BLOG — RICH SIMMONS

Our London friend, Rich Simmons has come stateside for his gallery show at the Soho Contemporary Art. If you are in the area you should go. No, if you are in the area you HAVE TO GO. If you've been following Rich on Facebook then you've gotten a glimpse of what he's created for this show and you know it's going to be awesome to see in person. And if you see Rich there and take a picture with him while wearing a HMNIM tee, post with #HMNIM and #ARTISTHECURE and one lucky winner with get a surprise gift from us just for supporting the Arts.

This we pulled from the Soho website:

On September 18th, Soho Contemporary Art will introduce Rich Simmons, a rising star on the international art scene. Coming off of three very successful solo shows in the United Kingdom, Rich Simmons is bringing his latest works to the Bowery for his first American show. The artist takes recognizable imagery from pop culture, such as super-heroes and projects his opinions and sense of humor on these familiar and well-known images. His message is one that everyone can relate to, love yourself. Connecting his work to his charity, Art is the Cure, he wants to raise awareness that creativity is a way to release emotions, both positive and negative. With his creativity, his unique commentary and passion for his cause, Rich Simmons is rising to fame because the public are connecting with his art and agreeing with his message.

RSVP: info@sohocontemporaryart.com

This exclusive piece was designed and created by Mark Hoppus and Rich Simmons. Rich, who you may know already from the collab he's done with HMNIM, but in case you don't, he's an award-winning street artist. Do they give awards to artists? Apparently they do and Rich has the trophies to prove it.

Rich described the piece so we didn't have to and here's what he said, "the painting was done to compliment the print run we did for HMNIM and has the same color pattern and was sprayed by both myself and Mark. The background is created using reclaimed billboards and the skullapus stencil was created just for this painting and collaboration. The money raised from this exclusive painting will go towards running more exciting art workshops with Teens Unite and Art is the Cure".

The canvas has been signed by both Mark and Rich as both of them worked on the painting in Rich's London studio. And the painting is 1 of only 3 that were made. The other 2 are owned by Mark and Rich.

100% of the proceeds will go to the charity Teens Unite Fighting Cancer.

The canvas is 24 inches wide by 24 inches high and will be shipped by courier or can be collected from the Teens Unite office in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire (just north of Hogwarts). Click HERE for the ebay link to the auction.

If you have any questions please email info@teensunitefightingcancer.org

Last night, London saw the opening of the latest Lazarides annual art show, this time aptly titled "Brutal."  It took place in an abandoned bank building on The Strand.  First recorded in 1002 as "la Stranda," meaning "shore," The Strand runs along what used to be the north bank of the Thames River, before the construction of the Victoria embankment. It now delineates the southernmost edge of the Covent Garden district, and is in no way pertinent to this blog post, or the art contained herein, other than the fact that it is the name of the street upon which the show took place.  Also, my wife almost tripped crossing the road and her friend dropped her phone, but the screen was okay.  Let's move on, shall we? 

Lazarides is the gallery at the cutting edge of the intersection where fine art meets street art, and this show is no different.  Walking into the venue, you feel like you're entering a zombie apocalypse, or a rave from the early '90s.  Decaying walls, exposed concrete, darkness, and loud music.  We arrived early and were met with performance artists beating the walls with metal pipes and baseball bats.  A crowd gathered and watched as they eyed the audience members and launched into a macabre contortion act.  

We wandered the dark ground floor halls of the forgotten financial institution, and around every corner we encountered work from some of the world's foremost artists.

Conor Harrington.

Antony Micallef. 

Miaz Brothers.

Pete Hawkins.

And other works from Know Hope, Estevan Oriol (photographer for the blink-182 untitled album and director of the "Down" video), Todd James, Katrin Fridricks, Faile, and on and on and on.  Paintings, sculpture, wall projections, installations, video art, and photography.  

There was even a cafe in the back serving soup.

We spent the night hanging out with artist and collaborator Rich Simmons, and here's a photo of us awkwardly standing next to one another.

Here's another photo from the night, of me standing next to my wife in front of work by the Miaz Brothers.  She's the one standing on the right.

As we were leaving, the event was in full swing, and as we approached the exit, I got to meet Antony Micallef.  We spoke for a few minutes about art and and the importance of honesty in expression, and I'm happy to report that the dude is friendly, smart, and very down to earth. It's awesome when you meet one of your heroes and he turns out to be a great human.

Brutal runs through the 27th.  You can book tickets online.  Steel yourself and enjoy.

Our friend and recent collaborator Rich Simmons told us about this charity called Teens Unite Fighting Cancer. Being a teen is tough enough on its own. Trying to fit in, staying on top of what's cool, working out if that person likes you or not, and that's just your average Tuesday. And then pile onto the stress of all that, "Hey buddy, you got cancer", is mind blowing. There are fully functioning adults that can't handle that sort of news, for a teen, it's pretty much the worst thing you are ever going to hear, and they haven't even had the misfortune of failing their driver's test yet.

