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The Weirdest Thing I Did in LA

2024-02-02 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:26 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Pop culture) · mode: Personal update · tags: on location, guest or collab, fundraising ask, community lore

In Los Angeles Hank visits artist Sara Sandoval, who made unique shirts for his 2016 tour; they swap canvases (her skull, his Hanklerfish), he reflects on spray paint, accidents and making art together, and says the pieces will be sold for the Project for Awesome Fund.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank visits Sara Sandoval's studio in Los Angeles; her 2016 tour shirts

  • ★★ In Los Angeles Hank was near the house of artist Sara Sandoval, whose work he loves, and seeing her jam-packed garage studio felt like a fan moment. — 00:00:00 · Los Angeles
  • ★★ Hank recalls that in 2016 Sara made over 100 unique t-shirts for the Perfect Strangers tour, which were awesome and all sold. — 00:00:00
  • ★ Hank asks anyone who still has one of Sara's tour shirts to post a picture somewhere; he would love to see them. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Sara's art and career: unsold art, algorithms, immigration status, political turn

  • ★★ Hank says Sara told him much of her art hangs on her walls not by choice: it has been harder to sell since social media algorithms changed and stopped featuring her work. — 00:00:29 · recommender system
  • ★★ Hank says Sara's immigration status complicates some kinds of work, but with murals, commissions and tattoos she is making it work in Los Angeles. — 00:00:29 · Los Angeles
  • ★★ Hank says Sara's YouTube work when he discovered her was celebrity-driven, partly because that got clicks; during the pandemic she took it in more political directions. — 00:00:58 · YouTube, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★ Hank loves seeing Sara's work change in perspective, medium and intent; his favorites are her cute little inklings and her Aztec-inspired work. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank says he has done a fair amount of spray painting for the Project for Awesome in recent years, smacking down 20 canvases at once and building layers to see what happens. — 00:00:58 · Project for Awesome

00:01:27 — Hank's spray-paint method, the canvas swap, and being an artist for a moment

  • ★★★ Hank finds spray paint suits him because he can iterate fast: accidents happen, but when you're already onto the next thing an accident feels more like inspiration than failure. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ Hank and Sara swapped canvases: she made one of her skulls on his, and since he only knows how to do one thing, hers got a Hanklerfish; in under an hour they made a thing together. — 00:01:57 · Hanklerfish
  • ★★ Hank found the session bizarrely dreamy: most of what he did on his Los Angeles trip took many layers to make happen, while this was pure and simple. — 00:01:57 · Los Angeles
  • ★★★ Hank never thinks of himself as an artist, though maybe he should, but he loves it when two artists make a thing together and felt he got to be one of them for a moment. — 00:01:57
  • ★ Hank says Sara's work mixes slow, laborious paper cutting with fast but finicky spray paint; her cut-paper pieces are especially striking close up. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ After the visit Hank texted Sara that she should get her store back online because people would like her work; she did it in record time. — 00:02:26

00:02:55 — Sara's store is back online; the pieces are sold for the P4A Fund; thanks and sign-off

  • ★★ Hank points viewers to Sara's work at her website, linked in the description. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Hank thinks Sara's art is good art from a working artist that is not so expensive as to be out of reach for everybody. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Hank announces that the pieces he and Sara made are being sold and the money goes into the Project for Awesome Fund. — 00:02:55 · Project for Awesome

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a channel comment John says art is for the people and that Sara's work, including the Hanklerfish painting, is available at her shop. — creator comment · Hanklerfish

Threads in this video

  • looked back · Tour Because Awesome 2016 edition — Hank recalls that in 2016 Sara made over 100 unique t-shirts for the Perfect Strangers tour, which were awesome and all sold. (00:00:00)
  • restate · Is failure valuable? — Hank finds spray paint suits him because he can iterate fast: accidents happen, but when you're already onto the next thing an accident feels more like inspiration than failure. (00:01:27)
  • callback · Hanklerfish: an anglerfish drawn by a Hank (2011) — Hank and Sara swapped canvases: she made one of her skulls on his, and since he only knows how to do one thing, hers got a Hanklerfish; in under an hour they made a thing together. (00:01:57)
  • restate · Why make things? — Hank never thinks of himself as an artist, though maybe he should, but he loves it when two artists make a thing together and felt he got to be one of them for a moment. (00:01:57)
  • restate · What is art for? — In a channel comment John says art is for the people and that Sara's work, including the Hanklerfish painting, is available at her shop. (creator comment)

Mentioned

Central: Sara Sandoval

Also: Projects: Project for Awesome

Works: Hanklerfish

Organizations: YouTube

Groups: Aztecs · Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers

Concepts: Failure · recommender system

Places: Los Angeles

Events: COVID-19 pandemic

Products: YouTube Creator Awards

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