Mike Bam: How did you come about your name Poesia? Does it mean anything?

Poesia: It was way back when I was more of a tagger and going through multiple names. I had started to sketch pieces and my name at that time, Emerge, wasn’t flowing well with my style. Then, I ran across this record and it had “Poesia Mix” on it. At the time, I had never heard that word and it seemed like something to mess with. So I started piecing it and later learned its meaning. It means Poetry or Poem in Spanish.

"Study 3" by Poesia

MB: Can you elaborate on how your style has evolved to what it is today?  It is quite powerful with sharp lines and angles. I’ve been told that it’s quite masculine.  How did it come about?

P: I think coming back to graffiti recently in 2007, after taking a couple years off of being a serious painter, I tried to get back in the saddle with some older styles that I had always relied upon. I had started with a west coast wild style influences by local writers like Picasso TWS and Rayge VOB, and then after meeting Raeyvn TWS, I started to experiment a lot more. It was about this time that I started to talk to Joker and I was put down with Transcend in the mid nineties. My style really went off the deep end as I had deconstructed and reconstructed it. I was attempting to paint on walls like I would a canvas and I think a lot of graffiti writers didn’t know what to make of it. I had taken color out of the equation and also worked in muted palettes to create some emotional context that colors weren’t giving me. It was fun times but I think it got old explaining myself.  I teamed up with Poem TDK and established a more traditional style again, west coast wild style with some Oakland funk if you looked close enough. This brings us to the current style. I had created this signature style in the 90′s of transparent outlines on the background and things like that. When I came back, I painted some of these same style pieces when I was in Spain with some of the MSK crew. I found out right away how advanced the art form had evolved stylistically and technique wise. I was way behind, so I went back to the drawing board and tried to establish something new. I really have yet to get fully back after almost 4 years but it’s getting there. This new style is only half of an experiment that will fuse all my styles together soon. The angular geometric style is about breaking down letterform and movement into straight lines, being able to create flow and form without any curves. These pieces are exercises in finding new patterns for my style. These new patterns will emerge in the next series of pieces.

MB: I know you have a blog called Graffuturism.com and it is representing a movement. Can you hit me with an explanation on what “Graffuturism” is all about?

P: This is a tough question because it really isn’t about anything yet. It’s a start to the possibility of something and a direction for some of graffiti artists who attempt to transition into fine art. It is also about the evolution and progression of our art form. I feel we are at the pinnacle of change in our culture and without communication and proper documentation it will get lost in all the noise that is reported on out there. This is one of the reasons why most of the issues featured on the blog, I ask the writers to explain, in their own words, their opinion.  What the evolution of our culture means to them personally is more important than what any one person tries to define.

Without proper discourse we will be swept into the pile with the rest of contemporary art. Or worse be written off as just graffiti vandals. We are so much more than that and people need to pay attention. This new Graffiti Avante-Garde that is forming will become a powerful force in the art world for decades to come.

MB: Why do you think the Fast Forward show was important?

P: I think it’s important for San Francisco to be a starting point for future projects. This city has amazing graffiti history and has established world renowned graffiti artists that have made the transition successfully. What it also has is a very strong style of art. However, I don’t think a lot of people want to admit or see this but it has become predictable at times. I love this city but it is hard to see so many of the same styles grace the galleries for the last decade. There is tremendous talent locally and internationally and the scene is changing in our culture. Important graffiti work is taking place throughout the world and we are at a high level of activity right now.  I’m not dissing any of what San Francisco has accomplished, this has been a mecca of art and creativity for decades. I just personally feel like some of galleries are missing the importance of the current movement of graffiti. Graffiti has grown up. 1AM was able to see this vision with you (Mike Bam) as the curator and take a chance on the artists in the Fast Forward show. Fast Forward is an important show that I feel will be the first step of many towards bringing some relevant graffiti exhibits to San Francisco.

MB: Explain a little on your new “masters” series of work .  What’s it all about?

P: The series of “old masters” paintings that I have been working came about when getting ready for a two-man show in Oakland this year. I wanted to comment on some things and also engage the viewer in a new way. Everything I paint is about graffiti or the letterform. I don’t want to give away too much as these works are still an experiment in progress, but they are part of an on going commentary on the relevance of what we do. I don’t like to spell things out, I would much rather have the viewer have their say on the pieces. This is one of the reasons why I have not titled any of the artwork. When we paint murals and pieces all we do is sign our name rarely do we title a painting in the street environment. These works are far from the street, but created with the same identity and thus align themselves with similar processes.

Check out Poesia’s art at 1AM’s Fast Forward show, up now through October 30th.

