Skateboarding friends will always meet all kinds of creative people. It doesn't matter if you live in a big city or a small village, the skaters on those skateboarders are probably making music, studying at a university of the arts, playing photography, making movies, rapping or doodling. Everyone gets to know each other, skateboards together, and works together. That's why it's all too common to spray graffiti at a skate park, just like a skateboarder carries a marker pen with them to doodle.
The 1UP Crew (One United Power) from Kreuzberg in Berlin is something out of the ordinary: giant graffiti walls and the first coral reef graffiti all over the world are just some of the reasons One United Power is the most famous graffiti team and has more than a million Instagram followers.
At last year's CPH Open, they also made 1UP's iconic props, and just recently, they skateboarded in Miami with Mark Gonzales. In this issue of [Cross-examination], let's feel the collision of skateboarding and street graffiti!
How did you start becoming more involved in skateboarding and how did you get involved with the CPH Open?
Moe: The connection between graffiti and skateboarding has been more or less always there. Based on the fact that subcultures always communicate and collide in some way in the same alternative and informal spaces, and you're somehow hanging out together on the streets. In skateboarding and doodling, people come together to create a space that complements each other, inspires each other, and then creates something cool together. If this works in their respective fields, why not blend them together?
Sammy: We've known people in Copenhagen since Willow was still in Alis. We also go to Copenhagen a lot, also for skateboarding, and we've all played in the CPH Open for the past few years and have been doing some small contributions. We drew a picture for the boys somewhere, or appeared on an aftershow. We have always had a good relationship.
In Berlin, we have Rocco Patrick Rogalski, Kaio Kai Hillebrand, Denny Pham and a few other good friends of ours in our circle. A few years ago, we did a flip board with Denny and released a short film together. Before that, we also worked with LousyLivin, who are also good friends of ours.
But the first big thing for us was working with Flip, and we wanted to show that some of us were skateboarding too. Since then, we've been working together. Last year in Copenhagen, we designed some skateboarding props for the professional skaters at the CPH Open and drew a few Polaroid cameras for them. This led to our Miami project, where we wanted to do a community project that invited people from different circles.
You mentioned a few names, everyone probably knows the skater who doodles, but what percentage of the skaters play doodles?How many skaters are there in 1UP?
M: I think about 5% of the people are actually active in the skateboarding industry. There are some pros who are still spraying really aggressively.
S: I also think that the overlap is not for those who are active in both sports, but for those who play together and do their own thing on the street. You don't have to do both at the same time, but both are mutually respectful.
M: In Copenhagen, it's a lot of fun every year because a lot of skateboarders know us. While we were playing and tagging in the skate park, a group of kids would suddenly come running over and tagging their tops. It's like skateboarding. Koston is just around the corner and everyone is excited. As for skaters with graffiti backgrounds, or people who can put labels or at least know how graffiti letters work – there are many, and I can think of a few right away. Graffiti and design are also merging, and you can see this in the likes of Muska or Gonz. When Muska was in Berlin, we met together at the Kuch Club and in the evenings we went out on the streets together. Skateboarders and sprayers know each other very well.
Wasn't the connection between skateboarding and graffiti much stronger in the past, especially when it came to skateboard patterns. What are your thoughts on this?
M: I think classic graffiti has become a bit tedious on skateboarding. Because you've seen too much, and graffiti has become too mainstream in recent years. But you'll see a lot of people putting labels on their own graffiti boards, sitting down and painting on them for an hour, or selling spray-painted handles. This phenomenon persists. Skate parks are always full of graffiti. Berlin has new graffiti every week.
Is it cool to spray paint at a skate park, or will it be considered inferior?
S: You don't necessarily get street fame out of it, but you certainly get noticed, and you have a semi-legal place where you can practice or hang out with friends at night and have some fun and play a little trick on the work you've done during the day. It's cool. We also enjoyed airbrushing at Spot, where we shot with Roland Hirsch the next day.
M: Maybe it's a bit like playing the action in a skate park, and while it's cool, it's not the same as being on the street, it's not that real. But I would also like to add a little bit about the situation in Copenhagen: what struck me was the positive response to us, including people of different generations. A few weeks later in Miami, we attended the Atiba show, Koston also came, and he also recognized our friends in Copenhagen.
Because you mentioned the style. Style plays an important role in both skateboarding and graffiti. What are their similarities and differences?
S: Similar to skateboarding, graffiti comes in many styles. This is also the charm of graffiti, in fact, everything is allowed. Of course, there are also many enemies, even more than skateboarding. Skateboarding is undoubtedly more like a community and goes the extra mile in terms of respect. But despite this, each graffiti style has its own place.
There are a lot of haters in skateboarding, but I've heard even crazier stories from doodles. Especially when graffiti people are blamed, the answer is not just some gibberish, but something real.
M: Graffiti is definitely a tougher world. Graffiti is done in an illegal environment. In the world of graffiti, some people also have a worse background. You can't show your face either. When you're skateboarding, you just get out there and it's like "look, that's me, I'm my own brand, and I market myself with my lifestyle and personality."
Police penalties also vary widely. At least in the United States, skateboarding may be ticketed, but that's about it. At least not with severe penalties.
