This article was posted by Dirty Dozen Crew 1 Year, 7 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes ago.
FIFA fever is running wild in New York and it seems like every brand is out there trying to get in on the action. Everyday there’s another event popping off or a new collabo dropping to celebrate the World Cup.
Nike, however, seems to be going above and beyond the call of duty by flying in SPETO, one of São Paulo’s original graffiti pioneers, to paint an installation at their 21 Mercer spot. The AKANYC and 12ozProphet Crew were already down with SPETO through our Boys in Brasil OS GEMEOS, so when the opportunity arose to go see him do his thing right here in lower Manhattan… we grabbed the video camera and jumped in the gypsy cab.
Now, you gotta understand that while I am a practitioner and a proponent of traditional New York style graffiti writing, I don’t necessarily think that the whole world should be doing it. Quite the opposite, in fact, I think it is too often contrived and forced looking. “Mannerism” as my boy ARSON WKS would call it. It’s as if I were attempting to work in the style of the turn of the century Russian Avant-Garde, or imitating Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting; I have no direct connection to these movements which are specific to a time and place. So, I‘m always impressed when I see graffiti writers in other areas develop their own styles and tap into their own history for inspiration.
SPETO, like most of the world, caught the B-Boy Boogaloo Flu after watching films like Beat Street in the mid 80’s… but he didn’t stay stuck in 1985 for long. He embraced the traditional northeast Brazilian technique of rustic wood engraving known as Xilogravura, studying the craft and integrating its aesthetic into his already formidable style to come out with something totally original. He uses a sharp edged “cut-back” technique with spray paint that gives it the look of a block-print… the end result is pure Brasil; wide-eyed folksy fun that’s right at home on the roughest favela block.
For his piece at the 21 Mercer NSW boutique, SPETO worked in black and gold with touches of green, homage to his National Futebal heroes. Of course, the minute the match with N. Korea was scheduled to begin, all painting ceased and we ran around the block to the nearest bar to watch along with the throngs of cheering Brazilians rooting for the home-boys. I mean, art is wonderful and all, but one has to have their priorities straight…
This article was posted by Dirty Dozen Crew 1 Year, 8 months, 4 days, 10 hours, 46 minutes ago.
Submit your works to Bombay Sapphire’s Artisan Series for your chance to compete in the art for life finale event during Art Basel in Miami, Fl. December 2010.
We urge all creatives to sign up and give it a shot, you might be the next big thing in the art world.
This article was posted by Dirty Dozen Crew 1 Year, 8 months, 2 weeks, 1 Day, 14 hours, 54 minutes ago.
Having just returned from Brazil, visions of soccer balls and string bikinis still dancing in my head, once again boarding the subway into Manhattan felt particularly uninspiring. Luckily, New York finally seems to be getting into the spirit (in no small part due to the efforts of Nike) of futebal and the approaching World Cup madness. The rest of the globe needs no marketing campaigns, no explanations, no incentives. For the rest of the known universe, Brazil particularly, futebal IS culture.
Why the United States has been a little slow on the uptake is a mystery to me. I’m of the generation of New Yorkers that rooted for the Cosmos and regularly made the trek to Giants Stadium to watch Pelé do his thing. Of course, I’m also of the generation that spent two years of math class preparing to convert to the Metric system. While neither of these great proposals seemed to survive the Reagan era, perhaps Soccer, like Universal Health Care or the Second Avenue Subway, is an idea whose time has come.
This is New York City after all… the capital of the world, right? In my Flatbush, Brooklyn neighborhood you’re just as likely to catch a cricket game as baseball, and you’ll find a pine tart easier than an apple pie. Walk down Caton by the park and you can join a soccer game in which at least four languages are being spoken.
NYC is the world’s city and soccer is the world’s game, like it or lump it.
When Nike decided to launch its Bowery Stadium space in lower Manhattan with a celebration of Brazilian soccer, of course the ALSO KNOWN AS Crew was there. In addition to our long history of successful collaborations with Nike, AKA has strong ties to Brazil. Our fearless leader, AKA founder Allen Benedikt, is half Brazilian…Portuguese is his first language. We travel there often, working with amazing artists like Os Gemeos of São Paulo. We’ve seen that little kid in the favela who practices furiously with the knowledge that futebal may be his one ticket out.
