I am dreXeL. I thought you knew… Art, eating paint, life in Brooklyn. Fear it.

Thank you so much to everyone who showed up to show their support on Thursday night for the launch of my first tshirt. I definitely want to thank Toby Crabtree from Tasty Tees and Mike Yansen, my good friend and event promoter. It was definitely a successful party and a really good time. Sadly my photos came out horribly due to the low light conditions. I did set the ISO to 800, trying to remember what I learned back in junior high in photography class. And that helped a tiny bit. But not much. If I run across any better photos I’ll post them. Meanwhile, here’s what I got. In the photo are my friends, Drew Odom and Jason Pascall, the original “Smack is a Vampire” painting, and a Smack tee.

If you ordered tshirts, you’ll be getting them SOON. I know some people have already received theirs today. Aight, more soon…

XO, dreXeL

Technorati Tags: smack is a vampire, tshirt launch, launch party, drew odom, andrew odom, jason pascall, retreat nyc, mike yansen, manhattan, nyc, tasty tees, tastytshirt.com

Posted under art, current events, fashion, humor, makeovers, marketing, stream of consciousness

First of all, I’d like to say I think Miami is the most effed up city on Earth. Fashion-wise it’s ridiculous. Women there dress like really wealthy hookers in outfits so tiny you could swallow them with one sip of water. “Hi, my name is Tisha and this is my cervix.” The best way I can explain it is sparkly on the outside, dark and evil on the inside. It’s clearly a city fueled by cocaine, which explains why it’s slow during the day and amped up from about 11 pm until sunrise. So before I say anything else I’d just like to get the fashion faux pas out of the way so I can move on to the reason I went to Miami in the first place. Here you go…

Ok, so that said, I had an amazing time in Miami and I’m sure I’ll never forget it. I met artists who I’ve wanted to meet for a long time. I saw old friends and made new ones. The art was fantastic. And it was everywhere. Most of the pics I’m going to show you are from the OUTSIDES of buildings, not even the exhibits! It was dizzying. “Fountain” was one of the main satellite shows during Art Basel. It’s the show I exhibited in, and the collection of artists and art on display there was unbelievable. I went there every day and saw new and inspiring things each time. And I got excited to go back there each day, too. Here are a few shots from the week…

This is Nick Kuszyk. I watched him throw this piece up in about 10 minutes. Awesome.

I’m sure this one took considerably longer. I must have looked at this one 30 times. It was my favorite corner of Fountain to hang out in.

This stencil was already on the wall outside Fountain when I got there. For those of you who don’t know, Blek Le Rat is basically the father of street art stencils. I didn’t get to meet him, but it was just nice knowing he was around…somewhere.

This is Le Mac. I kept looking as close up as I could and saying “how the f*ck did he do that???” Amazing artist. Seriously amazing.

So great to finally meet Toofly and even get to see her paint live. Good times.

The gang.

Aight, I’ve got more pics and stories for ya, but it’s past my bedtime. You’ll just have to wait for episode 2.

xo, erica

Technorati Tags: alice mizrahi, am, art, art basel, artbasel, artshow, art show, bad fashion, billy mode, blek le rat, el mac, ellis g, fountain, graffiti, miami, r. nicholas kuszyk, street art, toofly

Posted under art, fashion

A LOT is going on. I have a new art show coming up in LA that I’ll give you the deets on as soon as I know them.

My new site is live. It’s more of an experiment than anything, but it seems to be going well. Lots of people are stopping by and checking it out.

I was just offered to take over my friend’s apt and job for two weeks while he goes to Japan and Korea. If I get the job, which isn’t a for sure thing, but IF i do it means I get to live in San Francisco for two weeks, get paid well, see all my SF friends and just live and work in a completely different environment for a bit. I want to do it bad.

I have plans to go to London in the next few weeks and then Vancouver after that, then back east for Xmas. So things are exciting and fun lately.

And on a more personal level…I just got my lip pierced!

I should have some more paintings and illustrations for you to look at soon. Meanwhile you can look at my ugly mug. PEACE! XO

technorati tags:piercing, bodymods, style, fashion

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Posted under fashion, main, makeovers

Well, I was dragging my feet but now I’m not. Here’s what’s happening:

Stylegoddess.com will be a video blog VERY soon. I will be doing videoed makeovers and they will appear on these pages. I’m also going to be working with an amazing celebrity in the open-source, bay area, technologically-advanced scene. But I’m going to leave his name and his website’s name out of this until I find out if he’s ok with me plugging his site. Suffice it to say for now that he is a STAR.

