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Spring 2006 $6.99 USA
issing rito rial P r e T • n Fashio • Street s n e t it K nus • Miss Ve t • Killer s a a d e n r a B P A e Keep anda th ycor e • M r r e h C • Pink Nun The Bir d e • Shye • The ti u C ty o o R • y Mammar olive47 • Phallic rls el Here • Guerrilla Gi Pe • lf Se ur Yo k ec Ch
Streetart and art in general, for that matter, has a lot to do with questioning. Questions like "Who owns public space?" and "How do we as individuals respond to the pervasive presence of mass-media in our lives?" are especially dominant themes in streetart. For this, our No-Boys Issue we hope to examine these and other questions with female insight and perspective. In the process we also hope to get at the essence of what it means to be a female artist in a male-dominated world. Perhaps a tall order, but we like to think big. We invited several ladies of streetart to share with us their art and thoughts, and we're more than delighted to pass it all on to you. In the pages that follow, you'll also find articles especially important to females from breast cancer awareness and prevention projects Keep A Breast and Check Your Self to underwear-free comfort provided by "going Commando". We've got coverage of Sticky Rick's Peel Here sticker art show, Blackbooks Stencils' alternative to hand-cutting, and independent fashion convention, Pool Tradeshow. We've got an artist-sponsored virtual blackbook, Killer Kittens (20 ladies of streetart by me love), The Guerrilla Girls taking on Hollywood, and olive47 sounding off on male dominance in streetart. We rounded out the issue by showing some of our favorite street fashion modeled by our favorite female artists. If that's not enough, we also have letters from you, our readers. Any questions? We hope so.
Fragile Heart by Melvin Galapon, UK www.mynameismelvin.co.uk
All contents copyright 2006 Wicked Style Productions, LLC. www.PEELmagazine.com PEEL magazine 1727 N Coolidge Ave Indianapolis IN 46219 USA
PEEL magazine NO BOYS ISSUE contributors Angel is a freelance designer and illustrator from Chicago. She incorporates her fine arts background into her work by creating beautifully exotic environments for her designs and illustrations. Her work stands out as fresh and unique, creative and imaginative. Her client list includes YRB Magazine, Venus, BPM, Los Angeles Journal, Altar, Wrangler-TwoxFour, and she has been featured in Design Graphics Magazine. She is also the co-creator of online magazine, Carpal Tunnel Magazine, featuring Design, Art, Music, Fashion, and DIY, www.carpaltunnelmag.com. olive47 hails from the west coast, u.s.a. she likes small non-threatening mammals, magenta, mr. ramen, painting walls, cute desi boys, dub music, pancake parties, and white middle-class kids who pretend to be ganstas. she was once rumoured to be the bastard
Territorial Pissing / Peel Here
daughter of tammy faye bakker, and her friends tell her she's a good dancer. she might be in love with you. Syl Hillier is currently an illustrator and graphic designer at Buro Destruct in Berne, Switzerland, originally from Munich Germany. She has studied fine art in Stuttgart, Germany and visual communications in Pforzheim, Germany. She has also studied illustration and graphic design at UGA in Georgia, USA. Her freelance clientele includes Mokadi/ Perfect Toy, Likeitme Records, Batterie Magazine, Pictoplasma, and Destructed Magazine. She has written, illustrated, and published her own hardcover children's book, Snuff the City Cat. Holly holds a BFA from Herron School of Art in Indianapolis where she majored in visual communications and minored in art history. There she developed an affinity for printed type and typographic design and later co-founded the ban comic sans movement with husband Dave. She loves to sing and dance and play with her two beautiful children Seaira Skye and Alden. She always encourages people to "look up" and to follow their dreams. She also wants people to know that the Wiggles are Australia's higest paid performers, surpassing Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Dave used to draw a lot instead of paying attention in high school. He later went on to drop out of college. After several crappy jobs he went back to college to study graphic design and quickly landed another crappy job. Some people mistake him for the DAVe from Oakland who makes cute, colorful stickers, but that's a different DAVe. Co-founded the ban comic sans movement with wife Holly and has authored several self-help books, including international best-seller, Making Up Stuff, currently in its ninth printing.
logokill by Nice Bunny www.NiceBunny.com
Hey! Today I discovered your site and I must say I absolutely LOOOOOOVED it! I hardly can resist customizing your logo so here's my version!
Hi Dave/Holly,.. i got the mag before left for Singapore. Thank you so much i really appreciate it. The magazine is great! Coolest...Luv the layout, design Thx again Dave/Holly. Take care! Regards, Shieko
Thaaaaaaaanx! Patricia www.she-rules.com
Dear Dave, Holly, or whomever reads this, I came across your awesome mag via the Pool show in Vegas. I love what you are doing and would like to see about doing something with you all. www.antimart.net www.plandclothing.com Thanks for all the goodness, keep it rolling and let us know if there is anyway we can be of assistance. Best, Garrison
YESYESYA'LL, PEEL is a kick ass publication I hope you guys keep blowin up as it is hard to get my own copy. keep it up love the mag, peace REPO(rwh) http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwerty
hello dave & holly i knew from when you guys got in touch with me about the first issue, that you were good people. you guys are the best people i have found in this whole street art, heck even art thing. you guys are really doin all of this for the right reasons. i will always be down to help you guys however. you two are like an unstoppable force. wow if that wasnt a hallmark card. chris RWK Hey I just put up a big sticker combo that has a PEEL zine stick! Hope you like the shot. We'll try and get more of your sticks in our combos! We LOVE LOVE LOVE the mag. Can't wait for the next issue to come out. Good luck with everything you do!
Hey guys, Just checked out the recent issue, pretty hearty compared to the little zine that ABOVE sent me a log time ago. Good to see things have been going in the right direction for you. Love SEIZER Dave & Holly Wow.. the mag arrived safely in SA, and it's really epic! It's impressive to see how the publication is developing. I am honoured to be in this issue and I just wanted to thank you guys for this opportunity. It's awesome to get a part of South Africa out there for people across the globe to see. It's also impressive that you guys managed to pull it all together, considering your new addition to the family.. so well done! Clint. Muti Industries
The new format for the magazine is so incredible! I'm really happy to see this coming along so nicely. I read that you sold out of the standard issues! Congrats! Anyways I'm writing to send in my version of the logokill! Hopefully you guys like it! Haha. It took me a billion years seeing as I don't understand photoshop at all. Good with markers, bad with computers. Much Love, Stomach and the OMG crew www.flickr.com/photos/omg Holly, What you and Dave accomplish is magnificently important, and I've always felt privileged that you guys allow Tower be a part of it. Add to that the fact that you are parents, are passionate, and are genuinely nice people, and perhaps you'll begin to see that I appreciate dealing with you as much as you seem to enjoy dealing with me. Thanks for your note. It is classy and kind, and really made my day. I remain... clint johns Hi Y'all VERY COOL cover, thanks for sharing ! Independent Press Buyer Good luck on your project and much success. Tower Records Love, Dad&Mom
Hi there Love what you guys are doing. Got bobby to piss on the street just for you. Cheers white dog bobby whitedogbobby.com Holly, You and Dave have both been very supportive of our project from the moment you knew of it. I will always lend an ear or some advice whenever needed. I am really pleased with how your project has grown and am looking forward to your continued success. There definitely needs to be more people like you two in the publishing industry. I wish you all the best in your next big step...it's a doozie. take care, brian Art Prostitute
Blackbooks Stencils a.k.a. Masters of the Potty Mouth a.k.a. The Yummy Muffin Makers a.k.a. Some fresh ass cats from Miami with an unmarked outlook on the stencil game. The day of Bristol paper and bulk packs of Exacto Blades has mutated into a new night of hardboard and laser engravers. You can find Dr. Black and Mr. BooksIIII hustling stencil methods out of their trunk with all the enthusiasm of an Emcee pushing a fresh cut in the Bronx during the mid eighties. Blackbooks was born out of necessity. Like a lot of artists hitting the streets every night, BooksIIII needed a stronger stencil. Black was right there with the know-how to fabricate the wildest dream, hence stencils became a viable tool. If you have ever cut a stencil, you know how many times you have to go through the entire process to get those numerous prints. You know how much it sucks when you tighten up a fresh blade on your knife and four cuts in that fresh tip breaks, well so does Blackbooks and for a nominal fee, Blackbooks will hook you up with a hassle free stencil that you will love so much, they claim you will want to "nestle and hug and pet and caress your stencil every night as you are drifting off into sleepy McSleepy Land". A couple of fucking characters these two guys are but there is no playing around when it comes down to their business. The facts are that Blackbooks is on to something when it comes to a stencil that bursts through the brick wall of longevity and opens up brave new doors concerning printing method.
"Admit it, you know you hate to cut stencils." – holly "Stay up with us in the next few months, we got some hot and steamy candy beans in the oven", says Black. Not only is Blackbooks pushing their concept to the street, they have injected their remedy into the main line. Blackbooks has begun fabricating promotional materials and one of a kind pieces for underground events, concert venues, musicians and artists. They have turned the art form of cutting stencils on its ear and seem pretty confident that "gooey gumdrops, must have got his style from his pops" is going to come oozing out of that ear canal. When asked, Blackbooks admitted their awareness that some artists might consider what they do to be cheating, but BooksIIII, an avid stencil artist for the past decade says, "once you try it, you will steal from your mama to pay for the pleasure we are cutting up." Books exclaims that he has an "undying respect for hand cutting stencils but sometimes you need a tool that will provide you with an alternative outcome, and when you're put into that position, you come to Blackbooks for that tool."
Whether or not the game is ready for Blackbooks they sure are making a fresh baked impression, peep their website for a glimpse of their "yummy stencils". "So sugary yum-yum sweet, that if our stencils don't make your gums bleed, we will laser engrave your grill until you have bloody gums. *Word?*" give your bloody fingers a rest, visit: www.blackbookstencils.com
11" x 17.5" bigass stencil by Blackbooks
he's making stickers for his friends
Sticky Rick's Peel Here words and pictures by olive47
On the evening of December 3rd, 2005, 1000+ people made their way to the Ghetto Mansion deep in downtown Los Angeles to check out the Peel Here Sticker Art Show. Curated by Damon Robinson, John Q, and Rick "Sticky Rick" Ahrens to kick off his new print shop, Sticky Rick's, the event was conceived as a celebration of artistic expression through sticker art. Featured were such diverse artists as Robbie Conal, Shepard Fairey, ManOne, Chaz Bojorquez, Damon Robinson, Robots Will Kill, olive47, Brandy Flower, Evil Dave, Lesley Reppeteaux, Persue, Richard Beltran, Ink, and many other fine artists and street artists who all made original pieces dealing with different aspects of adhesive art. Hundreds of others answered the "open call" for exhibition pieces and giveaways, filling the two story building with stickers from floor to ceiling. A main attraction was the 10 foot tall tree mural in the main stairwell that went from bare branches to blooming with hundreds of stickers within a couple of hours. Upstairs, the crowd drank mass amounts of beer and checked out the main exhibit room while MEZKLAH, Nathan Nice & DJ Troma provided entertainment while the big boys hung out and flexed their skills downstairs in Damon Robinson's open workshop. The show went into the wee hours of the night and proved to be a great success for Sticky Rick and crew. for more from Sticky Rick visit: www.stickyrick.net
How and when did you get the name The Bird? I gave myself the name "The Bird" when I was 15 but I don't remember how I came to this name. I guess it was because of one of my characters called "Birdy". I tagged this name everywhere and so eventually Birdy turned into "The Bird". I like this name. For me it's a synonym for freedom. How did you make your very first stickers? That was fun! I was such a dilettante! I drew my characters on normal paper or printed my photos and then stuck my small drawings and photos with a gluestick on the spots. Were you doing that on your own, or were you inspired by other stickers you'd seen on the street? I was not inspired by the stickers on the streets because my friend "le chat" and I thought we were the first ones to make stickers and put them on the streets. Then, the first time we went on a little tour, we noticed that there were already hundreds of streetart stickers on the street. We felt really stupid that we did not notice stickers before!
