Ripcetera

CicLAvia is...

2011-04-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Cool CicLAvia video from Streetfilms:

Restoration / Procrastination

2011-04-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

I realized that I wrote a post (here) just about two years ago now detailing a restoration/conversion project I was doing on a 1981 Bianchi road bike I found on craigslist. Well I never did follow up with pictures of the completed bike. I just started riding it straight off and loved it so much that posting a blog was the furthest thing from my mind.

Well, as they say, better late than never. (Click the pics if you want to see everything up close and personal-like.)

For those bike geeks out there who give a crank about this kinda stuff, here's a list of some of the upgrades I did to get this guy road/parade worthy:

• fresh powder coat @ Olympic in Santa Ana
• cleaned/repacked original headset and bottom bracket
• replaced all cables and housing
• new old stock Nitto "custom" stem
• Velo Orange Montmartre handlebars
• Soma Urban Pursuit brake levers
• Brooks B-17 saddle mounted to a new seatpost
• MKS Sylvan Touring Pedals (I kept the original Shimano 600 crankset)
• Shimano freewheel and track chain (I kept the original chainring)
• new Campagnolo Veloce brakeset
• semi-aero flip/flop wheelset off a new Bianchi Pista (w/ Bianchi branded hubs)
• Vittoria Rubino Pro celeste tires
• Velo Orange Constructeur rear rack w/ rack-mounted stainless steel bottle holder
• for good measure I also made a custom pannier out of a Manhatan Portage messenger bag (seen here)

Here's another shot of the "new" bike with along w/ the rest of my stable which includes a late 80's Bianchi Sport SX which is currently rocking a Cetma Cargo 5-rail halfrack (not pictured) for running errands around downtown and transporting stuff to the studio and a 2006 Lemond Chambery w/ a Tubus Fly rack I pair w/ Knog Pod panniers for commuting and touring. Now that was a mouthful.

Those crafty Dutch!

2011-04-13T01:10:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting solution by the Dutch for the the age-old right-turn-across-a-bike-lane problem. For you drivers in the States, I'm afraid neck-craning is still the order of the day. Unless, of course, if you live in Portland where they have these.

Speaking of Portland and bikes, this one was just too funny to keep to myself. "Bicycle Rights!"

I (Balloon) L.A.

2011-03-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

Last weekend some friends and I decided to hit the streets of Downtown Los Angeles and hand out gold balloons.

A 36 Hour Tour. A 36 Hour Tour.

2011-02-21T11:51:00.000-08:00

The other weekend I decided I needed to get away. I needed to get away on my bike. I needed to get away on my bike and try out all this new camping gear I had accumulated around the holidays. But with my limited free time, this need could only really be satisfied by one thing: a 36-hour bike tour down the coast from my front door in Downtown L.A. to the sunny beaches of San Diego and back (by train, of course—I'm not superman/doping.) I decided to break up this whirlwind of pedals, panniers and Cliff Bars with a nice relaxing night of camping under the stars (and within ear-shot of the Ocean) at Doheny State Beach. Here is some of the photographic evidence of my journey, one of the best/rejuvenating/therapeutic/challenging/introspective/cathartic/fun 36 contiguous hours in recent memory:

*Click any of the photos for bigger photos. You know the drill.

New studio = new blog.

2011-01-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently moved my art-making HQ into a brand new studio which I share with two other artists. Since branding in this day and age is the most important thing ever, I've dubbed the new studio MakeSpace Studios and of course designed a logo and even made a new blog.

If you make it over to the blog you'll see pics of the new space as it takes shape, learn a little about the artists working there and see some new art and work in progress. And if you're in the L.A. area, come pay us a visit to see all the making for yourself!

makespacestudios.blogspot.com

Helmet, Schmelmet.

2010-12-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

(comic credit: Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery)

So, I was biking to Union Station the other day, having decided to take the train to work, when a motorist pulled up along my right side while I was waiting at a red light. (I usually try to cheat left at red lights in case any cars want to turn right.) So anyway, it was a long red and I could tell this guy was kinda staring me down, but I just assumed he was into my bike. You see, since it was going to be such a short ride, I had taken my "parade" bike—a 1981 Bianchi road bike that I had restored and converted into a fast city-cruising single speed w/ a chrome rack, french porteur-style bars and flipped brake levers. It's kinda eye catching if I do say so myself and I'm used to people gawking a little or asking me about my componentry or handlebar set-up.

Then right before the light changed, he called out to me from his open car window and told me that I should wear a helmet. Expecting a compliment on my bike restoration skills, I was dumbfounded and more than a little peeved at this unsolicited and pretty moronic bit of advice. He went on to tell me that it was really dangerous around here (by which I guess he meant Downtown L.A. where I've lived and biked for over five years without incident) and that I should be really careful. As I became increasingly upset, all I managed to retort before he zoomed off was a derisive "Huh!" And he was gone.

As I rode through the intersection my head became flooded with all the things I should have said to this guy such as how I was only out for a leisurely mile an a half ride and I barely broke 10 miles per hour this whole trip, or that If I were to get hit by a car a helmet would do little—or more likely nothing—to keep me from getting hurt or killed, or that there's no way a helmet would prevent, and might even encourage someone to mug me or beat me up in this uber-dangerou part of town that he seemed to think we were traveling through. But the thing I really wanted to say (besides telling him that yes, it is dangerous out here, then slashing his tire) was that as a motorist, he was statistically more likely to get into an accident resulting in a head injury than I was as a bicyclist and that maybe he's the one that should be wearing a helmet...jerk!

But of course, I said and did none of those things and the D.B. probably drove off thinking that he'd done me some huge favor by enlightening me as to the value of wearing a foam hat while playing on my bike. Damn, he probably thought that he saved my life!

