updaterey!
too long without an update!
as i may have mentioned, the country music activity book is out! huzzah! like all my books, available on www.amazon.com, just search aye jay.
also, please check out my son Cohen’s book. We are super duper proud of it, and it features his artistic collaborations with hundreds of amazing artists like Shepard Fairey, Aaron Horkey, Kaws, Barry Mcgee and Mark Gonzales!
Also, Burlesque design released a print by Tyler Stout and Cohen that was done for the cover of Cohen’s book!
Big-badass Todd Bratrud mailed me this phooto from the Santa Cruz werehouse of a bunch of the Creature skateboard i designed! thanks again Lee!
I was emailed this photo of Mark and Gerald of Devo art-ing the Devo page from my Punk Rock Fun Time Activity Book!
Heres an ad for the Crytozoology wheel series i designed for Momentum wheels! Haslam is a badass! Thanks again to Pommier, Jim and K.Harris!
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Shirts and Destroy on several more things! heres the new shirts and the old one too! only $15! www.shirtsanddestroy.com/ayejay
Was really really stoked to do an article for the amazing skateboard magazine COLOR! Even cooler, i was able to pay tribute to the artists that made me want to draw skateboards! Huge thanks to Phillips, VCJ, Mckee, Bratrud and Pushead for all the inspiration! Also huge thanks to Rodney Mullen, Stacy Peralta, Todd Francis, Matt Irving, Glen E. Friedman and L. Kuhn for quotes!
almost forgot! Pony Attack has reprinted, er… bootleged the Costanzig shirt! www.thisisponyattack.com
and last but not least, made a poster with the amazing John Baizley of Baroness for Shrinebuilder! pictured is a custom painted one i did for a friend!
word up! now back to work! more books! more skateboards! more shirts! huzzah!
Print Release! 11/17/09
Shirts and Destroy will be releasing a collborative art print between myself and photographer Peter Beste on 11/17/09. So excited about this one!
CREACH!
So excited to be able to work with Creature Skateboards! Thanks a million Lee!
buy it at:
http://www.oldskullskateboards.com
New Skateboard Graphics!
Always happy to be included in anything, so i was really excited when my friend Aaron called to tell me there was a new skateboard art book out, and i was in it! For a sec i thought it might have been Sean Cliver’s magnum opus, The Disposable Skateboard Bible, but no such luck! Instead i found out it was New skateboard Graphics, a really stong book of newer work from the Skate industry. Its a great book, and has a really cool foreword from Michael Leon, whom i am a huge fan of. Included is the Nuge poolhouse 666 board i did in collaboration with Matt Looomis and the Sierra Feller’s Eagle board, which you may remember was also made into a Tech Deck a while back. None of the boards are credited in the book, but not a huge deal. Pick it up if you have the chance!
Small Pic!
It’s always super cool to be a part of something you really like, small or large. Having been a major fan of Juxtapoz from it’s start, it’s always a huge thrill to be in the mag. This month’s issue has a small pic of the Duffman board i drew next to one by living legend skate art god Shawn Cliver’s work. Hooray! the pic is part of a listing for a skate art show in the Bay area. I had no idea the board was in the show, or the magazine, so i’m pretty hyped.
Of all the fun stuff i get to draw, doing skate decks my be the funnest for me. it takes me back to being twelve years old, looking at Thrasher and having my mind blown by the art of VCJ and Jim Phillips. When i finally got the chance to make a board (thanks Bratrud!) i almost wept when it showed in the mail. So special thanks to those who have helped that dream come true…Todd, Barker, Swank, Nathan Bell and Lee Charron. You dudes are the dudiest.
The Lost Foreword!
As mentioned, Cohen’s book is out now. Very exciting for us, but there was one regret (other than omitting Andrew Pommier’s brillant pieces by mistake) and that was the “lost” foreword to the book, written by Roger Gastman. Roger is an art world expert, and we were lucky enough to get a contribution from him. He turned in an amazing overview of the project, but it was felt that it mirrord my own personal history foreword, and had to be taken out. boo.
