ArtSwap | Eric 02
The ArtSwap club Eric | 2015 On Giving a Shit When I was a kid you could buy tacos at the park for a few dollars. The vendors upped their prices the moment new people came into the neighborhood and were willing to pay more for a goddamn taco. There are other changes, too. Those random tiendas on Sunset are no longer. They seem to be disappearing every other day. Near my apartment there are about five new coffee shops. Brewing coffee is an art form here now—one is even known for having the best pastries in town. My uncle still lives behind a trendy bar on Sunset. It was not always trendy; years ago it was a shady dive bar where the regulars would hang out. The regulars are gone now. The apartment owners told my uncle the other day the price of rent would be going up—again. He works in construction so money is not, well, flowing-in. He laments the former neighborhood but is often caught trying to balance the struggles of the past and the benefits of living in this new place where he has little worry for the safety of his family. Violence was common back then. The park was off-limits at
ArtSwap | Levi
The ArtSwap club Levi | 2015 I was just putting portraits in the window just because I wanted to draw people. There was no idea for swapping of art, or anything like that. But then Levi came along. He stood in frame of the door of the Art Garage, an obvious extrovert, asking about the portraits that I was putting in the Tiny Gallery. To his question, “Can you draw me?”, I replied, “of course”. He went on to say that he also likes to draw. One of his many ideas is to take two different dog breeds and combine them into a new hybrid. I proposed to trade one of his hybrid dogs for a portrait. He went home and within the next couple hours, returned with one of his dog drawings. This new dog had it’s own stats, much like a baseball card. Compatibility with humans, ease of training, friendliness towards other pets, and more. He even gave it a backstory. I was so enamored with it that the pressure was on me to mirror his artistic intent. We set up a photoshoot and while I was taking pictures I asked him if he had any requests for his art, and this is what