Do you think that was a good thing? I did not know that there was a scene. And that was good. Otherwise I might have begun to make streetart for the wrong reasons, influenced by false meanings about it all. How do you make your stickers now? Because I have so many different stickers I use several different techniques. The art on my stickers are almost all hand-made (with stencils or hand drawn). I have got also some graphic designs. Other stickers are 3D. I use special double-faced adhesive tape when I want to stick those up. I have got dozens of old telephone-cards, floppy discs, CD's and videotapes. I use them for underground. Then I spray some stencils on them or I glue different things on them, like 3D-puzzle-pieces and such needless things. It's all about the message, forms, colours and compositions, when I make my stickers. continued next page...
what i do is CONQUERING different CITIES with my STICKERS. When did you start doing stencils? I started to do stencils quite early. I saw a lot of different stencil works in Bern and thought: This stuff looks so cool. I also want to make stencils. I had no idea how to make them, so I experimented. Later I found out that the streetartists from Bern are all using cartons for their stencils. I always used and still use transparent foil to make them. You can use them over and over again (hundreds of times), when you know how to treat the material the right way... Does Alexander the Great have an important meaning for you? Yes. Old tales and sagas always mesmerised me. High School was the most boring time in my life, so I would always bunk off school, go to the library and read dozens of books, all telling different tales, different sagas (reading the tales about Artus, Alexander the Great, Gilgamesh, die Nibelungen, and a lot of other Celtic and Nordic tales) I decided to make a sticker from Alexander because his person fascinates me. He and the tales about him always crossed my life, even before I was born (my parents wanted to name me after Alexander the Great). And now I've chosen Alexander also as some kind of a fellow, that accompanies me when I make my Street Art. Alexander the Great is for me the embodiment of power, pride and charisma. He is the active,
offensive energy, that tried to conquer the world. And what I do is conquering different cities with my stickers. It is just a different way, an artistic, guerillalike way of capturing different parts of places. Could you talk about your streetart adventures in Basel? It was always very exiting. When you start to put the first stickers on the street you slowly fall in a kind of trance. First you talk a lot together, joking, telling funny stories but suddenly you are fully concentrated. Your senses are all sharpened, you hear every single noise on the street, you smell the different odours, your eyes only see the spots and your heart beats in a strange harmony with the street. You don't care if you are freezing or if you are tired or hungry. You just keep on going and nothing seems to be relevant, except the art. Take a new sticker, peel the back of it off, stick it on a spot, take a new sticker, peel the back of it off... It all functions automatically. You don't think about it anymore. When you are non-stop on tour, 4-7 hours in a night, you change into a different person, and you only feel more satisfied with every single sticker you put on the street (and each bombing you do counts double). continued next page...
...continued from previous page
you feel like PART OF THE CITY... ...and it feels SO RIGHT.
The dangerous thing about this satisfaction is that you suddenly don't care about the people. You don't see them anymore. They are just supernumeraries in your game. When there's somebody passing your way, you don't care... So the results are sometimes very dangerous situations. Once, as we were full in our sticker-flash we did not notice that there was a big police van, coming straight toward us. I was climbing on a spot, put my sticks on it and did not hear my friend. Then as the police van was right beside me I looked directly in the van, jumped from the spot and began to cross the street very slowly. I knew that it was too late to run away, so I looked at one of the policemen, still crossing the bloody crosswalk, and tried to smile a smile of pure innocence, tried to look like a small, tiny innocent girl, while my heart was sliding in my boots. I had almost a thousand stickers in my bag and a lot of cans. Gosh, it was horrible. But the policeman just smiled back and they stopped in front of me then drove away after I reached the other side of the street. I was so glad that they did not react. I was so stupid to forget to check the situation out! Just a few minutes after this episode, a stupid taxidriver yelled at us and said that we are bloody vandals. So my friend yelled back (something like: "you stupid ass, I'm gonna beat you up!"). We ran away, hiding from him, because he followed us (I guess he wanted to bash my fellow, or maybe both of us). This taxidriver was really obtrusive. So we decided to go back to my place. What motivates you when you just feel like you have to get up and do your art on the streets? It's the feeling you have inside that you must go out and stick or bomb! It's like a scream inside your soul that demands for an alternative way to express yourself. It's also the adrenaline you want to feel. Have you ever felt pure satisfaction? One form of pure satisfaction for me, is when you finally walk on a bridge in Basel to see how the sun rises after you were on tour the whole night. You feel the sunbeams on your face, and your heart is filled with pure satisfaction. You feel that you are a part of the city, you feel like you can control the city. You satisfied your hunger. And it feels so right. Man, that sounds like how I would speak of love, but you know, streetart is some kind of a lover for me. Of course I can try to explain the deeper meaning why we all want to express ourselves. It has got a lot to do with the demand for power (like Nietzsche's theory about it). But we finally all walk in a circle and we never come to an end. for more of The Bird visit: www.fotolog.com/thebird
How long have you been putting your work on the street? I've been putting my work up since last August 2005, quite recent. That was the time I first introduced my panda stickups to the world and started getting to know different artists here and there. Did you have any initial fears or concerns about taking your work to the streets? Of course I did! Over here in Singapore the law is stringent so everything is rather constricted I suppose. I mean we even have a ban on chewing/bubble gum... Anyway, first time I decided to bring it to the streets, I just went ahead and did it. What's life without taking risks I say. Who or what inspired you to start? I had a friend who was doing street art extensively and one day he saw my doodles in my sketchbook. He encouraged me to develop my character more and bring it to the streets. From there I started to explore more mediums and work from various illustrators and designers. What's your connection with pandas? My friends affectionately call me "manda the panda" just cos it rhymes. And I never seem to sleep. Hence the dark eye rings. It went on for a couple of years, and when I would write letters or cards over I would sign off with a little panda sketch at the bottom. Soon I started doodling a lot of pandas everywhere! Pandas to me are symbolically Chinese.. and well, I'm really Chinese... so I guess that's some connection there... Pandas seem like rather peace-loving creatures as well so it was easy for me to shape a certain kind of personality a little close to mine. Your panda characters often seem pensive, melancholy, even sad. Is that how you would describe yourself? In some ways I suppose. I'm actually rather loud and spontaneous in person but my pandas started out as something rather personal to me. I doodled a lot when I had my bad days so it was some sort of release. Eventually it just naturally moulded it's personality, and stayed the way it was.
What would you like to convey to people who encounter your work either on the street or in a gallery? Well, that behind that panda lies a stranger out there, who can be just any regular person on the street. My panda could be anybody! Even that old man selling ice cream in a corner. Keep them wondering I guess. But honestly, I just hope that my character would bring some form of joy to anyone who sees it. Even though it might look very sad at times. I'll be satisfied if my work even catches anyone's eye. Nowadays everyone's just so busy they just zip here and there without taking a breather even to look at the surroundings. Especially in S'pore. Now that's sad. Art in the middle of a concrete jungle. Perhaps it could just remind them to get out there and spread some love and smile too. -smileHow would you like your work to develop artistically? Well, I'm still learning a lot. Everyday. Besides spreading my art on the streets I do jewelry/ metal smithing in school too, so I really hope I can combine these two elements together in the future as I progress. And further develop my character as well and branch out. For more manda visit: manda-ang.blogspot.com
olive47 loves you
How did "prank calls" on early chatrooms lead to your adopting the name olive47? So here is the legend of olive47. In 93 I was living in Savannah, Georgia with 6 guys in a big house next to the park. My housemate's girlfriend at the time was obsessed with baiting pervs in chatrooms. So he asked me to go in and start messing with her... well, cause I'm kinda good at that stuff. Anyhow, so we kept trying signon names, and they were all taken... so after about 5 tries, olive was a random name I chose. d tacked on the 47, and so it was born. Around the same time, I was having a show of my paintings... I'm a really shy and private person, and putting my real name on the flyers made me feel all sick inside, so I used that instead. I like it because it was completely random, and I'm a bit ADD, so I always have to have tons of different projects going on at once... printmaking, painting, sewing, and jewelry at the time... beyond that, when I do more image based paintings, I always do a set of 3 or 4 abstracts along with it to keep my mind loose...so it seemed like a good way to cover all that. A side note: I hattttteeee olives. How did you get started doing street work and why? I very first started exploring the ideas of street/ public work in Savannah in the early nineties. My housemate would do these drawings in chalk on garden walls near our house about one of our professors, who was a scotty dog. We would put the dog in harrowing situations in the drawings.. and the title was always "pressure and a (fill in the blank)".. it was just a private joke with us. After that, I was into doing these little xerox colleges using a lot of pictures from 50's and 60's paperbacks.. they usually involved some sort of "freak", like the wolfman and then insects, like lice or beetles. I would do the collages, and then run off like 100 of them and post them on telephone poles or just leave them with other flyers at coffee shops. I don't know why I really did it beyond curing my own boredom.
