News

Damn...

2011-04-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Lagging super hard on updates, but an all new site should be up May 31st. Been working on it in my spare time since January, but deadlines keep me from finishing. It's gonna rule, and it already makes this one look like dogshit in comparison.

-Sterlz

Travels With Charley

2010-12-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

A kind of second childhood falls on so many men. They trade their violence for the promise of a small increase of life span, in effect, the head of the house becomes the youngest child. And I have searched myself for this possibility with a kind of horror. For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I've lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as a punishment. I did not want to surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage.
-John Steinbeck

The Brigade

2010-12-03T12:07:00.000-08:00

Group Show Saturday At R&R Gallery

2010-12-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

Interesting premise. Gonna be pretty cool I think.

Shit Kids

2010-11-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

Urban Outfitters Europe just picked up my Shit Kids tee for Blood Is The New Black.
Order one!

Antwuan Dixon Soundboard

2010-11-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Someone made a soundboard out of ol' 'Twuan's greatest verbal hits. Don't be surprised if Mr. Dixon gives somma y'all a call later this evening after a few Jameson's.

Bwahahahah.

Rad.

2010-11-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Thomas Bonilla

2010-11-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Wearing pretty much the sickest shirt out.

TV's Very Own Gary Stars!!!

2010-11-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Gareth Stehr is a killer. Dude's been making some seriously evil art as of late. Really solid high gloss skulls, alchemical symbols, and general badassery on wooden panels. Peep his bloggeration here.

Hello, my name is Al

2010-10-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

Stolen from the radical bros over at:Bastard Squadron

Globe Shoes Lookbook

2010-10-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

I pirated this pic out of the newest Globe Lookbook. Super psyched on the work we've been coming up with. Hope y'all are too.

Captain, There Are Doubts

2010-10-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

A Big Ol' Pile Of Interesting Shit

2010-10-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Fell in my lap this week. Inspiration for days from this stuff. Here's a little Tuesday brain-vomit for yall:

Milton Glasers 10 Things I Have Learned. Gospel.

Nil Ultra Site Update Dude's stuff has never looked so good.

Caseys Tumblr Killing it.

Hunter S. Thompson's last written words. Dude.

P.S. Look out for new work for Baker Skateboards, Globe Shoes, BITNB, and a serious site update in the coming months.

-Sterlz

Shooter Jennings

2010-09-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Wearing my "Smoke Drugs" tee from Blood is the new Black.

Stoked!

Dick Heads.

2010-09-24T16:09:00.001-07:00

Waaaaaaar Paint.

2010-09-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

Stella Mozgowa of Warpaint running one of my Blood Is The New Black tees. This was for a Fader Magazine shoot styled by the inimitable Ashley Abercrombie (Peep her styling radness here.)

Photo: Marc Lemoine

KR3W Lunch

2010-09-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Caught up with Casey and Shad for lunch over by Factory 413 today. Lambert was running a pretty solid kit.

Summer Fling Truck Killin' It.

2010-09-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

Mitra and The Summer Fling Truck were on Fox News LA the other day. Look hard enough, and you'll see my tees. Makin' headlines son!

More info here, or here.

I Mean.....

2010-08-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

There are simply no words.

A. This is amazing.
B. I wish I came up with this.
C. I cant really find any info on it.
D I really wish I came up with this.

Anyone out there know where I can purchase one?

KR3W Serial Killers @ Factory 413

2010-08-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hey creeps! Go on over to Factory 413 and pick up my newest KR3W design. You are basically guaranteed to get scornful looks, and scare old ladies on the street. Congrats!

Buy it here

The Four Horsemen

2010-08-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

Japanese Retail love

2010-08-08T18:41:00.000-07:00

Here's some folks over in Japan repping some of my BITNB X Nylon gear at their store. For more info peep game. (Dude in the middle just kills it!)

Spinnin' Records Y'all

2010-08-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm gonna be playing some records at Footsies in Highland Park on Monday, August 16th if ya wanna roll. Don't worry, I'll be playing both types of music: country and western. I'm sure some anthemic seventies jams, some stoney-baloney stuff, and some eeeeeevil sounds will creep their way into the set as well.

See you there.

Furby

2010-08-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Pretty much killing it.

It's Gotta Be the Shirts

2010-07-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Lizard and Furby both running some of my tees at a recent KR3W/Deathwish tour.. Lookin' good fellas.

Awaken to DMT

2010-07-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

Because Jim Carrey, Joe Rogan, Cosby, and a shit-ton of scientists and other bros say so.

"If you fly into LA, and all of the sudden you see LA, you would look at it and say: that's fuckin cancer!"

