unleashed mag april 2011 - street art edition

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Letter From The PublisherKenny Scharf Before Street Was ArtFab 5 FreddyPatti AstorFutura [2000]Branding GraffitiThe London PoliceEDition Of ONe HundredBusiness of Art StreetLoGan HicksLINA EscoBooksFilmMaxine Walters

NIck Walker

foundersRon Samuel and paula harrison

Publisher Ron Samuel

Managing Editor jaMiyla P.

Creative direction, design and aesthetic Maximillian Xavier+ Erin Tengquist

Art Issue Curator stephen pang

Contributing writers George Hernandez, Stephen Pang, malia sCharf

Contributing photographersLionel DElUY, Maximillian Xavier , Erin Tengquist

Archival/Photo AcknowledgementsAnita rosenberg, MichaEl MarKos, Martha Cooper, TATS crU

cover photo and featurelionel dElUy

special thanks: corissa cooks , clinton cooks, daisy bennett, Dr. Wendell Smith, brooke afkami, manny phillips, jean paul nataf, david lloyd,

Dominique Houtondji, Luckyfox hall, fred brathwaite, abdul basir lumas, abdul hakim hicks,

and all the brothers buried alive. you are not forgotten.Don Don and Richie Rich, soul tacos for survival.

Printed By: Boss LItho

NIck Walker

contributors

Stephen Pang is an LA-based, HipHop aficionado fromBristol, UK who is a DJ, photographer and writer. He wasalso a contributing curator for the world's first street styleexhibition at London's Victoria & Albert Museum. His blogshares some of his ramblings. www.stevio.me

Raised as an army brat, I f eel privileged to have seen theworld from an early age. I attended 8 different schoolsin my first 13 years of education. Army bases werenon- segregated communities, and we were all poor incomparison to the general public, but we didn't care. Welived in places like Panama and Germany learning bits ofcultures and languages that would later help form the basis of my dynamic and charming personality.

STEPHEN PANG

George Hernandez

Malia SchaRf

Malia Scharf is an independent filmmaker and actress based in New York City. She is currently directing and co-producing a documentary called, The Fun's Inside: A Portrait of Kenny Scharf. Check out the promotion/fund raising video for the film at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nathanmeier/the-funs-inside-a-film-portrait-of-kenny-scharf.She will screen a short film at MOCA in The Art in the Streets show in collaboration with Nathan Meier and Kenny Scharf. While working at Arthouse Films in New York, Malia worked on The Radiant Child, about artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. She is currently studying film at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Erin Tengquist

It's time for change. I write. I take pictures... In the end, it will be a film, It's all art. You Me. This. Free Bradley Manning

Maximillian Xavier

Lionel DeluyLionel Deluy was born in the south of France, where he was first introduced to photography. He migrated to Paris and started his career as an assistant at Daylight Studio, and Lionel has since photographed the hottest celebri-ties, most recently, Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba, AdriEn Brody, Kevin Bacon, Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom.. to name a few.

Creative Director, photographer and writerwho believes in the power of art to change, and in you. United we are culture and spirit. Together we are what we will become.

R e b e l A r t

P h o t o M a x i m i l l i a n X av i e r A n d E r i n T e n g q u i s t A c t u a l P h o t o t h e S m e l l , L AT h a n ks J I m

I f i r s t n o t i c e d g r a f f i t i i n t h e b a t h r o o m s t a l l s a t m y s c h o o l w h e n I w a s s t i l l a r u g r a t . T h a t ’ s n o t t o s a y i t

w a s n ’ t i n t h e s t r e e t s t h e n , b u t t h a t w a s t h e f i r s t p l a c e t h a t I r e a l l y t o o k n o t i c e a n d , s i n c e t h e n , i t h a s p l a y e d

a h u g e r o l e i n m y d e s i r e t o e x p r e s s m y s e l f .

I n p a y i n g h o m a g e t o t h e e v o l u t i o n o f s t r e e t a r t w e w e n t b a c k t o t h e

b e g i n n i n g , g e t t i n g t h e r u n d o w n f r o m s o m e t h e p i o -n e e r s l i k e F a b 5 F r e d d y [ B r a t h w a i t e ] , P a t t i A s t o r , K e n -n y S c h a r f a n d F u t u r a ; a n d w e c h a t t e d w i t h s o m e o f t h e n e w e r k i d s o n t h e b l o c k l i k e T h e L o n d o n P o l i c e , L o g a n

H i c k s a n d N i c k W a l k e r .

F r o m t h e F u n G a l l e r y i n 1 9 8 1 t o M O C A i n 2 0 1 1 - t h r e e d e c a d e s i n t h e m a k i n g - s t r e e t a r t h a s b e c o m e a g l o b a l

p h e n o m e n o n w i t h r e c o r d - b r e a k i n g g a l l e r y s h o w i n g s , w i t h s o m e a r t i s t s a n d c o l l e c t o r s m a k i n g l o t s o f m o n e y , a s w e l l a s t h e c o - o p t a t i o n [ s o m e s a y ] b y t h e c o r p o r a t e

w o r l d . W h a t s t a r t e d o u t a s a n i l l e g a l a c t i v i t y b y r e n -e g a d e t y p e s i n t h e

i n n e r - c i t y i n t h e S o u t h B r o n x , i s n o w r e s p e c t e d i n t h e a r t w o r l d . G r a f f i t i w a s b o r n o u t o f t h e s a m e d e s i r e t o

c r e a t e s o m e t h i n g f r o m n o t h i n g a s r a p m u s i c , b r e a k -d a n c i n g a n d s k a t e b o a r d i n g . A n d a l i f e s t y l e w a s b o r n .

I a p p l a u d a n d a d m i r e a l l t h e p a r t i c i p a n t s f o r t h e i r r e -l e n t l e s s n e e d t o e x p r e s s t h e m s e l v e s w i t h n o c l e a r u n -d e r s t a n d i n g t h a t t h e r e w o u l d b e c o m p e n s a t i o n o f a n y

s o r t f o r t h e i r i l l e g a l a c t s .

W h i l e p u t t i n g t h i s i s s u e t o g e t h e r I w a s a w e d b y t h e r e s p o n s e t h a t I r e c e i v e d f r o m s o m a n y p e o p l e , t h e e x -

c m e n t t h e y s h a r e d w i t h m e , m a n y o f w h o m w e r e c o l -l e c t o r s l i k e M a x i n e W a l t e r s , w h o h a s b e e n c o l l e c t i n g

J a m a i c a n d a n c e h a l l p o s t e r s f o r m o r e t h a n a d e c a d e ; o r L i o n e l D e l u y ( c o v e r s h o o t p h o t o g r a p h e r ) w h o h a s

a n o r i g i n a l B a n k s y h a n g i n g i n h i s s t u d i o ; o r c o v e r g i r l L i n a E s c o , w h o h a s a n o r i g i n a l T L P ( T h e L o n d o n P o l i c e )

p a i n t e d o n t h e w a l l i n h e r l i v i n g r o o m . S t r e e t a r t , i t s p a t r o n s a n d t h e l i f e s t y l e i t s p a w n e d a r e u b i q u i t o u s ,

t h e w o r l d i s o u r c a n v a s , a n d I s a y o u r s b e c a u s e a n y o n e c a n d a r e t o d o i t , a n y w h e r e , j u s t d o n ’ t g e t c a u g h t . . .

l o l .S p e a k i n g o f L a u g h o u t L o u d - H o w b e a u t i f u l i s c o v e r

g i r l L i n a E s c o ? L O L s t a r a n d s t r e e t a r t c o l l e c t o r . T h i s i s t h e a r t i s s u e b u t U N l e a s h e d i s s t i l l a m e n ’ s m a g a z i n e ,

a f t e r a l l . C h e e r s . . .

R e b e l A r t

JR Street Art Venice 2011 Maximillan Shot by Erin Tengquist

B E F O R E

was street

Photo Courtesy Fab 5 Freddy

B E F O R E

was street

artStory by Stephen Pang

I f y o u G o o g l e

s t r e e t a r t y o u w i l l f i n d n o e n d o f r e f e r e n c e s . O n A m a z o n a l o n e t h e r e a r e m o r e t h a n 4 , 0 0 0 b o o k s t o c h o o s e f r o m ; o r y o u c o u l d d r o w n i n o v e r 4 5 m i l l i o n G o o g l e s e a r c h r e s u l t s .

Photo Anita Rosenberg

Keith Haring, JFK - jr, and Fab 5 Freddy

T h e b i g s h o c k e r of this particular event was when we looked out of my living room window at t h e b u m s s i t t i n g o n g a r b a g e cans, and see J e f f r e y D e i t c h and D i e g o Cortez step out of a cab. That's how I met Jef-frey.