For the Bowery Stadium space, AKA created a custom installation using a lenticular technique to capture the spirit of Brazilian Futebal and to highlight the juxtaposition of order and chaos, night and day, the State and the People. Combined with the architecture of Rafael De Cardenas, installations by visual artists Paolo Sabellucci and Jack Greer, a display of photographs by Nabil Elderkin, and the premier screening of a short film with Spike Lee directed by Jake Sumner, the space is uniquely representative of Brasil and the Bowery, of Sport and Culture, of Nike and New York. Here’s some flix showing the results of those efforts, as well as little video we put together showcasing Nike Stadium NYC.
This article was posted by Dirty Dozen Crew 1 Year, 9 months, 3 weeks, 1 Day, 15 hours, 51 minutes ago.
Finely Crafted.
KEO and DASH167 of the FC TC-5 X-MEN conglomerate are amongst the last practitioners of a traditional craft. You heard right… not a fine-art, not a “street-art”, a CRAFT. Like Ship-Builders, or Old World Cabinet-Makers, style and technique is handed down from Master to Apprentice. Dues must be paid; rules and by-laws must be observed. Form necessarily follows Function.
Now, modern “Fine-art” has no rules. You can pee in a hat, or saw a chicken in half, and display it in the MOMA. Not so with Writing. Writing must function first as communication, as letter forms. There is advanced geometry involved.
You see, I could spill ten gallons of yellow paint on the ocean and tell you it’s “art”, but if I try and tell you that it’s a ship… well, climb aboard and good luck making it across the Gulf Stream.
“Wait a muddascuntin’minute here” You interrupt, “ain’t we just talking about GRAFFITI?!!? ” Well, yes… except “GRAFFITI” is a broad term, applied to everything from Gang Symbols to stenciled daffodils, to “Petey ‘N’ Bertha 4Ever”... from “Jefferson Starship Rules” to swastikas spray-painted on tombstones, from “Vote Bush in 2014” to a peace sign scratched in a window with a rock. Now, while some of that may have a certain aesthetic beauty, it is as different from New York style writing as… I don’t know, as different as apples and nylon support hose? As cats and intellectual property? Whatever, the motivation is different, the ideology is different, the dedication and passion, the techniques and traditions, foundation, philosophy, methodology… all different. Call it whatever you want, but know this: there are THOUSANDS of people making graffiti around the world but only a handful of Writers practicing this craft.
The 12oz crew got an opportunity to document two of New York’s premier letter stylists doing what they do best. No stencils, no latex acrylic roller bucket paint, just nuff nuff spray cans and a rickety ol’ wooden ladder… no three dimensional lighting effects, no photo-realistic background muralism, and no talking orangutangs… just raw-dog 1986 style. It’s about the letters.
01. Why do you write?
KEO: I started out just to belong to something, to have something I was good at. You know? I wasn’t the best ball player, or the best dancer, or the toughest kid on the block, or popular with the girls, but I had some artistic talent and I figured this was something I could do. Everyone says they do it for the fame, but I was never really motivated by that. I still don’t care about being the best known writer; I just want to be the best writer. I just want to burn, I’m very competitive. I always painted different names and didn’t even care if anyone knew it was me or not. The pieces that influenced me when I was a kid, I never knew who painted them, dudes had mad aliases, I just knew they were fresh. I guess I’m like that in my life as well, I’ve done lots of well known graphic work, I’ve even ghost written albums and worked on best selling books, I just don’t attach my name to it. Those who know know. I like that.
DASH167: From a graff perspective, I still write because I feel a responsibility, in fact, an urgency, to preserve and defend the true aesthetic of this culture from the epidemic of Kitsch that has infected our ranks and is taking over the scene on a global level.
From a social perspective, I do it because writing on walls is the last uncensored form of social discourse. In a society where we are drowned in utopian propaganda, and public space is controlled, people need to see that somebody other than the government and the corporations has something to say, that real people are going to lengths to communicate.