I know that this opens up the huge, ongoing helmet vs. no helmet debate that has been raging on in the cycling community for some time now, and I don't really want to get into all that. (But if you want to, there was an interesting discussion over at ecovelo not too long ago that might be worth the visit.) My personal practice is that when I'm tooling around the city (i.e. starting and stopping a lot, never going very fast at all, getting off and on my "beater" bike to go into stores or get food, etc.) I don't wear a helmet. If I did, I'd have to constantly take it on and off, walk into public places with helmet hair and have to tote the damn thing around with me all day. Some may say that this isn't the most logical way to make a safety decision, but it works for me and I've never bumped my bare head on anything in 8+ years of helmet-less urban riding. I think it is much more important to learn how to bike safely on city streets than to strap on a dorky placebo that gives the illusion of safety, then feel at liberty to ride like a fool.

Plus there was this British study that showed motorists were less careful around cyclists wearing helmets (giving them a tighter berth while passing) because they seemed less vulnerable than those riding without helmets. This resulted in helmeted researchers getting into more accidents with cars than the non-helmet-wearing ones. The way I see it, not getting into an accident is far safer than wearing a helmet any day of the week.

That being said, I do wear a helmet when I'm on my "fast" bike. In no way do I feel as if this makes me any safer from cars and I still ride very cautiously in traffic. However, on this bike I can hit much greater speeds and I'm often cycling for fitness or distance, not running errands. This means riding clipped into my pedals and often down in the drops for long stretches of road at a fast pace without stopping (like on a bike path or trail.) Or maybe hitting 40+ mph on a descent. With this kind of riding, my chances of falling off my bike due to a road hazard or mechanical failure such as a blowout or dropped chain goes way up, and I think this is the kind of accident when a bike helmet might actually be able to do some good. Of course, in all the time I've ridden with a helmet on, I have yet to find myself in a situation where I'm forced to use it for it's intended purpose (knock on wood.) And of course, the vanity issue inevitably becomes moot in this scenario since, when I'm on my "fast" bike, I'm often already wearing dorky biking clothes so strapping on a helmet is not really gonna do much damage to my already-cramped style.

Speaking of style cramping, in this very interesting presentation by Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagen Cycle Chic at the recent TEDx conference in Denmark, he reveals an interesting statistic about how cycling numbers in Denmark went down while the country launched an aggressive pro-bike helmet campaign. During the same time, bike ridership was spiking dramatically upwards in most other urban areas around the globe. This alludes to the fact that most people who ride bikes for transportation (i.e. commuting to work, running errands, etc.) just don't like wearing helmets—it cramps their style. And if you force them to wear one while they ride, like with mandatory helmet laws, they'll simply stop riding their bikes altogether and often get back into their cars—which is the exact opposite direction we want to be heading in. He also debunks much of the widely-perceived "safety" that a bike helmet is supposed to provide cyclists.

But this entirely-too-long-winded blog post is really all just to say: whether you wear a helmet or not, bike drive or take public transit, please keep your stupid opinions of what you think I should be wearing on my head to your damn self, dude in the car next to me. Sheesh!

Pedalr pusher.

2010-11-27T02:57:00.000-08:00

I just found out about this cool site for buying and selling bike stuff called Pedalr.com. It's kind of like craigslist's bike section but without all the scams and people trying to unload some Walmart special, thrift store discard or rattle-canned, converted fixie with "minor" dents in the top tube for a small fortune. Just good bike stuff sold by good bike people. You do lose that local element you get on the CL, but really how many flakes do you really need to be stood up by in your lifetime?

(t)here is finally here!

2010-11-25T11:08:00.001-08:00

Way back in December of 2009 I was selected to participate in an event called 1 Day of Art, Los Angeles organized by a little art publication out of NYC called (t)here magazine. Basically how the event worked was this: The artists all gathered on a rooftop in downtown L.A. (it turned out to be the roof of my old loft building) where we mingled, ate, were interviewed and finally chose a random theme. We then had the next 24 hours to create a work or works of art based on our selected theme. At the end of it all, we camE together to share our projects, were interviewed again about the pieces and our experiences then hung out and partied. The work created during that 24 hour period would then go on to become the content for (t)here's next publication.

Fast forward 11 months and the Los Angeles issue of (t)here magazine finally shows up in my mailbox.

A bit about my project:
The theme I selected at random was "Modern/Power." I was a bit baffled by the "double" theme, so I decided to create a diptych. But rather than make one side reflect each word, I incorporated my ideas of both words (sent through a heavy L.A. filter, of course) into each side of the painting. And before you ask if I stuck to the 24-hour rule, I'll say that the piece was mostly done in a day, but I did spend some time after the event to finish it up. Sue me.

Modern/Power (2009-10)
tape on recycled cardboard, 48" x 96"

Although the interviews and pics from the L.A. 1 Day of Art are not yet on (t)here's web site, there's a rumor that a documentary based on the event is in the works. So stay tuned for that if it ever comes out. I'm guessing 2015-ish.

CicLAvia!

2010-11-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

Back in September, on 10/10/10 to be exact, Los Angeles held it's first CicLAvia. For those of you who have been cycling under a rock, CicLAvia was inspired by the Ciclovia in Bogota Columbia where 70 miles of city streets are closed to car traffic every Sunday and the city's residents are encouraged to come out and play. For most participants this means riding their bicycles, but many people walk, jog, rollerskate and participate in the numerous organized activities such as dancing, yoga or group calisthenics. Of course here in L.A. making this a weekly event seems like a long way off, but based on the success of the inaugural CicLAvia, the organizers hope to hold another 5 CicLAvias in the next calendar year.

I attended the event as well as spent some time volunteering as a bike tech mostly fixing flats and pumping tires. It was a liberating experience to bike through the heart of Los Angeles (or at least the 7.5 mile route that stretched from East Hollywood to Boyle Heights) without the added stress and worry of having to share the street with cars and trucks. All too often, a leisurely bike ride becomes a constant battle for space and position and sometimes your personal well-being as cyclists in L.A. struggle for pavement and respect and sometimes just to be seen by the motorists who dominate our city's roads. This seems to be the biggest deterrent keeping Los Angelenos off their bikes and cooped up in their cars.

