it all makes me grin. The Gorilla and I made our final stand in Buenos Aires at an American owned bar called The Alamo. Thankfully though, unlike Davy Crockett and his comrades, in this demented version of the tale Jimmy and his Ape Army are able to survive the battle and have their deranged adventures continue on as they head back north across the equator pillaging and plundering towns and villages and leaving the Orange Gorilla in their wake. Or at least something like that. The ending is still a work in progress.

Above: Gorilla Sticker Sighting #158 - "Pillaging & Plundering"

Currently Listening To:
Song: The Great Escape (listen)
Artist: Patrick Watson (official site)

Cheesy Radioactive Crack

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:51:00 +0000

Recently I was gifted a packet of gigantic smile-producing Kraft Macaroni & Cheese mix from my friend Ryan. Now, I should say that if I was home in the States, even though I grew up on it and it sustained me through college (the spirals are my fave), it's highly unlikely that I would buy a box of processed mac & cheese at the store, and this little white packet would be as weird a gift as the yellow-orangish, powdery contents that are within it.

However here in Argentina, coming across this cheesy packet reminds me of the scene in the post-apocalyptic movie The Road where father and son wayfarers come across something neither had seen in years - a can of Coke. Instead of stumbling upon a can of carbonated sugar water, it was like they had discovered a coveted magic elixir that was to be cherished.

It was similar when I mixed my pot of noodles today with this rare and elusive Kraft Mac & Cheese mix bestowed upon me from Ryan. My friend didn't give me a packet of unnatural powder that makes noodles a frightening radioactive orange color. Instead he gave me a packet of "awesome" which made my noodles into cheesy euphoric crack that momentarily brought me home. And that is quite a gift.

Currently Listening To:
Song: Hometown Fantasy (listen)
Artist: The Wooden Birds (official site)

New Gorilla Stickers!

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:54:00 +0000

The new Danko Gorilla Stickers are officially here and making their way around the world! The original Gorilla Sticker first rolled off the press and began wondering the globe in 2003. After 8 years I figured it was time to give the orange guy a new face. (You can read the entire story behind the Danko Gorilla Sticker here.)

Click on the "G's" to see individual Gorilla Sticker pics.

View the Gorilla Sticker World Map on its own page.

View the entire album of Gorilla Sticker pics.

Below: The painting that inspired the new design.

Danko Gorilla Stickers are printed by Sticker Guy. Big props to the crew over there for always doing a kickass job on The Beast.

Currently Listening To:
Song: Man Must Dance (listen)
Artist: Johnossi (official site)

The Mohawk's First Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:17:00 +0000

My Mohawk turned a year old the other day.
These are 10 things I've learned in that year.

1. Even though it seems totally obvious, it took me a month to remember that after getting out of the shower it's easier if I put my shirt on first before styling it.

2. Like cat whiskers, it's kept me from banging my head on low-hanging door frames more than once.

3. The only hair gel I've found in Argentina that works is appropriately named "L'Oréal Studio Indestructible".

4. Old guys seem more scared of it than old ladies.

5. It does not fit well in the backseat of most taxi cabs in Buenos Aires.

6. It does not help keep my head warm during the winter.

7. It's name is Apollo Creed. (no legitimate reasoning behind that. It just feels right.)

8. After a year, Apollo's shadow still makes me laugh when I randomly see it on the wall next to me.

9. It helps to have a best friend who's a rockstar at trimming it.

10. For the first time in my life I blow dry my hair...and I'm ok with that.

Currently Listening To:
Song: On The Other Side (listen)
Artist: The Strokes (official site)

Currently Reading:
The Places In Between
by Rory Stewart

The Beginning of the End

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:47:00 +0000

Today marks the three year anniversary of moving to Argentina. When we left the United States we had no idea when, or even if, we would return. Not because we didn't love or appreciate the place we came from, but because when we left we didn't want to put any limits on what the adventure we were setting out on could be. However, our "indefinite" time in South America is now drawing to a close. After three years of living in opposite seasons in the southern hemisphere, in this big crazy amazing city, some time in the next two months we'll be headed back north on a one way trip bound for Los Angeles.

As it works out, this anniversary marks the beginning of our final chapter of living in Buenos Aires. Last week Gallery 24B (our apartment), and the artwork within it, saw its last visitors, and before the weekend was over a sea of corrugation had slowly started to spread through the apartment as packing and preparations began for the impending international move.

