From Oakland to San Francisco and beyond, the Bay Area is a meca for art — both on the streets and in the galleries. Without a doubt, one of the more prolific street artists to emerge from the scene is local native Vogue TDK. Over the last thirty years Vogue has used his art to communicate with the rest of the world. Like many of his fellow graffiti contemporaries, Vogue got his start by producing illegal out-door art that often breathlessly combined aerosol paint with the world around us. In the 80′s he started the skinny cap technique which has not only become the norm for others looking to create finer detail.

Whether it be dangling from a sign high above a freeway or painting a mural on the side of a building, Vogue has continued to develop and evolve his style. On May 31st, he’ll be opening his new show entitled: “How We Do”. The show will showcase works that look at the streets from the perspective of a hustler’s life — low-riders, spray cans, trains, cityscapes pay homage to Vogue’s career and life. More importantly, the works will be done photo-realistically using aerosol on canvas. Expect to see plenty of intricate street life iconography such as train tracks, car culture, and graffiti artists.

Recently, we caught up with Vogue TDK. More at the jump:

Who is Vogue? Tells about yourself. 

I am a spray can artist from the Oakland area who is also a business owner, entrepreneur and family man who dabbles in pin striping and airbrushing.

When did you start painting and what inspired you to pick up a spray can for the first time?

I started painting in late 84, early 85 and I was inspired by the documentary Style Wars which I saw on a PBS channel. After watching this it opened my eyes to a whole new art form that was youth driven.

Did anyone take you under their wing when you were coming up?

No, there was nobody at that time to influence me. I was one of the first generation writers that evolved from the west coast.

What was the bay area graf scene like in the 80s?

Those were the golden years when everything was new fresh and exciting. Exploring and meeting new people was just as fun as painting. I would say it was primitive but really thrilling where everything was a mission from getting the paint, the caps and finding the right spots to paint.

Who would you say is the most underrated writer?

It’s hard to say generally because graff is so global now. But locally I would say Done from my crew is one that stands out just because he has the natural talent and is well rounded. I see a lot of potential in a lot of up and coming writers but I feel like they need a bit of guidance and structure.

Can you share some sick painting stories? 

Graffiti has exploded in the mass media.  The market is flooded with books, documentaries and mass produced clothing and accessories.  What are your thoughts on that?

I feel that as long as it is put out by people with involvement, knowledge and background of the history, it can be beneficial to the art form as it has with all other aspects of the hip hop culture.

What has kept you interested in graffiti for so long?

The freedom of expressing myself whenever and however I would like in a public form, also being able to push the boundaries of my work to a higher level to show people that graff is art not just vandalism

In Saturday’s SF Chronicle, C.W. Nevius, an opinion writer, released an article titled “Graffiti supplies at retail” which included 1AM.  He only focused on a small part of what we do.  So, we wanted to give Nevius and his readers the opportunity to learn more about who we are by sharing our mission statement and making them aware of all the services and products we offer that was strategically missing from his article.

1AM, short for First Amendment, is a company that stands for the freedom of speech.  We strive to showcase, teach, and inspire the public on street and urban art through our exhibitions, murals and classes.  In our art gallery, we exhibit world-renowned and local artists that specialize in graffiti, urban, and vinyl toy art.  Outside our gallery walls, our mural production team has been striving to beautify the city of San Francisco with large-scale murals that have positive messages like “Make Moves” and “Knowledge is Golden”.  Also, we provide a safe and creative environment for individuals and groups to learn more about the culture and art form.  We offer classes and team-building workshops and have hosted corporate off-sites with companies like Facebook, Genentech, Yahoo! and more.  We have also worked with local youth organizations, YMCA, Galileo High School, and First Graduates to name a few, to empower and educate our kids.  Most recently, we launched 1AM Mobile App, a free photography app that puts the entire street art world at your fingertips.   The app allows you to capture and share images and locations of your street art discoveries and follow other members and their findings worldwide.  Lastly, 1AM has a retail store that sells original clothing by our creative staff, street art books and art supplies, which is the main topic of Nevius’ article.  Similar to art supply stores like Blick, Utrecht, Arch and Flax as well as hardware stores like Ace and Home Depot (who carry a lower cost option), we indeed do sell spray paint and markers.

1AM was established  in 2008 and is located at Howard and 6th Street in SOMA.

Pablo de Pinho is a San Francisco based illustrator. He has been living in SF for seven years. He was born in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and has moved frequently around Northern to Southern California, and South of Brazil.

After watching Hayao Miyasaki’s films at the age of eight, Pablo decided to become a cartoonist and animator in the future.Pablo has always been self taught is a number of different media, including oil painting, graphic design and illustration. In college he decided to learn music as a way of expanding his own create vision. In music school, Pablo learned key concepts like, improvising and creating your on voice; which translated later to his own original work. He works mainly with ink or bristol board, or watercolor.

Pablo’s Laugh and Draw series was inspired by old ragtime comics, Osamu Tezuka, Daniel Clowes and Os Gemeos. Pablo’s work shows creative improvisation  with visual story telling through figurative connection between characters. He keeps the cartoon tradition of adding surrealism to his drawings. Even though there’s an aspect of chaos and disorder, this series follows a very basic formula. Also the images are not to be seen symbolically, there is a level of calligraphic detail to the lines, which makes it distinct from basic cartooning or illustration.

This past month saw the highly anticipated opening of acclaimed Barcelona-based muralist ARYZ first US solo show at FIFTY24SF. To mark the monumental occasion, ARYZ has begun work on one of his large scale works.

In conjunction with FIFTY24SF, Upper Playground, and WallSpaceSF, the new mural is located in the Tenderloin district and features a portrait of a women created in what has now become ARYZ signature style. As a muralist, ARYZ is regarded by some as a transformative figure in contemporary muralist.

Over the last several years, his work has quickly been gaining an international following with murals being done in several countries around the world. Recently, he achieved widespread acclaim with his work being featured both on Aesop Rock’s recent album “Skelethon” and the January 2013 cover of Juxtapoz Magazine.

Fifty24SF Gallery – Style is the Limit by ARYZ is currently showing until May 31st. Located at 218 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA.

We redecorated the boutique side with some of our favorite back art catalog pieces by artists such as MadC, 123Klan, Monty Guy, Hydro74, Poesia, and Sam Rodriguez. Come down and see for yourself!
Photo Credit: Francis Ramos
Click here to see photos of art for sale in our Art Catalog.
For inquiries, email maya@1AMSF.com.

Photographer Francis Ramos came by during the week to get some snapshots of Christopher de Leon and Eric “Emagn1″ Nodora at work in the gallery. Can’t wait to open the show tonight at 6:30PM, see you there! Read More »

1AM Gallery presents, “Street Dreams”, a two-person exhibition by Christopher de Leon and Eric “Emagn” Nodora. Illustrating the lives and spirit of the less fortunate in San Francisco.
In a big city where so many come with high hopes and the pursuit of a dream, life can be more than rough- it can be downright cruel and unforgiving. There are those who have had more then their fair share of misfortune and still struggle to survive. The few words scrawled onto makeshift cardboard signs do little to tell their story. Much like their dreams, these wandering urban nomads soon disappear and become one with the city’s landscape. Their outer shell may be beaten up and a little less for wear, but inside a soul still remains. Read More »

Recently, Sav Noir combined with 1AM for a release party to launch their brand and artists:

Sav Noir “THE 1AM COLLECTION” Release from BlackBox “BSC” on Vimeo.

For more photos of the event, visit www.SavNoir.com.
Interested in having a release party at 1AM Gallery? Email info(at)1AMSF.com.