the art in the streets issue

apr 11
n 123
 INTRODUCTION SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE

PRESENTS

Welcome to a
special edition of Juxtapoz
In honor of the first major street art and graffiti retrospective, Art In the Streets, opening at MOCA
in Los Angeles this April, Juxtapoz Magazine created a companion text to the show as our April
2011 issue. As Art In the Streets opens this weekend, Juxtapoz and Levi’s have teamed up, in the
spirit of street art and graffiti, where rewriting the rules is the mantra, to bring you the April Issue
here in full as a digital experience. With Levi’s Film Workshop opening at MOCA for the entirety of
Art In the Streets, allowing both the general public and museum visitors to create their own films
and motion-based productions, we hope this digital version of Juxtapoz’ April Art In the Streets
issue will inspire you to create something in the determination and essence of street art.

April 14th – August 8TH, 2011

152 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles California 90013

FILMS BY ALEX STAPLETON, CAT SOLEN + SWOON, KENNY SCHARF + NATHAN MEIER + MALIA SCHARF, NECKFACE + ISAIAH SERET SECRETS OF THE DOC DOUG PRAY, MICHAEL RAPAPORT,
ALEX STAPLETON, ONDI TIMONER VIDEO SKATE NIGHT CURATED BY PATRICK O'DELL WITH SPIKE JONZE, LANCE MOUNTAIN, TY EVANS AND SURPRISE GUESTS
CINEFAMILY FILM SERIES WITH SPECIAL GUESTS WERNER HERZOG, CHARLIE AHEARN, BUSY BEE, FAB 5 FREDDY, PATTI ASTOR, JEFFREY DEITCH, MARIPOL, MARK H. MILLER
CLASSES LED BY ECHO PARK FILM CENTER SCREENINGS WITH FILMS BY JOEY GARFIELD, ESPO AND ADAM YAUCH MOTION PAINTING WITH DAVID ELLIS PHONOTROPE-MAKING WITH JIM LE FEVRE

WORKSHOPS.LEVI.COM
TWITTER: @LEVISWORKSHOPS | FACEBOOK.COM/LEVIS | VIMEO.COM/LEVIS
2 SPECIAL ADVERTISING FEATURE
CALENDAR - ART X FILM
FRIDAY
04/15
7:30 PM
LEVI’S PRESENTS: WILD STYLE
Cinefamily
Joyous, raucous, and explosive, Wild Style is the
movie that made Hollywood wake up to hip-hop.
After the film, join us for an after-party with director
Charlie Ahearn, co-stars Busy Bee, Fab 5 Freddy &
Patti Astor, along with other special guests.
SATURDAY
04/23
5:30 PM
SCREENING: CAVE OF FORGOTTEN
DREAMS + WERNER HERZOG IN-PERSON
Natural History Museum
Werner Herzog’s brand new documentary Cave
of Forgotten Dreams gives you exclusive access
inside the Chauvet caves of southern France.
Putting modern 3-D technology to a profound
use, Cave transports you back in time over 30,000
years! See the oldest known pictorial creations of
humankind in their astonishing natural setting.
SATURDAY
04/30
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
A/V SESSIONS: DAVID CABRERA
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
In an emerging world of video performance
artists, few have background and skill as
impressive as David Cabrera, AKA mr.cocoon.
With the performative approach of a live musician,
his adaptable style has been described as
psychedelic narrative, often referencing Nam
June Paik and late 60’s light shows.
SATURDAY
05/07
11:00 AM - 9:00 PM
MOTION PAINTING WITH DAVID ELLIS
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Over the course of a full day you are invited join
artist David Ellis in the making of a motion painting.
Participants will help build, light and shoot with
time-lapse photography a variety of found objects.
When the sun sets we will watch the finished film.
SATURDAY
05/14
1:00 PM
PHONOTROPIC FUN WITH JIM LE FEVRE
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Spend a unique and entertaining afternoon with
BAFTA and British Animation Award-winning
filmmaker/animator Jim LeFevre, the champion of
this modern-day incarnation of the Zoetrope, the
Phonotrope. You’ll learn tips and tricks to make your
own short looping animations.
SCREENING EDUCATION
*ALL EVENTS AT LEVI’S FILM WORKSHOP AT MOCA UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
SUNDAY SUNDAY
04/17
11:00 AM
04/17
3:00 PM
ECHO PARK FILM CENTER: MEET THE ARTISTS:
SUPER 8 BASICS SWOON + CAT SOLEN
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Using the classic home-movie camera, students will Filmmaker Cat Solen and AITS exhibiting artist
explore the history and application of small format Swoon will share and discuss their collaborative
filmmaking. This workshop includes basic camera short film First in a series of four conceptual films
operation and shooting techniques. No previous made via the Workshop and celebrating
filmmaking experience necessary. Art in the Streets.
SATURDAY
04/23
7:30 PM - 9:00 PM
A/V SESSIONS: D-FUSE
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
London-based artists D-Fuse kick off our A/V
Sessions with their live Sonic Cinema performance
Latitude [31°10N/121°28E]. Shot during a 3
month period in China, fragments of conversations,
crowds, journeys, lights, deserted space and
architectural forms are mixed in a unique live
performance tracing a multitude of paths, identities
and influences, representing everyday life of
contemporary China.
SUNDAY
05/01
11:00 AM
ECHO PARK FILM CENTER:
16MM LOOP MAKING
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
An activation of Eisenstein’s theory of montage
mixed with lessons in how to use a splicer and
projector. Scratching, tweaking, dying, repurposing
found footage to make film loops. Participants will
chop up old films and make a new edit/film loop
that is screened at the end of the workshop.
SUNDAY
05/08
11:00 AM
ECHO PARK FILM CENTER:
HOME MEDIA MASHUP
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Bring in your old home movies (Super 8mm,
8mm, VHS) and learn to edit and reappropriate the
footage to create a story.
SATURDAY
05/14
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
A/V SESSIONS: VJ FRANZ K
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Franz Keller is a true multimedia artist - his
projection work is a combination of modern
computer geometry with classic media, such as
ink brush drawing and puppeteering. He is a
graduate of UCLA Design School, and prominent
member of the Pomona Arts Colony, and former
director of SCA Project Gallery. In the techno clubs,
and on YouTube, he’s known as VJ Franz K - a video
journalist as well as music / visual performer.
EVENT LIVE & DIRECT ON FACEBOOK
JUXTAPOZ
SUNDAY
04/24
11:00 AM
ECHO PARK FILM CENTER: 16MM BASICS
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Join us for an introduction to 16mm filmmaking
using Bolex reflex and Beaulieu cameras. In this
workshop, students will learn basic camera
operation and lighting. No previous filmmaking
experience necessary.
SUNDAY
05/01
3:00 PM
SECRETS OF THE DOC
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Acclaimed documentary filmmakers Doug
Pray (Hype!, Scratch, Infamy, Surfwise), Michael
Rapaport (Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of
a Tribe Called Quest), Alexandria Stapleton
(Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel),
Ondi Timoner (Dig!, We Live in Public) will reveal
the challenges and their tips for shooting
unscripted films.
SUNDAY
05/15
3:00 PM
MEET THE ARTISTS: NECK FACE +
ISAIAH SERET
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Filmmaker Isaiah Seret and AITS exhibiting artist
Neck Face will share and discuss their collaborative
short film. Devendra Banhart, Edward Sharpe & The
Magnetic Zeros
Third in a series of four conceptual films made via
the Workshop and celebrating Art in the Streets.
SCREENING EDUCATION
*ALL EVENTS AT LEVI’S FILM WORKSHOP AT MOCA UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
WORKSHOPS.LEVI.COM
TWITTER: @LEVISWORKSHOPS | FACEBOOK.COM/LEVIS
VIMEO.COM/LEVIS
TUESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY
04/19
8:00 PM
04/21
8:00 PM
04/22
8:00 PM
LEVI’S PRESENTS: DOWNTOWN 81 LEVI’S PRESENTS: MUR MURS LEVI’S PRESENTS: GLOBAL GRAFFITI
Cinefamily Cinefamily SHORTS
Downtown 81 stars legendary artist, poet and Mur Murs is Agnès Varda’s love letter to Los Cinefamily
musician Jean-Michel Basquiat, as director Edo Angeles–ephemeral, idiosyncratic and startling A shorts program curated by Cinefamily, incl Helen
Bertoglio captures the energy of the early-’80s New street murals that give freeways, airports, and Stickler’s Andre The Giant Has A Posse, her 1997
York art-world and bohemian subculture. Post-film other communal spaces unexpected vibrancy and look at Shepard Fairey’s infamous guerilla sticker
panel with MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch, artist / life. Plus Stations of the Elevated, a wordless tone campaign, Matt McCormick’s The Subconscious Art
Downtown 81 producer Maripol, and Jean-Michel poem by German filmmaker Manfred Kirchheimer, of Graffiti Removal, and the rare Dreams Don’t Die,
Basquiat at the Fun Gallery co-director Marc H. Miller! featuring music by Charles Mingus. 1982 movie about an inner-city graffiti writer.
WEDNESDAY
04/27
8:00 PM
LEVI’S PRESENTS: SKATE VIDEO NIGHT
Vista Theatre
Noted photographer and producer Patrick O’Dell
(Epicly Later’d) will present a special compilation of
seminal skateboard videos from the 1980s to today.
The screening will be followed by a conversation
with legendary skateboarders and filmmakers,
including Spike Jonze, Stacy Peralta, Lance
Mountain, Ed Templeton, Greg Hunt, Ty Evans, Rick
Howard, Aaron Meza, Tobin Yelland.
MONDAY
05/02
7:00 PM
LA PREMIERE OF FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT
REVISITED DOC
Egyptian Theatre
This 30 minute short was one of the most talked
about films at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
The Beastie Boys have revisited their classic “(You
Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” music
video, with an all-star cast that puts any big screen
blockbuster to shame.
SUNDAY
05/08
3:00 PM
MEET THE ARTISTS: KENNY SCHARF +
NATHAN MEIER + MALIA SCHARF
Levi’s® Film Workshop at MOCA
Filmmakers Malia Scharf, Nathan Meier and AITS
exhibiting artist Kenny Scharf will share and discuss
their collaborative short film, Kenny Scharf: More,
Newer, Better, Nower, Funner.
Second in a series of four conceptual films made
via the Workshop and celebrating Art in the Streets.
SAVE THE DATE 05/24
8:00 PM
EGYPTIAN THEATRE
PREMIERE OF THE OFFICIAL STORY OF ART IN THE STREETS,
DIRECTED BY ALEX STAPLETON
EVENT LIVE & DIRECT ON FACEBOOK
4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Photo by Gusmano Cesaretti JUXTAPOZ

Juxtapoz 123
levi’s film workshop 32
Curator Conversation 38 Lee Quinones 44
Bill Daniel 54 Margaret Kilgallen 64 Dash Snow 72 video
Jamie Reid 78 Fab 5 Freddy 88 Rammellzee 96
Gusmano Cesaretti 104 Martha Cooper 114
SWOON +
CAT SOLEN
filmed at moca in conjunction
Introduction 6 Profiles 16 Insider 130 Perspective 142
with the exhibition art in the
streets

One in a series of four collaborative films

facilitated by the Levi’s Film Workshop

Watch here:
JUXTAPOZ (ISSN #1077-8411) APRIL 2011, Volume 18, Number 4. Published monthly by High Speed Productions, Inc., 1303 Underwood Ave, San Francisco, CA 94124–3308. ©2010 High Speed Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved. Printed in USA. JUXTAPOZ® is a registered trademark of High Speed Productions, Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Opinions expressed in ­a rticles are those vimeo.com/levis/swoon-cat
of the author. All rights reserved on entire contents. Advertising inquiries should be directed to: (415) 671 2429; (415) 822 8359 (fax). Subscriptions: US, $29.99 (one year, 12 issues) or $75.00 (12 issues, first class, US only);
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Periodicals Postage Paid at San Francisco, CA, and at additional ­mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No 0960055. Change of address: Allow six weeks advance notice and
send old address label along with your new address. ­POSTMASTER: Send change of address to JUXTAPOZ, PO Box 884570, San Francisco, CA 94188–4570.
6 PHOTOS JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco

upcoming

kenny
scharf +
nathan
meier +
malia
scharf
coming may 8, 2011

Watch it here:
vimeo.com/levis/scharf-meier
 JUXTAPOZ Photo by John Barton

Introduction
123
You are about to read through a lot of history. This issue revels in stories of
pinnacle moments of convergence, remarkable communication, specific and FOUNDER / ROBERT WILLIAMS
diligent documentation that spread street art and graffiti around the world, EDITOR / M. REVELLI
MANAGING and web editor / EVAN PRICCO
about outsider artists who paved the way, obsession, anarchy, anti-authority,
ART DIRECTOR / trenton Temple
death, birth, and reflection. You will read about men and women who created co-founder / GREG ESCALANTE
a spirit of, as Jeffrey Deitch puts it, “unmediated expression,” a momentum so CONTRIBUTING ART IN THE STREETS EDITOR / ROGER GASTMAN

relentless that even when standing completely outside the normal confines of CREATIVE CONSULTANT / SUZANNE WILLIAMS
CREATIVE DIRECTOR / HYBRID DESIGN, SF / WWW.HYBRID-DESIGN.COM
the traditional exhibition art circuit could no longer be ignored. You will learn
GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR / KEVIN CONVERTITO
about pioneers, some of whom may change your opinion on graffiti and street art. PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR / CR STECYK III
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER / RANDY DODSON
Guru / Nick Lattner
Building this companion issue to the landmark Art in the Streets survey opening
PRODUCTION ASSISTANTs / Brent gentile / Jeanette Sawyer / DAN WHITELEY
at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles this month garnered
new appreciation for the origins of many artist we have covered. Even if you NEW MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY EDITOR / ALEXANDER TARRANT

personally never picked up a spray can, put up a wheat paste, or wrote on
a wall, the energy and freedom of expression conveyed through graffiti and
street art permeated the art world. It was, and may still be, the ultimate “fuck
you” mentality. Origins of this attitude can be found in Jamie Reid and his Sex
Pistols’ art, in the 1970s street photography of Gusmano Cesaretti, the early
street pieces in New York City by Lee, and in the street poems that Jean-Michel
Basquiat left behind around downtown. Where it went from there was to the
Contributing Editor / Joey Garfield
CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITORS / SAM BASSETT / ESTEVAN ORIOL
Contributing Writers / Joshua Blank / Henry Chalfant / Crash / Shepard Fairey
Sacha Jenkins / Shelley Leopold / Tristan Manco / Jon Naar / Chris Pape
Elizabeth Pepin / Jake Phelps / Revok / Aaron Rose / Caroline Ryder / Saber
Wooster Collective
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / 13TH WITNESS / JOSHUA BLANK / angela boatwright
HENRY CHALFANT / MARTHA COOPER / CHUCK GIBSON / COLIN O’BRIEN / ESTEVAN ORIOL
Interns / Rose Athena / Caitlin Fitting

streets of San Francisco with Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen, to Brazil with
Director of New Business / Jeben Berg • (415) 671-2414 • Jeben@hsproductions.com
Os Gêmeos, to Obey Giant, to Revs and Cost, to Saber, and as far as England advertising director / Erin Dyer • (415) 671-2434 • erin@juxtapoz.com
with Banksy. The names are iconic, and each contributed in passing the baton MARKETING DIRECTOR / DAVE SYPNIEWSKI • DAVID@HSPRODUCTIONS.COM

onto a new generation. So we ask, where does it all go now? ADVERTISING SALES / EBEN STERLING • eben@hsproductions.COM
AD TRAFFICkING / MIKE BRESLIN
MARKETING and ADVERTISING manager / SALLY VITELLO
Graffiti and street art had always relied on an audience in a distinct public space
and locale. Pieces done in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, the Bronx, or Berlin were PRESIDENT / GWYNNED VITELLO
VICE PRESIDENT / ERIC SWENSON
done so people would see, discuss, digest, understand, and interact. Where
PUBLISHER / EDWARD H. RIGGINS
discourse and interaction with art existed solely in galleries and museums in CFO / JEFF RAFNSON
the mid-twentieth century, this new distribution point was created in the streets ACCOUNTING MANAGER / KELLY MA

throughout the 1970s, ’80s, and most of the ’90s. Today, the Internet has broken CIRCULATION DIRECTOR / DEBBIE DEXTER
CIRCULATION CONSULTANT / JOE BERGER
all barriers and rules. Work is now being created for the first point of interaction
GENERAL COUNSEL / JAMES M. BARRETT
to occur on your laptop, not a physical space. The audience is infinite (or six
billion people infinite). You aren’t just putting a piece up in Valencia, Spain; SUBSCRIPTIONs / MAIL ORDER / JENNY GALVEZ / Yolanda Rodriguez
(888) 520 9099 • SUBSCRIPTIONS@HSPRODUCTIONS.COM • ORDERS@HSPRODUCTIONS.COM
you are sharing a piece for the world to see via their computers, smartphones,
PRODUCT SALES MANAGER / RICK ROTSAERT • (415) 822 4189
and iPads. When Banksy flooded San Francisco’s streets in 2010, it wasn’t PRODUCT PROCUREMENT / PETER TURNER
just SF that experienced the work, but forums and blogs around the world SHIPPING / DERIK STEVENSON
TECHNICAL LIAISON / Santos Ely Agustin
that delivered the news with posts and images. It became a global story, far
outweighing the local impact. The new distribution point of street art and graffiti JUXTAPOZ IS PUBLISHED BY HIGH SPEED PRODUCTIONS, INC. (415) 822 3083
is the Internet. And who will utilize new technology and break new ground in
this development? EMAIL TO: EDITOR@JUXTAPOZ.COM WWW.JUXTAPOZ.COM

