What or who influences your work?

Wow! Influences are many and wide. I take a lot of photographs so people like Martin Parr, Zach Gold, Martha Cooper and Boogie have influenced the photos I take. I’ve also been influenced by artists such as Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Swoon, D*Face, Ron Mueck and Faile. But all art and design I see around me will influence me. I love the feeling I get when I see something new and exciting that makes me want to work even harder at my art.

What sort of music do you listen to while working?

I like a lot of ska, Mf Doom, The Knife and anything that’s got an ounce of passion.

Have you any tactical advice for those planning on erecting work in the streets? Banksy for instance advises that drunk nights will result in some great work but some arrests as well.

Being drunk does help as you can feel a bit odd at 2am when everyone else is drunk and lairy. I suppose it’d just a matter of keeping your eyes open, having a mate out with you doesn’t hurt. I like to look around during the day for good spots that I can hit at night. You want to find spots that are visible where you know your work will last longer than a few days.

Why did you take the name Asbestos? It's a material you use a lot right?

Street art is a little bit like Asbestos. Asbestos is all around us, (in the walls and in the very fabric of many buildings) but it often goes unnoticed. When we realise that it's there it really gets our attention and we question it and it gets discussed. When I started putting work up on the street, that's what I wanted my work to do, to become part of the fabric of towns and cities and to make people notice, question and discuss what's really around, the name Asbestos represents my message perfectly. As for the material Asbestos, I’ve not used it as I’d be a bit paranoid about giving myself lung cancer so I use plasterboard for my Dolls heads.

From the Dolls heads and some sporadic lost stickers there was a gap of about a year in any real street level output from you. Why was this and how come there has been such a sudden resurgence of activity from you?

Just like the rest of the world I was trying to pay the rent, and was also doing a lot of travel. I’ve also taken a long hard look at the work that I was outputting and decided last year that I needed to focus my style, concentrating on painting and more handmade work. I love the idea of putting up uniquely painted one off pieces on the street. I started doing more of these paintings in the run up to my show ‘Hope & Despair’ with Canadian artist Other in The Bernard Shaw last year. I love this new direction, so you’ll be seeing more of my paintings on the streets. I’ve also done a lot more Lost stickers (36 different ones to date!) and have put up over 2000 of them all over Dublin and London in the last few months.

I noticed some signs on Henry St warning Saturday shoppers of 'dry paint' paint on lamp posts - was this, you?

Not me I’m afraid, but strangely enough I did put up a few Dry Paint signs about three years ago. Not saying that this person is biting me as I put up so few they may have gone unnoticed. I’ll have a look out for them though.

How do you feel about people picking up some of your stuff like the tile work off the street and bringing it home? Don't you find it funny people can do this while others pay money in the likes of Cool for the same?

I’d prefer that someone takes a piece down because it inspires them, not because they want to destroy it. When I put something up on the street I relinquish all control over it, if someone wants pull it down then I can’t stop them. But I don’t think it’s strange to sell work in a gallery as I think it brings my art to people who may not have seen it before or who’d prefer to leave my street stuff on the street.

What exactly were the Doll heads all about?

The Dolls Heads represent innocence, their eyes blindfolded from the evil of the world – lonely icons of lost souls. I love doing them on plasterboard with gold leaf as they’re like little jewels for the public to find. Some people love them others get a bit freaked out by them.

When will you run out of ideas for the lost series?

How longs a piece of string (actually that’s a good idea for a new one). But yeah I’ve got lots more sketches in my black books. When they start getting really stupid I might stop them, but for now I’m still enjoying them.

What was with all the genetically challenged animals?

Too much cheap wine and a dodgy copy of photoshop.

In Portobello there is a large more traditional mural piece with your name on it - do you come from this more traditional writing background or was this a once off? How did you get involved in street art?

