SED*8 Magazine

WORDS// Amrit Matharoo /

Amrit Matharoo looks at how the internet age is changing the way we look at art.

I visited the annual MA art show at Central Saint Martin’s with very high expectations. This is the institute associated with some of the biggest names in art and design. Fashion designers Hussein Chalayan and Alexander McQueen, the product designer James Dyson and the artist Peter Blake all began their careers here. The exhibition was based in the actual workspace used by the artists, in the middle of central London with breathtaking views of the capital from the window.
London is renowned for its truly eclectic mix of traditional galleries and the show inspired me to investigate the British art scene. I began to wonder how art is affected by the recession and the Internet and decided to explore whether traditional or online galleries are better for artists exhibiting at the beginning of their careers.

‘One Fine Day’, Oil on Canvas, Ann Bartrum

Helen Sumpter the deputy visual arts editor at Time Out, says, “It’s important for an emerging artist that their art is seen by curators, potential buyers and art commissioners. Exhibiting in a gallery is the established way of achieving this.” Ann Bartrum, a recent St Martins graduate who came to study in London from Baghdad, agrees, “Exhibiting is very important. It is vital to have a project to be working for as opposed to working in isolation, although you also have to be self-directed and motivated”.
Nicholas Serota, the director of the Tate Modern and one of the most respected curators in the art industry, has pointed out that the huge numbers attracted to big exhibitions shows how popular art is with the British public. In 2008 the Klimt exhibition at the Tate Liverpool attracted 200,000 visitors and Francis Bacon attracted 230,000 visitors at the Tate Britain. This shows that there is still a huge interest in visiting galleries.
The economic climate has also had an adverse effect on the art market, making it harder for new artists to break through. Sumpter feels that “the market may not be good for art because more exciting things happen during recession. More spaces are available to do this in with shops becoming empty.” In Leytonstone, a former Woolworths store was transformed into an art gallery this summer for the Leytonstone Arts Trail, one of east London’s largest collective exhibitions. The gallery had a lot of support from local residents, artists and the council. It is a great example of the sorts of opportunities that become available during economic downturns.
In addition to these pop-up spaces, there has been a huge increase in the popularity of online galleries, such as The Saatchi Gallery (www.saatchigallery.co.uk/yougallery) and Murmur Art (www.murmurart.com). The Saatchi Gallery is unique in that it offers artists the opportunity to display work for free and sell it for no commission. You can pick up a chalk piece by artist Paul Rooney for £50. Saatchi are also running a competition for users of the website where they can grade the artwork, which promotes artists and their work. According to Sumpter, online galleries are “a cheaper way to try and sell work” than by exhibiting in a real gallery.
Will Conibear, a former journalist and the co-founder of murmurart.com, tells me that an online gallery “can have a really positive impact on the careers of young artists and introduces a new and wider audience into contemporary art.” Conibear had many reasons for choosing to create an online gallery. With the spread of fast broadband connections the website could reach a wide audience and he wanted to create a business that introduced art to a potentially limitless number of people. Through it he promotes and supports exceptional up and coming artists.
Bartrum would definitely consider displaying her work online in the future. And Serota points out “Tate Online is the most successful arts website in the country with 18 million visits per year”.
There is a lot of global interest, in particular from the US, says Conibear “This shows us that it certainly helps to get some oversees exposure. Antony Dominici, another recent St Martins graduate agrees “It’s a great way, especially for collectors. I like to look at work and it’s a good way to see art especially if you can’t go to shows and everything’s there online”.
An online gallery opens a gateway for many buyers at the click of a mouse with internet shopping standard practice for most people nowadays.
So does this mean traditional galleries are under threat? Conibear admits that “art is there to be seen in the flesh and the Internet will only play a certain role in the market, it will never be the main way.”

Maureen Paley runs a real rather than an online gallery, but her success story is far from a traditional one. She began her art career from her living room in the heart of London’s east end and has become one of the UK’s most innovative and impressive curators. She has promoted and showed art in the UK and the US and launched some of the UK’s biggest names in art such as Wolfgang Tillmans, Rebecca Warren, and Gillian Wearing.
According to Bartrum, “Exhibiting is very important. Committed gallery support is what most emerging artists would like as the very fact of the support provides a guaranteed outlet and a marker that there is interest in you.” However, it is still difficult to be recognised as a talented artist because “there are far more artists than galleries to represent them”.
Stephen Ford, who specialises in contemporary painting and drawing and gets his inspiration from David Hockney. “I don’t think anything is guaranteed, but (exhibiting in a gallery) would certainly seem to be the best way to go about it. Surely the purpose of making art is to exhibit it anyway?”
In defence of online galleries Conibear points out that the two types “do a very different job, an incomparable job. Good galleries will always be the prime support for artists. For most artists finding a good gallery to represent them and their work is the Holy Grail. And rightly so. Where online can be better for supporting artists at the start of their careers; providing a cheap but quality platform for them to get their work noticed and to start selling to collectors.”
Art is something that can unify people. Art has no language barriers so many people can relate to it. Art deserves to be seen by the masses. But some people find it difficult to visit galleries so for them online may be the only option. Most artists hope to sell their work so selling via online galleries has its benefits, but there remains no doubt to get the real feeling of art, it has to be experienced in the flesh.

