Clogged Caps 8 taking over the city

Standard | Posted on March 7, 2012 by cloggedcaps

Clogged Caps: Taking Over the City By Chad Hankins
Clogged Caps is San Antonio ’s premier graffiti event. Every March, the best artists from around the world descend upon our city, and spend three days pushing their art to a new level. This year’s event will be no exception! With right around a hundred of the best of the best coming from near and far to paint large murals on the expansive walls of Backstage Live (1305 East Houston Street San Antonio, TX 78202), and live music for the 18 and up crowd every night, one can’t help but be curious about what this subculture has to offer the community as a whole. The following is my journey for the answers to that very question.
I figured that talking to the head promoter was the best place to start. He’s a local graffiti artist, who will also be participating in the event, that goes by Supher. He was more than happy to share the ins and outs of launching an event of this proportion. According to Supher, all of the permits and approvals from the city don’t go through until about thirty days before the whole spectacle is set to occur. This gives him, and his modest collection of associates, about a month to put the entire affair together. It sounds like a reasonable period, until you consider the conclave of artists and musicians that they have to assemble. And it’s not as if they’re just driving down the street to put some pictures on a wall. Artists like the LAWS crew of Texas , Haste from L.A. , New York’s Bekit , Perish from New Mexico , and even Rei from Spain, are all going to great lengths to travel to S.A. for the chance to spread their work . It seems like a year of brainstorming funneled into a month of desperately scrambling to get the details under some semblance of control. In spite of all of this, Supher and company are notorious for putting on a cutting edge and fulfilling experience every year.
Clogged Caps always features live music and, thanks to a spirit of friendly competition and a desire to innovate, new additions to their artistic styles. This year the promoters are also collecting donations for various local charities. Alameda School of Art and Design’s Graffiti Club will benefit from paint can, notebook, and marker donations, and Haven for Hope will be receiving any deodorant, toothpaste, socks, and other donated house wares that the C.C. Promoters receive.
I asked him if he could put me in touch with anyone else who might be able to satisfy my questions about graffiti in general, and he answered with “Call Sloke.”
I got a hold of Sloke, in Austin , the next day and shot him a battery of questions, including things like why so many people pursue this medium in spite of legal implications? If he could paint any structure in the world, what would it be? What are some of your favorite cities to paint in? And I gained an entirely new perspective on this ever expanding art form. I’ve always wondered what caused so many graffiti artists to gravitate toward train cars over the decades, so I asked him why he thought this was. His response was that it’s “All nation. More people can see it.” It’s such a simple concept, yet incredibly innovative. It’s pretty amazing that the simple fact that graffiti predates the internet caused such a well known and iconic part of our every day lives. The most efficient way to move your art from Oakland to Jersey in the 1970’s has become the synonymous image of an entire art form.
I also found out that Sloke has been coming to Clogged Caps since 2003. When I asked him why he was compelled to return year after year, he said “It’s a chance to see and meet new people… we’re all just wanting to paint.” That communal sensibility has universal appeal. It’s like summer camp when you’re a kid, but way cooler.
After about thirty minutes, we’d discussed his graffiti company that does commissioned walls in Austin and L.A. called All City Branding, the new, more technical direction that graffiti artists are going in, his desire to one day paint a DC-10, his mentor Skam, the joys of painting in the artistic climates of San Francisco and New York, and the art form that he describes as “Stylized typography,” and “Pretty self indulgent… writing my name over and over and over,” which made me laugh. Then it was time to go.
I guess that in the end Clogged Caps is a labor of love for the handful of people that give up their time to host the event, an incredible opportunity to expand their art for the people who come to paint, and an unforgettable exploration through a historically misunderstood artistic medium for the rest of us.
All of the shows are as follows:
March 8, 2012: Meet & Greet Artshow featuring DJ Vicious & DJ Hectik @ Hi-Tones (621 E. Dewey, San Antonio, TX 78212) 9pm – 2am No Cover 21 & UP $3 Minors March 9, 2012: Live Painting 12pm – 8pm FREE ALL AGES Backstage Live Courtyard; Kick Off Party featuring Apaso, GhostPizza, Milli Mars, & DJ Spinner T at Backstage Live (1305 E. Houston St., San Antonio, TX 78205) 10pm – 2am $5 21 & Up $8 Minors March 10, 212: Live Painting 9am – 7pm FREE ALL AGES Backstage Live Courtyard, Hip-Hop Heavyweights Night featuring Clemits & MSG Crew, Evolve, DJ Trouble, Paint By Numbers & DJ Charlie at Backstage Live (1305 E. Houston St., San Antonio, TX 78205) 10pm – 2am $5 21 & Up $8 Minors
March 11, 2012: Live Painting 9am – 8pm FREE ALL AGES Backstage Live Courtyard, Closing Party featuring BetaPlayer, AURAself and DJ Gibb, Black Note, & DJ Donnie D at Backstage Live (1305 E. Houston St., San Antonio, TX 78205) 10pm – 2am $5 21 & Up $8 Minors
For more information on events and charities, go to http://www.cloggedcaps.wordpress.com.

