Artist talk with Alex Schaefer at CSUN

I was asked to give an artist talk about the economy and art and whatnot at California State University Northridge. I managed to go on and on for about an hour, speaking off the cuff. I hope if anything that I managed to illustrate some of the economic crime ravaging the world


part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWzf4bELxXU
part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DJ56pmLl_s
part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG4YsCriFtc
part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rPicfANrgI

Selling Sacks of Shit:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/jp-morgan-sold-investors-mbs-covered-sack-shit-loans-goldman-aig-redux

Bernie Sander's Federal Reserve Audit and the $16 trillion lie
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9e2a4ea8-6e73-4be2-a753-62060dcbb3c3

Who Does the Government Want to "Bail Out"? You or Banks?
http://alexanderschaefer.blogspot.com/2012/09/alex-schaefer-does-some-bailout-math.html

Mortgage Backed Securities Fraud:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/bank-of-america-syncora-settlement_n_1681300.html

http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news26195/aig-files-10-billion-suit-against-bank-america-over-mbs-fraud

Loan Application Fraud
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2011/09/13/the-lawsuits-plaguing-bank-of-america-2/

Bid Rigging and Interest Rate Manipulation
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-30/bank-of-america-barclays-credit-suisse-sued-over-libor

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/taibbi-on-imus-how-municipal-bond-rigging-robbed-americans-of-billions-20120621

Drug Money Laundering
http://www.policymic.com/articles/10959/fbi-drug-cartels-use-bank-of-america-to-launder-money

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/07/09/mexico-drug-cartel-funneled-money-through-bank-america-fbi-says/

Saddaam Hussein Wants to Dump the Dollar, He Gets Killed
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998512,00.html

Alex Schaefer in Spanish Vanity Fair

I just learned I was profiled in Vanity Fair in Spain, published Sept 14th, 2011 http://blogs.revistavanityfair.es/personajes/2011/09/14/alex-schaefer-y-sus-cuadros-de-bancos-ardiendo/. Three days later Occupy New York broke out and a wave of protest spilled out across the country. Let's hope a year later we can get it going again!

Here's a shot of my latest protest sign. I was waving the at Band of America Plaze today gearing up for the one year celebration of protest beginning in Los Angeles!

Limited Edition of Chase Burning, Sunset and Vine

I have never made a print of any of my artworks. It's not that people haven't asked, it's just I never knew who to go to and and the logistics of it, but Charlie James knows! He went and had the paint photographed SUPER hi-res where there take a series of close ups and a program merges them all into one huge image. The resolution on this print blows my mind, and I consider myself to be connoisseur of paint surface. All the impasto, the scumbling, the paint quality, it's amazingly vivid! It looks like it would be bumpy if you passed your have over it. So here it is folks, a signed limited edition of Chase Burning on Sunset and Vine in the heart of Hollywood! There are 25 in the edition and that's it, no more prints of this painting. So if you've wanted to have one of my burning banks but the paintings are out of your price range, now is a great opportunity to get one of the amazing prints!

Contact Charlie James by phone at 213.687.0844. By email at info@cjamesgallery.com and you can check his gallery website at cjamesgallery.com

Protest Sign Making in Downtown LA

The sign making was originally supposed to be at Pershing Square 3pm but when I got there a little after that the entire park was unexplainably closed with police tape around all the entrances. Walking around the park I noticed on the SW corner was a note written in chalk that said "go to City Hall for sign making" so off I went. I met up with everyone at the NE corner of 1st and Main with my supplies and enough to share and had a great time in the cool afternoon shade. We all plugged away 'til about 6:30 and then headed home. We got a LOT of signs made and when we were done they all got put into a cart for storage until the first protest march celebrating the 1 year anniversary of Occupy LA, which broke out on Oct 1st. Click here for info on upcoming 2012 protest and action! Who knows who will get my signs but I hope they wave them high!

Bankers Behind Bars!

I've made a few variations from the original "Bankers Behind Bars" stencil that are available for anyone to use! Make stencils, make posters and signs, make t-shirts, make stickers I only ask that you protest with them! They are both designed to fit on 8.5 by 11 paper, but someone with a little bit of photoshop skill could easily make it bigger. And if you have a plotter or can make screen prints, have at it!

sign making party at Pershing Square at 3pm DTLA!

