SCHOOL WARS VIDEO

A little taster of what went down in October @ Village Underground, London

16 schools went head to head in team art battles!

Secret Wars features in Wizz Inflight magazine!

If you are flying with Wizz this month then you will probably read the in-flight magazine and spot the one page feature on Secret Wars..

This has some good points and views from the founder of Secret Wars Terry Guy, talking about the history and growth of this exciting global competition

Click here to read feature

Have a read while you are Wizzing around Europe! (Bad joke I know)

Green Room Sessions Cube in Malmö!

Monorex were invited to take part in the Heineken funded Green Room Sessions - a music and art event infusing some creativity into Sweden's nightlife.
Due to a logistics problem and some "interesting" planning we didn't get access to the 30 m² cube wall until late Tuesday night. With 17 hours to go until the deadline even the Monorex management had to get involved in the painting..!?
As always we smashed it anyway! S.I.C, Pontus and Dan worked through the night, morning and afternoon - Big Up!







A great night followed. The über trendy music geeks at Discobelle really know how to throw a party!

Thanks to Discobelle, Jung, Smuts, Heineken, Babel, Oscar, Grandin's Flying Circus and everyone else involved.

CHU X DISCOTECK - PIC N' MIX SHOW

Monorex and Intercity are coming together once again to collab on an exciting project called Pic N' Mix...

Chu and DiscoTeck will be taking over the 55dsl space for twenty days in total!

Come down and show your support, and as usual cop a free Tiger beer.

Info below on flyer

NISSAN CUBE X SECRET WARS - TRUMAN BREWERY

Secret Wars was invited by Nissan Cube to battle on HUGE walls down at the Truman Brewery for the exciting launch of the Cube car!

Hicks and Discoteck went head to head and the video below was their thoughts before the show.

Official statement

To celebrate the forthcoming launch of Japanese design icon, Cube, Nissan is unveiling a unique creative destination in East London: Cube Store in collaboration with Colette, Paris.

Cube Store will include the UK’s first ever pop-up shop from celebrated Parisian design emporium, Colette, Just in time for Christmas shopping , Colette has handpicked an eclectic range of Japanese inspired lifestyle products from renowned international designers to feature in Cube Store. The centrepiece of the retail exhibition will be the iconic Nissan Cube vehicle which will be showcased at the venue for a limited time only.

The conceptual space of Cube Store will also act as a creative forum playing host to a series of avant-garde music, fashion, design & art inspired evening experiences for the most inquisitive, inspirational and creative minds in the capital.

For me this is very special as we first saw the car 7 odd years ago in Tokyo, Japan... It blew my mind when such an odd, funny but innovative car past by... We saw lots of pimped out versions as well and I really knew from that point that these alien vehicles were going to be BIG (Not only in Japan but Europe) one day!

So fast forward into time and here we are... We are very proud to be associated with such a car and hope to be driving one in the very near future ;)

Reeps 1 in action at Nissan Cube launch

" There are some things the Japanese are just better at than us, but there are other things we just don't get. Tentacle porn, for one. The Nissan Cube was one design that never really took off outside the land of the rising sun, but at the Geneva International Motor Show we've seen a rounder, softer, less cube-like Cube for the European market.

This third generation of Cube will launch in Europe in 2010. It'll be powered by 1.5-litre diesel or 1.6-litre petrol engines over here. Car Craver Rory 'Ruler of the Road' Reid met the eco-friendly Denki Cube at the British Motor Show last summer, and an electric version of the new Cube is reportedly in the pipeline.

Showing a level of whimsy not usually found in PR nonsense, the Cube's press release suggests that the car mixes "the charm of Godzilla and the wit of Mothra". We don't remember Godzilla being that charming when he was stomping Tokyo, or Mothra zinging around too many bon mots, but we get the idea: it's wacky, it's quirky, it's -- yes -- zany.

The idea of the cube shape is that the wheels are placed as far into the corners as possible. This creates more space inside, and gives the car a long 2.5m wheelbase. The rear window has an odd asymmetrical shape, wrapping around the back corner of the car to give the left-hand driver an unobstructed view. Judging by some of the mock-ups, a right-hand drive version will also be available." Source - CRAVE NET

Peter Jenkinson OBE bigging up Secret Wars!

Jack Whitehall sounding very drunk but funny!

Matt Horne getting the facts straight

More videos like this on www.t5m.com

If you wanna go see the car with your own eyes, then past by the Boiler room @ Truman Brewery, as the pop up store is open for 5 weeks or so!

They are also selling Collette Paris goodies in there aswell - bring some serious cash for this tho.

Enjoy

HOUSE INDUSTRIES X MONOREX

Met Rich Roat in Dublin @ The Offset festival last month, he is the main man behind House Industries - which if you don't know is a super sick design house, they specialise in type design and limited edition product collabs....

Check them out here

Anyway once we met, Rich checked our site and saw that we painted the Umbro wall earlier this year - strangely House Industries were the guys that made that script text for an agency in NYC.

Small World, but proud to have worked alongside them in a very distant sense...

