Reagan wasn’t working today, so we picked up and visited Piper together. We arrived right around lunch time. So, what better idea than bring Piper to the dining room for lunch? She was getting her little lunch through her G-tube while Reagan, Sam and I had boring normal people food. Above: Sam keeping Piper occupied while Reagan was getting some grub. Below: Reagan teaching Piper about soup.

No lunch is complete without a post-lunch tickle session.

Skip backward a day. Sam trekked all over the island with me yesterday helping me get some art shot. Here are a couple that I snapped of him while we were shooting the Parla exhibit at Wolkowitz, before the opening.

Sam, getting it done–

Yesterday, incidentally was also Sam’s birthday. We sort of a birthday lunch, but after such a busy day, he was a bit too worn out for us to really take him out and abuse him. So, tonight we are going to make merry. Here is a shot of Reagan very intently making him some birthday cookies this afternoon.

Later this weekend, I will announce the exciting results of giveaway numero uno. Have a great weekend!

As promised, here is the first big super exciting giveaway. Instead of attracting more readers, it might actually drive some away. But the purpose is to show some love to those who do read. Incidentally, no one reads blogs on Friday (so says Google analytics). But… for those who do, here is a chance to win your very own Flud turntable watch (featured above). It’s so easy. All you have to do is– 1. watch the video below, which I shot using a Flip cam (so please excuse the camera shake); and, 2. name five of the various artists who’s work appears in the film. Hint: one of them is a perverted photographer who recently did a shoot with a perverted pop singer. Another hint: at least three of the artists’ names (street name, at least) appear in the film. The first one to correctly list 5 names in a comment on this post wins. Go!

Happy Friday!

Sam B. rolls into town tomorrow. Good times will undoubtedly ensue. Incidentally, there are also grips of art shows going on this week. I will be covering nearly all of them for Curated/HS.  So, sorry if you hate visual art. Because, hey, there are going to be some photos of art shows on here for the next few days.

On an entirely different note. I just wanted to say how much I love the readers of JNB. Yeah, all 12 a of ya’ll (did I spell “ya’ll” right, Kelvis?). Even the crazy ones (you know who you are). To show a little bit of that love, I’m going to start doing some giveaways. Basically just whenever I feel like it. I might make up some fake reason or milestone to try to justify it. But in reality it is just that I’m trying to unload some (debatably) cool swag (of which I have amassed shload of in my fake-line of work)(I’ll try to cut down on the parentheticals in the rest of this post, I promise). Winning it might entail some sort of lame contest that I invent.

As a matter of fact, I have already come up with a contest, as I was typing the stuff above.  I guess that I should announce the goods up for grabs, first. The item that will first be given away via Jake’s New Blog is none other than a Flud Turntable watch. Peep the images below of the actual watch that will be given away:

from a slightly different angle–

These images are just to whet the appetites of those possible 4 of the 12 JNB  readers who might be interested. The contest won’t actually start until probably sometime next week. The awesome thing about blogging for free is that there are no rules…. ever. But here is some insider information on what the contest will entail. I recently did a video for Curated and PF Flyers in which we featured various pieces of street art around the city. The contest will be something like “who will be the first person to name 5 artists whose works appear in the vid.” So– if you are perving on that turntable watch for your aspiring rapper boyfriend/husband (because let’s be honest mostly girls read this page), or even possibly for yourself, study up on your art. At least two of the artists have been heavily featured on JNB. Spoiler alert, one of them is not Banksy.

So, yeah. There is all of that. This might get embarrassing when I actually start the contest. But until then, happy hump day.

[top img: Curated, Juxtapoz, Highsnobiety]

It has been a rough couple of days, following the holiday. I have been stuck at the office basically non-stop since then. I did, however, take the opportunity to stop off at Houston St. on the way home last night and snap a couple of shots of the new Kenny Scharf mural going up.

Also, my college football team beat its biggest rival by one point (I watched the whole thing in a conference room peeking over my monitor at the screen).

I was able to breakout on Saturday night in time to go to dinner with Reagan, and have a late night hangout session with some friends. Today, I’m back in the office.  I’m hoping to get out of here before it gets late, though.

Here is one additional look at the mural (which I will continue to snap updates of [something to stay on the edge of your seat about, hehe])

The photo above is a bit anachronistic, if I were to order things according to the title of this post. But I really, really like it. So there it is (at the top). Friday night, I was running around like crazy person trying to get some stuff shot before galleries closed, etc.. The last thing I shot before getting the weekend started on Friday night, was an installation by the UK based artist Hush. He did a few outdoor pieces in LES, in connection with the pop-up exhibit that opened Friday night. The shot below is one of them.

The exhibit itself was in this seriously cool old church. The way that they had it lit, meshed perfectly with Hush’s work (below).

Now, for the coolest part. I was talking to the PR guy as I was about to leave. Asking him about prices, prints, etc.., when he mentioned that Hush had created 30 miniature works, to give out at the reception. So, look who came out of there with #1. Woot!

