7 ' x 13 ' wheatpaste by me & josh macphee. it was one of those nights where the weather was just startin to break. lets hear it for spring! the piece, for me, has a lot to do with all the coal mining mess thats goin on.
this is the poster finalized. to read more on Blair Mountain go to : http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvcoal/red.html to purchase this poster go to : www.justseeds.org
first we stopped to get donuts and coffee on orleans streeet. then pat & i squeezed into bill's pick up and headed out to the erdman avenue yard. it was the first time i had been out in awhile. we mostly did tags-- just wanting to get out in the night air and be alone in the yard. after some time a train pulled in and a man swinging a lantern came walking through the yard on the other side of the cars from where we were. so we cut out. not many people know it but, there is a fountain of youth buried beneath the steel rails in a train yard.
brian and i hung this piece a few winters back. the building, now gone, was just a shell of an old garage. i cut the stencil then we painted it on wood and screwed into the boarded up space. it was fun-- but that was back when our lives were less complicated.
this is an old one but sometimes its good to look back. a friend of mine had a book of portraits of various people. this one was adapted from a photo of william casby, one of the last survivors of that horrible plague of slavery to come out of the south. the photo was taken in the 60's. i recreated it in the late 90's on some metal doors that i buffed yellow first.
i have to give credit to an old friend of mine who always kept me motivated and still does. rekenshit 104. it was through him that i was introduced to baltimores world of graffiti and thats where my story began.
inspired by a song i heard by lightnin hopkins. the hats and clothing are cut out of paper, the rest is spray paint. its on an old piece of metal i found outside of work when we moved into the new space.
sometimes its nice to break away from the routine. for this piece the only color i cut out was the black. the rest i painted in by hand. its from a photo of nina and her mother.
the theme for these pieces was inspired by the current state of affairs in america and the overtaxation of the poor and rising heating costs. the style itself was inspired by the woodcuts of the german expressionists and ny artists swoon, and josh macphee. all posters are $20 and a portion of the proceeds will go to HEAP to help people pay for heat this winter. you can order them by contacting me at stainitd@yahoo.com thanks!
In the summer of 1984 the art of graffiti writing spread throughout my neighborhood like an epidemic. It captured the imagination of many pre-adolescent youth looking for ways to express themselves outside the norms of school and mundane playground sports. I was one of those kids who became infected by graffiti's bold colors,striking form, and independent nature.
As time went by I investigated other avenues of art as well, such as print making and graphic design.
In high school I learned screen printing which would later help me in the separation of line and color that aids in the process of cutting stencils.
My work is a direct reflection of the people, neighborhoods, and struggles, that are swept along with the every day lives of the common american.
It is my hope that through the work I will be able to convey the importance of the role of the less recognized individual of society.