Project Educate - Misappropriation of cultureStreet art as a culture has undergone a vast amount of changes over the decades. Graffiti is a form of art with many roots dependent on which part of the world one is looking at. Probably one of the biggest misnomers is that all graff stems from roots in the hip hop culture. It is true that one of the strongest influences in American graff is hip hop culture. Many of the early writers in the New York scene were hip hop fans and deeply immersed in the culture. New York, specifically the NYC underground train network, was very prominent in the rise of street art on the West coast of the US. In the same way that the surfing community was very prominent in the rise of street art on the East coast of the US. Looking at the rest of the world we find that in the UK and western Europe that street art has very strong root in the Punk movement. With it's strong DIY ethos painting and drawing on the walls was an obvious step to make. And of course in eastern Europe t
Project educate - Interview Niles Rockwell*NilesRockwells art is simply breath taking. Here is a man who has worked hard to get to where he is now. The fusion of styles in his work is both seamless and original. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?I go under the name Niles, It came about pretty simply, i wanted to pick a name that was a recognizable normal name, but wasnt completely common. Alot of the time when you make the move from graffiti into the traditional art world you get asked what your name is ...at which point i would tell them what i write, seeing as i had became used to answering with my graffiti name since that is the world i came from. and they would say "no your real name" That question bothered me....i dont like sharing my real name if its avoidable...it comes with the territory, and i would have to either explain it to them and look like an asshole, or just fork over my real name the first time meeti
Project educate - Interview Zener~zeus-one is a writer from Liverpool UK with a killer wildstyle approach to street art. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?The name i go under is Zen (Zener in piecing) mainly... i got given the name by a friend of mine who writes Beta, he gave it me because he though i was one of the most chilled out and relaxed people he knew...What form of street art do you make?I make Big legal productions with my crew HTB, we're based around liverpool and the north west of england but we travel all over the country to our linsk with other artists such as the NTR crew from stoke, Insektr from sheffield and Migs from leeds.How would you describe you particular style of graffiti?I would like to consider the pieces i paint as wildstyle, even the guys i write with, when i step back and ask them about a particular letter in the piece they just tend to respond with "sorry
Project Educate - Stencilling lessons: MultilayersThe art of producing a multilayered stencil is one which can take a very lengthy amount of time. The vast majority of which is the time spent of cutting. This journal covers the production of the print outs which are then cut out and placed to be painted. I myself do use a computer to create the various layers. There is a great debate between many artists over whether the use of the computer takes a lot out of the creative process. I would argue in favour of that if one is simply using a photoshop filter to create a stencil. The method I will be outlining below is pretty much what that filter does; But it still leaves a lot of the decision process to the artist themselves. The program I use is gimp which is a piece of freeware which is fairly easy to use and importantly... Free So today we will turn the picture on the left to that on the right;
Project educate - Interview DEMO What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?Well first i went under the name Omega but after writing it for about a few months i stopped righting it because it was too long and it didn't go with my personality and i chose the name DEMO.The reason i made that name is that my first name is David, my middle initial is E, and my last name is Mendoza so it would spell out DEM and i add the O. I heard somewhere maybe it was style wars that someone said that the tag name should show the personality of the writer,easy to write, and have some letters of your name. So it was natural for me to right those letters since i write them everyday; that and it was kinda like sayin "this is a demo for whats to come".What form of street art do you make?Stencils,stickers, wheatpaste posters.How would you describe you particular style of graffiti?I think when i was writing graffiti, my style was ba
Project educate - Interview Dose~DoseOner is a street artist from Finland with a very curvy flowing style of graffiti. He has a great use of colour and shape and brings a lot of life to his art work. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?I write DOSEONE or DOSE and at first it was doze but i didnt like the letter Z so i changed it to S.Ive also tried out different names at the begining but Dose kinda stayed in my mind so i picked it.What form of street art do you make?Graffiti. Spraypaint on walls. How would you describe you particular style of graffiti?Umm i dont really know haha. I quess just simple lettering with loads of colors haha.And some "cute" little characters too. What medium do you use?Spraypaint,markers, house paint, watercolors just everything that leaves some kind of mark.You cant be too picky with the tools your using. :
Project educate - Interview Rotten 88~ROTTEN-88's style of art is decidedly unique. It's a very character driven style with strong political leanings. His use of lines and colour really make the characters jump out at you, something that sticker artists are often looking to do. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?Rotten 88 (Rotten Bones coz i have arthritis and 88 was a great year ) What form of street art do you make?Of recent i have been known for my stickers, but im going back full circle and becoming a full spectrum warrior.How would you describe you particular style of graffiti?I dont know i have always been hard to put in a box, i suppose its what each person sees What medium do you use?Sticker paper,paint,paint markers,spray paint, sharp metals or anything that marks :bigthu
Project educate - Stencilling lessons: BasicsWhy stencil?Stencils can be used to create the same image over and over again (depending on the life of the stencil itself). This has the advantage of being able to produce the same image in different places and on different surfaces. It is also a good way of putting up a painting on the streets which can have lots of fine detail but still be applied in a fast manner. Leaving the artist less 'exposed' to apprehension by law enforcement/citizenry that may disagree with the artwork.The objective of stenciling is to produce an image by blocking out parts of a surface; So that when a layer of paint is applied the non blocked out parts leave the completed image behind. There are many ways of doing this, many techniques using lots of different materials.In this journal we will be covering the more basic aspects and concentrating on a 'single layer' stencil, with a journal over the weekend covering 'multi-layered' stencils. The difference here is pretty
