So bailing from Blenheim, I hitched to Picton with a couple from South Africa who were professional skydivers, apparently in other parts of the world it is a “sport” and the New Zealand tourism industry is killing it as such. On the ferry I got a txt from me old pal Rich Decibels (link) who has just set up a new workspace in Wellington called “The Abattoir” and he was wondering if I could paint something on the wall. Goddamn I love Wellington. No spraypaint this time, painted this with house paint test pots, was an interesting change, might try work like this in the future. Thanks Rich. As you can see below me and the creature spent some quality time together after he got up on the wall. Nuzzled by my wand, hur hur.
Most ambitious stencil cut to date. Seven layers of fun. I think its a picture of the true nature of reality.
So its been a long while since I posted anything on my website. To be honest towards the end of last year I thought I was done with design. The magazine I had been working on for three years was collapsing around me and I had lost any desire to communicate at all. So I packed up my things, cut off from the world, moved to Blenheim and worked on a grape harvest. It only took three weeks of this backbreaking labour to make me realise I wasn’t cut out for that type of work. The desire to draw came rushing back and I managed to find a small room off the back of a guys garage which had a desk. Here I spent long, lonely nights scribbling away and the urge to explore was rekindled. Awesome.
Until quite recently I worked part-time in a skate shop in Wellington. I have always been fascinated by how die hard skate rats (young skateboarders for the uninitiated) are towards the brands they follow. I set up a box on the skate counter asking them why they chose particular brands and have compiled a little zine with their answers. This thing is full of wisdom believe me. Below is a sample of the results, if you are interested in getting your hands on one email me (jay@letsrazzledazzle.com) and we can suss something out I reckon. Enjoy.
heygrommit
A4, 24 pages, self published
A lil’ job I did recently for a bud who makes custom audio gears, amplifiers, effects pedals and the like. Check him out HERE if you are interested. Had a blast doing this one, we went for a stamp so he could churn out endless cards as needed. Looks awesome stamped on all sorts of paper too.
On Saturday the 19th of September I was lucky enough to catch Emory Douglas give a talk at Te Papas Soundings Theater. Emory was the cultural minister for the Black Panther Party from 1967 and still continues to produce powerful work to this day. He is pretty much singly responsible for people referring to cops as pigs, it’s nice to know your history! Every time he said it he would giggle to himself and with his awesomely poetic voice. This was a sight to be seen! Hearing the story of his struggle was hugely inspiring. I think Jessica Werner Zack of the San Francisco Chronicle put it best when she said “The Black Panthers advocated armed struggle. Emory Douglas’ weapon of choice? The pen.” Read more.
My favourite thing he said at the talk was “This is WE art, not ME art.” Decent.
Support him here.
Just got a chance to update my ABOUT section with a somewhat cohesive definition of my design philosophy. It is a work in progress though such as it is always expanding and contracting. If it makes sense to you I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Any info you can add would be great.
Me and 30cal. painted this piece up on Sunday night. First ever (legit) wall piece, so much fun but soo much work. Fangs to 30cal. for everything, it was emotional but we got there in the end. Also huge thanks to GAG and Doug for hooking us up with the spot. Any time!
Working:
From initial sketches…
To fleshing it out on the wall of our lounge.
And about seven hours of this and she was all done.
Phew.
Some posters I did for a new monthly night of music in Wellington presented in association with RadioActive, The Kitchen Sink and Fluro Magazine. Kept it real on the photocopier at Warehouse Stationary, the middle one has the best distorted image quality in case you were wondering. The other two are shit.
Click the pic for more details and a sneak peek of the original inspiration for them
Issue Nine is out and about now, this thing was a mission but Im happy with the result! First time ever using duotone in all the images and it came out a treat. Fangs to Sam Flaherty for all the help, I dont think it would of got done without him talking me down from the ledge several times. Churs buddy.
