Candalism

Just cut this new stencil with the plasma-cutter at school. Wanted to test out new ways of mark making based around ritual. So far had a bit of a problem when pulling stencil away because it grabs the metal and some letters don't stay afixed to the ground. Tried the process again this morning down by the Morgan stop. However poured cold water over the stencil first hoping that the oil and water would repel one another. Worked a bit better but still need to make a few adjustment.












photos by TaeTae

O-Fuda

I know that I get lost in thought while painting, biking, and generally quite often. I want to begin to focus on this state of being and study the ritual that I go through to induce such trances.

My case study will begin specifically with graffiti on NYC doors as I document my own form of zen and the art of street-cred maintanence. I will begin making comparisons between NYC graffiti'd doors and the Japanese Kamidana as well as tags and the Senjya Fuda. Here I hope to progressively move forward and make other connections finding historical forms of trance-induced identity tourism. Or make more links to Obsessive Compulsive Disorders.

Looking into history, Japanese pilgrimages can be divided into two general types. The first type is exemplified by the pilgrimage to 33 Sites Sacred to Kannon in Western Japan and the pilgrimage to 88 Holy Sites of Shikoku, in which one makes a circuit of a series of temples or holy places, sometimes separated by great distances, in a set order. The order of visitation is an important feature of this type of pilgrimage. The second type is a journey to one particular holy place. Pilgrimages in this latter group include the famous Kumano Sanzan (Wakayama), the Ise Shrine (Mie), Mt. Koya (Kii Peninsula, Wakayama), Mt. Fuji and other holy mountains in Japan.

In common usage the term junrei usually refers to the first type only. It is thought that pilgrimages were first undertaken in the Nara Period (710-794 AD), but the custom did not become popular until the Heian Era (794-1185 AD).


The senjya-fuda tradition apparently became popular during the Edo Period (1603-1867), when many believed that good fortune would come to them while their sticker remained attached to the temple or shrine gate. Despite modern rules that forbid pilgrims to paste these stickers on the temple/shrine gate, the senjya-fuda tradition still thrives in other ways in modern Japan. Many commercial shops will make customized stickers just for you -- i.e., with your family name, crest, and image of your choice. The Japanese paste these stickers just about anywhere, on their cars, on cell phones, post boxes, gifts, etc.

A tangential concept amongst graffiti, pilgramages, and trances is linearity to form muliplicity. The best tags I encounter are the most simple and often times what are defined as "one liners". The fluid momement of the lettering runs parallel to the concepts set forth by Guy Debord and the Situationist International when experimenting with dérive. Through SI's experiments with geographical drifting I want to see how ritualistic identity tourism on NYC doors leads to dérive remix.



One final note is the latest show at the MOMA called Design and the Elastic Mind. At its entrance is a piece by Hektor which I saw a while ago on a graffiti site. It basically uses two motors to pull a spray can attached by cables to draw images. It works of x, y coordinates and can draw just about any preloaded image. What was interesting was that they used it to write out the title of the show in a very basic typeface. However instead of turning the can off when it finished a stroke and went to say, dot an "i" or cross a "t", it continued to make the mark, showing all the connectivity in the structuring of our alphabet. I saw this as a departure point to follow the above concept on ritual and linearity.

Caught up in the studio

Spent my spring break doing un-spring break type of stuff. No Cancun. No Daytona. Just Bushwick and all of it's dilapidated glory. Ended up renting an awesome studio down the street from my digs. The sign out front says built in 1896 and has a big THR emblem reminding me of Barry Mcgee. Next door is a auto parts graveyard. No junkyard dog in sight, just bumpers for as long as the nose can smell brake fluid.

I got the studio to work on the McCarran Int'l Airport mural that is being installed in mid-May. Check the process below.

Geo-Drawing

Nokia, The World Is Your Canvas

"Farfar is behind a new weird initiative launched by Nokia to promote its new N82 model. The concept is based on "position art", which consists in creating works of art, by physically walking while your position is tracked using GPS..."

Click here to see the Artists Stavros toot his horn in what has got to be the funniest project and video. Awesome!!!

NYC Bike Rack Comp

Gonna enter this competition...

'CityRacks Design Competition, sponsored by the New York City Department of Transportation, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Google, Inc. and Transportation Alternatives is an international design competition looking for new designs for New York City bicycle racks. We hope to develop new forms of on-street bicycle parking that will be more visually noticeable, artistically designed, and unique to New York City, while still maintaining an ability to fit into the context of any neighborhood.'

...and I was most excited to read that one of the judges is David mother fucking Byrne.

Zevs

Zevs has got to be artist of the decade hands down. Along with narrating the new Inside Outside video he also has some unbelievable parts illustrating his conceptual and nonsensical take on traditional graffiti and ability to have absolutely zero fear of the law. Check out some of these other Zevs videos to see more.

Street Cred'n with the NY Times

Gaia and Stickman featured in somewhat ridiculous scavenger hunt-esque NY Times article on street art. For the most part I was excited to see stickman since he is the most up in NYC and uses a creative method. Not quite sure if it's true, but I've heard that he is a constructin worker that adds is characters while on the job; following in the footsteps of the railroad workers that dispatched some of the most prolific and notorious monikers while on the job.

New Publications

A french group invited me to participate in a book and exhibition called “400 ml project” where 400 artists were selectedt to create an individualized piece using a spray can. The exhibition is being put on by LE MUR, wich help artists working in urban spaces and the book is being published by Kitchen 93. The exhibition will be on tour this summer and shown around the world. Among some artists who have already agreed to take part the project, are Speedy Graphito (FRA), BASK (USA), Jace (FRA), RUIDO (BRA), Jérôme MESNAGER (FRA), *G* (FRA), ASHD (SGP), Jean FAUCHEUR (FRA), L'Atlas (FRA), TomTom (FRA), Roadsworth (CAN), Abe LINCOLN Jr (USA), The London Police (NLD), Space3 (NLD), MORCKY (USA), BUFF MONSTER (USA), SMATIK (DEU), TA55O (DEU), ILK (FRA), KEINOM (DEU), KOMA (FRA), EGR (CAN), LABRONA (CAN), BLADE (FRA), ATOME (AUS), CRASH (USA), ZEVS (FRA), SICKBOY (UK),…

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Also Carpe Diem a nonprofit organization creating and supporting public murals asked me to be in a 280 page book dealing with big murals/projects painted around the world and by different techniques. So far it shows the work of 67 artists and 6 organizations. It should be coming out by the end of the summer as well.

'Holes, huts and hidings'

Just found this new book by Swedish graffiti artist gone secret dwelling-ninja, Adams. Here he's compiles his amazing d-i-y and s-i-y* housing project with Itso into a clandestine book-box. In the box three projects are presented in the form of a poster series. Some essays are going deeper into Adams thoughts, and the book gives access to the underground of Stockholm.

I'm still waiting to get my hands on a copy of it, but have been following the various projects of Adams for some time now. Can't wait to see the real deal.

*steal it yourself bi-o-tch

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