Camden Town’s busy Stables Market hides various gems and one of them is a shop that’s not too concerned with shoppers. Canvasses litter the floors and the staff doodle and paint, ignoring potential custom as they lose themselves in art. This is the home of the Ifreecans. The collective came together two years ago and is an eclectic mix of young artists ranging from poets to painters who have set up shop, quite literally, in North London’s ‘alternative’ heart.

Kiboko84, one of Ifreecans founding members, ran a stall in Camden selling clothes printed with his own artwork while he was at Uni. The stall has since grown into a shop, and the artist into a collective who- following a first appearance at the recent Streetfest art and music festival- are now working towards their first exhibition.

The collective was originally set up for creative people of Afrocentric origin to produce and showcase their work. The name Ifreecans is a pun that speaks of individualism as well as origin- I am free, I can do anything. But as the collective attracted interest from people from different cultural backgrounds it decided to release itself from its cultural limitations. Ifreecans has gone on to become a vastly diverse group working with artists from France, Portugal, Italy, England, Kenya, Ghana, South America, South Africa. Its influences are equally as vast, from the Bauhaus to hip-hop, art deco to martial arts. It fuses these with personal style and technique to create individual as well as collaborative pieces.

Lax regard for convention is clear on an Ifreecans canvas where pens, felt tips, crayons, paint, spray, coffee, teabags and pretty much anything else that can make a mark on paper finds its use. The collective’s attitude of ‘creativity unbounded’ is palpable in pieces where text, colour, shape, form, and even smell are considered.

Kiboko84 is fresh out of art school and beginning to expand his work beyond his home turf of London with his sights firmly set on creating a far-east connection. He’s recently begun to organise independent exhibitions, painting, printing and building up a varied commission portfolio that ranges from large-scale paintings to a children’s book.

Robz GettoSoul is a graphic artist and painter. He has been printing tees for a while putting shirts on the back of many a musician, from young up-and-comers to the well established likes of Ty and Erykah Badu.

Bubblin Sunn is based in France. He is an animator, illustrator, painter & music producer. Wandering past the shop in Camden he was taken in by the collective and hasn’t looked back. His work uses everyday commodities like coffee and wood to expand its presence beyond the visual.

Hi – Fi are a duo who handle the music side of the collective. They performed at the YES WE CAN event hosted by Ifreecans last January and for TANO, a collective exhibition in Camden.

I scratch my head. Ifreecans, does it make sense? I scribbled on the yellow not the white pages of my sketchbook, next to the words feel artistic cane, trying to keep my vision honest.

He’s in the kitchen baking the tees, just like me, they want to be…the first track, with vocals, i ever heard by fidelismusicus bellows in the background….not bad, not bad at all …. encourage him  nyaroroi tells me. She is wise, my mentor in surprise,

passing on to me the motivation to motivate others as she has me, over the years 10 minutes after we first meet, gettosoul and I bond over the preference of sf20 binder over opaque and the marvel that is puff. We still marvel at puff, he uses opaque more than me, and i still champion sf20.

Hatuta piga kelele [we wont make noise] …..as if. The crowd at twickenham roars. I’m jamming with ek13, she’s rocking her sketchers with multicolored soles, a camera and a camcorder. fresh….best rugby festival i ever been to. i made friends.

The graduate shows weren’t all that this year, I’ve taken kcola around… from csm to the truman brewery to camberwell college. She doesn’t do walking, shes vexed, im laughing. I know why I walk instead of taking the bus or tube,maybe one day she will realise what it was all about. She hit the new capital of culture and did.

He calls me teacher I am humbled, although I learn as much from him as he does from me. Many people say they can draw, I have met many artists, seen many drawings,

Pensee+ can draw. We need to work on the painting

‘there’s a girl downstairs whose doing something similar to you, come ill show you’. I follow this guy, a stranger, full of enthusiasm, wanting me to see what he has seen. My stall will be vacant, but I decide to go nonetheless. I’m glad I did. I met

lala It’s been a while, six years to be exact. Transition, I can see it…rite of passage when I get to hear it, as the words she does weave, eventually you will receive. Welcome,

newbornpoet Teacher, this guy is big says pensee+. Bring him to the meeting I said, let the collective decide. In strolled this mellow french fellow with an afro. Unanimous vote. His creative skill and vibe earned

Bubblin Sunn an ifreecans collective spot.