I started doing my own stickers in 1999. In the years before, I was always the one designing stickers for the companies I worked for, and became aware of the aspect of fun that they brought to others. Around the same time, with the exception of Shepard Fairey's work, the only stickers I would see on the streets were adverts for trainers and hip hop bands. I was using a lot of sperm imagery at the time, and just thought it would be funny to see pink sperm on the streets... advertising nothing but image. For me, it was a way to show my work without going into a formal situation. My intent isn't one of self promotion or trying to get famous, it's just a way to do my job as an artist on my own terms. To be anonymous, yet express image to others. I also enjoy the aspect that people who wouldn't go into a gallery would maybe see the work... approaching art on a more public/ pedestrian level. Make people think a little more about the environment around them... like if they saw a sperm unexpectedly, what else was out there that they weren't noticing. Was that when you first began creating your characters? I don't think of myself as a character person... I'm more about creating an entire environment for them... an eden of sorts... I was really shy as a kid and was teased cause I was bookish and artsy and weird, so I always liked animals better than people. My parents tell a story about me saving all the money I had in my piggybank and bringing it to them after one night where I had a dream where I had a pet skunk, and begging for a pet... even a butterfly. I've just always drawn animals, and environments for them. I don't remember ever not drawing. My dad makes paintings and drawings, so we always made artwork in the house. I grew up on a mountain suburb of Chattanooga, TN. We had a huge garden and our house was next to the woods, and I would go play in them. I had a crazy imagination, and thought fairies and leprechauns and all that lived there... I would go searching for
them for hours... I think it all comes from that. A lot of the objects and animals I draw, I've been drawing for years and years. If you were to look at my work as a whole, it's basically a 33 year old narrative about my upbringing in the south and influences from there and my life here in Los Angeles sometimes figuratively, and sometimes literally. For example, the UFOs... the mountain across from mine was one of the top UFO sighting places in the southeast and on my mountain, there was a house halfway up that was shaped like a UFO, so we had to pass it everytime we'd go to town. I'd imagine what it looked like inside and it was somewhat of a mystery and playful. Most of the stuff I make now is just a progression of the same themes as it all comes from what I take in in my daily life. A couple of well-known religions have their headquarters near Chattanooga, did they have anything to do with the inspiration for the Children of the Multiprisimed Light, the fictional cult you started? Short answer: no. Actually, I was raised in a very liberal Episcopal church. I was always given freedom of thought when it came to my spirituality, and taught that if you aren't questioning and investigating your existence, then you're probably missing the point. I've explored religious themes in my work since high school but that came more from the fact that half my high school went Ultra-Christian after the suicide of a classmate. It became like a huge social club, and if you didn't go to the bible studies, etc, you weren't following "the right path". I had so many people praying for my soul in my junior and senior yearbooks, it became a huge joke. Then in art school, I was a painting/art history major, and most of the important works in early painting are religious works. For hundreds of years, it was one of the main subject matters in artwork. I actually made a full set of objects for a religious ceremony using a set of symbols I was working with, and also did a series of paintings taking well known religious works, such as El Greco's Crucifixion continued next page...
...continued from previous page and Rosetti's Annunciation, and fooled around with the symbolism, replacing objects and creating new narratives. (Symbolism is extremely important in my work.) So fast forward 10 years, I'm living in LA, and I had unknowingly dated a Scifitologist for a short while and at the same time, my landlady and her husband were involved in an intervention to rescue their 30 year old daughter from a cult down in San Diego. When Halloween came up, it just seemed like the thing to do. Was your intent with starting the cult just to mess with people? My intent was purely satire, and curiosity to see reactions of people... some people are really freaked out by it, but I'm pretty sure they lack a sense of humor. The cult is more of a humourous commentary on religion and cults (and the interchangeability of them). It started off as part of a Halloween costume, actually.. I was a cult member... with a small handbulletin and I put a little web address on the bottom, and then I thought I should actually really make the site, so I sat down with a bottle of Jack Daniels (my favorite.. Jack and ginger).. and wrote the site in about an hour. I have to say that also, I think many Christian churches are like cults as well, so the cult was in ways more about organized religion in general. How people blindly accept ludicrous proclamations and make blanket judgements in the name of faith. It's just all so hypocritical and not really about "God". So part of it was also about writing the most ridiculous things in a convincing manner and about how people will blindly join something, even in the name of humor. Cause who knows, I could really be some egomanical supergenuis with real goals of world domination. So it really wasn't about messing with people, but more about the issues of the marketing of religion, the reactions of people who join/don't join/email me threats of damnation to my eternal soul (which all come from Christians). So a lot of the influence was growing up in the bible belt, but Southern California, particularly orange county is super religious. Like most of my work is basically about religion/mediation/eden just put forth in different forms using tradtional and non-tradtional symbols. Was it a difficult transition from growing up in the suburbs of Chattanooga to college life in Savannah? My family actually moved from Signal Mountain (and mind you, it's not like I lived in the sticks.. I lived in the smallest house in an old money neighborhood full of mansions), to Knoxville, which is a larger city, when I was about to start
high school. I went to clubs downtown when I was underage, cause I was tall and looked 18 when I was 15. I worked for a gay couple in their interior decorating business, so I wasn't sheltered or backwards or anything. I'm a really independent person, so moving to Savannah for art school was easy. I was ready to be out on my own. When I moved there, downtown was still pretty much a ghetto city with pretty houses. The only thing I really had to get used to besides the smell of the paper factory was the pregnant hooker whose "territory" was the street behind my house. The only thing that was hard was that there weren't really any record stores and at the time, there was maybe one venue to see live music. What about the move from Savannah to LA? From Savannah, I actually moved around the country for a year or so, living and couchsurfing in Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, and a couple other places. Me and my car went cross country 5 times. I was actually moving up to Seattle when I stopped to visit some friends in LA, and they convinced me to stay here, so I've been here 10 years now. I've made a lot of good friends, and found it a fairly easy existence. Los Angeles is what you make it... it's not what it looks like in the movies and tv... yeah, that part is there, but it's easy to avoid. Next, I'd really like to live in Europe, preferably Amsterdam, but I need money or some person to adopt me. (hint, hint) What one thing did you learn as a child that you have taken into adulthood? Believe in nothing and believe in everything, cause we could just be characters in someone's dream and be gone in the instant they wake up. (My dad was really into The Twilight Zone.) What are your thoughts on the increase in plastic surgery? I live in Los Angeles, so I see a lot of it being done for purely cosmetic purposes. While plastic surgery is appropriate in some cases, like escaping international hitmen who have a contract out on you, or fixing that "deviated septum"... for the most part, I think it's really damaging. It brings about and panders to unrealistic ideals of the human body. It teaches one to be unsatisfied with themselves in one's natural state. And a lot of really scary looking monsters are being made. What one person do you think this world would be better off without? Carrot Top. I don't think I need to explain. For more olive47 visit: www.olive47.com
Help people and get a rad shirt ta boob.
clockwise from top left: Andy Howell, Plasticgod, Shepard Fairey, Sharon Tomlin, Caia Koopman, Lesley Reppeteaux
The Keep A Breast Foundation is a unique non-profit organization creating plaster forms of the female torso, customized by fine artists and auctioned to raise funding for breast cancer. Their mission is to produce art events that increase breast cancer awareness among young people and benefit breast cancer education, prevention and treatment programs in communities around the world. Combining sculpture, philanthropy, and symbolic artistry, The Keep A Breast Foundation is a nonprofit breast cancer awareness organization unlike any other. Keep A Breast creates one-of-a-kind plaster forms of the female torso that are customized by fine artists and auctioned to raise consciousness and funding for breast cancer research and treatment. The casts are physical representations of a simple truth — while breast cancer attacks all women without prejudice, it is the powerful individual present in all women that will conquer it. Keep A Breast's goal is to bring a fresh perspective to this important cause in a way that is relevant and inspiring to today's youth. This original approach to fundraising for breast cancer was founded by Shaney Jo Darden and Mona Mukherjea-Gehrig in 2000. Keep A Breast has produced events across the globe raising thousands of dollars on behalf of local, national and international organizations such as the Young Survival Coalition, Susan G. Koman Foundation, The Breast Cancer Fund, Asha-Killgallen Fund, Kapi'olani Breast Center, and Europadonna, to name a few.
Artists who have recently done breast casts have had wonderful things to say about their experiences working with Keep A Breast. "This will be the fourth year that I have painted a cast of my own breasts and I'm so honored that the organizers chose my gallery, The Lab 101, to exhibit all of this year's casts. Its such an amazing exhibition on many different levels. I mostly admire the fact that this exhibition raises awareness amongst young women which I think is crucial as we tend to think of ourselves as indestructible and that Keep A Breast does this in a nonobtrusive way." Freddi C www.thelab101.com "Margaret Kilgallen, one of my favorite artists, died of breast cancer. Both of my Mom's sisters died of breast cancer, and my mom had preventative surgery just in case. I think breasts are lovely and their health, as well as their owner's health, is very important to me. I appreciate both the form and function of breasts, especially since my wife and I had our daughter Vivienne who's health and happiness depends on quality time with boobs. Oh yeah, my happiness depends on quality time with boobs, too. I think it's only fair for me to give back after all that breasts have given me." Shepard Fairey www.obeygiant.com for more info visit: www.keep-a-breast.org
Every two minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. One in 33 will die. These frightening statistics motivated me as a woman and mother to start the CHECK YOUR SELF campaign to encourage women, especially young women, to do Breast Safety Exams. I knew the campaign resonated when a random (male) stranger who just happened to walk by said, "I think that's really great," without even stopping as he passed. I shared the idea with Chris of Robots Will Kill and he came up with a shirt design to help further the message. We decided that this message CHECK YOUR SELF is for everyone, "why?" you might ask, not everyone has boobs, but... Everybody loves boobs. So we started working with Shaney at Keep A Breast to use some of the proceeds from sales of shirts to support their campaign. We went to Pool Tradeshow in Vegas to promote the shirts and people there were very supportive. I don't have anything against streetart that doesn't convey an important message, but for me personally it seems like a missed opportunity to imapct lives in a meaningful way. Even if you don't have a cause that you feel passionately about, there are other projects that you can support with your unique skills. For inspiration check out Banksy's book Cut it Out. There are tons of examples of streetart with meaningful messages. I challenge anyone reading this to search deep within you soul. Allow your unique experiences
to move you to find your passion. Even if you're not an artist you have something you can contribute. If you're good at making animal balloons, be proud of your skill, because you can go to a children's hospital and make some sick little kids happy. Now, off with you, skedaddle, go, stop stitting on your ass and complaining. CHECK YOUR SELF
Fun colorful concept shower sticker to serve as a reminder that it only takes a few minutes to CHECK YOUR SELF.
Anyone interested in helping finance the production of as many of these stickers as possible please contact: firstname.lastname@example.com.
our choices and be accountable to ourselves and everyone around us for our own behavior. Blame serves no purpose other than making excuses for poor choices.
