Vandalog - A Street Art Blog » Interview

Faile explain their Challenger image

RJ — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:17:10 +0000

In this video with Ride5 Films, Faile explain the use of the space shuttle Challenger in their work. Coincidentally, their explanation sounds a lot like the John Fekner’s random date work from the 1970′s.

FAILE from Ride5 Films on Vimeo.

Photo by RJ Rushmore

RJ Rushmore for Vandalog | Permalink | One comment

Martha Cooper interview

caroline — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:13:03 +0000

Various artists. Photo by Paris sous les sticks

It almost goes without saying that Martha Cooper has been one of the most important documentarians of graffiti culture for the last few decades. Her urban and hip hop culture photography is iconic. More recently, Martha Cooper has expanded her graffiti documentation to the photography and collection of stickers. Her two latest books, Going Postal and Name Tagging, spotlight sticker art made with postal labels and Hello My Name Is stickers.

On Saturday from 1-3pm, Martha will join sticker fanatic and author of one of my favorite books, DB Burkeman, for a book signing at a sticker exhibition curated by DB. The show, STUCK-UP: A Selected History of Alternative & Pop Culture Told Through Stickers, is at Chicago’s Maxwell Colette Gallery and features stickers from a top-notch roster of artists.

I would gladly hop on the next plane and see this exhibit in person, but that was not an option so instead I asked Martha Cooper a few questions.

Caroline: In your book Name Tagging, you explain how you began appreciating stickers after you bought your first digital camera. What was it about the digital medium that initiated this interest in stickers?

Martha Cooper: Pre-digital, I rarely took my heavy, bulky Nikon out unless I was headed for something specific to shoot. It cost about 50 cents for film and processing every time I clicked the shutter. So although I had noticed stickers for years, I hadn’t looked at them closely and hadn’t bothered to shoot many.

My first digital camera was a little Olympus that I could easily carry around with me all the time. It had a very good close-up lens and performed well under low light. Once I had the camera, it didn’t cost any more to keep shooting so I was free to take as many photos as I wanted. Transitioning from analog to digital was a challenge. Shooting stickers was an unstressful way to practice new technology with interesting subject matter.

C: What led to you removing and collecting stickers off the street, rather than just photographing them?

MC: I’ve always been a collector. I like to look at different examples of things. At first after shooting a nice sticker, I printed it and saved it in an album. That began to feel unsatisfactory–I wanted the original. I only shoot and collect hand drawn stickers and this is pretty much the only form of graffiti and street art that can actually be removed from the street. Of course writers have criticized me for this and I know this is a dubious defense, but someday I hope to have a museum sticker exhibit.

Various artists. Photos by Lois Stavsky

C: You have a very unique perspective as a female authority figure in this male dominated field. As a documentarian of an illegal subculture, where you are the age of many of these boys’ mothers, have you ever experienced any sort of conflict in your various roles?

MC: I’m not really an authority figure. I try to be non-judgmental. My approach is more like an anthropologist: participant observation.

C: You tend to document what is on the fringe of popularity, bringing the unknown or overlooked into the public eye. Your last two books have been about stickers. Why are you drawn to documenting subcultures? Or in the case of stickers, subcultures within subcultures?

MC: The fun is trying to figure out what is going on and how best to represent it. I like documenting things that aren’t over exposed and are a little hard to find out about. I’m interested in all kinds of art in everyday life and a still camera is a good way to record and preserve.

Photo by Lois Stavsky

C: Most of your photography presents subjects within their greater context, but your photos of stickers are tightly cropped and don’t include their setting. Why?

MC: Whenever possible I shot stickers showing their wider context. However they are small so the details of the art would not have been visible in the layouts in the little sticker books so I had to crop out the background in many cases.

C: How do you choose what artists you profile in your books?

MC: I chose artists whose work I liked and had good photos of and with whom I had already established some kind of a connection. In Going Postal, I especially wanted to feature some artists from Philly because they have such a strong hand drawn sticker culture. In Name Tagging, I wanted to have a range of artists of different ages.