Screen shot from the House Blog

MONOREX SCANDI INTERVIEW WITH HEINEKEN GREEN ROOM SESSIONS

Check out BIG Dans interview in the backstreets of Malmo!

An brief intro to an exciting project we are working on over there.

REPORT - LONDON SW WARRIORS HEAT 1

So things are starting to warm up nicely for next years Warriors team series. All the cities are slowly pulling the best of the best together, and building monster teams!

London and Glasgow dropped their first heats on Friday to search for fresh faces, six artists came down and jammed in front of vibing crowd.

All the artists came with a different plan and approach, with Dr Rock stealing the show with a very intricate approach to Secret Wars.

On the night no one goes through as we are planning heat 2 to give even more artists a chance to shine - once this next event is out of the way, we will then decide who the best 3 artists were over the 2 heats... They will then join up with the pre selected 3 artists (Alfa, Mr K and DiscoTeck) forming TEAM LONDON!

DR Rock in action

Hey is that me? ;)

Some portrait shots from the Monorex / Jaysus booth!

Jimi Crayon

Suffoca and friend

Jo and Gabs

Dr Rock

Mr Gauky in his natural pose!

The legend Stika

See you all at Heat 2 on the 18th December @ The Book Club!

Monorex gets Pumped

The pump celebrated its 20th Birthday in serious style at the Reebok Lounge. There were parties in every major city to help celebrate the bench mark shoe.

We were invited thanks to a number of successful collabs that we've worked on in the past. We were still haggered from a hectic week and had a special Secret Wars celebration the night before, which resulted in lots of drink, a few bare testicles, some strippers and at the end of it a bit of sick on the roof terrace. So Reebok had a lot to live up to.

The alcohol was flowing, the celebs were out in force and the A/C was knackered. Making this one HOT partaaaay! We caught up with Mr Hudson as well as Kelly Brook and Jade Jagger.

Next party please....

SECRET WARS LONDON QUALIFIER HEAT 1

Any new artists who want to get involved in our Warriors series next year and be part of Team London, then get down to The Book Club this Friday with your sketch books as we are looking for 3 artists to join our 3 preselected artists - Forming a formidable Team London!

If chosen you will travel Europe and battle as a team over an 10 month period, the winning team will get BIG prizes! Trust us on this....

SECRET WARS & EDDING WIN THE "INNOVATION PRIZE" @ THE ARTS AND BUSINESS AWARDS

Monorex and edding UK were shortlisted for 3 of the 8 awards this year, which is an unheard of achievement - we walked away on the night with one of those 3 awards "The Lloyds Innovation" prize... Congratulations to everyone who has helped make Secret Wars what it is today, from the artists battling to my guys back stage who make sure lights are on and walls are fresh white!

“Increasingly, innovation is seen as a key tool for the advancement of both the business and the cultural sectors. Arts & Business encourages and supports new partnerships that strive for innovation, establishing examples for other companies to follow.”
Colin Tweedy, Chief Executive, Arts & Business

“The successful partnerships that have been recognised demonstrate the importance of a cross-sector collaborative approach. They also confirm innovation as a key factor to achieve wider strategic objectives.”
Richard Ward, Chief Executive, Lloyd'

A special thanks to Andy from edding for making this all happen, as he was the man who filled in that crazy 32 page doc to apply at the start ;) well done sir!

Terry and Jay from Monorex / Secret Wars

Mr Arts and Business, Terry from Monorex/Secret Wars and Andy from edding

The award was hand carved in Afghanistan (Kabul) by a charity foundation called the Turquoise mountain.

A few eyebrows were raised when we won the award, as we were the underdog on the night - going up against people like BP and the Royal Opera House...

After losing the first two awards silently (in pain), a lot of passion was shown when Kate Mosse read out our name as winners for the final award - we all jumped up with huge screams of YES, C,mon...etc and started cuddling each other (man passion :).

To eat cost £200 each but as you can from the starters, it was well worth it!

Gabriella from Redbull added some much needed beauty to a table of lads..

Afterwards Classic FM and The Guardian interviewed us and we were congratulated by many random people, a great night and I hope we can apply again with the School Wars concept.

Watch out as we are going for all 8 next year!

SECRET WARS IS BACK IN BRIZZLE!!

If you wanna be part of the Bristol team for the Euro champs next year - then get down and show us your work, or even better bring a CD/DVD that we can keep to check out!

SECRET WARS NEW FORMAT LAUNCHING 2010

IMPORTANT NEWS!! OFFICIAL SECRET WARS UPDATES

EUROPEAN WARRIORS TEAM SERIES - 2010



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SECRET WARS IS RE FORMATTING AND ROLLING INTO 2010 WITH A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHALLENGE

After 3 and a half years of single battle series locally in over 20 countries, we have decided to try something different and potentially more exciting for 2010... Introducing the European Warriors series!

"When we started Secret Wars 3 years ago, it was influenced heavily by various things from the Marvel comic, to Warriors and Fight Club. After experiencing the team battles around the World and seeing the benefits of this compared to the singles battles, we decided on trying it as a complete 6-8 month series!"