02. When did you start?
KEO: Wow. I have been writing as long as I could write. I guess I started hitting my neighborhood and school yards around 1976, but I say I started in 1979 because that was the year I first hit trains. Back then if you weren’t on the lines, you were just a neighborhood toy. Street bombing didn’t really count then. I wrote from ‘79 to ‘86. I was never a king or anything, but I was in the mix. I quit in ‘86 and didn’t come back til ’96.
DASH167: I got into graff in the Fall of ‘82 and started tagging up around the way later that year. That was the beginning of 7th grade, which was my first year attending public school. By ‘83 I had started drawing in black books and I tried my first pieces in the summer of ‘84.
03. Who are your mentors?
KEO: I have been fortunate to have so many teachers throughout the years. I guess the first real writers to school me were my older brother’s friends from I.S.293 like STRIKE R.T.W. and a kid named KANSUR. After that it was SAKE T.P.C. G.N.D and SET3 in like 1978. Later when I got to high school in 1980, it was CES157 T.N.T., back in Brooklyn JAMES T.O.P., SOE X-MEN from Queens and dudes like that. Mostly I just bit a little of everything that I liked and put it together. I still learn from people all the time, even younger cats teach me things. Every time I paint with a DOC or a PART or Chain3, whoever, I’m studying.
DASH167: My cousin and original partner, SECRET, who got me into writing and taught me how to do letters and characters. WEST, who gave me the foundation of the FC style when I got down with the crew, and has taught me countless other things over the years. DOZE also gave me style and elaborated on the esoteric knowledge of the ancients. MARE 139 introduced me to a number of abstract lettering concepts and philosophies.
04. Who have you mentored?
KEO: I have shown a lot of people style, influenced a bunch of writers. I really only taught a handful, some of whom have gone on to be much better than me. WEST is a great example, I got him started in 1980, gave him his first letters and everything, he went on to be King of B’way. He also went on to teach me a lot! REAS is another guy, I’d like to think I influenced him a little, and he went on to do pretty well for himself. But with most of my boys, we were always learning together, influencing each other.
DASH167: I have schooled a few writers, but most notable are TEAL, VIEW2, and CRUDE OIL (R.I.P). I’m proud of them, because I gave them style, but they took it to another level and became masters in their own right.
05. Who influences you stylistically, and why?
KEO: If I had to pick one guy whose style had the greatest impact on me, it would be DONDI. I used to try to get him to teach me stuff, back at the Fun Gallery and Washington Sq. Park, but he only ever wanted to talk about bicycles. But I bit more off that dude than a little bit. Early on, a lot of dudes in my neighborhood influenced me like ROTO, SCAR56, DEAL NSA, and SAM NSA. I also really dug the older stuff, SLAVE, HURST, HATE168, all the DEATH SQ. dudes CHAIN, PART, KOOL131, PESO, NOC. KASE2, DOZE TC-5. I‘m influenced by a lot of dudes, if only to inspire me to try and burn them.
DASH167: WEST, POKE, DOZE, TACK, WEB, SKEME. Their styles were among my early points of reference, and the work they did 25 or more years ago still burns today. SERVE and ZAME keep me motivated because they continue raising the bar.
06. What crews do you write for, and why?
KEO: GND, X-MEN, FC, BYI, TOP, TC-5. (and I list them in the order that I got down) I’m down with a lot of other crews, but those are all like my family. If I never hit a train with you, thumped out some beef with you, if you haven’t been to my house or I’ve been to yours, or if your kid don’t call me Uncle Keo, then a crew is just three extra letters to waste paint on. Basically, if you’re not someone I would call when the shit hit the fan and the guns come out, it’s not really crew.
DASH167: I write for FC, first and foremost, then IBM, FBA, COD, TC5 and ROC. I’m down with other crews, but these guys are family to me.
07. What is the function of a crew?
KEO: Initially, it was about safety in numbers. If you got caught in the yard dolo, you might have to run your paint. But it evolves into a stylistic unity as well. You could have different strengths within the crew, one guy’s the outline master, another is the character man, another guy is a genius at racking paint. Together you are able to be better than the sum of the parts. Nowadays, for me it’s more about camaraderie, tradition, and keeping style alive, passing it on to the newer members of the crew.