Various Philly stickers. Photo by Damonabnormal

C: On surfaces covered in stickers, what will make a certain sticker stand out to you?

MC: Hand drawn stickers are hard to find so those are the ones that stand out the most. After that, bold graphics or unique handstyles catch my eye. I’m a fan of both graffiti and street art.

C: In the 80s and 90s there was very little documentation of graffiti and hip hop culture. The select images from these eras have become iconic. Do you think the ubiquity of digital photography has led to an overload of documentation?

MC: In terms of publishing and making a profit, there’s probably an overload. But in terms of seeing and sharing public art on the street, there can never be too much.

Cash4. Photo by RJ Rushmore

C: Hundreds of photos of stickers, graffiti, and street art are uploaded to flickr daily. Why should people buy graffiti art books in an age where similar information is online, free, and en masse?

MC: I ask myself that question all the time. I’m a book lover but I’m a dinosaur. I would like to think that the edited and organized selection of art, the quality of the photos and the informative texts in books would make them valuable–but maybe not.

C: How do you think shows like DB’s can change the public’s perception of graffiti stickers?

MC: DB has put together an amazing collection of not just graffiti, but all kinds of artist stickers. Most people walk by stickers on the street without seeing them. db’s shows should open their eyes to what they’re missing.

C: Goals or plans for 2012?

MC: Since 2006 I’ve been documenting a neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore called SoWeBo. I’m hoping to put those photos together for a book–before books become obsolete.

Photos by Lois Stavsky, Paris sous les sticks, Damonabnormal and RJ Rushmore

Caroline Caldwell for Vandalog | Permalink | No comments

Interview with DB Burkeman

RJ — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:53:36 +0000

Shepard Fairey. Photo by RJ Rushmore

In 2010, Rizzoli published the definitive book on stickers and sticker art. That book is Stickers: Stuck-Up Piece of Crap: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art by DB Burkeman and Monica LoCascio. DB seems to be the ultimate sticker fanatic, and his book tells the history of stickers in a way that only someone completely obsessed could possibly pull off. If you don’t know anything about stickers, you can skim through and get an introduction. If you’re already interested, Stuck-Up Piece of Crap gives a behind-the-scenes look at everything from early graffiti stickers to stickers in the music world to the homes and minds of sticker collectors. Of course, DB has quite a sticker collection himself. A small chunk of DB’s collection will be on display starting tomorrow at Maxwell Colette Gallery in Chicago, alongside a few other sticker-related events (and he and Martha Cooper will be signing books at the gallery on Saturday from 1-3pm). I spoke with DB last week…

RJ: Why do you think you are drawn to stickers?

DB Burkeman: It’s changed over the years for me, but now the simple answer is they are simply tiny portable works of art. That may have a different answer for each person.

RJ: In your collecting habits, do you differentiate between “art stickers” or “graffiti stickers” and stickers intended as advertisements?

DB: Never really thought about that, but I’m less drawn to stickers that are obviously advertisements. I’ve also become more picky since overdoing on the damn things : )

Poke and Gee. Photo by RJ Rushmore

RJ: How many stickers do you have in your collection?

DB: Somewhere between 4000-6000 & growing, much to my family & friends annoyance. It can take a long time to get down the street with me, I keep stopping to check out lampposts etc.

RJ: Have you ever ruined any particularly good stickers while trying to take them off the street for you collection?

DB: I dont think so. If it looks like a sticker may tear while taking off something, I make do with a photo of it & leave it in place. I only became became a collector of street stickers about 5 years ago when starting to work on the book. There was a postal NeckFace that I tried to remove & I could see it would tear, so I just shot it, called Martha & she ran downtown with her magic spray & got it for her collection.