Project educate - Interview Stela one~stelaone is one of the few street artists that can definitely be said to be beautifying the streets. Her artwork is adorably cute and extremely feminine in comparison to the majority of street art out there today. She is also the founding member of the group #GraffitiGirls, well worth a check. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?Starchild Stela, because i’m a sort of alien kid.What form of street art do you make?I don't know what to answer to this one, since I use different ''Techniques''. I would describe it as some sort of feminist kawaii girl-loving art that I do in the street or on trains. I mostly paint characters even thought I paint cats and random objects sometimes. I never really qualify myself as a street or graffiti artist. I've been doing this for a couple years now, and I think the internalised mysoginy/ho
Project educate - Interview Sneak~sneak3218s art is very eyecatching and always with a slightly subversive few of the world around him. It is a stripped back illustration style with only the minimum amount of lines used, and yet paradoxically of great detail. He is one of my favourite artists on here and it was a great pleasure to interview him for this article. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?Sneak. its a nickname from when i was a younger and there's a few storeys as to why that name but what the original reason is, I really dont remember. What form of street art do you make?Weatpaste. Life sized illustrations mostly of people. To act as a kind of social commentary. How would you describe you particular style of graffiti?Im not sure I'd say it is graffiti, id feel im insulting graff artists saying that. Id say its more of a traditional art based kind of thing Wha
Project Educate - Brief history: Drawing on wallsHumanity has had a long and varied history with art from the earliest days of mankind's rise to consciousness.Some of the earliest forms of artistic work discovered by archaeologists have been on 'walls'. Not as street art today exists on the walls of buildings but on the walls of caves. Some of which were locations where people lived day to day, others places that archeologists consider to have been ceremonial and sacred locations.Below is a quote taken from a Wikipedia article on cave painting; "Nearly 350 caves have now been discovered in France and Spain that contain art from prehistoric times. Initially, the age of the paintings had been a contentious issue, since methods like radiocarbon dating can be misled by contaminated samples of older or newer material, and caves and rocky overhangs (parietal art) are typically littered with debris from many time periods. But subsequen
Project educate - Interview Swel~BUTTERRUM is an extremely prolific sticker artist, you only have to take a quick glance through his gallery to see that. He has created tonnes of unique and scarily individual stickers; As a sticker artist myself I know how difficult it can be to 'churn out' so many at once, never mind the extra effort it takes to make them stand out from each other whilst still being recognizable. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?I wright "swel" swell as in to expand gradually beyond normal size or wave swell.the origins of my name was given to me by a rambling drunk dude spanging about 5 years back,also something my ex called me {my first name is maxwell she shorted it to swell}thus swel.but iv gone by awake ,balance ,oak ,butterrum "really long" and a few others i had to changemy name sevril times because of the pigz. What form of street art do you make?I mostly make stickers these day
Project educate - Interview Mr Greed~mr-greeds art is fantastically brazen and adorable cute. His has put up artwork in full daylight and public which, due to the high quality, have received nothing more than admiring glances from passers by. He has also been one of the most active members in #KPDD-Stickertrades in the last two years or so and one of the only wheatpasters to join the group. Enjoy the art, and an insight into this fantastic artist. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?I go by "GREED1" or "GREEDY" or "GRD" or the unspeakable words ... ( a set of symbols i adopted after my first jail sentence, in order to not get caught for the same "name" ex: http://fav.me/d46svu3 )What form of street art do you make?Mostly wheatpaste , but i have other skill sets i have not relied on. How would you describe you particular style of graffiti?My style? that is a very har
Project educate - Interview Opek-one:iconopek-one: is a an artist with a very individual style.One that certainly stands out from the mold and stands alone.What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?Gosh, …. (long pause) to me ( and FOR me) .. a name is an excuse.. An excuse for something to draw/paint/ create when you want to do so but lack ideas…I’ve had many names, some had zero meaning, some had tons of meaning; my current name… is.. just me. It is just a formulation of all of my circumstances, visions, past, dreams, and feelings. But less of an identity; and more as an emotion.. AT this point it’s sooo hard to explain.. But to me a name is NOTHING, everything is nothing; yet nothing is EVERYTHING. If someone was to study my art, I hope they should be able to pick my creations out of a crowd; based more so on style and message; than on visible name. That‘s just my old age speaking .. I can’t say that I’ve always
Project educate - Interview Pahnl:iconthepopegfx: is a creator of some highly crisp and well realized art.Many of his canvases are instantly recognizable to anyone familiar to his style.He has also been recently creating a 'collectors series' including many reproductions of original pieces.On a side note all of the paint drips in the featured paintings below are stenciled, all of them. What name do you go under, and what are it's origins?I've painted as 'Pahnl' for a while now. I took the word 'panel' as in 'comic panel' and misspelt it to change it from a noun to a name. You could say I see surfaces and spots in the street as panels to drop my characters into but I might be romanticizing the process a little too much.What form of street art do you make?I primarily use stencils, although I've tried my hand at wheatpasting before and my stickers are all over th
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