Despite the near triple digit weather, CicLAvia drew about 50,000 people out onto L.A. streets shattering the worry of organizers—who have fought for this event for years—that no one would show up, and silencing the nay-sayers who insisted that the city's residents just wouldn't quit their cars, even for a day. Riding along the streets with the masses of smiling-faced, exuberant cyclists, I felt for the first time that L.A. was a real city with an actual sense of community, and I couldn't help but think that I was witnessing a watershed moment for the way this city looks at its transportation issue. Los Angelenos WILL get out of their cars and into bikes or alternative transportation if you just give them the opportunity, i.e. provide the infrastructure to accommodate cyclists and make them feel safe and just as important users of public streets as motorists.

Hello, again. And a new studio

2010-11-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

I realize it's been a very long time since my last post, but as stuff that I want to write about keeps piling up, I feel like I never have any time to sit down and compose an entry—especially since I'm quite sure no one ever reads this thing anyway. But I've recently come down w/ some sort of bug that has pretty much taken the wind out of my sails work-wise, so I find myself lounging around my apartment feeling miserable and totally unmotivated to go to the studio or work on anything of substance. So I thought what better time than now to catch up on my blogging. (insert squeeky-voiced, Conan-esque nerd impression here... "mmmmust catch up on my blogingggg.")

Not to imply that I'm always super busy and productive, in fact the opposite is usually true. I've been know to waste a good many hours in front of the boob-tube and the youtube—not to mention the infamous time suck that is facebook. My guilty, voyeuristic hours spent staring at this particular procrastination-enabler also ties in to my lack of blog posts in the recent past. When I happen to go on an internet binge, not only do I spend a good amount of that time surfing the ol' face-space (which reminds me, you should be my "friend!") , but I can usually also scratch my sharing bug by posting little updates, ideas, opinions, links and photos on my facebook wall and forgo the often lengthy process of sitting down and committing to the time and thought it takes to make an actual blog post.

But for fear of going on too long with my petty rationales and being reminded what grotesque part of the anatomy excuses are like, let me simply get on with it. I guess the biggest bit of Mike-news of the recent past is my new art studio, so I suppose I'll start off my soft-return to the blogosphere with an entry about that.

For months I've been going a bit crazy, feeling organizationally-overwhelmed and creatively-stymied by my home studio. I know it seems a bit selfish to want more space especially since some people out there have to do their projects on the kitchen table or computer desk whereas I had over 150 sq. ft. of my living area completely dedicated to my art making and, just as importantly, my art stuff. But lately, this space had become more storage space than studio space and had slowly come to be used as a dumping ground for boxes and junk that we couldn't (or wouldn't) find a home for elsewhere in the loft.

This dwindling amount of elbow room was coupled with the fact that my place is essentially an open floor plan. So if I wanted to cut wood, spray paint or otherwise make a mess that could not be easily contained, it would permeate the kitchen and dining and living areas and I'd either have to live with dust and toxic fumes for days or have to constantly clean up after myself. (For those of you out there who make stuff, you know how important it is to come back after a break to find your mess exactly how you left it.) Plus forget having company over when I was in the middle of a big project. Also, I live with two cats—a fat, naughty one and a fatter, naughtier one—and if I didn't have cats all over me while I worked, I had them all over my stuff when I got back. Plus don't even get me started on the ubiquitous nature of cat hair.

Long story short, I knew I needed to get a new work space and had been searching for months until I finally pulled the trigger. I won't bore you with the whole story of looking for a decent and affordable studio in/near Downtown L.A., but I ended up getting a space far too large for my needs—almost as big as my loft—with the intention of splitting it up to share with a couple other artists. (BTW, as of this post, I'm still looking for one more person to share the space...)

I hate to cut this short, but all this typing and my illness has got me feeling a bit nackered. I'm gonna go pop some Nyquil and try to have a couple of those insane "sick dreams." But I promise to be better about posting stuff in the near future especially since I have so much catching up to do blog-wise. Maybe I'll try some shorter entries or just some pics in order to keep things up-to-date. Definitely look for more images of the studio and the work coming out of it in the coming weeks.

Rippens *wheeze-cough* out!

Dear Obama

2010-02-07T12:45:00.000-08:00

Last 9/11, in an effort to take the time and reflect on the meaning and implications of that day—and to not forget the death and destruction that occurred in the city I then called home—I decided to sit down and write a letter to the President:

Mr. Barack Obama, President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC 20500

September 11, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

Tomorrow, my 21-year-old cousin, a specialist in the U.S. Army, ships off to an undisclosed location in Afghanistan for his (first) 400-day deployment. His parents and younger brother in Torrence, CA threw him a going away party last Saturday, and though the spirit was festive, the under-current of worry and sadness was unmistakable. Along with my family, I raised a glass and wished him well, assuring him that we were proud of his accomplishments and service to his country. At the same time, I had to restrain my disappointment and heartache in his decision.

On a clear, sunny morning in 2001, I was riding the subway—on my way from Brooklyn, to work in Manhattan—when the first plane struck the World Trade Center. I watched the rest of the events of that day unfold on the television, outside the window of the children’s art studio where I worked on the Upper West Side, and on the streets and bridges of New York City as I tried to make my way back home. Like many of my fellow Americans, I was filled with fear, anger, confusion and crippling sadness. However, one emotion I did not care to indulge was vengeance.

When President Bush and his administration hastened our country into not one, but two wars in the wake of 9/11, despite the loss I felt, I once again found myself in the streets with thousands of my fellow citizens, but this time we were pleading for peace and diplomacy. I was unsure how it would be possible to heal the crushing loss of life with even more death and destruction.

