Scratch SHOK (2000)
April 7th, 2009
Painted at Scratch club in King’s Cross, central London. Characters spell the letters. Ran out of paint towards the end hence the unfinished microphone etc.
Mix N’ Match SHOK (2000)
March 30th, 2009
Canvas, 5 x 10ft.
Vorsprung Durch Technik (2000)
March 8th, 2009In the seminal 1983 documentary “Style Wars” Tony Silver quips, “In New York, graffiti writing is a vocation”.
Well in Germany it really is.
Getting Up in Hamburg had flown over a group of great writers from around the world to do a major exhibition called Urban Discipline. As well as a formal show, a load of walls got painted round the city.
“Vorsprung Durch Technik” (roughly: Advancement Through Technology; as in Audi ads). “Graff the German way …. definitely ain’t easy … they work you HARD … but it’s all worth it when you get the flicks”.
Left to right – “Cool” by Daddy Kool (DE), a character yells “ARBEIT!” (WORK!), a “Wish” piece by Ces (USA), a character kicking a can in frustration, a Seak (DE), a character getting forced awake at dawn to paint, a “Per” (USA), a digital abstract style “SHOK” and a homesick character to round it off.
I made art imitate life as Daddy Kool – who had arranged the wall – demanded that everyone paint their pieces the same style – same 3D, same colours, same designs etc. I guess he wanted it to be a Seen P-Jay wholecar type thing but we weren’t feeling the idea of it being quite that restrictive. Per wanted to “hook up” his piece with some fading and effects and I wanted to do some weirdo computer style I had been experimenting with.
I argued about it with him (as best as you can with an 8 foot tall hairy German) and in the end I made the dispute into the point of the piece and the others were cool with it. Funnily enough, after this piece Daddy Kool’s letters started looking a lot like mine.
Horrible quality photo, sorry. I’ll replace it if I can get hold of a better version.
Here are some character closeups to make up for it. I asked Ces if he could paint a photo of the piece he’d just done and he did this tiny version of it.
Ces had already been in Germany for a couple of months. He told me he’d been doing a commission with Loomit in Munich. He was up on a scaffolding painting a logo and came afoul of German perfectionism, being forced to redo it over and over again to correct minor imperfections. In the end, he lost the plot and started raining cans down on the foreman hahaha! So I painted a little vexed character for him at the end of his piece. “All graffed out”, as he put it.
Thoughts Released (2000)
February 27th, 2009
“It’s easy, just use your imagination”. A production at the Sutton plot with Skore and Dek.
A classic Skore on the left with a considered cloud of think bubbles, then a eureka moment represented by a lightbulb head by me. Next up, a fresh Dek wildstyle, then I did a character with the hat exploding up into an arrow and a swift straight letter “SHOK-1″ to finish.
Closeups:
Seak Skore Alert SHOK-1 Siks (2000)
February 20th, 2009
Selly Oak hall of fame in Birmingham.
Left to right:
Seak from Germany, like-father-like-son matching pieces by Skore, a fume character by me, an urban scorpion style “Raws” by me, Alert is willing to sacrifice with a “Pesto” piece and last up, a plump retro “Siks”.
Here’s a closeup of the character:
Anyone who paints at halls of fame soon learns not to leave their empty cans lying around (Solo One stabs his). Kids inevitably find them and fuck up your painting. At least that’s what everyone thinks. Here’s a shoking exposé – the guilty party is that last dreg of paint itself, rejected and left to rot in a steel case of emotion.
Be There or Be Square (2000)
January 25th, 2009
Could I strictly confine myself to the background and still make it happen, I challenged myself? I dropped characters that were there and square, and my name chopped out in neat boxy windows with a good stink drifting in.
Profiling up in front are Swiss master Dare and Brit letter don Skore, smoothly operating with a flowing style apiece.
It was bucketing down hence the small lake (I would hardly be British if I didn’t complain about the rain at least most of the time).
Euro Jason SHOK (2000)
January 23rd, 2009
I DO like to be beside the seaside. Here I am in sunny Brighton on the back of a skateboard ramp. A “Euro” piece on the left, in the middle a character by the man from 2000AD, and a “SHOK” by me on the right. Here’s a closeup:
But wait. What’s that lurking on the left? What in GOD’s name is that infernal ginger child doing there?!
Digital Abstract SHOK (2000)
January 8th, 2009
Reads: “SHOKS”. I would like it better without the naff astronaut character.
Square (2000)
January 8th, 2009
Reads: “SHOK”. Now is the autumn of our discontent.
It’s square to be different. Fit in.
Cut Through the Bullshit (2000)
January 7th, 2009
A handstyle “SHOK” hacked out of a background of bullshit gossip and internet bitching with a Stanley knife.