When pigs fly. . . . "That'll happen" when pigs fly. "You'll accomplish that crazy idea of yours" when pigs fly. So does this mean that since pigs can't and don't fly, "that" won't happen? Does this mean that my crazy idea can't and won't be accomplished? Where is the "what if"...? What if pigs could fly? What if I found the courage to make that crazy idea happen? What if I could accomplish what I set out to do? What if I found a way to make pigs fly? What if I could help to accomplish the one thing I have set out to do, and that is to stop violence on the planet. I would like to stop physical, emotional, and spiritual violence among all peoples on the planet and people tell me that will happen "when pigs fly." I would like to find a way for girls and women not to be abused by boys and men or by other women, or by themselves. This goes for men and children, too, but because this issue of PEEL is totally speaking to "chicks", let me say this loud and clear. I simply do not understand why girls and women are fighting with, abusing and disrespecting, and treating other females the
by Jo Bernard Founder, Freedom's Children, Inc. Commando-in-Chief of The Commandos Group, Inc.
way they do. Why have girls assumed the attitudes and behaviors that have been traditional among guys? Where did this come from? How does this give power to or empower anyone? If females are seeking independence and strength and accomplishment, we need to empower ourselves. We need to completely own
There is no courage associated with violence. Courage comes from "le Coeur", the heart. The heart is not violent. Being violent against another human being is a sign of weakness. When one is violent towards another human being, they are depersonalizing that human. What right does anyone on this planet have to depersonalize another? Have we depersonalized ourselves and lost our own humanity? Big questions. Maybe some good ones to ask yourself. Learn to ask questions to find the humanity in yourself and in other human beings. Then check to see if you can even feel kindness and compassion for yourself and that other person. Just maybe your heart will reveal the real courage to pursue Nonviolence as an active choice in every moment of every day of your life. Check it out...it feels good. And then, just maybe, you'll see my flying pig, and maybe create one of your own.
Seattle based Spacecraft is a sticker design juggernaut. Pumping out up more than 150 different sticker designs a year, they are pushing their art through the sticker medium. Co-owner, art director, and sticker creator Stefan Hofmann is constantly creating new designs and experimental sticker creations. As a young skateboarder Stefan was into stickers at an early age. He loved their portable convenience and the art and culture they represented. Later, while studying art at the University of Washington, he began to see stickers as a mobile narrative capable of telling a story one graphic at a time. To Stefan the sticker helps him "subvert the classic language of galleries and bring an opportunity to interact and speak to a larger audience." Stefan's first major sticker project began when he photographed an old snowcat in the Cascade mountains. The image of snowcat was used to transport him and like minded friends to the deep powder snow of the backcountry to ski and snowboard. The photos of the snowcat brought that feeling of impending mountain freedom to him in his rainy Seattle studio. The idea that just an image of an object could imbue such feelings fascinated Stefan, so he started "making all these snowcat stickers and plastering the city in hopes of bringing the magic of the mountains down."
That image of the snowcat became the basis of the Spacecraft clothing label and a launching pad for hundreds of graphics and stickers to come. With a heavy mountain influence already embedded in Spacecraft, Stefan and partner Sarah O'Brien headed to Asia to further push their hat, clothing and sticker design limits. In Asia Stefan had access to all kinds of creative ways to push his sticker designs. Spacecraft started screen printing on ready made stickers in Bangkok which allowed for the snowcat to be added to monster trucks, skulls, ninjas, hot babes and cool dudes, all in florescent colors. This collage mixed with Northwest imagery, created psychedelic and amazing sticker designs. The loftiest of Spacecraft's sticker projects is their annual "All Star" and "Gallery" sticker sheets. Each 15" by 18" sheet is a laminated, kiss cut, full color vinyl piece featuring art or talents of Spacecraft's selection. These sheets highlight artists & athletes from around the world and pay homage to freedom loving individuals like Captain America Jones with his world record shallow dives; complete with flaming cape and rattlesnakes in the pool, or snowboarder Mike Basich capturing photos of himself jumping mid air off of a cliff.
The future for Spacecraft and stickers looks very bright. They plan to continue branching out with the sticker medium. Start looking for their faux road signs with reflective vinyl snowcats attached right below real Yield or Stop signs in mountain towns from Reno to British Columbia. Recently launched were engraved metal stickers reminiscent of small trophy plaques. Seven foot tall stickers for gallery shows are already in production. The Northwest and the world await in pleasant anticipation for what will come next from this creative nexus called Spacecraft. www.spacecraftclothing.com
clockwise from top left: Spraygraphic Apparel, Tokidoki / LeSportsac, Iron Fist, Revl
Clothing companies large and small from around the globe gathered at the tenth Pool Tradeshow in Las Vegas to show off their latest designs. The convention was a huge success and hosted thousands of apparel buyers and sellers over the course of the three day event. Highlights included a special performance of Cirque du Soleil's K?, and Run-DMC's Darryl McDaniels at Pool's Black Tie Bash at the House of Blues. Both Cirque du Soliel and McDaniels launched new clothing lines at Pool. This July, Pool heads East with a roster of 250 select brands from Vegas. Pool "Loves" New York sets off July 17 through 19 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. In New York Pool will premier a new consumer day on which the public is invited to sample shop from participating exhibitors. Pool Tradeshow has been connecting buyers to brands since 2001. for more info visit: www.pooltradeshow.com
How did you get the name Shye? The name came to me probably about 5 years ago, after about an equal 5 years of other random words... It was really like a natural progression. Everyone who knows me knows that I'm one of the most introverted, shy girls out there (well, when I'm sober... haha). But it's more than that. The letters are really attractive to me because I love handstyles and the combination of s, h, y, and e just flow so well. When I considered writing Shye, I never experimented with the word without the "e" at the end. Out of respect to previous people using the word "Shy" and also because I wanted it to feel like my own word that I created. Not to mention "e" is a really cute letter to me... Yes, letters have personalities! ...Anyways, you know you're stuck with an alias when the thought of something new doesn't even cross your mind for several years. So you were first getting up as a graffiti writer? When did you start? What were some of the other names you used? I got into graff for the first time in middle school. My first "tag" (something I scribbled around school and stuff) was Spee. Don't ask why I chose Spee... I just was really into nonsense words and onomatopoeia at that time, it made me laugh really hard. I was a silly girl. My first real word that I used to sketch a lot was "Memo". Whenever I hear that word now I get a warm, fuzzy nostaligic feeling. It just reminds me of being obsessed with letters and that fresh, innocent love of graffiti. I mostly tagged with markers, and paint a few times... Spent most of my time sketching, which I strongly believe EVERY toy beginner should do before they even think of going out. It's not worth it to get busted for doing some ugly ass tags anyway. I also messed around with words like Clover and some Japanese words like Yuki (means "snow") before I landed on Shye.
Were you influenced by Minneapolis writers EWOK, EROS, others? I think it's safe to say every Minneapolis kid has been influenced by Ewok in some way or another. Eros too, he's a local legend and a really down to earth guy. I got into graff through my best friend's older sister who wrote Neko (Japanese for "cat", and if she hadn't already had that name that's totally what I would be writing!). She was down with one of the major crews at the time, WND, and she really made a big impact on me because that's also how I discovered anime. She was super talented at drawing and I was extremely inspired by her. I was so shy around those kids though because I was like 5 years younger and so I kept my infatuation pretty much a secret. I even ran into my best friend from back then real recently and showed her some of my art, to her amazement... She had no idea I had kept up with it all these years! What's your connection with Cute Crimes Crew? Cute Crimes Crew basically started as a result of numerous evenings spent with some of my close friends over a few bottles of wine (or sake or vodka... you get the idea) and a shared obsession with cute or "kawaii" characters, mostly stemming from Japan (the mecca!) We used to just sit around and dork-off to books like Pictoplasma and stuff like obscure stationery items retrieved from their adventures in cities like Tokyo, along the lines of San-X or Sanrio. Eventually Slime (a.k.a. Get Ready for Braces) and I began creating our own retardo animals with funny slogans...
We would wake up hung-over the next morning to a table FULL of hilarious drawings we would sit and laugh at. My background writing graff had me wanting to take this stuff to the streets, and at the urging of Slime we made some stencils, which was a new medium for me, and just started doing it. The name Cute Crimes Crew came almost as a joke, something so stupid sounding that it was actually too cool for most people to understand, haha. The great thing is that it's really taken off so much, I'm proud of the fact that it was just us two at the beginning, I think now we have 4 or 5 total members. Do you represent any other crews in addition to CCC? Just recently I was put down with MCI, a more "traditional" (compared to CCC) graff crew that I've known in Minneapolis/St. Paul for a while now... It's cool because I think it has inspired me to get back to spraypaint and letter forms, something I had kind of put aside in order to develop characters and make stickers with CCC. I don't want to feel limited by whichever crew I am in, however. I wanna do it all, I'm super independent. I want to bomb sick Shye tags in marker and paint, and do murals. I also want stickers and wheatpasted posters everywhere with kitties and bunnies and adorable anime girls... It can go the opposite way too. I like that balance. It keeps me on my toes so I don't get bored. The best part is realizing that street art is now whatever I make it, and that in this stage of the game I can represent both crews despite their differences. (continued...)
(...continued from previous page) As an artist participating in both traditional graf and the new streetart what are your thoughts on the differences and similarities between them? When I started noticing the movement of different forms of street art over the last few years, I was rejuvinated. I started to get the same excitement I had when I discovered graffiti back in the day. To realize that I could use the city to expose some of my other artistic styles, other than just spray painting letters, it really turned me on... However, not everyone who writes graff around the Minneapolis scene (and I'm sure other cities mainly in the U.S.) are so open to it. I've gotten a lot of attitude from old-school heads who just dont quite get it, and think it's just new kids trying to distort and/or take over what they worked so hard at creating... Super protective of their culture. I can understand wanting to preserve graffiti and keep it from being watered down or polluted, but overall it's just ignorance that keeps these people who claim to be artists from opening their mind to new ways of bombing the city. Most street artists don't claim to write graff, unless they used to and just progressed their styles. I applaud graffiti heroes like Twist/Barry McGee who broke the mold and gained major fame and noteriety because they showed they are truly artists first. I really do love traditional graffiti and street art the same but sometimes I feel graff is more like a sport to some people, rather than a creative outlet. But I guess thats what makes it so exhilirating. I'm putting you on the spot here, but if you had to choose one or the other which would it be, and why? It's hard to understand exactly what defines each genre, so it's difficult to gauge what I would be leaving behind. I suppose, if the city was up in flames and I had to grab only one form of illegal art before I escaped it would have to be good ol' fashioned graffiti. Only because that's what got me where I am today, and its such an historical movement as a whole that I'd probably get beaten down if I left it to burn up into a crisp. Unfair question though! Characters (as in cartoon, pop culture personalities, etc) have long been a part of traditional graf. Did that have anything to do with your initial interest in graffiti? In the beginning it was purely letters that had me mesmerized. Simple style, chrome/white and black... thats what my eyes gravitated to when I looked through magazines and stuff. And handstyles, I've always been obsessed with crazy calligraphic style... People who know how to work a marker right. It's funny because my love of anime character drawings started at the same time as my love for graff, but only in recent years I worked on combining those two worlds. Do you have any interest in doing manga and/or anime, as in stories with your own characters? I used to want to be a comic book artist. Manga was always much cooler to me than anime, I
think because I felt like it was art more than entertainment. Plus the detail is so high in comics... and I'm a huge black/white enthusiast. Back in the day I experimented with developing different characters, and even wrote some stories, but soon came to realize that it is an incredible amount of work... Especially for someone who is already a perfectionist, I think I would go insane. Plus drawing the same thing over and over again, page after page seems super daunting and I think it would drain the life outta me. I would, however, like to give my characters more of an identity. Something I plan on working on is ways to narrate my street art more... I strongly believe that in order to make a true identity for yourself, you have to link everything together in some way. I want people to care about my anime girls and my bunnies/cutesy characters, because they care about you! Just to switch up the flow a little, what one thing did you learn as a kid that you have carried into adulthood? For me personally, I learned that the best way to know myself, and the most gratifying way to let others know me wasn't by opening my mouth and just letting words fall out, it was by expressing myself through creating something tangible (art for example). People learn much better with visual aides. I've always felt like I knew who I was, ever since I was a shorty, because I was constantly surrounded by things I created... If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? It would be nice not to be so lazy all the time. Yes, I'm a huge procrastinator, and hopeless day-dreamer... You can find me staring at a blank wall nearest you. I'm also real big on the nap tip... I'm pretty sure I was a cat in my past life. I always say I work better under pressure, but in the end I know that's just an excuse. Everyone who's lazy says that! A message to my fellow slackers: They can see right through us! For more Shye visit: www.fotolog.net/cutecrimescrew
The Guerrilla Girls and grassroots collective Movies by Women tackled this mostrous beast with a recent billboard and sticker campaign. They took Kong, gave him a sex change and a designer gown, and set her up in Hollywood, just a few blocks from where the Oscars were awarded March 5, 2006. Why? To reveal the sordid but True Hollywood Story about the lack of women and people of color behind the scenes in the film industry: Only 7% of 2005's 200 top-grossing films were directed by women. Only 3 women have ever been nominated for an Oscar for Direction: Lina Wertmuller (1976), Jane Campion (1982,) and Sofia Coppola (2003). None has won.
