Number 01December 2010

Unit Price: 9,50€

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Now the Streetis in Your Hands( ONLY THE BE ST OF THE STREET S )

Gonçalo“Pilha”Caetano

Marco“Cary”Almeida

Paulo“Paulinho”

Soares

SHOK8EIGHT emerged to inspire you to SHOK. Also shows you the streets the best way to SHOK. Are you ready to join us?SHOK8EIHT is your gateway to the global panorama of Street-Art. It takes the best of the street and you know what is best made on the street. The streets of the planet are a huge gallery where we get the best spots for you, the best artists and without doubt the best works to show you.

We WILL SHOK You

S H O K E I G H T. CO MStreet-Art MAG’

Director: Marco Almeida, Paulo Soares, Gonçalo Caetanodirector@shok8eight.comWording e Colaborator: Gonçalo Caetanodirector@shok8eight.comPhotography: Marco Almeida, Paulo Soares, Gonçalo Caetano photography@shok8eight.comRevision: Gonçalo Caetano revision@shok8eight.comCommercial Director: Marco Almeida, Paulo Soares, Gonçalo Caetano com.director@shok8eight.comProduct Coordenation: Marco Almeidapro.coordenation@shok8eight.comGraphic Design: Marco Almeida, Paulo Soares, Gonçalo Caetanographicdesign@shok8eight.comPagination: Marco Almeida, Paulo Soares, Gonçalo Caetanopagination@shok8eight.com

Editorial Supervision: Joana Nina, Patricia ViegasPrePress: Paulo SoaresFinish: Paulo Soares

Print: GracalGráfica Caldense, Lda.St. Moinho de Vento, 44Caldas da Rainha2500-239Portugal

Tlf. (+351) 262 832 813Fax. (+351z ) 262 831 287gracal@mail.telepac.pt

Tiragem: 30 000 ex.Depósito Legal Nº 234785

It is prohibit the reproduction, even partial, of the texts, photographs or illustrations, in any means including commercial purposes.

(page 4) ObeySpace Invader (page 8)

(page 12) CalligraffitiMarko93 (page 16)

(page 20) VhilsBanksy (page 30)

(page 40) Art V.S. VandalismFrom Street 2 Galleries (page 42)

(page 50) 123 KlanMa’Claim (page 58)

P R E M I U M

Village Underground is an evolving project building an international platform for creativity and culture. Physical and virtual bases will link artists, and all other cultural practitioners across the globe.Village Underground London is the first in a string of such bases; a new cultural space located in Shoreditch .A collection of ex London Underground tube train carriages recycled to form creative studios. V

ILLA

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MA’

CLAI

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K Divided into 15 chapters the book starts off with very personal and detailed portraits of each member, followed by several works and productions of the crew. But this book goes one step further than the usual graffiti publications. “Ma’Claim - finest photorealistic graffiti” opens up the art of photorealistic spray painting.

(More about Ma’Claim in page 55)

“It’s important to do things for people who don’t necessarily see the value of an elitist art world endeavor”

4

The street artist made the world stop, think, and act with the now iconic Obama “Hope” poster. Carried out with no assistance from the Obama campaign, the spread of the “Hope” poster was a grassroots effort. “By the end of the first week 10,000 posters were dispersed and it was all over the Internet,” he says. “All it took was an image that could be passed along, helping demonstrate just how profoundly Obama was affecting people because now there was a symbol they could share.” How Fairey moved from “Obey” to “Hope” reflects the urgency he embraces as a citizen-artist.“The idea of being a citizen of the world because we are interconnected, and that we can make a difference, is what was communicated by great artists of the past,” Fairey explains. With work that includes the image of a riot cop wielding a baton with the message “I’m going to kick your ass and get away with it” or another image stating “You Are Under Surveillance,” Fairey’s early street art touched a nerve because it questioned the unopposed supremacy of the powerful. His art said it was time not to “Obey” but instead to act. “Art should be about a visceral connection first, then an intellectual connection second,” Fairey says. Fairey’s work exhibits a historical awareness, amplifying a range of creative and political influences, including the Situationists.The international group of artistic-political agitators used graffiti slogans like “Action must not be a reaction, but a creation,” “Politics is in the streets,” and “Power to the imagination” to great effect during the student and worker revolts in May 1968 that crippled the French government.Yet while some of these past movements sought

to enrage citizens to rise up and destroy modern society, Fairey’s work moves forward, seeking to engage and transform contemporary society. Consequently, he contends with the often-difficult balance of maintaining supporter expectations and remaining true to his vision. “When people ask me, ‘Why don’t you just focus on doing stuff in art galleries? Why do you do T-shirts, posters, album covers, all the different things you do?’ I tell them this is how I connect with many different people that wouldn’t care about museums or galleries,” he says. “It’s important to do things for people who don’t necessarily see the value of an elitist art world endeavor. I make art to communicate with as many people as possible, and the more universal I can make it, the better.” Fairey also faces the criticism that he’s “selling out” because he sometimes works with the “mainstream establishment.”Skeptics view Fairey as tarnishing something they believe is pure only when left on the street. “Preaching to the converted within my own circle is something that I’m not interested in,” he says. “The idea of selling out is compromising your art form to reach more people.Art should be inclusive. That’s where I’m coming from.”

SHEPARD FAIREY,

CITIZEN ARTIST

SHOK 8 EIGHT: Can you tell us a little bit about your show in London and what concepts you are trying to achieve with it?

OBEY: The show is called “NineEightyFouria”, a mixture of the book 1984 (George Orwell) and Euphoria and it seems that nowadays, people are lovingly embracing their civil liberties, shrinking their privacy, shrinking all the oppression and homog-eny that was represented in the 1984 book. It doesn’t seem to bother anyone which is deeply concerning to me. For the past three or four years, I have been concentrating on a body of work which had a lot to do with the concept of that book as well as the war in Iraq, which I am very much against. Mind-less consumers, corporations behaving indiscriminately and the fact that the book was set in London and considering all the surveillance cameras here, it seemed relevant and they have all played their part in shaping this body of work.I haven’t done a big solo show in London since 1999 so I wanted to really push myself and try to do something large to show off my best work.

S8E: So who or which Gallery brought you over here to London to use this exhibition space?

