REVO LA

2010-01-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

Meet Jeremy Cowart

2009-09-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Our old friend Jeremy Cowart will be showing in REVO LA. Jeremy has been a great help with REVO along the way and has shown in other REVO events in the past. We are so excited to have him on board!

34 days till REVO LA

2009-08-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

"You can positively affect and change a social circumstance with art, and it's vital that a change happens now." - Mos Def

Meet Waler Robot

2009-08-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

40 days till REVO LA!

Bill Barminski and writer Christopher Louie aka Walter Robot are top notch directors who are on board for REVO LA.

Bill Baminski is a professor at our beloved UCLA.

Watch their Death Cab for Cutie music video that is currently up for a VMA:

Meet Aaron Kraten

2009-06-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

Since I first noticed Aaron Kraten on myspace about five years ago, I've been a huge fan.
You've no doubt seen his worked plastered across the web, in the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles,
or even at the local coffee shop screened onto a hipsters macbook.

Aaron is a 35 year old artist based out of Costa Mesa, California.
When I asked him what his interests other than art are, I had to laugh when he responded "Graffiti,
skateboarding art, comic book art, video game art, fine art." Aaron truly lives for art and digs artists
Franz Klain, Geoff Darrow, and Frank Miller.

View Aaron's site at AaronKratenArt.com

Purchase skin's Gelaskins.com/artist.php?Artist=17

Excited to have Aaron on board.

-Nina B.

Meet Christian Rios

2009-05-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Christian Rios is a 22 year old up and coming fashion photographer from
San Diego. Christian is inspired by Mario Testino and enjoys listening to
Rufus Wainwright and watching Gossip Girl. Christian plans on spending
this summer and New York. When I asked him about New York, this is what
he had to say:

"I'm going away to New York city for many reasons , to love, to see, to
create, but the main is to be able to get out of my day to day routine
and put myself in a different environment .

Right now I'm working on a
couple projects that I'm super excited about , it's going to be
awesome to be able to breathe in and live the New York life and give
my work a whole new feel to it.

Right now one of the projects I'm working on is my dear friend Phil Wickhams new album tentivly titled
"heaven + earth" we shot the photos back in may and I still have yet
to go full force into the editing process , that's one main thing I
will be focusing on in the city. I've done his past 2 albums and we
are def going in a completely different route this time. It's awesome
to be able to work beside him and grow in our art together.

The other main reason I'm going to new York is to see how life will be since
it's where I want to eventually reside, my passion for mens fashion
photography is growing and I can't wait to be able to work in that
industry full time. Doing musicial projects is my main deal right now
which I love and will always be apart of what I do. Can't wait for
REVO LA !!"

Here's some of Christian's work that I'm personally a huge fan of:

Oh and how we all love Sondre Lerche

View Christian's site:

http://www.christianrios.us/

-Nina B.

Meet Kelli Murray

2009-05-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

I met Kelli Murray awhile back while shooting a collection for Jedidiah.
I instantly loved this cute, energetic, blonde, full of good style and big talent.

Kelli is a 24 year old San Diego native. She is the Head Designer
for clothing company Jedidiah and a freelance graphic artists.

Kelli loves to listen to the Foals and Little Dragon and adores
pickles.

Recently Kelli and I talked about how she would love to paint more
and get involved in more gallery shows. She expressed how it's often hard to balance work, freelance projects,
and personal art. But she would love to somehow figure out how to make time
to pick up the brush more often. She also hopes to illustrate a short
story one day. Even though Kelli has tons on her plate, she's excited
to do a new piece for REVO LA as well as show case some of her personal work.

Aside from all things work related Kelli wants to find
more ways in which she can serve and give of herself, making a difference
in someone else's life is what inspires her more than anything.

You can view her portfolio at

And check out her designs

You'll also see some of her work designed into our website!

I hope you are as inspired by Kelli as I am.

-Nina B.

Meet Nina

2009-05-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

I’m a makeup artist and a few months ago I was hired to work on a shoot with a crew that I hadn’t worked with before. This isn’t anything new to me. With my job, I am constantly being thrown into unfamiliar situations with all walks of life. We work hard and have fun on set and then we say goodbye. But this shoot was different. I met a girl named Nina Brav.