After seven long, disheartening years of my cries for peace falling on deaf ears, I was re-inspired to political action when you threw your hat into the ring as a nominee for the highest office in the land. I was moved by your firm stance (albeit unpopular, at the time) against rushing into preemptive military engagement, as well as your stated desire to bring to an end the costly—in both resources and human life—wars in the Middle East. I spent time and money campaigning on your behalf, excited almost to tears when you won primaries and delivered your rousing speeches. I believed in the hope you represented.

As of today, 2009 has the greatest number of Coalition casualties in Afghanistan, even with four months to go. Furthermore, last month had the highest number of casualties since Operation Enduring Freedom began. By those terms, our efforts on that front seem to be sliding backwards, not moving in the direction of peace and healing I had hoped you aspired to. Needless to say, these numbers do not bode well for my young cousin, Specialist Rodney Clavel, and I can’t help but wonder if my family will be one of the many mourning the loss of a dear loved-one as a result of the decisions of the leaders we have put into power.

I understand—at least in a broad sense—the struggles that you face in dealing with these two inherited wars. However, I must make a renewed plea for peace, not just for the sake of my cousin, but for all the cousins, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters currently at war and all those whom will likely be sent into harm’s way under your command. Let us not forget as well, the innocent men women and children, citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan and neighboring countries dying daily at the hands of our troops overseas. Those lives, too, should weigh heavy on our consciences.

President Obama, allow me to thank you for your service for our country thus far and in the years to come. May they be marked by prosperity, peace and a renewed commitment to the American ideals of responsibility, compassion and honesty both at home and abroad.

Yours in peace,

Michael A. Rippens

And just a few weeks ago, having nearly forgotten that I had actually sent snail mail for the first time since 1999, I received this reply:

(click on images to view letter)

It wasn't exactly the response I was hoping for, but I can't say I was actually even expecting a response. In any case, at least I was able to voice my opinion and maybe the president even skimmed my words before having an intern send me the form "Afghanistan response letter." Or, more likely, my letter was included in a statistic on a report showing the trend of Americans' support for the current war efforts and the president glanced at it over a rushed cup of coffee between meetings.

In any case, what matters in the meantime are the boots on the ground, and as of writing this post, Specialist Rodney Clavel is halfway through his first 400-day deployment in Afghanistan. So if you'd like to send Rodney some well wishes and words of thanks or encouragement for his bravery and service, you can leave a message for him on his facebook page (which he actually updates quite often.)

BoomCrash!

2009-10-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

During my recent visit to Brooklyn, NY, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the public art/activism project called BoomCrash. The project exists on two fronts: politically-inspired guerilla-style art erected in strategic locations in and around the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, and a blog-style website documenting these and similar public expressions created by like-minded artists and activists working in the same area.

To see these projects and read a bit about the inspiration for BoomCrash, you should really visit the website: boomcrash.org. But in the meantime, I've taken the liberty of snaking a few lines from the "about" section to give a little window into what the artists behind BoomCrash are responding to:

"What happened here is the same thing that happened all over the country: a real estate bubble—the Boom—was manipulated into being by well-financed, well-rewarded Wall Street financiers, who used Main Street as a slot machine in their casino economy, hitting it big year after year, project after project, loan after loan, bonus after bonus, as fast as they could until CRASH!

"The aftermath is a scarred and soulless cityscape, a forest of vacant luxury glass tower condominiums, a working middle-class squeezed out of neighborhoods that have been shredded by greedy developers. In New York City there were more construction-related deaths in 2008—the last year of the Boom, when the money men and their crooked construction companies knew the end was coming and cut all the corners they could—than any year in the last 20 years.

"The BoomCrash made victims of the many for the benefit of the few. And we can see the evidence, in the street, right there in front of our eyes, every day."

So, if you live in or visit Williamsburg, check out BoomCrash's work for yourself and maybe even make your own artistic contributions to the 'hood. (Then send your pics in to be published on the website, of course!) Or you can sit around and wait for your neighborhood to be overtaken by over-priced, shoddily-constructed, glass and plaster eyesores. Oh, and look out for falling cranes!

And finally, I'll end with this little wheat-pasted gem I happened across. I'm pretty sure it doesn't belong to BoomCrash, but I just couldn't help myself...

Brooklyn Utopias?

2009-09-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

(image: detail from "Civil Rides, Brooklyn" 2009, adhesive tape on recycled cardboard)

So in case you still haven't heard by now, my work will be included in a group exhibition entitled: BROOKLYN UTOPIAS? (Artists consider differing visions of an ideal Brooklyn).

The opening reception is tonight, Thursday October 1st from 5:30–7:30pm at the Brooklyn Historical Society (128 Pierrepont St. Brooklyn, NY 11201, 1st Floor)

The exhibition runs through January 3rd, 2010 and is open Wednesday-Friday, Sunday, 12-5pm; Saturday, 10am-5pm.

For more info on the show and related programs check out www.brooklynutopias.com.

Hope to see you at the opening if you're in the area!

(P.S. Here's an article about the show from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.)

(image: "Civil Rides, Brooklyn" 2009, adhesive tape on recycled cardboard)

Farewell, Specialist Clavel!

2009-08-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to wish my cousin Rodney well. He ships off Thursday to an undisclosed location in Afghanistan for his (first) 400-day deployment with the United States Army.

Best of Luck to you, Rodney. We'll miss you and look forward to your safe return!

(Above: Card that Irene and I made for Rodney by cutting to shreds about four different Los Angeles magazines. I recommend clicking it to see the hilarious details in the larger image. Below: Pic of me, Irene and Rodney photoshopped to resemble a Polaroid. Original, I know.)

Studio Update: The Milkman Cometh

2009-08-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Ripcetera reader (or maybe there's two of you.) I just wanted to put up a few images of a new tape piece I recently completed. I did not do a time-lapse for this one, but I did take a few progress shots along the way so you can still get an idea of the image coming together. The piece is 50in. x 54in. tape on recycled cardboard and is a portrait of my dad. It's entitled "My Father was the Milkman."

The finished work:

And a detail shot for you detail-oriented types:

And since I have your attention I thought I'd throw in a few tidbits from my sketchbooks.