Feat artist @CC8 interview AWFUL

Standard | Posted on March 6, 2012 by cloggedcaps

Hold on I’m gonna grab me a bite to eat real quick…ok I’m back

1.First off. What do you write ?
Hello, my name is Awful
2.where does your ass sleep at night and where are you from? My ass sleeps in my comfy ass bed…an I am from Colorado
3. How did you get your name?
I was sent to a training in an oooold job of mine for work while I was taking notes they kept on saying Awful Awful and I liked how it looked on the paper…and it stuck
4. How long have you’ve been writing ?
I have been writing for a minute or two
5. What is your background in art ? Any formal school?
Background in art would be under bridges, freight yards (hoppers,gondolas back in them days ha I didn’t know any better) oh and I would sketch on paper every once in a while..no formal art school
6. You have any good graff stories?
Yeah there is a ton of em…recently we lost a can in the yard…spent an hour and a half looking for it never found it compromised with a different color…(it was a main color some faces) came home next morning looking through the bag..it was still in there haha #fail
7. What’s your favorite quote?
#fail hahaha
8. Where can someone see your work?
Flickr under Awful one or under the Creatures Crew flickr as well
9. Who are your influences in the art world ?
Art world? Umm Craola Alex Pardee Dabs Myla and so on
10. Where do your ideas come from for your style of pieces ?
Well since I started I always wanted to do wild style pieces and thats what everyone was doing around here
11. Any other mediums you work with or are in the process of using?
Umm I’m in a model train show next weekend in LA called the Steel Giants ..if your in that area go check it out! And buy one of my model trains! It starts March 10th at the GCS in Pamona CA
12. What’s your favorite paint to use ?
Favorite paint to use would definitely be Montana gold or 94…of course rusto but they are forcing me not to using it anymore with their new cap designs
13. You have any other hobbies other than painting?
Yeah I like to run,lift weights, and work on my 51′ ford
14. Favorite cartoon growing up?
Hmm.. I like the Underdog, Futurama, Bevis and Butthead and Top Cat!
15. How do you feel about graphic design being used in graffiti today?
I know lots of people that hate it but it’s getting more accepted by society and that means more walls and Commision jobs…so I’m not mad at it
16. What can you say to young kids wanting to get into this culture?
Don’t hop on to the bandwagons do what you want to do and not what every one else is doing
17. Can you give us any insight on what you plan on doing art wise in the next couple of years?
There is no telling I’m a pretty busy guy
18. Whats your favorite to paint on wood,metal,brick,glass,canvass?
METAL
19. Favorite writers in no order?
hmm.. Kwest Sigh Jher East Vogey Serval River Hex Atlas…the list goes on…everyone is super fresh now a days
20. Any places you’ve traveled to paint?
There is a few..I love to paint trains so wherever there is a good freight spot is where I wanna be!
Shouts out.
CREATURES CREW! RTDK! CBS!
Team ROBONE!
And my man DAVE FOTO!
Thanks again.