"Thought is responsible for all, if not most of all suffering"

I'm down.

My Old Lady Directed a Music Video!

2010-07-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

So Christina (the old ball'n chain) wrote and directed a music video for our tight homies The Superhumanoids a few months back, and it just dropped today. She flat out crushed it! Film/Edit duties were provided by saymayday. Peep game below:

Richard Ramirez's Letterhead

2010-07-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Apparently the NightStalker had his own stationary drafted up while serving in San Quentin. Im not exactly sure what's funnier: The pentagram serving as the dot for the lower case i, or the fact that a serial killer had some letterhead designed for him in the can. I scored this over at letterheady.com It's a pretty cool site devoted to interesting letterhead produced throughout the years.

Urban Outfitters Europe

2010-07-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

If you happen to be in Europe, you can now purchase my BITNB designs at Urban Outfitters. Check 'em out here.

Donny Miller for Vans

2010-06-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sure anyone interested in mens fashion, footwear, etc. has already seen the shoes advertised in this video, but have you actually watched this ad thing yet? Donny Miller is a bad bad man.

Maiden Road Trip

2010-06-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

On Saturday me and the homies piled into a makeshift Hunter S. Thompson-Mobile, drove down to San Berdoo, and saw Iron Maiden at the San Manuel Amphitheatre.

Man, what a show. This band has been playing together on and off literally as long as I have been alive. Thus you would certainly forgive some slowing down, or lack of energy. Nope. Bruce and the dudes melted our faces clean off. Twenty five thousand metal fans, three garbage fueled bonfires, one broken collar bone, and a level of consumption that would make Bukowski look like a lightweight.

-Up The Irons!.

Antenna Magazine

2010-06-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

One of my KR3W Apparel tees was featured in Antenna Magazine's Summer 2010 Issue (center top -click to enlarge). I'm pretty sure there is a mix up with the pricing, but no one's perfect. The shirt is available at Factory 413 in Los Angeles.

Sterling Bartlett/Blood Is The New Black/Nylon Magazine

2010-06-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Early this year I was asked to do a collaboration with Nylon Magazine through Blood Is The New Black. The idea was to re-work an existing cover, and then release it as a tee in celebration of Nylon's ten year anniversary. I chose the January 2006 issue featuring Mena Suvari, and gave her the Rob Halford/Night Porter/Leather Bar treatment. Peep the links below:

Japanese blog coverage -internet gold!
LA Vintage blog
Better yet, just go buy one here.

MISHKA's Down

2010-06-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

I got a quick write up on the MISHKA blog this morning. This brand is great. You can always count on them to employ really really good illustrators. Just off the top of my head, I can remember seeing both Skinner, and Arik Roper's, work used for tees, and hats and such. Bonus to be in such good company.

Peep the post here.

Mobile Blood!

2010-05-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Blood Is The New Black is launching a mobile pop-up shop via a converted ice cream truck. SICK! It's gonna be called Summer Fling, and it's unveiling is going to be held at the Nomad Gallery in LA on the 5th of June. I will have some new pieces up in the gallery, and my tees will be sold alongside ice cream, and Iphone cases out of the whip. Show up, drink free beer, 'n talk shit. See you fools there.

More info here, and here.

Irony Vs. Action

2010-05-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

"Irony is for people who don't do anything." - Dan Connor.
(As played by actor John Goodman on the 1988 television series: "Roseanne")