I’ve had one or two haters get at me for “stealing” stickers from the streets. But I’ve always believed that creators would probable be cool with me talking them, if they knew they would be included in the book, or exhibition. And we have always said, we will return any sticker peeled from the street, if asked. Shepard Fairey defended me to a hater, saying I was documenting history & important. That really made me feel good about it.

Neckface. Photo by RJ Rushmore

RJ: How did you decide what to include in the Stuck Up show?

DB: It’s been very hard to pick actually. I wish we had unlimited space & budget to show it all. The current exhibition is a very tightly curated collection. It’s dope. My hope is that as the exhibition goes around the county, museums will learn of it & we might one get to show it all.

Aiko, Faust and others. Photo by Caroline Caldwell

RJ: What is Slap Happy and how can people support the project?

DB: Slap Happy debuted in Dec in Miami at the Wynwood Walls during Art Basel. It is a charity sticker invitational curated by Paul Weston and myself. The project includes designs from 75 of our visual communicators from around the globe who have each created an intimate, same size, black and white sticker. We still have a few of the sets & black books for the show on Friday. Proceeds from the project will go to Acceptance House, a drug rehab facility in Miami.

Just a few of the really great contributors are Aiko, Bigfoot, Dave Denis, Stanley Donwood, Shepard Fairey, Grotesk, Cody Hudson, Paul Insect, Jo Jackson, Chris Johanson, Mel Kadel, Anthony Lister, Travis Millard, Kenzo Minami, Kenny Scharf, Stikman, Shane Swank, The Designers Republic, The London Police, James Victore, Tim Noble / Sue Webster, Paul Weston, Wolfy and Zevs.

RJ: What was the most surprising thing you came across while researching for Stuck Up Piece of Crap?

DB: The most surprising thing, was definitely how many incredible famous people, just said “Yes” when I got to the to ask if I could include them.

Swampy, Bird or Prey, Skate-Core.com and other. Photo by RJ Rushmore

RJ: Why do you think people are driven put up stickers for other people or brands?

DB: I think its a just way of showing love or support for a band, brand or artist. Unless of course, they are putting them up as a paid street team.

RJ: What makes a successful sticker or stickering campaign?

DB: I like the ones where I cant tell what the hell it means : )

Shepard Fairey. Photo by RJ Rushmore

RJ: What’s the best placement of a sticker that you have seen?

DB: My friend Romeo Alaeff just had one of his slapped up in front of a kind of famous house. The other has to be mine, put up on a tank turret by a fan who was soldier in Afghanistan.

Romeo Alaeff. Photo courtesy of DB Burkeman

DB Burkeman. Photo courtesy of DB Burkeman

RJ: Do you have any tips for young sticker artists?

DB: Be creative, give them away & get up!

Artist unknown. Photo by RJ Rushmore

DB Burkeman’s show, “Stuck-Up: A Selected History of Alternative and Popular Culture Told Though Stickers” opens on Friday at Maxwell Colette Gallery in Chicago and runs through March 3rd.

Photos by RJ Rushmore and Caroline Caldwell and courtesy of DB Burkeman

RJ Rushmore for Vandalog | Permalink | 2 comments

Interview with Chris Stain

caroline — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:39:19 +0000

Photo by Luna Park

If Chris Stain isn’t already in your street artist repertoire, this is someone you need to know. Baltimore bred and current New Yorker, Stain transitioned from graffiti writing in his early days to the stencil portraits and paste-ups that have made him known around the world today. The beauty in Stain’s work comes from his ability to capture the soul and often overlooked tenderness of the urban world.

1. Describe one of your first experiences with graffiti.

I got into graffiti after seeing the movie Beat Street in 1984. The only type of paint my friends and I had was Testors model car paint. The cans were small and you couldn’t get far with them but it was easily concealable.

We all lived in rowhomes in Balitmore so our main targets were houses on the end of the block because they had the biggest open wall space and traffic on the main streets could see our work. We also wrote in the alleys behind the houses as well, decorating the backs of peoples cinderblock fences. Once the neighbors caught on to who was writing all over the neighborhood we moved on. We really had no idea what we were doing. We mostly just wrote our new chosen aliases in a form of cursive and printing that we combined. Like the beginning of anything new it was incredibly exciting.

