“Regarding Style” Text Cuts And Addtional commentary

“The important thing is, if you look at a beautiful mural and beautiful tag, it comes from the same source. Some people separate the two, and not just mainstream society, but some writers as well that don’t respect the tag; that don’t know about the bus bombing, catching landmarks, the silent deadly marker tag in the corner that nobody saw or cared about so it’s still there from ’87. I think that counts a lot more than somebody’s billboard piece that got buffed in a week. And that’s what graffiti’s been throughout time; we’re trying to make a mark that people will see when it’s a different time, and hopefully will look back and wonder what it means.”
– Anger

In talking about writers that pushed the stylistic and technical boundaries, I originally had this picture (courtesy of Eklips) of Flame (later known as Mr. Cartoon), but it was cut because of poor resolution:
Flame, late ’80s

It’s interesting to note in various places in the book, Revok gives major props to Ayer, Siner, Tempt, Charlie and Panic among others. It is a reflection of his respect for writers across a broad spectrum of crews and of his humility that he doesn’t need to talk himself up when his work stands for itself.

“The prism production is taken from the Pink Floyd cover of Dark Side of the Moon. It was Cache’s idea. We have a lot of productions that are hidden because we want to test ourselves without anybody judging.”
Zuco, of K4P

“K4P…, they know the history of LA, the respect and understanding of the old days and you can see it in what they do.”
Eklips

“Expression” Text Cuts And Additional Commentary

“Without graffiti, I wouldn’t be anything.”
Skate

“Graffiti is whatever you want to do. You bring your own essence to graffiti; you don’t have to conform to what other people are doing. You come to a wall and you try to bring the best you got, and no matter how far letter styles are stretched, you should still bring something new to the game.”
– Anger

“Graffiti is not my life: I don’t like anything that has to do with it. I don’t like the scene. The only thing I like is the act of painting. I don’t like the pretense of talking about it or being about it when you’re not doing it.”
– Atlas

“When I paint it feels like calmness, meditation. But it’s a roller coaster; at the beginning you’re stressed out because it looks like shit, to the middle of the pieces when you’re beginning to resolve issues, to the end of the pieces when you really start to enjoy the piece by dressing it up and adding the affects and techniques that you discovered during the piece, and that’s when you find the moment you were searching for.
I’ve been miserable because I haven’t been able to paint lately. If I don’t participate in it, I don’t feel like I’m alive. Painting is where I find balance, calmness and great self-satisfaction, and if I can’t do it, it takes me right down to hell. I go through withdrawal just like a junkie would. I’s not the healthiest situation so it’s a constant struggle. Just the anxiety of knowing you’re going to do something crazy, like when I did a freeway piece, and then realized I was close to death hanging on a freeway bridge! But you know that you are doing something that no one else is doing, and if you survive it, you’re doing something that 500,000 people may see the next day.”
– Saber

“Originally I was a skater, but I got shot and couldn’t skate anymore and that’s what transformed me into doing graffiti because I still wanted to hold that individual style identity like you could skateboarding.”
Zuco

“Painting is an escape for me, not that anything is really bad, it’s just something I like to do, and not something I can explain more than that: why does somebody like playing sports? Because it was around them and available and became part of their life. I found my niche and kept working at it. Since I only paint legals these days, I don’t even consider what I do graffiti, but graffiti art.”
– Vox

“Whatever I’m feeling doesn’t come through in my painting ever, but whatever I’m going through in life at the time is making me go out and paint: it’s my only escape, my only outlet. If I was going through emotional drama in a relationship, I would take it out on the streets. I noticed I was painting more when I was with certain girls because I was going through more crap.”
– Atlas

“Painting, it’s the most peaceful time, yet the most challenging, most rewarding all at the same time, enjoyable from beginning to end, and I can’t get enough. As soon as the piece is done, I’m already looking forward to what the next project might be.”
– Panic

“I painted alone a lot. I often had the need just to get out and walk, walk, walk to get to a place, and often at night.”
– Dove

“Graffiti As Social Expression” Text Cut

“Some writers have debated as to where I come from: L.A.?, the Bay area? And my answer is I’m from L.A. and it comes through in my style in many ways. But it is not just my written letter, it’s how I come across, how I put it out there. That is, my mind set is very L.A. That is because L.A. comes with a style, a thing that captivates you from the moment you see what you see. I remember the stuff from Slick, Hex TGO, K2S/STN, the freeway pieces from West Coast at the time were phenomenal, the pieces in the yards, the characters, from West Coast and Risk in particular, Charlie: the way their delivery was. I remember when the L.A. guys came to the Bay area and did a show there, the response was just stellar. The Bay area I call the land of the silent kings, and L.A. was just in-your-face. I agree with Revok’s view that the aggressiveness of gang graffiti is a strong influence on L.A. attitude.”
– Toons

6 Responses to “5) “Regarding Style” and “Expression””

  1. on 14 Sep 2007 at 5:20 pmDARE1TCV.NRH

    LIKE THAT ON 5HE 405 N (INK)
    WHAT UP HARBOR AREA 2 TCV. NRH. WHP. WBC. 77.7 XL. INK. FREEZ. ENTO. ROYAL. ZELG. KELT. PLAX. RAIN. RAW.

    BF KEELA

    DARE1 TCV. NRH.

  2. on 20 Sep 2007 at 12:16 amEast of the Angels

    See a short documentary about graffiti artist Atlas One, CBS at :

    myspace.com/eastoftheangels

  3. on 30 Jun 2008 at 9:51 americ

    How long is the atlas vid and where can I buy it

  4. on 17 Oct 2008 at 5:00 amStyle One

    What up Vox you’re still my boy I love the lettering pure talent you’ve come a long way. I miss kicking it with the crew. Remember all the good old days. P.S. sorry for fucking up Ben Shapiro in your pad on Markland and for breaking the couch.

    Love & Respect
    Style Oner
    L.A. All Day

  5. on 07 Nov 2008 at 5:57 pmhalfmonk

    yo. big ups to all the taggers, bombers and burn crews out in the streets doing the real shit. keep banging out the real public art, ya’ll. props to tenshun down in S.D. who did 6 months for his art. and to sorse one who did the piece in my studio. stay true.
    peace.
    halfmonk

  6. on 05 Apr 2009 at 9:45 pmFROGS KTA

    GO BIG OR GO HOME

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