Rather than let it rot on my external hard drive, i thought it would be cool to share here. I got the ok from RG, so we are good to go!
I have never been a huge fan of babies or kids. I feel uncomfortable around them. I have nothing to say to kids, and babies, well, I might drop them and they could break. Their parents would not be happy with me; the babies would not be too happy with me either. So anything that draws the attention away from the “adults” in the room, and keeps kids busy, is fine by me.
So what is the best way to keep kids busy? Other than duct taping them to the wall? Sit them down at the table and give them some paper and crayons. It is better than having them watch TV or play violent video games. Not only does the $3 box of crayons allow you to have some adult time, it forces kids to get creative. With crayon in hand, they can let their imaginations run wild. And with any luck, their work will stay on the paper, not on your walls.
Drawing should keep them busy for hours on end. Although, at some point, they will interrupt your adult time by trotting into the room, proudly waving a drawing in your face that looks like a rainbow just threw up. At which point, you say, “Wow! Can you make me another?” Problem solved.
There are people, however, who encourage kids to create for reasons beyond getting them to go away. Aye Jay is one of those people. He encouraged his young son, Cohen, to create from an early age. And that simple act ultimately led to this book: Cohen’s coloring inspired his father to create the hilarious underground sensation “The Gangsta Rap Coloring Book.” While away promoting that book, Aye Jay carried his son’s watercolors with him, and asked illustrator Charles Burns to draw on one them—the first of hundreds of collaborations.
Since then, Cohen has collaborated with artists of all types—from graffiti writers to fine artists to tattoo artists and beyond. The lucky little bastard even got to work with some of my favorites: WK Interact, Barry McGee, Amanda Visell, Mike Giant and Mark Gonzales, to name just a few.
But while this book is made up of collaborations between Cohen and the artists within, it is, at its core, a collaboration between father and son. It is that collaboration which led to this book. If it was not for a father encouraging a son to create, and a son inspiring a father, you would not be reading this now.
But there is one pitfall to encouraging kids to create: By the time this book comes out, Cohen will be 8, and his portfolio will be bigger than yours. You’ve been warned.
-Roger Gastman
Cohen’s book is out!
Rest is Up to You: A Boy Named Cohen Morano, 118 Artists, and a Watercolor Revolution
Like many kids, first-grader Cohen Morano likes to watercolor. What’s different about his paintings is that his father, Aye Jay, sends them out into the world to be added to and altered by a stellar roster of lowbrow artists, children’s illustrators, and street and graffiti artists. The resulting collaborations between Cohen and everyone from Gary Baseman to Shepard Fairey to Paul Frank form a stunning and playful body of work, with a focus on the creativity of childhood.
http://www.amazon.com/Rest-Up-You-Watercolor-Revolution/dp/0811868591
Time Patton!
I was asked to make a poster for Patton Oswalt’s San Francisco show in september and was able to pay tribute to the Golden Gate bridge And Terry Gilliam with this take on the Time Bandits poster!
Shirts and Destroy!
I’m beyond excited to announce my first collaboration with Shirts and Destroy and amazing company i have been a fan of for a long time! My “Noexist” shirt is the heavy metal take on the popular “coexist” shirts and bumper sticker. They are available for only $15 at www.shirtsanddestroy.com/Ayejay
Skate update!
Just finished a new skateboard i’m super excited about, and can’t share quite yet. But theres a few other skate related updates!
The Thrasher King of the Road dvd is out, and the cover features Angel skating my Tales from the Foundation deck, though you have to squint your eyes to see it!
Thrasher’s photo issue included a pic of Foundation rider Angel in this shirt i designed!
Tech deck released a “new and thrashed” model of my Duffman deck, picture here full sized looking a lot like the “thrashed” version!