As we see friends now, some for the last time, they ask if I'm excited to be moving back. My usual response is usually "shit yeah". I can't wait to stuff my face with some New York style pizza, or hang with my family for the holidays (hasn't happened since 2007), however, I'm trying not to let my mind go there quite yet. The time for that will come soon enough. Instead I just try to stay in the moment, and keep taking in the experience of living in a foreign land as long as I can - my last few moments of being an immigrant...at least for now.

Above: Sunrise over Buenos Aires this morning.

Currently Listening To:
Song: The Last Goodbye (listen)
Artist: The Kills (official site)

Currently Reading:
The Places In Between
by Rory Stewart

DANKO Video 012 | Skatepark Yeti | Music by Say Hi

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:29:00 +0000

(having trouble viewing the above video? go here)

One of my copilots is a yeti.

MUSIC IN THE VIDEO

ARTIST: Say Hi
ALBUM: Discosadness
SONG: Unless the Laker Game Was On

The song in Skatepark Yeti comes from the one-man band Say Hi (formerly Say Hi To Your Mom). While you might see Say Hi touring as a full band, when its time to make the music the man behind it all is Eric Elbogen. The song "Unless the Laker Game Was On" is a hidden gem off of his 2002 debut album Discosadness. What has Eric been doing since that first album? Staying busy making fantastical tunes. Say Hi just released it's 8th album - Um, Oh Oh. Check out one of his latest tracks, "Devils", here. You can get the latest Eric Elbogen and Say Hi news and goodness online at the following places:
ilikesayhi.com
facebook
twitter

ART IN THE VIDEO

Click images to enlarge.

The image above used for reference comes from the lens of the talented photographer Eric Sauseda. I'm a huge fan of Eric's work, particularly his when it comes to skateboarding and music, so I feel fortunate to have collaborated with him on this piece. You can check out more of Eric's photographic awesomeness at Groovehouse Photography or catch him on twitter at @groovehouse.

Currently Listening To:
Song: Devils (listen)
Artist: Say Hi (official site)

Currently Reading:
The Places In Between
by Rory Stewart

Iguazu Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:32:00 +0000

Double-decker red-eye bus ride.
An 18 hour pilgrimage North,
out of the cold gray city,
to see "the falls" under moonlight.
We roll into the highway night
with mysterious styrofoam bus food.
Headlights and sleep strobe by.
We wake up warmer.
Closer to the equator.
The roads are reddish brown.
Everything else is green.
Jungle green.

For the entire 3 years we've been living in Buenos Aires, we've been talking about making a trip to the Iguazu Falls which lie on the border of Argentina and Brazil. It's one of those must do things if you're down here for more than a week. With our time in Argentina drawing to a close, we figured we better get off our asses (then get back on them for an 18 hour bus ride) and check this one off the "bucket list". We planned our jaunt out of the city around the full moon. Seeing the falls during the day is an experience by itself, however, we heard seeing them at night, lit only by the moon, was insane. And it was.

Above: Devil's Throat...the biggest, craziest part of the falls.

Above: Devil's Throat under the full moon. I took two long exposure shots to make the panorama. The lights on the other side come from the Brazilian side of the falls.

Gorilla Sticker Sighting #0134 - Devil's Throat - Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Currently Listening To:
Song: Black Leaf Falls (listen)
Artist: Sea Wolf (official site)

Currently Reading:
The Places In Between
by Rory Stewart

The Complete South African Sketchbook

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:28:00 +0000

Spent a month traveling through South Africa. This is the sketchbook from the trip.

(Having trouble viewing the images? They can also be seen here.)

The Complete South African Sketchbook

Before

Front & Back Cover

Currently Listening To:
Song: The Lobster Quadrille (listen)
Artist: Franz Ferdinand (official website)

Currently Reading:
The Places In Between
by Rory Stewart

Wild Coast to Durban

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 09:49:00 +0000

Road Trip Log Thursday April 14th, 2011
Jeffreys Bay departure.
Back cruising on the N2.
Petrol stop in Port Elizabeth.
Caffeine stop in Grahamstown.
Then north into the country side.
Mountain bound on Route 67.
Past waterproof shepherds.
Into the wet green altitude,
into Tolkien's playground.
The original "Middle Earth".
Hogsback, South Africa.
Couch surfing on the bluff.
Up in impenetrable fog clouds.
Damp to the bone.
Warm fire refuge with new friends.
Libations and storytelling until shut-eye.
Morning waterfall hiking.
Lunch and whisky at a 125 year old tavern.
Half-day of nothing.
Then back on the road,
towards the coast.
The Wild Coast.
Dodging hitchhikers and cattle,
goats and potholes.
And more potholes.
And always hitchhikers.
To Coffee Bay and the rolling Indian Ocean.
$4 beach hostel fish n' chip dinner.
Way off the grid.
Trading rolling papers for a fragment of internet.
Midnight drum circle.
Fade to black.
Breakfast in the car.
8 hours to Durban.
In the rain.
All day.
Kokstok petrol...Westside!
Rolling into civilization.
Rental car return.
Durban without bust.

