African American Heritage Poster Award Ceremony at the new LAPD building.

Photos by Eriberto Oriol, ForbiddenArtLa.com

I was always impressed by Retna’s eclectic technique, his lines, his calligraphy: his handstyle is awesome. I had the pleasure to personally meet El Mac some weeks ago and I found not just a pure talented artist, also a really genuine person. Their work together is a perfect combination, well, even more, a symbiosis! Their styles fit together in such great harmony!

-Angelo Lospinuso from Montana Colors

Upper Playground recently announced a collaborative project with Montana Colors to create artist series Hardcore cans by four artists. The third MTN x UP Limited Edition artist can in the series features the collaborative work of El Mac and Retna.

Each of these artists has developed his own distinctive style and technique; Retna is renowned especially for his bold calligraphic brushwork, and Mac for his uniquely stylized painting of lifelike faces and figures; El Mac uses spraypaint and Retna uses spraypaint and acrylic for paintings; oil, acrylic, enamel, pencil, and other mediums on paper, canvas, and wood.

El Mac and Retna have combined forces a number of times in recent years, and have gained increasing attention and applause for the powerful and beautiful murals they’ve painted in Los Angeles and several other cities around the globe. Last month, they released Alianza, a 96-page hardcover book that highlights their collaborations, along with a selection of individual paintings and photos by each artist, as well as a collection of lifestyle photos, photos of the artists working and their travels, and close-up views of the murals themselves.

The MTN x UP El Mac/Retna Limited Edition artist can and Alianza are available now in limited quantities and will be sold at Upper Playground retail stores and online on the Upper Playground web store.

Taken From JUX.

Juxtapoz for the month of August in the year 2009 decided to split the covers: Newsstand featuring the Clayton Brothers, subscriber featuring Mac. Figuring both artists have distinct styles, it made for a nice juxtaposition, get it? Besides showing the newest work from the Clayton Brothers and Mac, August 2009 has features on Natalia Fabia, filmmaker Stacy Peralta, Lisbon-based, London-residing artist Vhils, and cultural and fashion icon, Shawn Stussy. We also have a fantastic feature on our hometown artist, Henry Lewis. Amanda Fairey, curator of Subliminal Projects, also makes an appearance.
We also have Greg Gossel, The New Yorkers, Basco Vazko, and Jonathan Yeo in here, as well as Michel Gondry’s toilet paper. Come, come get it.

From MAC:

Damn!….I saw the new issue of Juxtapoz (#103) and was blown away to see one of my paintings used as the cover of the subscriber edition!….and inside there’s a 14 page interview with me by David Choe, who tries to get me in trouble….along with a portrait photo at the beginning taken by Estevan Oriol…
Wow.
After years of reading Juxtapoz, and never actually being in Juxtapoz…here I am… on the cover of Juxtapoz. Not sure how that happened but I feel really honored! Aside from all that it looks like a great issue with some other great art in it…
I’m just posting the cover and the first spread of the interview here for now…maybe more later when I have time…. and you can also get a copy at Juxtapoz.com

LA Times recently did a new ad campaign promoting the newspaper. The theme was iconic figures who represent LA. The piece MAC and I did on LA BREA and 3rd makes an apearence.

Look at the kid do his thang!!!

Taken from Knowngallery.com