And then there was three, girls with sktbrds, cool, free, different. I gave em stickers, they found the hut. While preparing for the Tano exhibition,

dthe5ftwnda revealed she was an artist.

Creative medley, super work ethic, self belief and growing talent. The short story with many ‘to be continued’-s, I found them, they found me,our creative interests painting, illustration, graphic design, photography, music, poetry….brought us together. Situated in Camden Stables Market, London [first left after the Cuban Bar] the Hut of the ifreecans collective is yellow and houses tees and paintings for now. But we are preparing some music, some poetry and some exhibitions and events.

Its is only the beginning, we learn, we grow and we improve with time.

Feel artistic cane.

-Kiboko84

Words by Corinne Scotland

This aspiring East London mogul goes by the street name Krae. From the age of six the ‘hood king’ from Bangladesh could be found tagging the streets of London with bad, bold, booming graffiti designs. Now his creativity has developed into a street-wise fashion label that not only brings an honest message to London style, but jobs to poverty-stricken Bangladesh.

“Kraezy Clothing has been on a long journey,” Krae says tucking into samosas in a cafe in Bethnal Green. “It all started when I was about six years old. I started doing graff and getting my tag out on to the street. From as early as then I had creativity and design going round in my head.” Krae moved from his homeland of Bangladesh to East London when he was two years old. He grew up in a council estate near Brick Lane – an area where, he says, “You had to always be hustling to remain hood king.”

To achieve this status he did things at school and throughout his childhood that he refuses to speak about. “There are certain stories which must remain untold for now. One day, I’m sure all will be revealed, maybe in a book or a film, but I’m not quite ready for that yet.”

He was accepted onto an access course which eventually led to a BA degree in graphic and digital design at the University of Greenwich. “University really was my ticket to commercial success,” Krae reflects. “Until then Kraezy Clothing was something happening in my head, you know?. I started to realise the potential I had inherited from 17 years of graffiti art practice, from mixing colours and creating letter forms on the concrete canvasses of London. So I just transferred the talent.”

But it has by no means been an easy journey. In 2001 he had his first child, a major life-changing event that made him really start to think about the rest of his life and about financial security.

“Having my first daughter was a real turning point. I knew I couldn’t just continue to dream. I had to do something that would ultimately prove myself and provide for my daughter financially. Suddenly I guess it wasn’t all about me anymore.” As well as dealing with financial and family pressures, Krae has had to deal with demands from his peers who frowned upon his business and commercial attitude. “Probably the greatest challenge was the ‘hustle’ who tried to discourage my progress. I had to make a decision to brush the hustle off and move on. In the end the fact that many of my peers didn’t believe in me and were angry that I was aiming so high, just pushed me to work harder at achieving my goals.”

As we talk about his route to success, Krae starts to realise that maybe the difficulties he has been through have actually helped his creativity to flourish. Despite the pressure from his peers and the responsibility of having a child, he still managed to find time and passion to put down on paper designs that in his words, “were dope in design and positive in message.” Hardship turned into motivation and inspiration.

In February 2008, he officially launched Kraezy Clothing. The Margin Tradeshow exhibition in London showcased all of his final year students’ work, giving Krae the opportunity to demonstrate the potential of his brand. “It was one of the most amazing days where I just felt so blessed.” A year later, twent-two premium streetwear outlets in London around Brick Lane, Bethnal Green and Spitalfields Market as well as outlets in Paris and New Jersey, stock the brand.

From dreaming designer, Krae has become a solid commercial street success. His series of graphically designed t-shirts and sweatshirts for men and women are selling fast and word is spreading about his new label just as quickly on the street. His tag, “Kraezy”, which is also his logo, is representative of the kind of street cred that the label oozes. But according to him, this is just the beginning. “The Kraezy brand is in baby form!”.

He dreams of pushing his gear far beyond London- into his home country of Bangladesh. Selling his material over there might initially be about getting his identity known, but his real vision is to change the cycle of poverty that has plagued his country and family for decades. He sees a potential opportunity in Kraezy Clothing, to create jobs in Bangladesh so that families like his own won’t have to move overseas to find work. By providing such an opportunity families like his can stay together in one place.