Teens Unite was co-founded in 2007 by Karen Millen OBE and Debbie Pezzani. Six years later they remain the only charity in the country (UK) that provides help for teens during this time. Every day, 6 teens between 13-24 are told they have cancer. Teens Unite's main aim is to get teens together as often as possible in a fun-filled environment giving them a chance to talk to each other and gain strength from realizing that they are not alone in their battle. 

We couldn't think of a better charity to get involved with. If you want to get involved, they are always looking for volunteers to help, or maybe you know someone who has cancer that may not even know that Teens Unite exists. You can now spread the word? Life is short enough as it is, you are never going to regret helping someone along the way. 

This video had 182 views as we wrote this post. Let's try and get the video to 1000 views by the end of today.

Our friend Rich Simmons, renowned artist and hell of a nice guy, has started a movement. We could tell you all about it but we'd probably get it wrong so to avoid messing up his message and we will admit, a little bit out of laziness, we are going to have the words come straight from Rich's site. 

Art Is The Cure was formed on February 20, 2008 by British artist Rich Simmons as a way to share a story and inspire people to find a cure through creativity in the same way Rich had.

Through struggling with years of depression, mild autism and social anxiety problems, Rich used art as a creative outlet to deal with it in a positive way. Art was a natural release. Having always been a self-professed art nerd, Rich began to share his art via his Myspace page. In the summer of 2007, Rich was messaged by a girl in America who was curious to learn about the artwork. Rich explained the reasons behind the work and described it as trapping his demons on canvas and getting them out of his system so he could overcome each problem without resorting to self-harm. The paintbrush and spray can became the tools used to get it out of his system instead of razor blades, drugs or alcohol.

After a few days of not getting a reply, the girl in America got in touch again. She went on to explain in the message that she had struggled with depression and self-harming for a long time, and in previous months had attempted suicide. Hearing Rich talk about how his creativity got the problems out of his system in a positive way, she decided to give it a go as well. During the days of no contact, she had got as many art supplies together as she could and experimented, explored and eventually found a release she had craved for so long. Creativity had become a way to stop the impulse to self-harm and given her the positive outlet she needed. At the end of the message, she explained how she hadn’t thought about self-harming while making art and that Rich had inspired her to find a cure through art and had saved her life and given her hope.

Months passed and this girl’s story refused to leave Rich’s mind. How was it possible to change a girl’s life who he had never met and was over 3,000 miles away? Rich told the story to close friends and family who encouraged him to learn more about art therapy. This was a revelation and Rich had a new sense of purpose in life to make art therapy more well known and find a new way to get people using art in this way.

Art Is The Cure was formed on Rich’s 22nd birthday as a way to share his own story of using creativity to overcome problems and, ultimately, inspiring other people to do the same. A new kind of outlook on creative therapy being done by people in their own way, with whatever creative release they had, in their own time and space was formed and quickly gained momentum on Myspace. People heard this story and recognized they too were using creativity to overcome problems in life without realizing the power of what they were subconsciously doing.

AITC has since grown in momentum over the years and has led to opportunities to work with young people in schools and youth organizations through workshops and lectures about art and it’s potential to be a creative release. Rich has also gone on to win a prestigious Vinspired award in 2009 for being the UK’s ‘most inspirational young volunteer’ and his work with the Prince’s Trust as an ambassador has shaped and motivated the way his own movement is run.

In 2012, Rich met with a friend, Frazer Miller, at upfest graffiti festival in Bristol, who shared his vision and set upon the most ambitious task in the movements history. The goal was to create an online platform and community for supporters of AITC to share their own stories, their own artwork and to find inspiration from others. The platform would give people the opportunity to inspire people in the same way Rich inspired the girl from America in 2007 and encourage more people to be inspired and to become inspirational. A place that encourages creativity and a platform where a global community of artists can come together to inspire a new generation of creatives.

Five years to the day after AITC was created in Rich’s bedroom with a simple story on Myspace, the beta version of its own social platform went live. On June 8, 2013, the public launch of AITC's social platform marked another chapter in the movement to continue to bring people together through art.

Not a day goes by that someone doesn't confuse the amazing and beautiful Richard Simmons with the artist Rich Simmons. The similarities don't just end with the name, it's the attitude, the wardrobe, the talent. If it weren't for the hair they could be identical twins.

To help you figure this out, we will be talking about the Rich Simmons on the left. Rich is a very talented and very social-minded artist, with his Art is the Cure movement that was set up to promote the use of creative therapy and inspire people to find the strength to find a cure in art.

Rich has a gallery show called the Inner Outsider coming up on June 14th at the Intimate Gallery in London. The show runs from the 14th to July 13th, Where you can see amazing pieces like the ones in this video:

You'll be hearing and seeing more from our friend, Rich Simmons, not Richard Simmons, very soon at HMNIM.