HA! I just realized that the way I arranged those sketches makes it look like the guy in the red shirt is about to give that dog a very intrusive examination. That was an accident... I swear.

Anyway. So now I'm working on a piece for a show in Brooklyn opening in October. More on that to follow, but for now I'll cap off this very image-heavy post with a few shots of my studio in "factory mode." Now back to work...

CicLAvia (and my pie-in-the-sky-bike-path idea)

2009-07-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Imagine a major LA auto-thoroughfare closed to all traffic but bikes and pedestrians. A pipe dream you say? Well that's exactly what one group of ambitious artists, cyclists and activists are attempting to do for one day a week in the form of a ciclovia. This group calls their project cicLAvia and explains on their website where the idea came from:

"The ciclovía started in Bogotá, Colombia thirty years ago as a response to the congestion and pollution of city streets. Now it is happening all over Latin America and the United States, giving people a break from the stress of car traffic. The health benefits are immense, bringing families out to enjoy their streets in a new way, getting them to walk and bike together."

Last Saturday, the good folks of cicLAvia held an info session and workshop at g727 (which in my unbiased opinion, is the best little art gallery in all of Downtown LA). It also happens to be on the ground floor of my former loft building and two blocks from my current one. So with g727's track record for awesome community-based events and projects, its close proximity to my home and my mild and understated interest in all things "bicycle" I figured I'd check it out.

After a power-pointy presentation about the proposed cicLAvia, the participants were invited to dive into tubs filled with small blocks, toys and assorted bric-a-brac in an effort to create 3-D representations of our ideal urban bike plans. My highly-feasible bike plan consisted of an intricate network of bridges, tunnels and overpasses reserved for the sole use of cyclists. This system of elevated roads would separate the city's bicycle traffic from that of cars and pedestrians by elevating them (literally as well as figuratively , of course) high above the grimy, hazard-ridden and auto-clogged streets below.

I know you're all probably thinking: "Mike, you're a tool." But before you jump to the conclusion that my highfalutin bike path concept was a slap in the face of the real intention of this exercise—one that would act as a medium to elicit REALISTIC suggestions for our fair city to increase the use of bicycles and alternative transport—you might want to read on, Macduff.

In 1890, the California Cycleway—a nine-mile, elevated, wooden bike path—was opened to the public allowing cyclists to pedal unimpeded from Downtown LA to Pasadena and back... for 15 cents! And in June 2009, the High Line (an abandoned elevated train track in Manhattan) was re-opened to the public as a 1.45-mile-long elevated park/pathway.

Although the High Line is currently closed to all but pedestrian traffic (no dogs, either!) I think its design and construction is indicative of a trend that is headed toward the creation of public elevated bike-ways meant to increase bike use and relieve car traffic in urban areas. Still don't believe me, huh? Well check out these other proposed, sky-bound, urban bike lanes in Chicago, New York and Toronto. Also, Bicycle Transportation Systems, a Colorado-based company, is working on an elevated bike transit system of enclosed glass "tubes" complete with artificial tail wind!

So with any luck, sometime in the near future we'll be meeting up for a ride high in the air above the streets of Los Angeles (and I don't mean on hover-bikes... or LSD.)

P.S. Thanks again to the ciLAvia folks for an inspiring, thought-provoking workshop and presentation and for letting my camera-forgetting-*ss use your pics in this post!

My Filipino Mom

2009-06-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Although my mother is a brilliant nurse and businesswoman who spends most of her life conversing in a language other than her native tongue, some of the expressions that come out of her mouth—especially when she's excited/angry—are no less than comedic gold. Since I often work in close proximity with her, I get a steady earful of these gems and a while back began to record them on slips of paper as she said them. The main reasons for this documentation was to 1. prove to her what crazy things she's said—she'd otherwise deny ever having misspoke—and 2. to crack up my dad who turns red and tears up laughing every time he reads the list of my mom's filipino-fied expressions.

During my mother's last birthday party with extended family, she brought up the list and said I could share it with the aunts, uncle's and cousins. It was such a big hit that I came up with the idea for the Twitter page, thinking other people might get a kick out of my mom's creative take on the English language.

So, about a month and a few dozen tweets later, myfilipinomom happens to get tagged on some people's Twitter pages and suggested by others for their #FollowFriday and BAM! overnight I get like 200 people signing up to follow my mom's quirky little tweets. I know what you're thinking: "Mike, people have like a million followers on Twitter!" Well, I KNOW THAT, but this is MY MOM's Twitter page we're talking about here, not Ashton Kutcher's. Not to mention I made little to no effort to advertise about it and now it's cracking up hundreds of strangers.

I'd almost be proud of this accomplishment if I had any thing to do with it, but I really can't take any credit. I'm just the messenger. Its actually kinda depressing when I think about it: This is the most popular thing I've ever done online and all I'm really doing is taking dictation and hitting "update." But self-deprecating introspection aside, if you want to jump on the myfilipinomom bandwagon, feel free. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite tweets as a teaser of what's in store:

“Politic is stupid, but we can’t live without it. It’s like salt.”

“It’s like Maya Angelou said: ‘Getting old is no fun, but it’s okay.’”

“You know, you can only help a horse. I mean, you can put a horse in water, but you can’t feed them.”

(after slamming down the phone receiver) “Jesus Christ—for crapping out loud!”

On a related note, I recently found this series of youtube videos by a woman who does spot on hilarious impersonations of her Filipino family. (Warning: this may only be funny to you if you're Filipino or happen to be related to a Filipino.)

And to keep the Filipino family theme going, these two brothers crack me up as well. (Check out the Filipino mom in the background, classic!) Ahh, the talent generated from that small cluster of Pacific islands is mind-blowing. MABUHAY!

New (old) Bike: the before pictures

2009-04-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

What did you do this weekend? Really? No way! Awesome! You did? Na-ah! Serious? Shut up!

No REALLY, shut up!