We have seen moments of clarity in what the next few decades could look like.
To us, BLU and David Ellis’ COMBO may be the start of the revolution: street art
and performance made for video and Internet-only. Even Evan Roth’s Graffiti
Analysis project speaks of a new medium for graff and street art. It will be these
new pioneers, creating new languages within the same spirit birthed by Dondi,
The publishers would like to thank everyone who has furnished information and
materials for this issue. Unless otherwise noted, artists featured in JUXTAPOZ
VIDEO
retain copyright to their work. Every effort has been made to reach copyright
owners or their representatives. The publisher will be pleased to correct any
NECK FACE
+ ISAIAH
mistakes or omissions in our next issue. JUXTAPOZ welcomes editorial submissions;
however, return postage must accompany all unsolicited manuscripts, art,
drawings, and photographic materials if they are to be returned. No responsibility

SERET
Futura, Chaz Bojorquez, Crash, Fab 5 Freddy, and countless others. can be assumed for unsolicited materials. All letters will be treated as
unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and subject
to JUXTAPOZ’ right to edit and comment editorially.
Shepard Fairey observes, in his contribution to this issue, “Hopefully street
coming may 15, 2011
and graffiti artists will, like their predecessors, evolve and change as public
environments force them to adapt.” The new frontier is waiting, and we’re on the
Watch it here:
lookout for the next trailblazers.
vimeo.com/levis/neckface-seret
Newsstand Cover Subscriber Cover
by Margaret Kilgallen by Lee Quinones
Enjoy issue 123. Image courtesy of the Send In the Clowns
Estate of Margaret Kilgallen Acrylic, charcoal, graphite
and Ratio 3, San Francisco pencil, spray paint, and
Detail of Backside printed matter on canvas
Oil on wood 50" x 68"
8" x 10" 2009
1998
10 Levi’s x moca trucker jackets JUXTAPOZ Photo by John Barton

Levi’s x moca
trucker jackets
12 Levi’s x moca trucker jackets JUXTAPOZ

Since it was first introduced in 1967,

the Levi’s® trucker jacket has served as
an iconic canvas for artists around the
world, from the boogie-down bronx to the
favelas of brazil. These Levi’s® trucker jackets
are part of a limited series celebrating Levi’s®
partnership with art in the streets.

All proceeds from the sale of this jacket benefit Chaz Bojorquez Andre
MOCA and its community programs. Started writing 1969 Started painting 1985
Black trucker – release date 4/17 Rigid trucker – release date 5/14

All jackets limited to 50 pieces

Crash KR
Available exclusively at Art In The Streets Started writing 1975 Started writing 1989
$250 Each Zap trucker – release date 4/17 Black trucker – release date 6/4

Keith Haring Shepard Fairey

Started writing 1979 Started posting 1989
Rigid trucker – release date 8/6 Green tar trucker – release date 7/2

Kenny Scharf Revok

Started painting 1979 Started writing 1989
Ghost or rigid trucker – release date 4/23 Tanker trucker – release date 6/18

Lady Pink Neck Face

Started writing 1979 Started writing 2000
Women’s bohemian trucker – release date 4/17 Black trucker – release date 7/16
 JUXTAPOZ Photo by John Barton

PHOTOS

levi’s film
workshop
Juxtapoz x michael leon april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California

The Levi’s Film Workshop is stocked

with a variety of resources including
available at camera and equipment rentals, post-
production editing bays, a green

Juxtapoz.com screen, stop motion stations, VJ booth

and much more. Everything is free and
open to the public.
16 PROFILES JUXTAPOZ

Henry
Chalfant

Henry Chalfant contacted me about five years

after I had photographed Faith of Graffiti and
I was able to put him in touch with Cay 161
and other taggers who had guided me and
Norman Mailer to much of the early graffiti
I documented. What he and Martha Cooper
did so brilliantly in their book, Subway Art,
was to show us the next generation of graffiti
and to explain its process so meaningfully.
A sculptor of distinction, Henry is also a
filmmaker and videographer, whose Style
Wars is an outstanding classic of New York’s
historic role in this exciting expression of street
art. Above all, I admire Henry’s integrity as an
important artist who is bearing witness to the
time and the place we inhabit. We continue to
work on a number of levels and I am proud to
call him one of my oldest and dearest friends.
—Jon Naar

Revolt and Min

Seen and Doze

18 PHOTOS JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco

PHOTOS

ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California

A detailed look at CR Stecyk III’s

massive walls at Art In the Streets
20 PROFILES JUXTAPOZ Photo by John Barton

Crash

I have never met Crash, and for good reason.

In my world someone like Crash is something
larger than legend, a predecessor and point
of inspiration to the generation that spawned
what I am. Without guys like him this global
art movement that folks refer to as “Graffiti”
or “Street Art” likely would never be. People
love to celebrate names like Haring or Basquiat
as early pioneers of this movement but it’s
the Crash’s, Zephyr’s, Haze’s, Seen’s, Blade’s
and Futura’s that turned the key to release
the children of the world out onto the street
to play. And it’s guys like Crash who crossed
the street and turned yet another key, and
invited us to a new space. He gave us dignity
and earned our respect in a world we learned
wanted only to erase us and lock up our spirit.
For this and for countless other achievements
WE THANK YOU. —Revok

PHOTOS

ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California

Levi’s Film Workshop green screen

at MOCA
22 PROFILES
Futura
When Juxtapoz approached me to write
something about Futura, my mind raced a
million miles. I wanted to write about so many
of the things that had a huge impact on my
career as well as every other young graffiti artist
from the early 1980s. Like his letterless whole
car, the early LA exhibits at the Bane Gallery,
or making a record with the Clash. Then they
dropped the bomb… I was only given 150
words for this project!
The Color of Money So with that in mind I’m going to let his style
Spraypaint and acrylic on canvas
120" x 108" speak for itself. His name alone is a true
2011 testament to his style. He came up with his
JUXTAPOZ Photos by Evan Pricco
PHOTOS
1
ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California
1 Alexis Ross and CR Stecyk III
outside of MoCA, procrastinating
2 Shepard Fairey gives a last minute
style and name over 30 years ago, far beyond
look over 3 LEE between breaks
his time, and as any great artist hopes for,
painting his massive mural on the
his work has not been dated, rather it has
Geffen building 4 RETNA and
become timeless. He has pioneered so much
Estevan Oriol
in the graffiti game, not just the obvious fills
and linear work that all accomplished aerosol
artists have played with at one time or another
in their career, but his approach as a whole.
His greatest contribution was his push to
be original and different. Futura 2000 broke
countless boundaries and continues to be
leading the pack into the next millennium.
He is a true inspiration and legend to
contemporary artists worldwide. —Risk
2 3
4
24 PROFILES JUXTAPOZ

Revok

The challenge is on, but even more challenging

is that I have never had the opportunity to
meet Revok. Being artists, our eyes are always
searching for new concepts, ideas, anything
that will feed that insatiable hunger that keeps
our spirits in constant movement. In this
process, it’s also obvious that we look at what’s
happening with our peers and within our artistic
community. Every once in awhile you get
stopped in your tracks as you experience what
you’ve been longing for.

Revok has done this to me on too many

occasions. His work stands out like the sorest
of thumbs, and I wish had that type of effect
on others. His work is so unique, so intense,
so original, yet it doesn’t rebuff you, but brings
you in. To me, that’s what it’s all about. Graff
is language personified and he definitely has
created his own accent within this language.

I love his pieces on billboards because I always

have to wait a second and say, “Oh, no, he
didn’t!” To hit and run… His walls are tight…
His lettering is unmatched, except for a few,
and that says a lot. He just doesn’t need to
keep painting within the confines of the borders
of the canvas. Now I’m getting pissed! He rarely
misses, and that’s a scary thought…
—Crash1, Da Bronx
26 PHOTOS JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco

PHOTOS

ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California

A detailed look at Henry Chalfant’s

wall in Art In the Streets
28 PROFILES JUXTAPOZ

ROA

“The texture of the wall and the environment

completes my idea or inspiration. Normally,
I don’t know what I am going to paint until
the final moment I stand in front of the wall.”
—ROA

Across a rooftop a giant bird surveys the city,

along a side street a pile of pigs take a nap
and inside an abandoned factory a giant bull’s
head lies on the ground. This is the world of
ROA, an artist originally from Belgium, while
his paintings can also be found from New York
to Mexico City.

For ROA, animals can represent many things;

some are culturally metaphorical for sin or for
hope, humans consider some as dirt, others
as beautiful. “It’s an open theme,” he explains
“I’m interested by ordinary animals who live
next to us; like rats, pigs and cows. They are
all integrated in our western consumption
culture, but it feels estranged when you see
them painted on the street. To show them out
of scale on the streets gives them a surreal
ambiguity, and I can’t deny I am also fascinated
by the circle of life in a peaceful, morbid manner.”
—Tristan Manco

Photo by Luna Park

Brooklyn
2010
30 PHOTOS JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco

PHOTOS

ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California

Mister Cartoon’s infamous Ice

Cream Truck
32 Levi’s Film Workshop JUXTAPOZ

Levi’s Film Workshop

text by evan pricco / photos by john barton
34 Levi’s Film Workshop JUXTAPOZ
For Juxtapoz, it started in Spring 2010, by
receiving a tutorial on how to use a letterpress
machine at the Levi’s® Print Workshop in San
Francisco. We didn’t know what to expect,
except that we’d be able to learn, use, and craft
an entire print invitation down the street from
where one of the original San Francisco Levi’s
jean factories used to run. We wrote at the
time about wandering amongst workstations
for classic letterpress, screenprinting designs,
and type setting, all set up with employees
and artists working together at each machine.
Of course the kicker was when we asked how
much it would cost to spend an hour printing
posters that we wanted to make. The answer
was simple: Free.
When the second installment of the Workshops
opened in NYC with Levi’s® Photo Workshop
at the old Deitch Projects space in SoHo,
colleagues and friends alike were, unsolicited,
telling us about how crazy (they used the word
a few times) it was for a major corporation
to create a community-based program that
seemed so seamless and right-on. You were
being asked by a huge company to go and
explore your creative talents. And if you had
never used a letterpress machine, or worked a
35mm camera, here were the tools for you learn.
Create, explore, do it by yourself or with friends,
it doesn’t matter—as long as you had a place
to go and ignite your imaginative spark. Be
inspired and inspire. Make art on your own
terms. We may be overusing the key words of
creation, but there is a feeling that when given
the keys to something that has always felt
reserved for art schools and professionals,
a person can feel a sense of liberation unknown
before. And again, this was all a free experience.
This Spring and Summer, as the world of street
and graffiti aficionados descend upon downtown
Los Angeles for the soon-to-be seminal Art
In the Streets at the Geffen Contemporary at
MOCA, the opening of the third Levi’s® Workshop
will take place within the same building. With
this being LA and Hollywood, the home of
cinema, filmmaking, and the “stars,” naturally
this installment is the Levi’s® Film Workshop.
Just as street art, graffiti, and skate culture
have thrived through documentation with the
film medium, the Levi’s® Film Workshop will
provide a series of collaborative film and video
projects, robust educational programming, and
a city-wide screening series throughout the Art
In the Streets exhibition, all for the public to use
and experience. You don’t even have to see the
exhibit. And again, all for free.
If you’ve ever wanted to use a green screen,
a Super-8 camera, learn about stop-motion
animation, edit using Final Cut, or just learn
from a professional about making a documentary
film, the Levi’s® Film Workshop can be one
or all of those things. If you live in the area or
are visiting Art In the Streets, the facilities are
there for you to use, rent, and learn. If you live
in Jackson, Mississippi; Seoul, South Korea;
or Cape Town, South Africa, tutorials and live-
streaming events will be there to explore and
interact with as well.
The programming itself is extensive, encom-
passing everything from workshops with USC’s
School of Cinematic Arts 3D, a series of film
screenings related to art, skate, music, and
food presented in partnership with LA-based
curators and theaters, as well as tools and
resources available to filmmakers of varying
levels of expertise, including-latest generation
computer and editing tools,
equipment rental, a film library, and a digital
collaboration facility.
Of course, we can tell you about every single
bell and whistle of the Levi’s Workshops; peel
every layer off and show you how fantastically
unique the Workshop experience is. How the
spirit of giving people the ability to be inspired
and creative on both a micro, macro, physical,
and web level is in true spirit with the global
spread and popularity of street art and graffiti.
It was about something you can’t and could
never buy, about the seeds of speaking to like-
minded people, about opening eyes exposed to
the normal corporate outreach for too long.
36 Levi’s Film Workshop JUXTAPOZ

The general
feeling
surrounding
Levi’s and the
Workshops
is that this
is what they
But we think what is most important about genuinely want
the entire Levi’s Workshop series is how a
community of creative-minded individuals can to be doing:
have the access and a platform to be engaged Making films,
learning about
with creation. Even though we can argue that
outsiders have the opportunity to interact with
the world via the Internet, there have always
been barriers of acceptance and accessibility.
photography,
Levi’s, through the energy and commitment of working with
their employees—knowing that community in
the arts and that the exchange of ideas is the
a letterpress.
true seed of originality—have provided a space
for us to succeed and experiment in. In return,
everyone who participates with the Workshops
gives Levi’s a return in ideas and energy to In the Fall of 2010, we wrote about the Levi’s
pursue other community-based initiatives Workshops and how they were the blueprint for
and programs. companies to interact with their bases for years
to come: “This all made us think ahead to 2020
And nobody is more excited about the when, reflecting back on what corporations did
Workshops than Levi’s. In talks with various right a decade before, Levi’s® will be perceived
people involved in the Film Workshop, they front and center as a company that thought on
were energized about the prospect of being both a micro and macro level, and ultimately
involved in all of the tutorials and weekly won. Levi’s® new campaign of community
classes, having people making films after either involvement and spending money in fresh,
experiencing Art In the Streets, or just always progressive ways shows an entity unafraid to
wanting to have filmed something with a green engage and interact with people on a base
screen. The general feeling surrounding Levi’s level.” With thousands of people coming to see
and the Workshops is that this is what they the defining exhibition of this generation at MOCA
genuinely want to be doing: Making films, in downtown Los Angeles, and thousands of
learning about photography, working with a people leaving feeling inspired to create their
letterpress. And the Workshops, in turn, reflect own piece of history, the Levi’s® Film Workshop
a real sense of purpose and authentication in will have its doors open.
how they open to their audience and community.
—Juxtapoz Magazine @ Art In the Streets
In the end, it took a jeans brand—creating a April 14, 2011
clothing item that everyone can identify with as
an absolute everyday necessity—to show the
value of participating with your core audience.
The notion of giving back to the community that
has given Levi’s so much inspiration over the
years is what will continue to fuel the Workshops.
Just as graffiti gave back time and time again,
as new artists redefined the medium and
continued to push the art form to new heights
and now museum acceptance, Levi’s will
continue to give back to the community that
has recognized it as a pioneer for 150 years.
38 Jeffrey Deitch, Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose JUXTAPOZ