That piece was done by some of the guys who were over for the Eurocultured event in Smithfield last year, they signed it with the names of all the artists who’d painted at the event that day. I’ve always loved the traditional graff movement and got interested in it when I found a copy of Subway Art as a kid, but I never painted graff. I got into street art years later when I started seeing art by Faile and Swoon in New York. I realised that there was no reason why I couldn’t try the same.

How do you feel about the way ICN and others have scrawled all over Dublin - do you see it as visual piss or writers delight?

I kinda like it. The thing about tagging is it can be ugly and is the simplest form of graffiti, but it’s still the most democratic act that a kid can do. I like seeing tags in a city as it means that there’s a heart and personality to the community. When I go somewhere without street art or graffiti I feel that something is not quite right. ICN are the most up people in the city as is Grift, so I gotta take my hat off to them, they’ve really hit this city big time.

Do you feel more attachment now to the gallery scene or the street art scene at the moment?

The street art scene is always my first love. I think a lot of galleries sell stale art that they know they can sell to bland middle class people. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t good galleries that takes chances. I don’t need to sell my work in galleries but it has challenged me to do different things with my art.

Remind us again what the Secret Santa Swap was and how important it was in the street art global community?

It was a desire to make peoples Christmas a bit happier by organising a Chris Cringle between 300 street artists. It turned into huge event with some great art being produced, but I’m not sure if I’ll do it again as it took over my life for a few months. But it was worth doing for a couple of years as the reaction and excitement from artists around the world was inspiring.

Friends have noticed some D*Face material appearing in Dublin - are you putting up these as some relationship of exchanging favours?

A relationship of exchanged favours, how dare you! But yeah, he was over here a few weeks ago and we went out pasting. He got about 10 or 15 posters up, most of them have been torn down by now, so I may have to get him back for some more street improvements! It’s good to see some more stuff on the streets of Dublin.

Labels: Art, Asbestos, Interviews, Street Art

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Last Spanish Civil War Pen and Ink Soldier Dies

The last surviving artist behind the gallant mobilizing posters lighting up the walls of Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War passed away earlier this year. Fontsere, one of many "pen and ink" soldiers, produced the famous FAI poster of a peasant raising a scythe in defiance while strong modernist letters issued the battle cry of "libertat!" Fontsere escaped into exile as the revolution subsided and spent some time in NYC, but his concerns lay with the plight of those third class emigrates ignored by what he termed the "relevant figures" of the republic and trapped in a cycle of concentration camps and production in the French war industry.

Looking at some of the revolutionary works produced during this period, influenced originally by South American revolutionary artists, you are struck by a chronic lack of output of original artistic material put to the service of political movements today. This is even more startling given the emphasis some activists insist on placing on art for containing some sort of inherent radicalism striving to promote its own autonomy against the market. What we have is recycled images churned through a mill of Photoshops and an unfortunate aesthetic that fails in its mimicing of street art all too often. Now Fontsere - there was someone who knew how to produce truly original street art.

Labels: Art, Politics, Street Art

# posted by antrophe @ 10:07 PM

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Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Street Art In A Pub - What Is It Good For?

Absoultely nothing would be the obvious answer, well apart from say maybe attaching yet another particularly knobish and upper crust Dublin bar to the continuing upward vogue of street art. If you want to see the heart and soul sucked out of this relatively disobedient form of art you could do far worse than take a stroll down to Four Dame Lane for the 'War What is it Good For?' exhibition taking place in tandem with Coors until mid-October.

Banksy's Gitmo exploit at Disney and his recent punking of Paris Hilton turned the eyes of the world once again to the subversive world of street art. The English guerrilla artist replaced 500 copies of her new album in shops around England with mangled culture jammed versions of the original cover. Taking aim at the cult of narcissism around her, the CDs were accompanied by audio remixes asking the question 'Why am I Famous?'