DASH167: To establish a unified front. There is power in numbers, as a group it’s easier to build up a name, enforce the unwritten code of the street and protect each other in times of trouble. I think that now most crews are more concerned with preserving their legacy and passing their style and history to the younger members who will carry the torch into the future.
08. What is the foundation of your style?
KEO: It’s really all about proper letter forms. I’m striving to get to the point where, if you removed all the color, all the arrows, connections and embellishment, it would STILL be a burner. Characters and backgrounds and all that is secondary. Not even secondary, that’s what you do if you have extra paint left over! A lot of dudes can dazzle you with embellishment and ornamentation, but if you stripped all that away, you would find out they had put rims, ground effects kit, and candy paint on a busted geo metro. No letters under all them arrows. It’s like trying to build a house from the top down. Picking your curtains without pouring your foundation. Get a level and a plum-bob, Buddy.
DASH167: I can tailor my pieces to reflect the style of the crew I’m representing, but the foundation of my style is a hybrid of FC and IBM style, circa 1985. At that time WEST and POKE were contemporizing letterforms and design elements that had been passed down through generations of style masters.
09. What makes your style unique or original?
KEO: I don’t think I have done much that’s original; I am still trying to master traditional letter forms. Most style was perfected already by 1977. There only so much you can do with ‘em, only so far you can bend a “K” until it turns into an “S”. I guess I did a few little things that were innovative here and there. Like when I combined the Softy style with a Mechanical, hard-edged skeleton busting out. I’ve seen a lot of dudes bite that one.
DASH167: Somebody once commented that my letters looked like they were “doing the wop”. That’s because I use a typographical approach, so the rhythm of my tags, carries over into my pieces. I capitalize on that flow, then push it further by experimenting with line, curve and direction. I’m also concerned with the unseen understructure of my pieces so I’m very particular about white space, juxtaposition and how the letters interact. Sometimes I’m inspired more by Geometry and Physics than I am by actual graffiti. My philosophy is both minimalist and complex, but basically I try to design advanced letterforms without compromising the traditional aesthetic. I think that’s something writers have come to expect of my style.
10. Both of you have worked as commercial/graphic artists, how does this relate to your graffiti writing?
KEO: I want to say it doesn’t relate at all, because I try to keep the two things really separate. One is a vocation, the others an avocation, but then, of course everything I do is informed by graffiti, even if you can’t see it, if I’m doing a totally straight corporate logo. Graff was my university. Also, on the social side of it, most of my boys who work in graphics also write so we wind up working together or referring each other work all the time.
DASH167: Technically, I’ve been manipulating letters and graphics since I was 12, so it was natural to gravitate towards design. In turn, many aspects of visual communication that I’ve employed as a designer, I can also apply directly to graffiti.
11. Where do you see graffiti writing going and how has it changed?
KEO: I don’t know where it’s going, hopefully back on the subway where it belongs. It has changed significantly since the trains got clean. The game is more in the streets where there is less time to really flex style, it has kind of devolved back to the earliest days of single hits and primitive throw-ups. Also the internet has had a huge effect on the game worldwide, graffiti is just too accessible now. You used to have to know someone, to part of an inner circle, now any kid in Knucklebuck Iowa can type “WILDSTYLE LETTER ALPHABET” into google and feel like he is on the right path. But the truth isn’t always on wiki, you know?
DASH167: People are always going to write on walls, the tools and techniques will continue to improve, but STYLE as we know it, is in trouble right now.
12. *Special Bonus* “Freestyle” Question; anything else you want to speak on?
KEO: Yes, I would like to thank the ladies in my life who keep my graffiti drenched brain from cracking up. Furthermore, I would like to say “Woof” and “Wombat”.
DASH167: To be considered good, letters have to function on their own, and a “piece” needs to look correct without all the smoke and mirrors that most writers depend on these days.
In case you don’t already know, Futura is a massive baseball fan and has frequently collaborated with Nike over the years, so bringing him on board once again for this latest Be True installment was a natural fit. The result is a capsule collection released by Nike Sportswear in cooperation with the New York Yankees. The collection is inspired by a genuine love for sport and showcases an entirely new remix of Yankees graphics, slogans and iconography released on both apparel and footwear.
