LSD Magazine interviews German Artist ECB

Probing the memories of silent time so serpentine and careworn focus dripping wisps of the sublime, German artist ECB has truly taken monumental portraiture to the next level. Painting abstract stories of earthy reality into the creases and peeling back shrouded identity from the furrowed brows, his faces have become deeply iconic as vast bastions of complex humanity burning strands of individuation into the cold concrete. Broken faces of a fractured hue of monochrome peer beyond the facades as rigid typography contrasts image against word, mathematics against intuition, sky against earth as his superb technique and depth of feeling whisper lost fragments of fleeting wholes into the seemingly anonymous cityscape and the vortices of urban loneliness...


How did you first begin painting and when did your mind’s eye and your technique begin to synchronize? 

I started in 1989 with classical graffiti, but within a short while changed to more of a unique approach. Back then my concepts where more focused on graphical shapes whereas nowadays the ideas of my work have more of a fine art approach focusing on textures, showing expression within my portraits through a more painterly means rather than just using spray. 

How much did civilian service affect your trajectory? 

Back then everybody had to do it, so it didn’t really have a big effect from a personal standpoint. 

Where is the line between creation and destruction in graffiti? 

I do think there are certain places where graffiti belongs and others where it is misplaced. In my opinion it kind of takes care of all the forgotten, unnoticed and run down places of a city.

Why does the topography and landscape of graffiti have such resonance for you? 

From day one I was looking for something and I found it in graffiti. Ever since then it has never changed. 

How does the art of open spaces translate to a gallery? 

That is the main difference. While working in open and public space the work always interacts with both the space and the public. With a mutual affection this is the major advantage I see in working outdoors. Working in a sheltered space like a museum or gallery needs a different visual language, a different approach to capture the energies and essence of the street.

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LSD Magazine interviews Viennese Street Artist Kryot - Issue 7

 Whacking great big chunks of electric yellow sprawl chuckling across the sober streets of Vienna, lighting up the crisp, clean cityscape with an irreverent roar. Austrian artist Kryot has rinsed the cartoon like innocence of his bulging snapshots with a wonderfully incongruous sense of play and after years on the write, he has now developed a fascinating style all of his own. We spoke to him for a little Q + A


How strong is the graffiti street art movement in Austria and when in your opinion did it all begin?

I´d say there exists a small and very dedicated scene of (Graffiti)Writers here who developed their very own style and go out constantly In the case of “Street Art”, I only see a few people putting up their stuff in the cities over the past years. And some of those few have already stopped because they work in other fields now or galleries opened their doors for them. For me all started around 94/95 but the first Writers started out in Vienna in the mid/late 80ies. Then in the early 90’s pieces began to appear also in my hometown. As far as I can see the number of people involved in this movement didn´t change significantly over the past 10 years here. Of course some dropped out and some came in but the scene still remains relatively easy to overlook.


What themes would you say reflect street art in the big city?

The desire to be seen (the work). To get up. No limitations from others. Cause reactions.

Why choose the streets and not galleries?

Because of the very free and uncomplicated way to work in the street or urban space-Go out and do it! The gallery exhibit work is done under different circumstances. Both places can be challenging if seen as two separated worlds.


Are the authorities zero tolerant or do they show compassion?

Some force a zero tolerance policy like the national railway company but for example the city of Vienna seems to be a bit more relaxed with that theme. They might accept Graffiti and Street Art to a certain level as part of the cityscape. Generally most Austrians strongly respect and believe in authoritiy and if something looks suspicious to them they tend to call the police immediately. So if you don´t exaggerate and act with some awareness you can keep yourself more easily out of bigger trouble. But once you´re in trouble punishment can be really hard and you will have to face a trial in court. A few writers who were caught for massive tagging and train bombing in the 90’s even had to spend short spells in jail.

Your creations are abstract and rich in colour, what inspired this format?