O: The show was organised by the Stolen Space Gallery which is run by D*Face, a fellow stree-tartist. He had seen my work on the streets and we met at my opening show in 1999 and have remained friends ever since. We have wanted to

OBEY (The GiANT)

in London

a show together for years but couldn’t find time in our schedules until now. D*Face understands me and knows

where I am coming from so is definitely a good person to work with.

S8E: How would you say your art has progressed over the years?

O: For the gallery work, I would always keep some of the posters I would make for the street and print them on slightly nicer paper and sell them in order to make it all

work more efficiently as there was not much demand for my art. Over the years, there has been an increase in the demand of my work so I have been making more sophisti-cated pieces with mixed media, like hand painting, richer layers, collages, stencils and using different mediums of canvas. I used to make screenprints in runs of 300-350 and now I try to runs of one of a kind to just five prints and I am also making some of my work much much bigger too.

S8E: What are the differences between British and American styles of graffiti?

O: In the USA, there are still alot of people who are clinging to the idea of graffiti be-ing exclusively a spraycan art and being a Wildstyle type of lettering that perfected in the 1980’s. To me that’s a very narrow

minded way of looking at Streetart or Graffiti. Whereas, in Britain, it seems that people are more receptive to the idea of using stencils or posters or even pushing the aesthetic of areosol paint where its not just about doing bubbly letters all the time. That’s exciting to me because

when you have a genre of art that is about pushing forward the boundaries and application of the mediums, you have to do that. Banksy deserves alot of credit for showing people that streetart can be for anyone and not just someone who understands the graffiti aesthetic. He has definitely inspired many British streetartists and that’s a good thing. Even back in 99 when I first came here, I noticed that British streetartists place more importance in the concept and an aesthetic that made that concept work. When you look at English magazines or see the sense of humour and wit that is on television shows here, you see that it reflects an overall cultural difference. Where I might appreciate the wit and intellectual humor here, I think it goes over the head of many Americans. People here have been really accomodating to my work and I am really happy about that. In the US, I have culti-vated quite a following but when I come here and people on the street see me, they know my name, what I do and seem really enthuisiatic about graffiti/streetart culture.

S8E: What is your definition if “Progressive”?

O: Anything that I think is blazing a new trail is progres-sive. I think that you can still use styles from the past, but in a new way because context is everything. It’s hard to say what aesthetically would be progressive because when you look at the idea of the content and the idea of the concept and its style and the marriage of all these parts, as long as it has been remixed in a fresh way, it can still be called progressive. You shouldn’t repeat what’s going on around you simultaneously, just have you own voice, that’s more progressive.

Art should be inclusive. That’s where I’m coming from.

SPACE INVADER

The classic arcade game Space Invaders was named as such because it featured aliens from outer space invading Earth. Space Invader chose his name because he very literally invades space—public space, to be more specific. For close to 10 years,

Space Invader has been infiltrating cities and subtly altering their

landscapes.Whether you call it public art, street art,

or graffiti, Space Invader’s art

is smart.

I first saw Invader’s work in London, where he had skillfully integrated one of his mosaics into a pillar of a historical building. The mosaic didn’t seem out of place in that location, only the subject matter. I had played Space Invaders obsessively as a kid, so I immediately recognized that Space Invader had converted the game’s crude, square-pixel iconic characters into square tiles. I’ve always admired those who turn limitations into assets, and Space Invader’s translation of pixel/screen to

tile/street is a perfect example of this. The decorative aspect of the tile

mosaic lends itself perfectly to architecture. The

installed invaders become

counterculture surveillance drones, reminding people that government and monolithic corporations aren’t the only ones watching. What I like most about street art is that it’s a defiant act of expression circumventing bureaucracy. The street artist’s goal has always been to find spots that provide the ideal balance of visibility and longevity. As cities have become more vigilant and sophisticated in their graffiti removal, most street art is cleaned immediately. Space Invader’s mosaics are rarely removed, because they’re visible to the right people yet under the radar of the “wrong” people. Space Invader may not be dropping the biggest bombs in the most dramatic battle, but he is winning the war by not bringing the wrath of the authorities, while still reminding people that underground expression is alive.Beyond his diligent street bombing, Invader documents his placements very thoroughly. For each city he

invades, Invader creates a map of all his mosaics. An interested

party can then tour the city and see the mosaics

firsthand. The maps

are meticulously designed pieces of art themselves. For Paris and L.A., Invader has published books with photographs of his installations, maps, and other bits of ephemera and inspiration from those cities. Invader looks at culture globally, and views the whole of his project as the sum of every mosaic, sticker, T-shirt, and footprint (he has made shoes with the Invader print on the sole) he has left around the world, combined with the collective experiences of every person who has ever wondered, “Why is this Space Invaders character here?Space Invader is one of the most thoughtful and focused artists I’ve ever met. A perfectionist, Invader always puts forth the extra effort to make sure his work makes the maximum impact and endures. His work is subversive, but it isn’t anti-social vandalism. He considers his work a “gift” to the city. One day, cities will come to appreciate this gift, as many of their inhabitants already have, and will pay to preserve his additions to their landscapes as art landmarks.

Video Game of the Streets

P I X E L A R T

8

He considers his work a “gift”

to the city.

iels Shoe Meulman is an internationally known artist, graphic designer, and art director. He is born, raised and based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Meulman began

tagging Shoe in 1979 and became a graffiti legend by the time he was 18. In the eight-ies he met New York artists like Dondi, Rammellzee, Haze, Quik and Keith Haring. He then formed the Crime Time Kings with Bando from Paris and Mode2 from London. Together they gave graffiti in Europe its own distinctive style.

In the Nineties he furthered his technique by apprenticing under the Dutch graphic design master Anthon Beeke. Shoe ran his own design company, Caulfield & Tensing and was partner in ad agency Unruly, which he later turned into brand for silk scarves.

Shoe revolutionized the art of writing with Calligraffiti, an art form that fuses calligraphy and graffiti. He launched this movement in 2007 with a successful solo exhibition in Amsterdam. Since then, his Calligraffiti pieces (signed NSM) can be seen in various international exhibitions.