"Suiko Okii" by Suiko

Mike Bam: I was very attracted to your style in the Rakgaki book back in 2006 even though I could not read it. Can you explain what your style is?

Suiko: I don’t paint American or Roman letters.  My graffiti style consists of painting Japanese Kanji characters.  However, similar to how American graffiti lettering is based off the Roman alphabet, the styling that I paint is based off of the Kanji alphabet. You will not understand or be able to read my style if you don’t know Japanese Kanji and for many that know Kanji, they still may not be able to read my Kanji style depiction.

M: I noticed that over the past 2 years, I see hints of characters or animals mixed in with your Kanji lettering. Is this what you’re mixing?

S: Yes, I like certain animals and you are correct in seeing the mix of animals with my Kanji lettering.  I usually paint creatures from the Japanese culture (like sea life or a bird). I like painting animals, but I don’t paint animals or characters in the same style that you do with that perfect airbrushed rendering.  I mix it up by incorporating my lettering style with the image of an animal.

M: What does your name mean?

S: The literal translation of Suiko in Japanese to English is not my name.  My name is actually made up of 2 words – “Sui” meaning ‘drunk’ & “Ko” meaning crazy.  However, “crazy drunk” is not the meaning of my name. It goes deeper than just breaking down 2 syllables or 2 words, where there are actually several meanings to “Sui” and several meanings to “Ko.”  (Mike Bam’s editorial note: This definition actually took a long time to explain from Suiko, but the best English definition was that Suiko’s name is based off of a way of life where deranged people or graffiti writers simply do what they do just to do it)

Suiko gettin' down!

M: We just watched Planet B-Boy together & had a great, engaging discussion about the difference on spraycan/street artists that paint full time (and don’t go to an office job) everyday. Can you explain how you became a full time artist?

S: I was about to finish at my university and I had the opportunity to go to Germany to do an exchange in the last semester of schooling. At this time, I was not a graffiti artist. When I got to Germany in 1999, I was introduced to graffiti art. I loved it so much, I picked it up and started painting everyday instead of going to classes. Instead of studying, I collected my monthly allowances and chose to paint everyday. I had such a blast!  Since then, I have not stopped. It was in Germany that I decided that I needed to paint spray can art everyday instead of going to a graphic design office job. I agree with the Bboys from Japan that once you follow your passion and do it everyday, you will have found your identity.

M: As a fine artist of spray can art or graffiti, there must be some commercial gigs or jobs that you do. How do you determine the paying jobs that you do with graffiti art?

S: I choose clients that want my style of art. If they don’t want my style, then I don’t take on the job. For example, I am currently doing a job for a Jeep/Dodge Ram dealership in Hiroshima. I proposed to Jeep/Dodge that I could do their mascot of the Dodge Ram in my “Suiko Style” and they accepted that. This is a perfect marriage of painting something I want to in my style and completing a commercial job using graffiti art.

M: Thank you for answering my questions!

S: You’re welcome!  Please visit Hiroshima anytime and lets paint!

Suiko makin' his mark in SF

Check out Suiko’s work in “Fast Forward”, now up at 1AM gallery through October 29th.  If you want to learn more about him, visit www.suiko1.com.

How did the Fast Forward show come about?

I got together with Dan Pan and Nate1 and we talked about which artists were hot and what topics were at the cutting edge of spray can art.  I mentioned that Poesia’s blog, Graffuturism.com, was featuring new and innovative graffiti as well as discussing where graffiti has been and where it is going.  After being inspired by the site, Poesia and Jaybo were added to the show.  After that, all the other artists started to fall into place.

The artist, Suiko1 from Japan, has always been a favorite of mine for the past 4 years, but not too many people know about him in the US.  His work is nothing like the graffiti art or graphic design I’ve seen in my lifetime. Then, there was Scott Sueme.  In the beginning of the year, I went to a show that exhibited his work in Vancouver and I was impressed. I knew I had to have both of these guys in the show.

Tell us about your works for this show.

My work for “Fast Forward” will be art none of my peers have seen before.  It is a prediction and prophecy of what I think graffiti art will look like in the future but, at the same time, it is a reflection of my past work with computer graphics and my experience in the video gaming industry.  My favorite past time is to do work with lighting in computer graphics and I have translated this to my current work.  As an artist, I aim to manipulate the way people feel when they see color and lighting.

My body of work for this show is also my first attempt to do all my canvases with only Montana Colors spray paint.  I also wanted to show my graffiti writer peers that spray can art in a gallery does not have to look like what it looks like in the street.  It’s much more mature conceptual, abstract, and sophisticated than the public spaces that get smashed in the streets.