Patti Astor (on far right) Steven Kramer opening - NYC 1981Photo Michael Markos

But, despite its visibility, street art is a relatively new art phenomenon with its artists having little or no formal train-ing or career path. How quickly street art has been absorbed into pop culture and recognized by art galleries and institutions is a testament to its visual potency and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Los Angeles, Art in the Streets exhibit is the latest endorsement of this prolific art form.But where did this genre of art originate? The term ‘street art’ was, arguably, first coined in the late 70s and used to cre-ate a catch-all ‘super category’ for art whose only commonality was that it was created and displayed in public spaces, rather than behind the closed doors of traditional art galleries. Public art, in itself, wasn’t new. What was new was the acceptance of street art by gal-leries, auction houses and museums. In the late 70s, before Banksy, JR or Shepard Fairey, there was no street art, just aerosol graffiti. And it was a blight on the inner city, no more so than in its mecca, New York City. To the establish-ment, the words ‘graffiti’ and ‘art’ were rarely uttered in the same breath. How-ever, something changed in the early 80s. Out of that illegal graffiti scene a few graffiti artists emerged who broke away from painting subway trains and began exploring other venues for their art and endeavoured to penetrate the established art gallery world in Man-hattan. This is the period when uptown New York hustle met downtown Man-hattan avant garde and two people who were instrumental in creating this cul-tural cocktail and channeling its energy were the graffiti artist, Fred Brathwaite, aka Fab 5 Freddy, and East Village queen, Patti Astor. At the time, both were pursuing their artistic goals in different circles, but their entrepreneurial spirits and ability to make things happen united them. In 1981, at a screening of Patti’s punk rock art house film, Underground U.S.A., Fab 5 Freddy introduced himself to Pat-ti. Little did they know that this chance encounter would lead to the beginning of the Fun Gallery, the first significant

I think it's good that a n ew g ro u p o f artists have come in and found interesting ways to work on the street. It definitely follows a continuum. one thing couldn't have happened with-out the other. That's the critical thing to understand. - Fab 5 Freddy

street art exhibition space, and that it would be pivotal in developing the careers of so many of the world’s most re-nowned street artists. At the time, Fab 5 Freddy was making conscious moves to infiltrate the art gallery world and transform his graffiti background into a career. “In the beginning in the 80s I was not trying to offer myself as a graffiti artist because I didn’t see myself doing illegal graffiti when I was actually trying to make works on canvas. I wanted to be an artist and be in that space and it was something I initiated on my own and after I connected with Lee Quinones [of Wild Style fame] we had a big show in Rome in 1979 [at Claudio Bruni’s gallery]. “This is how I ended up on the downtown scene and meeting other art makers (Keith [Haring], Jean-Michel [Bas-quiat] and Kenny [Scharf]) and who became good friends before the Fun Gallery jumped off…we thought [the East Village] was a place where we could come together and make things happen.” What Fab 5 Freddy and his peers had unknowingly created was the original social network. Instead of college students, this network was made up of a ‘new pocket of energy’ of fresh, passionate artists who were just coming onto the scene and were now rubbing shoulders with the likes of Patti Astor who was already well known on the East Village scene for her underground films. “Our scene, at that time, was a lot more cliquish…it was really, re-ally a small scene…and you hung with each other and we didn’t venture too far outside our realm.”Patti Astor explains how unique the East Village was in the 70s and 80s and how it constantly reinvented itself and never stood still, “…there were three separate eras to the East Village culture. When I got there [in 1975] the big thing was going to [the club] CBGBs to see the local bands Blondie, Talking Heads, Television and Ramones. The next thing was the filmmaking and Mudd Club era – I made my first film, Underground U.S.A., in 1976 - and that period carried on through to 1981…when the art thing happened.”At this time, the East Village scene was very white and HipHop had not yet percolated from the uptown neighbor-hoods into Manhattan. Patti explains, “You have to give Fred [Brathwaite] credit as the main catalyst for enabling HipHop to explode out of the South Bronx and penetrate the rest of the world. It seems unbelievable now, but at that time no one downtown had heard about rap music, breakdancing or graffiti art….” However, the passion and creativity was instantly recognizable and Patti identified with HipHop. “It was pretty easy to get, what we did have in common was ‘we don’t have any money so we’re going to create what we can out of what we have.’ There’s not much difference [between] making a $500 [budget] jungle romance super8 movie and hooking up your turntables to a street light in the Bronx.”It was this shared do-it-yourself mind-set that fueled the ‘accidental beginnings’ of the Fun Gallery. After Patti had befriended Fab 5 Freddy in 1981, she met the graffiti artist Futura [2000] who shared a studio with Fab and Lee

Patti Astor (right) and Tina L'Hostky NYC - 1981Photo Michael Markos

Photo Courtesy Fab 5 Freddy

in Alphabet City

– so named because of avenues A, B, C and D - one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Manhattan at that time. Futura offered Patti one of his paintings, but she decided against accepting it and instead asked Futura to paint a mural in her East Village living room since that would be a proper gift that couldn’t be bought or sold. This mural painting turned into a one-day art event with Kenny Scharf joining the party to customize the apartment’s appliances as Patti made potato salad for guests. This display of bleeding edge street art wasn’t a formal curation or collaboration of street art styles – it was just friends getting together and creating something out of nothing. This was the first of many occasions that Patti attracted the attention of the art world. Patti recalls the day, “The big shocker of this particular event was when we looked out of my living room window at the bums sitting on garbage cans, and see Jeffrey Deitch (art buyer and now director of MOCA in Los Angeles) and James Curtis, better known as Diego Cortez (curator, art critic and MVP of the downtown scene), step out of a cab. That’s how I met Jeffery”[Deitch.]"

Pattti Astor on the seT of Wild Style with Henry Chalfant East River Park - N YC - Octoer 1, 1981Photo : Michael Markos

PAtti Astor And Patti Astor on the set of Wild Style with Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwite)East River Park - NYC - Octorber 1, 1981Photo Michael Markos

Fab 5 Freddy

Patti Astor on the set of Wild Style with Fab 5 Freddy (Fred Brathwite)East River Park - NYC - Octorber 1, 1981Photo Michael Markos

Fab 5 Freddy

Fred And ZephyRPhoto Anita Rosenberg

Keith Haring 3 lower Photos Anita Rosenberg

Patti Astor at the Fun Gallery Patti ANd Fab in front of fun gallery

Next Page: Origninal Artwork for Steven Kramer OpeningNYC - 1981

Photo Michael Markos

After the first show, Patti Astor wanted a more dedicated venue and she heard about a small 8-foot by 25-foot space on East 11th Street from her friend Bill Stelling, who then became her partner in the Fun Gallery. This new gallery had no name at the time of the first show (by artist Steven Kramer) in August 1981. In true democratic style Patti said that each artist could choose the name of the gallery for their own show. It wasn’t until the second show that Kenny Scharf came up with the name that would stick…the Fun Gallery. However, the Fun Gallery wasn’t the only edgy game in town in the early 80s. Speaking about Fashion Moda in the Bronx and ABC No Rio in the Lower East Side, Fab 5 Freddy explains, “Just think about [them] as alternative spaces which were opened up by some radical artists and activists…they were trying to set up an alternative to the established art world that was doing boring, lame stuff.”After several one-man shows (by artists Fab 5 Freddy, Kiely Jenkins, Futura, Jane Dickson, Dondi White and Arch Con-nelly and Lee) and Rene Ricard’s article in ARTFORUM magazine, the Fun Gallery relocated to a larger space on East 10th Street in Fall ’82. Kenny Scharf opened in September, with Keith Haring showing in February ‘83. At its height, the Fun Gallery attracted a record crowd of 800 people to the East Village.

But, this was the beginning of the end of the scene. By 1983 over 25 galleries had opened in a 12-block radius and the demand for space caused rents to skyrocket. What began as the antithesis of the established SoHo galleries like Mary Boone and Leo Castelli was, increas-ingly, starting to resemble them. This combined with the faddish nature of art collectors and unscrupulous gallery owners made it difficult to keep the Fun Gallery dream alive. “We used to call them the art world barracudas…the art advisors who were constantly looking for the next big thing.” In 1985, the Fun Gallery closed its doors.More than 25 years on, Jeffrey Deitch’s move to MOCA has reunited the East Village clique who will descend on the West Coast for the Art in the Streets exhibition that opens at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Los Angeles this spring. Deitch is at the helm, and is joined by author and producer, Roger Gastman, and curator and film director, Aaron Rose. Patti Astor is co-curator of the museum’s 80s section and Fab 5 Freddy joins her as a contributing consultant to the show. Patti describes the moment when the idea for a celebration of the Fun Gallery became reality, “I had been pursuing Jeffrey [Deitch] for quite sometime to do a Fun Gallery show in conjunction with my [yet to be published] book and finally he said ‘Let’s do it! Let’s have a Fun Gallery within the [MOCA] show.’”So, what can we expect to see at the MOCA show? Patti explains, “There are three rooms and I have a recre-ation of the Fun Gallery façade. I have the front window of the building…it looks really beautiful. I unbelievably got the same Jean-Michel Basquiat painting that was in the front window when we had the Jean-Michel show…no one thought I’d be able to get that painting, including me!”“The front room is the Fun Gallery original crew who are the artists who had one-man shows (Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Zephyr, Kenny Scharf, Fab 5 Freddy, Dondi, Lee, Futura 2000, Kiely Jenkins and Jane Dickson.) Then I have a Kenny Scharf Black Light ‘closet’ room and I have the Fun Gallery Old School room…it refers to the pioneers of the artists who painted the trains [including Phase 2 and Blade.]”Fab 5 Freddy reflected on the upcoming MOCA show and the artists who came after the 80s scene, “I think it’s good that a new group of artists have come in and found interesting ways to work on the street. It definitely fol-lows a continuum…one thing couldn’t have happened without the other. That’s the critical thing to understand.”

The Art in the Streets exhibition runs from April 17 to August 8, 2011 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles. It moves to the Brooklyn Museum in New York from March 30 to July 8, 2012.

