.CPT

Very happy to have an Ekon interview arrive in the mailbox. Just...

Thu, 31 May 2012 18:49:00 -0400

Very happy to have an Ekon interview arrive in the mailbox. Just a couple more important one’s to be chased up and then it’s onto the printers.

So stoked with what just arrived. Brush interview! It’s...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:29:23 -0400

So stoked with what just arrived. Brush interview!

It’s all coming together.

Old photo of the wall opposite the Abbots. I believe this was...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:33:35 -0400

Old photo of the wall opposite the Abbots. I believe this was Sect experimenting.

Busy

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:22:36 -0400

Been back at the studies and the weeks seem to fly by. Not too much progress being made. The Easter break will provide a chance to chase up on those last few interviews. Feels so close, yet so far.

More progress

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:51:03 -0500

I am getting more excited as new contributions are coming in each week which make the finished project in my reach.

I got Sure’s full interview back. Was really interesting to get inside this writer’s thoughts.

Also, I mentioned a while back that Faith47 finished her interview. Now she has sent through some stunning photographs. Can’t wait to get home tonight and switch on lay them out in InDesign.

I think it is nearing 100 finished pages but there are still a few key interviews which I need to chase up on.

Learning a Lesson

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:49:00 -0500

A while back I was asked to write an article about street art for the Cell C magazine. It is unlikely that you read it (if you even knew Cell C had a magazine), but I would still like to clear my name.

After handing it over to the editors of the magazine, they did what they do best: twist your words. I am not averse to having grammar mistakes corrected but what they did to my submission was just silly.

The edited article makes it seem as if I favour street art over graffiti. That is definitely not the case. The point I was trying to make in the article is that we don’t really have a street art scene here in South Africa. There is no one putting up street art in the same quantity or quality as Cape Town’s graffiti artists.

Well, for the record here is the original article I wrote:

Street art is growing more popular every year with artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey gaining media spotlight. Banksy’s documentary, Exit Through the Gift shop in which both artists feature was nominated for an Oscar this year. But as this artform becomes more widespread there are misconceptions which develop, particularly between street art and its close cousin, graffiti.

Street art is often seen as legally commissioned, acceptable art whereas graffiti is defined by purely illegal scribbles or spraypaint vandalism. The legality of the artwork actually has very little to do with the distinction between graffiti and street art.

Graffiti began in the late 1960’s in Philadelphia and New York when individuals decided to write their own tag name repeatedly all over the city. Their methods developed and artists soon realized that writing your name bigger and with more style would grab more attention. Developing letterforms and spreading your name on the walls (or trains) of city is what graffiti is all about.

Street art developed into substantial movement later and involves pushing a concept on the walls of the city as apposed to developing one’s own typography. Street artists use a variety of media including stencils and wheat-paste posters. There is some rivalry between street artists and graffiti artists especially with the commercial success some street artists have had. Many artists crossover between the two schools and there are many works which comprise of both graffiti and street art elements.

Spraybeast.com and Unurth.com give a contrast of the best of each world.

The case of South Africa is an interesting one, graffiti has grown and spread but street art has not quite caught on. In other cities such as London, New York and Melbourne the street art scenes have exploded. We do have some illustrators and other creatives who dabble in street art but there is no strong street art movement. Our most famous street art export, Faith47, is the exception to the rule but she came from a graffiti background.

It is difficult to guess why South Africa has committed graffiti artists who put up new work on a weekly basis but no street artists who are as dedicated. Maybe like other major art centres it is a natural progression for graffiti to establish itself first before street art can take hold. I look forward to the day that street art blossoms and fresh conceptual thinking is awaiting me round every corner.

Slow and steady

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:03:00 -0500

Progress has been good this week despite the fact that I have started a very hectic year at university. I have started incorporating all the bits and pieces that were in different InDesign files into one file. Think its on 70 pages with lots more to go. The majority of those pages are filled with text.

Got an interview back from Faith47. Very stoked with that. Instead of spreading myself thinly and trying to get all the outstanding interviews in at once I am focusing on a few artists at a time.

The time this book takes to get finished is basically a function of how long my interviewee’s take to get back to me. Fingers crossed that it won’t be much longer.

This end of the M3 doesnt really get painted much anymore. The...

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:10:59 -0500

This end of the M3 doesnt really get painted much anymore. The buff won the war. I loved seeing the new chromies that would pop up each week on this stretch of road. I believe that is my shadow in the bottom of this flick.

