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IRAK is dope, so are the pictures. the clothes, ehhh.
the article is ass though. the fucktard who wrote it sounds like an elemantary school girl custom equiped with an infatuation for anyone who gets fucked up and can steal things. glorifying that type of lifestyle is LAME. just document that shit.
i dont know for sure, but i wouldnt be surprised if giant did it. he's in town all the time and dash knows just about everyone. may not be the case, but it's certainly possible. i'll ask him or giant next time i see either one around.
Irak is a great crew but the designs just arent that great. the best is probably that Irak NY shirt. maybe they should make a shirt with that "Best things in life..." design.
Originally posted by fatlaces@Dec 6 2004, 08:55 PM Irak is a great crew but the designs just arent that great. the best is probably that Irak NY shirt. maybe they should make a shirt with that "Best things in life..." design.
clearly they're writers, not designers. but you cant knock them for trying to make a few bucks if they have a good thing going. i see these tees the same way i see concert shirts... if your a fan, you'll sport one, but like a concert shirt, it's not the pinnacle of fashion.
regardless, if people dont like it they dont have to buy it, but it seems kinda dumb to say they shouldnt have even tried.
*I dont mean this to you specifically, but to anyone that feels like somebody shouldnt bother. I say the more the merrier, and the wack shit will get weeded out via natural selection.
It is pretty obvious they are selling the "image" of Irak; Irak the brand as it were. That whole partying, drugs, racking and fighting thing - the designs are probably pretty irrelevant to the people they will appeal to.
if you wear any of those shirts and you aren't actually crew or friends of em, you should feel pretty stupid.
ps...a lot of the people pictured on this page are still writing graffiti, clothing line or not...i think posting every picture you could find of them is a little corny to be posting onto a graffiti message board.
Originally posted by fr8lover@Dec 7 2004, 08:41 AM ps...a lot of the people pictured on this page are still writing graffiti, clothing line or not...i think posting every picture you could find of them is a little corny to be posting onto a graffiti message board.
these pictures are already in the public domain. if VS hasn't already picked up the copies of mass appeal and paper back where they appeared, then they never will. not to mention that these kids generally show up to parties and events like celebrities and definately dont try and maintain a low profile. clearly we have zero tolerance for turning people out, but this situation is not at all like that.
Originally posted by Misteraven+Dec 7 2004, 02:26 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Misteraven - Dec 7 2004, 02:26 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-fr8lover@Dec 7 2004, 08:41 AM ps...a lot of the people pictured on this page are still writing graffiti, clothing line or not...i think posting every picture you could find of them is a little corny to be posting onto a graffiti message board.
these pictures are already in the public domain. if VS hasn't already picked up the copies of mass appeal and paper back where they appeared, then they never will. not to mention that these kids generally show up to parties and events like celebrities and definately dont try and maintain a low profile. clearly we have zero tolerance for turning people out, but this situation is not at all like that.
i understand. i feel the same way about all these pictures existing in the first place, but it's just a little funny when you post them up on a message board specifically for the discussion of graffiti. instead of a bunch of flicks, here's picturers of a bunch of dudes who write...i guess i just don't get it.
they are the ones pushing themselves and their 'brand' into the public eye.
Besides.... probably the WORST thing for any 'criminal' to show is a tattoo.
They dont go away and can very easily identify you. So making a t-shirt of your tattoo with your crew name on it?
if that isn't asking for trouble..... I dont know what is.
'nyc graff' and 'rest of the world graff' have nothing to do with one another really.
in ny, everything is a product, no matter what it is. everything is so compact and condensed that even your average 40 year old mom living in the city is atleast somewhat familiar with graff. also since everything from the restaurants you eat at to the jobs you have are all tied into some weird heirchy of status, it makes sense that even a writer can be 'someone', based on their notoriety. it's not about talent, it's just about namesake. it might be totally fleeting and ficle, but it definitely exists.
example: on halloween i ended up at some fucked up concert with some shitty ass band playing. there were seriously like 30 people there, but one of them happened to be sace, who looked quite a bit like joe dirt mixed with captain cave man. i assumed it was a costume, but looking at the above pictures, i realize he's just a dirt ass, which is amusing considering the insane fortune the grape vine puts him as heir to. anyway, of course, the entire room sort of revolved around him. it's strange, and it's surreal, but it's life. whatever.