I hope everyone enjoys the works of all the artists in the show.  We did a big effort to get a good mix of talent from several different areas of the globe for “Fast Forward”.  It is interesting to see what the future of the graffiti will look like through the eyes of different artists.

Christopher DeLeon breaking it down for his fans

James Garcia dropping knowledge

Representing the struggle and the voices of the less fortunate, Toro projects his graffiti in places people want to ignore and avoid.  This graffiti artist strives to bring light and awareness upon a world that is consumed by darkness and injustice.   Like the bull does to the matador, Toro’s graffiti stares down the law and vigorously fights to the end.

This raging bull is featured in 1AM’s current exhibition, “Outside In” until March 12.  If you can’t make it, check out the available work online.

Also, don’t sleep as Toro presents a larger than life piece in Goorin Brother’s “Extended Stay” exhibition this March 5th from 8-11pm alongside Barry McGee, Steel, and Reyes.

Click for full-size view.

By Michele Lin.  The U.C. Berkeley Extension at the corner of Haight and Laguna, abandoned for years, is now officially a hotbed of delicious street art!  Lower Haters, in cooperation with the city to beautify the neighborhood, got the O.K. to paint this giant stretch of dead real estate.  They pulled together over a dozen artists, gave them paint, and let them loose.  The line-up includes the likes of Mars-1, Doze Green, NoMe Edonna, Romanowski, David Choong Lee, Jeremy Fish, Leanne C. Miller, Matt Sanna, Ursula Young, Hugh Leeman, and a plethora of other talent.  The result is a gourmet of tasty delights to stimulate your optic nerves, feeding your cerebral hemispheres to debunk, and eat up!
 
One highlight of the Lower Haight murals is a mesmerizing collaboration between Mars-1, Doze, NoMe Edonna, Romanowski, David Choong Lee.  I had the opportunity to sit down with artist NoMe Edonna over Philz coffee and a recorder.  We talked about art, living, social structures, and more.

Michele Lin:  You, Mars-1, Doze Green, Romanowski and David Choong Lee all collaborated on a mural in Lower Haight.  What’s your section all about?

NoMe Edonna:  I can’t really say if it’s ‘about’ anything in particular. It’s a freestyle painting, made up on the spot, so I just let it come out.  Visually, It’s a mix between animal, machine, plant, everything. Stylistically, it’s a bit of a return to the ‘characters’ I began painting about ten years ago.  My characters are evolved from letterforms. Like a deconstruction and reconstruction of various written languages and in the process, become a new language. An unspoken language, only to be felt.  You could see it and it might move something inside of you, leading your mind to see animals or something, but there’s no way to know for sure.  Like seeing things in the clouds.

ML:  Does the mural tell a story?

NE:  No, no story.  Okay, there’s a story there if your mind wants to create one and string things together, which may or not be there.  Some of us, we have a certain world view or just the way that we think about things in general and see the world around us, so I think that always creeps into the work.  Doze, for example, works a lot with symbolism and mythology, while Mars’ work is a bit more ethereal and equivocal, which leaves more to the imagination.  Even if there is a particular story there, people will see it and form their own story or meaning and that is the great thing about art, it’s a circular communication between creator and viewer.

ML:  So, did you go to school for art?

NE:  No, I’m an autodidact.  I’m not very good at school.  I usually learn things pretty quick and then get bored.  I just found that I’m better at learning on my own, in my own ways, at my own pace.  The way the system is set up is very archaic.  People learn differently and they don’t encourage that.  In many art schools they don’t even teach you how to draw anymore!  Basically what most learn in school is how to be a cog in the machine, to go off and be part of the system and to perpetuate it.  Even art school. Many of the artists making it in the upper echelons of the art world have gone to Yale or something like that.  The system feeds itself. 

ML:  We’re all part of the system.  It’s a human condition.
 
NE:  Yeah, if you choose to be.  I mean okay, we are ’cause we all live in this society to some degree and depend on the water and power etc., but ultimately, the ‘system’ is a system of beliefs and protocols for living.  I don’t subscribe to most of it.  Most things are designed to make you a distracted, docile consumer. 

ML:  Do you feel like it’s a constant battle?
 
NE:  In some sense, yeah, everyday.  But then you get to a point where you set up your life in a certain way, in the way that works for you as a unique individual within society.  Eventually, you have a good community of people around you that have like ideas and beliefs, so you have the love and support that you need as a human.  It makes it easier, but ultimately, yeah, you’re still in this system that is constantly bombarding you everyday with ads, jingles, images, ideas – you can’t escape it.  I mean, I don’t watch T.V., I haven’t owned a TV in 20 years.  Just that alone is HUGE.  People don’t realize how much of themselves, how much of their own creativity and thought they forfeit to this, every single day of their lives.