Irony is described as being a self-awareness of one's behavior, insofar as that behavior is incongruent with what is expected and what actually occurs. Irony (as implied above) is thus self-awareness of irony, under this definition. This self-awareness of irony has settled into many of the social interactions, consumer activities, and overall lifestyle choices of a certain segment of global first-world youth culture. It has become a window through which to view most all decisions that could be judged on a social level. An ever widening circle in a time when advertising would have you believe that choosing a mayonnaise brand can dictate the difference between niche social camps. Big Dan's quote struck a chord with me given our current proliferation of this modality of thought. It speaks specifically to an ever-growing segment of our population that (for our purposes) I will call: The Haters.
I know what you are thinking: "Sterlz, you mean hipsters". -No I don't. I mean haters. Allow me to clarify using Wikipedia's definition of a hipster: Hipster is a slang term that first appeared in the 1940s, and was revived in the 1990s and 2000s often to describe types of young, recently-settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with interests in non-mainstream fashion and culture.
If this is at all accurate, these folks are harmless. I have no beef here. At worst, they just want to prove they know shit that you have no idea about, and that they were "into their first record, but not much after that". No real harm done.
What I have become so averse to are the haters. Haters are the fundamentalists of the awareness crowd. A nihilistic splinter group who employ their awareness of irony and their detached air of superiority to cloister themselves away from doing anything with consequences attached. They avoid any earnest activity that could possibly end in failure. After all, What would happen if everyone knew they failed? In addition to their abject fear of failure, this faction of hyper aware yet unmotivated individuals has become so bloated with information that they feel they have actually learned skills and gained experience through osmosis. They actually believe that they can do the things they criticize much much better simply by virtue of seeing endless iterations of other people's creativity. Mind you these folks rarely make the leap from theory to application. Rarely can they judge themselves by their output rather than their taste level. These culturally constipated individuals are usually found on message boards, overheard in coffee shops talking shit, and living in places where their peers allow them to get by on simply talking the talk. Never in truly creative circles where ideas become actions. Yet they thrive. They grow. They hate.
I recognize this behavior for admittedly, I too have exhibited hater tendencies. Yes, even I have fallen victim to the seductive mistress known as the hate. I too have drank the murky hater-aide that springs forth from our collective darkness. In the past I have seen creative people doing creative things, and I like so many I have said dismissively: "Pffffft. I can do that." But in some cases I actually tried. Let me tell you: I cant do half of the shit I so brazenly said I could do. Osmosis is bullshit.
The only thing that I can do well, I physically do. I dont pontificate about it, I do it. I practice it. I do it as much as I physically can, and I am proud to say, I am getting even better at it with every passing day. You know what else? I am now lucky enough to be so busy with it, so consumed by it, I don't have time for much else. No time to troll around the internet looking for people to compare myself against, no time to endlessly ingest information, and certainly no time for talking shit. On that note, I will leave you with another relevant quote from the opposite side of the spectrum:

"Live your mufucking life. Get your hustle on. Understand people are gonna hate you regardless. Get that out of your head, that fantasy world where people ain't hating on you. You gotta be grateful. You need haters. WTF you complaining about. WTF do you think a haters job is? To f'ucking hate. So let them do their damn job. WTF you complaining about. Ladies if you got 14 women hating on you, you need to figure out how the hell to get to 16 before the summer gets here." -Katt Williams

P.S. Dan's quote at the top was brought to my attention via a good friend of mine, Casey Wisenbaker.
-Credit where credit is due. Improper citation is after all a mild form of hating

-Sterlz

Skateboarding Is The Shit

2010-05-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

I've always gotten a singular thrill from skateboarding. Now that I'm almost thirty though I have creaking knee joints, my back goes out, and I've gotten a bit soft around the middle. Aside from Zip Zingering to the Liquor store, or the odd occasion to dazzle (read: bore) friends with sketchy flip tricks on a board borrowed from a 9 year old, I don't really get to shred that often. That's why I'm always really excited to work within the industry when I'm able. I have two really exciting projects brewing up that I am completely salivating over, and I just couldn't wait to share. I cant say much other than the clients I'm working for: (Baker Skateboards, and Globe Shoes) but both promise to be straight bangers when they drop!
-I'll keep y'all posted

New Tees

2010-05-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

New Tee dropped this week.
Buy it here.

Gem.

2010-05-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Juxtapoz.com Showing Some Love

2010-04-29T11:32:00.000-07:00

www.juxtapoz.com

Right Back Atcha Boyeee!

2010-04-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

It's sick when you inspire someone that inspires you.
Kind words from designer, creative director,
and all around badass: Chuck Anderson
Peep his mind blowing work here.

New Tee for KR3W Apparel

2010-04-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

New Tee I designed for the radical bros
over at KR3W apparel. Buy it here 'n keep it classy

Two More Blood Tees

2010-03-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

I am beyond juiced to introduce two more tees
from my first season with the illest of the ill:
Blood Is The New Black. Buy 'em here.

DICK MOVES

2010-03-23T21:28:00.000-07:00

~~There is an epic art show going down on May first.~~
~~May first is my birthday.~~
~~Do yourself a favor and show up~~.

UPDATE:
SHOW CANCELLED

Apparently Satan caught wind
of our show and got all jealous
'n shit because it would have
been far too evil, and far too
Metal. Oh well, we'll do one
soon enough.

This Guy:

2010-03-23T09:23:00.001-07:00

WWW.NUGEPARTY.COM

2010-03-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

Some time last year, I casually scrawled a black metal logo on a scrap paper for Nuge amidst the foggy haze of a substance that most likely originated in outer space. Fast forward a few months and it's the splash page to homeboy's new blog complete with animation and sound. Tight! Check it out here.

New Tee Up For Sale

2010-03-15T21:36:00.000-07:00

My first Tee for Blood is the new Black Dropped today. It's pretty much like a black metal version of Rock-A-Fire Explosion crushing your ever-living soul! These are printed up on really finely crafted, super soft tees cut for both men and women. Every purchase made keeps the landlord at bay, 'n beers in the fridge, so scrape up that couch change and pick one up!!!

available here.

