Scion Magazine
BLEK LE RAT
Blek Le Rat - Written by Thomas Subreville
Blek Le Rat is what we usually call a living legend. A French street art pioneer, and one of the first (if not the first) to use stencil as an art form to invade the streets of Paris and the rest of the world. Blek was going at it way before the expression “street art” was even created. Since he started painting in the early 70s, Blek has witnessed numerous generations and “new” scenes, from the hippies all the way through the punk and hip hop movements. It was natural to meet up with this influential artist and get his external and experienced sentiment about the current French electro scene blowing up all over the world.
After the longest taxi journey I’ve never had in Paris, we finally arrive at the appointed address. At the gate of a big old country house, an E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial stencil painted on a TV satellite receiver dish confirms to us that we are about to enter the Rat’s lair. Blek and his wife warmly welcome us, and it doesn’t take long before we are seated in a comfortable sofa with hot cups of coffee in our hands. The fireplace crackles, the tick-tock of the wall clock is the only noise you can hear around, and we are surrounded by Blek’s artwork and collection of antiques. I know it all sounds a tad cliché but it looks like our taxi traveled through time, taking us to a perfect, timeless atmosphere where we can objectively discuss the redundant phenomena of French music and pop culture gaining popularity around the globe.
Staying busy and focusing on creating his own art, Blek Le Rat is unaware of the current wave of French musicians enjoying worldwide notoriety, but as we continue talking about it he gets really excited and curious when it comes to what was going on in his own country. Contrary to many artists of his generation, he is not bitter when it comes to the youth. “So you guys are explaining to me that there is something French that interests the whole world right now!? When I was young, everything linked with art, music or fashion was coming out of the US and it all seems very different now. Does that change come from the Internet? Is it linked to any particular drug or club? This is extremely interesting.”
Blek knows that he owes the new generation a lot. His art gained a new dimension and level of exposure through the interest created by the explosion of street art in the late 90s. “I became conscious of the impact of my work during early 2000s when my website suddenly reached 100,000 hits a day. Banksy and Shepard Fairey have also contributed to this a lot. It is fantastic to see young people such as you interested in my art.” He seems really conscious of the impact of the Internet in developing urban cultures and promoting them, and not just for the younger generation, he realizes the impact it as had on raising the awareness about his own work.
“I’m 56 years old and I had never heard about the Internet ten years ago. Painting small rats everywhere on the walls of Paris during the early 80s was for me, a way to communicate with people and bring them my heart. So I’m very happy for the new generations to be able to use this amazing tool. It is an incredible way to stay permanently in touch with the rest of the world, even if I live in the middle of nowhere.”
Even if prior to our conversation Blek had no idea about the current wave of influential French music, after talking about it for an hour, Blek seemed to grasp the substance of the movement. We decided to play him a selection of songs from artists who represent this scene, such as DJ Mehdi, Justice and Sebastian. Forty seconds into Sebastian’s song “H.A.L.” Blek very justly shook his head, exclaiming “I really think it is the result of 40 years of culture we received from rock & roll, hippie, punk and rap culture. You can hear it! It’s probably going to lead to a new way of thinking. It is the exact the illustration of what I was thinking 30 years ago.” Naturally, Blek drew a parallel between the current scene and his youth in France. “I was young in the 70s. At that time in France, the only link we had with the counter-cultures was a magazine called Actuel. It was my main source of information. What you just showed me is the perfect example that today, young people can easily sidestep all the forms of media that used to control everything. Thirty years ago, we couldn’t imagine that something French would be able to be exported all over the world like this. That’s why I moved to the US for a while”.
Despite the omnipresence of stencil art in the punk movement found on the handmade t-shirts and the album covers, Blek carries on explaining that he didn’t really feel connected to all the rebellion and anger that went with it. His generation was surrounded by a burdensome gloominess that pushed him to be more positive than anti-establishment. During his explanation, he put his finger right on the pulse of cultural movement of the French youth. Tired of the surrounding climate and sick of the so-called “protest music,” this new generation of artists only want to have fun.
“Everything was much more politicized when I was your age. I was more into the hippie culture than something else. When the punk movement popped up in 1976, I was already 25 and I took it as an aggression. It looks like there is no particular claim in this new scene, no call to action apart from partying and having fun. I really think it is a good thing that they can talk about every subject and use every symbol without being taken seriously. We don’t have to be anti-something or someone to be part of a movement anymore!” Are these French kids the new hippies? Maybe not exactly. Their clothes and sneakers are way too important to walk barefoot and roll around in the mud.
