Microbo (Italy), Joska (Germany), Jeremy Fish (USA), Wayne Horse (Netherlands), Bo 130 (Italy), The London Police (UK), Galo (Italy) and Will Barras (UK) – all part of the Big Geezers family.
In the last years Carhartt has supported and worked closely with many artists and therefore it seems naturally to pay tribute to the Big Geezers and initiate this one time road trip. After the Tour D`Amour last summer through South Europe, Carhartt now discovers the North and the East:
Copenhagen, Oslo, Warsaw, Budapest, Vienna, and Bratislava – 6 Stops and 5500km in 3 weeks.
The term “Big Geezers” stands for a group of artists doing something together. Originally the idea comes from Chaz, the man behind the London Police. He is the one uniting all the Big Geezers to one force – in this case a paint trip.
The Big Geezers Family is huge, and not everyone has time to go on tour, but a good representation of members will go on tour and join their talents to create some remarkable works.
This unique road trip will start on the 11th of August 2007 in Cologne/Germany and then head towards Copenhagen/Denmark where the Geezers will paint the Carhartt Shop and the Indoor Skatepark, then they head for Oslo/Norway to run riot on the walls of the Stress store and the walls at the Brennerieveien. Afterwards the Big Geezers family heads East towards Warsaw/Poland to paint at the Frontline store and another secret spot that will not be revealed yet
From there it goes to Budapest/Hungary to the newly opened Carhartt Shop and Tuzoltu Vida, to Vienna/Austria to the Rag store and Wiener-wall (Wienerwand); and finally they head to Bratislava/Slovakia to paint the Tukame Store and under the Lafranconi Bridge.
All along the road the Big Geezers will spread their message of friendship and respect. At each stop they paint it will be a great get together.
The Big Geezers Tour is coming to you and you should not miss out to join them.
You will have the chance to meet the Big Geezers in Vienna 27th August at Rag Store Mariahilfer Str. 24 and of course at the official afterparty at the play.fm Lounge.
Dates:
Vienna 27.08. - Rag Store, Mariahilfer Str. 20
Vienna 27.08. - play.fm lounge, Museumsquartier, Quartier 21
Vienna 28.08. - Outdoor, Wienerwald, Obere Donaustr.
Bratislava 29.08. - Tukame Store, Ochodna 2
Bratislava 31.08. - Under The Lafranconi Bridge
The Big Geezers:
Bo130
Illustrator, graphic designer, writer, street artist....?
I have never really felt comfortable with any title or label.
I do what I do 'cause...
I like to find different ways to visually describe things that inspire me.
And because nothing makes me feel better!
I've started my studies in arts at Liceo Artistico in Milan and continued at Central St. Martins, in London.
Graduated in Graphic and Media Design from London College of Printing, living abroad for ten years, I've made different experiences in visual communication, animation, graphic design, web design and art direction.
I do paintings and illustrations, keep exploring and blending printed and hand drawn techniques, computer and brush, spray-paint, stencils, stickers and markers.
I take inspiration and imagery from urban lifestyles, black music, different cultures, food, sex and graffiti, which is a major influence in my life...
“Diversity, our unifying heritage”
www.bo130.org
Jeremy Fish
Jeremy Fish is an illustrator, painter, and maker of things from San Francisco.
His work focuses on the age-old art of storytelling.
His imagery is a combination of cute and creepy. Riding the fine line between happy and approachable, to scary and unappealing. His work has been shown in galleries all around the world, on skateboard decks, books and magazines, t-shirts, stickers, and vinyl toys.
To see more of his work check out
www.sillypinkbunnies.com
Galo
A Universe of Confused Creatures
Galo is a blighted being. He is a creature beyond convention; a dolphin with a turtle`s shell. If he cried who would be able to soothe his moans?
A night out with Galo and there are no tears or turtle shells. You sort of have to catch the fin as he swims past, and ride his trip for as long as your body will let you. Galo is a whirlwind.
