If you travel by rail between Berlin and Halle, Germany, and pay attention to the passing landscape, you will eventually set eyes on a 350-foot-long graffiti mural (obligatory football field metric: two and a third). It’s a series of detailed scenes: a laboratory overrun by rats, a shipping port under dark clouds, galleons fighting through rough waters and a giant octopus, and a cityscape at sunset. The graffiti name of the artist, MadC, is ubiquitous.
Lalo Cota is known by his trademark colorful skull-infused art that represents his Mexican heritage and pays homage to his love of Dia de los Muertos. Unlike many of today’s top artists, Lalo never attended art school. He believes that, “Art schools teach you to be like everyone else and that defeats the purpose of being an artist.” Lalo took advantage of classes throughout his public school days and focused his advanced education on developing his business practices. His work can be seen in the form of murals, billboards, stickers, paintings, and his own t-shirt line that will be soon launching on his website. He’s also done his share of painting on human canvases and has even designed actual bust casts from real models in the name of Breast Cancer awareness.
Lalo set down his paintbrushes to share his artistic thoughts with ChinaShop:
For many young Chicagoans, Richard M. Daley is the only mayor they have ever known. In office since 1989, only his father, Richard J. Daley, has held the mayoral office in Chicago longer. And like his father, Daley has been best known for boisterous change, not waiting for mass approval of many of his controversial decisions. Who else but a Daley would secretly bulldoze the runways of an airport he wanted closed in the middle of the night? But while often brash, arguably, Richard M. Daley got things done in his city.
Twin brothers HOW and NOSM are on the move – constantly. Currently painting murals all over Rio de Janeiro, the graffiti artists return to their home base of New York very briefly before heading down to Miami at the end of the month to paint in Primary Flight, a mural project during Art Basel week.
Born in San Sebastiano, Spain, and raised in Dusseldorf, Germany, the brothers landed in New York in 1997, where they live and work (they are part of the . They paused just long enough to tell us what it’s like to be not only all-city, but all-world.
Last year, members of the California wheat pasting community attempted to throw together an art exhibition in a Los Angeles warehouse. The local law enforcement, however, was not as receptive to this idea, as wheat pasting is a form of graffiti and is technically illegal. With much disappointment, the exhibit was shut down and frustrated artists gave up on this dream. This was until Hold Up Art owner/curator Brian Lee decided to team up with wheat pasting mastermind Cryptik, and with the help of fellow curator Toks Shoyoye, was able to bring “Marxist Glue” to downtown Los Angeles.
I was always the kid who could find the remote, to this day, I herald it as the sole reason I must be my father’s favorite son. No matter if lost deep within a couch crevasse, perched in a planter high above the window sill, or complacently waiting atop the TV (no one ever looks); my peepers were a peepin.
Graffiti and New York City are inseparable. Regardless of how many security cameras are installed or other preventative measures enacted, there is no way to completely stop writers from leaving their names on surfaces across the expansive five boroughs. It’s a decades old tradition that not even rabid gentrification can cease. And in 2010, it’s good to see that walls, doors, street posts, and all reachable surfaces are still being hit up with style.
“Graffiti and graffito are from the Italian word graffiato (“scratched“)”
As I travel this diverse landscape of ours I oft notice the “gifts” given by the unknown artists of the streets. I say this with a light tone as I know not all are in it for the progression of their respectful specialties(tagging, stencil, aerosol,etc.). Often there is undue property damage and defacing, but there will be no judging here. I hope to use “scRatched” as a way for you to tour the same “galleries” I am afforded in my travels. Enjoy.
I have utmost admiration for any artist, who understands that the creation of the piece itself, most likely assures it’s eventual destruction.
Words and photos by Dustin Downing