2. You’re an art teacher. Do you know if you’ve [accidentally] influenced any students into doing outdoor/illegal work?

I don’t think so. Any of the students who have shown a strong interest in graffiti or stenciling I have tried to get them involved with some of my legal murals. I knew a few who work on wood and cardboard outside using spraypaint. But I’m sure it’s very tempting to cross the line. I have explained to them the implications of arrest and how much of a waste of time it is being locked up. Unfortunately there are some aspects of society that glorify jail time which make the whole criminal lifestyle seem desirable and acceptable. If that lifestyle is all you have that’s one thing but if you have a choice it’s better not to blow it.

3. In reverse, has teaching influenced your own artwork?

The students have influenced my work a great deal. They bring so much to the table as far as their personalities and backgrounds and the cultures they grew up within. Since my main subject matter is people I just drink in everything the kids have to offer. We do a self portrait project in class where I photograph the students and they trace a line drawing from it. The line drawing is used to produce a film for screen printing. Some of the photographs come out so well that I use them in my own projects. When I took this photograph of Willem I knew I wanted to use it right away. He had so much character and pride of where he was from I just had to use it. The tattoo on his hand read’s “90′z” which is the area he lives in in East New York. For me the photo sparked a whole new set of ideas that I incorporated in a large stencil that I painted in NYC and Miami.

Willem

Willem (rubylith)

Willem (mural)

4. What inspired the last thing you made?

I just finished cutting a new rubylith the other day. It was a portrait of sorts of Gil Scott Heron. Until recently I have shyed away from pieces focused on famous people. This is mainly due to the fact that I didn’t want to capitalize off of their fame and try to make my work seem more attractive because of whose face was in the picture. With that said there are a few artists, writers, and musicians, who have truly inspired me that I wanted to pay some sort of homage to. I was fortunate enough to meet Gil Scot Heron after one of his performance’s in Manhattan. Of all his work the song Winter In America has probably struck me the hardest. I made 3 pieces based on that song. The new piece is more of a homage to Gil himself and his body of work. I appreciate most how he used his creativity to express inner city life and all that comes with it. Also if it wasn’t for the combined effort of himself and Stevie Wonder, Martin Luther King Day would not exist.

5. Last thing that made you laugh?

The last thing that made me laugh was running into the Atlantic Ocean on January 1st with my friends Kevin, Todd, Callie, Heather and Eric. We did the Polar Bear Plunge at Coney Island then hung out for most of the day. It made me realize that it’s not all bad times, that there are good times too. Although they are both temporary the good times help you get through the bad a little easier.

6. How do you choose the people or subjects of your work?

I mainly work from photographs either ones that I take or one’s that I find. What I look for is emotions in the picture that speak to me in a way I can relate to. For instance I came across a photo taken by Boogie of a boy carrying a baseball on his shoulder. Now, It’s very possible that the kid was coming home from playing ball but for me it reminded me of what it meant to carry a baseball bat when I was a kid. It meant that you didn’t have to take crap from the older kids who felt like kicking your ass just because they could. For me it was a picture of a kid who wasn’t going to take crap from people anymore. So I re worked in a background and went for it.

Photo by Boogie

7. Any tattoos/scars? What’s the story?

I have too many tattoos with stories to mention. Instead I can tell you about my first tattoo which was done by Sweet Chuck in exchange for painting his club in Ohio. The image was drawn way back when I was in High School by my friend Flite from Philadelphia. It reads OUT TO LIVE in a graffiti style wreath. That was the name of our crew back then. I didn’t get the tattoo until 10 years after I graduated. Some scars too, both external and internal. For better or for worse they made me who I am today. I am certain there will be more tattoos and scars in the future.