Aerosol, acrylic or good old Posca pens, give the boy some space and he`ll speak to it; wrap it in colours, offer up his universe and get lost as layer covers layer and history becomes a question of folklore and ink. Galo is art in action and the universe of his creatures is ever evolving, inking its own reflection on the emotions of civil decay.
For over a decade the Italian born artist has been keeping it real, exploring the planet, doing street shows, performances, workshops and exhibitions, while developing the chapters of his autobiography on the walls of the streets where he lives and lounges.
Calamity makes cousins of us all. Unfortunately, short term memory loss is a syndrome with global sightings and history is written by those who pay for the ink.
Galo`s creatures are sad, angry, curious and confused. They are familiar, devastated and unable to articulate the chaos of communications swarming around them. What started with one multiplied into many, and became an entire civilization of creatures staring ahead as if watching TV`s turn issues into angles and stories.
His creatures have the range of human emotions + 1; the one where the viewer must seek new words to illustrate the unsaid. Galo is fast and unspoken, a true gentleman taking on the world like a cowboy dolphin. He has a reputation for throwing up faster, more frequently and with a joyful fury that few other artists can claim.
Galo is a blighted being. He is a giver in a world of take. He is considered a consumer in a world where he wants to be first a citizen. He is an artist in a world of designers. He is an Italian living in Amsterdam (with Dutch food). He is an addict and needs no treatment.
By Harlan Levey,
Modart Magazine Chief Editor and
No New Enemies Co-Founder
Joska
Joska is currently fully immersed in a universe she has been creating all her life, studying in Berlin and popping up at exhibitions across Europe, inspired by nature animals, old cartoons, comics and animation.
The characters of her universe can be seen stuck, rolled or drawn on neglected surfaces in the cities she visits.
Last year she featured in Modart magazine and participated in her first group show at the `Die Aestheiker/No New Enemies exhibition in the Austrian alps.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/behaelter3/209426881/
Microbo
Microbo, born in Sicily is a self described tiny woman, a citizen of earth who may be small in size, but not in stature. Asked about herself, she tends to remind the listener that she is he, or her, or you, another citizen of our shared planet.
This eccentric underground artist could not find a better tag. In fact, like the myriad of existing microbes, she manages to spread her art almost ubiquitously. You may not see her, but the traces are there and the virus is never stagnant.
After a life (linguistic, loving) changing experience in London where she focused on graphics and what can be called multimedia, she moved to Milan and soon after had created a unique and accessible style, evolved through experimental techniques and a collage of applications and emotion, the organism that is her work began to speak all for itself.
Her paintings and drawings, inspired and ignited on the streets, are now also on view at a constant string of international events. They represent a smooth, twisted and organic evolution, made of strings, streams and living shapeless creatures, which recall life`s complexity. Like any music form rises from a suggestive merging of only seven notes, so Microbo`s art develops through the combination of basic elements she likes to play with.
Doodles, strings, and tangles impossible to untie; a symbol of an existential complexity which often tightens up to stifle, and microbes of different shapes which seem to float within a kind of amniotic liquid where everything has to take a form... A liquid feeding it`s inhabitants in absolute gravity absence prompting the image of lightness which represents the best part of existence.
Born in 1970 in Catania. Lives and works in Milan.
www.microbo.com
The London Police
The London Police started when big English Geezers headed to Amsterdam in 1998 and started rejuvenating the visually disappointing streets of the drug capital of the world.
The characters known simply as "LADS" soon held an iconic presence in the city. Electricity boxes became their home and between 1998 and 2003 over 1000 lads were drawn in the city.
From 2002 onward TLP started sending missionaries into other cities round the world and soon there were LADS on the streets and in shows in LONDON, HONG KONG, BUENOS AIRES, BRUSSELS, BARCELONA, BERLIN, SEOUL, MILANO, ZURICH, REJKJAVIK, NEW YORK, L.A, TOKYO, SHANGHAI and beyond.
London Policeman have come and gone but founding members are still known to walk the streets of every city in the world spreading love through pens and stickers.