Jeffrey Deitch, Roger

Gastman, and Aaron Rose
In conversation with Shepard Fairey
40 Jeffrey Deitch, Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose JUXTAPOZ

you thinking, I have to meet these people?
Deitch: Oh sure, and I met most of the major
graffiti artists. Something that was really a
On the near eve of the landmark remarkable thing, and that our show is going
to celebrate and document, is how uptown
Art in the Streets at MOCA in Los Angeles met downtown. Some of the graffiti artists
more than spray can art. It didn’t have a voice
in LA. Cholo graffiti had a voice, but that was
far different than wildstyle graffiti.
What happened in the 1990s, and there are
a bunch of catalysts, was that streetwear
clothing and bands like the Beastie Boys,
although it has been a challenge to find where
the puzzle pieces fit together, but they really
do, and I feel grateful to be able to contribute
different parts of the culture.
Deitch: What all the work we are talking
about has in common is direct, unmediated

this month, Shepard Fairey sat down with the were downtown, I believe, and lived on the
Lower East Side near the FUN Gallery. It’s a
Exhibition’s three curators, Jeffrey Deitch, remarkable thing that thanks to Fab 5 Freddy,
who’s involved with our show, Stefan Eins,
Aaron Rose, and Roger Gastman. While each who founded Fashion Moda in the South Bronx,
who were punk and hip-hop together, unified
the West and East Coast scenes into a
expression. None of these artists had to ask
permission to make their art. Whether it’s the
nationwide scene of street culture. From that
point on, it started spreading globally. And our
first subway graffiti or artists who started their
own streetwear lines, I love this difference
show is dealing with both of these moments, between graffiti and street art from more

represents different backgrounds and Bring and Charlie and John Ahearn, they connected
people like me, Crash, Futura, and Zephyr
that convergence of the 1970s and 1980s,
and then following in the 1990s.
mainstream museum art. If you get into a
museum or gallery in that world, it is after this
specific expertise to the curatorial process, with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, long process of going to the right art school,

the task of capturing the spirit of

Kenny Scharf, and beyond that, Debbie Harry A lot of my understanding about how things with the right teacher, the right assistant job
and Malcolm McLaren. These connections that influenced me and how they connected for a famous artist, the right recommendations,

graffiti and street art Brought are at the foundation of both vanguard and
mainstream popular culture that has created
didn’t happen until later. I intuitively had a
fascination with punk rock and skateboarding,
a review in a the right art magazine, and finally
the endorsement, and you can then show
them together. —Juxtapoz Magazine our world and it’s fascinating that these but later on, Thrasher Magazine declared your work in a little gallery. We are dealing
connections were made. If it weren’t for a few Public Enemy the new punk rock, so I bought with artists that had nothing to do with these
of these connectors, it all would have been that record and started to see that evolution of obstacles. They just went for it, and there
separated and people in the graffiti scene punk and hip-hop coming together. If you were is something wonderful about this direct
would not have met the people in the downtown into Black Flag, you were into the Beastie Boys. expression. I think the audience understands
scene, and these different directions would Streetwear was a big deal too because you had and relates to it.
not have cross-influenced and fed each other. all this visual sampling happening, and then you
had to find out the histories of these references The lack of academic influence is exciting
There was a fluid and harmonious conflux in the graphics. because people didn’t try to filter their natural
of things and the look of graffiti still looks inclination of what was in vogue in an attempt
dramatically influenced by all the stuff that I loved Raymond Pettibon’s work and the to be deemed successful. It was very liberating
was pioneered in that early era by Zephyr spirit of punk flyers, and people promoting in that sense. There was no one who is going
and Dondi, and a lot of the art forms that those punk shows with stickers, stencils and flyers. to put a value on the work because it fitting
guys came up with that are still pretty visible When I got to NYC and saw the graffiti and the into some pre-conceived canon. That is
in the culture. Martha Cooper and Henry different scale, I began to see similarities in the what has always excited me. You can see the
Chalfant’s book, Subway Art, disseminated scenes. The spirit of graffiti definitely influenced evolution in street art and graffiti traced back
that aesthetic all over the world. and pushed other forms of street art, even if to particular pioneers just as you can in the
stylistically the art was different. fine art movement, but there is a spirit that is
Deitch: Doing a show like this gives you very visceral in this work. As cryptic as some
an appreciation for the role of remarkable Roger Gastman: So you both reference graffiti is, when I saw it, the spirit it embodied
communication. What would have happened streetwear and the Beastie Boys, and I got resonated with me compared to things I see
if Henry Chalfant never went out and into punk rock in the late 1980s while in grade in a gallery and feel I need to read up about.
systematically documented the trends? school, then into straight-edge hardcore I gravitate toward rebellious stuff and I felt
Shepard Fairey: The really incredibly exciting art. For a new generation, there didn’t seem what a rock band was supposed to do. It was We wouldn’t have any of this. What if Martha in the early 1990s when living in suburban like the simplicity of doing something in an
thing about this show is that an audience might to be much place to go. These six galleries very open and lot of people who started bands Cooper never took photos of all the artists? Washington, D.C. Everyone in that scene that unauthorized space speaks to people. Folks
see it and do something they wouldn’t have were the only outlets for art and that was really didn’t even know how to play instruments, There are other photographers, but the I knew wrote graffiti. I had no idea that hip-hop who are attuned to that stuff get upset when
done; recognize potential they wouldn’t have limited. If you had this minimalist conceptualist but it didn’t matter because they could make roles of Henry and Martha are so crucial in had anything to do with graffiti, and I remember they see a corporation try to hijack it; they
recognized. I know that for me, for example, approach, that was perfect for you. It was so great music with noise machines or just documenting and creating this history and the going to Chicago in the ninth grade, and smell a rat and get upset because the
I didn’t know anything about the Situationist exciting to go down to the subway and see a rhythmic strumming on the guitars, using them stories: for instance, Barry McGee taking his meeting a bunch of old-school writers, and they authenticity of real street art and graffiti is
influence on the Sex Pistols until I read some whole world of art that didn’t have anything to the wrong way. These two things were the two graffiti kit down to Brazil in a backpack, and asked me, “Do you break?” I had absolutely so rewarding and immediate.
history, and I didn’t know about a lot of the do with this constricted gallery system. It was artistic innovations that excited me the most, giving a copy of Subway Art to Os Gêmeos. no idea what they were talking about. To me,
evolution of graffiti art or punk rock stuff or completely free and open. These artists didn’t and I was particularly thrilled to participate These are individuals hand-giving stories and graffiti was about punk rock and being straight Gastman: To your point, the question that
pop art or Barbara Kruger. I didn’t see that stuff have to go around with slides to the gallery in this process and see these two directions books to others, spreading the word, person edge, and that was it. Only later on was comes up often is how to bring the outdoor
firsthand—I read about it in books. In a nutshell, to get permission to make art, they just did it, coming together. For the past 30 years since to person, before the Internet. I introduced to Spraycan Art, Subway Art, and work inside? The ultimate celebration of the
that is one of the things I feel is most valuable and it was thrilling to see. I was so inspired by experiencing this convergence in a place like Wild Style, and started to dig into the history. show is that those artists who are so great
about this show. this open, citywide gallery. All the subways Fun Gallery or Mudd, I’ve wanted to do a great Aaron Rose: There have been two major in their field are able to capture the feel of the
were bombed, every single surface, and it was exhibition about the history of this work and convergences that I think of as I start exploring That is what interests me about this show, outdoors and the defiant nature in different
Jeffrey Deitch: For me, it starts in New York City unbelievably exciting. The thing that came up how it came together. this history that we are discussing. There was the vastness of the history behind it. The three forms indoors, and intrigue viewers by
in the 1970s. There were about five or six really around the same time was the development the late 1970s, early 1980s in NYC, and, then of us all come from very diverse backgrounds, doing so.
important galleries and each were generally of punk rock, where you didn’t have to play by When you were in New York from the mid- to again, in the 1990s. My influences were Los Jeffrey the luckiest, being able to see and touch
showing a kind of minimal conceptual work of the rules, conform to preconceived notions of late 1970s and seeing this on the subway, were Angeles hardcore and skateboarding, much the trains. All of these worlds connect so well, There are only so many people out there who
42 Jeffrey Deitch, Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose JUXTAPOZ
can augment the energy and capture the spirit
of the street and make it work in a controlled
environment. Barry McGee, who does this very
well, was a tremendous inspiration for me and I
thought his work beautiful and precious yet still
spontaneous. He would paint over things
that were meticulously rendered as if buffed
on the street to show his willingness to capture
the energy at the sacrifice of his own work.
A lot of the artists involved in this show can
make work that will stand on its own, but
there’s appreciation in knowing where they’re
coming from.
Deitch: One of the objectives of this show is
to identify the artist that had that original voice.
There are so many people who are making an
impact doing various forms of wildstyle graffiti.
We are trying to find the innovators and
people who changed the history. Hopefully,
this exhibition is going to reflect the strengths
of these innovators.
Rose: We’re in an interesting conundrum as
curators because, it is acknowledged that
art history really is written by academics.
Unfortunately, that’s how it’s been and probably
always will be. Re-contextualizing work like this, Although there are a lot of people that
as Roger put it, “the real art world,” is what
I consider the real art world. What we’re looking pioneers, the innovators really stand out.
Crash
Times Square
Photo by Henry Chalfant
Doing a
show like this
gives you an
appreciation
for the role
of remarkable
communication.
at is the real world and I don’t see a difference Unlike a lot of other art movements, it’s more
between the two. a spirit that defines this. My hope is that
someone like Space Invader comes in and
Deitch: The art market has caught up with utilizes a technique that no one has thought
street art and graffiti just as it did catch up of before. Hopefully, street and graffiti artists,
with other non-conformist art forms such as like their predecessors, will evolve and change
conceptualism. This happened after the art as public environments force them to adapt.
market ignored street art and graffiti for almost
three decades. Gastman: As a featured artist in the show what
are you most excited to see?
Gastman: I think graffiti, street art, and
skateboarding are all highly undocumented I am excited see how a lot of people want to
cultures, and even though some of it has been portray their legacy, and I hope that those who
recognized, there is a lot of it that hasn’t been have not valued art in public space will find a
properly chronicled. Everyone can go out and different level of respect for it.
do it. You didn’t have to have fancy art supplies,
you don’t have to have a canvas; you can just For more information about Art In the Streets,
make it work. All three of these cultures, a big contact MOCA.org.
part of their origins, is oral history. All three of
us in our own right have done the best we can
to tell the stories, the truth and the real history
before all these people disappear. Hopefully,
this show will make the academics pay
attention and make the average museumgoer
curious about these cultures and how they
blend together.
participated in graffiti and street art, the
44 Lee Quinones JUXTAPOZ

Lee Quinones
Interview by Chris Pape / Portrait by Chuck Gibson
46 Lee Quinones JUXTAPOZ Pass The Dawn Onto You
Acrylic, pastel pencil, and spray paint on canvas
50" x 60"
2004

Lee Quinones (LEE) is considered by many

to be the greatest writer to spring from
the New York City subway art movement.
Up until 1976 the best work the movement
offered was a whole car with moniker and
cartoon characters pilfered from comics.
LEE changed all of that as he became a
one man wrecking crew, recruiting the
Fabulous Five group out of retirement
and painting over a hundred whole cars.