InterviewInterview For ‘My Modern Met’ Blog, November 2010

By mixing beautiful and traditional calligraphy with the rawness and grittiness of graffiti, Niels Meulman gives a whole new way of appreciating both art forms. Meulman, also known as Shoe, is an artist, designer and art director who was born in Amsterdam and who’s worked at international ad agencies like BBDO and television networks like MTV (wherehe was their creative director for a short period of time).

We were able to get in touch with Shoe to ask him about Calligraffiti. Read that interview below, after seeing some of his incredibly intriguing work.

You’ve coined the term Calligraffiti. When did you start merging graffiti with cal-ligraphy? What has been the response?

Shoe: I got into both at a fairly young age. I started writing SHOE in the school’s bicycle parking at the age of eleven and did my first calligraphic sketches at sixteen with an older friend of mine who was working at an ad agency. A year later, I also got a few classes of cal-ligraphy in art school but that didn’t last because I dropped out and started my first company. After that, I did all kinds of jobs in design, media and advertising.

Until 2007. I was forty years old and decided to be an artist. It was only natural that I would go back to my early loves; graffiti and calligraphy. And I just didn’t want to choose. It’s like Yankees catcher Yogi Berra once said: “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Do most of your works have deeper, social meanings?

Shoe: My works are usually sparked by personal observations. Something that I see, hear or read in my direct surroundings, and then connect to the really big things like nature, the human condition and all the stuff that we don’t understand. This line from Hagakure explains it very well: “Matters of great concern should be treated lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”

12

I am a very logical person and I therefore understand that the inexplicable can only be approached intuitively. To me, that is what art is.Which is your favorite piece and why?

Shoe: This I can not answer, it’s like if you would ask me which is your favorite child. I don’t have any children but I suspect that I couldn’t answer that either. Then again, if you are forced to choose, you know deep down what your choice would be. A friend of mine once asked me to write down my 10 favorite movies. You can only do that without really thinking. It is like the difference between looking and seeing. And it reminds me of that line from The Matrix: “You didn’t come here to make the choice. You’ve already made it. You’re here to try to understand why you made it.”

Anyway, when I read/heard the question, the first piece that came to mind was ‘Un-answered Question’ from the recent Throw-Ups exhibition in LA. That’s probably also why I priced it higher than the others, at $7,000. How has working for MTV helped or changed your creative process?

Shoe: In 2007, I organized the first Calligraffiti exhibition. In Amsterdam. This got a lot of international attention and I got a call from MTV Networks. They knew about my years in advertising and offered me a job as Creative Director for all their channels (MTV, Nickel-odeon, Comedy Central and TMF). Even though I had just decided to be a full time artist, I tried to combine the two. But I really didn’t fit in the corporate world anymore with all its meetings and internal politics, so I didn’t last. What I did pick up in the advertising and media business is how to spot a good idea. Everybody is looking for ideas with directness but that also have mileage. That goes for design, art, advertising, architecture, even politics and science.

Who are some other graffiti artists that you admire?

Shoe: Dondi White 1961-1998, Rammellzee 1960-2010, Dr. Rat 1960-1981, Keith Har-ing 1958-1990. It’s ironic that the artist from Amsterdam is the only one I never got to know.

Where do you think the street art/graffiti movement is headed?

Shoe: These are exciting times. First there was the internet bubble that exploded, than we had the banking system that collapsed and now I feel that post modernist bullshit artists and their elitist galleries and museums are being taken at face value. And there are so many great artists with roots in the urban asphalt emerging at the moment, it’s not even funny!

Are there any tips you’d give to aspiring artists?

Shoe: Make sure that other people don’t value your work more than you do.

Marko 93

F I N D S O M E L I G H T I N G R A F F I T I

Emblematic French graffiti artist, Marko-93 largely contributed to making graffiti enter the world of contemporary art. In 1988, Marko-93 embraces hip hop and is quickly attracted to graffiti, which is strongly influenced by American styles at the time. During the 90s, he sharpens his technique: letterings, portraits, RIPs... Markoís graffitis become part of the neighbourhoodís architecture, with some even being made with the local kids to whom he enjoys teaching his art. In 1994, he starts incorporating abstract Arab calligraphy to his graffitis and tags. He carves his caps like calligraphers carve their calams to oroduce upstrokes and down strokes. A style he names Kalligraffism, for which he becomes famous, leads him to paint with such prestigious calligraphers as Hassan Massoudy, Nja Madhaoui, ´El Mameloukª and Mongolian calligrapher Tamir Samandbadraa.

F U T U R E S C H O O L

Marko-93 discovers light-painting in 1999. It all starts with questions arising from seeing trails of light left by car headlights on a picture: is it possible to control the sources of light and use it as a paintbrush? Long pause, LED dark scenery: the basic technique is found, and the possibilities are endless. One thing leads to another, and his research draws him to new fields. From walls to canvas, from spray paint to home-made wallpaper brushes... Marko-93 experiments tirelessly. One day he comes across the movie ´The pillow bookª, in which a Japanese calligrapher paints on womenís bodies. The movie has an enormous impact on him. From then on, he carries a posca (water paint marker) with him at all times, and Bodypainting becomes a second language for him. His Bodypaintings follow him wherever he goes, from famous clubs to concerts (artists on stage), and even painting on John Gallianoís models for his spring-summer fashion show in 2008. With the new millennium, Marko-93 adapts light-painting to video, thereby creating animated images in real time. With the help of engineers, the technique is still evolving. Real time video light-painting is starting to

gather more and more interest as, indeed, the field of new technologies in the arts as a whole continues to grow. At the end of 2004, he goes back to painting on canvas. Heís just as comfortable with a spray can as with a paintbrush and adapts his tools to the size of the surfaces he paints on... mixing spray cans with brooms, brushes and thin paintbrushes. Marko-93 is an artist who has always associated his art with collaborations and new encounters, whether it be for initiating novices or discovering new techniques. Marko loves to travel: Japan, Morocco, Egypt, Cambodia, China, Mongolia, and all around Europe... every place is an opportunity to meet other artists, with whom he shares, exchanges and creates. Marko-93 has a natural impulse to share and a strong desire to learn, precious human qualities that can be added to his obvious artistic talent, and that make him a fascinating and endearing person. Like most of Hip Hopís children, Marko-93 has kept the movement that opened the doors to the artistic world close to his heart. 20 years on, he is a renowned artist in tune with his era: multipurpose with multilingual traits, he is endlessly seeking new opportunities .