I only asked, 'cuz I wanted to tell you that I bought a new bike! And by "new" I mean an old rusty, nearly un-rideable, hunk of metal tubes with crusty out-dated components, that I can't wait to tear apart completely.

And I couldn't be happier.

For you vintage-file roadies out there, you'll be happy to know that I was able to snag a lightweight, Italian-made, steel Bianchi road bike dating back to roughly 1982. And although it is a Frankenstein of some original Campy, Suntour and after-market Shimano parts, the frame (save for its peeling stickers and copious, but seemingly external rust spots) is for the most part intact and is currently painted a gorgeous Bianchi Celeste.

Update (5/13):

So this entry is really a few weeks old and I just never got around to posting it. Actually, because of this bike, I haven't really done much else but work on it. In addition to dismantling the bike and cleaning years of grime and grease off of all the parts, I've worked on about 12 different designs for building it up, ordered a bunch of new components (which I'll list for you at a later time...I know, bated breath...) had the frame powder-coated and I've even designed all the new decals by hand, er... computer. And in my spare time I've mostly been online reading about taking bikes apart and building them up again, looking at pictures of other people's bikes and on the rare occasion, even riding one of my other bikes (but still thinking about this one.)

On Monday I picked up the finished frame, and should get all the rest of the pieces in his week. Now all I need to do is make my way back to the Bike Oven to stick everything together since the extent of my bike tools include a hex wrench, screwdriver and ball peen hammer.

Of course, as soon as its done I'll have pictures up, but in the meantime, check out the final design of the refurbished "new-to-me" Bianchi Rippstar. And once this guy is a reality, I promise to get back to some art posts of stuff I've been working on. For a teaser, think cardboard boxes...

Ripcetera Giveaway #1: My other car is a bicycle.

2009-04-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

So, its been a while since my last post and I'm not sure if I'm due for a bike or art entry, so here's a little bit of both. I made this bumper sticker design a while ago, but like the lazy-*ss that I am, I never got around to having it printed up. Then recently I found out about these magnetic sheets that you can send through your home printer and it reminded me about this sticker project that had been lounging around on the sidelines.

Short story long, after months of passively waiting for technology to catch up with my whims, I was finally able to realize the bumper sticker you see below—which is actually a car magnet not a sticker at all. This is so that all those nasty sticker-doings don't f-up the paint job on my dope ride (that I've neglected to wash since Bush was in office.)

Initially I came up with the bumper sticker idea when, trying to be a responsible citizen for once, I was really making an effort to bike to work and around town as much as possible. But on those occasions I found myself behind the wheel, I wanted people to know (or at least think) that I was driving against my will and that I'd much rather be sucking exhaust while cruising along in the gutter on two skinny tires—which is mostly the truth (unless it's raining, but I digest.) I especially felt guilty when passing cyclists as I felt that instead of identifying me as one of them, they simply viewed me as a "motorist" at the controls his exhaust-spewing, gas-guzzling, biker-killing machine, driving willy nilly all over the road as if I owned it, without a care in the world. Not even the 5-foot clearance I would give them (as I swerved into on-coming traffic for their safety) would allay the feeling that I was somehow betraying my fellow crank-mashers by tooling around in a four-wheeler.

C'mon, there's gotta be worse reasons to make a bumper sticker, right? (Yeah, I'm talking to you, parents of honor students. You know who you are.)

Anyway, now I just drive as carelessly and as often as I like 'cuz I got a magnet on my car that absolves me of any responsibility for traffic, smog, road rage, vehicular manslaughter, the childhood asthma epidemic, freeway construction cutting multi-laned swaths through the hearts of once-thriving neighborhoods, or any U.S. involvement in foreign wars waged over "freedom" but more specifically over "oil." And since clearing my conscience has been so personally liberating, I wanted to give a (very) little something back. Thus, this giveaway:

The next 7 people to sign on to be "fans" of Ripcetera (preferably via Facebook/Networked Blogs) will get one complimentary, Rippens-original "My other car is a bicycle." car magnet for exactly zero dollars and zero cents plus FREE SHIPPING. (Hey, that's almost as cheap as gassing-up your 10-speed!) Just email me at rippstar@gmail.com with your mailing address and magnet color preference and I'll plop one of these pseudo-liberal-motorist-get-out-of-guilt-free tokens in the post for you faster than you can say "3rd-class ground shipping @ book rate, please." You don't even have to own a car to get one—these babies work on refrigerators and on the insides of metal trashcans, too—but I hope that you'd at least own a bike.

Now get out there and drive (or ride). Whatever...

Catching Up: Byron and my Globatron Interview

2009-04-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

Back in December I had the good fortune of meeting and showing w/ one Byron King at the Fountain art fair in Miami. Byron, a member of Open Ground before I came along currently lives in Jacksonville, FL but kept in touch w/ the O.G. folks who invited him to participate in the show. Byron also happens to be the founder of the contemporary art website Globatron.org.

(Byron and his baby in front of his work at the Miami show)

(A drawing from Byron's Trophy Soldiers series))

In January, Byron contacted my via facebook to do an online chat-interview. You can read the text—in the hectic and disjointed manner of communication that is only achieved via the brilliant and unique medium of IMing—see some related images, and join in the online discussion of my work and process here. The answers tend

I also thought a few people out there might prefer to read the answers following the actual questions that they are in response to, so I did a bit of reorganizing of the original text to come up with the interview below. Enjoy.

Byron King: So do you have a web site that we can look at? What’s the url?

Michael Rippens: Yeah: www.rippens.com.

BK: Okay. Have you changed it recently? It seems different. The big landing page—I don’t remember that.

MR: I just put up the big cardboard piece from Fountain. The opening page is a “mural” I made for the National Disability Center in Long Island.

BK: It’s interesting. I don’t remember it from before.

MR: Its made of cut plastic and is called “Forward Motion”— Umm, 2001 maybe.

BK: Would you like to talk about it.

MR: The info is in the “murals” section of the website.