ML:  What do you do to make a living?
 
NE:  I’m an artist.  People buy my work and it helps me to continue.  But I’ve also been doing it for a long time and that helps.  There are definitely times where I need to make ends meet and I do what I need to do, whether that’s an odd job or creative consulting, or teaching or something.  I taught at SF School of the Arts for the last five years.  I used to DJ quite a bit and I still play some gigs here and there.  I’m not really a super go-getter businessman type of person.  I’m sure if I were, I’d probably be making a much better living off my art.  I make art because I need to make art, and if I make money off it I feel very fortunate.  I’ve been so blessed over the years with the people in my life and the opportunities that I’ve had.  In the end I’d rather be a bit broke sometimes and do what I love, than work in some job I can’t stand and make “good money.”  A teacher once told me, “Life’s too short and if you’re doing something you don’t like, then stop! Right now!”  That’s something that really stuck with me.  It may sound cliché but it’s really true.  I think a lot of people don’t do that because they’re afraid to go out on a limb and they become seduced by the ‘secure’ life, then they get stuck in that system.

ML:  People like security – it’s safe.

NE:  It’s easier for most.  I mean, I don’t blame people in some way.  But ultimately it’s just fear.  Fear of what your family and friends and society will think of you if you break out and follow your own path, follow that crazy idea you have rolling ’round in your head.  I think the world really suffers from it though.

Ursula Young's section.

ML:  I think it’s holding us back from evolving as a society.
 
NE:  Exactly!  I mean, imagine if everyone was living their lives, doing what they truly loved and were passionate about, and being supported to do it, it would be so amazing!  And it’s fully within our potential to live that way.  In fact, I believe it’s the true way.  I always believed that if you do what you love, and you’re really putting the time and effort and passion into it, it’s going to be good.  It may not be good right away, it may take some sacrifices or whatever, but it will work out in the end.  It always does.

ML:  The world would be so undeniably colorful.
  
NE:  Yeah!  It already is, but could you imagine if instead of handing their lives over to what they’re ‘supposed to do and be’, people were living as truly intended, as unique, creative creatures?  I almost can’t imagine it.  If all the energy that was put into making money, to make war, to make things we don’t need, to mask fears and insecurities – if all that energy was no longer tainted, but pure- oh man, I can’t even begin to guess how the world could be!  Utopia can exist.  I’ve seen it.

ML:  Now what are some significant inspirations?  Derived from anywhere.
 
NE:  Everything; Love. Death. War. Justice. Inequality. Music. Woman….  I’m inspired by countless things everyday.  Artistically, I’m influenced by way too many things and people to even begin a list here.  In a general artistic sense, I guess I would have to say that the ideas of Dada and Surrealism have always made the most sense to me.  Most of my work is born from the subconscious realms and dream states.  Early Hip Hop was also a strong influence.  True Hip Hop, when it was a mix of Funk, Disco, Punk, Rock, Electro, Techno, Soul, all that.  The movement, the dance, the style and color.  The flow.

ML:  What does NoMe mean, and is that your real name?

Doze and NoMe's work collides.

NE:  It means, literally ‘No Me.’  It’s a multi-faceted word that is, at the same time anti-ego and full of ego (in the sense that we are human and have a basic sense to preserve the self).  Also in other languages like Italian for instance, ‘nome’ simply means ‘name’.  I really like that.  My last name Edonna is my father, Ed, and my mother, Donna, names combined.  I changed my whole name.  I changed it legally in 2001.  It’s kind of a long story.  I will make a book in the future and you can read all about it in there! 

ML:  Sweet, I look forward to it!  What are some necessities in the daily life?
 
NE:  Dreams. Growth and evolution. Love and friendship.  I’m just really trying to experience life as I think it truly should be, moment by moment.

ML:  You mentioned that you have a daughter.  How has raising a kid changed your views?  How about your art, has it influenced what you make?
 
NE:  Yeah, she’s about to be 9.  She pretty much kicks ass.  She’s one of the most loving, sharing and creative people I know.  I don’t think it’s really changed my views.  Perhaps it’s just deepened them.  It’s made me want to do my part to change the future of this world into a better place.  She has to live in what we’ve left her.  I read something once before she was born that said something like, ‘One of the most detrimental things for a child is the un-lived life of the parent’.  That always stuck with me.  I feel like so many parents give up on their dreams when children are born for ‘The sake of the child’.  But ultimately, what will these kids have to look up to when they are growing?  And in turn, how will they (and the world) end up if everyone around them is just a hollow shell of their former, true self?

