“First of all if any artist says that they have and or earned “street cred” to define their place in an art movement then they are very confused on the definition. Here is a small list that defines the term “street cred”:
You have been to prison.
You belong to a street gang.
You sell crack on a busy corner.
You are great marksmen in a moving vehicle.
You have gang-blocks tattooed on your face.
Basically,what I am trying to say is the credibility factor has to be judged on an individual basis.”
Part One: Craig Stecyk, KR, Todd James, Sleezer, Espo and Earsnot talk about the history and spread of graffiti, as well as what motivates them to create graffiti.
For this months post I want to show 2 guys from Auckland, New Zealand… A part of the world that seldom gets any consideration. In the last couple of years ASKEW and BERST have painted some of the best graffiti ever done to date and literally put Auckland on the map.
Our friends at I Love Graffiti recently posted an informative interview with the most famous Brazilian Twins in Graffiti, Os Gêmeos. How fresh is that photo above? Dookie Chains to the max.
Not enough can ever be said about Dan, that is why for as long as I can remember (a couple years, at least) Roger Gastman has been working on a documentary about the legendary graff artist from DC. Due out at the end of 2010, the film delves into the life of Dan, the roots of G0-Go, and an overlooked history of DC. Preserve the past.
The Exchange is a worldwide graffiti project that was started in 2005.
The participants of The Exchange trade names and personal styles through sketches. This step is repeated until everyone in the group has traded outlines at least once. The sketches are drawn, scanned, and traded via email. They are then printed out and executed by the receiving artist in their particular city. The objective is to create an awareness of distinct lettering styles and trends. The goal is for all in the group to be able to become more versatile through attempts at graffiti styles out of their personal comfort zone. The artists in the group may learn new techniques and compositions from the exchange.
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.