Never be scared. Don`t be a hero.
www.thelondonpolice.com
Wayne Horse
Born in 1981 in Germany.
Wayne Horse (Wayne La Crosse) was born in Germany, where he grew up quick. He then moved to live and work in Amsterdam, which he does till this date.
La Crosse does not specialize in one medium. He does drawings, paintings and tags, just like videos, animations and Internet based works (like for example his big online love pool where young attractive "kids" meet and connect). He enjoys having his pink, sweaty, ugly, big hands on everything, leaving a fat stain, like when you put your forehead to the bus window.
He also enjoys things like going for long walks or drinking a big amount of alcohol. He did however; create quite a remarkable amount of diverse works. " I live in an industrial area in the outskirts of Amsterdam, it takes me a long time to get to the centre. And in my room there is not really that many options what to do, I have my bed and my working space, I also have a couch, but above that the roof is leaking, so it`s not really an option."
La Crosse establishes tight relationships with his creations. This can comfort him in hard times, but also backfires, as it was the case with the character that he is probably most known for: the Cuty (this cat or hamster or something, that looks like it was stolen from a manga comic strip)
"When I first came up with them I used them as a sidekick in the pilot for an animation I did. They symbolized all that`s evil; they are ever present, annoyingly cute and convince people to do things they regret later on. To promote this animation they appeared on a couple of posters around town. Somehow they managed to outlive this animation. I don`t trust them, they remind me of a casting band, I all the time have the feeling they are going to crash to the ground the next second. They are living the life though, getting drunk almost every night, messing places up and getting me in trouble for that."
La Crosse is constantly breaking down his world, mixing it up and rebuilding it.
"Ideas need different ways of expression. I feel best when I am standing in between many things, when I have the option to go in any direction."
La Crosse tries to avoid being part of any scene, to keep on creating free.
www.waynehorse.com
Will Barras
I always loved drawing, since I was really young, when I was a kid I always drew cars, nothing except cars, I was obsessed!
I read a comic called Eagle, I drew a picture of Dan Dare and sent it in, and they put it in the next issue....
About 8-9 years ago Steff gave Ric Blackshaw our number, Ric came to meet us in Bristol when he was researching the 'Scrawl' book, and I went to meet him at a hotel like the Holiday inn. Then we went to meet Duncan.
Its funny to think of that now, but this is how the Scrawl Collective and our involvement began
Recently I just did a record sleeve for a band called the Warlocks, I was pleased with the way that came out, you can find it in the bargain bin at HMV in Wolverhampton.
I think the Scrawl projects that sticks in my mind the most is the stuff we did for a company in Osaka called GSSA, just because it was our first visits to Japan and it was a real eye opener.
It was the first time we did live painting and a mural.
We worked with Kami, Skwerm, and Pete Fowler, they did an amazing painting and we did something, which would have fitted on a postage stamp in the bottom right-hand corner.
I do a lot of painting with Steff Plaetz and Mr. Jago.
We usually start with a vague idea of what we want to do, then put some colours and shapes down, and the whole thing develops from there, there`s a fair amount of tuneless whistling and bollox being talked, and something usually develops from this.
How do I describe my style? It`s “in within the moment”
..
Bermuda Shorts is an animation company, it`s where I go everyday and work.
They give me a desk, and I can paint and draw there, when pitches come in I work on those, and a few times a year I get an animated commercial to work on, when that happens I do the design work, make storyboards and key frames and work with a team of animators and after-effects operators. I love it there.
I do art everyday, I try and do normal hours, but I do find I have bursts of creativity.
then long periods of watching TV and checking my emails.
However, on the whole I try to approach art in the same way a plumber might approach a central heating system, I just want to carry on doing it and just enjoy it, At the moment.
I really enjoy it and hope I`m still doing this when I`m eighty, and I probably will be, because I don`t own any property and I haven`t started a pension
If I lost my creative spirit I would work in a bike shop or have a driving job....
www.willbarras.com
