URBAN DEVELOPMENT STAGE1

Download this free A3 Poster of the finished wall and details here

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

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.