ML:  San Francisco is your home.  How has the city influenced you as an artist, and as a human being?
 
NE:  Oh god, yeah, San Francisco is the best.  I think this place is so special on so many levels.  There is a real ‘earthy’ energy to this place as opposed to somewhere like LA or NY.  And I don’t mean earthy in some sort of ‘hippy’ way, though there is that.  I just mean that it’s extremely beautiful here with the coastal environment, and people here are quite down-to-earth and open-minded.  So much has happened here in the past.  Early SF was crazy during the Gold Rush days.  And then the whole psychedelic movement in the 60′s.  And you can feel it all.  Sometimes the wind blows a certain way and you can get a smell of the history here.  Like when you smell someone’s fireplace burning in the Fall and it makes you think of Halloween or something.  A very visceral, emotional feeling of a time long past.  I often think of how this place was before the white man arrived.  This must have been a very special and magical place to native peoples. This area of the world is definitely some sort of energy vortex.
And, there are people here from all over the world and every kind of food, which really lends to having an open mind about things and facilitates new experiences.  Not to mention, the houses are old and beautiful.  The hills and the streets, dilapidated buildings.  It’s all very inspiring.  And there are so many amazingly talented people here!  I feel blessed to live here.

ML:  Do you have anything to say to readers?
 
NE:  Well, thank you for reading!  I guess if you mean some sort of advice or something to young artists…  I would say to stay true to your own visions and beliefs.  Copy to learn, but then find your own way.  And most importantly, KEEP DOING IT!!  Don’t give up. Sometimes things take years to develop and it’s really worth the process, both as an artist and a human.  I’ve been at it for ten + years and I feel like I’m just getting started!

Michele Lin is the newest member of the 1AM team.  She is an art historian who currently resides in San Francisco, CA.

Murder of Crows 2

Murder of Crows 1

They met 10 years ago in while living in Colorado. Gallegos would travel from Fort Collins to paint walls in Boulder, where Loucheur was living. Says Loucheur on Gallegos: “I always admired his work, but I had taken issue with him because he painted over one of my pieces. Eventually, a mutual friend introduced us. We talked it out and drank a couple tall cans in friendship. Then we went out and painted til dawn. We’ve been painting together ever since.”

They painted together on the streets for many years before the Chamber Made collaboration came to life. “We liked that name, because it reflected the art we made indoors, painting canvases in our chambers.” It was an unlikely collaboration since their styles were so different, and by the time they began working as Chamber Made, Loucheur was already living in San Francisco. Says Loucheur: “I painted a portrait of him and me, leaving room for him to do his thing, and mailed it out to him.  When I saw what he had done with it, it blew me away.  I had only intended to do that one painting, but after that first one we were both hooked.”

Source Material

Loucheur is the artist behind much of the representational content, while Gallegos’ contributions are more graffiti-inspired. Sometimes Gallegos will fly to SF to work on bigger pieces. “We generally shoot for two layers each, so ours is a life of post office lines and airport security,” Loucheur explains. “I think working from a distance was a hidden blessing for us.  We weren’t around to try and direct each other, so the collaboration evolved as more of an organic freestyle, each of us working independently and surprising each other with our moves.  It made it more of a candid visual dialogue, a discussion in paint… As a rule, we work better when we minimize our expectations of what the other will do.  We’ll just agree on a topic beforehand and then riff on that subject, responding to each other visually.”

A Suicide

Their response to to the Nature’s Revenge theme is a prophetic one: “We saw Nature’s Revenge as more than a revenge fantasy… We wanted to address it as the inescapable fate that it is, the day when our greed and gluttony catch up with us, and our species is erased from the world forever. Black birds became a central theme in our symbolism, not only as an ominous harbinger of death, but we also wanted to present birds as modern incarnations of dinosaurs, a nod to the pending extinction of our own species,” says Loucheur. “The painting A Suicide is about exactly that, the collective drive to bring about our own destruction.  It’s the story of a savage end to a savage species.”

A Suicide is part of Nature’s Revenge at First Amendment Gallery.

Chamber Made online: cmcollab.com

Valerie Leavy: What is it about graffiti that lights yer fire?

Nathan Tan aka Nate1: It is an art form I started doing as a kid, and I still find it challenging now as an adult some 23 years later.

VL: How did you choose the artists in the show [The Classics]?

Nate1: Eeenie, meenie, miny, moe!  Hahaha.

I wrote a list of all the writers that made an impact on me and my crew and started contacting them first.  After that, I got alot of help tracking down other influential writers of that era from the artists themselves.  Soon, word got out about the show and a few major players contacted me themselves.  I feel very lucky to have been the one to facilitate this event.

VL: Have they all been active since the beginning?

