OG Krink, originally uploaded by victorybros.

An old bottle of Krink, that was handed out before production started on the real product. On the back is a smudged KR tag.

If you missed it, New York Times Magazine did a dope piece on Krink (!)

Lots and lots (pun intended) great old school and post-graffiti pieces available at this Paris auction. Futura 2000, Dondi, Blade, Rammellzee, Quick, Noc, Seen, Daze, A-One, Crash, Jonone, Toxic, Martha Cooper photos of Samo (John Michael Basquiat), Neon, Darko.

Viewing Information
15 to 16 February, from 11am to 7pm
17 February, from 11am to 5pm

Hôtel Dassault
7 rond-point des Champs-Élysées
75008 Paris

Nacre, originally uploaded by OneOz.

Just found this dope piece on flickr and thought I should share it.

sneakerpimps_futura, originally uploaded by Phallic Mammary.

Preceding the Montreal Sneaker Pimps show, Futura did this interview with the Montreal Mirror.

I used to work on a printed zine called Ups. I found some comps that I had created for Volume 3 that was going to be inserted into all orders from Art Crimes. I posted the images on Flickr.

Set of three limited edition Subway Series energy (NRG) drink from Arizona. The other odd thing I found when I visited their site, was the clothing and merchandise (trash can and key chain) line they’re selling online.

Peter Vallone is making himself look silly, as usual, by going after the drink. Check out the NY1 coverage.

The best quote from NY1:

“People are trying to get their energy on. Kids out there could buy it. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s a drink.”

This text wasn’t used, but I kind of poured my heart into it and finally found a home for it here.

Very early on in graffiti’s storied history, Style became the most important contribution that writing has made to the lexicon of modern art. This has been steadily reinforced by mainstream society, even as graffiti penalties become stiffer and more severe. It is not uncommon to see graffiti writers or ex-writers in the boardrooms of the biggest multinational companies, discussing the next ad campaign or new branding initiative. Writers are now included in the most important art shows in the major art centers of Europe and the United States.

When taken in this context there is no way Style can mean the same thing in the medium of the New York Transit System (where I’m writing this right now) and the walls of Greece. The influences of the local area will always make the writing localized and individualized. This diversity is what will make graffiti strong in the coming years.

In that same way, it is important that every scene around the world publish books and make websites. Train writers from the 70s and 80s often complain about the lack of respect they get, all the while holding on to their photos and blackbooks in secret stashes that, if released to the light of day, would prove their worthiness in the annals of style.

But, before you think you’ve done something new, go to New York and do your homework. It’s probably been done, but that’s ok. This is a medium of communication just as much as it is a form of art. If it wasn’t, the tag wouldn’t continue to hold the appeal today that it originally did. The tag hasn’t lost its relevance. It’s still the building block for all the masters of wildstyle. If you can’t write your name with Style using a single marker, your masterpieces will be anything but masterful. Whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, there is a math and science behind writing and what makes one piece look good next to another one. That’s why you must do your homework and learn from the masters.

The kids today might think of Erni, Delta, Daim and Loomit as being the innovators of dimensional or 3D style, when Flint 707, Pistol and Malta S.A. did pieces without outlines in the 70’s. Then you had writers like Noc that had no use for dimensions, and blurred the lines in many ways. Kase2 and others regularly twisted things by throwing a 3D into an outline very early on. Phase2’s Cad pieces could be done today and still come off as revolutionary. Lesser known names like Cliff, Riff, Vamm, Crachee and Pel belong next to Stay High, Phase2, Blade, Kase2and the others mentioned above.