"I have noticed the crowds are more vocal and patriotic towards team battles - there seems to be more at stake and I love watching the artists free-styling alongside each other.... You never know what will come out the other end!" Terry Guy (Founder of Monorex and Secret Wars)

The rules are the same but the structure of the competition and dynamics of the battle are slightly different - see below for details.

How the competition will work & when

There will be 8-10 teams/cities involved in next years competition, and each city will select 6 artists to part of a squad. Each team will select 2-3 wildcard entries consisting of previous champs and general bad boys! The remaining members will be picked at the local qualifiers.

City selection events - November / December 09 (Check Secret Wars website for dates)

• Each city will call out and actively invite people down to jam and show off their skills
• Draw will take place to decide what team is which group (A or B)

1st Round - Group league qualifiers

• Two groups of 4-5 teams with the top two teams qualifying
• Rather than a knockout cup comp, we have decided to make this a little more interesting and maybe fairer - Each game will be a league match with each judge vote and crowd vote worth a point!
• Each team will play home and away against the others in their group

Semi finals

With the top two teams going through from each group, we will be left with 4 teams.

The winner of GROUP A will play the 2nd place of GROUP B and the winner of GROUP B will play the runners up of GROUP A.

GROUP A WINNER vs. GROUP B RUNNER UP

GROUP B WINNER vs. GROUP A RUNNER UP

These will also be home and away ties - with the winning team decided on total points earned over the two games. If the points are level than it will be decided by the team who gets the most away points.

GRAND FINAL

This will be hosted at a neutral venue, TBC nearer the time

More info to be announced! watch this space

Apply now if you are interested in being part of a team - you can apply to as many cities as you like.

Possible cities involved:

• London
• Dublin
• Southampton
• Bristol
• Dublin
• Glasgow
• Malmo
• Berlin
• Lisbon
• Birmingham
• Cardiff

SECRETWARS.CO.UK

REEBOK - 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PUMP

As everyone knows, Monorex crew love the Reebok Pump! it's the 20th Birthday and there are big collabs bubbling...

Watch this video and see Reebok bring together some of the most influential people and teams in the business



Some street promotion in Toronto


Also check out this Pump beat advert!

CHU X MONOREX 5TH BDAY COMMISSION

A present from the talented MR CHU

STIKA X END OF THE WORLD VU WALL COMMISSION

A quick logo commission for the END OF THE WORLD Halloween party at Village Underground



A quick Logo commission for the END OF THE WORLD Halloween party

31ST ARTS & BUSINESS AWARDS

Monorex have been shortlisted for 3 awards at this years Arts & business ceremony

Check the videoss and leave some positive comments

British Council A&B International Award



A&B Cultural Branding Award



Lloyd’s A&B Innovation Award

No video but check the link - link

Also check here for the write up: link

Wish us luck!

MONOREX INTERVIEW IN HUCK MAGAZINE

Check out the latest interview with Terry Guy (Founder of Monorex & Secret Wars) online at HUCK Magazine..



click here to see full article

SECRET WARS X HOXTON PONY - NOVEMBER 4TH

Monorex & Secret Wars crew are dropping another special event next week

We are hosting a Secret Wars on the outside windows and we will be celebrating the NEW Monorex commission downstairs - Stika and Tan 1 are painting to a NEON WILDSTYLE brief, so being that these boys are letter specialist, we are in for a real visual treat!

Get down there early

SECRET WARS ALL STAR BATTLE @ THE BOOK CLUB - 16TH OCTOBER

With a new exciting venue just around the corner from Monorex HQ, we've decided to break in the the new space with an All Star Show. The Book Club, situated on Leonard Street (next to Pure Evil gallery) is a brand new arena for Secret Wars to showcase a new batch of fresh talented artists. With an amazing deecor, a private screening room and even a ping-pong table, you'll enjoy checking out all the little areas. We've got Secret Wars Dj's on rotation through the night with a special guest host appearance from UK Beat Box Champion REEPS 1!! Drinks promo's on the night, 3 beers for the price of two Doors open from 8pm - 2am Free before 10pm, £5 after See you all there

Shoe Painting in Stockholm!

Our old friends at Jim Rickey asked us to come down to the Red Devil store in Stockholm and go crazy on their shoes..

Fabian and Leolyxxx banged out a good thirty pairs in two days, switching and collaborating on each shoe. There was some crazy requests - the guy wanting himself "in a pink shirt with an industrial landscape background" being a personal favourite..

Frontline TV from Germany swung by and interviewed the team..

Thanks to Edding for sorting us out with emergency pink pens!

Window Wonderland Competition!

Do you like Money? Do you like Coffee?

..and do you have amazing Artwork to show off?!


Be a Window Wonderland Winner!

School Wars x TMNT Special Event - October 23rd

SCHOOL WARS - TURTLES SMASH UP CHALLENGE

This is a private event and we will be hosting a secret afterparty - press and interested spectators are more than welcome but please get in touch below to find out how...

