The Radiant Child 2010 [Jean-Michel Basquiat Doc]

Couple of Basquiat pieces, a full length doc that was in a drawer for over 10 years gathering dust [stacks of interesting segments] , and a Rammellzee freestyle session [with graphics from Jean] from 1983.

 

Chrome Angelz Exhibition…

Just a reminder that the first gallery exhibition of Chrome Angelz artwork in almost 30 years finishes at the end of this week…

The Chrome Angelz first came to my attention from the person that single-handedly kicked off the graffiti movement in Ireland. He’d been to London and met Aydee2000 [Artful Dodger] at a jam in Battersea South London during the Summer of 1986.

He’d come back with pics and shared some of the negatives [see below]. We then joined forces and began to do our thing on the walls of Belfast, the ones that werent covered in political murals. By the time 1987 arrived, I was hooked on the TCA style, and was boosting copies of  Spraycan Art from local libraries…

By the time 1988 rolled round I was finding Chrome Angelz artwork in promotional calendars at the record store where I was working. Click on the scans for full size action…

Above is the Why Does More Hip Hop to TDK? piece by Pride he did for that 1988 TDK promotional calendar, the same one Capital Radio DJ Mike Allen was featured on during the same campaign. TDK had been marketing their products with artists like Pride and T-Kid since 1985, but it was Spraycan Art that led to my unhealthy interest in TCA.

The shots below are from the Chrome A’z Roc So Fresh piece by Scribla at the Capital Fun Day at Battersea Park during 1986. Peep the T-Shirt’ also worn on children’s TV show No 73 in the same year…

As early as 1985 The Chrome Angelz had their work on TV shows like Pebble Mill and No73, as well as the Lenny Henry Show.

Also, check the FRANK151 interview with Mode, he not only dedicates the article to a dear absent friend, he talks of the Covent Garden days and the timeline of how TCA came to be…

Again, this is a reminder…

Style Wars 2

This whole shenanigans reminds me of Blade asking his listeners to fund his projects way back in the days of wayback, way back in the days… Hopefully if I donate to Henry, he wont call me up and then proceed to misunderstand me, asking me to repeat every feckin word I say like No Sleep Nigels mate. You’d think he’d never met an Irish person before.

Anyhow, here and now, if you want to see a Style Wars 2 in the cinema, it seems that the only way it may ever see the light is to get yer donations in to Mr Chalfant, he aint gettin any younger ye know/ it is on its way. As long as we have as many classic quotes like that of the late great  King o’what, we’ll do just fine.

“Oh, you vandalism and all that. Yeah I vandalism alright”…

City Of Paranoia DVD release

There’s a certain beauty in vandalism, it has the ability to arouse something in a number of us that others may not be able to comprehend, unless theyve experienced it first-hand.

This latest in a long line of Graffiti DVDs, City Of Paranoia, highlights the risk involved in these activities and just how fresh some of the style and artwork still is in 2011. It’s all London and home counties based, with South West trains and the London Underground gettin savaged. Remembering that alot of this material is buffed soon after it appears, sometimes without the trains getting commercial runs, or alternate documentation other than this footage, major props to the folk behind the film. Dap also goes to the writers with their bolt-cutters, beer boosting and other shenanigans. Some shots of the rolling stock as London ‘stretches and yawns’ during the early hours are truly enchanting.

The eery backdrop and the accurate portrayal of the atmosphere of these acts of vandalism is captured perfectly, adding another dimension to this subterranean world. The background music is intriguing too [Aerosmith, in a graff vid? Skinnyman is standard, but Aerosmith?]. From the crackin Trail of The Dead opening track to the grimey wobble-step that gets used as a bed at times in this film, the music has its moments good and bad, but generally it sounds as youd expect, the editing is bang on and makes up for any over-usage of a stereo-typical soundtrack. Read a real review of it on a real graff site here

Naturally, watchin this kind of thing on YT compared to the real deal sucks butt, so keep an eye out for the DVD at http://chromeandblack.blogspot.com

Paris [Metro] by Night

There is a bizarre beauty involved in graff. The fresh unspoiled walls of one train/ tunnel or rooftop reach can be equally as tempting to inscribe as any dirty defiled area that has already seen many layers of paint. This … Continue reading →

‘Graffetti Writers Are Mean and Cruel and Have No Respect For Themselves or Others’

I’ve always enjoyed a good typo within a public environment, especially when it finds itself recycled on a t-shirt approx 25 years after the original.

The Philadelphia based Olney Community Council design featured in Henry Chalfants Spraycan Art. The T was created by one of the most progressive writers out there, Roid MSK

Get em while theyre hot, if yer lucky

HOTASBALLS Christmas Wish List #1

A new publication featuring graff from London Underground trains between 1987 – 1995