Fab 5 Freddy Artwork

Photo Coutesy Fab 5 Freddy

Fab 5 Freddy In front of Futura [2000] Wall

The Crystal PunchArtWork by Fab 5 Freddy

Kenny SChaRf

"Chips Galore" 2007Oil Acrylic and Silkscreen ink on Canvas

Kenny SChaRf

m o r eb e t t e rn e w e rn ow e rf u n n e r

"T.V. Starlacash" 2006Oil Acrylic and Silkscreen Ink on Canvas

b e t t e rn e w e rn ow e r

By MALIA SCHARF

I r e c e n t ly h a d t h e o p p o rt u n i t y to watch my father paint a huge mural in New York City. It was freezing cold outside. I think it was one of the coldest nights we had this winter. Bundled up against the cold, I headed over to Bowery and Houston where I knew he would be painting. I couldn’t believe how huge the wall was. I had seen it before, but on that freezing, below zero morning at the crack of dawn, it seemed to be an almost impossible task for him to paint all by himself.

When I arrived he was already there, pacing back and forth looking at the wall from the island in the middle of the street. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning. I was lucky to be there, and I felt as though I was a part of his art as I got to experience the amazing energy being put into the wall. But I wasn’t there just to observe and enjoy. I was there documenting the whole process. This was necessary for me to do not only for the film I am working on, but for myself, as his daughter, as well as for him - his story, and for history. Even though I’d heard it before, I asked him about the first time he did graffiti. “I met Basquiat in ‘78 and we went around the city with markers tagging - he did SAMO and I did a mutated version of - George Jetson’s son - Elroy.” He hasn’t lost that playfulness ever - it lives forever in him and his art.

As I stood there, what struck me the most was peoples’ reaction to the mural-in-progress. Some stopped and admired it, curious to see what was going on and who was doing it. All kinds of people - and that’s what I loved. Some of them stopped for hours in the freezing weather, others, just a few minutes, and some walked by, huddled in their winter gear and didn’t notice it at all. The power of art struck me then, the smiles on their faces, the comments they made. The pure and simple look of curiosity in their eyes.

"Self Portrait with Cadillac" 1979Acrylic on Canvas

"Self Portrait with Cadillac" 1979Acrylic on Canvas

"Super Sudsil" 1988Oil & Acrylic on Canvas

"Juicy Jungle" 1983-4

"Cumulonimbliss" 1996

"El roy Explanation" 1981

"Jetston extravaganza" 2009

"I met Basquiat in '78 and we went around the city with markers tagging - he did SAMO and I did a mutated version of - George Jetson's son - Elroy." -Kenny Scharf

"El roy Explanation" 1981

"El roy Mandala" 1982

PREIVOUS PAGE"Donut Jamboree" 2005

OPPOSITE PAGE "Lokglob" 1989ABOVE

"Love is Blue" 1987 NEXT PAGE"Junkle" 1992

Oil, Acrylic & Silkscreen Ink on Canvas

"Oil Painting"

"The Funs Inside" 1983

As the sun started to go down and the day got colder I watched, still just as engaged as I had been hours before. I felt I had a purpose, a reason for being there. Not only for my father, but for me, and my need to move forward as an artist, to grow. I got on to the scissor lift, and my dad would drive it up and down to reach the high spots and then the lower ones. I felt as though I was on top of the world. I was hanging with my dad, overlooking Bowery and Hous-ton, this huge intersection in lower Manhattan. It felt unreal. I got to experience something truly special. As he made a line, creating one of his colorful, goofy, cartoony characters he smiled and said, “ Yes!” I replied, “ I love it.” “You bring me luck,” he said, “you do, you bring me luck.” Hearing him say that meant everything to me. It meant so much more than just the words. I care so much for him as a person, a father, and an artist…he’s an inspiration. At that moment, I felt that maybe I did bring him luck. Kenny's art can make you feel a part of something - rather than a spectator.

a p e r f e c t a n t i d o t e

to all th e crap that g o es o n i n th e wo r ld to day.

"The All New Hot Dog" 2008

His most recent show with Paul Kasmin had some beautiful, very relevant and political paintings in it. One of my favorites was the Oil Painting, a direct commentary on the BP oil spill and all the other grief, terribleness and trauma going on across our planet. He loves doing big things as he says “more, newer, better, nower, funner.” He started tagging back in ‘78 with Basquiat and he’s never really stopped. The mural on Bowery and Houston was the first of many more ‘big things’ that he has ahead of him. He recently finished a mural at MOCA in LA for the Art in the Streets show in April. A history of street art will be surveyed as well as a re-creation of the Fun Gallery with cura-tors and some of the old school crew like Patti Astor, Fab 5 Freddy and Futura. He has plans to do more murals, bigger murals, anywhere he can - just for the love of it.

H i s a rt i s h o p e f u l a n d f u n , a p e r f e c t a n t i d o t e

to all th e crap that g o es o n i n th e wo r ld to day.

"Felix on a Pedestal" 1982

"When Worlds Collide" 1984

"Greenwormscape" 2008

"OOzolution" 1994

"Scoopy Reubens as Pablo Pickasso" (Paul Reubens) 2001

"When Worlds Collide" 1984 "Jungle Jism" 1985

"Perfecta Moodsky"1986

Futura

[2000]

Photos: FuturaDIGITAL Post Work: Erin Tengquist

A 30-year career for a graff i t i ar t ist is rare. It takes a special breed of talent and the confidence to take your art beyond the train yard, basketball court and gallery to new platforms and levels of creativity to reach broader audiences.

Futura [2000] is one of the few artists who has constantly reinvented himself, always looking forward and rarely looking back. UNleashed Magazine spent an evening talking with Leonard McGurr, aka Futura, at his home in Brooklyn, ahead of his participation in the Art in the Streets show opening at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Los Angeles.

Futura’s graffiti career started in 1970 when McGurr invented his tag (a graffiti writer’s nom de plume), to represent himself in the graffiti underworld and disguise himself from the authorities. “Coming up with the name ‘Futura 2000’ – there were a lot of things that I stole that from…The ‘2000’ was my inspiration and the name became something I live by…and I [have] actually survived 30 years…”

E

A

PH TTAccording to Futura

BY STEPHEN PANG

S

In the 70s, what made Futura 2000 stand out wasn’t his catchy sci-fi tag - after all he was preceded by Paul Renner’s 1920s typeface and Lincoln’s concept car of 1955. He stood out because he painted ‘whole cars’ – trains painted from top to bottom – in what became his signature; abstract and emotional blaze of color. His 1980 painted train raised the bar and created a new aesthetic in graffiti art. Futura lays out the milestones in his long career, “1980 I decide to BREAK with tradition and discover the UNKNOWN. The ABSTRACT WHOLECAR painted over a three-hour period on a COLD NIGHT in MARCH would ultimately become ICONIC. whoa. who knew.”

He made the transition to canvas in the 80s and shared a Lower East Side studio with Fab 5 Freddy. This is the period that will be the essence of Futura’s installation at MOCA. “I have a fantastic painting from 1984, [a] kinda large important painting - seven by nine feet. It was a large painting for its time. This particular painting I gave to my wife when she was pregnant…in the summer of ‘84…that’s 26-27 years ago and it’s a great painting to have as a retrospective [of my work]. And I’m gonna match it with another piece that I haven’t even made yet. I’m gonna make it out there [Los Angeles]. It’s not the ‘yin and the yang,’ but the ‘then and the now’.”

According to Futura

On the importance of the MOCA show, Futura is very clear. “It is great that Jeffrey [Deitch] has done this, because...people [will] want to talk about the history of the movement…[And] being selected as one of the artists [at MOCA] is awesome…this is probably the first real recognition by an American institution…of the entire movement. [Not just] individuals like Basquiat and Haring who had already been recognized.” As an elder in the graffiti world, Futura is philosophical about what the exhibition will do for the street art genre as well as artists’ careers. “I’m not looking at the show [to say] ‘hey I’m in MOCA!’ It’s one aspect of me as a person. It’s not that important! I’m sure to some of these kids this is it! This is like ‘oh, God dude I’m in! I’m gonna cash in on this,’ or whatever the



motivation will be. I’m grateful and I will represent myself very well.”

“I think this show will inflate some peoples’ prices and that should be good for them. I’m grateful for MOCA and I’m excited, but I don’t see it as the defining moment in my career. I think it’s a great moment for the movement…but how many people are in the space, literally inside the show? How many kids who didn’t make it in the show are part of the exterior events? [Ask yourself] not who’s in, [but] who’s out!”

You have to understand Futura’s past to truly understand his point of view. He got recognition during the first gallery love affair with graffiti art in the 80s. He exhibited in the Tony Shafrazi gallery in 1982 alongside Kenny Scharf, then again in 1984 with a solo show. But he was given the cold shoulder after galleries and collectors turned their backs on graffiti art and moved on to more traditional, highbrow art. In response to that boom and bust era, he looked for other avenues to channel his creativity. He reflected, “I didn’t want to be part of the movement 24/7…I diversified my creativity is how I see it. I did a lot of things with my talent and I wasn’t a one-dimensional player. [Now, with MOCA] the art world has come to me. I’ve tried to

avoid it…but here it is.”