More embarrassing Hollywood statistics: Of 2004's top-grossing films: 5% had female directors 12% had female writers 3% had female cinematographers 16% had female editors Only 7 people of color have ever been nominated for an Oscar for Direction. None has won. Hollywood guilds are 80 to 90 % white. Only 3% of the Oscars for acting have been won by people of color. In the 21st century, low, low, low numbers like this HAVE to be the result of discrimination, unconscious, conscious or both. Hollywood likes to think of itself as cool, edgy and ahead of its time, but it actually lags way behind the rest of society in employing women and people of color in top positions.
The 800-pound gorilla in Hollywood isn't King Kong, it's
discrimination against
women directors! There may be women heading studios these days, but what are they doing for women and people of color? Why do they keep the white male film director stereotype alive? Here's an easy way to change things: open up that boys' club and hire more women and people of color. It worked in medicine, business and law. It worked in the art world. Now it's Hollywood's turn. Rattle that cage, break those chains! LET WOMEN DIRECT! to get involved visit: www.guerrillagirls.com www.moviesbywomen.com
Spraygraphic ApparelTM is a clothing company that recognizes the potential power a T-shirt has to communicate artistic, social, cultural, and political ideas to others. They are creating a clothing line that creates what they call a Thought Provoking StyleTM for everyone to wear and enjoy. Spraygraphic Apparel's owners Matt Krise and Chuck b. sincerely believe, "The clothes we wear have the power to speak to others about how we feel, what we think, and what we would like others to think about." Their approach to fashion and street wear is a refreshing break from the logocentric and gear advertisement oriented clothing. Spraygraphic Apparel emphasizes the design first and foremost along with a social/political commentary that they print inside of their T shirts as part of their tag, and then the Spraygraphic logo is located on the upper back shoulder because they hope that their designs will "turn heads". Chuck b.'s artistic and designer background stems from his prolific career as a theatre/performance artist and his political activism with the Arizona Surveillance Camera Players, Projekt Kardbored, Next Project: an Anti Theatre Company, Pro-Test-Or-Re-Actor and the art collectives SOS, and his connections to Alpha Monster via guest artist Adam Wheeler (Heart Attack and Urban Cowboy designs).
Matt Krise's artistic and activist background comes from his experience as a product developer and graphic designer dedicated to finding ways to offer products that are more environmentally responsible and ethically made. One of the newer things Krise is introducing into the Spraygraphic line is a series of organic t-shirts that are 100% organic cotton and bleach free. Spraygraphic Apparel's political commentaries, designs, and ideas are printed on sweatshop free clothing. Much of their inspiration comes from the efforts of artists and activists (like themselves) fighting for social justice and social change through the mediums of art, design, graffiti, music, theatre, protest, books, philosophy, education, politics, the internet and basically everything and anything under the sun that has made a difference in our lives. They design clothes that hopefully will provoke thoughts about social, political, global issues going on throughout the world and at the same time produce an individual and eclectic style that celebrates the labors of artists and activists from all over the planet and helps their customer stand apart from everyone else and stand for something important: humanity, the value of life, and Thought Provoking Style...
Both designers love and appreciate the political stencil art and graffiti found on walls, post office boxes, and anywhere a sticker or spraypaint can stick to its surface. b. and Krise have worked with many artists and activists using stencil and graffiti as their principal artistic medium and wanted to make the art more accessible, more mobile, and more open to everyone to understand and value. For example, they have a shirt called Mind Grenade where the explosive component of the grenade is a brain with the social commentary reading, "Everyone is ready to explode! Pull the pin!" Or the shirt Worker Bee depicting a business man with a set of bee wings coming out of his suit carrying a honeycomb filled briefcase walking into a skyscrapper that resembles a beehive. For Krise and b. putting on Spraygraphic Apparel is more than just throwing on a plain old shirt. They believe, "It is an active choice that has the capacity to make a difference in your life and the life of others." They have always preferred to find and wear clothes that have pushed them to think, inspired them to imagine, and invited them to look at life differently (if only for a moment). for more thought provoking style visit: www.spraygraphicapparel.com
this page: Spacecraft Pink Drip Tee Spacecraft Belt opposite page: Spraygraphic Drip Earrings Johnny Cupcakes Intestines Shirt Brooklyn Industries Lexy Bag
this page: Brooklyn Industries Random Thoughts Tee opposite page: Spraygraphic Punk-o-sapien Grey Tee
this page: Johnny Cupcakes Partridge Shirt PF Flyers Green Corduroy Buckle Shoe opposite page: Brooklyn Industries Grey Tiffany Shirt Brooklyn Industries Lexy's Handbag
this page: Robots Will Kill dĂa de las Robots Tee opposite page: Robots Will Kill Souled Out Tee
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this page: No Star Pass it on Tee opposite page: Folter Gingham Mini Maxwell Boy Beater
this page: Spacecraft Pink Star Longsleeve Folter Black Corset Beater opposite page: Grn Apple Tree Salvation Tee photo by David Rosario
this page: Chrome Mini Metro Bag Brooklyn Industries Stitch Hubbub Shirt Methodsnyc Logo Hoody PF Flyers Lancers Shoes opposite page: PF Flyers BUA Old School Center High
"There was Stencil Revolution for stencil peeps and 12oz, and other forums for graf heads, but nothing really for sticker enthusiasts." PEEL magazine recently launched SLAPS, an online sticker community where heads can gather and discuss sticker related issues, show off their latest work and get feedback, trade slaps with other sticker peeps from around the globe, and even artistically battle it out in a no-holds-barred beef forum. "I saw a need for an online community for sticker heads," says SLAPS administrator Dave Combs,
Apparently his observation was correct, as the online community has quickly grown to nearly 400 members in just a few months and gains new members daily. "It's so rad. SLAPS members are collaborating and organizing different projects on the forums," reports Combs, "There's a limited edition stickerpack in the works right now with some of the proceeds going to fight world poverty. About 20 different SLAPS artists
are participating in the first edition and there's already talk of second and third editions for other charities." According to Combs both established artists and newcomers are welcome on the boards, and even non-artist sticker fans can message with their sticker artist heroes. Dave aspires that "SLAPS will be a fertile ground for sticker artists to grow their skills, develop their creativity, and have a lot of fun in the process." to get your SLAPS on visit: www.PEELmagazine.com/slaps
Somehow I got myself into this...me and my big mouth...just one little comment about how there was an overwhelming abundance of guys at this art show I attended. So, holly asks me to put together an article about the domination of men in the street art scene; why are there so many more males than females getting up? Quite simply, men have always dominated the documented art scene, from the prerenaissance and before until the mid 20th century. Men were afforded the luxury of being artisans while women traditionally held more domestic positions in the community. Women were controlled and regulated, whether by social constraints, lack of independence, or manipulation of image and meaning. In the Italian Renaissance, women were restricted so that their sexuality didn't threaten social order and the societal hierarchy of men. Although, women were able to transgress these issues when they had the financial means and opportunities to do so. Those origins, in combination with the gang related origins of graffiti, it stands to reason that men would be more visible in the street art scene. Men have that built in caveman mechanism to spread their seed... mark their territory.. piss all over everything like the big puppies they are. And street art is a perfect medium for that. "I think that more boys, when they hit puberty have the feeling they want to claim their territory and start doing graffiti and so become aware of the street-art-world that is out there. - SSLL"
To explore the issue further, holly posed the question on PEEL's online forums: Why are there so few female streetartists? Answers ranged from "I think many girls, unfortunately are still caught up in the stereotypical game of primping and trying to attract guys as their main hobby." (can you hear my head exploding?) to "Because girls are less destructive and more law abiding." to "Some girls may be less gutsy than boys, and some can never get past the idea that street art is for boys." The issue of safety was also discussed by several female artists. "I think the reason the majority of girls aren't getting out there is maybe because of the dangers involved in and around the city, especially being one of the highest crime and rape rate countries in the world. You can't go out alone anymore." - Missjoon "Girls sometimes think it's too wild in the street. It's not safe. Working in bad weather can be dangerous. Also, it's difficult to work high up and illegally. Because of things like this many females don't want to try new adventures or activities." - Junky Sue
I don't think there's any real definitive answer to the issue. Nor does it really matter. Just because there may be more male artists doesn't mean the quality or intent of the work is better. Good work is good work, regardless of the sex of the artist. Personally, I find being a girl to my advantage when putting up work. Cops aren't necessarily on the lookout for someone of my description. I have had strangers offer to help me get stickers up in high places for me. I've even had businesspeople come across me pasting, and they seem to dissociate the fact that I'm even doing anything illegal. When it comes down to it, it's an issue of finding a way to do your art regardless. If you're afraid in the dark, then go in the early morning. Just find a way to do what you want. There isn't any force of repression keeping girls from putting work up beyond themselves. As Brownsugaa put it, "...it's not even a competition between sexes. It's about getting your ideas and views out to the public through your work. And that's all that matters – whether you're male or female."
"I origianally got into putting stuff up because I was inspired by the work of other vancouver artists. It is an amazing feeling when you walk around a corner into an alley or up some stairs and find a great sticker or stencil or pasteup."
BLOODY BUNNY ( BERLIN, GERMANY ) "I dont have a message. I am just decorating streets."