8. Childhood heroes (real or fictional)?

It started with The Beatles, then Kiss, Ozzy, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Rock Steady Crew, Futura, Dondi, Revolt, Zephyr, Seth Tobocman, John Fekner, Kathe Kollwitz, Martha Cooper, Ezra Jack Keats… 7 Seconds, Black Flag, Minor Threat, CRASS. So many people have influenced me up through my adolescence it’s hard to list them all. But the people who have influenced me most are the people I have been closest to. People I’ve worked with, lived with and worked for. Friends.

9. One thing you’d change about the world.

I’m still working on myself. If I can change myself I might have a chance at other things.

10. Worst/strangest experience with art?

In my 7th grade art class we were asked to make a calendar for the month of our birthday. As far as I can remember there weren’t any specific guidelines other than that. So I made a calendar filled with b-boy characters, graffiti, subway cars, buildings, and a big boom box with music notes floating out of it.

The teacher seemed to hate it. He said, “What does this have to do with anything?” I was crushed. It had everything to do with me and what I was into. From then on it’s been screw you to these “art” teachers. I make it a practice to try and not dump on people’s dreams even if it’s not my thing.

11. Best experience with art?

Just painting and making new friends. I’ve been lucky to have been able to travel and see new places and experience new things. Thanks to everyone who has made that possible for me. Thierry made a little video documenting a good time we had in Paris a few years back.

12. Plans or goals for 2012?

I want to try to share what I do with my kids more. They are getting old enough to start to mess around. On that last piece I just made, my son helped cut out a few parts. He came down to the basement when I was working and sat on my lap and wanted to get involved. I thought yeah, why not? Why didn’t I ask those guys if they wanted to try something sooner. I’d also like to do a few zines. Kevin, Josh, and I already have something planned called RESIDUE which will be a compilation of creative works in writing, photography and other arts by a variety of people that we are in touch with. Besides that I am continuing my studies at City College in Harlem for an Art Ed degree, teaching art part time in Brooklyn and Queens, and making new work whenever time is available. I have a few shows scheduled, and a residency coming up over the summer. My book Long Story Short will be released in the spring through DRAGO press as well.

13. Anything you’d like the world to know about yourself?

Nah, not really. I try to say it all with the work I produce, whether it’s stencils, graffiti, writing, teaching, or photography. Thanks for your interest. Thanks for your time. Cheers.

Images courtesy of Chris Stain

Caroline Caldwell for Vandalog | Permalink | 2 comments

Weekend link-o-rama

RJ — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:01:13 +0000

Mecro freight in Philadelphia

It’s another slow week, but things should start to get going again soon. The holidays can’t last forever. Here are bits of news from around the web that didn’t make it into their own post here this week:

I wrote a list (with some help from Caroline Caldwell) for Complex.com of 10 street artists to watch in 2012. Let me know what you think in comments on this post or over on Complex.com.
Adam Void aka Avoid pi is in an upcoming group show at Mighty Tanaka (and they have a new space).
This Cash4 interview is good for a laugh.
Blank has designed some posters that he would like to send out to all the Occupy protests, but he needs funding.
But this might be my favorite Occupy-related art so far (site is NSFW).
If you’re in Atlanta, do not miss this talk with Brad Downey.
Or if you’re in NYC, there’s this evening with Ron English at MoMA.
Fans of Os Gemeos should check out this photo album of their work in Brazil.

Photo by Damonabnormal

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Interview with Stinkfish

caroline — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:20:48 +0000

Stinkfish is an artist from Bogota, Colombia and personally, one of my favorites. He does a little of everything from rollers to posters, stickers to straight up tagging, but he’s renowned for his vibrant portraiture. I was lucky enough to get to ask him a few question.

How long have you been with your crew, APC?