Earlier this year, fine art auctioneer house, Bonhams, sold one of Futura’s installation pieces painted live in 1983 while he was on tour with the UK punk rock band, The Clash. The four by eight foot painting sold for just under $60,000. “It’s an awesome price and it’s great for the person who profited from that,” said Futura, “I’m not bitter [or asking] ’where’s my percent[age]?’ I don’t worry about those things or play the numbers game.”

“I’m not a collector of my own work, or for that matter of fact, anyone’s work…there’s only one painting in my apartment [and it’s] of my kids. It’s not like I need to be around my work…if there is some potential business [from MOCA I will look at it], but I will [continue to] be as stingy and cheap with my own work as I’ve ever been. Hey, I don’t even have [any of] it! So it’s hard to come by. Just because there’s going to be

a rush on it doesn’t mean I’m going to fill it either…I’m never drawn by that [money], that’s not my motivation.”

As with many things, foreign collectors seem to appreciate the graffiti aesthetic more than at home. Collectors of Futura’s work outside of America have been consistently supportive over the years, so why not move abroad like some of his contemporaries? Futura explained how it was in the early 80s, “People like Jon One, Toxic, Quik, didn’t really expatriate until ‘83/’84…First of all, I’m from New York so I’m not going anywhere, although I have been to 70 countries…and I loved it. All the subsequent exhibitions were based on European interest in our work. [It came from] the people in France who bought; the Dutch who bought a lot, as well as the Germans and the Italians. They all supported our art, whereas no one in New York was supporting it, except for the high-end guys – Basquiat, Haring, Scharf. I sold some paintings; no doubt, I had a moment, but no one was buying graffiti art with any consistency. I was never going to leave [New York]; but people left because that’s where the money was.”

In 1982, Futura visited France for the first time as part of the New York City Rap Tour. This was masterminded by journalist Bernard Zekri who befriended Afrika Bambaataa (founder of HipHop’s influential Universal Zulu Nation) and Jean Georgakarako (better known as Jean Karakos) the man behind French new wave record label, Celluloid Records. This period is one of folklore, but it is clear that commercial interests had already infiltrated HipHop. Futura recalls that time, “Prior to the tour, there was a French rush on our movement [HipHop] and it occurred with a few articles that were done with [Fab 5] Freddy, myself and Bambaataa about this new phenomenon…it wasn’t called HipHop yet. The creation of the records [I painted the sleeves] was all part of Jean Karakos’ marketing strategy.”

Talking about his work for Celluloid and the 1982 Celluloid release of his record Escapades of Futura 2000, “I did those covers [for Celluloid] but those records were an exploitation event and I never got a dime, but I know that they cut a deal with The Clash to get their music. That record was meant to happen as a cassette tape and it predates the [New York City] Rap Tour by seven months. So, when I came back to New York I said to Fred [Fab 5 Freddy] ‘Yo, you gotta listen to this little rap record I did…’ It was my homage to graffiti, but I never wanted that to be a fucking record…and Celluloid cut other records (Fab 5 Freddy’s Change the Beat, DST’s Megamix II and Phase II’s The Roxy). All this record shit gets done prior to this tour. Why? Because they have to sell something on the tour. At the time, I was totally manipulated, but I didn’t mind because ‘we were all going to Paris!’”

“1985 the EIGHTIES peak; mid DECADE... those with skills and talent find new opportunities. those without; are trapped in HISTORY. bummer.” Futura moved on to the next phase in his career. By the 90s, the fate that Futura firmly believes in continued to push his brand of art internationally into other avenues. “…I met James Lavelle from Mo’Wax in Berlin. As a result of meeting James, I met Hardy [Blechman of Maharishi for whom Futura designed a range of clothing]. A few years later, I hooked up with the Tokyo ‘Harajuku’, über-cool set. Things were happening without any plan or forecast. The gates opened up in Japan. Japan wound up being this place that supported me…and gave me opportunities that I’d never seen before in America…I love Japan. And James was my key…as he was always in with those guys.”

By 2005, Futura saw the urban culture swelling in popularity. “2005 the MOVEMENT is not just GLOBAL it’s GARGANTUAN.” When asked to elaborate, he added, ”I don’t just mean the art world. It’s the lifestyle and culture…street art, social networking and blogs, in addition to all the consumer culture like Hypebeast and Freshness. No longer do we live in niches; all the circles cross over each other. There’s the community of artists and designers and the ‘cool boy’ stuff. In ’05 it hit a curve, [and became] another movement that was bound to explode – it was too much – and now we’re in this recovery period. I think the movement glutted on itself, it got too high on itself, fed off of itself and it got sick. I’m weary of all that. I can be in it, but when I’m in it, I am never really believing it.”

In April, Futura travels to Los Angeles in preparation for the Art in the Streets show. “I’m looking forward to going to LA just to check out the work on the street, ‘cause I’m sure there’s a ton. I think I’ve seen all there is to see in New York, which is almost depressing.” As the MOCA show shines the spotlight on him once more, like many forefathers of a movement, he’s protective of what he’s pioneered and outspoken about those who follow in his footsteps. Referring to the new

wave of street artists, Futura opines, “I take a lot of photos, so I’m aware of the new kids on the block. I don’t mean the big timers like Twist, Swoon, Barry McGee or Shepard Fairey. I’m talking more about the people who haven’t made it yet.”

“It kinda makes me angry that artists who are out there today don’t get the historical perspective; they simply jumped on a bandwagon that had gained momentum…happy to jump aboard and reap the benefits; and they don’t care about, or respect the forefathers or pioneers. I claim some stake in the way it has all panned out 30 years later.”

Talking about street art, Futura says, “I like some of it, but I don’t get anything [emotional from it]. It’s very strange. I get that in galleries also.” He continues, “It’s not just technical ability; it’s energy and emotion which I think certain artists [need to] deliver which is beyond even the work. You [need to] get more of a feel for the person, and that’s hard to translate with a lot of street art. It’s very cold, I don’t get a lot of warmth from it…”

Futura, the artist, is multifaceted and his work has seeped into every aspect of urban culture, but Futura the man is very much centered around his family whom he considers to be his greatest achievement. “I’m proud of my kids – they’re children of the globe, but Brooklyn is at the heart. My wife laid out the plan...If I need technical advice I call my son, if I need the truth I call my daughter…”

So, what’s next for Futura? “I’d still like to make a movie…I’m still young enough to do a lot more interesting things…that’s why I don’t like to reminisce, although this [MOCA] show makes us look back. It’s not what I do…I’m Futura, I’m the guy who’s looking ahead. It’s no disrespect…I’ve always been that guy.”

Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Keith Haring. Each of these artists developed their own distinctive, identifiable art style that turned every mural into an explicit branding exercise that the market-ing textbooks describe as “the process of creating and disseminating the brand name.”

These brand messages, although not commercially motivated, are used to convey a thought or idea to anyone willing to stop and look. Unlike art in museums or galleries, these images have a direct impact because they surround us as we go about our daily lives – like ambient art. Street art appeals to an influential, but elusive, demographic. Brands want to co-opt and har-ness this energy and authenticity that street art brings with it. Each time a brand connects itself to street art, it ironically, dilutes its value as a channel of communication. To learn more about branded street art, UNleashed spoke with two leading players from both sides of the fence. For the artists, TATS Cru of New York, a prolific “illegal” graffiti crew from the 80s that transformed itself into a pioneer of graffiti advertising murals. And, representing the brands, UNleashed reached out to Scion, Toyota Motors’ diffusion car brand.

Story By StepHEn Pang

All Photos courtesy Tats Cru {Mayor Bloomberg 2010}

UN: TATS Cru is recognized as the graffiti mural kings and paints every year at the Graffiti Hall of Fame in Span-ish Harlem. When did TATS Cru formalize itself as a mural company, rather than a graffiti ‘bombing’ crew? BG183 (TATS Cru member): When me, Bio and Nicer started the [mural] business, we landed a Cola-Cola con-tract. That was through Chico from the Lower East Side. He was also painting advertising a year or two before us. He had Camel cigarettes and Cola-Cola. But, he couldn’t paint in the Bronx because we [TATS Cru] had that territory. We were already doing memorial walls and mom and pop stores...

UN: How did working with brands affect TATS Cru’s approach to mural painting?BG183: At the time, we didn’t know whether we were a sign company, an advertising company or artists-for hire. We took every [commission] that came in. During that time, a lot of companies were doing graffiti adver-tising, but real people who grew up with graffiti knew it was fake. So, why not hire a company like us [TATS] to create a win/win situation? We were basically in advertising - a sign company. But we didn’t know that…we thought we were bringing the graff’. When we got down with Coke it opened our eyes. We needed to think like them. People are still buying Coca-Cola to this day, so there has to be a reason. In 1996, a year or two after the Coca-Cola deal, we got [a contract from] ABC Carpet and Home, one of the biggest carpet stores on the east-side. Even though we were working for Coke we were still broke…we didn’t know how to price the work…we thought $1,000 was a good price.

UN: Why was graffiti popular with advertisers during the mid-90s?BG183: Companies couldn’t put up billboards because they were getting defaced by vandalism and graffiti. So, the way for advertisers to come into our neighborhoods…we had a gimmick. If you used us to make them, [ad-verts] they didn’t get defaced. In the early 80s, TATS Cru had 12 members who fought with other graffiti artists and stole their paint. We had the reputation that whoever messed around with us would get beaten up. So, no one would touch our work, including our advertising work….so we could guarantee our work.Although, I remember we painted eight adverts for Hummer. The two in Brooklyn, in the Williamsburg section were defaced by activists – they wrote ‘Bush, Gas, Oil.’ It wasn’t an anti-graffiti thing, it was because…a Hummer is a gas guzzler! They destroyed it, we fixed it, and they destroyed it!