Over the course of two days, I learned a lot about Nina, the 22 year-old photographer from Hilo, Hawaii. She loves to surf and listen to good music. She adores bright colors and sundresses. She smiles. A lot. She is open hearted and full of brilliant ideas. But I didn’t realize just how open hearted and brilliant until I asked her about the tattoo on her arm that simply says “REVO”.

“What is the meaning behind that?”
Nina responded, “It’s short for revolution.”

I questioned her further about it, and the more she explained it, the more I was equal parts blown away, impressed, and inspired. I knew Nina was a photographer, but I had no clue that she had founded an organization called REVO. I hadn’t heard of it, but I wanted to know as much as I could… how is it that this busy, young photographer, almost ten years my junior, had created an entire organization devoted to helping others?

It all started a couple of years ago when Nina found out that her friend, Kristie, was supporting an orphanage in Malawi with her own paycheck. Inspired to help her, Nina organized an art show to raise funds for them. It was at that art show that Nina was approached by two people from Tennessee and Louisiana. They wanted to know what they could do in their hometowns to help the causes that were important to them. And in that moment, the idea for REVO was born. Everyone is a revolutionary. Everyone is able to make a difference. Choose a cause that you are passionate about and start your very own revolution.

Since that first art show, REVO has spread to fifteen states and five countries. It won the MySpace Impact Awards in 2008. Over one hundred thousand dollars has been raised in two years for causes including the Grace of God Orphanage, Blood Water Mission, Invisible Children, Not For Sale Campaign, Mocha Club and Stop the Traffik.

It’s been a few short months since I met Nina Brav, and I am happy to say we have become fast friends. We hang out at local cafes, go to shows, eat frozen yogurt, talk about important life stuff and the not-so-important stuff too… you know, normal things that friends do. And I guess that is what I find most inspiring about Nina – the fact that she is someone who is not so different from me, and yet, she is making such a difference.

-Francesca

Francesca will be blogging about many of the people involved with REVO from here on out. We hope this helps you get to know us a little bit better.

Meet Brett

2009-05-22T18:41:00.001-07:00

Brett Whatmough is a 23 year old University of Portsmouth graduate.
Brett currently lived in London England and aspires to create original work,
vibrant and full of energy.

When I asked Brett how he feel about being involved with REVO LA, he told me
how privileged he felt to be apart of this project as its for such a good cause with such an important message.

You can view his work at:

www.brettwhatmough.com
www.behance.net/brettuk
brettuk.deviantart.com

I'm so excited to have Brett on board with REVO LA and look forward to see what
he comes up with!

-Nina B.

Dreamworks, King, REVO LA

2009-05-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Variety reported that DreamWorks had acquired the life
rights to Martin Luther King Jr. and would be creating a biopic to be
produced by Stephen Spielberg. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. No
other leader has shaped my thinking on social justice more than King.
I consistently return to his writings each time I begin to feel things
getting blurry.

One of the reasons that King remains so powerful and relevant is
because of how effectively he articulated the idea of holistic
justice. His vision taught that everyone had a responsibility to
respond to injustice and create change; "We will have to repent in
this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the
bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people". His
call was a call to action regardless of your social, economic or
political status. He invited mankind to participate in the "great
reckoning", choosing love over hate.

I believe that every heart is capable of living out King's dream, and
that is why I love REVO so much. The origin of REVO is deeply rooted
in the ideas that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere" and "something powerful happens when creativity and
justice unite". This October artists will gather at U.C.L.A. to fight
for the next generation in Indonesia. We will choose to reject apathy,
squelch cynicism and embrace the hope that each of us possess the
power to make the world a better place.

It will be an amazing night of creativity. And when the evening
finally ends and the Ackerman Grand Ballroom is cleared out not only
will the future of Indonesia be improved, but I believe all of us who
experience it will be changed. We will have participated in the
REVOlution of love that has been the heartbeat of every generation in
history.

I hope Spielberg does a good job with the movie. But no matter how it
does at the box office, King's legacy is a force that continues to
inspire. "Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively
maladjusted". Let's start a REVO!