Was taking a look through my old photos and found this Croe...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:35:08 -0500

Was taking a look through my old photos and found this Croe chromie. Dont think it is still there. Croe recounted a hectic situation he found himself in for the book. Stories like his one are perfect as they grab the attention of a graffiti enthusiast and the general public alike.

Got a Christmas present in my inbox. Some words from Dias.

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:45:19 -0500

Got a Christmas present in my inbox. Some words from Dias.

Last month of the year

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:07:00 -0500

Its already December and there is still a lot to do. The temptation is to sit on the beach and let the work slide but I am persevering.

The advantage of finishing the book over the summer is that it seems that alot of painting happens over this period. Its not cold and rainy and writers are on holiday from work so more stuff seems to get done. That means more photos for me!

I have recently bought a new camera. It’s just a compact but the great thing is that it shoots HD video. I am playing with the idea of making some kind of promo video at the time of the launch of the book.

Busy following up the Play1 and Motel7 interviews. I remember...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:18:07 -0500

Busy following up the Play1 and Motel7 interviews. I remember they were in Wk? and 3C crews together. This photo is a Play character in the making for What Kind’s Write4Gold wall.

One of my favourite parts of the book so far is the Enos...

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:38:58 -0500

One of my favourite parts of the book so far is the Enos interview. Enos is one of South Africa’s best train writers, hitting steel all over the world.

Here is a photo of a really old Enos panel that I had sitting on my computer, not a typical Enos by any means but looks like he (or she) had a bit of fun doing it.

Transcribing

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:59:11 -0400

I did an interview with Falko late last year at the Blue Marlin in Observatory. I have been procrastinating with the transcribing of the interview but getting really stuck into it now. I love this quote from the interview:

Matt: “Do you have a significant chase story?”

Falko: “I have two invincible one’s”

To hear these stories you are going to have wait for the book.

The book I am doing will focus on graffiti and not street art....

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:56:11 -0400

The book I am doing will focus on graffiti and not street art. But you may ask, isnt that the same thing? The answer is no.

Graffiti is about writing your name more stylishly, bigger, better and in more places than anyone else. There is an intense focus on typography and letter formation. Street art, as far as I understand it, is about pushing a concept on the steet or giving some kind of message, even if that message is as simple as “I want to make this wall look more colourful”. Obviously like anything there are grey areas in between and many artists crossover between the two.

I believe that Cape Town’s most commited “wall painters” have mostly been graffiti artists and not street artists, hence the focus of this book. Even if street art is not my focus, it is still fun to look at.

This picture is of a mural in Woodstock by Black Koki as part of the I Art Woodstock mural project curated A Word of Art.

The Funding Obstacle

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:45:05 -0400

I always thought the difficulty with writing a book was to find a publisher. I have this image in my head of writers like JK Rowling being refused by a submissions department of a some publishing house.I dont believe finding a publisher is the biggest obstacle. The obstacle is finding funding.

I am lucky that I have managed to save every extra penny and can fund the book myself. But this has two problems: it puts me under financial risk if the book doesnt sell and more importantly I dont have the funds to do a large print run so the unit cost is very high (which makes it more difficult to sell).

I have been hoping an angel investor will drop out the sky and contribute R50000 to fund the book but realistically I will not get that lucky. But there is hope! And that hope comes in the form of crowd funding, through kickstarter. Each person can pledge a small amout and in return could receive a copy of the book signed by one of the artists interviewed. Sounds to me like a win-win situation.

If you have tried crowd funding before let me know, and if you think crowd funding is a good idea for this book also let me know.

This photo wont make it into the book but I would love to hear...

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:31:08 -0400

This photo wont make it into the book but I would love to hear to story of why the pieces were stopped halfway. Most likely some loud mouth local councillor trying to enforce the graffiti bylaw.

The flick was taken with a Samsung Galaxy SII, pretty impressive for a camera phone.

Did a Cell C job where I had to get three photographers from...

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 06:00:17 -0400

Did a Cell C job where I had to get three photographers from different SA cities to take photos of graffiti or street art with a samsung camera phone. This was Lerato’s shot of Searle Street.

Searle Street has been such an important part of the Cape Town scene. I went to my first jam there which Wealz had organised. Think that was in about 2004/2005. Most recently, Shelflife and I organised the Artliftment Park Jam there and the pieces you see in this photo are from there. Glad to see it hasnt been touched much since April.