Everybody is getting ready to protest again, can you feel it? Welcome back if you participated last year, and join in this year if you didn't!

Step 1: Make a Sign!

have fun and learn how!

#O1: Sign Making Party

Sunday(9/23), 3PM, Pershing Square

Details:
Bring posters, bring cardboard, bring markers and paint, bring more than you need and share! I'm getting stuff ready today and I'm bringing a bunch of stencils to hand out for people to copy and mutiply.

We have entered the one-year anniversary of the first awakening of protest in this country, let's make Protest 2.0 even louder!!
Join IN!

Alex Schaefer on Tim Pawlenty's career move

folks, these kinds of career moves should be against the law: Tim Pawlenty to head U.S. bank lobbying group. Are you serious? Why do we tolerate this? Sorry, you take one career path and sometimes it excludes you from another, that's life.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/20/us-financial-regulation-pawlenty-idUSBRE88J0LL20120920

I mean, I've read about teachers not getting a job because someone finds a porno they were in years ago, yet going from politics to lobbying seems way more obscene to me than that.

Matchstick Wall St Installation at CSUN w Alex Schaefer

Today I went to Cal State University Northridge at noon and helped set up the installation with Edie and Jim and a bunch of the students who contributed to the piece. It really is amazing! The students helped us transport the sculpture to the gallery and then Edie and I, with the help of Jim with the ladders and lighting (I do not like ladders!) got the whole thing together! This has been a year long project for Edie and the students in her Art Education classes over two semesters, and it's all gonna go up in flames at the show closing, with the blessing of the campus fire department! aahhahahahha so great! Here's a bunch of shots of the installation and a video walk-thru. It's open to the public starting Sept 22 and will be burned as a performance on Oct 13 beginning at 4pm and culminating at 7pm! I'll be giving a talk Sept 27 at 2pm about painting, protest, and the economy. Call the CSUN gallery office at 818 677 2156 for information, hours and location.

Chase Burning on the Miracle Mile

I've got this painting finished off for the show at Cal State Northridge. Click here for the info for that. I really dig how this one came out. This one demanded a little more detail that the others, but I think the interesting complexity of the people all along the bottom contrasted with the expressive verticality of the rest of the painting is a nice balance. And it has the tiniest self portrait I've ever painted, I fit inside one square inch! oil on canvas, 48 by 36

If you wanna zoom in closer, click the image, then control click that and select 'view image' then zoom in with the magnifying glass

QE Infinity made Alex Schaefer finish this

I started this painting of the Los Angeles Federal Reserve branch on the corner of Grand and Olympic a while ago but just now got around to finishing it. In fact, it was September 17th last year, the first day of Occupy New York! Like I said, Bank Bailout/welfare for the 1% has got a lot of people upset. Makes me want to go out there an do another one of the same, destructive motif!

Alex Schaefer on Surface & Surface

I found a link to a great profile / link at Surface & Surface from Ireland

http://surfaceandsurface.com/2012/09/18/alex-schaefer-burning-protest/

Mocking Up a Giant Banker-Monster

I got out some tape and construction paper and started to mock up an idea for some performance protest. With it's arms totally outstretched from fingertip to fingertip this giant banker-monster would be 42 feet across; the sleeves would be fabric about 4 feet tall with poles at the elbows and wrists. The whole piece would take six people to operate; in the photo picture a chess piece like a rook being about six feet tall to sense the scale. The idea would be to go into a crowd of people and have the bankers hands surround a bunch of folks who get "eaten" by the voracious and criminal too big to fail bankster appetite.

Chase Burning on the Miracle Mile

This painting is coming together in time for it's debut at Cal State Northridge for the Burning Wall St matchstick conflagration! I'll post a new blog about that soon, here's an earlier link. A nice wide shot and a close up of some of the oblivious passers-by. oil on canvas, 48 by 37

Alex Schaefer does some Bailout Math

ok I've been doing some research and adding things up. Here's are the numbers regarding personal American debt across the country"

ALL mortgages:   $14,000,000,000,000
ALL credit cards:      $793,100,000,000
ALL student loans:   $870,000,000,000
ALL auto loans:        $730,000,000,000
adds up to:          $16,393,100,000,000

a little over $16 Trillion dollars and ALL personal debt in America could have been wiped clean...