BK: Okay. There you go. Have you been using cut plastic for some time? Seems so.

MR: I began using it my sr. yr. @ Pratt.

BK: What year was that. 2000?

MR: Yeah, 99-2000.

BK: Roger that. I’m wondering what pushed you toward that medium?

MR: It was a progression of materials from paint to cut paper to cut cardboard to cut wood then the plastic stuff. The plastic was so much easier to work with and big and fast. I could make a 30 ft piece in the time it took me to make an 8ft one (out of wood, that is.)

BK: Gotcha. So your work is all drawn basically with an exacto, correct?

MR: Ummm. Utility knife. It begins with photos of course.

BK: What do you think the medium of cut plastic says about you as a person or is there anything there. Because to me that would be very difficult and taxing. They are beautiful by the way. I’m just wondering what pulled you toward it. Just that it was easier than cutting wood?

MR: Well, I don’t like being tied to materials that are traditionally intended for making Art.

BK: Why did you go from painting to cutting? Did you feel painting was limiting?

MR: I began making paintings that tried to be cutout images. I was really fighting w/ the media and decided I was only using paint cuz I wanted to be a “painter.” Then I’m like “screw that” and I put tracing paper over one of my oil paintings and transferred it to black matte board and “cut out” my painting. It was a liberating breakthrough.

BK: So what do you call yourself now? A cutter? I guess you are over labels by now. Titles. I would call you a human since I have met you in person and you seemed so personable.

MR: I still call my works “paintings.” I never thought it was strange. Like how light artists might refer to their work as sculptures. Then everyone asked me what these things are (my plexi or vinyl sticker pieces or tape pieces). No one else likes calling them paintings.

BK: Why is that? Because they are the traditional subtraction and addition? Image making. Are they not more drawings than paintings. And an important question, to me with image making, isn’t it all drawing?

MR: I don’t really see them as drawings. I make my drawings on the computer now. They are the result of the drawings.

BK: So if you take something and make it more it becomes a painting? So drawings to you are studies kind of?

MR: Not just that. I consider the way I work with different media as “painting” with whatever it is I’m using. Drawings are the plan for the paintings - I never really show anyone my drawings. I guess I’m not really a drawer.

BK: So working with video is painting also to you?

MR: No, although editing seems similar.

BK: Editing video to you seems like painting? So if that’s the case, what would you say about performance art or installation art?

MR: I’m not really a video artist, but I love to dabble superficially in all media. I guess they all kinda come from the same place—the place where you make creative decisions. Then they become their own thing.

BK: Gotcha. Thanks. Let’s go on if you don’t mind.

MR: OK. BK: So you were at Pratt for you B.F.A. or otherwise.

MR: BFA.

BK: In painting?

MR: Yup. And screwing around.

BK: And then you stuck around Brooklyn for a bit?

MR: 4+ years—I worked for a non-profit art ed. org. And made and showed work.

BK: And you met the Open Ground folks around and about.

MR: Through a friend at Studio in a School (where I worked.)

BK: Were you showing with them or elsewhere.

MR: I joined up for their last season, I think. Before they gave up the space in B-burg.

BK: Gotcha. When did you leave Brooklyn?

MR: In 2005, then took an extended art vaca. to do residencies and shows.

BK: Then you moved back home or is LA a new frontier?

MR: LA is and was home

BK: How is it treating you?

MR: Love the weather!

BK: Are you glad you are back home?

MR: The quality of life is much better than Brooklyn ‘cuz I was poor all the time and trying to do way too much. In LA you take it easy and enjoy nature and stuff more.

BK: Are you staying in LA or do you still have wanderlust?

MR: I get antsy and want to move on every 4 yrs or so. I might do the bay area next, but I always fantasize about moving back to NYC—even though I loved and hated it.

BK: I hear you. I’m having the same fantasies. Ever think about Seattle or Portland?

MR: Ummm I’m afraid of cold, but would love to check those places out. I’ve never even been!

BK: Yeah it’s cold. Blizzard weather. Have friends up there. I’m in Florida. How is the LA art scene? Have you showed there lately?

MR: I had a solo show in Echo Park last year. The art scene is much smaller and less mature than NYC, but growing in an exciting way.

BK: In LA? Really.

MR: Yeah, many young artists and galleries in LA, which often makes for less mature work, but also allows for a lot of freedom and experimentation.

BK: Is there a lot of the low brow scene there? Seems to be low brow heaven.

MR: Yeah! especially downtown where I live!

BK: How has your work been received in low brow heaven?

MR: I don’t show around here much (or at all.) I love to look at everyone else’s stuff tho.

BK: So Michael, what are you working on now.

MR: I’m working on a commission right now, but as soon as that’s done I’m gonna finish up a triptych called “Heaven is a Place Online.” I’ve also been doing more of those masking tape paintings.

BK: Do you currently have a day job?

MR: Yeah I work with my family biz, a big reason I’m stuck in LA.

BK: I don’t care one way or another. I mean I hope you can pay for your rent.

MR: I pay it.

BK: But some folks love the whole romance of someone being a full-time artist although I’m learning all full-time artists I know have money coming in from somewhere else.

MR: I love that idea, too.

BK: Isn’t it grand?

MR: Most artists are still full time artists, even though they have a day job.

BK: I hear you on that. I agree 100 percent.

MR: I’m always thinking about my art and bemoaning the fact that I’m not working on it due to a day job.

BK: Our minds are always somewhere else aren’t they, it seems. My studio is in my head. Cheap rent. “Bemoaning the fact.” Ha…. I’m enjoying your piece we swapped on in Miami. It’s under our stairs. I’ll send a pic soon. Let me ask you one more serious question.

MR: OK. Don’t expect a serious answer tho.

BK: Do you have any words of advice for young artists who are interested in pursuing a life in the arts.

MR: Work, work, work. And go to med school!

BK: Good one. Okay man. Nice catching up. Nice little look into your world—appreciate it.