TTC
Dream Collabos
We caught up with Teki Latex, a member of TTC, the group that brought a new dimension to what French hip hop could sound like. Teki reflected on his vast assortment of musical influences by sharing with us his top five dream collaborations. This is how the world would sound if Teki Latex could have it his way.
1.Cam’Ron + Elton John + Billy Joel
This would be some sort of piano face off between Elton John and Billy Joel. With Cam’Ron commenting on it, talking about Elton John’s clothes, and talking about his swagger and compare it to Elton John’s swagger and Billy Joel’s swagger.
2. Metallica + Ice Cube (Produced By Justice)
So with the Metallica, Ice Cube thing this would be Justice producing, and trying to emulate The Bomb Squad, doing it hard, with sirens and stuff, and Metallica making it even harder. And it would have to have very classic metal singing, and Ice Cube going back to his Predator days.
3. Outkast + Gorgio Moder + Diana Ross
This is a total spaced out disco song, with Andre and Big Boi busting raps over some crazy piano synth going on and on in the background, and Diana doing vibes in the background.
4. Soulja Boy + The Bee Gees + John Travolta
This is like a 2007 Saturday Night Fever version, talking about how you get prepared to go to the club, you get your hair done, and you pay attention to every detail. John Travolta is basically doing a spoken word in the middle song, in an Italian accent, and theirs a dance, it’s like “Crank That” meets Saturday Night fever.
5. Duran Duran + Lil Wayne + Midnight Juggernauts
This is a modern day Never Ending Story thing, but even more romantic, and Lil’ Wayne is singing about the moon, and riding a dragon, and taking the dragon to the valley of infinity, with some realize medieval shit, and Duran Duran is very romantic, doing a romantic thing. That’s pretty much it. Yeah! It’s like Lil Wayne riding on top of a dragon, and there is a valley, and you see Midnight Jugggernauts with synths on one of the cliffs, and you see Duran Duran on the other cliff. And it’s not a dragon it’s a Unicorn. No make it a dragon, Juelz Santana would ride a Unicorn. Lil Wayne would be riding a nasty black dragon with dreadlocks. You know how he has many cars? He has many mythical creatures in his castle. And he would have a sword with a heart on the handle.
TOKYO RETAIL
Tokyo’s Retail Architecture - by Matias Echanove
Japan buys 40% of luxury goods sold throughout the world. No wonder then that Tokyo has become the world capital of designer stores: From global super brands to connoisseur boutiques, it is paradise of global shoppers.
Three areas in particular represent the latest trends in retail architecture with works by the most prominent Japanese architects and their international counterparts: Ginza, Omotesando-Aoyama and Daikanyama.
Ginza is undisputedly the most prestigious shopping area in town, as testified by the very recent opening of the Bulgari and Armani towers designed by the Italian architects Antonio Citterio and Massimiliano Fuksas respectively.
Bulgari, which makes more than a quarter of its revenue in Japan, understands that, in the words of its CEO, “luxury is entertainment.” The Ginza tower therefore includes not only retail but also a restaurant, a café and street–level store selling chocolate made in-house.
The Armani Tower takes the shopping experience to the next level. In addition to a restaurant and a café, it offers patrons a spa. Merging architecture and merchandising, a special Emporio Armani collection inspired by the building’s black and gold colors is sold only at the Ginza store. In Armani’s own words, Ginza “is one of the most progressive and stylish retail destinations in the world today.”
It is in Tokyo’s Omotesando Avenue and Aoyama area, however, that architectural innovation goes to new heights. With a younger and trendier crowd, the Omotesando-Aoyama area mixes luxury retail and street fashion in a unique Japanese way.
Witness for instance the mind-blowing variety of retail stores that clustered around the Prada store. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and built on a $50 million site in a somewhat off-centered section of the Omotesando corridor, the Prada store has become the symbol of the global trend of using “architecture as branding.”
Right behind Prada lies a heteroclite row of designer and street-fashion boutiques including Noriem, Kate Spade, OriginalFake, Yohji Yamamoto, Under Cover, and others. These smaller concept-stores have generally focused on interior design rather than architecture per-se, although in the Japanese context the distinction between art, interior design, architecture and urbanism gets blurred like nowhere else.
OriginalFake, designed collaboratively by the prolific Japanese designer Masamichi Katayama of Wonderwall Inc. and New York-based artist KAWS, exhibits a deliberately tamed façade, in tune with its “underground” image. The heavily designed interior space sharply contrasts with its subdued external appearance.