If you would like to come down and check out - please RSVP to schoolwars@monorex.com

WWW.SCHOOLWARS.CO.UK

In association with Ubisoft

Supported by Reebok, Edding, SUSO

SWATCH X MTV PLAYGROUND PROJECT ATHENS

Secret Wars were invited to host a 2 on 2 90 minute battle in Athens alongside the MTV X Swatch Playground event... Below is how the night unfolded in this ancient city!

Some of the limited edition watches on display - we were all given one each

Mr Gauky and DiscoTeck's first day back at school making collages

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The rooftop view from the BIOS bar, can you see the Acropolis in the background?

The battle begins in a heated and very vocal atmosphere

DiscoTeck giving Mr Gauky drawing lessons

Check that line control

London's idea was all about the god of the underground "Hades" and his 3 headed dog

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Mr T giving his 2 pence worth before voting for London, we lost 2-1 after the other and crowd voted Athens??? Confused as why, but please add your thoughts on this post

The Greeks were awarded 1000 euros for there efforts..Congrats

Win or lose Monorex crew always know how to party - check out Mr Gauky's chicken dance!

check out more info on the project at - www.swatchmtvplayground.com

Thanks to Terence and the Protein peeps for getting us involved

SECRET WARS @ NOTTING HILL ARTS CLUB TONIGHT!

INVITATION TO LAUNCH EVENT!!!

SHIFT! @ The Notting Hill Arts Club Launches with
THE END OF THE LINE
28.09.09 6pm-2pm

creativity matters
SHIFT! is the new programme of visual arts exhibitions and events at the Notting Hill Arts Club, London – an ongoing, 6 weekly arts programme, where creativity and good ideas
merge to focus on what matters to us, to you and to everyone.

launch event
On Monday 28th September, SHIFT! is converting the Notting Hill Arts Clubinto a 3D, 360° blank canvas, with freshly-wallpapered surfaces on which artists, illustrators and club-goers can draw. The brief is to ‘explore the idea of being interconnected in the context of the environment and climate change’.

Working in collaboration with the creators of Doodle Earth (doodlearth.com), Secret Wars (www.secretwars.com) and DebutArt (www.debutart.com), the idea behind The End of the Line event is to create artworks that evolve throughout the duration of the exhibition.

visitor information
Event: Monday 28th Sept 2009
Hours: 6pm – 2am (9pm Secret Wars)
Price: £5 before 8pm / then £8 (concession £3/6)
Venue: Notting Hill Arts Club,
21 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3JQ

SECRET WARS X RYAN FRANK COLLABO!

Ryan Frank free-range furniture designer prepares for battle with international art

group - Secret Wars.

Ryan’s latest project the ‘Shoreditch Shelf’

becomes a battle field for premier art group

SecretWars x Ryan Frank

For the first time ever this live art battle will take place directly on to a Shoreditch Shelf in the Bricklane Gallery on Thursday the 24th at 3pm.

Artists involved: Stika, Inkie, Alfa and Moose and Yeti

Friday the 25th the Secret Wars posse take their markers and might to the courtyard of 93 Feet East, where they will step onto a purpose built stage and commence another head to head bout of illustrating. ‘six artists, six boards, 60 minutes’

The completed boards will be put to the public vote and the winning two will be made into a Shoreditch Shelf.

The shelf and the remaining boards will be displayed and auctioned by the Bricklane Gallery, with a follow up exhibition.

A completed Shoreditch Shelf and ‘Spruce’, Ryan’s new range of stackable stool will also be on display and in use during the 3 day event.

Origins of The Hackney Shelf

The now iconic Hackney Shelf originated when large white boards were installed at graffiti ‘hot-spots’ around East London. The concept is to present a blank canvas to the public. These blank canvases attracted a variety of random graf and sporadic stenciling, once covered in graffiti they were removed and transformed into mobile shelving units, bringing the street indoors.

Notes to press:

Further info about Ryan's work on - www.ryanfrank.net

DISCO TECK COMMISSION @ SU BAR, SOLENT UNIVERSITY, SOUTHAMPTON

Monorex commissioned Discoteck to paint a small wall at the SU bar in Southampton, in usual Discoteck style - he rocked up with no plan and just free-styled it to perfection...

Thoughts people?

SECRET WARS BRIGHTON - MINI TOURNAMENT!

18th-20th September

The schedule
18th September 1/4 finals
1st battle – 12:00 – 1.30pm – Limbo Vs Mr Nord
2nd battle – 1pm – 2.30pm Made You Look Vs Sight One
3rd battle – 2pm – 3.30pm Mist Vs Spit Sega
4th battle – 3pm – 4.30pm Oliver Harud Vs JOJENK

19th September Semi-Finals
1st battle 3pm – 4.30pm ? Vs ?
2nd battle – 4.30 – 6pm ? Vs ?

19th September Final @ Life
Kings Road Archers, BN1 1NB
7pm – 11pm

The final to decide the Champion will be held at Life. With Secret Wars Dj’s on rotation throughout this will prove to be a mad, hectic, crazy, bonza night!! So arrive early to avoid disappointment.