I created the Animal Power Culture (APC) with my friend Aeon (aka Lorenzo Masnah / Third World Pirat / El Peor -www.masnah.tk) at some point, I do not remember exactly, between 2006 and 2007. We came up with the idea of make up a crew without rules or defined styles, which could grow and grow as a large family of animals of different races and backgrounds. There were only the two of us for a while; later, friends from different cities and countries join. Today we are about 30 animals in Colombia, Mexico, United States, Brazil, Venezuela, Guatemala, Spain, Holland and Argentina.

What did you like to do as a kid?

My childhood was spent between the typical TV addiction of the 80′s and 90′s, playing soccer outside my house and going for bike rides around the neighborhood. But one thing I remember with special affection are the cameras that my dad bought and sold frequently, I could spend hours “playing” with them, discovering how they work: framing, focusing.

What were your first few experiences with vandalism like?

Destruction of street furniture, but those are fuzzy memories of confusing days.

Was there anything specific that inspired your involvement in street art? Is there anything now that inspires you to keep doing it?

I liked being on the street and spent hours walking around aimlessly. I also made images that were stored on the hard drive of my computer without anyone to see them. But I wanted to show them to as many people as cheaper as I could. Then it all started. Now days I’m in this for the same reasons and because I believe in the sincerity of graffiti, street art or whatever you want to call it. I believe in doing what I like out of conviction, without permission. Doing what I wish to do with what I have at hand in the place I want and when I want to, without thinking about health insurance, a salary or a pat on the back.

The style you have is very recognizable. Have you always painted in this way?

I have used different media and techniques during these years of work in the street: stencils, stickers, posters, brushes, rollers, fire extinguishers, extenders, chalk, etc.. For a long time I worked with stencils until I decided to leave it almost entirely. Then I began to paint with spray, brushes and rollers, and make quick tags and characters. Later I return to stencil with new ideas, looking for other stories, closer ones. I think that is a part of what I do today but I dont think I have one only style. I like to create images in different ways, with the tools I have available in the place where I am. I do not like being tied to one way of doing things.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not painting?

Walking is one of the things I like to do. Walking aimlessly with loud music and accidentally find coincidences of sound and movement, between the lyrics of songs and what happens every day.

What’s the best part after you finish a piece?

The best part is that moment when I finish packing everything and start to walk away from the wall with complete certainty that I painted the wall I want as I wanted, at the right time and without any permission.

Some of the faces in your portraits are people you don’t know. Has this ever led to anything interesting?

Most are people I dont know. I have my camera always at hand and all the time I take pictures of unaware people. I also found pictures abandoned on the floor and others I have bought in street markets. The interesting thing for me is to give new life to these portraits, make a new larger scale picture on a wall, make them travel.

What countries have you put up work in?

Colombia / Mexico / Guatemala / El Salvador / England / Spain / Holland

What has been the greatest experience you’ve had doing street art?

To know the thoughts and feelings of some people.

What has been the worst experience?

To know the thoughts and feelings of some people.

Do you have any goals for 2012?

Paint and travel as much as possible / publish a new fanzine.

Photos by Stinkfish

Caroline Caldwell for Vandalog | Permalink | 2 comments

While I was under a rock link-o-rama

RJ — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:30:13 +0000

Unknown artist

Well, while I had myself more or less locked in a library underground for the better part of last week, the art world did not stand still. And so we have this special Tuesday edition of the typically friday event – the link-o-rama:

Olek is facing charges in London (not related to her street art), and needs your help. Hyperallergic has more info.
Banksy has loaned a sculpture to a museum in Liverpool. Meh. Another artwork that just as easily could have been seen at any urban art group show, but it’s by Banksy so the BBC and the rest of us should apparently care. What is this? It’s not just with Banksy. Bloggers in particular, we seem to have this urge to always be the first to say “Yeah, I saw that girl’s work first and said she was cool” and a fear of being caught in a situation where everyone except us thinks that some artist or artwork is great. And now I’m rambling…
Blu just painted two walls in Buenos Aires. Here’s the first and here’s the second.
I’m loving this new sculpture from Leon Reid IV about the financial crisis.
Todd James also has a new sculpture in both bronze and porcelain. It’s for sale at Toykyo.
Mode2′s new work (NSFW) might be the best I’ve ever seen from him. Amazing stuff.
KAWS has a show on now at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
Knock Knock is a new online magazine with a lot about street art and graffiti in Australia.
Kunle Martins aka Earsnot aka the founder of the infamous IRAK crew participated in Wynwood Walls this year alongside Jesse Geller aka Nemel. Martha Cooper has shots of what they got up to and then the Wynwood Walls video series has a great episode on them. For some people, it may be hard to avoid comparisons to this wall by Barry McGee. 12ozProphet says “The building painted by IRAK for Wynwood Walls is inspired by Barry McGee’s tag-filled murals… Earsnot and Nemel build on Barry McGee’s tag wall concept by filling the wall with a variety of monochromatic shades of overlapping tags creating the illusion of depth.”

Photo by Damonabnormal

RJ Rushmore for Vandalog | Permalink | No comments

Swoon Interview on UrbanOmnibus

Gaia — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 22:36:17 +0000

UrbanOmnibus recently has done a small interview with Swoon that is worth checking out. Also, for those unfamiliar with the website, it is a great resource for contemporary issues regarding the urban environment and more specifically New York.

Gaia for Vandalog | Permalink | One comment

MOMO is the man

RJ — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:01:51 +0000

Last month, I saw an installation by MOMO here in Philadelphia at Space 1026. Seeing the installation made me fall in love with MOMO all over again. Some of the first pieces of street art I ever noticed around London were his abstract wheatpastes, which stood out among a sea of logos and figures as something different and fresh. Since then, MOMO has been the artist whose work I think best exemplifies successful abstract street art. With street art, there is a tendency for galleries, blogs, festivals and magazines to stick to “easy” art, but MOMO doesn’t make art that you can look at for two seconds and leave alone. He changes environments. MOMO isn’t just putting up a photoshopped Batman stencil or whatever the kids are doing these days to get some hype. Nevertheless, MOMO has worked with Papermonster, FAME Festival, The Underbelly Project, Anno Domini and more. While staying just outside of this culture’s mainstream, it seems that MOMO has a lot of fans who, like me, keep him in the back of their mind at all times for his ability to push post-graffiti and street art forward and make spaces beautiful. That is to say, here’s an interview with MOMO after the jump…

RJ: What have traditional graffiti writers said about you having the largest tag in Manhattan?

MOMO: I haven’t had that conversation, or if its come up, but I can’t recall anything too unusual.

MOMO and El Tono

When you collaborate with El Tono, what is that process like compared to when you work alone?

Working with Eltono, there’s always a great soundtrack, a rootsy adventure, and lots to learn since he’s always steps ahead with techniques, languages, and documentation ideas. Working alone I get into more of a personal revery. That can mean trouble if there’s deadlines and no counter weight, to confirm when you are/are not completely nuts.

How would you describe the experience of handing over a degree of creative control over to a computer, as you did in your MOMO Maker project (and to a lesser extent your recent painting at the Fountainhead Residency)? Is do you not think of it as handing over creative control at all?

Well I would love to see a loss of control, in terms of anti-art, deconstruction, going backwards, spoofing the sublime and so on. The MOMO Maker was originally a joke in this spirit, but was also instantly a very real and useful tool. I’d stumbled into the process of serial art making, which has its own history, but that hasn’t mattered much, it works, like a telescope to see into the unknown. I love making customized tools. There’s no separation between that and the final work.

Who do you hope is the audience for your art? Who do you think it is?

I don’t know. There are so many humans. Its a grand mystery. Doing this in public areas for twelve years has given me fascinating conversations and access to brilliant, remarkable, strange people I would never have met. Like when I was very young and traveled with just enthusiasm and no way in to places, I would hit all the obtuse angles, down and out types, mass entertainment and tourism facades, all wonderful but lonely.