The idea that a store might actually not be easy to find or even frankly hidden in the city is reminiscent of the Japanese concept of “omote-ura”, which distinguishes between public and private faces. “In your face”-type storefronts in Tokyo are clearly an import from the West. Japanese architects tend to distinguish their works by their attention to detail rather than by spectacular architectural gestures.
Nothing could testify of the difference in architectural sensibility more than the contrast on Omotesando Avenue between, on the one hand, Sanaa’s Dior Tower draped in translucent glass and white curtains, Tadao Ando’s HH-Style store with its pure geometrical lines and raw metallic fabric, Toyo Ito’s organic-looking Tods - and on the other hand, the new neo-brutalist MoMa-Chanel-Bulgari building designed by MVRDV, the firm of the eccentric Dutch architect Winy Maas.
For all the hype on Omotesando, it is always off the main avenues that the real action takes place. While the world’s top luxury brands are engaged in a merciless retail war on Ginza and Omotesando avenues, another story unfolds in the backstreets of Daikanyama, where underground stylists and trendsetting stores are playing a game of hide-and-seek with shoppers.
In Daikanyama, cutting edge retailers are camouflaged in the streetscape. New buildings are appearing all the time, but somehow the neighborhood has preserved a very local feel, partly thanks to the street pattern that has basically remained the same over time and partly due to the small scale of structures. The recently completed Sarugaku Daikanyama Market Street retail complex, designed by Hirata Akihisa, smoothly merges architecture and urbanism. It perfectly blends into the urbanscape, even reproducing internally some of the intricacies of the surroundings. Akihisa’s complex has the feel and aesthetic coherence of a tourist village without being tacky.
However it is in its total disappearance into the urban environment that contemporary Japanese retail architecture finds its ultimate expression. The excellent Wild Lily store located on the tiniest, most clandestine back street of Daikanyama’s Sarugakucho area can only be distinguished from a house thanks to its pastel yellow and pink façade. Slide the garden-door and step inside to find the most styled-up vendor and neo-punk shoppers of Japan.
The combination of Asian bazaar culture, uninhibited Western consumerism, and Japanese sense of aesthetic makes the Tokyo experience unique and unsurpassed. The amazing capacity of the Japanese city to integrate any foreign import into its urbanscape and make it look more real than the original is truly fascinating. Developing according to it’s own logic, Tokyo can look at the same time chaotic and extremely organized. The one thing that is certain is Tokyo’s retail environments have emerged to present a new paradigm for merging art and commerce, and in the process Tokyo has created a new standard for the ultimate 21st century shopping experience.
WANT2BSQUARE BOXHEAD DESIGN GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Interview with Sam – Scion Select Grand Prize Winner
Why did you enter the want2bsquare, Boxedhead Design Competition?
I actually joined Brickfish with the sole goal of joining the Boxedhead competition. As you probably know from my screen name (PRESIDENT SirScion) I am a HUGE fan of Scion. I actually found out about the campaign on a xB enthusiast sight, Clubxb.com, and I actually got a huge amount of support from the members of that site.
Where did you get your inspiration for your entry?
I got my inspiration for my entry from the Scion 'culture' and all of their advertising. The fact that Scion is aimed at younger buyers also helped...especially because younger buyers are usually tortured when they go to buy a new car. Scion makes the buying process easy with their pure pricing and amazing financing.
Why do you think your entry was selected and what does it mean to you being chosen as the winner by Scion?
I'm not sure why my entry was chosen for sure...I mean, how could I? But if I were to guess I think it would be what I said above...because it fits in with their target market...and it is a very marketable character.
If your want2bsquare character could be cast as an actual celebrity, who would play him?
I think, if it could be any actor from any time it would be a young Jake Gyllenhaal...based purely on his performance in 'Donnie Darko' But if it were to be a PRESENT star...it would be probably Johnny Depp....just because he is the first person to come to mind.
Since you are an avid Scion owner, tell us about your ride.
Yes, I love my little car! It's a 2005 xB (the toaster) It's not too pimped out right now...I have a couple modifications to it to make it my own, but not to much. I have black LED tail lights, pink underglow, I removed the orange reflectors from the headlights, and painted the interior silver bits flat black. OH, and I have a piercing on my front bumper (pictures are in my album).
What made you choose the SEMA event to attend for your prize?
I chose SEMA because I figured that was THE biggest event they were offering...and I would obtain the most exposure from it. Also as you know, I am a HUGE car fan, and SEMA is a big aftermarket parts event, filled with everything I could ever wish for :)
What are you most looking forward to at the event?