20?’s with GEW

Posted on March 6, 2012 by cloggedcaps

1.First off. What do you write ? GEW
2.where does your ass sleep at night and where are you from? MY HOUSE IN MY BED NEXT TO MY BEATIFUL WIFE. IM FROM SAN ANTONIO, BORN AND RAISED
3. How did you get your name? I WAS SPITING OUT LONG STRANDS OF DROOL ONE DAY AND SUCKING THEM UP BEFORE THEY HIT THE FLOOR, MY COUSIN WAS LIKE EWWW, THAT SHITS ALL “GEWY”… THEN THE NAME WAS BORN
4. How long have you’ve been writing ? 10 YEARS
5. What is your background in art ? Any formal school? NAW, NO ART SCHOOL
6. You have any good graff stories? BACK IN 04 ME AND MY HOMIES WERE DOING THIS ROOFTOP, WE HAD TO CLIMB TO THE TOP OF 1 ROOF IN ORDER TO GET TO THE ROOF WE WERE TRYING TO HIT, WELL WHEN WE GOT UP THERE WE COMPLETELY MISS JUDGED THE HEIGHT FROM 1 ROOF TO THE NEXT, IT WAS ABOUT TWO STORIES, SO MY DUMBASS WAS LIKE ” MAN WE CAN MAKE THE JUMP”, YEAH, I WAS WRONG. HALFWAY THROUGH THE JUMP I REALIZED IT WAS WAY HIGHER THAN I THOUGHT SO I TURNED SIDEWAYS HALFWAY THROUGH AND LANDED ON MY SHOULDER… I PRETTY MUCH JUST LAID THERE FOR A MINUTE IN PAIN. KNOCKED THE WIND OUT OF ME REAL BAD I COULDN’T TALK FOR LIKE A MINUTE.
7. What’s your favorite quote? LOYALTY IS ROYALTY
8. You know karate? LOL, AM I THE ONLY 1 WHO WAS ASKED THIS QUESTION. I’VE TRAINED IN MMA FOR THE PAST COUPLE YEARS…. NOTHING SERIOUS THOUGH, JUST A FUN WAY TO STAY IN SHAPE.
9. Who are your influences in the art world ? SHIT THE LIST IS HUGE, FIRST AND FOREMOST MY CREWS… AFTER THAT, SAN ANTONIO PIONEERS, ESPECIALLY OER FROM RTD/WR, AND YOU (SUPH)…. CURRENTLY CENS FROM LC/RTD/BY/LAWS, IS I HUGE INFLUENCE ON ME, THAT’S MY DOG….
10. Where do your ideas come from for your style of pieces ? MY BRAIN LOL. I DEFINITELY LIKE TO USE A LOT OF COLOR AND KEEP MY PEICES BUSY… THAT’S PROBLY NOT WHAT YOU MEANT, BUT THAT’S THE BEST ANSWER I HAVE….
11. Ever find anything cool on the
street? NAW IM NOT LUCKY LIKE THAT…. MY WIFE FOUND 20 DOLLARS IN MACY’S LAST WEEK THOUGH.
12. What’s your favorite paint to use? MTN HARDCORE… AND MOST RECENTLY I’VE BEEN FEELING IRONLAK
13. You have any other hobbies other than painting? CARS, IMPORTS MORE SPECIFICALLY.
14. Favorite cartoon growing up? NINJA TURTLES
15. How do you feel about “street art”? I LIKE IT, THERE’S ENOUGH ROOM FOR EVERYONE.
16. What can you say to young kids wanting to get into this culture? RESPECT YOUR ELDERS, LEARN THE RULES, AND YOUR ATTITUDE CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU….
17. You excited about painting at CC8? MAN YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I WAS SUPER EXCITED TO SEE THAT I MADE THE LIST AGAIN THIS YEAR. SHIT IT TOOK ME 9 YEARS TO GET INVITED TO PAINT HERE. I APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THERE IS A LIMITED AMOUNT OF SPACE THIS YEAR.
18. Whats your favorite to paint on wood,metal,brick,glass,canvass? BRICK
19. Favorite writers in no order? OER RTD/WR, CENS RTD/LAWS/BY/LC, POSE MSK D30, REVOK MSK, SUPH RTD/LAWS/BY/CBS, LOSER LAWS/CI, SODE BY, SPIK LC/RTD/BY… THESE ARE GUYS THAT I’M ALWAYS REALLY REALLY EXCITED TO SEE WHAT THEY PUT OUT NEXT
20. Any places you’ve traveled to paint? NAW JUST AROUND TEXAS… ID REALLY LIKE TO CHANGE THAT SOON THOUGH
Shouts out. MY CREWS, LETTER CARTEL, BY, IGK, AND THE CREW THAT MADE ME WHO I AM TODAY “THE ROTTEN BUNCH”. ..SUPHER, NOT JUST FOR THE SPOT AT CLOGGED CAPS, BUT FOR HELPING ME DEVELOP THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, FOR BRINGING ME AROUND AND INVITING ME TO WALLS, WHEN NOBODY KNEW WHO I WAS, OR EVEN GAVE A SHIT TO KNOW WHO I WAS. I OWE A LOT OF WHERE I’M AT TODAY BECAUSE OF YOU. LOVE YOU BRO… MY BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER CENS. SPIK, LERN, JEDI LOVE YOU GUYS MAN. FREE DUO!