Being an all around nice guy and good friends with the whole crew, Futura dropped by the studio the other day to discuss baseball, the Yankees and this latest Nike collab.
01. Deltron 3030 – New Coke
02. Biz Markie – Spring Again
03. TJ Swann,Peewee Mel & Barry B – Are you Ready?
04. Fearless Four – Rockin’ It
05. Eric B & Rakim – No Omega
06. Black Sheep – To Whom It May Concern
07. Blow Fly – Girlfriend Keep Farting In My Face
08. Boobie Knight & The Soulciety – Soul Ain’t No New Thing
09. Candido – I’m On My Way
10. The Budos Band – Mas O Menos
11. Deodato – West 42nd Street
12. Tommy Guerrero – Archaic Days
13. Rjd2 – Salud
14. Charles Earland – Letha
15. Brother Jack McDuff – Oblighetto
16. Santana – Mirage
17. African Music Machine – Never Name A Baby (Before It’s Born)
18. Brother Soul – Cookies
19. Breakstra – Family Rap
20. Bohannon – Run It Down MR.D.J.
21. Bo Diddley – Funky Fly
22. Tony Kinsey – Virgin Land
23. Quinn Harris – Stop! Telling Me Lies
24. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Stranded In Your Love Feat.Lee Fields
25. The Voice of Darkness – Mota Ginya
26. Charley Antolini – Uela Uela
27. Aceyalone – Fire(Produced By Rjd2)
28. Blow Fly – I don’t want No Woman
This article was posted by Dirty Dozen Crew 1 Year, 10 months, 1 week, 6 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes ago.
Raven and Sonik went to São Paulo, Brazil in December of 1997 to put together a story on Brazilian graffiti for 12ozProphet’s sixth issue. Twist had connected us with Os Gemeos, and we went there to introduce them to the world via our magazine. The sight of São Paulo and the otherworldly graffiti scene exploding over its gut-wrenching social landscape, the peculiarly Brazilian collision of poverty and wealth, was a complete shock. Meeting Os Gemeos - as well as Nina, Vitche, and Herbert Baglione, gave us friends for life, and the sight of their work was a glimpse into the future of an art movement we thought we knew, but even now, more than a dozen years later, has yet to catch up. Here’s a short video edited from footage thought to have been lost for well over a decade.
This article was posted by Dirty Dozen Crew 1 Year, 11 months, 5 days, 19 hours, 20 minutes ago.
Dare - The Wild Side, Rest in Peace 1968-2010
Sigi von Koeding aka DARE has lost the fight to cancer and died tonight in Basel. We are stunned and shocked by the rapid development and the loss of one of the most important graffiti writers of the world. Our sympathy goes to the family and close friends of Sigi.
IN LOVING MEMORY TO OUR FRIEND
SIGI VON KOEDING aka. “DARE”
16.09.1968 - † 06.03.2010
This article was posted by Dirty Dozen Crew 1 Year, 11 months, 1 week, 6 hours, 58 minutes ago.
Supreme New York is conveniently located a few blocks up the street from the AKANYC / 12ozProphet studio, so newest crew member Justin Hogan banged out this little diddy to capture yesterday’s Spring 2010 launch madness.
Track Listing:Rodney Dangerfield’s Midwest Murder
Thelonius Monk - Raise Four
Santana - La Fuente Del Ritmo
Deodato - September 13th
Lyrics Born & Poets of Rhythm - I changed my mind
Freddie Hubbard - Red clay
Joe Walsh - In the City
Gil Scott Heron - Lady Day & John Coltrane
Caesar Frazier - Funk it up
Rodney Dangerfield’s Sex Life
Slim and the Soulful Saints - Fish Head
Lords of the New School - International Zone Coaster (Remix)
Black Sheep - Gotta get up
Santana - All the love in the universe
Candido - Hallelujah! I’m Comin’ Home
Idjut Boys/DJ Harvey - Girth Soup
Paper Recordings Vol.1 - Paper Beats
Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions
Steve Miller Band - Fly like an eagle
Thievery Corporation - Barrio Alto
Quinn Harris - Never Too Hard To Bear
Boobie Knight & The Soulciety - Ego Tripping
Kinda Fat - Welcome to Lindale