You know....I'm still not exactly sure what is going to be happening there, I have yet to recieve all of the information. They said something in my email about there being a party/reception. SO I'm pretty excited for that, and for the people I am going to be meeting while I am there. I'd love to be able to get in contact with Scion's marketing department etc....maybe I can work more with them...or be one of their 'Featured Artists' at their shows....you never know!
**Sam described Hammond’s personality as part of the requirements of the entry: Hammond is a poor little guy. He gets thrown around, beat, poked. And he does not understand why. He has never done anything wrong, and yet the crazy lady with bones in her hair insists on stabbing him with pins, and screaming things in a wierd language at him. He just wants to know "Why's everybody always pickin on me?"
You can view Hammond here:
http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?picid=52826_97394880&pid=69726&scid=94
AFFLICTED
Blunted on reality
Peter Dean Rickards, AKA Afflicted, is not your average photographer, journalist, or political satirist. Hailing from Kingston Jamaica, Afflicted harshly describes his home as a land of extremes, "An island filled with beauty unsurpassed, and ugliness that would make a rat puke." This paradox of natural beauty, poverty, and violence inspires Afflicted to document everything from dancehall deejays and local beauties that would shame fashion week runways to Third World gunfights and street wars. He runs about the country taking pictures of people, places, and things that you never thought existed; and if you did, you'd never have the courage to take shots and publish them. Afflicted refuses to set boundaries around his photography, focusing Jamaican life with the "I don't give a bleep" attitude he has adapted in response to the ruthless realities surrounding him on all sides.
Having already landed cover shots for America's Xlr8r and Germany's Riddim magazines, as well as articles in The Fad Germany's Riddim magazines, as well as articles in The Fader, Afflicted has made it clear that he has recognizable talent. His documentation of modern dancehall culture, an undeniably prominent aspect of Jamaican life, also includes album covers for prominent artists like Vybz Kartel and Sizzla, who'd be tough to track down with LoJack.
But Afflicted isn't content with simply being dancehall's go-to lensman. His own magazine, First, is the first lifestyle magazine to focus on Jamaica from an insider's point of view, which is often twisted and harshly blunt. It is also the first to expose unique aspects of Jamaican culture that have largely been hidden from the rest of the world, with articles like "The Making of a Don" and straight talk with dub pioneer Lee Scratch Perry. Fashion spreads featuring Kingston's finest models and designers add plenty of aesthetic appeal, too.
If you can't get your hands on the scarce Jamaican commodity that is First, you can link to electronic versions through Rickard's Afflictedyard.com. While there you can follow Afflicted on a slideshow through Jonestown (one of Kingston's most notorious shanty towns), take a visit to Sizzla's Judgement Yard Studio, or head to Jamaican parliament with former Prime Minister Eddie Seaga on the day of his resignation. Using his camera to bring outsiders inside Jamaican culture, Afflicted earns the right to call himself "a non-paying member of the Jamaican Tourist Board."
-Dana Shayegan
DAZE DOES BRAZIL
Tag, you're it.
In the late seventies and early eighties, New York's underground tunnels exploded with paint, whizzing past subway cars and lighting up the dreary concrete grays. Chris "Daze" Ellis painted his first train in 1977. And over the last 28 years he has continued to gain fame through dozens of gallery shows and mural projects, and through just being himself in seminal documentaries such as Wildstyle and Style Wars.
Lately, Daze has been nurturing a romance with Brazil, traveling there seven times in the last few years, bonding with the community and adding his flavor to the art of the streets. His interest in the country began when he glimpsed an article in 12ozPROPHET (www.12ozprophet.com) about Os Gemeos, twin artists from Sao Paulo. "I knew this would be a new frontier," Daze remembers. When, in 2001, Ecko's Allan Ket invited Daze to work on a documentary about the hip hop scene in Brazil, it only amplified Daze's interest. Once he arrived, he was able to get into nooks of the community rarely glimpsed by outsiders, mainly due to the locals' respect for his place in history. In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Daze later set up workshops with local children, helping them to realize their own mural projects. "This is the most gratifying part of my experience with the culture, because the children never had an artist come in like that to encourage them."
In recognition of his work, in November 2004 The Hutuz Organization and the American Consulate in Rio invited Daze to take part in an annual hip hop conference where he painted a mural project alongside 50 other writers from Brazil. Now artists from Rio's famed Flesh Beck Crew and top Brazilian painters like Binho, Herbert, Does, Nina, and Vitche from Sao Paulo consider Daze a friend in creativity, and a connection with New York and their art's history.