Sketch - Cape Town to Durban

Madonna & Child Waterfall - Hogsback, South Africa

Road to Coffee Bay #1

Road to Coffee Bay #2

"Westside" - Kokstad, South Africa. Ronnie, Mzingisi & Mlungisi at a petrol stop in Kokstad, South Africa. You can't pump your own gas in South Africa so sometimes I got to know the guys doing it for me.

Umhlanga Pier - Durban, South Africa

Gorilla Sticker Sighting #0080 - Location: Umhlanga Beach - Durban, South Africa

Sketch - Umhlanga Pier

Currently Listening To:
Song: How We Roll (listen)
Artist: Plushgun (myspace)

Currently Reading:
The Places In Between
by Rory Stewart

Till There Is No More South

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 08:28:00 +0000

Road Trip Log: Tuesday - April 12th, 2011
Rental car in Cape Town.
Driving for the first time in a year,
on the opposite side of the road.
To Cape Agulhas or bust.
The most southern point in Africa.
Arrived mid-day.
Climbed the lighthouse,
and peered out at the surf
where the Atlantic and Indian meet.
Refueled in the tiny town on calamari and chips.
Then back to highway N2.
Through rolling farmland,
and road trip oddities.
Past the town of George,
And into a foggy, dicey driving night.
Ghosting our way into Sedgefield gas station,
where we met a rad facebook friend...
for the first time in person.
Followed her old VW beetle for 10k
down a secluded mountain road
to a cabin in the woods.
Boonies.
Eerie pitch black night.
But safe.
Rest day in Knysna,
and then back on the road.
To Monkeyland primate sanctuary.
My peeps.
Then the suspension-bridge cliffs of Storms River.
End stop - a hostel in Jeffreys Bay.
Our first night not coach surfing.
Can hear baboons howling,
and oceans waves rolling in.
Salty ocean air (smells like home).

Driving for the first time in a year. On the opposite side of the road. In Africa.

Road Trip Oddities

Cape Agulhas Lighthouse

Annie atop the lighthouse

Standing against the southern cape wind

Where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet

Storms River suspension bridge

Gorilla Sticker Sighting #0079 - Supertubes

Currently Listening To:
Song: Wandering Around (listen)
Artist: Coconut Records (myspace)

Currently Reading:
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

Cape of Good Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:39:00 +0000

Couch surf.
Weet-Bix for breakfast.
Coastal day trip.
South.
Past the ostriches.
Till there is no more South.
To the end of Africa.
To baboonville.
Along towering cliffs,
and WWII bunkers.
Up the stairs to the old lighthouse,
and international stone signatures.
Crashing waves below.
Cape Point.
Cape of Good Hope.

The cliffs at Cape Point

Wild ostriches at the Cape of Good Hope

Gorilla Sticker Sighting 0078 - Cape Point Lookout

Cape Point Lighthouse

Currently Listening To:
Song: Thistle & Weeds (listen)
Artist: Mumford & Sons (official website)

Currently Reading:
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

South Africa - Arrival and Roadtrip

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:03:00 +0000

On a spur of the moment trip Annie and I find ourselves in South Africa for a month. Being our first time in Africa, it feels kind of surreal. Two weeks ago going to Africa was not even on our radar. However after hearing that the flight from Buenos Aires to Johannesburg was only 9 hours and relatively inexpensive compared to other international travel, and the fact that we'd be able to stay with friends part of the trip and Couch Surf the rest, we determined South Africa was something we could make happen on our travel budget. So we went for it, and two days later we found ourselves here.

After flying into Johannesburg we scored a free ride to Cape Town via our friends Jonathan and Wendy. The catch - all we had to do was keep Jonathan's 19 year old daughter Michelle company on her first big cross-country roadtrip back to college. Deal.