16

VhilsAka Alexandre Farto

20

London, Oct 01 (AFP) - Portuguese artist Vhils has participated in various events organized by Banksy, the most famous creator of street art, but still not sure whether or not met.

“I met a person who is supposed to be him, but you never know if he is or is another person who is work-ing with him,” admitted Vhils, artistic pseudonym of Alexandre Farto, the Lusa news agency.

Banksy is a British artist, allegedly born in Bris-tol, who won international fame for their work on the walls of buildings in several cities, but whose true identity is not known.

Even without giving the guy the name of the myste-rious is the most renowned British street art [street art], or graffiti, in which Vhils also begins to be recognized.

On Thursday, the Portuguese induvidual inaugu-rated the first exhibition in London’s Lazarides Gal-lery, who represents Banksy, Invader and David Choe.

“The street art is being taken more seriously. Before it was admired, but now has become more sophisti-cated because it started to transmit a message,” said Ralph Taylor, a staff space, Lusa.

The movement, he said, has evolved and no longer be reduced to vandalism to be regarded as a “right atti-tude, which is expressed without playing by the rules.”

In London and in Lisbon, the market for street art is attracting more attention from collectors, who now also started to appear on “exhibition space”.

“It is fashionable,” Matilde simplified Meireles Gallery Vera Cortes, who represents Alexandre Farto in Portugal.

To Vhils, enhancement of street art is yet to come, when the generation that identifies more with the aesthetics, which is now between 15 and 25 years, gaining purchasing power.

“I think in the near future, when this generation is the one taking the situation, things will be more serious,” he predicted.

The artist, who started doing graffiti on walls and trains in London at age 13, never thought that inter-est in painting and drawing had future.

The outlook changed when she met the work of other international artists and realized that “could pass something like this and have an idea behind ‘the paintings that made by the city.

At one point, recalled Matilde Meireles, Alexan-dre, then 18, began to question whether to make a more conventional work such as painting canvases in order to assert itself.

But was encouraged to continue in street art, even if it means illegal interventions - either to continue to do alone, whether it develops with the VSP col-lective, although in smaller numbers than in the past.

“Being illegal gives the freedom to get into a context that people are not waiting and this, in my opinion, is what differentiates the street art - graffiti from everything else,” justifies Vhils.

Maybe,Portuguese artist Vhils knows Banksy

Vhils InterviewThe street art of Alexandre Farto aka Vhils

Interview with Alexandre Farto, a.k.a Vhils. He talks about portuguese mural movement, urban environment history, train bombing, and the art of destruction.

Shok 8 Eight: Tell us about your growing up and the discovery of graffiti in Portugal.

Vhils: I was born in Portugal, in the area of the south-bank, across the river from Lisbon. This was in 1987, when Portugal had just joined the European Union, in the aftermath of the 1974 Revolution. It was a suburban area with a very unique history as the main industrial hub for the capital, where all the political movements from the left and extreme left had a very powerful presence. Because I believe this had a very strong influence on my work, it’s important to briefly contextualise it: the 25 April 1974 Revolution brought an end to the fascist dictatorship which had run the country for nearly 50 years. After the revolution, the streets were taken over by murals, paintings and stencils, both political and non-political. In the late 1990s I started writing graffiti which had first arrived in the late 1980s. It was then growing very fast and today it’s massive, especially street and train bombing. Lisbon is still quite easy to paint in, compared to other European cities, even if the city

council started a massive clean-up campaign last year and is now enforcing anti-graffiti measures, especially around the centre and the old night life district of Bairro Alto, which was a bit like Barcelona before the crack-down.

S8E: What’s your goal and where do you want to bring us through your art? Can you explain the idea your art of destruction?

Vhils: My work is really concerned with trying to question the reality we live in, in these urban environments where most of us live now, so it deals with social urbanity. I’m really trying to focus on the act of destruction as a creative force in itself. This is something I’ve brought over from graffiti, as a process of creation, a means to create by removing, decomposing or destroying. In a very symbolical way, I believe that by removing some of these layers and leaving other, deeper and therefore older, layers, we can expose some of the things which have been forgotten or discarded along the way. The speed of recent technological development

S8E: Can you explain for our readers the message of you art?

Vhils: There are quite a few messages underlying my work, but they’re all somewhat connected with trying to question the urban reality we live in and the system which supports it and shapes our lives. I’m interested in raising issues, although not in providing answers to them. I like to make people reach their own conclusions by providing them with certain clues which might raise their awareness on these issues which I believe are important. This is something I’ve brought over from graffiti. I believe we are all composed of many different layers of social and historical fabric which ultimately compose and form us. The environment we live in is the product of this same process of layering, and I believe that by removing and exposing some of these layers, by destroying them in fact, we might be able to reach something we have lost along the way. It’s all very symbolical. Take it as a semi-archaeological work of dissecting layers, trying to understand what lies beneath the surface of things and realising how ephemeral everything really is.

Thank you Vhils.

hasn’t allowed us to digest and reflect on the changes that have been imposed on us. I try to highlight this process and highlight the poetics of decadence brought on by this fast pace that makes us lose things along the way. The process of destruction can be seen here as a semi-archaeological work that aims at understanding what lies beneath the surface of things, and ends up giving evidence on how ephemeral things really are. In my work, this process of removal has become rougher and rougher, once it started from dissecting posters and moved on to excavating walls, with tools such as etching acid, bleach, pneumatic drills…It all comes down to raising issues, making people think, question, search…

S8E:  Can you name an artist whose work you respect and admire?

Vhils: INXS, Rilo, Viktor, Banksy, Blu, etc...

S8E: What’s your taste in movie, books and music?

Vhils: Best Movie: 2046 and All Dirty Hands.Best Album - All JazzMattazzzz, J dilla Donut.Best Book- Jean Paul Sartre - The Age of Reason.