In the highly realistic, muralistic graffiti world we live in today, there were other innovators like Slick and Hex in Los Angeles. They were maybe the first writers outside of Philly and New York to make the writers of the East Coast take notice that something was happening in other places. The subject matter had changed when graffiti started making a name for itself on the West Coast. Although there have been plenty of Style innovations made by writers in Los Angeles, the innovations in the techniques of painting characters are what Los Angeles mainly contributed to writing. But what really put Los Angeles on the map? It was the publication of Ghetto Art Magazine, which later became Can Control. That same magazine is what put Gkae and Saber in folk’s minds, even though they had been pushing the limits of bombing for quite sometime and had already developed quite a reputation with the law. Twist and his cronies in San Francisco were making progress there, but weren’t really noticed or talked about until they started getting around and talked about on the Internet.

If you don’t know about these guys, start doing your research: Shorty, Roach, Super Kool 223, All Jive, Billy, LSD-3, Staff 161, Ajax, Crachee, Wicked Gary, Bama, Chain, Iz, Snake 1, Lee, Tracy 168, Mare 139, Kel 1st, Shy 147, TDS, RTW, Rocstars, TMT, Doc, Crash, Daze, Doze, Zephyr, Reas, TAT and FBA.

So what’s the relevance of all of this? There is a glorious history of graffiti that’s important to understand and appreciate, but is meaningless if the art form stagnates. When new scenes are born and promoted it reinforces the importance of writing in the greater world. Without the documentation of new scenes graffiti will die, or worse, become boring. Graffiti will continue to happen in the established capitals, but the scenes are so wrapped up in their own history that innovation is sometimes impossible or not accepted. When a place like Greece, with such a rich tradition of culture and the arts stirs their style into the mix, the future of graffiti is assured.

Apparently Murakami loved this billboard that Revok bombed so much that he made sure it didn’t get wrecked and added it to his personal collection. How ill is that? The sign was touting his show at LA’s MOCA.

First reported in the LA Weekly.

Darryl “Cornbread” McCray presents The Birth of “Tagging”

Reading, Pa.­– Darryl “Cornbread” McCray, who pioneered graffiti as an art form, will present the story of his journey from “tagging” the city of Philadelphia to working with Philadelphia’s mural program on February 5, 2008, at 4 p.m. in Klein Lecture Hall. Following the lecture, which is free and open to the public, there will be a presentation of Sean McKnight’s documentary, Cry for the City: The Legend of Cornbread.

McCray grew up in Philadelphia, Pa., in the 1960s where he began “tagging” as a way to gain the attention of a girl he liked. He tagged buses, trolleys, trains, police cars, buildings and even an elephant at the zoo. His most famous hit, which gained national media attention, was the Jackson 5’s jet as it sat in the Philadelphia airport. He is considered the first, and one of the most famous, graffiti writers of our time. He is retired as a graffiti artist and now works with Philadelphia’s mural program established as part of its anti-graffiti efforts.

Klein Lecture Hall is located in the Center for the Arts on Albright’s campus at 13 th and Bern Streets in Reading. For more information, contact Professor Jon Bekken, 610-921-7563.

Here’s the link to the Albright College site.

I hate opening my Inbox in the morning and reading about the passing of a friend. This is one of those posts that won’t do justice to what I’m trying to talk about.

I know that I always looked up to Tony and Henry when Susan and I were working on Art Crimes. They set the standard, along with Martha Cooper, on documenting graffiti. I love all of the videos that have been made over the years, but it was Tony’s skill behind the camera that brought the movement to light and made the work sing. Tony’s skill made graffiti legit. Because of his careful and thoughtful treatment, it Style Wars made you proud to be a writer. It made you want to take yourself seriously because he had peeled back the layers of this craft and the artisans behind it. He also made you feel like you could be a part of the movement and that everyone involved had a role that mattered. He was around and cared about the movement enough to unearth the archive of footage that couldn’t be shown the first time around

Beyond all of that, Tony was a real cool guy. He was a blast to be around. He was around quite a bit when we were working on the Style Wars DVD at Funny Garbage and we had quite a few back and forths when distribution wasn’t happening for the DVD and we were trying to get it to retail on Art Crimes. He was always thoughtful and patient and tried to make sure the right thing happened.

Check out what Mare has to say, because he knew Tony much better than I.

Here’s Style Wars.