More importantly he portrayed the subway as
an iron kinetic canvas, lasering a hot spotlight
on issues as diverse as nuclear Armageddon
to the hypocrisy of religion. He continued to
investigate these themes on canvas. His first
show was in Rome in 1979, and as he was
represented by New York City’s Barbara
Gladstone Gallery for over five years, LEE
continued to paint trains during the height
of the downtown art movement. Credited as
the first street artist for a mural produced on
the handball walls at a school in his Lower
East Side neighborhood in 1978, LEE starred
in Charlie Ahearn’s seminal hip-hop film
“Wild Style,” a fictional account based
loosely on his life.
For over 35 years, his work has continued
to develop, exploring painting and drawing
techniques with spray paint, oil paint,
charcoal and found objects. His work is in
the permanent collections of the Whitney
Museum, the Groningen Museum and the
Brooklyn Museum. —Chris Pape
Chris Pape : Most graffiti writers set out to
burn each other and do battle. You seemed
to have a mission statement while making art
on the trains. Was this accidental or did you
know it from the jump?
Lee Quinones : Making art, of course. Sure,
I was trying to impress the core writers from
my neighborhood in the LES as well as the
Bronx, but physically and emotionally while
spending many hours in the dark yards I could
not deny a broader peripheral audience
waiting on deck. My competitive edge has
always blown gaskets at the seams, so after
35 years to think it through, I now believe
rivalry is good in that it instigates an exchange
between talents that are defaulted by the
status quo. I’ve always been curious as to
how and why things instigate others. I could
make aesthetically pleasing canvases right
now, the same way I could’ve elaborated on
the style wars throughout the trains in the
’70s and called it a day, but why let the world
contextualize me by a period or a style? Back
then I wanted to do something very different
that had a broader flair, in short, advance the
avant-garde that makes for something more
consequential. Think of it this way—there were
50,000 young peers who were going
48 Lee Quinones The Man From Uncle JUXTAPOZ
48" x 96"
2009
to look for this, and outside of that circle the
3,000,000 commuters who were going to
be confronted by it to be either tantalized or
vandalized. I wanted to gain acceptance from
the latter because I felt it might outlast what
the movement could offer in such a short time.
Ironically though, I believed at the time that
I would be painting trains for eternity.
Can you think of any other writers who were
on the same wavelength?
The late CAINE 1 from the #7 line comes to
mind. He thought of conceptual wholecars
and often dug deep into his own psyche in his
subject matter. He didn’t follow the beaten
path of lifting cartoons from Marvel or the
Peanuts characters, instead he chose dark
imagery painted within a surreal environment.
I believe his masterpiece, “Welcome to Hell,”
flanked by a portrait of Alice Cooper and the
Grim Reaper was created more or less around
the same time my “Doomsday Express” took
to the rails. While I was painting Ralph Bakshi’s
“Coonskin Pimp” rabbits, he was painting on
the edge of darkness.
At a time when other writers were mining
the funny papers for material to paint, your
concepts seemed to come out of nowhere.
For the most part, I was questioning authority
and organized religion in real time along with
the effects of a tumultuous climate in New
York in order to unleash the results on the
trains. During the 1960s the blatant racism
at hand and the conflict in Vietnam were only
the tip of the issues that were magnified in
my head because, yes, the revolution was
televised on the CBS evening news.
That was riveting to say the least. Shortly
after, I found my voice in painting, so I applied
these very fresh and immediate issues on the
trains. A few came off in a sarcastic way like
the “Heaven is Life” and “Earth is Hell” double
cars. I was just moved to paint about things
that were full of sensitive issues, and often
seem flawed to me.
One of the few criticisms of your train work
is the crispness factor. The outlines were a
little misty.
It has to be known that I traveled an hour
and a half from the docks of the Lower East
Side to the Bronx or the flat lands of Brooklyn
carrying multiple concealed rattle cans, so
just think how logistical tactics would play out
once you got there with only a short window of
5-8 hours time to paint. I had to learn a rapid
there were
50,000 young
peers who
were going to
look for this,
and outside
of that circle
the 3,000,000
commuters who
were going to
be confronted
by it to be either
tantalized or
vandalized.
technique in formulating 40-foot whole cars
in one night’s work. Now my studio paintings
dictate a more improvised and impressionistic
approach because too much information says
nothing on a non-moving object. Each work is
incomplete, enabling the viewers to have an
exchange and finish it within their own state
of experience. If non-drip and crispness were
paramount to some writers back when, then
one: they weren’t standing in one location for
all those hours, and two: they were kind of
missing the Trees in the Forest.
CRASH told me that when he painted Connie’s
(the side of a bodega) he felt he had made it.
When did you get that feeling?
Oh, for myself it was the journey throughout
the numerous handball court masterpieces
of 1978 and 82’. I wanted to challenge myself
with those walls. I was thinking that the
general public would perceive the walls as my
arrival as an artist. The walls were reference
points. People tell me they actually made
pilgrimages to go see them, whereas graffiti
conceptually made trips to the people. That
was when I felt I had arrived as someone
different than a graffiti writer. In 1979, Claudio
Bruni, a prominent art collector, discovered
the hand ball wall murals through a mural
50 Lee Quinones
service article posted in the Village Voice,
and loved my work. He then scouted out for
Fred Brathwaite and me to create several
canvases to show at his gallery in Italy. Making
the transition to canvas wasn’t that hard of
a bronco to ride for me because I had been
doing imagery beside my name all along.
The images just naturally elbowed their way
onto canvas. After the show in Italy, I made
an intense comeback on the number 5s and
found that my work was more expressionistic,
and maybe I had exhausted that chapter on
the trains. It was all very different to me. Just
around the time Futura created his incredible
“Break Car” masterpiece on the 5s, I painted
my “Silent Thunder” car. We were both looking
to challenge the norm. What better way to do it
then to break away from the very primal heart
of graffiti in its own backyard?
Where would you place the handball courts
in the lineage of the street art movement?
They fall under the category of “fearless
leaders” since their inception in 1978 and
1979. It was pretty early for such a quantum
leap. Delinquent and misdirected they may
have seemed at first, but they revolutionized
the way this movement was revealing itself to
both its creators and the public. Early street
artists that came along like John Fekner,
Jenny Holzer and John Ahearn were all
influenced along the same lines to utilize
public space with works for a society in
motion, so these walls had definitely given
impetus to further push the boundaries,
Photo by Martha Cooper
and that’s what made me want to do them in
the first place.
In 1980, after painting anonymously for years,
you started to actively socialize, meeting other
writers at the Soul Artists workshop. What made
you go public?
That’s not totally true – I did paint with the
Fabulous Five members on many occasions.
I was extremely careful about who I trusted
in the graffiti trenches. The reason I kept a
low profile with graffiti writers of the 1970s
was because I didn’t want to get caught.
I feared the wrath of friendly fire, as informants
seemed to be manufactured overnight, and
were running the nest. Mark Edmonds, aka
Ali, the founding leader of the Soul Artists,
JUXTAPOZ
and Fred Brathwaite drew me out a bit more.
They had a good insight into what I had been
vocalizing all along in my work. By that time,
I had done shows in Rome and Milan, was
more comfortable around the art scene, and
knew how to be discreet in order to keep
pulling my work off on trains.
Prior to the Soul Artists, Fred and I exhibited
at White Columns, a young gallery on Spring
Street some time in 1980. Maybe four people
came to the actual opening. We decided
to call the show the “Third Wave” to reflect
the tsunami of back winds exiting the
underground, demanding a flag site above
ground. The invitation showed a virgin new
subway car, which was the reverse of what
you expected to see. The paintings were now
lifted onto canvas and it was time for us to be
challenged by critics in a lit environment with
the works stationary on walls, not eluding into
the dark on moving vessels.
You were also involved in the Times Square
show and Fashion MODA, both in 1980.
The Times Square show was great because
I got to meet so many exciting new people.
That was the first time I met Keith Haring,
Jane Dixon and Kenny Scharf. I had already
met Jean-Michel Basquiat a year before
with Fred, and we all painted together in a
shared space downtown. With the exception
of Claudio Bruni in Italy, none of us had any
real gallery representation here in the states.
The Times Square show also gave me a lot of
The Lion’s Den
Spray paint on concrete
Lower East Side, Manhattan
1982
exposure to the vibrant downtown scene.
Fashion MODA was different in that I had a
built in audience of writers. What I remember
most about it was that I worked on the painting
in a subway tunnel right up until the opening
night. I carried it on the subway from the LES
to the Bronx, and it reeked of spray paint the
entire way. When I arrived with canvas in hand,
the show was already in session and stacked
to the walls with a rambunctious crowd. My
deliberate entrance parted the sea of people,
clearing a pathway to the great wall of choice.
Many feathers were ruffled that evening.
Were you generally becoming more social with
other artists or did you treat the gallery
scene differently?
52 Lee Quinones JUXTAPOZ
I was never a shy person, but I’ve always been
private about my work. In the art world, I was
a hidden extrovert. At that time between 1980
and 1983, so much had changed! The Fun
Gallery was gravitating in the right direction
because of its attachment at the hip to an
urban vernacular that was revolutionizing how
art was being offered and channeled through
the gallery system. Barbara Gladstone Gallery
was very instrumental in introducing the
official new arrival of my work at the gates of
57th St. Sidney Janis Gallery followed suit with
my work and others thereafter.
As a train painter, it was in my best interest to
be non-social, a covert nerd. As opportunities
arose to be known as a legitimate artist,
I became more open, but remained very
cautious. I steered away from cameras, not like
it is in vogue today. I just walked the other way.
I was still very active below ground on MTA
stock, and had to take second looks first time.
The Village Voice started reporting on you
around then; what impact did that have?
A fantastic impact. In 1979, when the Voice
covered my handball courts, it was exciting.
Now people beyond the neighborhood would
see it nationwide, because of the Voice’s
distribution. But really it was shortly after
that, when Glenn O’Brien put it over the top in
“High Times” with a six-page, full color article.
Honest George
Acrylic, pastel pencil, spray paint , and currency on linen
2009
The walls
were reference
points, people
tell me they
actually made
pilgrimages
to go see them,
whereas graffiti
conceptually
made trips
to the people.
We were slated to make the front cover, but Rammellzee, Futura, David Hammons,
were bumped off at the last second by Mick Barry Mcgee, Barbara Kruger, Revs, Lady
Jagger, which was better for us because Pink, Banksy, and Richard Hambleton.
his handsome grill made the copies fly off They’re important carriers.
the racks. Glenn was totally plugged into
the whole emerging downtown scene like What’s the biggest source of material for your
the Mudd Club, Max’s Kansas, C.B.G.B’s. studio canvases, themes you invariably come
Everybody respected him, and we met a lot back to.
of people through Glenn.
Well, just as history tends to rhyme with itself,
What do you think of the idea that writers from I guess some sentiments call for revisiting and
the subway era probably wouldn’t have made it reinterpretation so that culture can inevitably
into MOCA if not for the emergence of street art? create the art it deserves. Readymade items
that were pretty much exploited into art by the
Both siblings needed a convergence to reach Dadaists just after the turn of the last century,
great institutions. They both have rushed the have now been reformed as the “readymade”
velvet ropes in their respective times, but imagery from popular culture by the graffitists
we are at a merge zone like never before. during this turn. Remnants of the Cold War’s
So it may seem as a bit of an estrangement at open wounds with the cheap generic band-aid
first, before the crest of the real wave is to be it has applied, and the human condition itself
seen in the horizon. This is where we are now, is the building block for where my work finds
where the surf is receding to make right of way. spiritual reason, and sometimes treason.
My theory is, both serve as a platform and a
call of urgency at a time where the world is
a deer in the headlights. So both in concert For more information about Lee Quinones,
will tend to have episodes of opposition contact Leequinones.com.
and cooperation in creation of a broader
conversation. It is indeed an interesting time.
I can count a few on one hand from the old
school and new that have prevailed with great
imagery and great commentary.
Hit me with some names.
54 bill daniel JUXTAPOZ

Bill Daniel
Text By Shelley Leopold / Portrait by Estevan Oriol
56 bill daniel
Ironically enough, attempting to
interview filmmaker Bill Daniel seems a bit
like hopping trains. As we sit down on the eve
of his most recent art tour, that will include
his Who Is Bozo Texino? film debut at MoMA
(during the series, All the Wrong Art: Juxtapoz
Magazine on Film), some music (Sonic Orphans),
and more than a few photos, he’s tense and
excited, riding through a myriad of far-out
life experience in peripetatic anecdotes.
The recording device makes him nervous,
even though it is small and sleek and doesn’t
call attention to itself. He turns it off at will, and
then on again. Off. On. Off. On. Maybe it’s the
ominous red light, or that fact that it’s digital.
The otherwise brave, self-described “tramp,”
Bill Daniel is analog: Old School, 16 millimeter,
52. And he just moved to Los Angeles.
Before the landmark wanderlust documentary
Who Is Bozo Texino? ever existed, Daniel’s
gateway subculture and introduction to
photography was loud and insolent. “Punk rock
often exists on the account of one determined
individual,” Bill muses. “Maybe there’s a group,
but it generally comes down to one person.”
The way Daniel describes it, Garry Winogrand,
legendary street photographer and one-time
recalcitrant University of Texas professor, might
unofficially be that guy. Winogrand, famous
for realist American imagery and making
his UT students cry, won the Guggenheim
Fellowship award three times (Daniel has won
it once so far, in 2008). When Daniel started
school, Winogrand had just left, but his mark
on the university’s art department and its
students was indelible. “He influenced me as
one of my favorite photographers,” Bill reveals.
“Everything in the frame matters, black borders,
wide angle, and his casual documentary style.”
Even as a business major taking photography
as an elective, Daniel recognized the power
of the music and visuals that accompanied
the burgeoning Texas punk scene. “It was
The Huns. Three out of four of them in the band
JUXTAPOZ All photography by Bill Daniel
were students of Winogrand’s. There was a
famous front-page photo of the singer getting
arrested for playing their song, ‘Eat Death
Scum,’ and then kissing a cop. I saw that and
I knew there was something happening here.”
Bill went on to shoot iconic black-and-white
images of almost every hardcore band that
came through town with an aggressive, blinding
flash. The images that result are grainy, with
murky charcoal shadows and blown-out fields
of luminescent white that shout what the fuck­at
your eyeballs, no matter what the composition.
“I turned the flash really bright and shot at F8.
I shot every band, so they’d kind of have to deal
with it,” Daniel explains. “Once I’m onstage with
Bad Brains, and HR starts doing this Tasmanian
devil spinning thing coming towards me, and in
one rotation his hand sweeps out and smacks
58 bill daniel JUXTAPOZ
the Nikon and it goes flying into the slam pit in
this truly beautiful arc. Luckily, I had the cord
screwed in so I could just reel it back up, and
it worked great, except for some beer or sweat
on the lens. There’s a blot on some of the
images—that’s how you know my story’s true.”
Daniel’s transition from punk club historian
to moniker documentarian appears natural.
It didn’t require any new equipment and both
subcultures operate on the same principle
he does: live free or die. “It has to do with the
power of an image that you see, but don’t know
how it got there. You don’t know who put it
there, you know nothing about it, it just grabs
your entire being,” Bill explains passionately.
“That’s what happened to me in 1983—I was
with my Super 8 camera outside an artist
warehouse near the Santa Fe yard. A train rolls
by and I’m right next to it, and I start seeing
the graffiti. And one of the first ones I saw was
Bozo Texino. How did that music go from
Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Yeah,
that was it.” A small act of defiance, done with
a guitar, aerosol paint, or a rail company-owned
paint stick is as old as the ages, however,
there used to be much less of it. “Of course,
I’d been to New York and I’d seen Keith Haring
and Futura 2000, but these monikers were a
form I’d never seen before, especially in Texas.
So I started photographing them obsessively.
It’s something graffiti people know about,
documenting it is super-addictive. I kept a
camera by my bed so I could hear the trains
come out slow from the yard. I could be out the
door in my pajamas by the time the engines
came through.”
Thus began Bill Daniels’ 20 years of method
filmmaking, an amazing rail riding journey through
a uniquely American culture that required not
only talent, but also survival skills. Sometimes
this involved having a strong stomach for the
occasional bowl of Jungle stew, (“what you got,
goes in the pot”) and always having a good
flashlight and something to sell.
However great the idea to make a film about
train monikers was, even your modern day
graffiti artist is a tough customer to find.
Without the help of the Internet, Daniel relied
on snail mail, personal connections, and
tenacity to track down the four artists featured
in Bozo Texino. “I found BuZ (Blur) through a
’zine connection because years ago I’d done
a ’zine called Detour and somebody wrote
me asking to send them the latest issue.
By then I was only doing Box Car Pictures,
so I sent that to him instead. Immediately,
he wrote me back—this is through the mail,
this involved
having a strong
stomach for
the occasional
bowl of
Jungle stew.
over a week, not email, and he says, ‘Oh, you
must know BuZ (Blur), you have a collection of
his drawings in your thing.’ The entire time I had
been making Bozo Texino, I’d never met even
one of these writers. There was no Googling,
you had to be outside to get access to these
guys,” Daniel exclaims excitedly as he explains
his unconventional research methods. “I went
around to all the homeless people and asked,
“Have you ever heard of Herby?” you know,
“Have you ever heard of Bozo Texino?’ I’d pick up
hitchhikers and ask them. It was not paying off.”
Consequently, in making contact with this
random mail-art fan, Bill got the break he
needed and things started finally to fall into
place. Daniel wrote to Blur and planned his
next train trip around the interview. “I had him
do a drawing for the film and the first thing
BuZ wrote was “TETHERED” ’cause I had a
microphone on him and the second thing he
wrote was “EXPECTING TRAMPS” ’cause he
thought we’d be tramps.”
“A hobo is not a bum. A hobo contributes,
tramps don’t do shit.” —Who Is Bozo Texino?
As the universe continued to smile upon him
momentarily, Daniel found Herby around the
same time through a series of hard-won
60 bill daniel
newspaper articles. A meeting was arranged
on the back of the same BuZ (Blur) excursion.
But as one might know, filmmaking is hard,
and filmmaking with train writers is harder.
“By the time I interviewed Herby, I was really
burnt out from the trip and only had two rolls
of film. With four minutes left he starts to tell
me about Bozo Texino. ‘Oh, he died a long
time ago. These ones you see now aren’t the
real Bozo Texino.’ It went right over my head.
He was, of course, talking about Grandpa.
It wasn’t until later, when a rail worker, an
amateur historian who had collected a bunch
of magazines from the 1930s sent me some
Xeroxes that it all came together. I still have the
dent in my forehead from that day.”
With this new information, and already a very
thin narrative to build on, the story of Who is
Bozo Texino? suffered a conceptual blow that
might have been impossible to overcome.
However, with all the press Daniel’s project
began to receive, once again, the post office
gods pulled a favor for him. “One day, I get a
letter from this guy in South Texas: ‘Dear Bill,
I saw the thing in the paper and my friend said
if I didn’t write to you, he would. Yes, that is my
drawing.’” This simple missive was from a man
Daniel affectionately refers to as Grandpa, the
man responsible for writing the “Bozo Texino”
tag for at least the last 37 years. Daniel finally
had a realistic end for his film, and a face to put
with the tag. “I’d been looking for him for almost
10 years and I finally get a letter from the guy!
His phone number is on there, so I immediately
pick up the phone and I’m like, ‘Hey, I just got
this letter,’ and I hear (in an exaggerated Texas
drawl), ‘Yeh, Bill, well I reckon...’ This was not
a hoax.”
Ultimately it begs the question, when you’ve
devoted the better part of a decade searching
for someone, an artist that you’ve subsequently
based your life’s work upon, what do you say
to him? How do you not come off as a nutcase,
or worse yet, a speechless fool? Turns out the
elderly rail worker had a few things in common
with Bill Daniel, notions that many other graffiti
fans share. “He didn’t think I was weird, or gay,
or a stalker because he loved that image so
much that it made perfect sense that someone
else would like it,” Daniel explains. “Grandpa
understood, ‘Oh yeah, it got you too.’”
JUXTAPOZ
Shuffled within the beautiful black-and-white
landscapes, the road worn snippets of
wisdom, and the gritty faces of the men in
Bozo Texino, fans of the Mission School
movement may notice a couple of current day
callouts that take their place among Herby and
Grandpa without much acclaim. “MATOKIE
SLAUGHTER” was one of Margaret Kilgallen’s
favorite nicknames, one she used specifically
for train tags. In the first moments of the film,
we see her tag flash by in an instant, with
another by Twist, her husband, Barry McGee.
Daniel befriended the couple four years into
the making of the film as all shared a love for
train folklore and found inspiration in hobo
culture for their own contemporary work.
Representing one of the only female shots in
the movie, viewers are diverted by a delicate
image of Margaret from 1999, riding an empty
gondola at sunset through the San Fernando
Valley. “We were coming back from a tramp
gathering in Dunsmuir, California, picking up
some experiences to use in an installation we
did, Trespass Sign, at Headlands Center for
the Arts. We did collaborations where I would
project a 16 millimeter film loop on a metal wall
and Margaret would paint some of her shadow
people. It was amazing, and ephemeral.”
In 2003, with all this extraordinary footage
in the can, Bill was then able to count on
his connections in the San Francisco art
community to help him fund the finish of the
film by holding an unprecedented art auction
named “Pretty Gritty.” Thomas Campbell,
Barry McGee, Alicia McCarthy, and a host of
other top-notch talent donated work to be sold
for a whole new audience to be introduced to
Daniel and his project. Or so it was supposed to
go. “All my friends were so generous. I would’ve
raised so much more money if it hadn’t been,
March 21, 2003, the night the bombs fell on
Baghdad,” laments Daniel. “San Francisco
was rioting. You could barely get across town
for all the protests and that was opening night
of my fundraiser. I had all this beautiful blue
chip art and there were helicopters everywhere
and the streets were closed. The art buyers
stayed home.”
Despite having to jump a few extra monetary,
time, and stamina hurdles, at last Daniel called
finish to Who is Bozo Texino? in 2005. His
younger brother, Lee Daniel, an accomplished
62 bill daniel JUXTAPOZ
cinematographer in his own right, supplied the
last lingering shot of the film, where Grandpa
is walking down the long line of train cars, the
paint marker echoing against the hollow metal.
Bill, however, in keeping with the subculture it
represented, didn’t see a traditional path for the
success of his movie and avoided the festival
circuit. He has personally booked hundreds of
screenings. “It was important to me that the
kids saw it first and that the guardians of culture
hear about it from the kids.” Daniel adds,
“You couldn’t find two people more different
than Grandpa and maybe some 14-year-old,
super-aggro kid in the northeast, but they
operate on the same impulse: the person
who puts up the most graffiti and actually
documents it. Grandpa said, “I got a joy putting
it on there, and I hope people got joy looking
at it.” And that’s how we finished the movie.
Expression of joy. That’s what art is all about.”
Tape recorder off. Bill averts the damned
red light for the moment, and I rely on my
short-term memory for the duration. We have
both retained all our limbs. Daniel is noticeably
more relaxed, but he’s still on the spot. Off the
record we talk about his participation in the
MOCA Art in the Streets show, where he will
be contributing an installation celebrating
hobo culture.
one of the
first ones
I saw was
Bozo Texino.
How did
that music
go from Close
Encounters
of the Third
Kind? Yeah,
that was it.
Yet, for the most part, between stops in his
new hometown of LA to print images in his
darkroom, he’ll continue touring the United
States in his 1965 van replete with wind
sails attached to the top—good for mobile
art shows and film screenings—lending his
audiences glimpses into forgotten corners of
society. With all this traveling, does Daniel
resist leaving his mark in other ways?
“I sometimes chalk up X-Tex, a moniker that
Road Hog gave me in 1990, on account of me
being from Texas,” Daniel admits. “I always
wanted to emphasize the past tense on the
Texas bit, since I was happy to have escaped
there.” So, Bill Daniel, in the end, who is the real
Bozo Texino and what does it matter? Without
hesitation, Daniel concedes, “I think Bozo
Texino belongs to history and anyone who
feels they should write it.”
For more information about Bill Daniel and
Who Is Bozo Texino?, contact Billdaniel.net.
64 margaret Kilgallen JUXTAPOZ Half-Past (installation detail)
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
1999