Vhils InterviewThe street art of Alexandre Farto aka Vhils

(Continuation)

30

The Art of Being Banksy

The Graffitti, Stencils and Drawings of Banksy

Say what you will about the legality and morality of graffiti; it is difficult to argue that it is not at times real art. The care and forethought that goes into some graffiti and street art is apparent. Banksy is an artist who has risen to a strangely anonymous brand of fame with his graffiti, most of which involves stenciling. But there are many sides to this elusive culture-jamming artist, and his drawings, which are seen by far fewer people, are just as provocative as his large outdoor pieces. Some of his earliest works are still debated while others have become collectors items sold at up tosix-figure prices.Even if Banksy hung up his spray paint cans and stencils forever today, he would always be known first and foremost as a graffiti artist. When he began as a lad in Bristol, his creative artwork graced the sides of buildings

near his home. Now Banksy originals can be seen on walls all around the world. One of his most famous pieces was of a nude man hanging by one hand from a window as a jealous husband scans the street and a guilty wife stands by. The artwork went up on a wall in Bristol near the City Council office. When the city asked the public whether the mural should stay or go, an overwhelming 97% said that they wanted to see it stay. The city agreed and the mural was not removed.Because street art is usually considered a crime, artists have to work quickly. One of the best ways to do that is to use custom stencils. You do most of the work ahead of time by creating the stencils, then when you get to the site of your future art, you simply hold the stencils up and spray away. This is the style of art that’s most often associated with Banksy. Some of them are simple

and probably went up very quickly. Others are quite complex and involve several layers and many colors. Never let it be said that the reclusive street artist doesn’t play well with others. In May of 2008, Banksy was involved with other street artists from around the world in The Cans Festival. The three-day art extravaganza saw artists flocking to an underpass on Leake Street in London, armed with stencils and spray cans and a desire to cover every available surface with art. (And this time, they had permission.) Banksy’s talent and his message extend from urban art into the more traditional paper-and-pencil territory, as well. Although it’s somewhat rare to find a Banksy drawing, the few available examples all convey his signature observant-but-not-preachy style of subversion.

The girl is supposed

to be a representation

of Hillary Clinton

and the boy

Barack Obama!

‣ BANKSY, Places / United Kingdom / England / London / Hoxton

This Banksy

image was originally

found at the Santa’s

Grotto Exhibtion in

2004 and some say

shows the true

meaning of

Christmas.

An Apart Artist

Interview About Artist Work

Reclusive street artist, Banksy, comes out of the shadows to tell Time Out about his notoriety, ongoing graffiti wars and increasing the value of London property. But not to plug his new film.Many people claim to have done so, but I have indeed met - albeit accidentally - the real Banksy, an unremarkable, medium-build man wearing glasses, at an East End graffiti jam a few years ago. However, direct access to him is strictly limited nowadays. Is this definitely you?

‘I wish you were talking to an imposter. I don’t have much of a personality, so it’s difficult to “be” one. Also I want to talk up the film, but I don’t want to talk about it - I’m worried I might ruin the ending. Can we just run a blank page that people can draw on?’

Can you at least say why you’ve dubbed this the first ever street-art ‘disaster movie’? Does that mean it’s your last film?

‘I consider this whole experience to be a disaster on many levels. I think it will be known as my first movie, the one that didn’t lead to a career in filmmaking.’

Now that your mugshot has appeared in the paper, do you get recognised on the street?

‘I know a couple of years ago a bloke claimed he was Banksy to get into a nightclub in Shoreditch and when word went around he got a kicking off some other graffiti writers. It’s in my interest not to comment on any of the photos doing the rounds.’

What’s this battle with Robbo and Drax all about?

‘I didn’t deliberately start a battle with Robbo - have you seen the size of him? In the ‘90s him and Drax were infa-mous enough that we’d even heard about them in Bristol. The truth is I didn’t paint over a piece that said “Robbo”, I painted over a piece that said “nrkjfgrekuh”. But either

way, I don’t buy into the idea a wall “belongs” to a certain writer, or anyone else for that matter.‘Traditional graffiti writers have a bunch of rules they like to stick to, and good luck to them, but I didn’t become a graffiti artist so I could have somebody else tell me what to do. If you’re the type who gets sentimental about people scribbling over your stuff, I suggest graffiti is probably not the right hobby for you.’

You are accused by the graffiti community of selling them out? How do you plead?

‘It’s hard to know what “selling out” means - these days you can make more money producing a run of anti-Mc-Donald’s posters than you can make designing actual posters for McDonald’s.‘I tell myself I use art to promote dissent, but maybe I am just using dissent to promote my art. I plead not guilty to selling out. But I plead it from a bigger house than I used to live in.’

Can street art ever be shown in a gallery?

‘I don’t know if street art ever really works indoors. If you domesticate an animal, it goes from being wild and free to sterile, fat and sleepy. So maybe the art should stay outside. Then again, some old people get a lot of comfort from having a pet around the house.

“We can’t do

anything to change

the world until

capitalism crumbles.

In the meantime

we should all go

shopping to

console ourselves.”

Banksy

‘It’s hard to capture the adrenaline of street painting when you’re in a nicely lit studio with the kettle on. Maybe the people who steal graffiti off walls are on to something - the edge is still there. But those people are funny - they ask me for a letter of authentication saying I painted a certain piece, but that’s basically a signed confession on headed notepaper.’

What do you make of the financial value of your works? Do you mind people trading them like property or luxury goods?

‘My lawyer’s opinion is that the cops might not actually be able to charge me with criminal damage any more - be-cause theoretically my graffiti actually increases the value of property rather than decreasing it. That’s his theory, but then my lawyer also believes wearing novelty cartoon ties is a good look.’

Banksy is the

pseudonym of a

British graffiti artist,

political activist and

painter, whose identity

is unconfirmed.

