URBAN DEVELOPMENT EPISODE 2

This is the the second part in our series of features about the Urban Development Outdoor Gallery Project in Auckland, New Zealand.

In this episode Berst One conducts a thorough interview with me about the motives and technique behind my current approach to painting. We speak in depth about what it is for a Graffiti Writer to embrace being an artist, the influence and thinking behind our current aesthetic and shed some light on some local graffiti history and how that has impacted the piecing style of today.

http://www.vimeo.com/10134130

MY STYLE JOURNEY: AN ATTEMPT AT DEFINING A TIMELINE

This is the start of the next chapter of my blog. I’ve always wanted to do this, not just for the sake of discussing with you, my story, my initial influences and personal journey as an artist but also to further clarify my own understanding of how I arrived here for myself. Consider yourself warned: This won’t be light reading but for what it’s worth, I will do my best to recall everything I can with as much accuracy as I possible.

Images from L to R: “Hip-Hop ’86″ by Lost Art, “AaronB” on the old Astor Hotel, Auckland 1996, “Merk” during the Wall Of Fame Project, 1995*, “Mean PFB” Auckland 1999, “Tank” Auckland 1998, “Loomit” Auckland 2000, “Mr Quink” Auckland 1997, “Acre” Auckland 1999. All Photos by Jamie ‘Deap’ McCready except * by DLT.

I feel it’s important to speak about my current thinking and motivations behind this block of writing. It’s a fairly daunting task to lay everything bare and typically I think writers tend to shy away from putting them selves out there in this manner of exposed situation but personally, I find it intriguing. In most forms of art, debate and discussion of influences is not only commonplace but considered an essential part of defining streams of work by giving it a reference point. In ‘Writing’ it’s often spoken about in very narrow terms, usually limited to tedious debate about ‘Influence vs. Biting’ and ‘Style vs. Technique’. I can’t even begin to explain how much these clichés pain me. Generally writers masquerade these clichés as some form of intelligent debate but don’t consider for a second how redundant they are in the bigger picture. At this present juncture I find these two debates as mundane as when mainstream media discuss ‘Art vs. Vandalism’ when introducing a news story or printing a newspaper article. I’m glossing over the issue a bit here and I will address it in more depth soon, I promise.

Before we enter into another huge discussion on the theme of ‘Biting’, it needs to be understood that what I said above is in no way intended to be a justification of such an act. It’s obviously a hot topic for me right now in the wake of recent events… Those that follow the blogs and love the scandal know what I’m talking about! It’s no secret that I became a major point of contention in the eyes of a few people and that has been put out there pretty publicly lately. I believe positives can always be made from negative situations and bringing these conversations to the forefront can become the catalyst for constructive debate. I really hope that it’s never come off like I’d downplay or forget those that have impacted me deeply. For this very reason I also feel that its time to shed light on all of my influences across the board. There are a lot of people dotted through out my journey that shared insights big and small that ultimately shaped me into the person I am today. I would like to attempt to pay homage to all of them as best as I can in some type of chronological time-line. The people range from Writers to illustrators, graphic designers and even just some interesting thinkers. Mostly they are from New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the United States and are people that I encountered locally or on my overseas travels. Just off the cuff I’d really like to acknowledge Smooth Crew, The Satele family, Fly, USP, Oli Green, Danny Haimona, AaronB and Merk and DAF Crew, Tank, Mystery, Kwink, Ikon, Webs, Kens, Duck, Mean PFB, Fury, Phat1, Addict, Dyle52, Exist, Acre, P-Money, Mike Weston, Otis Frizzell, Martin Emond (R.I.P), Daim, Loomit, DJ Sir-Vere, Can2, Atom, Wow123, Smash137, Revok, Ewok, Rime, Wane, Dash, Skinz, Doze Green, Futura, Chris Graham, Vans, Deus and Berst. Those are just the few more names of people that have shared their knowledge or opinions (whether knowing it or not) that have shaped or influenced my practices as an artist and person right until this day. There are many more I will remember along the way but I just needed to put those people out there from the get go, I owe them all that at least.

I am going to do my best to tell my whole story, share as many photos from the archive as possible and recount events as I remember them. This stream will take a while to unfold and may be interrupted with other tangents but ultimately I hope it will enable me to reflect on where I’ve come from to better understand where I am going from here.

All Seeing Eyes, Triangles and Pyramid Dudes Part4

I can’t help but feeling like this movement is at the dawn of a new age. I’m excited at the idea of writers digging that little bit deeper, searching for the depth we are so often accused of lacking. My peers and I are always honing our practise, our technique but most importantly the time has come to further define the thought and process behind the paintings.

Photo by Jamie McCready

I’m trying to direct this post into some sort of conclusion and bring closure to this particular body of work but to be honest it’s pretty open ended and due to continue. The main purpose of these series of posts was to identify some type of origin to the ‘awakening’ I experienced and my first forays into bringing some extra meaning to my paintings.

The truth of the matter is, as an artist, streams of ideas and the subsequent work that flows are not often so rigid, with a defined beginning or end. I have noticed though, through this journey that there are several streams of thought that have had a totally linear progression and when I’ve taken the time to sit back and re-observe, you can see them emerge and grow.

There are some aspects of this whole body of work that I have omitted at this point because they also belong to another set and are more relevant amongst those. Also there are plenty of overlaps along the way as well, but that’s just the nature of life really.

Here are some examples of other notable works I did in various mediums during the past two-year period.

This was a design I did for our Team Dynamite T-shirt range. It features the Pyramid dude clutching the Auckland ADK model train. It started off as a patch concept, potentially for some crew jackets.

This was an illustration I did that emerged as an A3 2 colour print. I released these as an edition of 50 and they were received really well.

Shortly before my trip to the US I did this T-Shirt graphic and printed up 100 shirts. I traveled to Miami and Detroit with more of these in my bag than actual clothes and attempted to sell them while panting at events there. I didn’t move as may as expected so there’s still plenty available at The Pit Bull Press.

I did this design as a play on the Auckland City Council’s ‘Zero-Tolerance’ campaign and the running tab kept on the city’s writers. My good friend Jimmy at Grand Scheme ran this design in their latest range. He’s doing big things this year! The photo is by Luke Shirlaw.

This design features the Pyramid Dude smashing Auckland’s Sky Tower Godzilla style. I entered this into AS colour’s Little Help Project a while back. Although I didn’t win the competition, after they canvased public opinion it was chosen as a public favourite and a small run was done. You can pick one up here.