what's my point? my point is that the rules of graff dont apply in ny, and the rules of ny dont apply to graff. some might overlap, but all in all, they're kind of different animals. 'irak' arent just guys who paint, they truly are 'celebrities' in the same way that dondi, futura, zephyr and lee where back in the 80's. they're still worthless in the grand scheme of things, but luckily for them, ny exists outside of that grand scheme. their clothes might not be 'cool' or 'well designed' to the rest of us, but when placed on the same time-line that brought us the 'ny minute', they make perfect sense. everything in ny is 'flash in the pan', because there are 6 million people all trying to cook on the same proverbial stove. the place is like boise idaho on crystal meth with ADHD.
this essay was brought to you by lewis blacks rant on minnesota and my desire to hear myself talk.
look, we'll cross the "hesh accidentally shot himself in the ass" bridge when we come to it. no homo
*BLACK OUT POSSE*
i'd bet there were some contemporaries of basquiat that hung out with him back in the days in some shit hole in the lower east side of nyc that said, 'dooood... your shit kinda sucks. my little sister can draw a better figure. what are you expecting to get out of those paintings?!'
yeah...basquiat does kind of suck though.
ha.
i've never understood what people saw in that dude.
i watched the movie and everything, still nothing.
oh, and for the record, giant borrowed that style of tattoo from latin america. he might have made it more prevelant in graff/hipster circles, but he certainly didn't invent it.
look, we'll cross the "hesh accidentally shot himself in the ass" bridge when we come to it. no homo
*BLACK OUT POSSE*
I personally dont think giant's work is very original.
I'm not saying it isn't technically well executed or that
I dont really dig the style, but it's very clear where his
influences are rooted. Having said that......
That style applied to graf IS totally original.
Well I've never seen a writer do work like that before,
so in terms of 'grafitti' it is totally original. Yeah... paradox.
Originally posted by seeking@Dec 7 2004, 06:03 PM yeah...basquiat does kind of suck though.
ha.
i've never understood what people saw in that dude.
i watched the movie and everything, still nothing.
oh, and for the record, giant borrowed that style of tattoo from latin america. he might have made it more prevelant in graff/hipster circles, but he certainly didn't invent it.
basquiat did suck as far as what he put out to the public, but i think people dug his image more then anything....look at all the laim dudes get fame now off their laim art!
i used to love that movie too, until i read the book..... that movie made basquiat look like an timmid shameless punk.... the book is dope and is more the real story about the dude.... pretty fast read too...
i'm way more intreaged about basquiat cuz of his life style not his art work.....
a brief extract from an interview with Ryan McGinley talking about photographing IRAK:
AFH: You frequently photographed the IRAK graffiti crew. Are you interested in graffiti as an action or as an art form?
RM: I love the idea of graffiti but I am not really excited by its esthetics. Individual pieces and tags rarely interest me. What I love is the insanity of it as an action. I wouldn’t want to photograph a piece alone, but I love taking pictures of kids doing it. I have one image called Dash Bombing that is just a picture of this kid I know spraying graffiti on the side of a wall. I think it is a beautiful image. And, I love the idea of a kid writing his name hundreds of thousands of times, over and over and over because he feels he needs to.
AFH: Saying it like that makes it sound less rebellious than Obsessive Compulsive.
RM: Well, it is addictive to some. I am attracted to the mania of someone who goes to such extreme lengths to do their art. I love the illegality. It is really appealing to me that some kid will stand 40-stories up on a ledge or duck into a rat-packed tunnel alone at night just to produce his art. The only thing about it that doesn’t interest me is the final product. I have a few friends who are graffiti writers, including the IRAK crew, and I like that they are as obsessed with something as I am with taking pictures. I eat, sleep, move and breathe photography 24-7.
AFH: Graffiti and editoral photography are two genres often perceived as transitioning badly into galleries and museums. Do you agree that editoral photography and graffiti inherently loose something when taken indoors?
RM: No, strong art should be able to function anywhere. The art world is such a small, esoteric community, that it doesn’t appeal to me to only exhibit my stuff in galleries. I like having my work is books and magazines where I can reach the widest possible audience. I don’t discriminate between highbrow and lowbrow. Vice magazine reaches more kids than any gallery exhibition would give me access to. Any random person can pick up their free issue of Vice but an art magazine only appeals to a few.
12-06-2004, 10:33 PM
12-07-2004, 07:22 PM