Packed to the brim in her tiny Rav4, we zipped southwest across the interior of South Africa. Other than it holding wildlife like baboons, monkeys and other crazy four-legged things I don't even know the name of, the landscape we passed was not much different than that of the south western United States - expansive and desolate.

After covering roughly 750 miles (1200 km) and thoroughly sampling the fast food of South African freeway stops, we found ourselves pulling into the stunning mountains of Cape Town just before dusk on the second day. And so begins our week (maybe more) at the Cape.

a new sketchbook begins...

we past miles of sunflower fields

Currently Listening To:
Song: Bottom of the World (listen)
Artist: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton (official website)

Currently Reading:
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

Day 1000

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 06:23:00 +0000

Today is day number 1000 since moving away from the U.S., from home, to experience living abroad and seeing the world from another perspective. To tell the truth I didn't expect there to be a Day 1000. I thought we would have made it home by now. And I for sure didn't expect the one thousandth day to be Day #1 of a road trip through South Africa, but if I've learned anything throughout all of these days about living abroad it's that life is unpredictable and you never know what any 24 hour period is going to bring, pleasant or otherwise.

I've learned to more quickly adapt to life without. The internet not working. A subway line shutdown. Soy milk out of stock at the grocery store (for 2 months). Or, like last week, the power going out and getting stuck in a pitch black elevator for 15 minutes (felt like an hour) 14 floors up (thought I was going to die). While living in Argentina I've learned I can rely on myself, my partner and my friends here, and that's about it. On the flip side I've also learned that with that uncertainty there are bright moments that unexpectedly surface as well. An email from a stranger who saw the Gorilla Sticker and wants to buy a painting. Or after not leaving the city limits of Buenos Aires for literally a year I suddenly find myself in South Africa for a month.

How long past 1000 days will our sojourn in South America go? I have no idea. Right now my only goal is to make it to Cape Town in one piece sometime tomorrow. What I do know is that I miss home (the States, friends and family) a ton, and if the stars were aligned for it I'd move home right now. Time has yet to deal that card however, and until it does I'm just going to keep trying to take it all in, and keep soldiering on with my art and the Orange Gorilla.

my first glimpse of Africa

Currently Listening To:
Song: Bicycle vs. Car (listen)
Artist: Bob Schneider (official website)

Currently Reading:
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

Subway Pass Commissions

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 19:28:00 +0000

For over a year now I've been sporadically doing drawings on the backs of Argentine Subway passes. Sometimes they're of people I see, other times they're based off of images I find, and some I just make up. A few weeks ago a fellow artist, welder Josh Welton, commissioned me to do the above passes. You can check out the entire gallery of Subway Pass drawings here.

To get your own custom Subway Pass, or to purchase existing passes contact me at jimmy@jimmydanko.com and we'll make it happen.

You can check out Josh's work at browndogwelding.com.

Currently Listening To:
Song: I Like the Way This Is Going (listen)
Artist: Eels (official website)

Currently Reading:
When I Grow Up
by Juliana Hatfield

A Face From Home

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:06:00 +0000

There's a knock at the door.
It's an old school friend.
A face from home,
laden with giant pack and sketchbook in hand.
Smiles and beer pour.
A couch is made crashable.
The weary ocean crosser rests.
In the morning we conspire.
Then attack. The city.
By wooden subway train.
To a barbers straight-edged dance,
then back down the line,
to eat steak sandwiches with garbage men,
and climb cranes with falcons.
Gary Coleman briefly rears his head,
as British cannon fodder floats above.
We launch paper airplanes at the sun
and send Gorillas over the fence.
A 50ft naked woman briefly distracts us,
and by dusk marching band guards are closing in.
We flee to the other side of town.
Into night by taxi,
to rainy cobbled streets
and half empty bars,
where years of tales are told and unfold.
His stay ends at sunrise,
when he heads out again.
And then, like an unfinished movie,
the city holds one less.
One less face from home.

above photo by A. Wicklund

Currently Listening To:
Song: Swang On 'Em feat. Lupe Fiasco (listen)
Artist: Bun B (myspace)

Currently Reading:
When I Grow Up
by Juliana Hatfield

Richie + Margot

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:49:00 +0000

I went for a walk on Valentine's Day...with a can paint in my hand and the Tenenbaums in my head.

From the Archives

My previous walks with gorillas and ghosts.

Currently Listening To:
Song: Needle In the Hay (listen)
Artist: Elliott Smith (website)

Currently Reading:
When I Grow Up
by Juliana Hatfield

Chacarita Cemetery Re-re-visited

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:05:00 +0000

Check out the entire collection of Chacarita Cemetery photographs.