20th September Showcase
All day
To finish off the event on a high, we’ve decided to put together a set of exhibition battles. There’s also an opportunity for other artists to get involved as we set out sights on recruiting local artists to represent Brighton.

For more info, please email us on studio@secretwars.co.uk or jay@secretwars.co.uk

**********************************************

Secret Wars would like to thank its sponsors and supporters for all their help
Edding pens and Art Republic, Exceptional art, perfectly framed. Discover an incredible range of rare, limited edition art prints from cutting-edge and established artists within our gallery at Bond Street Brighton (in the heart of the North Laines) or online at www.artrepublic.com. Spread the cost of your art with the Own Art scheme, full details at our gallery or website

FREESTYLE FESTIVAL MURAL @ VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

Monorex were commissioned to re create and paint their logo on a large scale in East London @ The Village Underground

Freestyle Festival is a new hybrid extreme sports festival and this year will be hosted at Alexandra Palace this October / November.

CHECK - WWW.FREESTYLE-FESTIVAL.COM AND BUY YOUR TICKETS

PLEASE VOTE FOR OUR ARTISTS BELOW

This is a voting Poll to see which artist stands a chance of painting the walls of the new Wahaca resturant.. Its a 4 grand job and obviously we all want Monorex crew to win so click on one of them... whoop... if you wanna see all the entries click this.

HEAT 1

VOTE JIMI OR TECK

Online Surveys & Market Research

HEAT 2

VOTE OCTOPUS INK, CONZO OR ALFA

Online Surveys & Market Research

FREESTYLE FESTIVAL @ VILLAGE UNDERGROUND - SEPTEMBER 9TH

LAUNCH PARTY FOR THE FREESTYLE FESTIVAL

A night of all things Freestyle- A taster of the Freestyle Festival- www.freestyle-festival.com

Wednesday 9th September

Village Underground, 54 Holywell Lane, off Gt. Eastern St, London EC2A

DOORS OPEN: 7.30pm-11.30pm

£5 ENTRY

Look for the tube trains up high

FEATURING

Bands and DJs:

The Crave, This City, Starseed, Telegraphs + DJ Alli-Cat

Riders:

Kyle Blake(BMXer), Jak Tonge(Skateboarder), Danny Aldridge (Inliner)

Also

The founder of Freerunning Sebastien Foucan

Bgirls and Bboys Firefly, Lil’ Tim and Flo

Live illustration from Secret Wars Crew

TIGER BEER TAXI PAINTED BY DISCOTECK

Thanks to all those that came along to our 5th Birthday party! it was lots of fun...

Also who stole our menu design? (1 of 3) by Jimi Crayon ;) see pic below

DiscoTeck painting the Tiger Beer taxi - this was actually a gift from the beer brand to us... What do we do with it now??? looked great though!

MONOREX 5TH BIRTHDAY PARTY - 21ST AUGUST @ VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

Thanks to everyone who turned out for our 5th Birthday party at the Village Underground, it was a great night with banging tunes from Session, Brett and Herse and a twisted visual show from us Monorex boys!

It was really refreshing to get away from the "norm" that is Secret Wars and show you people what talent and skills we have in full colour and to a slightly different brief!

Think people were caning the artist named cocktails (Stika, Jimi Crayon and Disco Teck) - I know I knocked back 8 or so Disco Tecks (Redbull Cola and Jaigermeister).

Watch out for more wild and visual parties like these!

The Monorex x Disco Teck "cut out" wall commission... Great fun was had with this!

Danny the magnificent magician! got some sick tricks..

The Nintendo WII went down a storm - people were squablling over the remotes to have a go - make note we will be doing more of this (live gaming) in the near future.

DJ Session

Alfa and his new tattoo

The new Monorex branded wall also went down well and we got some wicked portrait shots!

A few snaps of the gallery show we put on featuring some top artists! Inkie, CHU, Jimi Crayon, Disco Teck, Alfa, Zadok, Stika and more...

Thanks to all the Monorex team for grafting and making this happen and to our sponsors Redbull, Tiger and Edding!

SECRET WARS DUBLIN

Photo by Matthew Griffin

Team Secret Wars travelled to Dublin a couple of weeks ago - ended up on national radio and morning TV! The Irish crowd were really welcoming and treated us like royal family..

Check the video below for a little insight into the actual battle event

MONOREX 5TH BIRTHDAY PARTY - 21ST AUGUST @ VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

Monorex crew are throwing a huge party at the Village Underground to celebrate our first 5 years in business!

From the early start up days of hosting small live art events at The Camden Arms (anyone remember?), to working with some of the most exciting up coming artists to hit the London scene (Word to Mother, Alfa, Disco, Jimi Crayon, Stika and more)... Monorex has rapidly grown into one of the most vibrant and creative youth agency this side of the Atlantic!

Famously known for creating "Secret Wars", Monorex is now five years old and wants to party and say thank you to each and everyone one of our supporters / friends who we have met along our crazy adventures..

Being 5 does not mean we are now stale! it means we have 5 years more experience and knowledge of how our industry works... So expect more unique and inspiring ideas /concepts and dazzling artwork from team MONOREX.