Nate1: Some of  the artists have consistently been “getting up” in one form or another for 20+ years and some of them have not painted in 20+ years.

VL: How has their work evolved over the years?

Nate1: Here is the beauty in that question: on one hand, artists from the past have continued in their style and advanced it, or explored it more in depth.  On another hand, a writer like Zest KGB did his first piece in over 20 years on canvas and it looked like we time-traveled back to that era, stole a piece, and brought it back to the present.  And that to me is dope because it says that style can stand that test of time.  Now if Zest were to utilize the technology and paint we have today his pieces would further develop, and I would like to see that as well.

"Uno" by Zest KGB

VL: What makes Bay Area graffiti unique, or rather, what is Bay Area style?

Nate1: The early days of Bay Area graffiti lay somewhere between tradition and experimentation.  I say tradition, because a lot of us 80′s writers were trying to carry on the tradition of style and writing that Philly and NYC pioneered, yet we did not have a lot of information available to us, so alot of experimentation and situations influenced our scene.

To me, original Bay Area style can go in sections or generations. When I think old skool though, I think multi colored fills, big letters with little negative space, some computer-rock influence, double vision pieces and more.

VL: Explain how Bay graf has influenced design, etc.

Nate1: For years, Hip Hop and graffiti art have been an influence in the media and pop culture.  There are many designers that came from graffiti roots.

In the Bay there are alot of writers I know that have had careers in the fashion, advertising,
and art industries where they can show their personal graf style in their “day jobs.”

I went the fashion route and worked for a few local corporate clothing companies
and occasionally got to sneak some styles into my work, but until I started New Skool
that sort of thing was usually very infrequent.

On the internet tip, Crayone was one of the first to pioneer a fully dedicated Hip Hop site
with graffiti design. He still continues to do freelance work where he can utilize what he
does naturally, only this time on the computer.

VL: Where would you like to see the Bay graf scene go now?

Nate1: I would like to see the younger heads collaborating with the OG’s more often.  And I would like to see the older generation upping their game and becoming even more professional as we are looked upon in that light.  We pioneered this thing, we should be able to drive this thing
a little while and then pass the wheel off to the younger cats.

To answer your question more literally: when the hype is there, I want to see the Bay graf scene go to other countries where we can share our unique West Coast history and introduce them to some of our giants in the game. The hype is almost there and I think [the Classics] at 1:AM Gallery really helped.

Woooord up.

"Teenage Love" by Vogue TDK (part of THE CLASSICS, now showing @ 1:AM)

1:AM Gallery: How did graffiti begin for you?

Vogue TDK: In late 1984, after school, I turned on the TV to the local PBS station and caught the start of the documentary “Style Wars”.  There was a scene where there was a MTA train moving down the tracks, then the train curves to show some graff and that was it.  I was hooked and knew that is what I was going to do.

1:AM: What experiences made you the artist you are today?

V: I always did some sort of art throughout school.  With the help of my parents, after graduating high school, I attended Academy of Arts in San Francisco, majoring in graphic design.  After two years of that, I switched majors to illustration for another two years.  During my schooling at the Academy, I incorporated my spray painting in both my homework and random jobs. A lot of what I learned at school translated on to the constant painting I did at the 23rd Oakland tracks.  On the flip side, what I learned from my fellow graff peers and what I learned on my own also started appearing in my schoolwork.

1:AM: How does it feel to be the reigning champion of Estria’s Invitational Graffiti Battle?

V: Last year after I captured the title, it seems a lot different. I hear from other competitors jokingly, or maybe seriously, about how they are after me.  It puts a lot more pressure on me because I don’t want to bail. I want to of course, win and keep the title.  I am working hard on it.  I paint anytime I can.

1:AM: Who do you think is your biggest competition?

V: I don’t want to name anyone specific.  It seems everyone has stepped up their game.  People who were in it last year, their pieces and characters have gotten better.  It can be anybody.  It’s going to be whoever steps it up and completes the task the best.  Not everybody can deliver.

1:AM: When Estria announces the word to paint, what goes through your mind?  How fast can you process that and come up with something?

V: Some things click right away and some things come as I am painting.  For the most part, I try to have some kind of game plan.  So, I will look at the colors along with whatever composition I need to do.  Since there is only one can of a certain color, I want to use it wisely.  And then, I think about everything; what is the most necessary thing that has to go up and if I run out of time or come close to running out of time, what is not as important so I can leave it out.  I can keep going and going way past the limit to make it better but since it is timed, I just have to know what takes the longest.

1:AM: Do you think the most difficult part of the battle is that it is timed?