Margaret Kilgallen Text by Elizabeth Pepin, Juxtapoz May/june 1999

all images Courtesy of the Estate of Margaret Kilgallen and Ratio 3, San Francisco
66 margaret Kilgallen JUXTAPOZ Three Sheets to the Wind (installation detail)
The Drawing Center
New York
1997

It was only our twentieth

issue, may/june 1999, but undeniably
margaret killgallen was someone special.
with the potential to define a generation of
contemporary art, her untimely death in 2001
at age 33 left an unfillable void. but her spirit
and body of work endures. From the juxtapoz
archives, rediscover the consummate
embodiment of not only Public art,
but all of art. —Juxtapoz Magazine

In an era obsessed with an ever-intangible
concept of perfection, Margaret Kilgallen is an
anomaly: an artist who delights in the wobble of
a line, the accidental misstroke of a paintbrush,
the crooked stitch of a needle and thread. Her
giant murals—colorful collages containing
travel logs, history lessons, and musical
compositions—are refreshingly different in an
art world increasingly sanitized by technology.
The art of the hand, the homemade, calls to
Kilgallen. She admires people who are able to
create something beautiful and unique from
what few resources may be available. Applying
this ­philosophy to her own life, Kilgallen gives
rebirth to items cast off by others. Old wood
converts to canvas. Ripped ­wetsuits transform
into surf caps. Discarded house paint becomes
a ­staple for creating murals.
Much of Kilgallen’s art is based in reality—
real people, real ­situations, real places—
inspired by things she sees, hears, and
experiences. One recent mural featured
several foot tall ­old-fashioned letters reading
“Slaughter,” referring to one of Kilgallen’s many
musical heroes, an old-time banjo player and
singer named Matokie Slaughter. Kilgallen is so
taken with Slaughter’s music that the artist has
begun to teach herself the instrument.
“I am really moved by music, from punk to
old-time stuff,” Kilgallen says. “I take a lot away
from the stories in the songs and the people
who play the music. There is this African-
American woman who lives in the South named
Algia-Mae. I saw a video of her playing her
guitar, singing, and buck dancing. She has
raised seven kids by herself and supports all
of them solely by her music. It’s amazing.”
Kilgallen was born in Washington, DC, in 1968,
and received her BA in printmaking at Colorado
College. She continued her westward migration
after graduation, landing in San Francisco in
1989 because of the city’s history of letter-
press printing.
Settling into San Francisco, Kilgallen landed a
series of letterpress internships. While working
one day, she happened across some beautiful
handmade books by local artist Dan Flanagan.
Taken with the care in which the volumes had
been made, Kilgallen tracked down Flanagan,
68 margaret Kilgallen
phoning him to discuss the possibility of
working for him to learn book binding, but
he wasn’t interested. However, a week later,
Flanagan called back and said there was an
opening at the San Francisco Public Library as
a book repairer, where he was also employed.
He told Kilgallen if she got the job he’d teach
her everything he knew about repairing and
making books. Kilgallen got the job in 1991
and works there to this day.
Kilgallen doesn’t consider the repair of tattered
and abused books an art, but rather a craft.
“My job is a difficult thing, but it inspires me
and my art because I get to see so many
interesting books. A lot of amazing things come
right to my desk. Just the other day I found a
book about the Ainu people of Northern Japan.
The women tattoo their mouths in a way that
resembles the way I paint the mouths on a lot
of my women. The similarity was uncanny.”
The day-to-day interaction with people gives
Kilgallen ample experience from which to draw
upon. “Things I draw come from a combination
of people I see,” she explains. “I once saw a
photo of a female surf pioneer named Marge
Calhoun that inspired me to do a painting of
her, but the way I depicted her stance on the
board and the position she has her arms in is
actually taken from an old man I saw surfing
in Malibu.”
In fact, much of the artist’s free time is spent in
the chilly ocean waters of Northern California
riding waves with her friends. She grew up
Three Great Walls (installation detail)
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco
1997
swimming, spending most of her ­summers at
the local pool, and she jumped at the chance to
learn to surf in her 20s.
Kilgallen admires women surf pioneers who
overcame sexism and societal pressures in
order to pursue their pastime. Not ­surprisingly,
many of these early women found their way into
the artist’s work. Linda Benson, legend of the
1960s and world champion, who was also the
surf double in many of the Gidget movies, is the
subject of a piece by the artist titled “Backside,”
an homage to Benson’s famous backside
surfing style. The ­distinctive hand-sewn surf
caps Kilgallen makes to shield her from the cold
is another outgrowth of surfing. “I wanted a hat
but didn’t like what was for sale in surf shops,
so I took an old neoprene vest and made one,”
JUXTAPOZ
she says. “I tried to hand-sew it while I was
on a road trip to Baja, but it turned out really
badly. So I got a machine and restitched it.
I occasionally put them in my shows or give
them to friends. It’s great to combine the two
things I really love—art and the ocean.
I’m drawn to the ocean because it moves.”
Movement and travel play continuously
in Kilgallen’s work. Her love of trains and
fascination with those who ride the rails is
worked into panels and installations. The
railyard is a world unto itself, one with its own
secret language, known as “Train Markings.”
These names and images are drawn or
scratched on the sides of boxcars by drifters
to communicate information, or simply to let
others know they were there. Among Kilgallen’s
favorite markings include a man in a 10-gallon
hat—the trademark imprint of an artist with the
handle, “Bozo Texino,” and a glass of bubbly,
left by a source known only as The Rambler.
“A lot of the train markings are so simple,”
Kilgallen says. Train imagery has not only
inspired Kilgallen’s paintings, but also serves
as the ­subject of a series of photographs she
snapped and hand-bound into a book.
Taking a break from doing shows, Kilgallen
is spending the ­summer doing mural projects
in conjunction with several Bay Area nonprofit
groups. One is with the Headlands Institute/
Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin, which
pairs the artist with five ­children from Marin
City, a poor community stemming from
World War II shipbuilding in the otherwise
Detail of unknown installation
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery
San Francisco
1996
affluent Marin County, north of San Francisco.
Another project is set in San Francisco’s
Tenderloin district, a notorious neighborhood
that has also become home to hundreds of
newly arrived immigrant families, many of
which face a constant struggle to better their
commu­nity. Kilgallen is working with five-to-
seven local adults to paint a mural in an alley
sponsored by the SF Art Commission and
the 509 Cultural Center. “I like going to local
organizations and choosing people interested
in making art in the community,” she says. “It’s
really good for me because all I’ve been doing
lately are shows, and after a while you wonder
where your community is. And it’s important to
inspire kids with art. I feel I have something to
offer them.”
70 margaret Kilgallen Backside JUXTAPOZ
Oil on wood
8" x 10"
1998

It’s great to
combine the
two things
I really love
—art and
the ocean.
I’m drawn to
the ocean
because
it moves.

Murals are what Kilgallen is known for, whether after mural. It’s also a freedom which has
they be large-scale paintings on the sides allowed her to remain confident, even in the
of buildings or small, multifaceted gallery face of “accidents.”
installations. The artist welcomes the change
to get out of her studio and interact with people “Sometimes I make mistakes,” confesses
as she paints. Usually, Kilgallen will fly to the Kilgallen, “but, it’s only paint. A lot of times,
gallery or museum, her paint carefully tucked mistakes can be interesting additions.
away in bags, and then set up shop, taking You shouldn’t see them as mistakes. My hand
as much time as the gallery will give her. is imperfect. I like to go over and over the line
“The longest I’ve ever had was two and a half until it becomes perfect in its own im­perfection.
weeks at the Drawing Room in New York City,” I feel like it’s a self-reliance. I really enjoy
she says. “I finished right before the opening. that process. The obsession with imperfect
That night, I caught a plane at five am back to perfection has changed my work.”
San Francisco and had five days at the Center
for the Arts in San Francisco to paint the largest
mural I’ve ever done. The letters were 25 feet
tall, which I ­created with a 12-inch roller with
an extension. I had a cherry picker and I’d
put paint on the roller, press the ‘descend’
button, and paint the mural that way. I like
that my murals in the galleries and ­museums
get painted over at the end of the show.
It is a freedom to go and do something and
then have it disappear. I sometimes even
paint it over myself. It doesn’t bother me.”

It is perhaps this philosophy of freedom that

allows Kilgallen to be at peace with her work,
the faces and textures that inspire her work,
and all the tools that combine to erect mural
72 dash snow JUXTAPOZ

Dash Snow
Text and photography by Joshua Blank
74 dash snow
Usually when discussing artists
in the context of art history, one is
inclined to categorize their genre into
a movement. This will be the case with the
Art In the Streets show at MOCA this month,
Dash Snow grouped into the street art
movement. The next step is to compare and
understand the artist’s work through the
pretext of the art movement And Everything
In the subject’s Career that took Place
before the Classification.
In the case of Dash Snow, it would be hard
to clearly classify his place in art history. His
past as an art maker is complicated. While he
was born into a family of art collecting fame,
Dash spent much time immersed in the diverse
culture of people who made up the New York
City graffiti scene, beginning in his youth and
lasting throughout his life. He spent his last
11 to 13 years living in the Lower East Side, a
place that became an influence to Dash as well.
Later he transformed into a nightlife celebrity,
and at this point, some began to refer to him
as the second coming of Andy Warhol. The
rest of his career is a well-documented history
of personal accounts from people who barely
knew him and several exhibitions of his art.
His photography concerned a reality meant
to shock, and his installations were seemingly
similar in their intent to encompass that feeling.
Dash’s obsession with finding and collecting
presents his acquisitions in a new context.
A lot of this can be found in the three published
monographs of his work.
I had the opportunity to spend an unusually
foggy morning with him in 2005 when we
navigated from Williamsburg, Brooklyn to
Jackson Heights in Queens along a seldom-
traveled stretch of tracks, once known as
the Old Atlantic Railway. This place where
Dash and I spent much of our teenage years
practicing our skills at graffiti and exploring
the vast, desolate landscape was known and
understood by few as we did. This day was like
a reunion at a place we had once held dearly.
Dash picked me up from my Bushwick
apartment at five in the morning. We walked
to what was a major terminal of transportation
many years ago, the origin of the Old Atlantic
Railway, and now the current site of a major
disposal station for Waste Management. While
walking toward the entrance, we were stopped
by security when sighting our cameras. After
they made sure we were not terrorists, we
continued into the foggy, debris-filled track
area. Moving along, passing overturned
cars, we saw piles of porn mixed with used
condoms, building materials, a child’s notes
from grade school—all these pieces of people’s
memories, furtively dumped, evidence of events
that they wanted to forget. These objects were
there for us to find. As Dash moved along the
tracks, he carried a plastic bag from a liquor
store, employing it to hold the objects that
we collected.
We made it to the mid-point of our trip, the
Woodhaven Freight Yard. Passing through this
yard was the most hectic part of our journey
across the railway because it lay adjacent to
the parking lot for a K-Mart and a large Conrail
station. We moved between the trains so as not
to be seen by the authorities who where just
on the other side. We raced up the tracks to a
bridge heading Bronx-bound through Queens,
JUXTAPOZ All photos by Joshua Blank
and through a railway tunnel, a half-mile in
length, to a large concrete enclosure that the
tracks passed through.
The 100-year-old walls on either side of us
stood at least 100-feet tall. Vegetation grew
up their sides toward the sky. The remnants
of those who had lived there were scattered
across the ground, as were the bodies of
creatures that had died there. Dash picked
apart one carcass; a life that was probably
taken by a passing train, and who knows how
long it had taken to become a pile of bones,
almost unidentifiable. Dash used many found
objects for his art, but also just liked to collect
interesting debris. I am unsure what he did with
it, possibly made into a work of art or hung
it on a wall in his apartment. Maybe what’s
interesting about the object was how it was
unearthed. Maybe the process of finding things,
and the story told in what you create with it,
is the work of art.
As we continued on through the last leg of
our journey, passing people’s backyards that
opened into the track area, we crossed a
bridge that still exposing some of our work from
years before. After stoping to take pictures,
we climbed back up to the street and parted
ways. I had only seen Dash a few brief times
in passing after this day, but I’m happy to have
this final memory of him, in a place spent in
our youth. —Joshua Blank
76 dash snow JUXTAPOZ
78 jamie reid JUXTAPOZ

Jamie reid
Interview by Caroline Ryder / portrait by colin o’brien
80 jamie reid JUXTAPOZ God Save the Queen
Newsprint collage on paper
297 mm x 420 mm
1977

Artist, punk druid, and nature-lover Jamie Reid

likes to plant things, sweet peas, carrots, shallots—
and dissent. In 1975, he was asked by his friend the late
Malcolm McLaren to conceive the entire visual language
behind The Sex Pistols, resulting in some of the most
controversial and enduring pop culture imagery of
the twentieth Century. Like his smiling Queen of England
with a safety pin through her nose, which grew
synonymous with the punk rock movement, and
the garish fluorescents and cutout block letters
from the cover of Never Mind The Bollocks,
appropriated by art students, ad men and
t-shirt bootleggers the world over.

