ITALY_STIK_PAINT

As I mentioned in the "SPECIAL BULLETIN #2" post, I had meet a guy called Justin down the infamous LeftBank......fast forward a few weeks and he stopped by my work with laptop in hand, ready to share some of his photos he has taken on his travels around the world. He didn't emphasise at the time on what he was giving me, which left me feeling like a kid about to visit a candy store!

The file was called ITALY_STIK_PAINT. In my opinion Italy has some of the best street art there is. But not having visited Italy myself I trusted the opinion and photographic skills of my hero Tristan Manco. There they either have an extreme appreciation of any form of art, whether on the street or in a gallery OR 'the buff' are none existent (wishful thinking!) but what I saw leaves alot to desire for Wellington, the arts capital of New Zealand.

Seeing slaps and pasteys of The London Police and Microbo (My favourite) other than on various web sites or books I have read was a bit strange but I couldn't scroll through the pics fast enough!

The London Police

Microbo





With artists like this willing to share their art with the general public it's a shame that there are others who want to see it gone. Councils push for funding of the arts but will spend nearly 2 or 3 times the amount on trying to get rid of it.

Cheers Justin! Thanks for sharing your obsession with the obsessed!

...to be continued

oO WWS Oo

Eeks

Okay, just to clear it up I don't know much about Eeks. He is a friend of a friend (It's Wellington, everyone is a friend of a friend) So I get regular updates on where he's been and what he's been doing. Most of the time he does Paste Ups but has been known to draw on a few walls and slap up some sticks. This was one of the first Pasteys I saw of his.


Recently he got hauled away by the 5-0 for drawing an awesome mini mural on a near by building. The Police watched him do it then pounced. When some friends saw the photo of it they thought it was a pastey but it was done with a Posca.



I got a txt from E saying Eeks had just been down LeftBank and put up a character. There was speculation that he himself had written "Eeks Total crap" next to it. Most of the time street artists/writers are their own worst critics.



Some fresh new Eeks-y goodness!




Haha Eeks lining up skills aren't the best when he pastes up his creations but from a distance you can't tell.


Im glad we have someone like Eeks to add to the street art here. Our culture of tagging and drunken throwies was getting out of hand. Quality over quantity I say.

oO WWS Oo

Giving it away

Ever since I started this graf photo-taking-business I've been putting out free photos for the masses. I started this on my Myspace page

Since my explanation of this concept got a lot of people confused I'ma try and break it down as best as I can.

A) Take a picture of some graf
B) Get the photo printed
C) Write my URL on the back of the photo
D) Go and stick it up next to the graf
E) Take another photo of the picture next to the graf..
And finally post the pics on my page to give everyone a clue of where it might be.

I've only ever heard back from a few people (who were friends anyway) that have managed to get a free pic. I love the concept of free art. I've managed to acquire a free painting from Eeks another from Drypnz along with a drawing from Sammo


I also picked up a bad habit of stealing any stickers or pasteys that look like they are easily removable from windows/walls etc. I then decided to make a rule that I would only ever take them if they were already about to fall off, or felt that someone else will rip them off. All stickers I have collected live in my blackbook. Safe!

oO WWS Oo

PHAT ride

Found this parked up outside a backpackers by the waterfront. Had to dodge a torrent of traffic to get a decent shot. After a few dirty looks from passing drivers and careful manuvoering I managed to get a few shots in.

TMD won Write For Gold competition defending their title from 2006 so always good to see them appear (on wheels) in Wellington.

Askew, Flying Fortress, Phat1, Repo, Pest5, Dyskes Auckland 29.04.07

SPECIAL BULLETIN #2

Sunday 10.08.08

Went out on a photo mission and txt E to see if she was still around. She was at the skate park... After a bowl of chips and a sneaky beer at nearby bar we headed back to Left Bank. Dryp and Yelz were there finishing off some characters. Dryp had mentioned that the police had turned up and asked them questions.....The police have made themselves known in LeftBank lately......Anyway, we hung around for a bit then had a quick look at the pieces that Ikon and Vent had put up the previous day.