UN: How did TATS Cru become the self-titled ‘mural kings?’BG183: [The advertising murals] became a performance piece. As we painted, people would ask ‘Wow, how did you guys paint that logo?’ At the same time it gave us a lot of skills in the graffiti game…not many can imitate the work we do…there are only a few in the world.

UN: In the 80s there was the downtown graffiti art scene that Fab 5 Freddy, Dondi, Futura were part of. Where was TATS Cru in that mix? BG183: Those guys started in the early 70s, but we started in the 80s. They were already in the graffiti game for seven or eight years and people like Crash and Phase were painting canvases. Our mission was writing our name for fame, painting subways, getting chased by the police. Our focus wasn’t painting in galleries, but we did go to some galleries back in the Bronx, like Fashion Moda. We were 16, 17 years old and had no fame, no props. These guys already had books published, [like Subway Art with Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper.]

Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. launched the Scion brand in 2003 as a more youthful entry-level car - the median age of a Scion driver is 30 - the youngest in the auto industry, with a whopping 72 percent of those owners being Toyota virgins! Scion has consciously avoided expensive, mass-market advertising, preferring to build favor and credibility using grassroots marketing, including employing the appeal of street art. To understand how Scion integrates street art into its successful marketing strategy, UNleashed spoke with Jeri Yoshizu, Scion’s sales promotions manager in charge of lifestyle and social media marketing.

UN: Scion refers to street art as urban art. Is there a difference, and if so, what? Do you distinguish between street artists' media (graffiti/aerosol, wheat paste, stencils etc?) Does it matter?” Jeri Yoshizu: We call it street art to not limit it to graffiti. It encompasses the large category that includes stencil-ing, etc.

UN: How and when did Scion decide to build street art into its marketing strategy? How did the Scion Installa-tion idea develop, and did the initiative change direction during planning and execution?Jeri Yoshizu: We built it into the launch of the brand in 2003. It started as a simple exhibition at The Los Angeles Auto Show. We had more than 20 artists painting on the Scion XB. It included David Choe, Kenton Parker, Saber, Mister Cartoon, Revok, Krush, Dez Einswell and others. It was very successful and also initialized relationships with artists that we have continued to work with for years.

UN: What is the appeal of street art for Scion? How does Scion balance the possible illegality of street art with its own brand values? Jeri Yoshizu: We focus on the positive aspects of art, and not only street art. We work in video, graphics, mixed media, etc. The appeal is based on the types of artists who are making a life through art. We are not working with highbrow artists, as that is not our target market's interest.

UN: How did Scion shortlist the artists chosen to participate out of the 100s of notable artists? Jeri Yoshizu: [Requiring artists to be] positive and open-minded tends to shorten the list. We work with people who want to make something happen.

UN: What do you think Scion brought to the street artists who participated in the initiative? What do you think Scion gained from the collaboration with street artists? Jeri Yoshizu: We gave them a paycheck. They have to pay their rent. Eat. Have a life. Scion's job is to make sure that they feel good about working with a corporation, without feeling taken advantage of. This is key to our initiatives. We know we are a corporation selling cars. I want to dispel any negative outcomes that can typically

result by supporting the artists and helping them to develop in the commercial area. Our gain is great relation-ships while watching their careers grow.

UN: What are the marketing objectives? How effective has street art been for Scion's marketing objectives? How does Scion track and measure effectiveness? Jeri Yoshizu: Street art, and executing the Scion initiatives consistently, has brought brand recognition and a positive reputation for the brand. I measure success through feedback from the artists.

UN: What's next for Scion and street art? Jeri Yoshizu: Video.

TATS Cru www.themuralkings.comwww.tatscru.com

Scionwww.scionav.com/art/

Art -

Erin

Ten

gqui

st

of Ar treet

The Business

By Stephen Pang

Street art has its fans and detractors, but both were united in amazement in 2007 when Bonhams, the British auction house, sold lot #299, an aerosol stencil painting on steel, for US$576,000. Of course, this was no ordinary street artist. This was Banksy, and the painting was Space Girl and Bird, commissioned by the UK pop group, Blur. Despite the above credentials, the estimated guide price was still 20 times less than the final hammer price.This zealous bidding from an anonymous American buyer marked the beginning of the latest street art feed-ing frenzy. A few months later, Bonhams followed up the record-breaking event with ‘the world’s first street art auction’ featuring 100 works from both American street artists (Keith Haring, Faile, Shepard Fairey) and the Brits (Banksy, D*Face, Eine). But, how do works of your favorite street artists end up on the auction block, and is it in-evitable when art is treated like a commodity to be bought and sold for profit?

BanskySpace Girl And Bird

treet

NICK WALKER

artist"The /gallery relationship

relationship is about money.

as a business or a brand. " - MAGAñA

UNleashed spoke with two people in the know -Lainya Magaña, art cu-rator, writer and principal at San Francisco-based art PR agency, Argot & Ochre (A&O), and Nick Walker, one of the first wave of stencil artists benefiting from this renewed interest in street art, and whose work featured in the Bonhams auction in 2008.The general public perceives the art world as civilized, orderly and slight-ly intimidating. On the surface it’s made up of art galleries and auction houses that specialize in art. But, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In the background there’s a complex ecosystem of art consultants, advisors and agents. And they are all paid to create value for their clients, either buying or selling art. When an artist or their representative is selling the artwork it’s considered a primary sale, although it’s rarely referred to as such. The distinction between this and a secondary market sale is that the artist has no control with the latter; the seller is a private owner/collector and could choose to sell through an auction house or a gallery consignment exhibition sale. “The artist/gallery relationship is about money. The problem is that some artists don’t look at themselves as a business or a brand,” said Magaña. “There are good galleries and bad ones…artists need to be very selective as they need to think about longevity of career.” Nick Walker recognizes the importance of the role a gallery plays in forging his career, “I think it’s important to have a good gallery represent you, especially if they are well positioned and respected. It’s also integral that the gallery keeps an artist’s integrity intact and is not short-sight-ed with an artist’s career. It takes a while to find the right gallery. You could go it alone, but selling becomes a distraction and it’s important to place paintings with the right collectors.”And he should know. Today Nick Walker is a world-class stencil artist, but he started his career in 1983 graffiti ‘bombing’ the streets of Bristol. “In the early days I used to paint graffiti under the name Ego and I had a t-shirt label called Magic Pudding Avenue from the beginning of the 90s. I would’ve liked to have kept it going, but I wanted to concentrate on painting a lot more than chasing up stores for the money on t-shirt sales.” The turning point for Walker’s career came in February 2008 when his Los Angeles solo show sold out. Within days, across the Atlantic in Lon-don, two of Walker’s works fetched more than five Keith Haring paint-ings combined at Bonhams’ first ‘urban art’ auction. Speaking on his experience of the art market Walker said, “When a painting comes to market you’re in the hands of others and it’s just having confidence in the auction house and the knowledge that they are branded and have a good clientele.” He continued, “The nightmare scenario is when a piece goes to a Johnny-come-lately auction house who displays art [in a fashion] not that dissimilar to a car boot (trunk) sale and doesn’t give a shit about an artist’s career.’ He gave an example, “After the Bonhams result, another auction house in the UK jumped on the bandwagon and consigned 14 pieces of my work for the same auction. Talk about being made to feel vulnerable. The whole thing’s a double-edged sword.”

Photo Courtesy A & o

Photo Courtesy Nick WAlker

$ $$ $

A&O’s Magaña explains the favorable and unfavor-able consequences that Walker refers to, “Sotheby's and Bonhams are major businesses that thrive on the secondary art market. It's inevitable. Collectors will eventually tire of [the] work, or need to make a quick buck, and want to sell their work. And why shouldn't they? And why shouldn't someone else have a chance at purchasing that work on the secondary market? But it's not always so innocent. The secondary art market is also where art is made into a commodity - traded and inflated to a gargantuan level. The mar-ket is dictated by those collectors who live at the top tier of wealth and power and unfortunately an art-ist's value is seen through the lens of commodity and commerce.”Now that Walker is established and has a following, he is focused on his brand and taking some more control of his business affairs. “I was never brand ori-entated…I hadn’t read up enough on other artists. It’s only over the past two years that I’ve been focus-ing more on this…it’s more important now to focus on branding because I have established a large group of loyal collectors. I need to keep the machine run-ning and coming up with fresh ideas to produce.” Today, to satisfy demand from his collectors, he bal-ances working with galleries and selling his art direct-ly, “…I like to keep the sales of original works through the gallery, but I prefer to have control of my print editions. In the past I’ve released a few of The Morn-ing After prints through a gallery where they deal with the production side and admin for a percentage [of the profits], but I’m now releasing the rest of the series myself. I’m building a bigger team to work on projects etc. and dealing with the whole production.” Control is a theme that comes up a few times when talking with Walker. This is because, despite the suc-cess elevating his career, he feels that he’s been held back by others in the past. “My Mona Simpson print sold out at [Banksy-affiliated] Pictures on Walls, but that was all they wanted to print of mine. I offered them The Morning After series, but Banksy wasn’t in-terested in promoting these as he said it was too like something he would do. I disagreed, but Black Rat Press was really keen to work with me, so it felt like the perfect time to move on.”And with the Internet there’s no reason why an art-ist couldn’t take more control of their work. Magaña calls this use of technology ‘Gallery 2.0’. She explains,

“The 21st century artist wants to use Facebook, they want to use Twitter and build their own community…do their own sales… it’s totally possible now.” As former gallery director for Upper Playground’s Fifty24SF and NOMA Gallery, Magaña has some seasoned advice for artists looking to develop their ca-reer through galleries, “Weigh every decision against whether it will provide you with longevity of career. No matter how tempting, don't go for quick sales and don't raise your prices too rapidly. Research the galleries you want to show in and cre-ate a business strategy with 6 month, 1 year and 5 year goals.