Much of the Pistols imagery was based on work has evolved from socio-political protest Caroline Ryder: What kind of household did you
the output from his Suburban Press, the art to the predominantly Gaian, shamanistic grow up in, Jamie?
underground publishing outfit that Reid ran work he creates today. So what’s up with
between 1970 and 1974. Ordinary people would all the magick? It’s just another side of the Jamie Reid: From an early age, I was dragged
see these images wheat pasted on walls, evolutionary coin, as far as Reid’s concerned. off on demonstrations. Both my parents were
stickers, in shops, and splashed across the “If there’s one thing I’ve always been aware involved in Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
covers of newspapers, and they couldn’t of, it’s that if you need political change, you The first one I remember going on was one of
help but react. Sometimes they’d be scared, also need spiritual change,” he says. Either the CND Aldermaston marches in the 1950s.
sometimes they’d be amused, and sometimes way—whether he’s creating abstract paintings I thought it was great! I never realized adults
they’d start wondering what was really going on. inspired by Druidic ritual, or angry collages that
could have that much fun. That’s the thing,
say “Fuck Forever,” Jamie Reid’s art urges us I’ve always wanted my political work to have
Born in 1947, Liverpool-based Reid has always to look around, examine what’s really there, a sense of fun. I think it makes the message
been inspired by two things: the anarcho- and open our eyes as wide as we dare. stronger. So much of politics is devoid of any
Dadaist ideas of the Situationist movement, sense of humor at all. Likewise with so much
and the magickal utopianism of his Great Uncle, Dozens of Jamie Reid’s early pamphlets, stickers of Christian and Islamic religion. I did a show in
George Watson MacGregor Reid, a turn-of- and posters will be featured in the upcoming 1990 in Tokyo, and remember talking to some
the-century socialist reformer and Chief Druid Art In the Streets exhibition, opening at the MOCA young monks at a Shinto temple. We were
of the British Isles. This explains why his Los Angeles, April 2011. —Caroline Ryder talking about the Bible, and one of the monks
82 jamie reid Culture Rape (left) Suburban Press Sticker Collage (right) JUXTAPOZ
Digital print on paper Gouache, bromide and gummed paper mounted
44 cm x 49 cm on board and signed
1992 423 mm x 487 mm
1975
said, “The Bible? No good jokes in the Bible!”
You met Malcolm McLaren in the 1960s, at art
school in Croydon. McLaren would eventually
bring you on board to work with the Sex Pistols. to discover things about the environment. Not
Do you remember the first time you met him,
and how the conversation went down?
Not really. I have very blurred memories of that
time. Of course, we really got along well and
we became both very involved with the student
politics of the time. We immersed ourselves in
a student occupation at Croydon College.
And we were aware of political uprisings in
other countries, the Vietnam anti-war movement
and particularly what was going on in Paris.
There was something powerful in the ether in
those times.
I heard you and Malcolm traveled to Paris together So I moved back and worked with the Pistols.
for the 1968 student riots, but missed them.
We didn’t make it to Paris. That is a myth.
Either way, you and McLaren were both heavily page of newspapers everywhere. And I liked it
influenced by the situationist movement that
was flourishing there. Tell me how situationist
philosophy would influence your work as an artist. it was being fly-postered all over the country.
One of the things with my early graphics was
to demystify situationist messages—so much
situationist text was long-winded and hard to
get your head around. I felt like you could say
the same things, but with much more punch,
if you said them visually and with a sense of
humor. So I started the Suburban Press and we
would make stickers, pamphlets and posters
that reflected situationist ideas, like our “This
Week Only this Store Welcomes Shoplifters”
stickers that we put up in shops, and “Closing
Down Sales, Due To Lack of Raw Material,”
which we stuck up in department stores. It was
all about just having a go, and putting ideas
into practical practice. Plus it was enjoyable.
So enjoyable.
What’s your take on psychogeography, another
big part of situationist philosophy?
Skull in Living Room (Don’t worry Cecilia)
(opposite bottom)
Type and collage on newsprint
300 mm x 252 mm
1972
I don’t really know what it means. It’s involved
with energy lines. Basically it’s the antithesis
of modern planning. The situationist idea is
based on just wandering around and walking
going to do a job, or going to school or working,
or having that kind of structure.
How did Malcolm come to involve you with
the Pistols?
It was a weird one. I was living with some
friends in the Isle of Lewis (in the Outer
Hebrides, small islands north of Scotland) that
had a croft (a small farm). It was completely
different to life in London and I ended up there
for over a year. Then Malcolm got in touch,
saying he had formed this band in London,
and would I be interested in working on it?
It was my way of being able to put across
ideas that I cared about. A lot of the stuff we
did ended up being banned—which was great
of course, because it ended up on the front
because it wasn’t elitist, our stuff could get
through to working class kids; it wasn’t in a gallery,
What do you understand to be your role or
influence in the world of contemporary street
art and graffiti?
I’ve been part of it and it has been a part of
me. But anyone can take what I’ve done and
interpret it in their own way.
In your Suburban Press/Sex Pistols era,
did you see yourself as a street artist?
No. I was much more concerned with
magazines, posters, and leaflets rather than
“street art.” Although, yes, the stickers actually
were put up all over the place. Ones that were
to do with transport went up on buses and
railway stations. Ones that were to do with
consumerism were in shops. To that extent,
I was a street artist but I didn’t see it that way
It was all
about just
having a go,
and putting
ideas into
practical
practice.
Plus it was
enjoyable.
So enjoyable
at the time.
Magazines, album covers, stickers, posters—
what was the most powerful way of relaying a
message, in your opinion?
Posters on the streets were always great. Very
powerful. Particularly with the Pistols stuff,
and also with the work I did with Boy George.
He had a single called “No Clause 28” (which
banned “promotion of homosexuality” in
schools), which I did a poster for, and to see
that stuck up all over the country was good.
I thought that was okay. Particularly if the
record company as paying for it. It said “No
Clause 28” and showed a picture of Boy
George’s face looking like Noddy (a gnome-
like character in children’s storybooks).
Do you think that postering is more effective
than dissemination of images and messages on
the Internet?
Used together they are a really good way to get
things done. You can create an image and put it
up on your website and people can download it
as their own image and do what they want with it.
The Internet is great but in general I prefer things
that are tactile. I think they are more powerful.
Many of the graphics you used for the Pistols
artwork you had designed years earlier in your
work with the Suburban Press.
84 jamie reid
Yes, like the Nowhere Buses. They originally
came from LA, actually. An activist group in LA
had sent us a timetable that looked like the bus
company’s timetable, except the buses weren’t
going anywhere. And I reused it. The shoplifting
stickers I had made; they inspired the look of
the Never Mind the Bollocks album cover, lots
of fluorescent retail colors designed for a quick
sale. Reusing that stuff just epitomized the
spirit of the time, for me.
When you came up with the God Save the
Queen graphic, did you have any inkling how
iconic it would become?
No. I had no idea. You’re too busy getting on
with things. Once one thing’s done, you’re onto
the next thing.
Comparisons between you and Banksy have been
made aplenty. What do you think about that?
Banksy comes from a different time and
different age. Before he was well known we
actually did an exhibition together at the Arches
in Glasgow. I believe the posters for it are worth
a fortune on eBay.
How much has the gallery system been part of
your world?
It hasn’t, really. In the early days, there’s no way people have fuck all.
we could have done what we did in the confines
of a museum or art gallery, anyway. It’s never
really been part of my world, until recently,
I suppose. The Tate Modern got around to
buying some stuff, as did the V&A (Victoria and I have done in the last few years was done with
Albert Museum). But you know, it all just boils
down to people knowing what “art” is, and
thinking for themselves. We have had so much
damage done by the Brit Art movement—the
whole thing was spawned by Saatchi and
Saatchi (advertising agency), who were the
people involved in getting Margaret Thatcher
into power. Brit Art, to me, is like nouveau
cuisine—a lot of money for fucking nothing.
I think better art is done in times of recession
than in times of prosperity, anyway. In this
country, far more seems to get done than when
Have you been to Art Basel?
No, I haven’t been to Basel. A lot of the work
JUXTAPOZ
the Aquarian Gallery, with this guy Steve Lowe.
It is now called 113. He has put on some great
exhibitions with Billy Childish and others—but
none of the shows we have done there have
gotten attention from the mainstream art circuit.
In this country, the critics are all friends with the
artists. Critics won’t go to new galleries, and
the whole thing is so corrupt and so negative.
I’m not depressed about it at all—I just choose
to do things my own way.
The Eight-fold Year is your latest project, in
which you upload a new painting, photograph,
and piece of writing to Eightfoldyear.org each
day for a year. It’s totally different to your
work with the Pistols and Suburban Press,
and has a much more Gaian, shamanistic type
of message.
My work has always been on two fronts: the
much more spiritual, esoteric work, and the
political work, even though people see the
two as being diverse. The Eight-fold Year is
based on seasons, and the critical times of the
seasons, like the equinoxes and solstices. If
you have a garden or allotment, you’re already
working to that pattern. This project links in
with my background, because my family were
political activists who were also involved with a
druid order for three generations, starting with my
Great Uncle George Watson MacGregor Reid.
Yes, I’ve heard about your Great Uncle.
He started out as a union activist working
with dock workers in Boston and New York,
and once ran for Parliament as one of the first
Labour Party candidates. Then he met
Nowhere Buses (Suburban Press)
Lithographic print
352 mm x 275 mm
1975
Madame Blavatsky (founder of Theosophy),
returned to England and befriended members
of the Golden Dawn (a ninteenth century
magical order whose members included
Aleister Crowley and WB Yeats), and became
a swami-type figure. Then he was made the
chief druid of the British Isles and led druidic
ceremonial rites at Stonehenge. You’ve often
cited him as a huge inspiration.
Everything in my life has dovetailed from him.
He died before I was born, but I grew up with
a knowledge of the tradition of druidism and
how, in his case, it was linked with the birth of
socialism. If there’s one thing I’ve always been
aware of it’s that if you need political change,
you also need spiritual change. Look at the
history of the Labour party and socialist
86 jamie reid Fuck Forever JUXTAPOZ
Color print collage board-mounted paper
204 mm x 304 mm
1979
tradition—it stems back to spiritual visionaries
and philosophers like William Blake and
Tom Paine. Sadly, today politics is mainly
about commerce.
Your Great Uncle was active during the turn of
the twentieth century, a time of huge political
and spiritual evolution.
Yes, there was an incredible sense of new age
and enlightment—and then the First World
War happened. It was like a massive fucking
ritualistic suicide. People look back on the incas If computer systems broke down, all means
and the druids and say, “they must be terrible,
they practiced ritualistic suicide.” But modern
society happily kills people in the millions for
power, greed, and control. Poor soldiers. It breaks
my heart.
What do you think about Wikileaks, and
cyber terrorist groups like Anonymous, who
are protesting corporate and government
corruption in a whole new way?
Physical protest is more restricted and
oppressed than it used to be. So yes, in this
day and age, and with the options available,
cyber attacking is an effective way people
can fight back. With most Western politics
there’s the veneer you see, and then there’s
the corruption and secrecy behind it all. It’s
interesting, the way that terrorism is being
used to inhibit any means of protest, and keep
people under control.
What are your thoughts on computers? Obviously to do a graphic about it. The Tory party logo is
there were no laptops and no Internet when you a tree, so I have used their logo being cut down
began working as an artist and activist.
In the early
days, there’s
no way we
could have
done what
we did in the
confines of
a museum or
art gallery.
I often collaborate with a Russian laser artist
called Alexei Blinov. He told me he had a couple
of friends who were top-end hackers, who
became disillusioned. They had decided that
the microchip was an alien invention
designed to get us so utterly dependent on that. They are cutting libraries and children’s
computers that once they were taken away, benefits too. They’re cutting everything.
the whole planet would be thrown into
complete chaos. So yeah, personally, I am What does the future hold for Jamie Reid?
quite wary of computers. Mostly I use them
for communication and some graphics. Who knows. Survival. Birth of new paintings.
But I have a suspicion surrounding them. Planting things.
of public transport would fail, communications How’s your allotment?
would fail. We aren’t prepared for those kinds
of scenarios. We have just planted broad beans, onions,
shallots, and sweet peas. It’s such a great
Our reliance on computers, modern farming, concept, the idea of allotments. They are so
fossil fuels, etc., its much less scary if you democratic! After World War II, there wasn’t
know at least how to grow your own food and enough food so people were granted their own
generate your own energy. little bits of land to grow vegetables on. The
whole concept was born out of crisis. So many
I couldn’t agree more. I evenly split my time good things are.
between painting and gardening nowadays.
I do that every day. I have a garden and an For more information about Jamie Reid,
allotment, and there’s nothing like growing your contact Jamiereid.org and Isisgallery.org.
own stuff. You don’t need massive amounts of
space. You can do it.
What kind of politically driven art do you
create today?
The Tory government has just announced that
they are going to sell off British forest and
woodlands to private companies, and I wanted
with a sword saying “Tory Cuts.” Something like
88 fab 5 freddy JUXTAPOZ

FAB 5 FREDDY
Interview Michelle Joan Papillion / Portrait by 13thWitness
90 fab 5 freddy JUXTAPOZ Haymaker
6” x 6"
2010

Fab 5 Freddy has been at the

beginning of it all. The Brooklyn-bred
artist is legendary, a pioneer paving the way
for many, himself included, who have taken
their art from the streets to the galleries,
museums, and the heights of pop culture.
Few artists have uniformly fused together
a multifaceted career in visual art, film, and
television all born out of one culture.

Since the early ’80s Fab 5 Freddy was at the career, his new works—and yes—Jeffrey Deitch was called Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine.
epicenter of New York’s downtown scene and artist Blu. —Michelle Joan Papillion We became good friends when he invited me to
calling shots and building cultural bridges. He work the cameras and be a regular guest on a
helped draft the blueprint and pave the roads Michelle Joan Papillion: A lot of people heard public access cable TV show he was launching
traveled by countless from urban backgrounds the name Fab 5 Freddy for the first time called, Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party. He was like
who found a way to get their work seen and mentioned in Blondie’s ’80s hit, “Rapture.” a mentor/big brother to Jean-Michel Basquiat
heard. Fab is a cultural ambassador with How did you hook up with Blondie? and myself. Through him I met Blondie’s Debbie
diplomatic presence respected worldwide for Harry and Chris Stein, as well as many other
his creative contributions. He is often cited for FAB 5 Freddy: That all came out of me exploring musicians, filmmakers, artists, and other cool
showing people their first glimpse of hip-hop the New York downtown new wave and punk creative types on the scene then. Chris and
culture through the seminal film, Wild Style, scene in the late ’70s. Early on, I had ideas Debbie were also the first Americans to collect
that he co-produced and starred in along with about being an artist and helping spark a pop my work. And the shout-out they gave me on
Lee Quinones, and his tenure as the original cultural revolt. I was looking for an audience “Rapture” was indeed, fly.
host of the groundbreaking, YO! MTV Raps. that would understand the things I was trying to
do. I met Glenn O’Brien, who wrote a column on So you felt like the downtown New York
I sat down with Fab, who’s also a curatorial music and culture called “Glenn O’Brien’s Beat” scene was similar to the uptown hip-hop and
advisor for MOCA’s, Art In The Streets historical for Interview Magazine and he was also one of graffiti scenes?
survey, and discussed the beginnings of his the original editors for that publication when it
92 fab 5 freddy From Ace Gallery JUXTAPOZ Under Brooklyn Bridge
1987 Photo by Charlie Ahearn
1980