Monday 11.08.08

As you've probably guessed Leftbank is visited regulary by a few people. Once again I walked through and saw a guy taking photos of some of the graf down there. I asked him if he had seen the stuff on Vivian street, but being a visitor from Singapore (He was English) didn't help with his navigation of Wellington. I was walking that way anyways so told him I'd show him where it was.

We got talking and he takes photos of graf whever he goes....looking forward to seeing what his collection is like. He said he liked paste-ups. He continued to say that he had seen paste-ups 5 or 6 storeys high! Hopefully he'll have some crazy photos to share WATCH THIS SPACE !!!

SPECIAL BULLETIN!

Man, there was plenty of graf action this weekend. I can't help but interrupt the series I was planning on doing !~!~!

Friday 08.08.08

Managed to catch Ikon and Vents adding some chromey goodness to a very dull, damp and windy LeftBank. Vents is the man! I haven't seen someone paint as fast and fluidly as him for a long time.... As always, Ikon was killing it!

Vents









Ikon

The results!

Saturday 09.08.08

Now everyone knows that the new formula Ironlaks have a less than desirable smell that lingers for a looong time. We were making our way to The Red Shed when the familiar smell of the said paint suddenly from came outta nowhere. Ikon and Vents were up to no good in the car park across the road. I ran over with my camera (I always carry it) and I immediately felt like I was a graf stalker ha! They were good about it and kinda made small talk.

Mouse Clicks

I've accumulated quite a few graf photos the last year and a half. So much in fact that even going through my GRAFFITI photo folder took forever to scroll right through leaving not a hint of continuity. 3000 pictures later and I had given my mouse a good thrashing by sorting the pics into their respective folders, Pasteys, Sticks, Throwies etc.

Now our beloved Graf scene has been a bit stagnant of late so decided to go retro and show you all some of the graf that first caught my ever searching eye. To make it easier Im going to go folder by folder, subject by subject starting with Stickers.

Sticks have a healthy place in the graf world. Easy to apply and can be printed, hand drawn, painted, plastered, stamped and so on. Great thing about sticks is if you dont like the look of them you dont have to put them up. Sticks are easy to trade with other artists and sending through the post to the other side of the world can be done in a flash. Imagine trying to send a wall with your favourite throwie on in the post!?!?! Impossible!

Drypnz is known for his zany character sticks seen here:

Ive been fortunate enough to get 2 of his sticker packs through a group exhibtion with CrackedInk.

Sticker combos are probably best seen in person, but to give you a scale on how diverse they can be heres a pic from VLT Crew, Malaysia.

Unfortunately Wellington isnt known for its sticker combos but we have a few hotspots around the city that I try my hardest to check out everytime Im near by. San Francisco Bath house has a power meter (?) out the front that always gets hit with new stickers everytime I see it

....Just off Dixon St

And Lombard...

Last and definately not least is my boy Neonate...This dude has comes up with the craziest characters on the planet that would rival anything Yelz has to offer. Together we've consumed enough beer to keep The Mill running for a few years! His talent has no end! Toys, Paintings, crazy character Throwies, sticks. You name it, hes the best at it! No doubt! Big up Neonate!

Searching for Space Whales

Where has Yelz gone?

Is he "in like a space boat looking for space whales so he can hav a lil chat to them and come back ta earth with a mad amount of new characters.u knw wat i mean.get some freash insite an shit" (Chur Mr. Cop!Eus) ???

Haven't seen any of his stuff since we found this plastered on top of an Eeks character.

This dude must have some crazy thoughts going through his mind when he creates his characters. Characters on crack starring in a kids TV program!

.....maybe he's in Malaysia doing the mad collab with VLT??

Wherever he is lets hope he comes back soon. His characters are some of the best Ive ever seen!