Definitely based or inspired by the “classic stylewriting” I did for several years. Then I started to work more freely without limiting myself to writing 5 letters. Trying to develop a format which allows me to interact more with the given situation in the spot. My trip to Sao Paulo in 2002 heavily influenced me in the choice of colours. There I experienced the effect of strong colours used in dirty grey urban surroundings.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW FREE - LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 7

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Council Property - Solo Show - Stik - 16th -/ 17th June

www.stik.org.uk   

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LSD Magazine Defends the Right To Paint (TNT Magazine)

TNT Magazine ran this article last week on graffiti street art...It features Wayne Anthony, Busk, Rich Simmons...

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LSD Magazine Interviews Bristol Graffiti Legend - Lokey (Issue 6)

Fat as fuck, heaving with vibrant, electric, throbbing life, bursting with colour, form and dimensionality, and fluctuating between the awesomely futuristic and a cheeky wink, Bristol writer Lokey’s mesmerising industrial symphonies of spray are an object lesson in the perspectives of imagination. Lighting up the streets as his tags burst clean off the walls and rampage through the cityscape before rocketing back into the wall and tearing it a depth it never dreamed of, he’s been bombing the game 16 shades to twilight for 20 years now...

How did you initially start out writing?

Well I was only about nine years old, and a family of kids that I was pretty good mates with had gone off to America on their summer holidays to visit their relatives and when they came back, they were loaded with all these photos of the graff in the Bronx and a sackful of mix tapes. Now at the time, we were all hanging out in this park up the road from my house, and we had lino down, trying with limited success to breakdance, so the mix tapes were the instant draw from their haul, but when I came across the graff photos, I was just like ‘what the hell is this?’. And that was it – I was totally hooked from that moment on, although I didn’t do my first proper piece until I was about 11. It was only a small piece – about 4 foot long and 2 foot high, round the back of a petrol station in Kingswood, where I used to live, but once I was up and running, I never looked back.

Did you come up from that kind of age with a group of mates who were all bang on the same tip or were you on your own with it?

When I initially got into it at around 9, I was in junior school, and it was that much more difficult to find other kids into graff around me, but by the time I hit senior school at 11, right when I was actually starting to paint instead of just dreaming and sketching, there were 4 or 5 other kids in my year alone who were at the same sort of stage – just picking it up and starting to pull bits and pieces together. So like minds and all, we gravitated towards each other and started hanging about together, swapping photos, sharing the odd magazine that came along, and getting stuck into books like Spraycan Art – don’t forget, this is all pre internet, so books, photos and magazines were like gold dust, and by bouncing ideas and pooling our resources, we all got deeper into it.

Now when did the name Lokey come along, and was it a conscious decision to step away from this idea of the big brash tag into something more understated and, well, low key! 

I’ve been Lokey since about ’91. Up until then, I’d toyed with a few other tags which usually weren’t words at all but just letters I liked and combinations of them – it was more about the visuals of it than a specific meaning I think. Then, round 1991, I was over at a girlfriends house with a few tunes playing when this new jack swing band called Lo-Key came on and I instantly locked onto the name. The next day, I gave it a thorough test drive from the dictionary to the black book, and all the meanings and connotations seemed to tie in perfectly while I felt I could really work with the letters, and it just stuck from there on.

How did it feel coming up in an intensely vibrant Bristol scene where there was just so much stuff going on?