There will be a mix of all the best things we have done over the years...

FEATURES INCLUDING:

+ Live art + UV Wall installation

+ Large commissions on outside walls with 4 feature artists

+ FREE homemade cupcakes (baked with love @ Monorex HQ)

+ Monorex archived gallery (featuring some of the best artists we have worked with)
All artwork will be for sale!

+ 90 sec Secret Wars battles (open to public) - Quickdraw contest for prizes!!

+ Birthday buffet (Jelly, cake and more)

+ Cheap booze (Free drink when the Birthday tune drops)

+ Ubisoft gaming area with a big screen TBC

+ Portfolio drop box, for all interested artists wanting to get involved with some Monorex magic (Please put your work on CD/DVD and post in an A4 envelope with contact details attached)

+ Reeps 1 (UK beatbox champion)

+ DJ Session, DJ Herse & friends on the decks

+ DOORS OPEN AT 7PM - PARTY FINISHES AT 2AM

£5 ENTRY

More details to follow

WWW.MONOREX.COM (NEW WEBSITE DROPPING THE SAME DAY!)

Photo by Romanywg

MONOREX & EDDING ARE SHORTLISTED FOR 3 ARTS & BUSINESS AWARDS

QUOTE FROM SITE
"The 31st Arts & Business Awards celebrate and showcase the best examples of cultural partnerships and sponsorships across the UK."

Monorex & Edding have been shortlisted for 3 out of 6 awards on offer at this years 31st Arts & Business awards ceremony... This is in recognition to the hard work put in by Edding UK and Monorex on the Secret Wars project.

Looks like I will be needing to rent a Tuxedo as the crowd don't look like the average streetwear crowd ;)

Keep your fingers crossed for us to win one of these prestigious awards... C'mon Monorex!

Thanks to all the hard work Andy from Edding has put into this pitch... big appreciation!

Swish Swizz Shoe Shop Scheme ..starring Monorex!

While most of the Monorex team were over Secret Wars-ing it in N.Y our man CONZO travelled to BADEN, SWITZERLAND for the opening of Kine EM, a new trendy sneaker store.
The mission was to paint Reebok athletic footwear and we asked local boy Dr. Drax from the One Truth crew to join.
A good day in the sun produced more than 30 happy new customs owners!
Good luck to Kine EM and thanks to One Truth, Reebok and Edding.

SECRET WARS X REEBOK NYC T-SHIRTS FOR SALE

Ok people we have printed 100 in each design (below) - over half the stock has already gone to people stateside and we are now for the first time offering them out to people in the UK and Europe.

This is a very limited and special collaboration between Secret Wars and Reebok - The images were all created by Disco Teck and are part of a 3 t shirt collection.

These will not be released again - once they are gone, they are gone forever!

Buy a piece of SW history

£20 each

Grab one quickly by emailing shop@monorex.com - with your size and colour preference (s, m, l, xl, xxl)

NYC DIARY - Hard at work (Days 4, 5 & 6)

So the story continues....

Some more memories from the ECKO vs MONOREX battle

Quote from Disco Teck regarding the Monorex battle vs Ecko - "Our concept used 'Rex and the city' as the title and had 'ol Henry the 8th sat in the middle holding Carrie Bradshaws severed head on a platter...we added a Roast Rhino to the feast with a big apple shoved in its mouth to wind Mr Ecko up (which it did). It was a fair fight, with team Ecko grassping the 'live illustration battle' idea, and bringing some pretty funny disses (if not obvious social stereotypes). Of course there was no way we could win over the hugeley patriotic crowd, most of which had no idea who Henry the 8th was, or that 'Rex' meant 'king' in latin. So we lost...and raved it up london style till we got thrown out."

Daniel starting to loosen up ;)

JUNE 16TH - MR T's BIRTHDAY AND GALLERY BAR EVENT!

Below is a card Disco Teck designed for me - all the guys signed it and I was really chuffed as you can see..

Peeps signing my birthday card!

We started off the day nice and slow with a small picnic gathering in Brooklyn Bridge Park - The sun was not really shining but that did not take away the feeling of relaxation and detachment from the city I felt for a couple of hours.

If you have not been down to this park, you are missing out! As this place is a hidden gem that features in many Hollywood films.

Sick views and nice breezy air!

Gallery Bar (Orchard St)

A sick custom fixie we saw on the way back home in the Fixed gear London gallery show

JUNE 17TH - USA vs UK @ PUBLIC ASSEMBLY

After a couple of last minute hiccups we were set for the main event of the tour, thanks to YUME and ELURA for making this all happen.

Even though the venue was not a perfect arena for a Secret Wars of this stature, we dealt with it and both sets of artists put on an amazing show...Thanks to everyone that helped out!

Team USA warming up below

The Last Emperor came down from Philly to perform - check his SECRET WARS track on his myspace - CLICK HERE

The final wall by Team UK - Based on the old skool film "The Warriors"

Quote by Disco Teck - "This time arround we used the classic film 'the Warriors' as our inspiration, putting a twist on the Baseball Furies gang, with our own Cricket Furies, cruising around in a beat up london cab. We had one of the famous lines from the film 'can you dig it?!' on one side, with Obama (characature by the mighty Alfa) popping up on the right responding with his famous line 'yes we can!'. Get it?! clever innit."

