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IMMINENT RUIN COUNTERFEIT
C U L T U R E F A S H I O N
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Justin Gonzalez
M U S I C EXECUTIVE EDITOR
A R T C R E AT I V E D I R E C T O R
DEPUTY EDITOR
MANAGING EDITOR
DESIGN DIRECTOR
ADVERTISING
PHOTOGRAPHER
PRODUCT DIRECTOR
W E B C O O R D I N AT O R
MUSIC SCOUT
J uelz S antana
Kobe Bryant
V i k t o r Va u g h n
Archy Marshall
S c o t t Me s c ud i
Austin Hunkins
Zolee Griggs
Carly Cohen
Jonny Concool
Pierre S jogreen
WRITER
Andrew Sanders
WRITER
Brendan Sullivan
WRITER
Kenya Adams
COUNTERFEIT R E A L E R
T H A N
Y O U
T H O U G H T
I L L U S T R AT O R
TECHNICAL OFFICER
Tr a c y G o n z a l e z
Jay Gonzalez
O u r m i s s i o n i s t o c h a r a c t e r i z e t h e yo u t h o f n o w t h r o u g h t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n o f a r t , m u s i c a n d f a s h i o n . W i t h t h e a b i l i t y t o r e a c h t h e m i n d s o f t h e yo u n g e r g e n e r a t i o n , C O U N T E R F E I T i s
CLOTHING SCOUT
Bandon Lopez
c o m m i t t e d t o g e t t i n g t h e yo u t h i n t o u c h w i t h t h e c u l t u r e t h a t i s e x p l o d i n g a r o u n d t h e m . MODEL SCOUT
Tay l o r G o n z a l e z
E D I T O R ’ S
D I S P A T C H
P R E E M P T I V E
S T R I K E
MULTIPLE TIMES A YEAR, THERE ARE NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WORLD OF URBAN CULTURE. Whether it be ar t, music, movies, food, or clothing, the lifestyle of keeping up to date with the latest releases and events can be fucking exhausting. Counter feit is finally here to help the masses stay current in terms of shit that matters. Not only were we the first to do it, but we also continue to push boundaries as regards to our featured content and our own design. e n j oy t h is i s s u e .
- Justin Gonzalez EDITOR IN CHIEF
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R E A L E R
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T H A N
Y O U
T H O U G H T
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L A ’ S
B E S T
S T R E E T
T A C O S
KOREAN BBQ AND MEXICAN FUSION L A has been known for its authentic Mexican cuisine since one can remember. Driving through the hear t of Los Angeles, one will realize that there is no shor tage of amazing Mexican restaurants; but today we are going to focus on a food truck that has been creating quite a stir on social media, Kogi. Kogi is a notorious food truck that constantly roams the streets of L A . The trucks can be found anywhere, from concer ts, to events, to farmer markets, Kogi usually makes an appearance. What sets them apar t from the rest is that they specialize in Korean BBQ and Mexican fusion, which makes for a once in a lifetime experience that you can only find in L A .
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CULTURE
C O L D
TRAVEL
N I G H T S
I N
S A N
F R A N C I S C O
ARCHITECTURE IN THE CITY Some know San Francisco best for its liberal freedom, drug exploration, and eclectic culture. Others know it for the cold weather, fog and rain. Regardless what you may have heard about the City, one thing is for cer tain: it is remarkably beautiful. As you make your way through the city hopping from one Muni to the next, be sure that you occassionally stop and look around. The endless hills make for great vantage points, but you could easily miss them if you get distracted by the chaos of the streets.
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CULTURE
5T H F L O O R
F I D M ’ S
D E S I G N E R STUDENTS AT WORK
Ever y quarter, the students at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchanising get the oppor tunity to create a fashion based display on the 5th Floor of their L A campus. Each display has its own unique sense of individuality, much like the students who design them. The students assemble the entire arrangement from top to bottom, sometimes even creating their own props for thematic accents. If you get a chance to grab a glimpse of these life-size dioramas, do not hesitate!
D I S P L A Y S
F U N D A M E N T A L
B A S I C S
CARHARTT WIP’S OUTDOOR SHOWCASE
CARGO PANTS
CARHARTT x CONVERSE
CURT SHIRT
TAC
C A R H A R T T
W I P
S P R I N G / S U M M E R
CTICAL VEST
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FISHERMAN CAP
1 7
PARKA SHOULDER BAG
D U M B F O U N D I N G
D E T A I L
THE INTRICATE WORK OF JAMES JEAN
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by: Chad Saville photography: Brandon Shigeta
JAMES JEAN Born in Taipai in 1979 and educated at the School of Visual Ar ts in New York City, James Jean is a Los Angeles-based ar tist who creates highly detailed sketches, paintings and street ar t for a series of private and commercial collectors. Prada hired him to install murals at their epicenter stores in Los Angeles and New York , and designer Philip Lim commissioned him to paint a series of por traits including Rachel Bilson, Selma Blair and Devendra Banhardt. He has since retired from illustration, focusing solely on fine ar t. COUNTERFEIT 19
His imagination is on
constantly creates comp
ethereal and in motion,
gesture. The laws of gra
the places depicted are
and unclear planes of e
of traditional symbolism
dynamic narratives, alto
unique and widely reco
the things that inspire h
obser vation, memor y, a
out as the principle asp
is an ever-present confl
desire to avoid any mea
the process of creating,
of obser vation of what ’
him dictate what he doe
he’s interested to see h predilections influence
solely from imagination
left: Mizu Ink and Digital, 9 x 12”, 2014
right: Mangchi Ink and Digital, 9 x 12”, 2014
n another level as he
positions of characters,
, always graceful in
avity are broken and
e some other, distant
existence. The elements
m are entwined in
ogether forging Jean’s
ognizable style. Among
him the most, the
and imagination stand
pects of his work. There
lict between the ar tist ’s
aning and intent in
, letting the pure act
’s happening before
es; On the other end,
how his prejudices and his work , to create
n and memor y.