Saturday, I was able to escape the clutches of the office and instead spend the day gallivanting around Brooklyn. Factory Fresh had a huge block party next to the gallery. There were several artists working on 200 ft. section of wall. I wish that I could have stayed all evening, to watch it unfold. It was super cool.

I think that my favorite shots from the afternoon, are the ones that I got from the roof. There are plenty more images on Curated, if you want to take a look.

After having such a great Saturday, I am stuck in the office all day, today. Ah well. It’s about give and take.

And I’m about to get busier.

Things have really picked up at my real job, which is awesome. The only down side is that I have had to hustle like crazy to fit in my fake jobs. Some cool stuff that I have shot this week, starting at the top: Tara Machperson at the Jonathan Levine Gallery.  I really dig her stuff. Wednesday night, I shot a brand called Deux Ex Machina from AU. They are just starting to foray into the US market and had a sort of pop-up display at Saturdays surf shop on Crosby (images below). They do everything from surfboards to custom cafe racer moto. How do I get job working for them?

I have some other cool stuff lined up for the rest of the week.  Here are some highlights:

• My sister Sarah arrives on Friday night.
• Two of my cousins are in town for the weekend.
• NYC Marathon (technically next week)

I had myself a pretty busy little evening, last night. But it ended up being well worth hiking all over the island in the rain. First stop was Chelsea, to shoot El Mac working on his mural for his solo exhibit “The Humble and Sublime,” which opened at the Joshua Liner Gallery last night. I have been a fan of Mac’s work since I discovered it. Now that I have seen it in person, and had a chance to chat with him, I like it even more. More on the show, over here.

Above:  detail from one of the pieces on exhibit.

I thought it was pretty awesome that Mac kept the paint in an ice chest.

The piece below is probably my favorite one at the show. It still blows my mind, what awesome handstyle Mac has, to be able to create all of those minute geometric patterns, the way he does.

Next, I headed back to the FiDi to cover a show at Cipriani. This was the first time I had ever been in this building. It is located on Wall St. The venue has 100 ft. ceilings. Hennessy is doing some sort of traveling art/music thing with Q-Tip and the Roots, and NYC was their last stop.

D-Nice was the DJ.

^—The Roots

^—Tip

^–D-Nice

More, over here.

We have plenty of other good stuff planned for the weekend, besides packing for our road trip to TN. We are going to try to do our family pics this weekend (if we don’t get rained out). Have an awesome weekend!

Reagan and I went to the closing party for the RE:Form School Exhibit last night at the St. Patrick’s School in SoHo. It was a very cool project, meant to raise money and awareness for art programs in public schools. In addition to featuring pieces created by students around the country, some heavy hitting contemporary artists donated work. The mural above was done by Andrew W.K.. Shepard Fairey and Swoon also contributed work.

Positive messages were quite literally in every room of the exhibit.

I love the shot below of Reagan scratching a mosquito bite on her ankle.

I also thought that it was cool, that Reagan was repping Highsnob, with her tote.

We both really liked this neon piece, in the stair well.

Reagan left a bit early. I wanted to stick around and watch ?uestlove perform outside in the courtyard. But, then this happened. So, I just waited for a lull and made a break for it. Luckily I made it home without getting drenched or concussed.

More exhibit photos/info: over here, and here.

I’m starting to get the jitters, big time for the race on Saturday. So, to distract myself, I thought that I would post a couple of photos of our new apartment. Yeah, we were tired of the walk up and all of our old crappy furniture, so we moved into this place. Psyche! These images are some that I did recently for Curatedmag, of the new items at BoConcept. I love pretty much everything in that store, and not just because I have Danish roots! I didn’t spend as much time as I normally do, squaring up the shots and pulling out lens distortion. But, you get the idea.

One more–

Other cool stuff that I saw on the webz today:

–What it is like to be hit by a speeding car, and live.

–Last week, I mentioned the El Mac exhibit that will be at the Joshua Liner Gallery later this month. Well, El Mac issued a teaser video, that actually shows him working on a piece. Very, very cool.

For the weekend:

Friday: We will be heading out pretty early for a long visit with Piper, on the way to Hartford. The way things ended up shaking out, some of my cousins (the ones who are also running the race on Saturday) are currently in NYC. So, they will be coming to meet Piper and riding to CT with us. I’m pretty excited about it for various reasons. I haven’t seen these cousins for several years, and it is always exciting when Piper has a chance to meet a blood relative.

Saturday: Race hard. Try not to be disappointed with the results. Visit PJ. Drive home. Rest.

Sunday: Picking apples in the country?

In May, Shepard Fairey worked with 100 kids from the CityKids Foundation put together a wheat paste mural that was installed earlier this week in WFC (which happens to be the compound that I work in) So I stopped by and snapped some images for Cutratedmag.

If you have a sec, this short video is pretty cool, too. In it, Fairey explains his motivation behind doing the project with the kids, and invokes Keith Haring.