The crowd vote was used to judge the 2 teams - Team UK won by a small margin... Thanks to all those that came along for hopefully the first of many Secret Wars events in NYC.

The UK wall was sold to our new friend Sam from giftd - She is originally from England but now lives out there and it was here first Secret Wars.... In my opinion she probably owns one of the best walls in Secret Wars history... Good bargain buy!

Photos by Jay, John Mcgall and Sam

R.I.P MICHAEL JACKSON

We don't usually blog random things but this is different, Michael Jackson was a legend and inspired us all in some shape or form...

A huge loss to everyone but the legend will live on through his music and videos - we all talk about Thriller video but does any one remember the Moonwalker feature film?

Big props to Sway on writing this so quick!

NYC DIARY - Touch down in NYC (Days 1, 2 & 3)

Where do you start... This 10 day tour of NYC was one of the hardest and grueling trips away yet!

Forget the drama on the Don't Sleep European tour - What we went through in the first 3 days in NYC was much worse. Let me try and quickly explain what went down:

So the trip started off on a positive note with all the guys meeting at Monorex HQ, we all then slowly worked our way to Heathrow airport to check in on the lovely Virgin Atlantic. So far so good, everyone was present and on board our 6.5 hours flight!

@ JFK

When we touched down in NYC, we had our first small hiccup as Jay (Secret Wars Southampton) got stuck in customs for 3 hours - basically because he has a Arabic background! Crazy but true...NYC and America in general is not an easy place to be entering these days.

While waiting everyone was slightly panicking as we had 200+ SW t-shirts in our bags, that looked like we were smuggling through customs to sell...

After a couple of coffees and macchiatos, Jay was released on bail (joke) and was told to return to the UK within ten days.

Taxi to Brooklyn

Outside JFK there are lanes and lanes of taxis all trying to hustle tourists into over priced vans, after talking with a few we quickly realised that the price should be $75 rather than the $200 we were originally quoted for a 9 man van. Tip: Use booking desk inside for best price!

After loading up we all jumped in for a hot and sticky ride to Brooklyn, this ride was meant to take 30 mins tops but our luck had truly run out as we were stuck in traffic jams for over 2+ hours...The Secret Wars team were melting faster than ice creams on the beach - Jimi and co all resorted in stripping down to just shorts, due to shortage of cold air in the van.

The Apartment

We finally arrived at the apartments 4+ hours late and then found out our landlord who had the keys for check in decided to go off and have food, leaving us all stranded on the streets for over 4 hours!! The guy would not answer phone calls and explained it was our fault for being late ?!?!?!? So we were patient and all drank 40's on the street hoping he would be back soon...But this was not his plan and after much team talk, we all decided the next best thing was to go leave our bags at our friends (James your a star) and then get wasted in a bar in Williamsburg...It was a fun but tiring night!

DAY 2

Reebok customs on Broadway... We were asked by Reebok USA to host a custom session, people could come and buy the shoes the guys just painted.

Monorex artists Disco and Alfa in the studio

Meet the team

T (Mr Monorex and Secret Wars)

Daniel (Secret Wars Sweden)

Martyn (Camera man)

Disco & Alfa

Session & Sam

Marc Ecko & Reeps (UK Beatbox champion)

Jimi Crayon

Jay (The photographer)

The local bar - Freddies!

DAY 3 - Ecko battle

After a couple of days of drama the Secret Wars crew were finally settled and ready for action, the artists got to work in the studio and created some kick ass canvases...While Daniel (Secret Wars Sweden) and T got to work building the Ecko battle wall.

This event was a RSVP event and went on to be a cracking battle - Marc Ecko was in his element hosting and introducing the Secret Wars show alongside our main boy Reeps 1.

Ecko had invited people from the fashion and creative industry alongside celebrities from Sopranos, Def Jam etc..

Team Ecko was made up of Marcs best 3 designers within Zoo York, Ecko and Complex..While the Monorex team were the usual suspects Disco, Alfa and Jimi Crayon.

The crowd were vibing to the art and music supplied by DJ Session, the eventual winners were Team Ecko - But all in all it was a great night that ended up rolling on till 5am!

Huge thanks to Jason for helping put this all together and Marc for allowing us to use his office.

ECKO (Left) vs MONOREX (Right) @ ECKO HQ

Marc in his office (The venue for the battle) - The other half of his office is a basketball court!

Disco Teck in full flow

Marc explaining "this is not a fix" ;)

One of team Ecko's disses - teabagging and a set of nasty english teeth on our beloved queen.

The Monorex team wall based on Henry the VIII and Rex in the city! I loved it when our guys dropped the roasted Ecko rhino, Marc came over to me and said "I cannot believe they picked on my rhino, thats dark but I have the balls to take this!" It caused a small outrage among the crowd.

More reports and photos to follow!