"I just like to add a hint of femininity (and sweetness) and say hey I did this and I have female genitalia! I guess you can say my work distinguishes me from countless other streetart as mine and mine only."
QUESTION: WHAT DOES YOUR STREETNAME MEAN? HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH IT? ACE: It doesn't really mean anything, it's sort of an inside joke. I like how it sounds sort of cocky, like a 40's fighter pilot. BLOODY BUNNY: Look at my stix and you can guess. I like cute and bloody things. BROWN SUGAAA: Simply put, I picked out the name Brownsugaaa because I'm dark-skinned and I love anything sweet. C. DAMAGE: C.Damage is a shortened version of Captain Damage, a nickname from college friends referencing my constant string of injuries or illness. It was shortened to C.Damage, which works for my witty friends because people will "see damage" when I'm getting up. COTTONBUTT: While having fun making up names out of "butt", I thought of "cotton butt". So, voila, "cottonbutt" was born.
"My street art conveys a message of positivity. It is all hand done, and all with an artistic element. I am not just tagging my name up on walls or scribbling on lightboxes."
"A neurotic christmas tree should not be messed about with."
"The street is a good place to develop stories, that is why we created the eviltoys. They are nasty, mean and machiavelic."
"I just want to use the street as a canvas for my artwork."
"Maybe because street art has a bit of a tough image I try to be the opposite."
"Love is the message."
ELISE: Since I get bored with senseless fantasy names quite quickly, I decided to use my middle name instead. I prefer it above names such as "miss suckamarker 1" or "corney tagger 07". EVILGIRLS: L: °lYl° is just a personal evolution of my first name. S: Soket was the name of my grandma's cat. Since she has Alzheimer's, she used to call me by the cat's name. L & S: Together we created the Eviltoys, that's an important part of what we do in the streets... JUNKY SUE: The name is junkhouse or my nick name junkysue. I use the word 'junk'. The meaning is really junk. Because all of my stuff is junk and going to be junk too. ME LOVE: Through my name I hope to express and infect everyone with my love for life and the world in which we live. MEDRY: Well coming up with a good street art name wasn't easy, it took me a while. I was scribbling down names and then I came up with this one. It doesn't really have a meaning, but I thought it would be funny if you pronounce it, a wordplay sounding a bit like "mad". Lately I'm also using the short version of my name, Med.
"My streetart doesn't really have a message. You either like it or you dont... I am cheering up the old city a bit!"
"Nerds appear in a variety of bright colors, but over time their color fades until they appear simply black and white. This process gives them a feeling of semi-permanence that gives them their own finite life in a sense. It speaks to the unstoppable passage of time and acts as a reminder that nothing is truly permanent in the world we live in."
"Competition is what keeps us on our toes." MISSJOON: I thought I'd go with something similar to my name and that sounds feminine and cute. So I guess Missjoon was it then! It's also my clothing label which I've been busy with for about 3 years now. NERDS: My name came from of the main character I draw. While I didn't have it in mind when I first drew them, my characters looked a lot like the Nerds by Wonka Candy so the name stuck.
PROPS: It has to do with a few things, first of all, my love for hip hop music, much props! Also, a friend of mine, who I used to live with, made short films...I had a lot of "props" for the films, so she started calling me that, and it stuck. I currently do design work and show my art in galleries, so when I exhibit, I always make limited edition "props" for people to walk away with. It goes on and on...
"My work is laced with a lot of undertones. I am not trying to convey any message at all. I like to paint. My work is influenced by psyhcological aspects of human nature, secret societies, and self reflection.
SHE KILLS HE: SKH originally was the name of a show that didn't happen. My boyfriend suggested I call myself SKH and then I killed him. Simple as that. SSLL: SSLL stands for silky smooth luscious linda. It's a name a friend of mine made up. It's the name I gave my fotolog, not knowing I would be going to start with streetart, not knowing I couldn't change that name, but now I'm used to it!
"I want to make people smile or laugh when they spot my sticker."
"I would like to start creating positive messages that reach out to teens."
"Sometimes I give my tikas sentences to hold such as tv makes you stupid - get up on the street or fuck bush - have a walk in the woods."
TOTEM/ PHOTO PIRATE ( PHILADELPHIA, PA, USA ) "Who needs a blank wall when there can be loads of stuff to look at?"
"3 years ago I started my own project entitled spreading love and positive energies to the world I use my art to convey this in as many ways as possible, so there is always a message and meaning to my work."
"Bobby marks the world." SUSHI: Sushi has no real meaning to it. I asked for suggestions from a guy I know who goes by the name "VGRNTS" who also does a lot of street art himself, and he suggested "Sushi" upon looking at my Asian girl character. That was it. Sushi. TIKA: My streetname is the opposite of what I am. I am pro-Bio (Bio means organic in German). I try not to buy or eat chemically or gene-generated food from worldwide-mega-companies. Whenever I can, I go and get my vegetables from the market directly from the farmer. If I consume animal products they have to come from a farm where they are treated well. Same with my clothes. I wish there were sweatshop-free produced sneakers with such good design as Nike. I don't like todays consumer culture (shopping/tv-watching/drugpumping/expensive thrill-seeking) and it makes me sick that whenever I arrive in Bankok, Kairo, Berlin or Mexico. I first get to see a
Starbucks, a McDonalds or an advertisement for Coca-Cola. And if I want to buy a snack you can count on it that it's from Nestle or Kraft. It's sad to see how this capitalistic idea of seemingly neverending expansion erases old professions and traditions that existed for centuries. That's a reason why I like my name TIKA so much. It has the sound of really old cultures I don't want to be forgotten. TOTEM/ PHOTO PIRATE: My street name does not mean anything in particular, I thought my stickers had a similar style to totem polls so I named them thus. I sometimes call myself the Portrait Pirate for my photographs because they are self portraits, reproduced but never the same, and left where they face utter destruction or thieving. WALESKA: It is my name. WHITEDOGBOBBY: My dog is white and his name is Bobby.
When and how did you acquire the name "Venus"? I acquired the name Venus back in '97 when I moved to San Francisco. My only friends were skater boys and that's who I really befriended at first. They were all into graffiti and skateboarding so that's how I got into graffiti. I loved what they were doing. I'd never tried it before so I gave it a shot and I loved it. I loved writing on shit that didn't belong to me. It was great. So they nicknamed me "Venus" (I'm not sure why exactly, but one of the guys that named me had a crush on me so I think it had to do with that) and it stuck with me ever since then. Did you skate and do you still? Yes I did skate back then, but I stay away from the skateboard for now. I don't think I'm as coordinated as I was back then. So if I skated now, breaking a bone would be too easy. Besides making your own art and Short Cuts Zine, with what other projects and crews are you involved? Well, I'm involved with a few things right now. I've just started a crew called OTP (Obey the Pussy), which is a collaborative / crew of down females. So I've been designing some stuff for us - Queen of Hearts Design (www.burndem. com/quofhede.html). I'm also involved with a mural that is supposed to go down here in SF called the Lilac Ladies (www.lilacladies.org). It's going to be a two block long ladies' mural in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District (24th and Lilac - behind the McDonalds). We're still working on permission so we're unsure when this project will start. Currently, I'm 7 months pregnant so I'm not tackling too many projects at the moment. I'm too busy trying to mentally prepare for motherhood. Obey the Pussy sounds hard and a little tongue-in-cheek at the same time. Is that the intent and how did you come up with that name? I love seeing the reaction to the name Obey the Pussy. Some people laugh it off, some people do a double take, and some people just don't get it and get offended. There really isn't a special story behind the name. My husband and I were drunk one night in the Tenderloin in San Francisco and I think we were yelling out obscenities. In that neighborhood, it's normal. I totally screamed out "obey the pussy, bitch!" to him and we both started cracking up. It's a miracle I remembered it the next day and I started running with it because the saying itself is quite offensive, I must admit and that's the main reason why I love the saying. I used to (or I still do) do a lot of art with typography and most of those words were swear words. I love the shock value that a single word has. I guess I don't really like to offend people but I really like to surprise people with offensive words in pretty fonts. People can take OTP as it is. I take it as literally Obeying the Pussy. We're a crew of a bunch of hardcore, down artists/gals that get down (whether it be for graf, art, photography, etc). The saying literally fits us all, we're all strong independent women that don't take shit from anyone. Most of the girls that are in the crew are my fam, really close friends that I've known forever.
How many members represent OTP Crew? Some of the girls that I put in are new.... currently we have 26 girls repping OTP and we're pretty much cross country. Queen of Hearts is a great name. Is that just you, or are you working with other artists as well? Well Queen of Hearts was directly connected to Obey the Pussy. Everyone wanted to get shirts done. So I collaborated with my friend Paula who runs the burndem site and also runs a sign shop in Cincinnati, to start up a mini site where people can buy Obey the Pussy tees, hoodies, bags, and other goodies. My first design was
the girl, that did really well. Shockingly, people wanted to buy it (even boys). So I thought why not create a new image, a more harder image than the girl to represent what the crew is all about so I created the brass knuckle image (with a little help from Paula to clean it up). What are your plans for Queen of Hearts? I really don't have plans for Queen of Hearts Design set in stone yet. I would like to have the other girls that are part of OTP create their own Obey the Pussy image and possibly sell tee shirts through Queen of Hearts Design. That idea has been thrown around a bit so I think that most likely will happen sometime in the near future. According to the website the Lilac Ladies mural will be the city's first all-female massive mural undertaking and will help revitalize a degenerating area. Can you tell us more about that project? Yes, Lilac Ladies will definitely put us on the map. My best friend had this idea for years and just currently decided to take matters into her own hands. The biggest struggle that we've had so far is getting permission.
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...continued from previous page It's been hard tracking down the actual owners of the building; some people don't know who owns the building, sometimes we have to go through people just so we can find out, and some people don't speak any English. Most of the time the language barrier has been the problem and has been really disheartening to us. For some reason, we don't have any friends that speak fluent Spanish, so getting someone to go around and translate for us has been hard. Just recently, my colleagues had a meeting with the director of Precita Eyes ("non-profit multipurpose community arts organization that has played an integral role in the city's cultural heritage and arts education") and she agreed to help us out with our vision. Precita Eyes is known for their murals all over San Francisco so getting her to back us up was a big step for us. Also, as far as raising money, we had a benefit art show in August 2005 and we raised nearly $1600, which is a great start but we still have a long way to go. How can people help with donations, language translation support, etc? I suggest that if anyone wants to donate money or donate time, you can contact one of us through the Lilac Ladies site at: . To bring it back around to your own art, when and why did you add stickers into your arsenal? I've always done stickers, but just the tag ones on "hello my name is" labels or name labels with the red or green borders. I didn't start doing elaborate stickers till I think, 2000-2001. I think I was going through one of my many doodling moods at that point, and I met my best friend who is heavily into stickers. I think she kicked me down some one night and I started doodling on those and sticking them up around her house. If you've seen her place, you'd understand. She has stickers all over the place; on her bedroom door, her kitchen door, her art desk, and even the outside and insides of her fridge. Stickers is probably the most easiest way of getting up a lot, and that was what appealed to me the most. Around then I started adding color to my stickers and making them even more elaborate and even though it took time, it was cathartic for me to just sit there and be in my own world making stickers. What do you attempt to convey to viewers with your female characters? Ever since I've started drawing, I've always done characters. I didn't start doing girl characters till high school and it came to me naturally. Through time, my characters have evolved; they became much more womanly and got that undeniable attitude. One time one of my friends came up to me at my very first art show and told me that the characters were starting to look like me. I think unconsciously, I started emulating my characters after myself. My characters are undeniably sexy with a lot of curves just as a lot of women are and I think that is what is appealing to my viewers, men and women. I like to show my viewers that my characters are strong and with much attitude, they aren't your regular girl next door
characters, they're much more than that. My characters have much cleavage, tattoos, an angry face... I hate to draw characters that look "girlish". Womanly characters are much more appealing anyway.
