Arts
Mike's interview with his friend and mentor Wane COD. Recorded in Mike's studio in San Diego, California on October 13, 2020. Topics discussed include: Agree’s tutoring, Top 3 New York writers, Wane, Hims, Know, IGT, Can Control, Ghetto Art, Bomber, Hype, Albuquerque Aerosol, Huffer, studying zines, San Diego vacation, born in London, moved to North Bronx, early fascination with subway graffiti in 1978, Min, Spin, readability of graffiti writing, Vin and Rolieo TCS, racking, Kato, Dyan, age gap amongst kids, The Players, early crew fashion, breakdancing, Burn, “motioning”, junior high, blackbook exchange, Michelob, the sneak peak, Agree’s blackbooks, stolen markers, Sey, show and prove, graffiti mentoring, Saturday art class, Bize, Rem 311, urban disarray of 80s/90s, painting at night vs in daylight, the addiction of graffiti writing, Allerton Ave, Tremont Ave, Key, Cav, Kodak 110 camera, making “connecter” photos, photos as evidence, hunting instinct, Blade, Comet, art in motion, graffiti pieces as dynamic objects, Ages, Albuquerque, East, Ghost, Reas, Ven, the Clean Train Era, Went, Ket, the timeless experience of painting transit systems, segregation in Chicago, exposed third rails in the rain, evading gangs, street hustlers, local obstacles, LA freeway writing, “All City”, cleverness, Dero, Poem, Dez, Duster, (UPS guy), studying Dez’s blackbooks, SMK, the 90s photo exchange networks, Graphotism, Phil Kosaka, Espo, On The Go, The Art of Getting Over, the quick wit of Steve Powers, Tower Records and the weekly graffiti magazine study sessions, Bomb the System, Scrapyard, hip-hop shops, Unique Boutique, Spin Art, Baba, Power, finding actuator producers, Doc’s cap business, the tools of graffiti, Roger Gastman, Zebster, tattoo gun, dropping knowledge, the cap sample kit, Liquitex cap, Poke IBM, the cap search, Phantoms, Wallies, window cleaner caps, stock tip style, blackbook writers, taking a wrap and getting kicked out of high school, honor, stepping up to chill cops out, graduating from an alternative high school, apprenticing at a print shop, first logo job at 17, stepping stones and building a resumé, SUNY College, graphic design study, Flashbacks, Mare and Kel, the Mac lab, custom airbrushing, cleaning airbrushes, handmade streetwear, investing in computers, cut and paste, CorelDraw, Gangstarr, occupational kharma, freestyling in blackbooks, outlines on abstracts, Renos, Doc TC5, Persué, Kaze, Jeru tha Damaja, Guru and Premier, working with record labels, Stash, Gerb, Tribal, Third Rail, Risky, ConArt, early streetwear distribution, Writers Bench, GFS, PNB, SeenWorld, Kingpin, resistance to commercializing graffiti, street cred through fashion, authenticity, getting hooked up from friends, Puff Daddy/Sean John, the fallout from 9-11, cooperating with clients, hiding bullshit freelance work, creative freedom, saying No to the wrong jobs, 1200 sq ft studio in Western Mass., working in solitude and lecturing. @waneonecod