The question itself is as interesting as the possible answers. Mainly because both Art and Vandalism are entirely relative terms, there is no “set in stone definition” for either of them, one man’s broken window is another man’s impromptu ventilation improvement and one man’s modern art master piece is another man’s piece of excrement smeared on a canvas. Some people have deep rooted misconceptions about graffiti and street art on the whole, they think that spray cans are not a valid artistic medium, used only by delinquents and malevolent social activists out to wreck the stability of our great respective countries. Those people should actually try to use a spray can, to get varying line thickness’s and fading effects and generally to use the medium, takes enormous effort and practice and quite frankly if I see something done in spray’s I give it extra marks right away, because I know how hard those wonderful little tins can be to use. I have always equated the skill involved in an endeavor as the highest priority for ranking it’s worth, and in that way

Graffiti will always be ranked loudly and proudly high in my eyes. Of course some people choose to put it in places that it shouldn’t necessarily be, but that is beside the point I feel, when you are talking about it’s status as a valid art form, it’s important to remember what your judging.If you think about it long enough you may come to the conclusion that I have, which is that both Art and Vandalism like most terms, are so insanely relative that it becomes hard to justify applying one to a single thing. For instance a hell of a lot which is exhibited in the Tate modern is to my tastes not art but just offensive to my eyes, however many many people consider it Art and not just Art but amazing Art. My point here is that just because I feel something is downright offensively bad, doesn’t mean it’s not art at the same time and conversely, not that it’s not Art and not also terrible at the same time. So instead of arguing over whether it’s one thing or another, just accept that it is two things simultaneously and that those two things, may change according to peoples preferences.

A broken window is vandalism to some, a poetic display of expression to others and just a broken window to the rest, so I take the opinion that Graffiti is both Art and Vandalism. And that would make three types of people in the world, those who think Art first Vanadlism second, those that think Vandalism first and Art second and those that think it’s just plain vandalism, and that’s that aside from the inevitable “don’t care” vote, and out of those I know precisely which one I am.

ZEVS, Liquidated McDonald’s, Paris, France, 2005, courtesy of ZEVS;

Is it really art? Or just good old fashioned vandalism?by Andy Exell

ART VS VANDALISM

“A broken window is vandalism

to some, a poetic display of

expression to others and just a

broken window to the rest.”

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F RO M

S T R E E T

GA L L E R I E S22Sculptures in parks, chalk drawings on pavements, graffiti art in tube stations… throughout the last few decades, art has trickled out of private saloons and underground galleries to public spaces in unprecedented amounts.

Of course, it’s a phenomenon which has always been around, but nowadays it is hard to come across a city or town without one example of public art – alongside a case of public art controversy.

A vast new exhibition space opened in New York City. On view are works by 103 street artists from around the world, mostly big murals painted directly onto the gallery’s walls.It is one of the largest shows of such pieces ever mounted in one place, and many of the contributors are significant figures in both the street-art world and the commercial trade that now revolves around it. Its debut might have been expected to draw critics, art dealers and auction-house representatives, not to mention hordes of young fans.In the weeks since, almost no one has seen the show. The gallery, whose existence has been a closely guarded secret, closed on the same night it opened. Known to its creators and participating artists as the Underbelly Project, the space, where all the show’s artworks remain, defies every norm of the gallery scene. Collectors can’t buy the art. The public can’t see it. That’s because the exhibition has been mounted, illegally, in a long-abandoned subway station.

BANKSY, Banksy Exhibition, London, United Kingdom, 2009;

“I would hang out here for hours,” PAC said, enjoying “the solitude of being underground” and the architecture.Then he met Workhorse, whose art often focuses on abandoned spaces.“I told him I knew about a space that was pretty cool,” PAC said, and “brought him down here, and that night the idea for the project hatched.” And they decided that want to preserve the kind of sacred quality of the place but they also want people to know it exists. And want it to become part of the folklore of the urban art scene.

Let’s Put On a Show

In early 2009 Workhorse and PAC began putting out feelers among street artists, seeking a mix of the established and the up and coming. Soon they brought their first collabo-rators down to the site, Jim and Tina Darling, West Coast artists who painted big, contrasting images — his a leer-ing man’s face, hers a woman with windblown hair — in a small side room. They worked for two long nights, after

From streets to the GalleriesStreet Art Way Below the Street

The show’s curators, street artists themselves, unveiled the project for a single night, leading this reporter on a two-and-a-half hour tour.Workhorse, in his late 30s, is a well-known street artist with gallery representation; PAC, younger by a decade, is less established but familiar (under a different name) to followers of urban-art blogs. The two came up with the idea for the Underbelly Project in 2008, a few years after PAC first saw the old station, led to it from a functioning one by an urban explorer acquaintance.

Seduced by the Abandoned

The place was pitch black, but standing with a powerful flashlight on a platform, PAC said, he had been able to make out a landscape of several more platforms, each lined with rows of columns, alternating with sunken track beds. The station, about the size of a football field, had clearly never been completed: no track had been laid in those beds, no escalators or staircases met the gaping holes in the platforms, and there was no electricity.

MR.BRAINWASH, Life is Beutiful - Brainwash Exhibition, USA, Los Angels, 2008;

which all parties emerged exhausted and filthy with soot. Workhorse and PAC realized that their goal of includ-ing about 100 contributors would be more difficult than they had imagined, and would take a lot more time.Working conditions were far from favorable. The ambient humidity made stenciling and the wheat-pasting used by some artists laborious. While mak-ing his own piece — a self-portrait in an empty subway car. The Metropolitan Transit Authority would occasionally shut down the nearby subway line. The artists, working through the night, would hear workers on the tracks and go silent, turning out any lights.

Art, Underground

Workhorse said he felt that about 90 percent of the art was successful. For this reporter, the most arresting pieces are those that are sinisterly in sync with the Hades-like space, among them skulls, a pair of huge rats and a set of typographical strokes by the British graffiti artist SheOne that resemble the

skeletal scratchings of a Lascaux cave.There is a certain amount of anarchic sloganeering and sly digs at the corporate-commercial complex. “WE OWN THE NIGHT,” blares one painting on an end wall. Another, by Mr. English, depicts Mickey Mouse on a respirator.One installation features a dining table set for two in the middle of a track bed, a relic of a three-course meal served on site by the artist-impresario Jeff Stark to the winner of a competition and her guest. “She wrote an essay about inviting a veteran of the club scene from the early ’90s who was a little out of touch with what younger artists are up in New York these days,” Mr. Stark said. “But he showed up and announced that he was claustrophobic,” so she ended up dining with a friend.Although other artists’ pieces would seem to be more permanent, the dampness of the space is already working against them. One thickly sprayed painting has simply never dried. The curators said they thought the painted works could last two or three decades if left untouched.