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Illustration was the first step on his ar tistic journey. While at school, he wanted to do pretty much anything that would require him to draw, if he could get paid for it. And then, af ter working briefly for New York Times and getting rejected from some major book publishers, he attracted the attention of DC comics, where he began doing covers. That turned into a regular job for about seven years, all the way until 2007, when he turned his focus to his personal work. It is interesting that, during that period, despite his intention to shif t completely to the personal work , his commercial gigs were hugely successful, as he worked for Time Magazine, Playboy, Prada, Rolling Stone, Linkin Park , just to name a few of his employers. For a time, Jean enjoyed the pressure of deadlines and constraints of illustration, since he learned to solve problems fast and polish his work until it gleamed. But he felt that in order to grow, he needed a change, so now he works in fine ar t, where the challenges and rewards are much greater on the intellectual and spiritual level.
left: Aides Lapin Digital, 9539 x 6000 pixels, 2016 COUNTERFEIT 23
above: Mother! Acrylic on WC Paper, 20 x 30�, 2017
above: Max Pipe Ink and Digital, 14.25 x 14”, 2017 COUNTERFEIT 25
right: SHAPE OF WATER Charcoal on Paper and Digital, 2017.
left: AMA II Acrylic on Canvas, 2017
When looking at Jean’s work , it ’s hard not to get pulled in by the gravitational force where line and form distor t into an unseen gyre. His paintings are stunningly apocalyptic. They look and feel like a destruction of the senses, where viewers may suspend their attachment to the laws of physics and become fully actualized in the ar tist ’s domain. Jean has published a series of books, and has held recent solo exhibitions at Mar tha Otero Galler y in Los Angeles and Jack Tilton Galler y in New York City.
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BLEAK BEAUTY SENTIENT IMAGES BY DANNY LYON
DANNY LYON A c hild of Russian and German immigrants,
protests. Impressed by the prints, John
the photographer Danny Lyon was born in
Lewis made him the organization’s of ficial
Forest Hills, Queens—“like the Ramones,” he
photographer. Sometimes idealism can be a
would later write—in 1942, and enrolled in the
good thing.
University of Chicago as a histor y student in
Today what ’s most striking about Lyon’s
1959. Three years later, in a career-defining
photographs is how calm they are. His
decision, he dropped out to par ticipate in the
autobiography may suggest a man keen to
civil-rights movement. Critics of ten link this
provoke and denounce, but, with the exception
move to his historical awareness. Lyon sounds
of two shots of police manhandling protesters
like a naive idealist discovering politics—
(and a famous profile of a helmeted cop that
“it took one speec h”—not a historically
was published with the prescient caption,
aware thinker. But following his simple,
“Is he protecting you?”), he did not depict
even simplistic, intuitions to their profound
confrontation at all. Neither did he go
conclusion, he dropped out and committed
looking for suf fering. His focus, rather, was
himself to SNCC. Soon he was documenting
the SNCC’s day-to-day functioning: c hildren
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picketing a whites-only swimming pool; voting-
struggle coexist in the image. One seems a result
rights demonstrators outside the state legislature;
of the other.
a Selma choir in per formance; a lunch-counter sit-
Lyon’s photographs possess the same
in. From SNCC’s perspective, Lyon’s photographs
convincing intimacy. He does not, and perhaps
made for excellent propaganda. But as an ar tist,
cannot, make grand symbolic denunciations in the
he accomplished something more.
manner of Sebastiao Salgado. But he invented his
By following SNCC’s operations with single-
own form of political witness by sympathetically
minded devotion, Lyon created an aesthetic of
attending to an individual’s presence. Over
dignity, not of anger. The March on Washington,
the course of his five-decade long career, Lyon
Aug 28, 1963, for example, is a frontal close-up
went on to document some of America’s most
of two protesters. It ’s shot from a low angle—
marginalized communities—prisoners, prostitutes,
Lyon seems to be bending or kneeling—and
illegal immigrants, Native Americans—in this
one marcher’s arm rises into the sky with the
resolutely private manner. These photos, along
dramatic economy of a woodcut. More strikingly,
with his itinerant film and montage work , are now
both marchers have their eyes closed. Calm and
on display (through September 25) at the Whitney
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Museum as par t of an absorbing retrospective titled
instead of calling attention to the glamorous dangers
Message To The Future.
of biker gangs, he created something like a family
Lyon would of ten embed himself in a social group for months, slowly building friendships with perspective subjects. This submersion gives his
album for them, a fact that is evident in his formal decisions. The most remarkable images in Conversations
photobooks a collaborative feel. Sometimes they
are por traits. It ’s not simply that the prisoners feel
even feature contributions by people he photographs.
comfor table around Lyon, but that they look back at
In general, there is a sense that Lyon’s subjects are
him. Given the disparity of their situations, this has
expressing something of themselves. This is especially
an extraordinar y ef fect. Charlie Lowe, Ellis Unit is a
true about The Bikeriders.
por trait shot across prison bars that diagonally cross
Af ter two years with SNCC, Lyon returned to Illinois to photograph biker gangs in the Chicago area. He had been par t of one himself—there’s a self-por trait of him straddling a motorcycle in the exhibition—and clearly admired their lifestyle.But COUNTERFEIT 38
the frame. Lowe looks at us with raw, almost animal longing. The message is all too clear.
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SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
T