-Mark

Travis Bailey

2009-05-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

Meet artist Travis Bailey:

I had the amazing opportunity of having dinner with Travis this past week. You would never know that this humble man has celebrities knocking down his door to draw them. This talented artist not only has mean skills with his pencils but a heart of gold. Check out this piece he created for REVO LA:

You can view more of Travis' work online at http://www.baileyartwork.com/

Welcome aboard Travis Bailey. I'm a huge fan!

-Nina B.

Education is a gift

2009-05-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

A couple hours everyday I borrow a classroom at a high school to teach students in an after school program how photography can be used to express statements that inspire and informs. Recently, I've asked the students to dig deeper and explore opinions that they never knew they had, opinions that touch on social issues like child sex trafficking and the lack of mentorship for impoverished communities across the globe. My students have the leisure of engaging in these sorts of conversations, because of the guidance set up by our program and by teachers who care.

In places like West Papua, Indonesia there is a failing education system with scattered support not good enough to protect the children from living a life of given hardship. The lack of programming there can only take away a future of unlimited opportunities for the children. While I'm here in Los Angeles wondering why there aren't more students taking advantage of my free class, there are Papuan children forced to survive on their own without proper schooling. An earlier report this year claims that Indonesia's national budget failed to fund free education for the poorer inhabitants of West Papua, and the illiteracy rate is nearly double the national average due to the severe underdevelopment of education. Poor education results in poor chances for the Papuan children to survive.

Currently, there is a solution. In the city of Wamena a young model school is providing a place for children ranging from kindergarten to 2nd grade to receive good, quality education. It is their goal to add on classes every year with hopes to build a school that covers K-12. This is a start to a new beginning. In my own classroom, the solution we came up with is to speak out against injustice such as this through our art. Our intention is to not just continue raising awareness, but gathering community so that others will be led to help in their own way.

Live to Love,
Jen May

Hope Diamond & The River Rats

2009-03-19T23:06:00.000-07:00

Two days before my wife Sarah died we watched P.S. I Love You. Like any good
couple we laughed a little, cried a lot, told each other what we
wanted if the other died first, made love like there was no tomorrow,
and fell asleep in each other’s arms. We had no idea what was coming.
one of the things Sarah asked me that night was if she died first
that I take her engagement ring diamond and either give it to our
children or sell it and use the money to “change the world”.

Well, we didn’t have any kids so seven months later I found myself on the banks
of the Mekong River in northern Thailand with a chance to honor her
request. Due to the global economic crisis 165 orphans had been displaced and
were living in extreme conditions on the border between Laos and
Thailand.

Nicknamed the “river rats” by locals, these children had
nothing and were forced to survive on their own. fourteen children had
died in the last seven months and five had been abducted by workers
from a nearby brothel for underage sex.

Two of the orphans that particularly captured my heart were sisters
Boi and Dow. Their brother Nak had been one of those who had died
since they had been displaced; yet both girls carried an infectious
joy about them. At only eight years old Dow had been chosen as the
leader of the group and was responsible for finding food each day. Boi
(five yrs old) was the entertainer; always singing, dancing and making
up games to play.

I have spent the last twelve days with these children; hearing their
stories, playing their games, dancing around the fire pit at night,
and researching ways to get their orphanage funding back. I have never
been more amazed at the power of the human spirit and at the fact
that one person can make a difference.

Sarah’s diamond has provided food, clothes & medicine for these
beautiful children and through generous donations enough money has
been collected to reopen the orphanage and school. We have established
a fund ensuring Boi and Dow will receive a college education and
yesterday we were able to persuade the Thai and Laos governments to
pass binding legislation that will prohibit future injustices like this.
though this story has a happy ending there are many that do not.

Tonight the children in Indonesia are suffering from a broken
education system and we have a chance to make a difference. This
spring, many will converge in the most creative city on the planet to
celebrate life, art, and the truth that we all can “change the world”.
For more information please check out revola.org. But be careful, in
trying to change the world the life you save may be your own.

Be REVO,
Mark

For more river rats pics see Mark Rife’s facebook page
For more updates follow mark on twitter @ markrife