S: And the business side. In skateboarding, it's completely normal for you to appear on the cover wearing a Red Bull hat. And in graffiti, this is not allowed. You have to be very careful to make sure that everything makes sense and is cool. Of course, this is a huge difference because as a skater you can make money like a normal person, you can market yourself, and you can use yourself as an advertising platform. Graffiti, on the other hand, is the opposite, and there are often conflicts. Some graffiti artists don't sell a painting even if someone pays 10,000 euros.
It's a bit of a dichotomy, you're basically just doodling for yourself, but at the same time you want everyone to know your name and that of your team.
S: That's right. It's really mainly about being famous. Let your name be seen by as many people as possible, and your own style and artistic fulfillment come second. Just like skateboarding, you sit there practicing for thousands of hours, practicing the style and technique of doodling in order to draw your picture on the wall, the faster the better, the bigger the better, and the finer the better. It's the classic graffiti: fame, style, and message.
Can you somehow switch styles between different scenes? Because when I see you in action, I'll say, as far as skateboarding goes, you're playing with big handrails.
M: There are writers who don't have a message, they just want to bomb. But now there are also many who stand their ground. Like the women's team, or the team with political issues, or like us, we try to be an example and show that we can only do this if we come together. Unity is strength. No matter where you're from, no matter what your skin color is, open your heart.
I think you can see that in our collaboration or in what we do.
M: Yes, the interests of the staff certainly vary in terms of our style. Some people just want to draw the whole car in three minutes on the platform. Still others just want to spend a few hours painting the perfect work, while others are political activists who work for Ocean Watch. These people are relatively diverse, but we have all found a common denominator and have been building on it ever since. This is always important to us when new members come in. In the past, we weren't known for style, but like you said, for huge pieces or actions. But today, we've gone in all directions. Of course, it's a collective job! We sit down, everything is carefully planned, and everyone knows what to do. We then complete these operations in the shortest possible time, with a maximum of 30 people, sometimes drones and escape cars.
S: Anyway, it's all become more diverse in recent years. Skaters are also no longer classified as "Mosh" or "Technical" as they used to be.
In terms of your movements, you put in a lot of effort. Can skaters learn something from this to be able to experience more of the terrain?
M: I'm thinking of lockpicking, and a lot of graffiti artists are good at that. Other than that, I think it's all pretty much the same. As a skater, you'll patrol every backyard to see if there's anything there. Maybe drone technology will go to the next level, and then you will be thrown on the roof by the drone.
In skateboarding, the first attempt is rarely successful. For your move, the first attempt must be successful. How did you focus on doing that?
M: You need very good planning and experience. You print out a sketch of the train to the right scale and divide it very precisely. Everyone knows exactly what they have to do. You have a minute, everyone has their place, everyone has their own jar, everyone knows exactly where to draw which line, and then the task is done perfectly in the best case. It's like digital painting, but in extremely stressful situations.
In my opinion, the similarity between skateboarding and graffiti is that they both have to be recorded or it won't happen. So filmmakers and cinematographers are often involved, right?
M: Yes, especially important things that have to be photographed from all angles or else they will be sent back to the garage and never seen again. We just worked on a great project with the Graffiti Museum in Miami and the Polaroid Company that fits perfectly, especially since it's analog. We love looking for the perfect clips and pictures.
S: While it's all about random factors, it works really well, like skateboarding. There will always be pebbles around, or you will get smashed.
M: It was a great experience for everyone. For Mark Gonzales, Boo Johnson, Martha Cooper, Futura...... Some of them had known each other since New York, and we wanted to do a community project where we could play together for a week, just like a skateboarding trip. There are different phases to this project. Take a photo, enlarge it, paint it live in front of an audience in a gallery, print it out on a local screen printing machine, and sign it on a screen print at another live event. It's like a skateboarding game.
S: Stillz – the photographer for Bad Bunny et al. – also came from a skateboarding background and is a great addition to Martha. Skateboarding brought us together again. During the event, we also hang out together. This doesn't necessarily directly result in a work of art, but somehow, we inspire each other between the lines.
It's the same with skateboarding, theoretically you can skate alone, but when you get together or skate with people, it creates a completely different energy.
S: Yes, people will give you a boost or come up with something you wouldn't have thought of on your own. It's great to be inspired like that.
M: Of course, our situation is more extreme, because people also paint at night all the time. They tied themselves off the largest skyscrapers with ropes and painted these huge things. Sometimes we go to bed earlier at night because we have to continue working the next morning. But the others are out almost every night, drawing crazy stuff.
Doodles also occasionally appear in the background of skateboarding videos or photos. Are you happy about that?
M: Yes, of course it's the best-case scenario. You may also try to paint somewhere, sometimes even planned, because of this. For example, we had the idea that when Patrick Rogalski took a photo, we would go there and paint beforehand. Among Koston's work, there used to be a limited edition with 1UP's work on the cover, but only by chance. It's cool if you can be seen somewhere, and of course, even cooler if it's in a cool environment. But it wasn't planned. This is similar to the problem with skate parks. You don't keep trying to sneak somewhere with your art. As long as it's appropriate, as long as you like the people there, you'll do it.
What are your plans for the future? Will you have your skateboard in the future?
M: Let's wait and see. But I think we're going to continue to work on a small scale now, maybe collaborating in different places. We may soon be working with our good friend Stefan Marx.
Maybe you can make some skateboards for Radio as well.
S: Radio is definitely a great brand. We designed two products for them 18 years ago. That might even be the first thing we did in the skateboarding world.
文字:Stefan Schwinghammer
Translation & Editing: Little Monsters
来源:Solo Skate Mag