Lizard Keepin' it Classy

2010-03-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

Lizard King wearing his signature tee that I designed for KR3W Apparel. It's not quite out yet, so just a peek for now. Available everywhere this fall.

Staying Busy

2010-03-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a few sneak peeks at some illustration stuff I've been working on lately:

Morphine Generation:

Urban Outfitters Europe:

I've also been working closely with a new mens apparel brand called Astronot
over the past few months helping out with art direction and illustration.
I'll be posting some pics after the tees get printed up.

Blood Lookbook

2010-02-28T18:51:00.000-08:00

Some shots of my tees for Spring/Summer

Buy 'em here

Never Forget...

2010-01-19T14:11:00.000-08:00

While you were out "doin what you had to do" someone was there gettin' it done.

End Of Year Report:

2009-12-29T15:24:00.000-08:00

Dudes. 2010 is upon us. We now officially live in the future. Im truly excited to announce that next year is shaping up to be a pretty big year for me. Looks like I will have four t-shirt designs for Blood is the new Black coming out for the Spring/Summer seasons, and two new tees for KR3W Apparel (Fall). I've worked hard this season on finishing up The Franks new record sleeve as well, and that should drop mid-spring I think. I'm currently working to beef up the site, (look out for a big update come February) building my portfolio, and looking out for perspective new clients. Holler at me in the '10 if you need some shit. I'm yer dude.

-Sterlz

I got my own section over at the BITNB site.

2009-11-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

A place to buy t shirts, original work, prints, zines, etc. Check it out.

BITNB Show

2009-11-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

The Blood is the new Black show on Saturday was radical. I had a ton of fun, got a chance to meet some of the other artists, and got sick off of a mixture of Korean beer, cupcakes, and waaay too many tacos. There was a huge turnout, and everyone's work looked great. Thanks a ton to all the homies who stopped by. It meant a lot to see y'all. I'm hyped to do the next one.

Gonz. Pappalardo. Thelonious.

2009-11-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

Blood Is The New Black Five Year Retrospective

2009-10-25T20:47:00.000-07:00

I'm lucky enough to be included in the Blood Is The New Black five year retrospective held at Junc Gallery on Nov 7th even though I've only been aboard for a few months! I'm really hyped to be a part of this show, so you should all show up. Its gonna be sooo sick!
Peep the info over at juncgallery.com

saymayday has some nice things to say.....

2009-10-14T10:32:00.001-07:00

Last week I was profiled on saymayday.com. I'd never heard of them before this, but this blog kicks ass, you should check it out.

Thanks guys!

Greenville Presents

2009-10-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

Dudes,

I'm in a group show celebrating the opening reception for the Greenville Presents; Gallery down in Greenville South Carolina on October 16th. If you're down that way, stop on by around 9pm. There will be some barbeque to eat, and some old-time bluegrass music playing.

Skate All Cities

2009-09-26T23:54:00.000-07:00

I got asked to do a graphic for some friends of mine at Skate All Cites this summer. SAC is a collective of both skateboarders and graffitti writers, so inevitably, the brand has a bit of a hip-hop bent. I was asked to come aboard and lend a little bit of evil for a graphic (just as I was blessed by the hand of the dark overloard to do) and little by little it just sort of avalanched. One little idea turned into a full on artist series collab frenzy: As it turns out I will be putting out the lions share of the next season's product. I know they want everything on the super-hush, so no preview photos, but keep checking back....I'm pretty stoked on the results. 666

KR3W Apparel Spring '10

2009-09-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

Just wrapped some more work for the fine people over at
KR3W. Pretty ambitious project too.
I'm hoping it will go down as one of those "controversial" skate shirts that folks remember.......

Blood Is The New Black

2009-09-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

Last month I joined forces with a clothing company called
Blood Is The New Black. I've seen their stuff around, (urban outfitters, etc.) and I always kinda had an affinity for it, but I had no idea that they were straight outta Echo Park. Turns out their office is a pretty short walk from the crib -small world huh? The girl Mitra who runs the whole operation is really cool, and she has a pretty sweet business model for emerging talent to be a part of. Im stoked! Keep eyes peeled for shirts/bags/accessories Spring/Summer '10.

here's a sneak peek at a few of the graphics:

Howdy

2009-09-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out the newest incarnation of the site. Been a hot minute since I've had an online presence aside from "social media". This portion of the site will (in theory) be a depository for sneak peeks at unpublished work, news, and some shit that inspires and terrifies.

...your welcome.