“And remember, as Andy Warhol said, ‘Making money is art and working is art and big business is the best art’.” Nick Walkerwww.theartofnickwalker.com

Photo Courtesy Nick WAlker

Nick Walker

$ $$ $

" The 21 st century artist wants to use Faceb o o k, th ey want to uSe Twitter and builD their own c o m m u n i t y . . . do their own sales. it 's totally possible now ."

- M A G A ñA

A&O Public Relationswww.argotandochre.com

Snapple canvas first real stencil canvas painted in 1994.

Moonboard

Moonalisa

It takes a while to find the right gallery. You could go it alone, But selling becomes a distraction and it's important to place paintings with the right collectors. - WALKER London MOrning After

It takes a while to find the right gallery. You could go it alone, But selling becomes a distraction and it's important to place paintings with the right collectors. - WALKER

Are you a dreamer or a dream?

Edition Of

OneHundred

Edition One Hundred is an online art store that sells one thing very well - high quality, limited edition art prints. Only 100 of these exclusive art prints are ever printed, and each one is authenticated with a certificate.

Founded in June 2010 by Los Angeles resident, Cat Jimenez, Edition One Hundred’s mission is to combine art with charity “to restore the

economic power to the artists and collectors, while giving a percentage of all sales to charitable causes.” In the short time Edition One Hundred has been online it has released prints by well-established, as well as unknown artists, such as, B+ (of Mochilla fame), Augustine Kofie, Estevan Oriol, Miles Regis, Katie Shapiro, and Tasya Van Ree. What makes this print store different from say, Pictures on Walls, is that each print is part of a curated, two-month exhibition and Edition One Hundred donates 10% of the proceeds of the sales to each artist’s chosen charity.

To celebrate the Art in the Streets exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Edition One Hundred has organized a pop-up show curated by Yesenia Cordona, featuring some artists in the MOCA show (Augustine Kofie, (aka Kofie One) Este-van Oriol, RETNA, Martha Cooper and Doze Green).

The Door is Round and Open can be seen on April 13-14, 2011 at Edgar Varela Fine Arts Gallery, 727 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles CA 90014.www.editiononehundred.com

By Stephen Pang

"New York State of Mind" by Martha Cooper

"Future in Her Eyes" by RETNA

“L.A. Fingers” by Estevan Oriol

During my journey through the world of street art, one name kept popping up.

The London Police.

I first became aware of TLP at an A-list ce-lebrity home when I caught sight of an in-tricate drawing on their wall. I couldn’t help but notice the free flowing nature of the circle drawings (the lads) in the structured but extremely chaotic world. Not long af-ter that, I was at the home of a major mu-sic producer and again, there, on the wall were “lads living in a chaotic world.” Wow. I wondered whether this was a larger state-ment about how they viewed themselves or whether it was a commentary on the state of the world. Who is TLP and where are they coming from? A quick look at their online presence, thelondonpolice.com, reveals that they are a team of two. Chaz, who draws the circle characters (the lads) and Bob Gibson, who creates the structured world that the lads inhabit. They’re English, but they live in Amsterdam. While their art is rooted in the streets, their work is now being displayed in major galleries throughout the world alongside other acclaimed street artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Ron English. But as I learned when I spoke with them recently…yes, they are street artists but to narrow their artistic endeav-ors to merely street art is to paint an inac-curate portrait.

In February 2011, Chaz and Bob were in Los Angeles as part of the Scion Art Tour, where video artists were challenged to create non-narrative videos. True to their street art roots, TLP’s vision was quirky, funny and as some have opined, genius. This show will be exhibited around the US in Brook-lyn, Wichita, Minneapolis and Austin.

Their artistic vision can once again be seen on film in the enigmatic, but completely charming Brothers in Arms directed by both Chaz and Bob, which can be found on YouTube. The film follows them as they create art for an upcoming show, as well as reveals that TLP is a unique way of life, and, wacky as it seems, it is certainly very en-tertaining. Their banter and wit is neither cutting nor mean-spirited; rather it’s clever

and hilarious…very similar to The Flight of the Conchords…without the obnoxious songs.

When they hit the stage in Dog Singers, dressed in late 1970’s clothing and wigs, they display more of their humor and wit while performing a collection of songs about dogs. “We’re more than two geezers making art, it’s a way of life.” Dog Singers can also be found on YouTube, and as you watch the video you can see and hear the audience progress from “these guys are strange” to “these guys are strangely funny.”

I asked those who have bought their art how they interpret their drawings, and why they chose to collect TLP. The aforemen-tioned music producer likes his piece be-cause he thinks that the “lads” created the world in which they choose to live. He went on to say that the “TLP drawings are like mu-sic and life, if you don’t like the beat, then change it.” And the “lads” definitely march to a beat of their own creation. When asked why they relate to TLP, the A-list celebrity couple stated that the work resonated for them because they feel that we do live in a chaotic world, and the “lads” appear to be simply attempting to navigate through it.

So Bob and Chaz what is the answer? Are we all “lads” living in a chaotic world or do we create the world in which we live, and if it is chaotic, is it only because we will it so? True to their artistic, rebel spirit they re-spond, “How you perceive our art is more a reflection on how you perceive yourself.”

Whether it’s drawing in a train station in the middle of the night in Albania, or being commissioned to paint a block long build-ing in Miami; whether it’s singing the infec-tious and hilarious dog songs or directing themselves in the self-made and self-depre-cating movies, TLP nurtures and maintains the rebel spirit that is rooted in street art. Thus, while you can take the artist off the street you can’t separate the street from the artist. “We are more than two geezers mak-ing art, it’s a way of life.” - George Hernandez

We're more than two geezers making art, it's a way of life -the london polICE

THe london policePhoto: Tina Vila ChasmerPosT Art: Erin Tengquist

THe london police

logan hicks

Q. Stencil, HDR photography…what’s next? Film? Drawing? Sculpture?

A. Wherever my path takes me, I will follow. I am always looking to expand my vocabulary and certainly sculpture and drawing would be something to consider. Lately, I’ve been looking at installation-based stuff with video projections. The only problem right now is that my thoughts are more evolved than my skills; I have to make the technology translate the concepts I see in my head. I feel like I still have plenty to say with stencils and I see that as being my primary medium for the immediate future, but I am happy to go where things take me.

Q. I’ve read that you are constantly working. How has having a child changed your priorities?

A. My kid changed my priorities immediately; and in a way his arrival has also solidified my priorities. I’ve always been too stubborn to quit, and too stupid to fail, so it made me dig my heels in and figure out a way to make it all work together. I may need to go to bed and get up an hour or two earlier, but overall things are the same. I don’t go out binge drinking with causal acquaintances like I used too, but I think phasing that out of my life is a characteristic of growing older. The arrival of my son helped me come to the realization that I didn’t want to wake up with a hangover. I think my art has improved considerably too. Now if I don’t work and stay focused there are repercussions. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid: if I don’t get paid, my kid doesn’t eat. I’ve never had a 9 to 5 job, so I have always been pretty lax about when and how I work. Before he was born, I’d work 90 hours one week, then not work for a month. I never had the structure of having ‘real’ jobs, and I think my work suffered because of that. It’s important for me to be a great dad, and a great artist. The only way to do both is to keep your eyes on the prize; show up every day, work your ass off, and make time for what’s important. So in that sense, having a child has been amazing in more ways than one.

Q. Street art used to be considered a form of ‘rebel art’. Do you agree? And if not, what would you now consider ‘rebel art’?

A. Somewhere along the way, I sort of stopped paying attention to the labels. I am happy to let other people define it and label it. I was making this point to a friend of mine the other day, actually. I can remember being in high school and listening to punk rock all the time. I rocked the Mohawk, combat boots, had the ‘punk’ attitude, and only hung around other punk rockers. I couldn’t even fathom the idea of being friends with someone who didn’t listen to punk rock. The idea of hanging out with someone who listened to classical, country, R&B, or pop was unimaginable. As time passed, I loosened my grip on my choice of hanging buddies. Now I don’t think I have one friend who has the identical musical taste I do. In a way artwork is the same way for me these days. There was a time where I wouldn’t open up a magazine unless it had graff’, street art, or lowbrow culture in it. I had no interest in going to galleries because that was where ‘they’ exist, not me. But once you stop trying to convince yourself that you are so different from everyone else, and you realize that you’re just another jackass trying to find his way through this world it allows you to see things for what they are. Street art is just like every other art out there. LOTS of bad, unimaginative, ill-planned, derivative art, mixed with a few good pieces. There really are only a dozen true ‘leaders’ in each genre of art. Everyone else is following or still struggling to find themselves. Each time someone defines a genre, it fractures. It expands, it grows and people move away from that genre; unless you were the one that started it. Definitions only exist for movements that have happened in the past. By the time a genre, movement, thought, or idea becomes self -aware, it ceases to

Street art is just like every other art out there. LOTS of

bad, unimaginative, ill-planned, derivative art,

mixed with a few good pieces.

exist. You can’t simultaneously do something and discuss its place in history while you are still doing it. Street art is more approachable than other forms, but even now I see ‘street art’ moving from the streets to galleries. I gave up trying to figure out what ‘this’ means, or what ‘that’ means. Ultimately, good artwork stands alone and transcends its original purpose so the duty of any person who has respect for their craft is to do good work and tune out all of the white noise.

