L.A. – ALL NIGHT AND DAY
We never actually go on long trips when school holidays are in Germany or Switzerland. That’s why we rarely travel during the height of summer and use the time before or after. This year we already knew that we would have a long “dry spell” over the summer and that we wanted to treat ourselves to something unusual and intense in the spring. However, for various reasons we only had a time window of a week. No matter! Everything depends on clever planning and the right people. And where can you experience a lot in a short time? In the City of Angels, of course. After all, our last visit was several years ago and we were both longing for some Cali vibes. The actual travel time wasn’t too long either, as my lovely companion Mrs. K. had found comparatively cheap direct flights. I had already contacted some friends and those who would later become friends in order to arrange one or two dates. Among other things, I’ve always wanted to see the studio and gallery of Kelly Gravel aka RISK ROCK in person. Risk is basically the father of West Coast graffiti and a role model of how to combine hobby, passion, lifestyle and business without prostituting yourself and staying true to your ideals. We’ve been following each other on Instagram for quite a while and I simply wrote to him to ask if there was a possibility for a quick studio visit. The answer came promptly with an invitation to a BBQ on the evening of our arrival. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time for this, so we had to postpone our visit to his property in Thousand Oaks (about 40 minutes outside of LA) by a day. After a quick detour to the skate bowl in Venice Beach, we went straight to RISKY the next day at lunchtime, where RIME from the MSKs had also been settling in his motorhome for a while. Risky turned out to be a super nice homie and showed us around his kingdom with his buddy and employee Nathan. The 3m high RISK tag made of concrete right by the pool is unmistakable. Behind it is the open studio, a metal workshop, a music studio, a printing workshop, a frame factory, lots of palm trees, very nice vehicles, ducks and his Rottweiler (who tries to stop every guest from leaving). We were immediately invited to lunch and then made our way together to the COMPOUND CONTEMPORARY GALLERY – his two-story gallery about 5 minutes from the studio in Thousand Oaks, where we were given a private tour. What an incredible collection of artworks, sculptures, photographs and relics (including a lot of photos from his many collaborations with the Rolling Stones)! And then there’s this bearded man in his mid-fifties who tells one story after another and makes you feel like you’re in a Hollywood documentary. Back in the studio, Rime was already painting a canvas and Risky also started straight away with a new artwork. I briefly had the feeling that it was time to get back on track, but Rime asked directly: Hey Boogie! What about you? Why aren’t you painting? Let’s have a little graffiti jam! Led Zeppelin sound in the background, the smell of incense and paint in the air, wonderful temperatures and a studio like in a dream… I couldn’t just leave now. Especially since my wife confirmed this to me with the words: Don’t be so German and accept this hospitality! Go with the flow! So: let it flow! In retrospect, this was the best decision I could have made, because we actually entered Risky’s universe – inspired by Rime’s art art & philosophy teacher style, we were stuck in Thousand Oaks for three days. In the end, I not only produced a canvas, which was exhibited a few weeks later at a show in Risky’s gallery. No, I was also invited to produce two exclusive prints with COMPOUND EDITIONS. Even the homie Revok came over for a beer on the last day and we had an incredibly good time.
Looking back, these 3 days were so incredibly valuable and inspiring for me that I can only say thank you for being welcomed with such open arms. Above all, I let go of the “pressure” that I sometimes had when working with big names. I not only listened, but was also heard and I felt 100% respected.
2.085 / 5.000
After two nights at SURF RIDERS in Malibu, nature, sun and good food, we went to Koreatown/LA, where the LINE Hotel was waiting for us. The hotel where we had already stayed on our honeymoon and which had really blown us away back then. Unfortunately, the last 10 years have not left this establishment unscathed and it seems that not much has been invested since then. But it was okay for 2 nights, because in the evening I was going to visit my old homie NYCHOS, who had invited me to his studio in DTLA and showed me his hood… located right next to the Freightyard (the depot for freight trains). A walk was therefore unavoidable and we decided to get some iron into the race the next evening. But we were still missing a playmate: my first and probably best friend in Los Angeles Ryan aka YANOE! We have known each other for more than 10 years now, he has been to my place in Switzerland a few times and we have already decorated a few walls in LA together. Ryan lives with his family in Los Feliz – a very pleasant and family-friendly area of Los Angeles. He and his wife insisted on staying with them for a few nights and in retrospect that was an incredibly good decision because we just get along. So it was never boring but also not stressful because everything we did and experienced was just good for the moment. We painted our train (even though the first one was almost finished and suddenly set off and we had to do a second one), NYCHOS invited us on a morning hike in the Hollywood Hills followed by breakfast, showed us South Central, the homie ATLAS from the MSKs organized a wall for us in East Los Angeles and finally we went to the highway again at night because our mutual friend ZOUEH, with whom I had already been to Lima/Peru and who is now heavily involved in the mural business with YANOE, also wanted to do a little action with us.
But there were our friends DABS & MYLA, who were also in LA and who we urgently needed to give a high five to. So: dinner in beautiful Highland Park was arranged and off we went! On the same day, the next message popped up: TRISTAN EATON – graffiti/graphics/street art legend from Los Angeles wrote: “Boogie! Are you in town? Let’s meet at my studio!” Ooooukay! So we quickly dropped by Tris’s to find out that they had only known each other “online” up to that point – but that they seemed to get on incredibly well and that they should definitely do something together on their next visit. With lots of presents and new friends, we decided to take a little break from graffiti and connecting, although I would have loved to meet Casey from THE SEVENTH LETTER, OG SLICK or ESTEVAN ORIOL. But postponed is not cancelled. Logically, my wife and I didn’t let that stop us from going to the museum, exploring some malls, shopping and design hotspots and being a bit of a tourist.
Los Angeles, with all its facets, is always worth a trip!