At that time the whole idea of rap music, break would be underground, arty, and radical, but we What was the first thing you directed and how Luis Buñuel, and this is such a new, immediate real estate section on this amazing discovery. Shortly after that, you debuted new work at a
dancing, graffiti painting and DJing were raw, were surprised to learn his friends and clients did that come about? way to get the work in front of lots of folks. The experts in the article confirmed that there show at Art Basel Miami in 2008. At the end of
street, and not at all linked as one but I felt in
were the elite of Italian society and business. After that video that I directed in May of ’88, to were various prominent artists that had tagged 2010 you exhibited a body of this new work at
essence, they were. To me, they comprised a Making Wild Style with Charlie was like my my surprise I was asked to host MTV’s first rap and spray painted on the walls in this building, the new Cosmopolitan Resort & Casino in Las
series of explosions going off in different partsSo this was before Wild Style came out? film school. Classic, hard core, independent, music program, YO! MTV Raps, in the fall of including myself. The backstory is that in 1979, Vegas. Tell us about them.
of The City set off by a rainbow of rebellious guerilla filmmaking. Investors laughed at us. that year. I did that into the mid-’90s, the golden fresh out of Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, I’d met an art
urban teens. I sensed that punks and new wave Yes. Wild Style came out in 1982–83. In the They were like, “Rap music, graffiti, are you era of hip-hop music. critic named Edit Deak who liked my work, The new works are these mixed-media on
types would feel the synergy. I introduced them, beginning when I began making art, many guys serious?” Ha-ha—we showed them! I was invited me to a dinner party, and before leaving canvas pieces. I select photographs and
and they did. people I was meeting and becoming friends showing my work at Holly Solmon’s gallery on The 151 Wooster Wild Style Wall was a big asked me to tag a wall in her loft. I drew an digitally alter them, placing my subject in a
with downtown were all interested in different 57th Street in NYC, and had a big show at the event in the NY art world a few years ago. airplane dropping a bomb and put up a few black void. Then I have the images blown up
Tell me about the first time you showed in mediums like film, photography, video, and Ace Gallery in LA by 1987, but I was getting Elaborate on that event, and did you remember tags. In subsequent years, others who visited and printed on canvas. From there I place
a gallery? music. Most everyone worked in at least two restless. Rap music videos hadn’t kicked tagging in that building? her loft would also tag the wall after seeing I’d colored Swarovski crystals on the canvas, one
mediums and we all supported each other’s in strong yet by the late ’80s, but I thought left my mark. The wall was later Sheetrocked by one, pointillism style.
It was in Rome in 1979. Lee Quinones and endeavors. Jean-Michel and I talked about directing would be a great way to get my work A developer was renovating this old Soho over and sealed up for many years. The
I had a two-person show at Galleria Le Medusa. film, music, and art constantly, as I’d do with in front of much larger audiences, then parlay loft building at 151 Wooster Street and he developer decided to higher conservators Where did this idea come from, using the crystals?
An Italian art dealer, Claudio Bruni, had read Keith Haring. While Charlie Ahearn and I were that exposure back to my art. MTV was still uncovered a wall splashed with a bunch of to remove the work from the brick wall, and
about Lee and I in the Village Voice. He’d been putting the film together, Glenn O’Brien and practicing television apartheid with few, very graffiti tags and drawings. He’d heard rumors do an exhibition in the space. He arranged early The specific idea of working with the crystals
noticing graffiti develop on NYC trains and was Edo Bertoglio were making Downtown 81, few, exceptions besides Michael Jackson’s that Jean-Michel Basquiat and others had left works by Keith Haring from collectors Kenny came from seeing a lot of it around lately,
curious, so from that article he looked us up, Henry Chalfant and Tony Silver were making videos. I wanted to go wider, go pop as in their marks somewhere in the building, so when Scharf, Basquiat, and myself, and the event he particularly on clothing. I was attracted to the
loved the work, bought a couple of paintings, Style Wars, and Patti Astor started the FUN popular, and reach more people via film when workers uncovered this wall, he contacted gave was mobbed with art fans from then and materials and found that Swarovski makes the
commissioned us to do more, then offered us a Gallery, all at the same time. It was such a I was asked to direct My Philosophy, the the Guggenheim Museum and their experts now. While there I got flashbacks, déjà vu, and best crystals, like getting that certain brand of
show at his gallery. Lee and I thought the crowd frenzied period of creative expression where first music video for KRS ONE. I thought, consulted with others, and next thing I hear an explosion went off in my brain that it was now paint. It’s a tedious process, but it’s invigorating
that would come out to see our work in Rome we felt anything was possible, and it was. Warhol made films, as did the surrealists like about it in an article in the New York Times the time to ramp up and make some new work. making these new pieces. It’s an amazing
94 fab 5 freddy JUXTAPOZ
experience watching the viewer move in front
of the work as the light dances and fires back
these thousands of tiny explosions, making you
a part of the process. The new work has a lot to
do with light and movement.
Can you elaborate on the new work you’ll be
showing at MOCA?
My new pieces will use crystals and other
mixed-media, while referencing my past in
graffiti using a process similar to the works I’ve
recently created. In the ’80s, we were reluctant
to refer to ourselves as “graffiti artist,” but the
media descended and called us that. Out of
our respect and reverence for the process and
practice, we were conscious that we weren’t
technically doing “graffiti,” as the true meaning
of that term is akin to making an illegal mark or
scrawl on a wall. But I’m aware that meanings
of words expand based on popular usage
over time. I like to use the term New York style
graffiti because that explains the style of spray
painting and tagging developed in New York in
the ’70s and ’80s most associated with graffiti
as an art. Some use the term aerosol artist
to reference that they are using spray paint,
but not necessarily creating graffiti in that
NY-based style. My new work references
NY-style graffiti painting but in a cut up,
sampled, remixed, and reformed manner.
Obviously, there are many digitally-based
ideas now common that were originally
developed and perfected around the process
of creating hip-hop and modern dance music.
Conceptually that is inspiring my current
creative output. It’s like a narrative I’ve shot,
edited, and stored on my mental hard drive, and
these new paintings are scenes from the film.
How necessary do you think it is to have a
museum survey like this about the history of
graffiti into street art?
I think it’s very important that this Art In the
Streets show is happening at MOCA. It’s a
really heroic decision on Jeffery Deitch’s part
to provide an opportunity for a historical survey
of one of, if not the most resounding, radical,
and relevant movement in art history; graffiti
New work
2010
and street art. Showing folks how it developed
into this wild explosion on the streets of
metropolitan areas like NYC and Philly, and in
30-plus years spread and sprouted itself into
many different chambers of visual expression
on a worldwide level. From the streets, to
galleries, and now in a big way, museums.
What are your thoughts on the mural Italian
street artist Blu painted on the side of MOCA
that was taken down within a day of going up?
Jeffrey Dietch has been showing and dealing
with cutting-edge contemporary art for 30
years and was one of the earliest champions
of myself and others from the graffiti scene
moving into the NY art world. He also
showcased, at his former NY space, many of
the leading street artists, including Blu. True
to form, I believe Jeffrey trusted Blu’s creative
judgment and didn’t ask to approve a sketch
for the MOCA mural, but left him to do his
thing. Blu is from Italy and very talented, but
I doubt he was aware of the complexities of
the community, the war memorial very near
the MOCA Geffen building, and a Department
of Veterans affairs building also very close by.
Personally, I’m anti-war but pro US troops,
and this is an all-volunteer military. How
would those screaming censorship feel if the
mural had remained, and the certain furor to
follow resulted in the cancelling of the entire
exhibition? When a filmmaker cuts out a scene
they feel doesn’t work, or distracts from the
whole, do we call that censorship? Jeffrey’s
title at MOCA is director, and like a film, this
exhibit has a narrative, a strong one. What’s
on the outside of a museum is public and we
don’t have a choice, whether or not we see
it. But what’s on the inside, we make that
choice. I also think it would have been helpful
to the discussion early on had Blu spoken up
more on his creative relationship with Jeffrey,
and provided more specifics regarding the
circumstances of the mural, so those rushing
to judgment would have a more balanced view
and understanding. I’ve been talking to Lee
and Futura about this, and Futura served in the
US Navy, so we all have strong feelings on this
issue that I’m sure will be discussed in some
Rap music,
break dancing,
graffiti painting
and DJing
comprised a
series of
explosions
going off in
different parts
of the city set
off by a rainbow
of rebellious
urban teens.
forum when the show opens.
Is there anything else you would like to share
about your history as an artist that maybe
hasn’t been shared before?
As a kid I was restless, wild, and curious. I would
take my own holidays from school, hop on the
train from Brooklyn and explore, mainly museums.
My favorites were the Brooklyn Museum and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th Avenue,
which would let you in for a nickel, though not
their suggested admission. I’d look at everything
from Egyptian art to tribal to renaissance
paintings and Caravaggios, and their great
collection of classic modern art. Everything
from Pollock to Kline, Rothko, de Kooning to
Rauschenberg, to Johns. There I developed
a love for art, artists, and making art and
I realized to do it big was gonna have to be like
Malcolm X said, “by any means necessary.” That
became my foundation, and the journey began.
For more information about FAB 5 Freddy,
contact Fab5freddy.com.
96 rammellzee RAMMELLZEE JUXTAPOZ RAMMELLZEE
Lords’ Minus, 1999 Vocal Well’s God,1999
Photo Angela Boatwright Photo Angela Boatwright
Courtesy of The Estate of Rammellzee and The Suzanne Geiss Company Courtesy of The Estate of Rammellzee and The Suzanne Geiss Company

rammellzee
98 rammellzee RAMMELLZEE JUXTAPOZ RAMMELLZEE
, 1991 Votive, c. 1983
Collage on Canvas with Resin Spray paint on photograph in epoxy resin
41.5 x 41.5 inches, 105.4 x 105.4 cm 37 x 39.5 inches, 93.98 x 100.33 cm
Photo Adam Reich Photo Adam Reich
Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee
Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York
100 rammellzee RAMMELLZEE (top) RAMMELLZEE (mid) JUXTAPOZ RAMMELLZEE (opposite page bottom) RAMMELLZEE
Letter Racer “ R”,1988 , 1988 Letter Racer “ Z”, 1988 Lords Minus Description, c. 1995
Found objects assemblage Found objects assemblage Found objects assemblage Collage on paper
Photo Adam Reich Photo Adam Reich Photo Adam Reich 11 x 8.5 inches, 27.94 x 21.59 cm
Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee
Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York
102 rammellzee RAMMELLZEE (below) RAMMELLZEE (opposite page) JUXTAPOZ
Memory, c. 1986 Trixter Bolt from A Assassin, 1985
Paper, spray paint and photograph on wood Spray paint, film paper and rocks in epoxy resin on canvas
36 inches diameter, 91.44 cm diameter 41 x 30 inches , 104.14 x 76.2 cm
Photo Adam Reich Photo Adam Reich
Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee Copyright The Estate of Rammellzee
Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York Courtesy The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York
104 GUSMANO CESARETTI JUXTAPOZ

GUSMANO CESARETTI
Interview by Aaron Rose / Portrait by Estevan Oriol
106 GUSMANO CESARETTI JUXTAPOZ Gallero
East Los Angeles
1971

Sometimes, just when you

think you’ve seen everything,
when you feel that there are no more
hidden gems, the universe shakes everything
up and surprises you. This was the case for me
when I was introduced to the photographic
works of Gusmano Cesaretti. Cesaretti is an
Italian immigrant who came to the united states
in the 1960s. The work he did in the early 1970s
documenting the East LA lowrider and
graffiti scenes are some of the most
intimate and poignant images
I’ve ever seen of that time.

Street Writers, his book from the period,
is a rare publication that I highly suggest
hunting down. He is one of the best street
photographers I’ve ever met in my life, and as
these photographs attest, an important part
of the legacy of graffiti and street culture.
—Aaron Rose
Aaron Rose: How did you end up in America?
Gusmano Cesaretti: I had relatives here.
My uncle lived in Chicago… another uncle
lived in Los Angeles. At that time, to me,
America was like a dream! I remember
spending nights when I was a kid listening to
Radio Monte Carlo, which was a station where
they played American music. They played all
the latest
rock and roll, the new jazz, everything! When
the station went off the air at four in the
morning, then I would go to sleep. So the
American culture that I got from the music and
watching the movies had a big effect on me.
I would go to the movies all the time. I admired
all these great actors and the locations and
even the studio stuff. It was a world of fantasy.
Films had a way of.
Projecting!
Yes! Exactly. Projecting the American dream.
So everybody in the world is watching American
movies and they see how they live in LA and
NY. You know, the big houses and the big cars.
Those dreams are in films. So I really truly loved
everything about America. I read Jack Keroac’s
On the Road. When that book came out I said,
“Wow!” Then I found out about Allen Ginsberg.
This was 1961, 1962, 1963. I was in a transition
where I didn’t know what I was gonna do with
my life, so I said to myself, “I need to go to
America.” I talked to my dad, he got me a ticket
on the boat from Genova. Eleven days later
I arrived in NY. The moment I stepped out of
the boat and I had my feet in NYC, Kennedy
was killed.
No way. Wow. The same day?
Yes. I’m watching a country going through an
incredible devastation. People were crying on
the street. They were lined up in front of TV
stores watching the news. All day long it was
just “Kennedy was killed, Kennedy was killed.”
108 GUSMANO CESARETTI David, Sonia, and Blackie Chaz’ Skull JUXTAPOZ
Highland Park, Los Angeles Highland Park, Los Angeles
1973 1974

the big cars.

Those dreams
are in films.
So I really
truly loved
everything
about America

I was like, “Wow! This is amazing!” So the German descendent. He taught me everything I would see grafitti on the wall, but I didn’t know
moment I put my foot in America, the President about photography. He taught me about the what it meant. I was used to the Italian grafitti
got killed. So that’s how I came to America. chemistry of developing film, how to make a that was more political. The stuff in East LA
print, how to make your own developers for looked very exotic to me. I liked the style of the
How did you get from NYC to LA? specific purposes. I worked there for three writing. It was almost like a different language.
years and it was the most incredible training. In some moments it even reminded me of
I lived in Chicago for a while and then in Chinese lettering. It was amazing. Those
1970 I moved to LA. To me, LA was the real It’s like a dream job. guys were Mexicans, but it was different from
dreamworld because I loved the films. I loved Spanish. I wanted to know more about this.
James Dean and Marlon Brando. Even though Yes! A dream job. I would spend hours in I realized that I had access to a subculture
some of the movies were shot in NY, or in the darkroom everyday. It was an incredible there that wasn’t available to everybody. That
Texas, LA was still the center. Plus, everyday experience. While I was working there it gave excited me and made me want to get more
was sunny so it really pumped me up. I relate me time to discover the city. I had a little involved with these guys. I wanted to know all
to the sun. When I’m in the sun I feel like a Volkswagen and I would go everywhere, the meanings of things. I would wake up in the
hundred-million dollars. When it rains I feel but I really found that I was drawn to the culture morning and go to East LA. I would spend all
depressed, I feel that things are not going right.
of the Eastside. It was the most interesting day there walking around, talking to people.
The sun just brings everything together. to me because it was raw and accessible. I would take pictures of the kids, their school,
You know, in Beverly Hills I would never see the murals of the virgin on the walls. Little by
Were you taking photographs at that point? people walking on the street. To me it felt like little, I began to understand the whole culture.
a wasteland. But I would go to East LA and
I started taking photographs seriously in 1968. there were people in the street! I would see What year was it when you started hanging out
In 1970 I got a job at the Huntington Library in writing on the walls and paintings. I saw people in East LA?
Pasadena. One day I thought that I would try to walking, and eating, and chasing each other,
get a job there. The guy asked me, “What kind and singing, and arguing, and experiencing I actually first visited East LA in 1969 and I took
of work do you do?” I said, “I’m a photographer, emotional moments. So I thought to myself, a few snapshots here and there. But then I was
but I’d like to work in the garden.” He said, these are the real people here! like, “I need to know this!” I started walking the
“Well, we have a photo department here.” streets in 1970. I would park the car and walk
They needed someone to help, and there was How did you discover grafitti and the guys that through every neighborhood. I would just walk
a job opening so I got the job. My boss was were doing it down there? and walk and talk to people. Old people, young
Frank Reinhardt. He was a photographer and people, kids, mothers, you know. Also,
110 GUSMANO CESARETTI
if you are an
artist, you’re
not going to
get involved
with anything
because your
art ultimately
is what’s going
to save you.
everybody respected me because I wasn’t
American. My English was very bad. I was just
learning English and they knew immediately.
They would ask me if I was Latino. When I
told them I was from Italy they were always
excited. Also, I had a lot of respect for them.
Before I took a photo I would always ask first.
I would say, “Can I take your picture?” or “Can
I see your house?” Then I would come back
the following week and I would bring them a
print. Some of those families down there still
have prints of mine in their houses! It’s pretty
amazing. I also photographed the Clique Car
Club and those guys have prints that I can’t
even remember. You know prints of their kids,
of weddings.
How did you meet Chaz Bojorquez and begin
following that group that was looking at
Mexican-American graffiti in a different way?
I met Chaz through a little scene of artists
I knew in Pasadena. I told him that I had been
photographing East LA and I showed him
some stuff. He suggested that we go around
sometime together. So I started going out with
Chaz while he worked. Sometimes we would
just go to the river and look at the graffiti and he When you were shooting that stuff did you think the lowriders.
would tell me all about it. I would photograph
him doing his pieces. At the same time I was
also photographing this scene of artists around
him. All these guys were using graffiti as an
artistic expression.
JUXTAPOZ The Godfather
East Lost Angeles
1977
What year was this? neighborhood and the walls I always respected
it. The walls speak to you. You can go to any
This was 1971 to 1974. city in the world and if you start looking at
the walls you’re going to find out a lot about
But these guys weren’t affiliated with gangs, right? the place. There is information there. To me,
when I did the graffiti pictures I thought it was
No! Chaz was maybe at the edge. He lived in
the gang neighborhood. But the thing is, if you
important from the graphics point of view. I was
interested in the lettering, the different styles
are an artist, you’re not going to get involved and symbols associated with different gangs.
with anything because your art ultimately is I never thought that these photos would
what’s going to save you. The gangs respected become an historical document.
him, everybody knew who he was. He did
graffiti, but it was graffiti with an edge. He How did the Street Writers book come about?
wasn’t just marking territory. Also, he never did
graffiti outside of his own area. He knew the I had photographed all this material and when
law of the land. He did it right. I don’t think his I started putting all the pictures together
graffiti was ever crossed out. They left it alone. I started thinking that it would make a great
book. I met a guy named Tony Cohen, who
So you guys became friends? was starting a publishing company called
Acrobat Books. Tony is a writer. He’s quite
Oh yeah, we would party together. We used to successful now. So I met with him and showed
go dancing at night and then do graffiti. You him what I had been photographing. He
know both psychologically and physically we immediately understood it and offered me a
would get dressed up for the night. You’d have book. When I was going around with Chaz
your cans, smoke a couple of joints and you I had a tape recorder with me and I would
were ready to go. Then you’re in the mood. tape our conversations all the time. I couldn’t
You drive around. You find the right spot, the remember everything so I would tape what he
right corner. It was always very strategic. It was said as we went around. He had an enormous
funny because we would paint with a guy called amount of information. So we transcribed all
Kingfish, and he would wear a white suit with the tapes and that became the text for the
a Hawaiian shirt and a white hat. So this is the book. The book was done in a very traditional
middle of the night and we’re doing graffiti by documentary style. It was very naïve in many
the freeway! This guy is 300 pounds wearing a ways. Street Writers was very, very simple.
white suit and he’s got sunglasses on! But we
never got caught. Never. At that time I don’t Was there an exhibition when the book
think the cops were on us the way they would was released?
be now.
We had a party at Tony Cohen’s house in
Well, graffiti hadn’t spread the way it has now. Hollywood. I invited all my lowrider friends to
that party. They all came, saw the book and
Exactly. told me I could photograph them anytime
I wanted. That’s when I really got involved with
that it was an important historical document? Or
was it just like you hanging out with your friends? What camera were you using?
I never really thought about the importance. Nikon. But most of the stuff was shot with a
But because I was documenting the Nikkormat because my Nikon broke down.
112 GUSMANO CESARETTI JUXTAPOZ
There was a great photo shop in Pasadena
called Lemac Camera. The guy who owned the
shop was a wonderful human being. He liked
my work so he would loan me cameras and
lenses. Some weekends I would have a real
nice wide angle lens, sometimes a flash. You
know the shots I have of the lowriders on the
street with the flares? I would shoot with a low
shutter speed and then I would flash it so there
would be a little movement to it.
Your style of printing is also very unique.
The prints have a real signature to them that is rare
with most photographers. Was that on purpose?
Yes. I had this little formula in my head. The
training that I had at the Huntington Library
was incredible because I learned to really
understand the chemistry of film. When I would
take a photograph, I was already visualizing
in my head the way the final print would look.
The photographs I was taking were of subjects
that I thought were on the edge. I started
applying this philosophy to my photography.
Klique Car Club
East Los Angeles
1973
For instance, I would use Tri-X film and I would
push it to 1600 asa, sometimes even more.
Then I would develop the film and put the
chemicals in the tank, but instead of gentle
agitation like one would usually do with this
film, I would instead put the tank on the floor
and I would kick it with my foot. It would roll
all the way to the end of the studio. Then
I would walk over there, turn around and kick
it back in the other direction. I would do that
for just the right amount of time that I needed
to develop the film. Consequently it was
agitated in a very brutal way. The film and the
images became very grainy and full of contrast.
But I had developed this technique and I knew
what I was doing. Sometimes I would take a
cigarette lighter to the stainless steel tank and
warm it up. Between the warming it up and the
agitation it became just like an explosion of
grain. It was an amazing and beautiful thing.
When you look back at those pictures now from
40 years ago, how does it make you feel?
I realized that
I had access to
a subculture
there that
wasn’t available
to everybody.
That excited me.
I had a relationship with every single person
that I photographed. I wonder about some of
the people. Did he ever make it? or I wonder
what happened to his wife? You know what
I mean? I still keep in touch with a few people
from that time. When I look at the photographs
I think about the good times that I had hanging
out with those guys. We had a great time! The
dancing and the graffiti and the beautiful girls—
it was amazing! I never thought that someday
they would be in a museum. I was just taking
pictures, that’s what I do! Like the same way
a mechanic fixes cars. They used to call me
Picture Man. They would say, “Here comes
the Picture Man!” It was beautiful.
For more information about Gusmano
Cesaretti, contact Gusmanocesaretti.com.
114 martha cooper JUXTAPOZ Broken Promises/Falsas Promesas
Stencils by John Fekner
Charlotte Street, South Bronx
1980