We’re not under the

illusion that no one

will ever see it. ”“

MR.BRAINWASH, Life is Beutiful - Brainwash Exhibition, USA, Los Angels, 2008;

After this reporter’s tour, the curators destroyed the equipment they had been using to get in and out of the site. “We’re not under the illusion that no one will ever see it,” Workhorse said. “But what we are trying to do is to discourage it as much as possible.” He stressed that any self styled explorer who found the site and attempted to enter it would be taking a real risk.“If you go in there and break your neck, nobody’s going to hear you scream,” he said — at least assuming there are no track workers around. “You’re just going to have to hope that someone is going to find you before you die.”

Taking It From the Streets

São Paulo’s Choque Cultural Gallery prides itself on exhibiting works of pop art, photography, and sculpture by Brazil’s top contemporary artists. But its current exhibit, Coletiva Choque, featuring works by the artists Zezão, Jaca, and Presto, looks like it’d be more

at home on the walls of a favela. It consists of large, colorfully embellished murals, known as street art, that have been transferred to canvases. More inspirational than angry, they’re a far cry from “tag” graffiti—hastily sprayed words on outdoor property that convey social and political messages.São Paulo is not the only place where street art has made the leap from the inner city to the gallery. Exhibition spaces in Los Angeles, London, and New York City have all commissioned street artists to apply their talents to murals rather than on building façades or concrete barriers. Although the artistic style of the outdoor artwork is preserved, some argue that moving it indoors and changing its scale compromises its integrity and mission. Indeed, during Choque Cultural’s Trimassa! street-art exhibit last fall, vandals broke in and spray-painted, or tag graffiti, all over the works to protest the mainstream marketing of the art form.Street artists themselves are ambivalent about shifting their venue. Eltono, an artist from Spain who paints geometric

designs on houses, fences, and vans, likes to surprise passersby with creative designs in unsuspected locations. Speto, a Brazilian native who favors painting large and colorful illustrations of religious iconography, Amazonian scenes, and tribespeople, seeks to instill cultural pride in his compatriots—especially those who might not ever make it to a gallery or museum. By moving their work indoors, they fear that they will lose touch with their original artistic missions and the thrill of making art on unconventional surfaces.But they also recognize that gallery representation can legitimize their art and win them new fans. CES 53, a Rotterdam-based collaborative artist who likes to mix pre-Colombian motifs with a hip-hop esthetic along with the styles of the 8 other artists that work with him in a street art collective named Lastplak, says that his own preparation for the group’s recent show in Los Angeles helped him produce more sophisticated, polished work. Putting finer artistic materials to use, like paintbrushes instead of spray cans, he learned to hone his technique.

In the process, he reached audiences who had never heard of him, or of Lastplak, who began to follow his gallery work as well as Lastplak’s street work, which now includes a giant Noah’s ark illustration on the front of a Rotterdam church. Eduardo Saretta, owner of Choque Cultural, says gallery attention has made street art “more professionalized,” allowing artists to broaden their repertoires and sharpen their skills. It also allows them to earn money for their work so they can afford better materials.Gallery exhibits can also help lead to prominent public commissions. São Paulo authorities have asked Speto to take on urban-beautification projects, such as dressing up the building exteriors in the Vila Madalena neighborhood. Officials in L.A., Chicago, Rotterdam, and Kiev have also invited him to use their streets as his canvas. He’ll no doubt get more viewers than he would in any gallery.

MR.BRAINWASH, Life is Beutiful - Brainwash Exhibition, USA, Los Angels, 2008;

50

Shok 8 Eight: You have several sneaker collaborations with Adidas. How did your relationship with Adidas materialize?

They got in touch with us through MySpace, because we work really close with Crooked Tongues from London and they were in charge of organizing the project. It was a graffiti collection specifically for Foot Locker, but it in-cluded Champs Sports in America. Adi-das got in touch with Crooked Tongues to see who were the best to go with for their collection and then Crooked Tongues got in touch with us.

S8E: How was the process of the design? 

It was really simple, because we went three days in London to design the col-lection with the crew, but I think, at the beginning, Adidas thought we were only graffiti writers so they sent their creative direction in London to work closely with the line, but they found out we were already graphic designers so they just assisted us. We were free to do what we wanted, except for the second winter collection, as we had to respect some color specs and we could not choose the shoe model. It was fine with us.

S8E: Do you notice differences between sneakers that are worn in North America compared to Europe? 

Now with the Internet, it is pretty hard to say, because everything is spread the same way, I guess. I love sneak-ers from way back, but now, I’m just wearing them. I buy some sneakers I like, maybe to match with a T-shirt or stuff like that, but I’m not crazy to collect them all. I think it was the same thing with the Adidas collection – they just needed cool sneakers and people would collect them if they’re from Europe or America.

S8E: What did you think of the end result of the End to End project? 

It’s not bad. Some of the models I don’t like that much. Thing is, with Foot Locker, we have to be mainstream – it’s not made for sneaker heads, even if it’s a limited series. Even if it’s a big production and not really limited for certain people like sneaker heads, about 80 per cent of the people that buy our sneakers are go-ing to destroy them. Only a few pairs will be saved and kept as a collectable item.

S8E: Your newest pair, the Decade Low, is only available in Europe. Why is that? 

Enterview About 123 KLAN Works in Adidas Shoes

This collection is not that good for the U.S., but I’m not sure what’s not that good for Adidas, because it went really well. Maybe they wanted to sell mil-lions more, I’m not sure.

S8E: Is there anything specific from graffiti writing that you’ve taken from making these shoes?

It’s totally graphic design. We did take some elements that look like graffiti, but to me it is graphic design, because graf-fiti has to be spray painted on the wall.

S8E: Thank you Scien and Klor.