One of Banksy's most famous works 'Napalm' is currently featured in the exhibition which aims to sketch the intersection of war, consumerism and pop-culture through the visually arresting medium of street art and thrash culture collage. This print display by some of arts most critically engaged pioneers includes work by Warhol, Bast and Ralph Stedman. Shepard Fairey of "André the Giant" fame spreads the message of disobedience through his iconic postage stamp portrayal of revolutionary women. Also featured is Irish born Will St Leger, a sometime Greenpeace crusader running under the guise of 'artivist,' he apes the dominant aesthetic of graphic design to undermine advertisement culture. Here he provides a crude but effective ironic meshing together of traditional Irish nationalism and Celtic Tiger consumer when Michael Collins gets a pair of high-street shopping bags. Meanwhile Gee Voucher's visually arresting portrait Soldier undermines masochistic military culture with a simple set of pursed scarlet lips.

Unfortunately most of the work on display looks like prints locked away behind glass in a frame. You could do as well yourself lazor printing your favourite collection of street art off the net and wheatpasting it to your toilet door. There was no attempt to create an atmosphere from the work, it was left diminished in stature against the barren yuppie environs that is this particular dress code hell hole of a venue. In fact its impossible to get up close and view the prints without interupting someones evening at a table, mounted as they are above various booths.

This exhibition is meant to say more about Four Dame Lane's events over the coming winter months than either war or street art. They couldn't even have been bothered spelling Will St Leger's name right in an extraordinary display of half arsed latching on. I can't be bothered commenting on more of the art some of its great but really you can see it better on the net. This wasn't even worth going to for the opening night free drinks. Take a walk around the city and see whats on the walls, avoid this like the plague and hope for the best that the exhibition that took place in the Digital Hub last year returns again to showcase some of Ireland and Europe's finest street artists.

Elsewhere: Banksy's recent punking of Paris Hilton has drawn cynicism in some quarters ( 1 ). There is a view that paints it as a double edged attempt by the record label and him at promoting the various egos involved in it in a mutual wanking session of genius marketing. As usual make up your own mind.

The art on display in Dame Lane includes: Andy Warhol - John Lennon Banksy - Napalm Gee Voucher - Soldier Bast - Thug Ralph Stedman - Daily Mail Obey/Shepard Fairey - Revolutionary Women AN? - Hearts and Minds Will St Leger - Duty Free State Morgan - Def Con

Labels: Art, Banksy, Street Art

# posted by antrophe @ 9:25 PM

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Saturday, August 12, 2006

The Omen, Guerilla Advertising and Street Art

All memories of the disaster that was the Psycho remake are seemingly excorcised in the world of big business horror and the intelligence applied by Hollywood to come up with ways to make a quick buck appear seriously to be on the wane. Right minded horror movie fans were probably mostly disappointed with The Omen 666. What a premise - take a classic horror movie and remake it without any real ruptures with the original.

Chiming in with recent cultural trends, the studio must have been busy hiring patsies locally in Dublin to engage in a guerilla marketing of its product. Crudely sprayed stencils of Damien casting an inverted crucifix, with the movies release date popped up all over the city over a forthnight ago. The Wooster Collective took Sony PSP to task over using street art stencils to advertise its merchandise recently, with widespread defacing of the cartoon characters hyping its product occuring in the states. Adidas colour also recently had an ingenius campaign providing blank bill boards for artists to destory, before throwing another pasted bill board sheet with homes in it over the vandalised original to incorporate it into the runner's design.

Fox had originally attempted a revival of the Omen series with a made for TV fourth sequel, a movie that was going to be used as a bridge head to initiate a Friday 13 style sequence of cash ins. With this new movie the studio used all possbile promotional techniques to stir a fuss including manipulating box office numbers to come up with $12,633,666 after the first weekend of screenings. The movie of course was also launched on the 6/6/06. Oh and don't let me ruin the movie in telling you that after the death of Damien's father he is shoved off to become the adopted son of the US president playing nicely into popular themes about the Busy dynasty. FFS.

Labels: Film, Media, Street Art

# posted by antrophe @ 9:53 PM

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Sunday, February 05, 2006

Art Review: Whats The Difference Between Blek, Bansky and Will St. Leger?

