Daily Surroundings : August 1st Thursday

words & images_Nick DePaula Another month means another 1st Thursday out here in Portland, Oregon. Our two favorite clothing store/art gallery/sneaker boutiques, Hecklewood & Compound, both located just off Couch Street in the Pearl District, normally feature some awesome art shows spanning a vast array of categories. (Sometimes the shows suck too.) Unfortunately, Hecklewood was forced to take the month off after a last-minute cancellation from UNKL. Whoops. Down at Compound, the theme of the month is "Survival Drive," depicting the works created by two artists after their 131 day, 34,033km journey throughout Japan. They can explain it better.... "Survival Drive is the incredible journey taken by two artists to document the present-day of Japan. Travelling by car, painter Reijiro Mochizuki (a.k.a. Rei) and photographer Shouichiro Fukuda (a.k.a. Hooky) spent 131 days crossing the country, clocking up 34,033km in the process. Reijiro Mochizki and Souichiro Fukuda undertook this immense journey across Japan creating a series of sketches and photographs of the things they encountered along the way. For this book, we carefully selected the best of their work, along with maps of journey, photos of recording devices, and extracts from their blog." World's worst doorman... GREAT show. The details, abstract nature and opposite yet somehow cohesive mediums of paint and photography was very impressive. Artwork will be on display all weekend. Down at Compound, close to every Sole Collector shoe we've ever done is on display... This tee has a ton of boxes on the front. Corny enough. The real question is how in demand are sz. 12.5 Terminator High Premiums? (In the black box. Of course.) Apparently NINE PAIRS amongst a "collection" of 40 boxes is what the kids are into these days. Making It Rain Since 1995. Relying on outdated graphics since 2005. And the KING of them all. The Chuckster. In a CB Military Jacket. With epaulets. Instructed to make "Power Moves." (Compound Crew -- You're welcome in advance for the reverse product placement!)