MR: That’s it? Kinda like removing a band-aid. It was fun, thanks.

Shameless Plug: Spin Class

2009-04-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

In an effort to whip myself back into shape after avoiding any serious cycling recently due to a long winter of frigid, sub-60° temps here in LA, I decided to sign up for my first ever indoor cycling class. I've now been to two sessions at the Cycle Annex and I can't recommend it enough. The workouts definitely kicked my butt and as soon as I got over the "hamster wheel" feeling of pedaling like crazy without getting everywhere, I started to enjoy riding without all the cars, stop signs, exhaust and small children who like to point at my spandex shorts and laugh.

The classes, however, only supplement my outdoor excursions, and I've found that since starting spin class I feel much stronger on my regular rides and my stamina is also improving. Of course, I still feel just as silly in bike shorts. Perhaps, the next thing I sign up for should be self esteem class.

I'm no fan of Lance Armstrong per se, but this image from his Twitter site caught my eye and is somewhat apropos of this blog entry: Lance on a spin bike only 3 days (!) after breaking his collarbone in 3 places when he crashed during the first stage of the Tour de Castilla y Leon in Spain.

In related news, I recently saw Lance–and a swath of notable riders who were making their "comebacks" to the pro cycling circuit after completing their doping suspensions—at the recent Tour of California (which, appropriately enough is sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Amgen, manufacturer of Epogen, an EPO commonly used as a performance enhancing drug by pro athletes.) Excited to see my first pro bike race, I trekked with my brother and a friend up the Angeles Crest Highway to the second highest peak of the tour and shouted and rang cowbells at Lance and the rest of the peleton as they sped past us riding uphill at 30+ mph. After a 45-minute drive followed by standing around on a crowded mountain road for an hour only to see a colorful streak of spandex and carbon fiber whizz by in about 15 seconds, I think my brother summed it up perfectly when he said "As a spectator sport, cycling kinda sucks!" We did get to dress up in silly costumes and act like fools in public, so that's gotta be worth something, right?

And finally, I couldn't resist posting this last pic depicting a rare and very strange intersection of cycling and art: Lance hanging out w/ Ed Ruscha after they had lunch together last Friday. You stole the "huh?" right outta my brain.

Catching Up: Art for friends and family

2009-04-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

A lot of people ask me what I've been up to lately as it seems (by my art site) that I don't have a lot of new stuff up. Well, to those people I say "suck an egg!" But really, I spent much of the beginning of the year working of commissions and/or gifts for friends and family beginning with a pair of tape-portraits of my two nephews, Rilo and Owen (or as I like to call them "Rilowen"). These were a gift for my brother and his wife who had recently complained about the blankness of their walls at their home in SLO. I thought, "hey, I can do something about that..."

Then I got a call from my aunt who was all in a tizzy over the Rilowen paintings and she commissioned me to do a portrait of her boss and his wife for his upcoming birthday. Having recently bought a new digital camera w/ an interval shooting function, I decided to document this tape painting in a stop motion video.

In case you're wondering, I shot one pic every 30 seconds, then for the video, sped it up to play 4 frames per second. Ummm, you can do the math yourself.

Finally, around this same time, my good friend's husband contacted me to commission a painting for his wife's 30th birthday. He really liked this painting that I made years before featuring his wife and her best friend. That piece had since been sold, but I said I'd do something similar, and weeks of cutting and layers upon layers of spray paint later, this is what materialized. I call it "Axeland Mols" for reasons that are not necessarily clear or significant, but may be.

I bike for kids' blood!

2009-04-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

On April 26th I'll be doing a 50 mile ride benefiting the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles Bloodmobile Fund. If you'd like to support this cause with a donation, visit this site and type in "Rippens" at the top of the page in the section called "Find a fundraiser to support."

"Childrens Hospital Los Angeles serves children from virtually every demographic and community in the Los Angeles area. One of their biggest needs is blood and plateletts on a day to day basis. Your donation will help meet this critical need by providing an outreach into the community that Childrens Hospital is currently unable to provide."

Thanks for your generous donations and I'll see you on the road...

This is a pic of my bike hanging out on the CA coast in my summer '07 Aids LifeCycle ride from SF to LA. I know what you're all thinking and, yes, my butt HURT.

Catching Up: Miami

2009-04-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

In December '08 I was invited to particpate in a group show with my old friends in the Brooklyn-based artist collective Openground. The show was part of the Fountain:Miami art fair that took place concurrently w/ Art:Basil and about 100,000 other art fairs, shows and happenings that overwhelmed Miami's Winwood and South Beach districts for about 2 weeks at the end of the year.

The works I put in the show are from a series entitled "mikespace" where I made paintings of other "mikes" on myspace.com. I also incorporated each mike's slogan or quote into the paintings. You can check images of each of the works in the series in the mikespace section of my website.

You can also see a whole bunch more pictures of the show, some drunk Open Grounders, shots of lovely Miami architecture adorned by lovelier murals, a stripping clown and tons of pictures of artwork from other fairs on my flickr site.

I loved Miami, btw. The art, the food, the diversity, the parties and the laid back beachy-vibe all suited me just fine. Oh and the weather was even better than LA! Case in point, here's a shot of the view from the front porch of the timeshare I was crashing at. Keep in mind this is DECEMBER! (Eat your hearts out City folk.)

First. Blog. Ever.

2009-04-04T01:31:00.000-07:00

Hello, world wide web.

So I got me an art web site, a flicker, a facebook and I even signed up for some professional networking shites, but there still seemed to be a void in my interweb-soul that just wasn't getting filled. Y'see, I have all these random projects 'n things I do that I'd love to share with all the good e-people, but I had no idea where to put em'. And that's why I'm here, bombarding your eyes and minds with all this miscellaneous stuff. I hope you get the slightest kick out of at least some of it, but if not, please accept my humblest advanced apologies.

Plus I love to run at the mouth every once in a while, so consider yourself my sounding-bored. Sorry, again.