Q. This may be where it gets weird. At first blush, your earlier work portrays urban landscapes, but I sense loneliness. Even the work with people seems to express a sort of social disconnect. Then I saw the recent mural of your son, and for the first time I sensed warmth and love in your work. Am I just fucked up or is there some truth to my perception?

A. You’re 100% correct. I’ve struggled

with openly talking about my work on

an emotional basis because it feels

weird verbalizing my instincts. My

work is a visual marker of my path

through this life. A road map of my

attempt to find my way. A reflection

on my life, my decisions, my station

in life. It’s one of the few things that

will truly represent me when I am no

longer here. It didn’t become obvious

to me until much later, but I started to

notice that I was using architecture as

a metaphor in many ways. Stairs were

representing an ascent or descent to

another state of consciousness. Doors

represented moving to different levels,

the city as a visual representation of

how I think things must be in my head.

I remember looking at a map one day

and seeing the streets and thinking

how they look like veins. I built on this

idea of the land as a representation

of a body. If you look at a time-lapse

of any city street during rush hour,

it’s easy to think of each person as a

blood cell coursing through the veins

of the street. It’s easy to see how the

city itself is greater than the sum of its

parts. A city is a living being like the

people who live within it. So in many

ways I see the city as being parallel to

my own mindset, my experiences my

challenges. There’s tons of shit going

on, tons of activity and movement

and this continual clutter that

makes it almost impossible

to differentiate between

what’s going on

and what just

happened. And

occasionally

you have

My wo r k i s a v i s ua l

m a r k er o f my path

th ro u g h th i s

li fe.

moments of clarity where you notice

something - what someone is wearing, the

couple kissing on the street, someone peeking

at you from inside a store or whatever, and

that moment - that slice of time - is what

slows you down and you feel lost in the

moment. That is how I approach my work. My

experiences are universal. My struggles are

the same as everyone else’s and I try to speak

about those experiences as a representation

of the human condition. My work is reflective

more than narrative. In terms of that piece

of my son, that too came from a reflective

place. The inspiration for that came from a

very good friend of mine in Paris who goes

by C215. When I first met C215 (Chris) he had

tons of these amazing stencils. I was flipping

through them and kept seeing images of this

particular girl. I asked him, “What’s up with

all the stencils of that girl.” Years ago, he

told me, he made some bad decisions

in his life and it cost him full time

custody of his daughter. He told

me that he does at least one

stencil of his daughter

each week so that she

knows that she

is always on

his mind. It

f l o o r e d

me. In

this somewhat pretentious world of

art, it’s hard to remember that art can

have that direct emotional connection.

It’s hard to remember that art isn’t just

about making pretty pictures so you

can have an art show and hang out

with your friends. After that I did a

stencil of my grandmother, who

I’d never met. I gave it to my

mom and I could see her

tear up as though

she was standing

in front of her.

G e t t i n g

p e o p l e

t o

slow d o w n

and think about things

is amazing and I wanted to do the

same thing for my son. If I were to die tomorrow, I

want my kid to know that he was the most important thing in

my life. That stencil was my way of just slowing down and remembering what’s

important. Sometimes slowing down isn’t such a bad thing and I am working on trying to

do more of that.

M y wo r k i s a v i s ua l

m a r k er o f my path

th ro u g h th i s

li fe.

slow d o w n

and think about things

is amazing and I wanted to do the

same thing for my son. If I were to die tomorrow, I

want my kid to know that he was the most important thing in

my life. That stencil was my way of just slowing down and remembering what’s

important. Sometimes slowing down isn’t such a bad thing and I am working on trying to

do more of that.

z

BooksDondi: style master general : the life of graffiti artist Dondi White

By Andrew Witten, Dondi White,

Michael White

ReganBooks (2001)

At the time of his death in 1998, Dondi had seen the majority of his work destroyed -- scraped off, painted over, or chemically removed from the steel upon which it thrived. Within these pages, however, it still speaks volumes.

Graffiti kings: New York City mass transit art of the 1970s

By Jack Stewart

Melcher Media/Abrams (2009)

Graffiti Kings is the definitive book on subway graffiti, the spontaneous art movement that exploded throughout New York City in the early 1970s. In this historic, firsthand account, Jack Stewart recounts how pioneering writers put their lives on the line to grab fame from a faceless urban landscape. Through Stewart’s personal interviews with the artists and more than 275 full-color, previously unpublished photographs, the complete underground history of subway graffiti comes to life.

Kenny Scharf

Written by Richard Marshall, Contribution by Ann MagnusonCarlo McCormick and The Paul Kasmin Gallery

Rizzoli (2009)

As one of today’s most exciting artists, Kenny Scharf rose to prominence in the New York art scene in the ’80s as part of a dynamic and influential group of artists that included Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. This complete new volume covers Scharf’s illustrious career and his experiences and activities in the downtown art scene.

Basquiat (Numbered/Signed Edition)

Gerard Basquiat Author

Tony Shafrazi Gallery

This book has over 250 of the highest quality color reproductions as well as essays by art historians, contemporaries and friends such as Fab 5 Freddy, Richard Marshall and Glenn O’Brien.

z

Trespass. A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art

Carlo McCormick, Marc and Sara Schiller, Ethel Seno

Taschen (2010)

Graffiti and unsanctioned art—from local origins to global phenomenon

In recent years street art has grown bolder, more ornate, more sophisticated and—in many cases—more acceptable. Yet unsanctioned public art remains the problem child of cultural expression, the last outlaw of visual disciplines. It has also become a global phenomenon of the 21st century.

Hip Hop Files: Photographs, 1979-1984

Author Martha Cooper

Photographer Martha Cooper was at the right place at the right time to document the people who created the music, dance, and art that became known worldwide. Cooper followed people who would one day become icons: the Rock Steady Crew, Fab 5 Freddy, DURO and DONDI, LADY PINK, and Afrika Bambaataa, to name a few. Now, Martha Cooper has the reputation of being the first and foremost photographer of hip hop culture in New York City.

by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant

Chronicle Books (2009)

During the 1970s and 80s, photographers Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant captured the environment and the imagination of a generation by documenting the burgeoning New York City graffiti movement. Now 25 years and more than a half a million copies later, their bestselling book Subway Art is available in a large-scale, deluxe format heightening the visual impact of their classic images.

Wild Style – The Sampler

by Charlie Ahearn

Powerhouse Books, 2007

A big, beautiful tome to Wild Style – the benchmark movie and chronicle of early HipHop culture – from Charlie Ahearn, the writer/director himself! Wild Style – The Sampler is a richly detailed book that goes into detail about the art of the projects that spawned the culture Wild Style portrays, as well as serving as a deep behind the scenes guide to the movie and its aftermath.

Subway Art 25th Anniversary Edition

FILM

The Best S t r e e t

ArtMovie you

will never see

The greatest street art film you’ll never seeLIFE REMOTE CONTROL

There’s a lot you don’t know, the biggest film not mentioned here has garnered lauded praise inside of a story that is perhaps not the clearest told of tales. For 5 years Life Remote Control was produced to be one of the greatest coverage pieces documenting a movement in both art and culture. You cannot obtain this film. There is a website but only a sign-up promising information about acquiring the DVD. While on set for one of the feature pieces, I was told a story of obfuscation that explored the idea of own-ing action. The story went from the filming of the street art docu-mentary of our generation to the end where another film was made by elements of the production cannibalizing the original piece. This original piece was Life Remote Control The end product, the now infamous EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP. The most radical story never told documenting the titans of this genre.

018

Fine Art Design Film Photography Architecture Music Literature Performance

a continuing series of award-winning and critically acclaimed films on art, culture, and music

018ISBN 1-4229-8822-8

ARTHOUSE FILMS CURIOUSLY BRIGHT ENTERTAINMENT & LM MEDIA GMBHPRESENT IN ASSOCIATION WITH FORTISSIMO FILMS JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE RADIANT CHILD

A FILM BY TAMRA DAVIS PRODUCERS DAVID KOH LILLY BRIGHT STANLEY BUCHTHAL ALEXIS MANYA SPRAICEXECUTIVE PRODUCER MAJA HOFFMANN CINEMATOGRAPHERS TAMRA DAVIS DAVID KOH HARRY GELLER

DESIGN & ANIMATION STUDIO NUMBER ONE EDITOR ALEXIS MANYA SPRAIC MUSIC BY J. RALPH ADAM HOROVITZ MIKE DIAMONDA FILM PRODUCED & DIRECTED BY TAMRA DAVIS

WWW.JEAN-MICHELBASQUIATTHERADIANTCHILD.COM

©2010 Curiously Bright Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Art and Design ©2010 New Video Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Marketed and distributed in the U.S. by New Video. All Jean-Michel Basquiat Works ©Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Used by Permission. Licensed by Artestar, NY. WARNING Federal law provides severe penalties for the unauthorized reproduction,”distribution or exhibition of copyrighted motion pictures, video tapes or video discs. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and may constitute a felony. Left Inset Photo: Lee Jaffe

In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. He became notorious for his

graffiti art under the moniker Samo in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene, sold

his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200 and became best friends with Andy Warhol.

