What: A international show of stencil art on old records by over 100 artists from across the world.

Why: Early in summer 2003 I started painting on old records and posting the pics on Stencil Revolution. People really liked them and other SR artists starting doing their own versions on vinyl. In only a couple of months things took off and suddenly there was stenciled vinyl popping up all over the globe.

Vinyl is a great medium to work on for numerous reasons. Records are readily available for free or very cheap, the paint works well on the smooth surface, they are easy to store and ship, and they just look really cool hanging on your wall. The Vinyl Killers are in fact vinyl saviors who are rescuing records that in many cases are viewed as junk destined for the landfill.

Inspired by the cool Australian shows that I saw on SR and fresh from the Stencil Archive show in SF I decided that I wanted to make something similarly cool in happen in Portland. The incredible stencil work, community spirit, and amazing progress that everyone was experiencing as a result of our connecting via SR convinced me that Vinyl Killers was the perfect vehicle to bring everyone together and showcase stenciled vinyl as an art form.

I talked it over with Paul at Zeitgeist, started contacting artists inviting them to participate, and six weeks later Vinyl Killers 1 was born. Vinyl Killers 1 was held November, 2003 at Zeitgeist Art Gallery in Portland, Oregon . The show had over 150 painted records from 63 artists from 12 countries, opened to over-capacity crowds, and was a near sellout. Almost everyone involved from the gallery, to the artists and patrons, agreed that it was an incredible show and something worthy of becoming an ongoing event.

Updated August, 2008

Over the past few years the whole vinyl painting thing has continued to build and this year there were at least 5 other vinyl shows in North America alone. I am sure there were many more that I didn’t here about.

Over the past few years we have had 6 VK shows here in Portland and in 2005 I put together a vinyl room and showcased other VK artists in the hallways of San Francisco’s Hotel Des Arts. Later that year my room was shown in  Time magazine’s Best Of 2005 issue.

Since then Vinyl Killers has continued due to the hard work and enthusiasm of Jason Brown and all the artists involved. The show has also evolved from stencils only to include all mediums so that more artists could participate.

My involvement has slowly diminished and Jason has been running most of the past few shows. My focus has wandered elsewhere but the shows continue to thrive because interest and excitement from the artists remains and Jason’s commitment to VK.

Klutch