Photos from Jay - More here

Photos also from Suelan Allison-Modrzejewski - More here

Monorex 5th Birthday Exhibition - NYC

While out in NYC, we are kicking it all off with a small group featuring a handful of exciting artists behind the ever growing brand Monorex!

We will also have a couple of guest artists involved from the UK and USA - Come check it out and grab yourself a drink down @ Gallery Bar.

MONOREX 5TH BIRTHDAY WALL @ VU, LONDON

The first of many ideas to celebrate the Monorex 5th Birthday! A complete freestyle piece produced over 3 long days...and created using only shades of purple (the new Monorex brand colour).

Come down and check it out in person, it's huge!

Village Underground
Shoreditch
EC2A 3PQ



Featuring: Disco, Stika, Alfa, C'est Bon and Mr K

SECRET WARS NYC! JUNE 09' 3 GIG SPECIAL

This is probably the biggest news in Monorex's 5 year history! We have seen the lights of Tokyo and Drunk ourselves dizzy in Moscow but nothing will beat conquering the BIG ROTTEN APPLE!

With the help of many of our friends in the USA, we have been able to organise and put on this ten day tour. In those ten days we have so much planned....3 PRIVATE EVENTS AND 3 PUBLIC EVENTS PLUS SOME OTHER BUSINESS COMMITMENTS ON TOP! Gonna be hectic and the body is going to get minimal sleep again, just like THE DON'T SLEEP TOUR in 07'.

Watch this space as there are more details to follow...

For all those bloggers - click on the below images and then right click to save - help spread the word by re blogging and posting else where.

Secret Wars - New York - June 2009 from Joe Hamilton on Vimeo.

GSD X SECRET WARS @ VIBE BAR - JUNE 6TH

Below is a little feature special we have been working on for quite some time..A collbo between GSD X VIBE & SECRET WARS!

Get down there early and enjoy the sun, while munchin on some good BBQ food!

Vote for Monorex!

Just found out The Sun newspaper and Barclays are running a small business competition, so what I want everyone to do is vote for MONOREX / SECRET WARS and tell them why you love what we do here @ Monorex HQ!

Make sure if you vote you add the following details:
MONOREX
NUMBER:
07779082555
ADDRESS:
55B HOLYWELL LANE, SHOREDITCH, EC2A 3PQ

INFO FROM SUN WEBSITE

"BRITAIN has some brilliant local businesses – and now you can see which ones are at the CUTTING PL-EDGE!

The Sun and Barclays have joined forces to encourage readers to show their support for the local businesses that really put the Great into Britain.

As well as the pledges, we also have a fab competition where one local business will win a huge £20,000 of investment thanks to Barclays – and you could scoop a cool £1,000 just for nominating them!"

With this money (if we win), we would invest it into funding new concepts and further international Secret Wars. Hopefully reaching out to more artists within the UK and globally.

NOMINATE US HERE!

SECRET WARS IN WIRED MAGAZINE

There is a 2 page feature in this months Wired Magazine, it's on the recent London finals - Which involved a battle between Hicks and Reeps.

Monorex in Munchen, Germany

Was in Munich last week on a small reccie mission - taking time to see the historical sights while looking into whether this place could possibly hold a Secret Wars...

Saw some amazing graff trackside from the airport, but within the city it was hard to find a single tag or sticker...

Met some really cool people who are making waves in various areas of art and street culture, but I am not 100% sure this is a good place to drop a Secret Wars battle...? Thoughts people? Anyone got different views on this? 

SECRET WARS HAS ARRIVED IN MOSCOW

Went to Moscow to battle "team Russia" in Secret Wars @ Faces & Laces - We had a great time and made some good friends! cheers to all that helped out and got involved and a huge big up to Reebok Russia for getting us out there.

Moscow is an amazing place and I would recommend it to anyone... Some interesting food and cheap Russian vodka always near by ;)

We had 3 days off where we checked out all parts of the city and made some good connections - we also ended up hanging out with magician Dynamo, who was actually staying in the room next door at the hotel... This guy is seriously talented, check him out on YOUTUBE.

yesterday we went on a little sight seeing visit - below are some of our shots!

The Russian doll shot

Our Russian version of the Abbey Road shot

Spot the sticker - one of a hundred on the streets

THE BATTLE NIGHT!

RUSSIA (Djagarta & Sick Systems) vs. ENGLAND (Teck 1 & Wen)

The rules and info

Kick off - with the Russians on the left and UK on the right

The battle was held on the Reebok stand, over the 90 mins we must have had over 1000 people come and check it out. The reaction from the Russians was great! I am sure we will be back soon.

England and Russia meeting in the middle

Team England - Teck (Left), Wen (Right) - Theme was bear baiting the old and very popular russian cartoon character "Cheburashka"

The Russians all think we are Cockneys ;), so they decided to crunch us up with Vasilly's trademark character.

Watch this space for more action in Russia

Photos by: Medzyun Pavel.

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PRESS - YELLOW MAGAZINE (IN CZECH)

Some recent press on Monorex x Reebok shoe customs in Barcelona

click on the images to read if you know czech!