When you’re young, you see things in a totally different way. There were already a lot of crews around at that time – and the likes of Cheo, Teaoh, Inkie, Chaos, Shab, Turroe, Sp27 and a few others were already painting and they all ended up forming one big crew called TUB – The United Bombers, and a few of them used to knock about up at the shopping precinct in Kingswood which was all of 5 minute’s walk from my house. So I’d be up there too, sort of loitering with intent around all the older kids. I’d also get the bus down to dug out , so not only was there this thrill of watching a big crew in action, but I was learning off them as I went. Obviously as far as they were concerned, I was the annoying young lad, but their girlfriends would always step up with an ‘Ahhh – ain’t he cute’ which probably both wound the kids up and allowed me to stay around at the same time! Cheo used to live one road up from me, and my mum thought he was a right lovely lad so she was more than happy for me to stay round his. Bearing in mind he was about 3 years older than me. The playing field was suddenly completely different . Now that meant that I could get out and have free wanders whenever I fancied them and be able to hang out with the older kids, go to all the parties and go out tagging with them, so it was seriously exciting for a lad in my position to have access to that world and be able to be so free with it.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW - LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 6

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LSD Magazine Interviews Tattooist - David Corden (Issue 6)

We have never featured a tattoo artist in LSD’s pages before, but when we were tipped off about David Corden by a supremely proud wearer of his art who was overjoyed at having something quite so breathtaking to distract from the walking catastrophe that is the rest of him, we we were so dumbstruck by the vibrancy, the detail, the love and the visual dynamism of his work that we got straight in touch with him.

How did you get your start in tattooing?


It was by pure chance really as I wasn’t looking to be a tattoo artist. I had done a design that I wanted as a tattoo and after asking around to see who was the best artist for the job I found myself in Jim Gambells chair. We got along famously and he asked to see my portfolio and after he did he offered me an apprenticeship.

How difficult is it to judge skin as a medium when you are used to drawing on paper?


At the beginning of your career it is pretty difficult. Paper is consistent whereas skin types vary greatly. The age of the skin, the body part, and a persons health all contribute to how the ink will go into flesh . It takes a while before you have encountered every skin type, and you have to work on each enough times to see how you need to change your technique in order to do the job at hand. One of the biggest difficulties is the fact that flesh moves and on top of that people cough, sneeze and answer phones without telling you...it’s all pretty challenging!

Can you give us a brief insight into how technique and art come together in a tattoo – how a tattoo actually works 


There are general rules that are held to be true in order to make ink go into flesh correctly. You have to stretch the skin with one hand in order to keep the skin as tight as possible so that the needle will penetrate the flesh. If you don’t do this the skin will give under the pressure and the needle will bounce and make your lines go all over the place. Once your machine is set up you dip the tip into the ink and when you press the foot pedal the machine will start making the needle pass in and out of the tip dragging ink as it moves. When applied to skin the needle will push any ink that passes in front of it into the flesh. Whether or not you want to specialise in realism or more graphic type work will influence your technique a great deal, what works for one artist may not work for you

How much of a responsibility is permanence?


It is the most important part of the job. We turn a lot of people away or advise them against making a bad mistake with their choice of tattoo. We have a book in the studio called ‘I wish I had listened to you’. It has been filled in by people who have come to regret tattoos they had, in most cases they are boyfriends or girlfriends names or tattoos done on the cheap by someone with an ebay kit. We will not do necks or hands on anyone if it is their first tattoo as they need to have lived with ink first in order to know the seriousness of their choices and we won’t do it if they are under 21 anyway. You change so much as a person in your younger years and tattoos are so fashionable at the moment that everyone wants to be covered as quickly as possible. We don’t do joke tattoos or cartoon characters either, if it’s not artistic then we are not interested

Laymen have this image of getting a tattoo immediately on a whim. How much thought, debate and preparation really go into each commission?


The artists in our studio are booking up to 6 months in advance. We ask to meet each client first and for them to bring any research they have done with them. We go over ideas and take notes in order to produce a design that is both original and unique to them. We will not copy someone else’s work and it will take at least a couple of months for a design. We are not machines, ideas come when they are ready to and we are up to all hours making them come to life. We take our jobs very seriously and want every tattoo to be our best. Work doesn’t stop when the studio closes, we lose a lot of sleep. Inspiration can come from anything and at any time, if a client has a problem waiting then they can go somewhere else.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 6  (Below)
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