V: No.  I personally like the challenge.  Nobody knows what the word is.  Nobody knows the colors they are going to get.  The only thing we know is the size of this canvas and that’s it. Not everybody can handle those things.  A lot of people are just good at their names or they’re just good at characters or somebody maybe more fluent in colors while others can be monochromatic.  Plus, you don’t know what the judges are looking for either.  I just try and touch the basis on every single thing.  If I go down the list of what they are judging, the letters are coming first.  So, I have to make sure that my letters have a significant style in it, not have a bunch of bars going all over the place.  And then, all the other ones are second and third to that, like composition, color, and I don’t even remember the rest.

Vogue on 6th Street Defenestration Wall

1:AM:  It is interesting to hear all of this because I don’t think a lot of people realize that there is strategy to this.

V: That’s what I tell people.  They think it is easy when they see it on the Internet.  After I won last year, they thought it was possibly fixed… because I am from here and I am friends with Estria.  I get pissed… I get angry when somebody say it was fixed.  Why does the finals have to be in Oakland?  We can have the finals in New York.  You know, I don’t care.  I know that some of the judges in New York might be bias towards style.  But I try keep some of that flavor in there and that is why I did okay in New York last year.  I just want to keep holding it down.  If I could win again that would be…great! (he chuckles)

1:AM: Do you have any rituals before going into battle?

V: No, just preparation.  I have to be focused; make sure that I am hydrated, I have a shaded spot and have to make sure I have my sunglasses. I might go without eating during the battle or eat something small.  If I can clear my mind of all those little small things, I am ready to battle. I don’t think people realize that you have to take those things into consideration.

The only thing I do is prep.  Make sure that I am mentally and physically ready for it.

1:AM: Do you have anything to say to your competition this year?

V: No. I shouldn’t have to; I only expect them to bring their best.  I wish that with all the competitors.  It seems that every year, there is some contender that is just thrown in there and they don’t take it seriously.  They are just coming out to paint… I don’t know why, maybe because there is free paint or trying to get exposure.  If you are not doing the task at hand, you are not going to get that exposure.  I feel you should do it correctly.  The only thing I can say to them is come with their best… why would you want anything else?  That’s what this is all about.  This is a battle.

1:AM: A lot of aspiring young graffiti artists look up to you.  Do you have any advice for them?

V: Ya, not to let people get them down.  Even if their parents are against it, it is an art form that is in its’ infancy stages, it’s going to take off.  A spray can is no different than a paintbrush or pencil or pen.  I think as it grows, it will be more and more accepted; it will be more commercially used.  The other elements of hip hop have grown while graffiti has always been seen as a bad thing.  The word graffiti is known as a bad word.  I just want them (young graffiti artists) to stick with it if they love it like I do, as I still do.  Push it forward.  One of the most important things is to look at the history of it… and not just through the eyes of other people on the Internet.  If they knew where it came from, they can respect it more.  A lot of people don’t.  Often times, the young ones get up, do their thing, and demand respect.  And that is not how it goes.

1:AM: Good luck tomorrow.  Go get ‘em!

V: Thanks.  See you tomorrow.

Will Vogue be able to defend his title tomorrow?

Make sure you pass by 1:AM gallery to check out Vogue’s latest masterpieces in THE CLASSICS show.  The show will be up through October 16th.

"Night Out On the Town" by Vogue (part of THE CLASSICS, showing now @ 1:AM)

Estria Invitational Graffiti Battle starts tomorrow (Sunday, October 3rd) at 11AM, deFremery Park (1651 Adeline St. Oakland, CA).  Make sure you make time to see Bay Area graff legends throw down!

Valerie Leavy: You were already documenting public art and murals in the 70′s, and that’s how you came to be interested in graffiti and spraycan art; it was another form of public art to you. Did you sense that yours was a minority opinion, or was there already some enthusiasm for the new form of expression outside of the youth and hip-hop culture that was creating it?

Jim Prigoff: I moved to Chicago in 1975. Although I frequently visited NYC on business, I wasn’t really confronted with the growing tagging [movement] in NYC and the great era of the trains. An early visit by Tony Silver to my San Francisco home in the 80’s to talk about the upcoming Style Wars film and a later introduction to Henry Chalfant in NYC, plus Getting Up by Castleman and Subway Art by Martha and Henry all made me more aware of the murals, pieces, and tags that I had been photographing. By the mid 80’s I realized that the art was coming out  the Subway tunnels, onto the city walls and handball courts and was beginning to move across the country. I wrote to Henry and said I was going to do a book about the progress of the movement and asked him to join me. He answered that, “my brain is graffitied out, but let ‘s do it.”