“I want to leave something behind for my kids growing up” he says. “It’s a real honest dream I have for my family to come together in the future – for them to work together in a family business rather than everyone fending for themselves. I know that it might not happen in my lifetime, but I know that I could start it. Then, you never know what could happen.” With such a Kraezy business sense and innovative design, this one will go far.

www.kraezy.com

If you are a budding street designer, Kraezy recommends that you contact the Margin Trade Show, which exists to promote young upscale streetwear and directional tailoring labels. Visit

www.margin.tv for info.

words: Aisling Donnellan
pictures: Fran Cornford

East London is peppered with exceptional urban artists, hybrid by nature they are creative and scientific, collaborative and competitive. In their healthy disrespect for the streets they produce some seriously slick work. Blek le Rat, who paved the way for our very own Banksy reckons street art is about to go more global than any other art movement. The godfather of graffiti who invented the life size stencil and spent years dodging the French authorities has come out of hiding to encourage and defend this radical form of art and its creators. He gets his name from the rebel creatures he terrorised the streets of Paris with in the eighties and his work has inspired a fresh crop of budding young artisits.

Afraid of being beaten up for his abnormally short trousers, Eelus splattered his teenage angst all over the streets of London. As his success grew he earned the beer money he was after and then some. One of the most contemporary urban artists around in terms of style Wigam-born Eelus is making waves in the world of street art here in London. His work is largely in black and white and is unmistakeable once you are familiar with his style. While his trousers still remain at a shocking length he is definitely upped the stakes for budding young talent emerging all over London at the minute.

E is also for? Many moons ago a man called William Claxton brought freedom, dissent and revolution when he introduced the printing press to Britain, it changed the face of communication. Eine is now showing his respect for this medium by scattering letters over shop windows and buildings throughout east London. He specialises in massive paintings of letters, they can be seen scattered all over the city, his style and influence? Old Victorian lettering. Urban art by its very nature is revolutionary so Eine’s offerings mirror Claxton’s revolutionary thinking. If you find yourself bored and kicking it anywhere around Bethnal Green, try make out dirty words amongst the array.

Beetlejuice has come to Londontown fo sho, the garish pink gummed doodles of the aptly named Sweet Toof can be seen all over the streets. The cartoon teeth images hide a much deeper meaning, his latest collection ‘Burning Candy’ is about reconstructing the ‘beautiful’ monstrosities that we find on the street and in the noise all around us in the order and disorders of life. The teeth are brightening up the alleys and encourage the world at large to sink their teeth into things before it’s too late, grabbing life by the balls in a sense.

Pure Evil.. a decade of popping psychedelic bickies in the California sunshine obviously did wonders for this dudes optimism. His work is littered with weird vampire bunnies with underlying sardonic tones but it’s pretty damn good. In his own words, he strives to project his vision of darkness on an unsuspecting world, lucky us! Artists by their very nature can be full of self promoting wank but street artists have this slightly edgier mentality which appeals to us, the street is their canvas and so they are rising from the rubble, literally. Even though Pure Evil could be quite heavy with the tonality of his themes his works are testament to the quirky and lighter side of art on the street.

Ever tried drawing a girrafuck? A tad easier than the dodog (five legged pony dog) and the merbra (half mermaid half zebra and all attitude). Who could fault the creator of this motley crew? Asbestos takes the norm, rattles it, shakes it with the downright bizarre and delivers a fantastic collection of works. His ‘lost’ series takes everyday menial objects and concepts that we so readily rely on and questions them. Stuff we place importance on but wouldn’t even notice if it were missing. He injects a serious dose of humour into his work pulling his credibility up trumps. He is someone you can enjoy immensely no matter what your artistic preference or lack there of. I for one will be sickened if Santa doesn’t pull through and lamp a merbra down my chimney this Chrimbo instead of world peace. This oddly named mastermind is from neighbouring Dublin and is making massive waves in the art world all across Europe. He is one to look out for.

London is a haven for street art, what Banksy started, these dudes are continuing and long may it last. Celebrating this form of art is the only way to respect the creators of it. As put by Asbestos ‘tagging is the lifeline of a city, the city is the gallery.’ Like Berlin and Barcelona it can become a hall of masterpieces if the creative juices keep flowing and the old bill stick to fighting real crime.

words: Kyle Gettie
www.myspace.com/djgettygetz

For each issue of Sed*8 DJ Getz will bring us a taste of real graffiti from the streets of London.  This time round he met up with the anonymous author of ‘London Handstyles’ a book which drops this year and catalogs a history of London wall scribblings over the past two decades.

Once I heard this book was happening I couldn’t wait to get a copy.  There seems to be a shortage of books on London Graffiti, which doesn’t seem right considering how much graff there is and has been in the capital.  I met with the author of new graffiti book ‘London Handstyles’ to find out more and to get a sneak preview of what it looks like.

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