The art world is definitely a funny one. Just three or four years ago the subversive mashing of pop-cultural images with political sloganeering that flowed from a certain Banksy's can gave a graphical edge to the simmering anti-war movement. For once proving that political posters/propaganda does not have to resort to certain tired themes, as boring and as staid as a tabloid front cover or as hackneyed as a '82 style punk album cover. Movement material could instead flit around at the edges of pop-culture, taking what was needed to wholly redefine the aesthetics of our politics. It was a nice idea, not that much of this was done. The wall stencils of Banksy, mainly ended up inspiring advertisement agencies and interior designers laying out shops like Motion Picture. Leftist graphic designers would grab one or two of his images to repeat untill vomiting, or exploit the brightness and contrast filter in Photoshop to produce obnoxious photocopied travesties that strove for the aesthetic but dropped the effort to remix pop cultural commodities to sell a point.

On display in the Front Lounge this month is the work of Will St. Leger, a sometime activist with Greenpeace he runs under the guise of an artivist and is one of a generation of us influenced by the work of Banksy. Leger engages in stencilling on canvas, basically rendering his playings in photoshop on to a permanent surface. From a graphic design background he has designed various subvertisements for Greenpeace, picking up on the general vogue for aping the undermining of the diminant values of advertisement culture. Some of these are on display in the Front Lounge, his peace on nuclear power shows Sellafield with a car freshener clipped to the smoke stacks. One of his more impressive pieces has several US transport helicopters plonk an IKEA into Iraq. There's a friendly play on the Robocop franchise when a pair of the emblematic Mickey Mouse ears are daubed onto a three tone stencil of the droid that was to replace the original Robocop in the sequel. There's a crude but effective meshing together of traditional Irish nationalism and celtic tiger consumer when Michael Collins gets a pair of shopping bags placed in his hands.

None of this is amazing though. Look at the price list and it quickly becomes enraging. Down the back of the bar there are maybe three single tone pieces, down using card baord probably, free hand cut outs, no evidence of preparation in photoshop and botched with the spray paint having leaked over the stencil borders. Still they carry a hefty €50 tag. Most of the other work comes in and around €300 for what is generally second generation Banksy cloning. But then Banksy did rip off Blek Le Rat ( 1 ) himself. Blek was one of the first stencil artists, who left Paris covered with potted images of Northern Irish riot cops and old catholic men and women looking out from their door steps onto the streets of the left bank as one of his many stencils. The difference between Will St. Leger, Blek Le Rat and Banksy is that two of these have plastered their streets and one hasn't. The guilty one here is Leger, who is really engaged in the lazy reproduction of an art style that at one stage may have had an original, subversive character but now is quickly becoming tired.

Good discussion on "ICN..art or just visual piss?" over on Thumped.

Labels: Art, Banksy, Street Art

# posted by antrophe @ 7:43 PM

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Friday, September 09, 2005

Someone Lost Their Junior Cert Art Project

It's meant to be bronze, but reeks of imitation plastic, if this were in papier maché and designed by a fourteen year old it might have something going for it. But as it is, it stands outside Bruxelles with all the quality of a junior cert art project that accidently made its way on to the set of "Honey I Blew Up The Kids" and got morphed seven foot upwards. The collar on it hangs on brittle and ready to be snapped, the hair has the same texture as a head of broccollii while the bass strings could be severed by rabbit headed plastic scissors. If I were the manager of Ad Lib or any of the dozens of music stores around Wicklow St, I'd be well pissed off at the prospect of faded denim rockers from the eighties leaving plecs in the bass-strings in honour of "Philo ooo Philo ooo." Every cheap ass teenager in a band's just going to be down there, pilfering them back to strum out lazy Nirvana songs while screaming at their wardrobe. Sure ya can't even see the abcesses on his bloody feet from the gear.