So…that said, if you or someone you know falls under the category of “geek” and wants to be featured for one of my makeovers, LET ME KNOW right away. These makeovers will be videoed and professionally edited, then put on Stylegoddess.com and the other soon-to-be-divulged awesome website.

Cheers,

Erica aka The Stylegoddess.

Posted under fashion, main, makeovers, marketing, technology

I did this using about as many different Corel Painter IX effects as I could. Good times…

Posted under art, fashion

I got an email today from the amazing Tim Westergren, founder and CEO of Pandora. He mentioned something to me about the brand of my site. He’s right. It’s been the thorn in my side for 2 years. It’s funny, I think of my brand as something that will evolve like a painter’s style, and I’m sure there’s a degree of truth to that. But in reality you have to do it backward. Come up with the logo and slogan and brand the world with it, before anything else. So even if someone doesn’t have a clear understanding of what you do, even YOU, they’ll still recognize your logo.

(Here’s a goofy one I did a couple days ago with one of my employee’s logo creator software applications.)

I do actually have my purpose and intention worked out. My purpose is to merge the two universes of fashion and geek. How exactly this will manifest itself I couldn’t say. I have MANY ideas and plans. And I’m sure I’ll continue to come up with new ways to merge these two industries. In the meantime, suffice it to say that I intend to bring the skills that I have to the best group of people I know…the smartest people on Earth. The people who are responsible for creating an interactive world full of ungodly levels of awesome; the creators of hardware, software, peripherals, tools, programs and apps and tricks and the faithful users of these amazing creations; the creators of web standards and the adherents of them. I love drawing and painting, and I love image consulting and turning people into rockstars, but I love web technologies more. And if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it for and with my favorite people. With any luck, there will be a couple people who also think it’s a good combination.

In truth, I AM a bit weak on the logo. The slogan is STAYING, because I love it. But when I sit down to sketch out logos, they’re all so random. Here are a couple illustrations I’ve done with “Stylegoddess.com” in mind. Others are on bits of paper at work…my mind wanders.

Posted under fashion, marketing, technology

There are few events in the entertainment industry where you go as formal as formal gets. Although surely the least comfortable of all genres of clothing, it’s a fun time to see what kind of outfits people put together. It’s the whole deal…hair, rented jewelry, designer shoes, bags, gowns, tuxes, cravats, etc. It’s a festival of pomposity. Since the whole system of the Oscars itself is a sham, I prefer to put my and your attention on the fashion aspect of it all. So here we go…

I’ll start with the “What on EARTH is that?” category.

Contestant #1:

Naomi Watts in a flesh-toned Givency gown made of…fiberglass insulation?

Contestant #2:

Sandra Bullock in Angel Sanchez.
Ok, i’m sorry, but what in god’s name is under that dress, a body condom? See that? Across her chest? It goes around the sides and back, too. Looks like loose grannyhose. Yes, yes, i KNOW it’s supposed to be like that. I just happen to think it’s awful, that’s all.

Enough of that, now for The Stylegoddess Winners Circle”

WINNER #1:

Charlize Theron in Christian Dior . Gorgeous dress, amazing shoes, perfectly accessorized, perfect color for her skin and hair.

WINNER #2:

Ludacris in Giorgio Armani. That was a bold move, and I’m impressed. In fact, he’s the only male contestant who I felt was worthy to be a contestant. So that means he’s the winner for the men. Although many men had nice suits/tuxes, none that i saw stood out as especially interesting or stylish. Except for this here Ludacris feller.

Runner-up #1:

Selma Hayek in Versace. Nice change from the creme and off-white gowns 1/2 the women were wearing, and the black all the men were wearing. Perfect color for her skin, hair and eyes.

Runner-up #2:

Uma Thurman in Versace.
I think Uma could wear a lasagna to the Oscars and look perfect. But that’s just me.

Runner-up #3:Amy Adams in Carolina Herrera.
This is clearly one of the most interesting and unique of the gowns to look at. the warm, rich chocolate brown is a lovely contrast against her skin. And the bustier is quite sexy.

Runner-up #4:

Jessica Alba in gold Versace halter gown. Gorgeous dress, stunningly yet modestly accessorized.

Now, as far as the dresses themselves…it was a toss-up between Jessica Alba, Charlize Theron and Amy Adams. But when you figure in the rest: accessories, hair, color choice for skin tone, etc. it’s easy.

Charlize Theron…best-dressed of all women at the 2006 Oscars. Hands down.

and Ludacris, best-dressed of all men at the 2006 Oscars.

Well done, you two. Now that THAT’s over, everyone can get back into their sweats. Night, night. x

Posted under fashion