Which is, ironically, the same amount of money out Government gave away to Banks from Bailout ONE! http://www.forbes.com/sites/traceygreenstein/2011/09/20/the-feds-16-trillion-bailouts-under-reported/ and don't forget we've already had Bailout 2 which the Banks have blown through and now there's talk of Bailout 3!?!

More proof our leaders do not represent the real People of this Nation, only the Corporate "people"

Alex Schaefer and junkmail from CitiBank

Look who wants to give me a credit card? Sorry CitiBank, not interested. Is this what they the too big to fail banks call increasing their lending? Ugh. Well, they provided a return envelope so how about some mail protest art? hey I'm sending them a signed original Schaefer! aahahahah but it will surely end up in the trash :)

Debt is the Problem! Why are you creating MORE???

Alex Schaefer in Architectural Deinforcement show

I have a painting in a nice group show at Cerritos College curated by James MacDevitt. The subtitle of the show is "Constructing Disaster and Decay" so I can see how my painting is included. The funny thing to me is it's actually Chase Bank and the like who are constructing disaster and decay. The other artists are Amy Casey, Kelly Cline, Maysey Craddock, Preston Daniels, Veronique D'Entremont, Yvette Gellis, Ashley Hagen, Wendy Heldmann, Susan Logoreci,Sonja Schenk, Aili Schmeltz, and Andy Voght. They made a nice catalog too!

Alex Schaefer chalks Wells Fargo

Alex Schaefer and Bankers Behind Bars Productions continue with their chalking protest series of civil disobedience: I hope you enjoy the Wells Fargo edition.

My friend Stephen who was a cameraman for the protest said he saw private security flag down an LAPD cruiser, but for some reason, we can only theorize, the LAPD refused to engage us.

Stay tuned for more! And share the link however you can!

Predatory Lending : tinyurl.com/bwdld2l
MBS Fraud : tinyurl.com/8j7bnd8
Bid Rigging : tinyurl.com/9csxh3k
Drug Money Laundering : tinyurl.com/2925wus

here's a link to Max Keiser's post about the video. I like all the comments!

http://maxkeiser.com/2012/09/08/alex-schaefer-wells-fargo-chalk-protest/#comment-512598

Work in Progress, the Miracle Mile

I thought I'd post a shot of this painting work in progress, I think it's in a very interesting state of unfinish. I plan to revisit the flames soon, but right now I'm stiching up the building and hard edges and will put in little people and cars next. Right now the fire area looks more like a bruise or stain on the building which is sort of creepy in it's own way... oil on canvas, 48 by 24. 3731 Wilshire Blvd 90010

The Outlaw, Bank of America!

Bank of America, you are an outlaw.

Yes You, Bank of America, the corporate entity, the "person". Since the law defines You as a single person, then I get to imagine what You look like and who You are... I'm thinking a Zombie crossed between Vito Corleone and Hannibal Lechter. Hey, that fits perfect! Here are some of the crimes You are involved in

Mortgage Backed Securities Fraud:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/bank-of-america-syncora-settlement_n_1681300.html

http://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news26195/aig-files-10-billion-suit-against-bank-america-over-mbs-fraud

Loan Application Fraud
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2011/09/13/the-lawsuits-plaguing-bank-of-america-2/

Bid Rigging and Interest Rate Manipulation
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-30/bank-of-america-barclays-credit-suisse-sued-over-libor

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/taibbi-on-imus-how-municipal-bond-rigging-robbed-americans-of-billions-20120621

Drug Money Laundering
http://www.policymic.com/articles/10959/fbi-drug-cartels-use-bank-of-america-to-launder-money

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/07/09/mexico-drug-cartel-funneled-money-through-bank-america-fbi-says/

Quoting William K. Black: "if corporations are going to be just like people... then let's use the three strike laws against them. Three strike laws, you go to prison for life, if you have three felonies. How many of these major corporations would still be allowed to exist, if we were to use the three strike laws, given what they've been convicted of in the past?"

Bank of America, for these reasons I protest You.

You deserve this:

And this:






You know this Monday is Labor Day and the Banks are closed.

But Tuesday seems a perfect day to pay Bank of America a visit!

B of A Plaza, 333 South Hope St 90071

High Noon