Is there anything you would like to say to any female artists (street or otherwise) who are feeling intimidated about putting themselves out there by showing their work? That's a good question. Don't be intimidated at all. The whole "game" is male dominated sure, but just because it is doesn't mean that you can't do it. Prove yourself to them. If you don't feel like your work is up to par, just remember everyone starts somewhere. I warn you that it won't be an easy task so you have to make sure that you are doing this for the right reasons rather than the wrong. People will talk shit, people will hate... but there are haters in every game, don't worry about them and keep looking forward. Don't let them get you down. Just keep at it and before you know it, you'll be doing this for years and you'll by then have your own style. I sound like a cheesy cheerleader but I was totally intimidated when I first started. People were talking shit and it really hurt. Through the years, you learn and you
grow and no one can take that experience from you. Being into graffiti/street art has been one of the most positive things that has happened in my life. I don't regret any minute of it. As a soon-to-be mother, if you were given the power to change just one thing about the world in which your child will grow up, what would be that one thing? Well I gave a lot of thought to this and I can't come up with a straight good answer. I've noticed that a lot of children grow up so fast. I grew up in the suburbs near Chicago and I can safely say that I've been "protected" from most things. My parents were very strict and school was my major concentration. I never really got to date or go out with friends as often as I'd like to but I never questioned their authority. Then I move out to San Francisco and its a whole other world out here. The children here grow up so fast. To me, its kinda sad to see a little girl swearing at her parents or to see parents encourage their little ones to insult people. I don't want to overprotect my child from everything because there's a lot to learn about in this world. But I would like to have my child slow down and enjoy his/her life rather than trying to get through it so quickly. I think that's what I want the most being a first time mother. My child will have a whole life ahead of him/ her. I don't want to see him/her rush through it and grow up so quickly. For more Miss Venus visit: www.myspace.com/venusone www.geocities.com/shortcutszine
The pink nun, "Defender of Purity" is a performance character that encourages the ideas of self respect and self control. This includes the ideas that Women are not sex objects, shouldn't be treated or act as such and that choosing to wait for sexual intimacy until after marriage is the best way to safeguard yourself. She approaches activism on several different fronts, including purity products, street postcards, stickers, stencils, etc, a website, and interviewing people on the street. For her, streetart is a way of approaching and subverting the oversexed, objectifying advertising and negative messages and stereotypes in the media that according to her do not respect women and men. How did you start doing streetart? This developed while I was at the art institute when I took an offset lithography class and the screenprinting class. I decided to switch from making paintings, and art for a limited gallery audience to making street art for a more public unlimited audience.
Would you agree that streetart is very male dominated? As far as graffiti artists, I have only met male graffiti/tag artists. As far as doing some more progressive social commentary posters, stickers, stenciling and such. I have mostly met girls doing this... However, it was during a class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This class was called "propaganda and decoration" which combined screenprinting with public art projects. The class was almost all girls (possibly because it was in the "fibers" department, a word which still tends to scare off many guys). I don't know that these girls kept it up much past the class. My favorite person in the class was a girl from Korea that did "Asian Man Tuna" stickers (spoofs of another brand's labels) and installed them on the cans in the store. What do you think keeps girls from getting out and getting up? I have seen girls getting out there, and doing more interesting things than guys, but I think many girls, unfortunately are still caught up in the stereotypical game of primping and trying to attract guys as their main hobby. Also, some who are more artistic, are possibly more of the "nice" type than guys and are afraid to break the law with street art, get caught, or have misdemeanors on their record. I know that the first time I installed subway posters that I had created, I was totally scared to put them up. I made a couple hundred of them, and put up like 5, because I was scared of getting caught, and doing time as a "graffiti" artist. Since graffiti is highly
frowned upon in Chicago, and they are raising the penalties, it can be scary, especially since a criminal record could hinder getting hired for professor jobs (which I have been applying for)...But on the other hand, you want to say, Who cares? I don't want to be limited. Many graffiti artists could do more jail time, or have bigger penalties than a drunk driving first offense. This is totally wrong. It just goes hand in hand with the lack of support of the arts in general, and street art not being considered worthy art. Do you think public art that conveys social messages such as yours elevates the public's perception of streetart? It's hard for me to be objective and figure that one out. In general, it seems like people don't respect it unless they are open-minded creative individuals themselves because I see people throw away my postcards and things way too often, but then again that might be because they are offended by my particular social message or imagery. It's possible that some people might pay more attention to street art that makes a strong point more than street art that is purely visual or just for fun. Personally, I do enjoy seeing all street art in general, and appreciate that someone was gutsy and creative enough to do it, but I think I remember the provocative ones that have the power of the messages.
Do you see your message of sexual purity as a way of empowering women? First, I want to be sure you know that the message is not just for women, not just about sexual purity or abstinence, and is about self confidence, self control, body image, and healthy decision-making. Initially, I did start making my art specifically for women, but so many guys were into it, I had to change the direction and the voice of it. But it is easier to direct it to women, and it is definitely largely about empowering women....(and men). I try to create straight forward imagery and text in order to speak with a strong voice from a woman's perspective. Women need to be stronger, outspoken, know themselves enough to know what they want, not be bashful, and especially not be victims. A lot of feminists today want to believe that we are past the victim mentality, but look at the focus of the shows on cable TV–Plastic surgery, sexy housewives, empty airheaded blondes, trying to snatch the bachelor, etc. Look at the covers of girl magazines, and try and find a heading that isn't about "How to look better for that man", or "How to be better in bed." When women are still heavily competing for the attention of men, spending the majority of their time shopping, doing their hair and makeup, starving themselves, and reading girly magazines–not for themselves–but to be the perfect BAIT for guys–than this is a different kind of victimization, self obsession and narcissism, playing the Vanity game. Unfortunately, when women are caught up in trying to impress their dates, and don't have a strong voice, they don't feel like they are able to make choices sexually, and follow the lead of their date, who is vocally stronger and able to talk her into, or coerce her into doing things. She feels like she needs to be a sexual vixen in order to be accepted, or loved. Even when women are sexually taken advantage of, they often do not feel like they have the right to report the guy, but instead blame themselves. Women need to know what they want for themselves in order to have healthy decisionmaking. We should feel strong enough to beautify our natural gifts and talents, not just the exterior, so that they we something to contribute to others and something to achieve for OURselves. A woman that is strong on the inside is much more attractive than an insecure, clingy barbie. Have you ever met the women that you admire because you see their confidence, and men are intimidated by them? Is your motivation for your work religious? I wouldn't call it religiousity, but a matter of faith, moral responsibility, and social consciousness. I can't get around that my worldview stems from my childhood education learning about Christianity and the teachings of Jesus. Because these moral guidelines make so much sense to me, I can't help but look through a Christian-filtered lens at the world around me and the decision-making of others. If I observed my friends being hurt in relationships because of insecurity and bad choices, I could later look back and understand that the more we try to make ourselves the center of the universe, and try to rely on our own human effort to live, and the less we rely on God, and depart from Biblical principles, the more we hurt ourselves. For example, why would we want to listen to people in churches, who we might even find hypocritical at times, that would say it's better not to have sex until marriage? Because if we follow this guideline, even though it may seem restrictive, we are not going to end up with a lot other concerns that we didn't need
to worry about before-like pregnancy, STDs, added insecurity, etc. and instead you will be more likely to end up with someone that has stronger character and loyalty and that hasn't placed your body as the most important part of the relationship. Besides obvious benefits such as avoiding STDs and undesired pregnancy, are there other benefits to sexual abstinence? It seems like common sense, but people can forget the reasons. By the time you are already having sex, it's hard to slow down and pull away from the situation enough to remember why you might have been hesitant before your first time. •You will have better self esteem. There are statistics that link the increase in depression among young people with sexual activity. It is REALLY hard to seperate your view of yourself from the way someone you've been that intimate with feels about you. So if they dump you, then the average girl instantly thinks, what's wrong with me? Am I not good enough in bed? Am I not pretty enough? •You can prove to yourself that the attention you get is not about your body. •Relationships are actually a lot easier and less complicated without sexual intimacy. •You can be more objective about your dates and figure out if they are good as friends and good to be around when physical intimacy is not interfering. •Sex is a COMPLETELY different, and more SACRED thing with someone who has vowed to be with you for life than with someone who is comparing you to whoever they've been with last and thinks of you as only temporary. •Sex is not supposed to be entertainment, or something to use as bait to attract a date. It's not supposed to create your self-worth. •With abstinence you have more time to develop other talents that will last longer than physical youth. Single people who are not in relationships can potentially get so many things done, and do things like get their masters degree easier. Personally, I don't think I would have gone to grad school if I'd met my husband 5 years earlier.
What about people who have already had sex? All these benefits still apply. Deciding to stop being sexually active is a whole new kind of alternative lifestyle, and way of making a statement. It is having CONTROL over your own body. Your focus on life can change. I have had people who see my website write to me and tell me they have been as promiscuous as you can get, and they decided it is empty, and they at least need a break, if not a halt until lifelong partnership. A lot of people started being intimate when they were young, and not strong-willed enough to know what they really wanted in the moment. Now is the time to change the course of the rest of life. No matter what the sexual history of a person is, they are not trapped by it- they can change their mind and their actions if they have enough confidence in themselves to have the self control. Just look at Rivers Cuomo from Weezer, who learned the teachings of Buddhism and has been abstinent for over 2 years, and is deciding to continue it. He used to sing about switching the various girls in his bed, and now he sings about his self control and repents for being so self centered. Some people call this new abstinence "secondary virginity" or "born again virgins." These can seem a little comical, but there is good symbolism in that wording. It is harder for people to drastically change a path unless they have a faith behind it, as well as the faith based community of friends to help support and encourage them, so they don't feel all alone. Do you have any plans for projects coming up? I'd really like to do more stencilling, and maybe screenprint some posters. I'd first like to produce more of my "You are not fast food" stencil and get it around in Miami. I'd like to take my stickers and start putting them on cool cars (where they might actually stay). I get plenty of ideas, and not enough time to do them. After all, I am now married and sexually active. for more Pink Nun visit: www.pinknun.com
The Commandos Group has a big vision.