Labels: Art, Street Art

# posted by antrophe @ 5:03 AM

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Tuesday, February 08, 2005

A Walls As Good As It Gets

In the past year, Dublin walls have become increasingly stamped over with stencil graffiti, some like the ‘these are dangerous times’ series evoked the anti-war sentiment that blistered last year. Others advertised events like Reclaim the Streets, one even distorted the Coke font into Killer Cola, with an unambiguous message about their crimes in Colombia. Apparently, so the rumour goes, once spotted Coke had hired cleaners out straight away, such is the force of street art.

Perhaps that's why some multinational corporations, such as Nike, have been chasing famous stencil artists such as British artist Banksy to design their latest advertising logos. Banksy is perhaps the world's best-known stenciler, having recently designed the Think Tank album cover for British pop band Blur.

That there are similarities between stencil graffiti and corporate logos is no surprise. Logos have become the world as we understand it, stencil graphics work on the same level, subverting them with information compressed into single images that are instantly recognisable, and repeatable. Stencils use the aesthetic principles of advertising to suggest an alternative. Stencil graffiti is a backlash against boring surroundings, advertisements are everywhere there to find you, the messages of stencilled imagery and slogans ambushes in the same style. Unexpected because we have become so accustomed to seeing our cities walls decorated with the sell.

Wholly subversive, Banksy’s stencils erode authority figures; police men with smiley faces, monkeys bearing weapons of mass destruction and ‘laugh now but one day we’ll be in charge’ on sandwich boards. If stencil art is unexpected walking down the street, then so can the message perturb and cut across the expectations that stem from mainstream dialogues. Among Banksy’s best pieces is a masked anti-capitalist flinging a bunch of flowers. Another huge piece featured stampeding stock exchange types throwing their cheque books at police; in red letters ’cheque book vandalism’ got the point across. Like all great art, he doesn’t keep stump on the galleries either, infamous for stencilling ‘mind the crap’ on the steps leading into the Tate the night before the Turner prize was given to an unfolded bed. Traditional landmarks have been signed with ‘this is not a photo opportunity’, while blank white walls have been left with tags like "By Order National Highways Agency This Wall Is A Designated Graffiti Area", skip to a few days later and people will have obediently replied. For six months after 9-11, he moved temporarily away from imagery finding it easier to convey meaning in text based stencils like ’wrong war’ and ’bury the dead, not the truth.’

Banksy’s most famous series is the teams of tooled up rats dismantling the city’s artefacts. Representing all the powerless misrepresented losers coming back, after a rethink, grouped together. Three such rats gather across the Thames from Westminster, one on look out, and two aiming a mortar at parliament. It doesn’t matter if their trajectory is off, the point hits. At a recent London solo exhibition called Turf War, Banksy stencilled two cows from top to bottom with pictures of arrows and Anglo-Saxon faces, with the note: "the average African receives less in subsidies per head than an EU cow". Many have begun to question to question his credibility after his Turf War exhibitions, criticising him for doing too much day work and not enough nights. But for an stenciler that sprayed ‘designated riot zone’ on the steps of Trafalgar Square the night before Mayday; outdoing his own wit has become an increasingly arduous challenge, not to say risky.

As his website intro states ‘this revolution is for display purposes only.’ Introduced to Britain by anarcho-punks Crass at Thatcher’s height, outbursts of stencilling are always linked to political rebellion. Like adbusting (where the corporate message of a billboard is distorted to a political statement and movements like reclaim the streets, Banksy’s art is not his. It is instinctively public, and meant for participation. It is about the reclamation of our daily environment, and the creation of a public system of signs and meanings which lie outside the advertisements which stain every wall you care to look at. It’s using the tactics of mass consumerism against it, for an entirely different end. Plenty of people moan that graffiti is ugly, but as Banksy says ‘it's a product of society so it's bound to be pretty ugly.’ So arm yourself (card board is free and spray comes at €8), this is an art revolution we can all take part in. See you on the streets, hoodies up.

Labels: Art, Banksy, Politics, Street Art

# posted by antrophe @ 6:38 PM

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