The first concept was to check the major US cities, but the project soon evolved into a trip around the world. The art world was barely aware of the movement, and outside of a few shows in Europe and in NYC this was more of a city’s war against graffiti and the early “expert” panels were all “Is it art or vandalism?”  None of us could have predicted its lasting and staying power. We were in a rush to get Spraycan Art out in 1987 for fear the whole movement might be dead by then. Who could have predicted that millions of youth and people all over the world would become involved and that Spraycan Art would go on to sell 200,000 copies?

VL: In another interview, you mention, “wanting to write an article entitled Ten Million Tags and Still Counting, but it was the “pieces” that were the motivation of the treasure hunt.” Can you describe what, for you, is the difference between a tag and a piece? Is it more than simply size and color?

JP: A tag is simply the writing of one’s aka. Taki 183 was simply his tag name and the street on which he lived. Embellishing the letters turned tags into “throw-ups.” Good calligraphy was a rarity in the early days. IN was an easy tag to get up thousands of times because it was quick and simple. A BLADE tag would be more complex. Mural-type images contained letters, often characters, and usually had multiple colors and embellishments. There were “pieces” and there were “master pieces.”  Style became an important factor early on, as it would be in any art canvas. I documented tags when I thought they had historic value or were unique in some way, but it was the quality of the art that I found fascinating, particularly because it was painted with a difficult brush (a spray can) and because the artists were self-trained and few had any art schooling. As a political person, I could also relate what I found to the social injustice of the existing economic system and its effect particularly on inner city youth.

I have an  autograph that Martin Luther King Jr. gave me, but I also have a good slide of a T-Kid 170 from the streets of NYC, and many tags in a book from a show in Holland with all the well known NYC writers.

VL: When you were putting together material for Spraycan Art with co-author Henry Chalfant, how did you find the writers and how did you gain their trust?

JP: Finding the artists in the early days was helped considerably by the fact that Henry had already met many of them or had contact with them by mail. In Europe I would often go to a wall and note who was watching me. Often it was the writer. In Bruhl, Germany, while standing at a wall, I struck up a conversation with a young man who turned out to be writing his doctoral thesis about the art. Did he know the artist? Yes he did, but the artist had to move out of town because the police were looking for him. He would call the artist who might be able to catch a train and be there in a half hour. That is how I met KING PIN.

Youth naturally were entitled to be careful in meeting us, but we gained their friendship because we were somewhat unique in that we came with an interest in their art and an understanding of the movement. We were both able to bridge the age gap easily. As time went on, it was clear that we could be trusted to protect their identity. Somehow the writers had a sixth sense as to who were the NARCS and who were the good guys.

VL: Is there a writer that you wanted to find but never could?

JP: I know most of the major early writers in the US and abroad, but as the movement grew it was impossible to keep up with all the new, current talent. Although I knew SENTO well and photographed much of his early work, I always respected his request never to photograph him from the front. I did not have to meet everyone.

VL: Have you ever tried your hand at spraycan art or tagging? What would your alias be?

JP: I always thought my alias would be TAG, but I believe I may have seen it once somewhere along the way. I have tried a spray can. It is VERY difficult. Many artists who can sketch well, cannot reproduce their work with a spray can with the same quality of image.

VL: Your interest in spraycan art is longstanding. How have you seen the form evolve since the publication of Spraycan Art?

JP: From the mid eighties until the early 2000’s, very little was published, but the art form was evolving world-wide. Since then, literally hundreds of books have come to market. Writers were old enough to tell their own stories. The art form had attracted interest from many different perspectives. There is currently an oversaturation of material. Quality of publication varies considerably. As Graffiti evolved into “Street Art,” whole new avenues opened up to artists and those who began to follow the scene.

VL: Is your home covered in murals? I’ll bet you have a family pet named Fat Cap.

JP: Although I had the opportunity, I never collected the artist’s interior work. But I do have some 80,000 slides of graff and murals. I have a wonderful Dzine (Chicago) abstract on my living room wall and soon will have an exciting portrait of myself by Brett Cook/Dizney. My walls are covered with screen prints, wood cuts, and political art. I do not like cats, but I would not call one FAT CAP. Perhaps PHAT KAT.

VL: Any new projects in the works?

JP: Projects are continuously happening. I hope to be involved in the big Street Art show happening at the LAMOCA in April and the TWIST show opening in 2012 in Berkeley. People are in constant contact for photographs and many of mine will appear for the first time in an important book on the History of Graff from authors Sonik and Gastman.

Be sure to keep your eye on the ubiquitous James Prigoff. The Classics is on view now at 1:AM through October 16th.

Valerie Leavy is an art and history fanatic, and associate at 1:AM Gallery.