It goes something like this...
Jo and BK are the inventors of the Original CommandosTM patch and founders of The Commandos Group, Inc. They believe that all of humankind seek freedom, happiness, bliss, and ultimate peace, and that, somehow, many of the planet's peoples have grossly misinterpreted these choices and have gone off course. They believe that Nonviolence, humankindness, integrity and personal accountability, courage to stand up to injustice, community, forgiveness and reconciliation, all need to be reinstituted for humanity to prevail. In 2001, Jo founded Freedom's Children, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching and support of Nonviolence philosophy, principles, and tools through film, print, and personal presentations. This work is vital and is the cornerstone of how they are choosing to develop their total company vision. The Commandos Group, Inc. will donate a percentage of profits to Freedoms' Children to help fulfill the mission of the organization. The values and corporate responsibility of The Commandos Group are extremely important to their business practices and they hope to meet your expectations of them as well. The combined approach of a corporate for-profit entity and a not-for-profit organization is part of their vision for a healthier, more responsible corporate America. Now, add to that vision the freedom to go and think "outside the box" and to change paradigms as we know them. We are encouraging all girls and women to feel the freedom that works best for them, to feel the freedom of empowerment and of independent thinking. We are not telling you to "go commando" and underwear free, but that, WHEN YOU DO, to do so in healthy comfort and protection.
Their vision includes the liberation of the last bastion of female sexuality. It has become OK in mainstream America to speak openly about boobies and booties, and now we are opening the doors to let "coochies" be OK to talk about. And they chose that particular term for the vagina, which, by the way, over half the planet have!, because it seemed the most fun to say, the most widespread, acceptable, cute, and non-pornographic one we could find. It's time... it's just plain time to shed the historical chastity belt, cover-it-up-at-all-costs mentality and allow girls and women to choose to go underwear free without embarrassment. They want to keep coochies happy, safe, protected, and comfortable! The Commandos Group is hoping to revolutionize clothing by offering COMMANDOSTM, the world's first "tibbidy". A "tibbidy" is the name they have given to the brand new category of apparel, an underwear-free body and garment protection patch. Cool, huh? COMMANDOSTM are the revolutionary, soft cotton patch that sticks inside your jeans and pants and cushions your coochie so you can "go without" in comfort, in protection, and with lifestyle freedom. They are the cotton crotch without the panties! You have to try them! They can be ordered online at www.gocommandos.com. And, yes, GUYS!, we have Original CommandosTM coming for you, too!
There are a lot of precedents in art and literature for using abstraction or metaphor to bring otherwise unmentionable topics from the subconscious to the surface. Is that a valid way to interpret your "cute" genitalia? My cute genitalia... I like the way you worded that. Before I was working on Phallic Mammary, I had a gallery show that required me to write bullshit artist statements. Because I didn't write one, I had to deal with censorship and loads of crap. Yes absolutely, that is how I interpreted my work. I overcame the problem by hiding its true identity. Kids love them.
How did your anatomy instructor and classmates respond to your penis-udder characters? They giggled.
When and how did you come up with the name Phallic Mammary? In 2003, I was taking an anatomy class. I had a blank sketch book to fill out as a weekly assignment. I thought about bullshitting like any other student would. I drew random anatomical characters, but randomly came up with these udder characters. I was really getting into it. I had no name for them until I went to Asia. I thought I needed a name or a tag, so people will know what they're looking at. Phallic Mammary, a mammary gland that is also phallic. I've always thought udders looked like little baby penises.
How was your 2005 trip to Europe? Did it influence your work and if so, in what ways? Europe is amazing. My trip to Europe did influence my work. I went to the Palace of Versailles, and I loved their usage of ornaments and overdecorated frames and chandeliers. I'm currently
What's your connection with Matt Siren? I met Matt Siren a while back through !NV@$!ON because I needed someone to help me with my website. I contacted him and he replied that he was into the same thing.
How did you hook up with Pocket Full of Monsters Crew? Aaron, the man behind Angry Woebots hooked it up.
In the past you've cited The London Police and Galo as influences. Who else has influenced your work? I have a lot, and London and Galo are just two. Cartoon artists like Walt Disney and Tex Avery influenced me to draw. I especially liked the red head from Avery cartoons. I was also once interested in Final Fantasy video games because of the superb design skills. I basically liked everything, but I didn't have a certain style at the time, but I realized that I'm really anal retentive with my lines. Soon enough I found out about other artists such as Takashi Murakami, Kaws, Tado, Dalek, just to name a few.
You silkscreen your own stickers, right? I used to silkscreen all my stickers. I had 4 characters and each had 4 layers of colors. I was at the workshop all the time to the point that people were getting annoyed of me, I think. I had to stop. Cleaning screens is like scrubbing down my entire bathroom, and I'm a small person.
Are you in school now? I currently attend a design school in New York City. Without it, I wouldn't know how to silkscreen. I have access to the silkscreen and computer rooms. Fuck paying for posters when I can make them there for free.
for more PM visit: www.phallicmammary.com
How do you see your work developing from this point forward? I've done stickering and pasting. I've watched it get buffed from time to time, and it's sad because I'm risking it everytime I go out. I want to do something permanent like stenciling. I want to pick up a can of paint. Not to sound like a sell out, but I also want to move into galleries. I want to start painting again.
We're featuring urban toys in a couple of issues. Can you give us any details about what you're doing with Wheaty Wheat? I'm in the very beginning of the process. I've been sketching my characters out in 3D. They will be vinyl, but we haven't discussed size. They won't be out any time soon.
Do you have any plans for PM toys? I just started working with Wheaty Wheat Studios. I am a big collector of urban vinyl, and to make my own toys is a dream come true!
working on prints with that sort of theme. They're cigarette and wine PM labels. I don't smoke or drink much, but Paris had the environment for it.
How did you get the name Cherrycore? Ok, I have a cherry obsession, I collect things in the shape of cherries. And some time ago I was really into punk hardcore music, so some people started to call me Cherrycore. Ha, I guess that's it. When did you start doing streetart? Some time ago...I started with sticks, then I did some stencils, then I tried to vectorize some of my characters so the sticks would have better quality but I guess I prefer to draw them. Now I am doing everything all at once and also I am participating in lots of Latin American street art exhibitions but I surely prefer the street! What does it mean to be "avant-garde"? I don't know I think I love that word... hahaha...actually avantgarde means like contemporary art or something like that, and I guess what street artists do is some kind of new art, like a vanguard... Avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm within definitions of art/ culture/realityvant-garde art includes street art and any other movement which pushes forward the accepted boundaries; defining art in the future. It should be noted that avantgarde is not only a style of art, such as surrealism or cubism, rather this term is generally applied toward the present moment.
Do you try to push the boundaries with your art? I don't know... I hope someday... Some of your pics look kind of emo. Are you an emo kid? Oh yeah definitly, I'm so emo I even shit stars! hahahah... Yes, I'm really into emotionallycharged punk rock. Wow, that is SO emo! Have you been through your swing, ska, rockabilly, and indie rock phases or did you skip those and go straight emo? Hahha, I am not only emo, I love 50's, 60's and 70's rock, I love ska, punk rock, indie, rockabilly and electropop, I love music in general. I listen to Sex Pistols and Beatles, I love Le Tigre, Pulp, Brit Rock, I don't like to label my style, I just love music, I do music and I enjoy going to rock shows. I sing and play the bass. Actually I'm not in a band, I just play sometimes with friends. Do you feel that music has a big impact on your art? In what ways? Yes, for sure. I love to use lyrics in my sticks. Or to make stencils out of singers or bands, I made one of the Beatles and one of Morrisey. What is an average day like for you? First you wake up... Mmm...then I shower, go to college, I'm finishing my career. I study Graphic Design,
then I have lunch with some friends, or with my boy. Then I work at home, I work freelance, so I can listen to music all day long. Most evenings I go out with friends, or go around stickering... and I draw everyday in a little book I have. What do you consider to be the force behind your artwork? I do it cos I love it, I love drawing. I love crafty work. I do it cos it's my hobby, I do it to relax. Why do you do streetart as opposed to canvas work for galleries? I do some work on canvas too, but that takes a long time. I prefer to be spontaneous. And street art is about spontaneity. What does your family think about your streetart? They love my work. But they want me to find a real job. hahaha... Do you have any friends who support your art? How important is that to you? I have friends who are street artists too. Lots of them do the same as me, we hang out and make stencils together. It is very important to me, cos I love to share my interests with my friends. for more Cherrycore visit: www.cherrycoresite.tk
When and how did you get started doing streetart? Its all started around December 2004 when I saw Orkibal's stickers in town. Apart from that, I only knew about street art through the internet and books. After a while, I hooked up with Orkibal through myspace and from there I got a lot of information from him and started meeting new friends who were also involved in street art. All I can say is Orkibal influenced me alot.
How did you get the name Rooty Cutie? The name Rooty was actually from my nick Rootless which personally means not bound to anything aka free. Then later on it morphed into Rooty as it's easier to say and the Cutie comes later as a complete word because somehow it rhymes and it sounds better as a nick or name that I want to tag.
for more Rooty visit: www.rootycutie.com
What does one of your average days look like? As usual working all day as a multimedia designer. 24-7.
What do you want to convey to people who see your work? Like tagging by using a marker or spray can, I use my sticker as a form of my tag. I leave my character behind to mark my existence. It's another form of 'I was here' personified in my characters and it means a lot to me if people recognise my characters.
Can you tell us about your experiences so far doing streetart? I've had a great experience and I'm looking forward to improving my skillset and getting more comfortable with the environment.
What other artists influence your work? I'm also influenced by Shieko (M'sia), DAVe(US), Craig McCracken, and Cristopher Hart. All respective Artists and Street Artist.
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Graffiti Fonts 3.0 New CD of more than 50 Mac / PC graffiti fonts including 17 never before released. Styles from tags to burners. Over 120 Hip-Hop themed stock images and Illustrations, clipart, templates and more. graffitifonts.com
Bomb Town/Logical Reality The debut album from this Jersey six piece 'graff ska' band is current and edgy without forgetting its dancehall reggae roots. bombtownnj.com
Graff Life (Blackout Edition) Little Red Pictures' documentary exposes graffiti as more than an element of hiphop, but as a secret lifestyle. littlered.8m.com
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Marc Eckos Getting Up Take on the presona of graffiti writer Trane as he progesses from toy to all-city-king while battling to stay free against the forces of corruption in New Radius City. Guest appearances by Seen, Shepard Fairey, Cope2, Futura, and others. gettingup.com
Nobodys New documentary by André Hyland features MERZ, WHEN, DARIUS JONES, and FIVE. Nobodys gives the viewer a look into the personal side of graffiti. blondchili.com