MOMO and El Tono

Although there are obvious exceptions (like El Tono and the artists mentioned in the book Abstract Graffiti), most street art tends to be primarily figurative and traditional graffiti is based on typography. Have you found that people react differently to your primarily abstract work than your figurative street art or figurative street art by other artists?

I don’t know what peoples reactions are like, and on most levels I don’t care. If a work is real oblique and people don’t even see it, that’s a plus as it gives me some cover. To create and explore freely, its the long view that counts. You know, to have vision without immediate gratification/confirmation is cool. Haha. Obviously figurative work gets more attention because our brains are wired to spot and read figures, but maybe that doesn’t guarantee its interesting? I have no idea.

In your bio, you use the term “post-graffiti.” What does that mean to you?

I thought I was abusing the term, that it only applied to “tagging with logos”, but have a look at this article by Javier Abarca where he reasons that constantly changing content with a recognizable style is the same idea, letting viewers see pieces as a part of a whole. I do one-off projects, but “post graffiti” works roughly, sounds open ended.

From where you’ve put up your work, it seems like you must love to travel. If you could only either make art or travel the world for the next decade, which would you choose?

Like go to art-only jail vs. travel but only to observe? Could I take tourist photos? Some audio notes-to-self? That would be fine. Luckily, those can’t be separated.

Do you think art school helped or hurt you as an artist?

Its like I did & didn’t go to art school. The North Carolina School of the Arts was great, but just a public/state funded high school experience. The Savannah College of Art & Design was lousy, so I dropped out after a year. Learning is supreme, but getting into debt-slavery over it is a bad idea. Audit classes, read, ask questions, get into weird situations.

When you’re working outdoors, how do you decide where to paste or paint?

Its best when the spot is already interesting. So the less I do, the better. Just pointing to whats already interesting is the ideal, showing it in new ways.

What have you got planned for the future?

Well, I can’t disclose too much… But I am thinking of several zines, one entitled “An Incomplete List of All Things Possible”. I’m enjoying this Robert Write book, “The Evolution of God”, nearly done with that. Last week I sent two large paintings to the Underbelly show in Miami, and moved into a new studio.

Photos by MOMO

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Weekend link-o-rama

RJ — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:37:24 +0000

Bust in Amsterdam

Happy almost Halloween. It’s been a week of wasted energy, or so it seems. A potential legal wall that I was organizing has fallen through for the time being, but hopefully things are just delayed rather than cancelled. Here’s some of what I should have posted about this week:

Reported, this sculpture at Occupy London was made and left there by Banksy, but that claim is unconfirmed by Banksy so far. Nonetheless, Zeus added this modification to the piece. And Above has also made some work in solidarity with the Occupy movement. Similarly to K-Guy’s work at Occupy London, I’m conflicted here. On the one hand, it’s great when artists who know how to get headlines do so in solidarity with a political movement of sorts, but on the other hand these artists are of course latching on to the movement and associating themselves with it in a way that they know will get headlines and potentially help them sell some paintings. Of course the same could be said of many of the celebrity speakers who have been generally well-received at Occupy events. So there’s that dilemma to think about.
Faile are the latest artists to hit the wall at Bowery and Houston.
Last time I was in NYC, I saw this billboard for Hennessy cognac with designs by Kaws. Just interesting to see the flip from a decade ago when Kaws would have modified that billboard illegal to insert his work onto it in an effort to associate with the Hennessy brand, and now Hennessy pays Kaws to associate with their brand. Also, this new Kaws/Snoopy toy goes on sale today on Kaws’ website. Okay, one last bit of Kaws news: I love this new painting by him.
This is a nice video of ECB painting a wall in London.
The Citrus Report interviewed Feral Child.
John Baldessari’s views on street art.
The Nuart festival book is available for pre-order.
TrustoCorp’s show at Opera Gallery in NYC looks like a lot of fun.
Here are two articles about street art and graffiti in Libya and other countries being impacted by the Arab Spring.

Photo by Bust

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