Since first stumbling across the abandoned mausoleum over a year ago, Chacarita Cemetery has become a place I've taken people to visit more than anywhere else in Buenos Aires. Sure, when it comes to cemeteries Recoleta is the one that stands as the famed tourist destination here, however, given the choice I'd choose the former every time.

Chacarita Cemetery is 14 times as big as Recoleta Cemetery, and definitely more surreal. Covering 175 acres, it houses not only the remains of some of the who's who in Argentine history, but also the majority of the victims of the 1871 yellow fever epidemic. Similar to Recoleta Cemetery, Chacarita has a plenitude of grandiose, above-ground vaults, however, it is the rest the necropolis that sets it apart. There are thousands of traditionally marked graves covering the expansive walled in grounds. Where it really starts to get surreal though is if you stroll down into the three stories of underground, networked hallways. Like an campus library, each hallway is lined with hundreds of vaults from floor to ceiling. Intermittently amongst the hallways are open-air courtyards that let in the sun and the elements (see Google Map below). On warmer days, the dank concrete corridors give way to a penetrating smell of old death.

The freakiest part of the cemetery though, lies near the Northwest corner. Hidden behind a 20ft wall of outdoor vaults, sits an old abandoned mausoleum in disarray. Grave robbers, bone collectors and its general state of disrepair have made it off limits to visitors, somehow though we've always manage to sneak over and wonder amongst the splintered coffins and broken marble vault covers. The mausoleum is basically a giant birdhouse, and when you move in and around it, there is rarely a moment when your not scaring pigeons out from empty vaults or the buttresses above. The freakiest experience of my life was probably when my friend Nate and I first climbed down the stairs to the explore the lower level. It is lit only by the light that makes it though the small glassless windows at the ground level of the structure, and as evidenced by the volume of droppings, it is where most of the birds reside. Nearly every vault below is missing its marble door, although unlike above, the contents are scattered about everywhere. A year ago it was easy to find skulls, femurs, or whatever, scattered up and down the long dark hallway. During our recent visit though, it was much more difficult a task to find any kind of bones amongst the debris. This baffled me until I read about how the cemetery has become an increasingly popular source for medical students in the city to acquire bones for their studies.

If you are in Buenos Aires and haven't been to Chacarita Cemetery yet, I definitely recommend checking it out. Hours and information can be found online here. (map below)

View Larger Map

Currently Listening To:
Song: Song for the Dead (listen)
Artist: Sea Wolf (official website)

DANK Video 011 | Station Wagon Spaceship | Music by JOE PURDY

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 15:33:00 +0000

(having trouble viewing the above video? go here)

When I was little, my spaceship was a broke down 1976 Ford station wagon...

MUSIC IN THE VIDEO

ARTIST: Joe Purdy
ALBUM: This American
SONG: Ride Off On A Cloud

For years I've been listening to the music of singer/songwriter Joe Purdy. In those quiet moments while driving home from work or while making the brushes dance in the studio, his lyrical stories and tunes found a way of pulling me in. This last drawing of mine, Station Wagon Spaceship, revolves around a story, so I was stoked when Joe said I could use his song for the video.

By choice Joe's records are self-released, and what he's been able to accomplish as an independent musician speaks to the quality of his craft. The song in the video, "Ride Off On A Cloud", is off of Joe Purdy's latest album This American. The entire album, including that song, can be downloaded for free on his site through the end 2010. Check it out. Get the latest Joe Purdy news and goodness online at the following places:
http://joepurdy.com/
http://www.myspace.com/joepurdy
http://twitter.com/joepurdy

ART IN THE VIDEO

Currently Listening To:
Song: Outlaws (listen)
Artist: Joe Purdy (get it)

A New Gorilla...a New Stencil

noreply@blogger.com (Jimmy Danko) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:55:00 +0000

A few months ago I came up with a new design for the Gorilla Stickers. After almost 8 years it was time for the hairy beast to evolve a bit. I first released this new ape via a couple of paintings (see below), and then recently the stencil version was let loose in the city.

Keep an eye out in 2011...it's only a matter of time before the new Gorilla Stickers, T-shirts, etc...start showing their face too.

Read the story behind the original Gorilla Sticker here.

Currently Listening To:
Song: New Dance (listen)
Artist: DEERPEOPLE (get it)