In the summer of 2005, an innovative art project will open at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio. Leading figures from Brazil will curate sections about their local scene, while Daze heads up a portion of the show focused on his hometown, NYC-the birthplace.
-Morgan Wells
STRAIGHT OUTTA STOCKHOLM
We are the superlative conspiracy.
Sooner or later, anything good and original becomes routine and overexposed, thanks largely to the efforts of The Man. Before you know it, they've taken your favorite company and turned it into another celebrity-endorsed product alongside deodorants and breakfast cereals. Disillusioned, the self-respecting folk who don't want to jump on the bandwagon are left to look elsewhere for the real deal. Frustrated with shady investor types that sought to change the company's direction and vision, Stockholm's Greger Hagelin and his band of Swedes founded We Are The Superlative Conspiracy as a unique, independent, and uninhibited clothing line that would mean much more than just more gear. As Greger puts it, "Superlative Conspiracy symbolizes what WE as a brand and as a company represent: a group, a family of good and competent people working toward the same ideal." And by assembling a team of WEactivists that spans the globe and reaches into every sector of what's good, the Superlative Conspiracy gives the impression that you should have known about it all along.
So what is a WEactivist? Borrowing from influences prevalent with their roots in skateboarding and snowboarding, WE supports talented and creative individuals in their endeavors-on canvas, turntables, microphones, guitars, anything. To name only a few WEactivists is a difficult task, but for starters WE's got skate legends Chris Pastras, Jason Lee, and Gino Iannucci, snowboard greats Ingemar Backman and Jussi Oksanen, artists Chad Robertson, Alex Prager, and Mercedes Helnwein, and music big guns Millencolin and DJ Stretch Armstrong. Between sponsoring art installations, fashion shows, and snowboard contests, not to mention the WE Grand Pee races and infamous crayfish parties, WE is definitely keeping the public and industry alike on their toes.
WE opened the doors to its first US store this past September, adding Los Angeles to the roster of the Stockholm-based company. This year, two new concept stores have opened in Germany as well as a new shop in Seoul, South Korea. Soon to follow are the New York, Tokyo, and Vancouver concept stores, as well as availability in the choicest boutiques and shops in cities around the world. So what's next for WE? It's hard to say exactly. Wherever and whenever the creative spirit strikes, you're likely to find WE there. From an upcoming Andy Howell and Chris Pastras art installation to a flying fashion show over Spain, only one thing is for sure: you never know.
-Geoff Nishimoto
SUPERFUTURE
Right here, right now.
As your flight touches down in an unfamiliar city, you realize that the Lonely Planet guidebook in your bag was last updated in 2001. Yeah, the tourist monuments from the 16th century will still be there. But how are you going to know what's really good right here and now? Never fear, superfuture is here.
In 1999, Tokyo transplant Wayne Berkowitz questioned the usefulness of traditional, printed tourist books. How can they keep tabs on what's new, when major cities evolve so rapidly? His answer was to redesign the modern tourist map, and put it all online. His baby, superfuture.com, is an up-to-date guide to what's happening, at this very moment, in every major city from Amsterdam to Zurich.
Wayne remains pretty modest about his grand project."I'm no journalist, and wasn't exactly planning on a career as a cartographer either. I'm just a regular designer who happens to like roaming the world's urban jungles in search of cutting edge design, fashion, and world's urban jungles in search of cutting edge design, fashion, and street culture." The emphasis is definitely on street culture; the website accurately describes its attitude as "urban obsession." So if you're looking for info about backpacking it to the top of Mt. Fuji, you will definitely want to look elsewhere. Wayne acknowledges superfuture's blind spots, but he's not making any apologies. "Making superfuture suit everyone's tastes is not the point. It is aimed at people who might like the same sort of things that I do." And luckily his tastes are exceptionally broad. Or, as he so cleverly puts it, "I appreciate cultivated trash just as much as vulgar extravagance, and like the extremes no matter how weird, wacky, tacky, obnoxious, or pretentious. The only thing I dislike is all the monotonous mediocrity in the middle."
And there is absolutely no danger of superfuture falling into mediocrity. Even a seasoned New Yorker could learn a few dozen things about their home base from the site, which contains 371 listings in the Big Apple alone. And if you think superfuture's contributors don't have your metropolis wired, then step up to the plate: adding your favorite spots to the site is as easy as writing your own reviews and submitting them.
-PJC