58

The history begins in 1999, when “Akut”, “Case” and “Rusk” started common projects. During the first two years the trio mainly met up in Weimar, Germany.It was “Rusk” who first made contact between “Case” an “Akut” on one side, and “Tasso” on the other.For “Akut”, “Case”, and “Tasso” it was easy to work together and to complement each other, as they had already focused on photorealistic spraying irrespectively of each other. So nothing stood in the way of a cooperation. Finally it was “Tasso” who gave the name to the crew on January 3rd, 2001. Thereby it was important, that the name should stand out against the usual 3-letter-crew names, often used within the graffiti scena and wich are not easily remembered. Of course, the original concept was to create a pure character crew, but there might never be a crew like that. The renunciation of styles is impossible – even in the visual imagery of “Ma’Claim”. Thanks to “Rusk” the quartet was completed and should immediately cause a sensation.It was obvious to use the computer as a tool for the planning of photorealistic

wall productions. At the time of bubble backgrounds and comic characters, this approach was almost revolunionary and clearly stood out.“Ma’Claim” existed for one year when the German Hip Hop magazine “Backspin” became attentive and made a special about them. Despite the fact that the crew former East Germany had only existed for a short while, they already attracted a lot of attention, which increased one year later with the help of an extensive interview in the “Stylefile” magazine. Responsible for the interest of the media was “Ma’Claim” new style, which “Tasso” named “Graffoto”.“Ma’Claim” forged new paths with their concepts. But also regarding their staff there had been news. The increase called “Schroe”, and as their webmaster she has been caring about the Internet presence. She has been designing the web page which should be a platform next to the magazines during the following years. Thus the works could be presented to a world-wide audience, beyond German graffiti magazines. This reflected also in the international bookings of “Ma’Claim”.

T H E P H O T O - R E A L I S T I C S I D E O F G R A F F I T I

CITROËN

| L IM ITED ED IT ION |

Citroën prupose of a urban vehicle with a visual look costumized by grafitti artist, Mr.Cary*

New Street Sweeper Social Club

Now that Rage Against the Machine is through with last week’s one-off benefit show in L.A., guitarist Tom Morello has turned his attention to the second release from Street Sweeper Club, his project with rapper Boots Riley of the Coup. Hear an exclusive stream below of “Scars,” off SSSC’s forthcoming Ghetto Blaster EP, out August 10.

Tracklisting Revealed To Diddy & Dirty Money’s “Last Train To Paris”

The 16 tracks on Diddy’s anticipated December 14 album are revealed, prior to feature confirmations.

On December 14, Diddy and his latest Bad Boy Records act, Dirty Money will release Last Train To Paris. The concept album that’s been delayed for over a year, deals with love, break-ups and alledged observations the music mogul made last year while traveling abroad.Although features have yet to be announced, the album’s tracklisting has been revealed. Rick Ross, Drake and Nicki Minaj are all believe to be featured on the Interscope-distributed album.

According to The Mirror, Prince Harry is currently courting Snoop Dogg and British rapper Tinie Tempah to perform at an upcoming engagement party for his brother Prince William, who announced this past week that he is engaged to Kate Middleton. Although Prince Harry has yet to meet with the Dogfather about the possibility of performing, sources reported that the Roc Nation hopeful Tinie Tempah is looking to make room in his schedule to perform.

Snoop Dogg Records “Wet” Specifically For Prince William’s Bachelor Party

UPDATE: “Like A G6” producers The Cataracs hit Tha Doggfather off with

what’s billed to be a follow-up to ‘08’s “Sexual Eruption.”

South Central Cartel Returns In 2011, Goes GreenThe South Central veterans are back with album number 12, South Central Gangsta Muzic

They may not get the recognition of peers like Compton’s Most Wanted, WC, Above The Law and DJ Quik, but South Central Cartel helped shape the west coast gangster rap scene every bit as much in the early 90’s. In 2011 the South Central O.G.’s will return with their 12th album since 1992.

Black Eyed Peas & “Glee” Cast Team To Resurrect “Dirty Dancing” Hit

“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” makes a comeback, 23 years after the famous dance sequence on film.

Released in 1987, the soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing remains one of the best-selling music companions to a film. The Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes collaboration “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” remains one of the collection’s biggest hits, used in spoofs, commercials and frequently played on radio 23 years later. Now, Los Angeles, California Hip Hop-turned-Pop group The Black Eyed Peas has announced that they’ve updated the song on their new album, The Beginning, released today.

The Toasters 30thAnniversary US tour

To mark the band’s anniversary the Ska Brewing Company of Durango, Colorado is releasing a limited edition Toasters 30th IPA.

NYC ska legends The Toasters are headed back out on the road for one of their typically massive tours. The group will kick off their 2011 30th anniversary celebrations with a full tour of the United States in January and February. They’ll launch their latest trek on January 15th in Kingston, New York, with daily shows across the States to round them back to Cambridge.

Red Tape Parade

Punk rock is a genre that is known for many things but musical collaborations isn’t one of

them. Sure, there are times but rarely will you see an album littered with guests musicians like

you will on, say, a T-Pain album. Red Tape Parade hopes to change all that (the collaboration part,

not the sounding like T-Pain part).

The Methadones

In a recent interview, vocalist/guitarist Dan Vapid stated that The Methadones will call it a day by

year’s end, playing two final shows (one at this year’s Insubordination Fest and another in their hometown

of Chicago, IL) and releasing a collection of b-sides and outtakes packaged with five new songs.

Jordan Burns

Strung Out has talent, longevity and a strong work ethic. As a testament to that they are still riding on the success of 2009’s Agents of the Underground

a year later, touring in support of the critically acclaimed, fanbase approved record.

*1 *2 *3

*8*7*6*5*4

*1 Jacket DCShoes 115,00€ *2 Sweat-Shirt DCShoes 85,75€ *3 Watch DCShoes 250,00€ *4 Snow

Pants DCShoes 159,80€ *5 Snow Pants DCShoes 189,67€ *6 Snow Board Costum 213,56€ *7 Skate

Board Fracture! 98,99€ *8 Sneakers Adidas Clima Cool 134,99€

Feel the Diference

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*4

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*5*6

*7

*8

*1 Jacket DCShoes 115,00€ *2 Jacket PJL - Pepe Jeans London 185,75€ *3 Sweat-

Shirt Rip Curl 50,00€ *4 Sweat-Shirt DCShoes 59,80€ *5 Boots Animal 89,67€ *6 Boots Billabong 73,56€ *7 Shoes Bobs Made 58,99€ *8 Belt 123 Klan 34,99€

The g i r l Power

The next Edition:

Mr.BrainwashTrains & SubwaysWells Festival

Interview with Mr.Brainwash, who are preparing his next exibihition; A extense report about vandalism acts in Trains & Subways for all Europe;Wells Street Art Festival, the resume of the more powerfull event of street-arts