Martha cooper
all photography by martha cooper
116 martha cooper Village Voice, 1982 JUXTAPOZ TV Party (Fab 5 Freddy) David Wojnarowicz Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Text by Richard Goldstein (reference to NYC public Lower East Side, Manhattan Lower East Side, Manhattan Lower East Side, Manhattan
Photos by Martha Cooper access show by 1982 1982 1982
Glenn O’Brien)
1982
118 martha cooper JUXTAPOZ Kenny Scharf, IZ the WIZ, Richard Hambleton
Lower East Side, Manhattan
1982
120 martha cooper Keith Haring JUXTAPOZ Richard Hambleton Keith Haring and LAZ
East Harlem Downtown Manhattan Avenue DJ
Date of painting unknown 1982 Avenue D and Houston Street
Lower East Side, Manhattan
1982
122 martha cooper JUXTAPOZ
124 PROFILES
lady pink
Sacha Jenkins SHR: Your eye has always
been amused by figures, both human and
other worldly. What do you find inspiring
about fleshy forms?
Lady Pink: I've always drawn females—
sometimes as sexual beings, sometimes as
victims. Guys are hard to draw for some reason. kinds of people to do vandalism. Better yet,
But truthfully, I've never thought about why
I do what I do and how I do what I do. As a
graff writer, lettering was cool, but I never
wanted to be confined to it. So my homeboys
made me do the characters on the trains.
And my husband, Smith, has a serious romance now. “Street” makes us sound so dangerous!
with letters, so my characters made our
productions a ménage à trois of sorts.
Photo of art by Martha Cooper
JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco
PHOTOS
1
ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California
1 Shepard Fairey piece a few blocks
from MoCA 2 A Space Invader piece
just mysteriously showed up on the
Do you think that the lines between "graffiti"
Geffen building 3 JR’s mural for
and "street art" have been blurred?
“Wrinkles of the City” a few blocks
from MoCA
I think graffiti has morphed into "street art"
in the way that rock n' roll morphed into
different sounds—like metal, punk, pop,
and rap. The form is growing up, inspiring all
inspiring young folks to take control of their
environments. Your average Joe or Joan now
has no idea what the difference is between
graff and street art. It’s as if there isn’t a line
separating us anymore. We're all “street artists”
126 PROFILES
Jon Naar
When I arrived in New York in 1973, graffiti
was in full bloom on the lines, and Jon Naar had
already caught the tags and pieces by Stitch,
Piper, Stay High 149 and Phase II on film and
published them in The Faith of Graffiti. These
were the legendary ancestors of the artists
I would document years later when I began to
shoot masters like Dondi, Crash, and Lee who
stood on the shoulders of those titans who
challenged the industrial power of 600 miles
of steel and machinery running like a blood
Graffiti writers
1973
vessel through the city. Jon’s photos capture
the exuberant tangle of those early paintings
that brightened the dilapidated city and
turned deferred-maintenance wrecks into
brilliant canvases. It was a time when the
culture of writing was new and everybody was
experimenting with style. I was inspired by
the art and by Jon’s photos, and happy that
someone was showing the world this entirely
new art form. —Henry Chalfant
JUXTAPOZ Photos by Evan Pricco
1 2
PHOTOS
ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California
1 Street style 2 A segment of
Barry McGee’s contribution to the
2011 version of Street Market 3 Mister
Cartoon’s mural inside the Geffen 4
Levi’s Film Workshop begins to take
shape 5 Greek artist Stelios’ mural in
the Geffen
3 4
128 PHOTOS JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco

PHOTOS

Levi’s
green
screen set
levi’s film workshop
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California
130 INSIDER JUXTAPOZ

Patti Astor created the world I started it in 1981. The FUN Gallery was an Who were some of the other graffiti artists that
famous FUN Gallery (1981-1985) artist’s gallery. The first show was kind of an you picked up?
accident, my partner Bill Stelling who I knew
the first art gallery in the
from the Mudd Club said he had this little There was Futura and Fab, but Fred Brathwaite
East Village. She starred space fixed up into a gallery. At this point was a multi-talented kind of dude. His stuff was
as Virginia, the intrepid everyone like Keith Haring and Diego Cortez revolutionary. Most of the shows were for fun
“downtown” reporter who had been doing these one night shows and and we didn’t sell very much. We didn’t give
ventures “uptown” in Charlie art was the new thing after the whole Hip-Hop a shit about the money! That is what drove
culture came down to the East Village. So people crazy about me, but I would just tell
Ahearn’s classic Hip-Hop film,
I said okay and Steven Kramer just happened them how it was.
Wild Style.
Insider to jump on it and he did 20 drawings. We were
so broke we just shrink-wrapped them like You’ll appreciate this story, in ’83 I flew out to
Patti Astor Patti Astor: I grew up in Cincinnati, which
is a pretty culturally aware city. In 1967, the
record albums and we sold all of them in one LA with FUN artists Futura, Dondi, Ero, Lee
day, and at the time the art world was very stiff and Zephyr and we were working with Doug
Summer of Love, I was 17 and told my Dad
Interview by Saber and so closed. Christmas. We were painting his ACE Gallery
I didn’t want to go to college, “can’t I just drop
Portrait by Estevan Oriol building on Melrose and he comes up to me
acid and listen to Jimi Hendrix?” and he blew
Here is Haring and Basquiat coming from the and starts yelling at the artists and says, “you
up, “You were brought up to be an intellectual,
whole Warhol angle, how integral was the tell your boys…” and I cut him off right there
you’re going to be an intellectual and dammit
graffiti writers essence and mixing with Haring and told him we were going to take a walk
you’re going to college!” So I chose Barnard
and Basquiat? How much of an influence down the block. All the artists stopped painting.
College to get to New York. I arrived in the
were they given by the train writers, because I said “these were not his boys, these are
Fall of ’68 and right at that time the anti-war
the train writers were innovative and the other artists who deserve your respect and if you
movement was in full swing, so I ended up
being simpler. How much of an influence was don’t respect them, we are all going to get
dropping out of school and spending two years
graffiti art? back on the plane and you can kiss your gallery
in NYC SDS, which is where I get my kick
show goodbye.” We walked back and the crew
ass attitude.
I think that it was a tremendous amount and started painting again.
it went both ways. The success of the FUN
How did the energy, political time frame and
Gallery was that we were never a graffiti It was thrilling that the artists would sit down
things that were happening on the street help
gallery, although people like to categorize and have a serious talk to tell me how they
form the era of graffiti and hip hop.
us as a “Graffiti gallery”. We gave one man wanted their art presented. They all had a
shows to people whom Bill and I thought very clear vision of what they wanted. A-ONE
I always had an outsider mentality, and I don’t
were doing interesting things. That first year, was one of my favorites, who was tragically
think I was ever going to go back and go to law
besides Steven, we had non-graffiti artists young when he died. It was terrible. But one
school. I was a hippie. I don’t think anyone who
Arch Connelly, Jane Dickson, Kiely Jenkins, of my favorite parts about the FUN Gallery
went through the whole Vietnam era, whether
and Kenny Scharf, who gave the gallery it’s was that you’d have the little kids from the
you were in the service or stopping the war,
FUN name. Each person had a totally separate neighborhood, Rock Steady Crew, the Beastie
your life was never going to be the same. You
technique. It was a real trade off because all Boys when they were 14, the Clash, rich
were never going to go back into the system
of a sudden there was this complete freedom. collectors in their mink coats, punk rockers,
because you had totally lost faith in it.
I mean Keith became famous from his chalk artists, and we also had a gay crowd because
drawings on the subway. Once the FUN Gallery my partner Bill was gay. The AIDS thing was
So you met all these characters, guys like
opened everybody would hang out there every day. tragic it was like the black plague and hundreds
Futura, Lee, and Dondi. What was Dondi like?
of people were taken. It was quite a struggle
It was almost like a new horizon? at times, for four years we never had a heater,
Dondi White was always the keeper of the
Bill got punched in the face a few times and
flame for the children of the grave. It was a real
The writers were people the system had given I faced down the neighborhood Mafia and saw
honor to meet and work with Dondi. I think one
up on, the hip-hopop culture came out of a couple of knives from the wrong end.
of the reasons I got in so well with these guys
being told they were nothing. But they were
and eventually earned their trust was because
something so they created their own dance, From all your experiences, all the people you
I kept my mouth shut. I was a toy, I’d be
music and art form. I found it valuable that the met and everything you’ve been through, is
running along behind them, and what is just so
little kids from around the neighborhood would there one thing you have taken from it all,
perfect is that usually in the movies when there
come in because this is where they heard what’s your message to the world?
is a white person going into a black culture they
they could see their heroes, and I got to tell
solve everything, tell everybody what to do and
them that everybody has something to offer. I feel the purpose of art is to create something
have all the answers. In Wild Style everyone’s
Everyone has a talent, don’t listen to anyone beautiful that people can see and inspire them,
always telling me to shut up and get lost.
else and you can find that inside yourself. You and also to make the world better. I don’t have
I think that was great and I was smart, I could
can see how hard these artists, musicians and any money but I don’t care ’cause I was not in
go anywhere and learn.
dancers work to make this happen and you can it for monetary rewards but I have many people
find that inside yourself. who have told me that I changed their lives.
When did you start the FUN Gallery and what
was your first show?
132 PROFILES

mark
To me the definition of art is one’s symbiotic
relationship with the world around them.

gonzales Mark achieved fame early on in his life through

skateboarding, so, as a revolutionary, really his
art’s an extension of his life. It’s mimicry, what
he sees and how he interprets it, and then how
he pushes it out onto the world around him.
That’s being in tune with your surroundings,
and that’s the art that Mark Gonzales
exemplifies. Whether he’s jumping a picnic
table full speed ahead on a skateboard or
kicking a sign 'cause he’s mad about something
or just playing in traffic with his bike going 150
miles an hour—believe me, that’s art. To be in
control, to see things in a different fashion, to
get so much emotion out of a Schmoo or his
little thumb head drawing, it’s infantile, you
can see its most simplistic form. He’s not
trying to jock you with his strokes or his sky-
rising tagging ability—it’s fucking weirdness.
It’s interpretive.

Mark’s paid some fuckin’ heinous dues in his

life. He was running the streets of LA when he
was 13 years old unaccounted for by anybody,
from Southgate to Hollywood to digging in
dumpsters on Venice Beach—that dude was
everywhere and nobody cared. He wasn’t no
latchkey kid. He was just on the run, “whatever
I can get into, whatever I can see, whatever
I can ingest.” He pays attention to stay in the
game. Some of his art is too overblown, like
German Schmoos, like, whatever corny as
fuck—I laugh—so I like the pieces I have that
are just random shit that’s funny to me. Even
his texts are fuckin’ funny. He’s a writer, artist,
movie guy, actor, jerk of all trades—he does it
all—and he’s funnier than shit. So that’s what
I think about when it comes to the art: Mark’s
a whole package. A rapid transmission of
talent, you know, he’s just so arty. He’s just
thinking, he’s always percolating, he’s never
sitting still. Mark’s art isn’t this kind stuff that’s
like “I’m going to translate it to what you want.”
I think in some regard his art is his being, it’s his
whole creation, it’s one unit. Mark Gonzales is
way ahead of the curve. —Jake Phelps

Juxtapoz Handmade
A. J. Fosik Caroline Hwang Cody Husdson Jennifer Muskopf Nicole Gastonguay Sara Escamilla
Ann Wood Christl Hansman Connie Wong Jenny Ryan Orly Cogan Sarah Neuburger
Ana Serranao Christopher Bettig Diem Chau Jim Houser Peter Callesen Souther Salazar
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Photo by Joe Brook
2010
134 PROFILES JUXTAPOZ

Invader

If you were to ask us to name the artist we feel

most embodies street art sensibility, there’s
no question that we’d put French artist Invader
at the very top of our list. It was Invader’s
tile mosaics that became our entry point for
discovering that street art coul be so much
more that just stencils, stickers, and wheat
paste posters.

For more than a decade, Invader has been

getting up with a vengeance, not only hitting
countless cities around the world—but hitting
them hard. For us, the best thing about coming
across a Space Invader tile is that you know the
man put it there himself. Like Banksy, Invader’s
choice for anonymity only adds to his intrigue
and mystique.
—Wooster Collective for Juxtapoz, March 2008
 Hilary Pecis
Kingdom
48" x 36"

CLASSIFIEDS
2010

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138 PHOTOS JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco

PHOTOS

ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California

A detailed look at Ed Templeton’s wall

in Art In the Streets
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144 PHOTOS JUXTAPOZ Photo by Evan Pricco

PHOTOS

ART IN THE
STREETS
april 17, 2011—august 8, 2011
MOCA, LOS ANGELES, California

Perhaps the most detailed exhibit

within Art In the Streets, Barry McGee,
Todd “Reas” James, and Steve “Espo”
Powers’ recreate Street Market, an
update of their seminal 2000 show at
NYC’s Deitch Projects