Appreciated by both the art cognoscenti and the public, Basquiat was launched into

international stardom. However, soon his cult status began to override the art that had

made him famous in the first place.

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary, but also

delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work

emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was

constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider

interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully

convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.

Featuring interviews with Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger, Tony

Shafrazi, Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Glenn O’Brien, Maripol, Kai Eric, Nicholas Taylor,

Fred Hoffmann, Michael Holman, Diego Cortez, Annina Nosei, Suzanne Mallouk, Rene

Ricard, among many others.

NNVG225071 Color and B&W/Approx. 93 mins. + extraswww.newvideo.com www.arthousefilmsonline.com

Jean-Michel B

asquiat: T

he Rad

iant Ch

ild

Jean-Michel Basquiat:The Radiant Child A Film by Tamra Davis

BONUS FEATURES: Uncut Interview with Filmmaker Tamra Davis Theatrical Trailer

LM Media GmbH

The Radiant Child

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary, but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neo-expressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.

Featuring interviews with Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger, Tony Shafrazi, Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Glenn O’Brien, Maripol, Kai Eric, Nicholas Taylor, Fred Hoffmann, Michael Holman, Diego Cortez, Annina Nosei, Suzanne Mallouk, Rene Ricard, among many others.

Directed by Aaron Rose, and co-directed by Joshua Leonard, celebrates the spirit behind one of the most influential cultural moments of a generation. In the early 1990s, a loose-knit group of like-minded outsiders found common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself ) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, HipHop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the “establishment” art world, this group and the subcultures they sprang from have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture.

Starring a selection of artists who are considered leaders within this culture, Beautiful Losers focuses on the telling of personal stories. It speaks to themes of what happens when the outside becomes “in” as it explores the creative ethos connecting these artists and today’s youth.

Wild Style

Made in 1983, was the first HipHop motion picture. Directed by Charlie Ahearn features Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quinones, the Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Patti Astor, Sandra Fabara and Grandmaster Flash. The film is unique in that many of the actors’ roles were written to express their real-life personalities. This movie is considered the classic HipHop flick, full of great subway shots, breakdancing, freestyle MCing and rare footage of one of the godfathers of HipHop, Grandmaster Flash, pulling off an awesome scratch-mix set on a pair of ancient turntables. A must-see for anyone interested in HipHop music and graffiti at the dawn of street art culture.

The Universe of Keith Haring

A documentary by filmmaker Christina Clause about the artist Keith Haring. The legacy of Haring is resurrected through colorful archival footage and remembered by friends and admirers like artists Kenny Scharf and Yoko Ono, gallery owners Jeffrey Deitch and Tony Shafrazi. Through interviews with collaborators and friends like the choreographer Bill T. Jones, the film offers thoughtful reflection on a man whose impulse, Jones says, “was to do the work and live the life,” it is the passion and commitment we see in the artist himself that makes the most lasting impression.

Beautiful Losers

PHOTOGRAPHS BY LIONEL DELUY

By George HernandezI first heard the name Lina Esco when a friend of mine, a partner at one the country’s premier entertainment law firms, mentioned that in his 12 years in the industry he had never experienced the level of the buzz generated by new actress, Lina Esco. Once I met her though, it became apparent that the buzz is well deserved.

Lina Esco has graced magazines throughout the world as well as billboards in Times Square, New York. But that’s her past life. Her first acting gig was in 2005 in the acclaimed indie film, London, starring Jessica Biel and Jason Statham. Then came the recurring role in the short-lived CBS series Cane(2007), then Kingshighway (2010). She recently finished a coming-of-age film entitled, LOL, starring alongside Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore, scheduled for release sometime in late 2011. She is currently working w/Ethan Hawke & Tom Sizemore (pilot directed by Antoine Fuqua) in the much-anticipated Fox TV series, Exit Strategy, scheduled for the Fox lineup of new shows this fall.

She is, however, much more than an actress. She is currently working on a number of scripts, and looking forward to directing a mockumentary about sexual repression in America. Lina produced a PSA for the Academy Award-win-ning Best Documentary of 2009, The Cove, entitled, My Friend is...to bring awareness to the annual killing of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. what is your greatest fear? that fear exists. what trait do you most deplore in yourself? my kamikaze tendencies. what trait do you deplore in others? ignorance. what kind of art do you like? i like street art because it reflects my rebel nature. i particularly identify with TLP (The London Police) because ‘the lads’ appear to be enjoying life in a chaotic world. if you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? i’d convert myself into a hybrid alien.

what is your current state if mind? blissful. what is your most treasured possession?unhindered liberty. what do you most value in your friends? loyalty. are you happy with where you are in your life?as long as I am here. i understand that you are not presently in a relationship. are you comfortable with that,or do feel more fulfilled when you’re in a relationship? being single is nature’s way of forcing you to love yourself. when and where are you most happy?swimming with dolphins. what is your favorite hobby?swimming with dolphins. what would best describe your political affiliation?agnostic.

who is your hero? i have two - Wikileaks’, Julian Assange and oceanographer, Sylvia Earle.

who do you most admire and why ?Ric O'barry, because he’s trying to end the slaughter of dolphins.

what is your motto? here is a test to see if your mission on earth is complete, if you are alive it isn't. i've met some of your friends, and they all seem to be tremendously loyal what is it about youthat makes them that way? truth is our glue.

BEING SINGLE IS NATURE’S WAY OF FORCING YOU TO LOVE YOURSELF.

my kamikaze tendencies. what trait do you deplore in others? ignorance. what kind of art do you like? i like street art because it reflects my rebel nature. i particularly identify with TLP (The London Police) because ‘the lads’ appear to be enjoying life in a chaotic world. if you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? i’d convert myself into a hybrid alien.

what is your current state if mind? blissful. what is your most treasured possession?unhindered liberty. what do you most value in your friends? loyalty. are you happy with where you are in your life?as long as I am here. i understand that you are not presently in a relationship. are you comfortable with that,or do feel more fulfilled when you’re in a relationship? being single is nature’s way of forcing you to love yourself. when and where are you most happy?swimming with dolphins. what is your favorite hobby?swimming with dolphins. what would best describe your political affiliation?agnostic.

who is your hero? i have two - Wikileaks’, Julian Assange and oceanographer, Sylvia Earle.

who do you most admire and why ?Ric O'barry, because he’s trying to end the slaughter of dolphins.

what is your motto? here is a test to see if your mission on earth is complete, if you are alive it isn't. i've met some of your friends, and they all seem to be tremendously loyal what is it about youthat makes them that way? truth is our glue.

UN EXPECTED

Maxine WalterS Posters

UN EXPECTED

It wasn’t until a friend who was visiting Jamaica gave her a

hand-painted dancehall poster as a gift that filmmaker Maxine

Walters recognized the artistic qualities of the advertisements

she had seen hanging all over Jamaica her whole life. They’re

nailed to poles everywhere across the island, advertising dances

and concerts. Until then, she had taken them for granted. “Like

most Jamaicans, I’d seen them, of course; they were just there,”

says Walters. “But I looked at the gift and had an epiphany. ‘Wow,

I love this.’ Upon closer examination she realized the cultural val-

ue of the piece. “I came to appreciate that the poster was a fine

example of “intuitive” art; the work of “self-taught” artists. “The

very next day, I went out and started to collect. I was out there

climbing poles to get them down. I began to travel with a ham-

mer and a crowbar in my car.” As her tools indicate, these post-

ers are not made of paper. “I wait until the advertised event has

passed to take them down,” she jokes. Her collection features

primarily hard board posters several feet tall and wide, most of

which are handmade. Some are stenciled and others are hand

drawn. Some are carefully plotted and measured, while others

are lopsided, beginning with large letters and getting smaller

as the artist runs out of space. In general, shapes and colors are

employed both aesthetically and pragmatically, to separate

informational text and to draw the eye to the big picture. None

of these posters are signed by the artists, since the makers con-

sider them advertising, not art.

Maxine’s interest in the posters has baffled some ‘uptown’ Jamai-

cans. To them, the posters, which, by the way, are hung illegally,

are graffiti and litter; and some folks think she’s a little wacky

when they catch her wielding her hammer and crowbar, while

perched atop a pole.

She now has more than 1000 posters since she started in 2001;

and she believes that her efforts are preserving a vital part of Ja-

maica’s cultural heritage. They’re on exhibition at the Jamaican

Embassy in Havana, and that’s just the beginning. She says, “My

plan is to take the signs around the world as I promote Jamaican

street culture, and turn the world into one big fun-loving Dance-

hall.”

Art Issue Part 2New York

2012

unleashed-mag.com

Shepard Fairey

Art Issue Part 2New York

2012

unleashed-mag.com

T H E R E I S O N L Y O N E B E L L A G I O .

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unleashed mag april 2011 - street art edition

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