King ADZ - Street Knowledge

STREET KNOWLEDGE

KING ADZ

For Kaiya & Casius - My Inspiration…

Cover

Title Page STREET KNOWLEDGE KING ADZ

FOREWORD

BEGiN HERE…

A1ONE

AMSTERDAM

ASBESTOS

JONAS ÅKERLUND

ADVERTiSiNG

ALiFE

BANKSY

KELSEY BROOKES

NiNA BRAUN

BERLiN

BROKEN FiNGAZ

CENTRAL STATiON

MARTHA COOPER

CTRL

CULTURE JAMMiNG

C215

THE CiTY LOVES YOU

COHEN@MUSHON

JAMES DODD

ARAMiNTA DE CLERMONT

DJ CULTURE

DESiGNERS AGAiNST AiDS

DR D.

DOT DA GENiUS

CHOLE EARLY

EELUS

RON ENGLiSH

ENDTRODUCiNG: THE ART OF THE SAMPLE]

JOHN FEKNER

FiLTH MART

FAMiGiLA BAGLiONE

FiLM

FAVELA PAiNTiNG

FESTiVALS

JEROME ‘G’ DEMUTH

KATE GiBB

GRAFFiTi RESEARCH LAB

GRAFFiTi AND STREET ART: A BRiEF HiSTORY

RiCHARD GiLLiGAN

HiP HOP

MR. HARTNETT

HABBEHRATS

HUSH

HOUSE OF DiEHL

HARAJUKU STYLE/JAPAN

PAUL iNSECT

iSRAEL

iNTERiOR/EXTERiOR

iBiZA — THE BiRTHPLACE OF RAVE

JAMAiCA/REGGAE

TAMA JANOWiTZ

JEREMYViLLE

MR JAGO

KNOW HOPE

TONY KAYE

HUGO KAAGMAN

THE KLF

DAViD LACHAPELLE

MANDi LENNARD

THE LONDON POLiCE

LADY AiKO

LONDON

LOS ANGELES

LOMOGRAPGY

MiSS TiC

MiXTAPES

ALEX MAMACOS

CARRi MUNDEN

MELBOURNE

MADCHESTER

NO NEW ENEMiES

NEW YORK

123 KLAN

OBEY

100PROOF

ONiLi

PiLPELED

GUY PiTCHON

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY

PYMCA

JiM PHiLLiPS

QUiK

QUEENiE YEHENALA/SHANGHAi

QUEER CULTURE

RAPH RASHiD/BKTM

ROADSWORTH

ROME

RADiCAL CROSS STiTCH

SWOON

ViNCENT SKOGLUND

TiLLEKE SCHWARZ

SNEAKER FREAKERS

SOMEOTHERGUY

SHAWN STUSSY

STREET FOOD

THE SKATEBOARD

TOFER

TOMATO

OLiViERO TOSCANi

CANDiCE TRiPP

REGAN TAMANUi

UPPER PLAYGROUND

UNDiSCOVERED TALENT

URBAN EARTH!

URBAN SPORTS

UNDERGROUND

VHiLS

VEXTA

ViNYL TOYS & CHARACTER ART

ViDEO GAMES

iRViNE WELSH

WiLMA $

NiCK WALKER

GARTH WALKER

WiCKED STUFF TO CHECK

XENZ

YOUNGUNZ

YOUTH/SUB-CULTURES

YO! MTV RAPS

BENJAMiN ZEPHANiAH

ZEVS

ZBK

BONUS FEATURES

THANKS

CREDiTS

CREDiTS

Copyright

About the Publisher

One thing I can certainly guarantee anyone buying this book is that with the possible exception of those of you who have read King Adz’s previous work, you’ll wait a long time before you see anything quite like Street Knowledge again. You’ll notice how lavish and vibrant both the text and illustrations are, and how comprehensive and off-the-wall the book is.

King Adz makes no distinction between so-called ‘high’ and ‘low’ culture, nor between the backgrounds of the diverse artists he includes in this work. Whether their point of exhibition happens to be in the corporate world - in terms of advertising campaigns or products produced by multinationals - or resolutely ‘underground’ - written on the walls and bridges of our urban environments - makes absolutely no difference to him. The only thing that matters is impact and visibility on the street. Adz defines street culture as ‘an ever-evolving influence on daily life. It can’t be held, but it can be seen, everywhere. It cannot be bought but it is often used to sell everything from video games to haute couture.

King Adz sees ‘street’ art purely in terms of its aesthetics and the impact it has on the people who experience it. So in Street Knowledge you’ll see a variety of art originating from right across the globe, culture depicted not only by fêted individuals who have become world-famous stars and consequently treated very well by capitalism, but also by resolutely subterranean figures who are little known outside a small group of perhaps largely local cognoscenti (and in many cases that’s exactly how they like it)-and just about everyone else in between.

Of course, the growth of the information highway and the continuing development of our cyberspace lives force us to consider the question of whether anything can truly be considered underground. As Adz says himself, ‘it’s 2010 and we’re all down with the latest everything. Nothing is hidden; everything is instantly accessible.

Art is created to be seen and enjoyed, debated and discussed. But while it can be accessed, it’s becoming an increasing myth that the Internet necessarily throws everything that’s good up into the light. For one thing, there’s just far too much going on for most of us to be able to care or spend the time sorting out the wheat from the chaff. In a disposable culture, we experience things in different ways. As for music, a young kid in the seventies and eighties might typically have bought a single every week and an album every month. These items were cherished artifacts, played time and time again, whose artwork and sleeve notes were poured over. Their counterparts in 2010 can immerse themselves in tracks from the 1930s or music that has been made literally minutes ago. And there is so much more of it made now.

This is where someone like King Adz comes in; he travels the world, checking out everything and everyone he’s heard of, been referred to, or stumbled across on the net. I personally rack up plenty of airmiles per annum, but I’m a positively stay-at-home, carpet-slippers individual compared to him. Look at the diversity of locations in this publication, he’s been to them all - from my home town of Leith where we took a leisurely stroll down the Walk to the Docks on a sunny day, enjoying the banter of some of the more colourful locals, to the Cape Flats of South Africa and beyond to the backstreets of Tehran. Evidence of his globetrotting is apparent throughout the book; Adz in your town, hanging out, taking in the visuals and the pulse of life.

If I was trying to get in touch with someone who didn’t want to be got in touch with, Adz would be the first person I’d go to, just in order to work out how to go about it. One of his great talents as an artist, compiler, networker and individual is his resolute refusal to see barriers where the rest of us have been conditioned into doing so.

Street Knowledge will turn you onto stuff that you would never ordinarily encounter in years of websurfing. I repeatedly found myself fascinated by stuff within its pages I’d hitherto had zero interest in, precisely because I had only had limited exposure. I tend to order books online these days. In some ways, this breaks my heart, because one of the great pleasures in my life used to be browsing in a bookstore, coming across something I didn’t expect to see. That pleasure is all but gone now, as when we walk inside it’s hard to escape the feeling we’re being force fed increasingly dull, corporate fare by marketing people, pushing us into sterile consumerist boxes: art, literature, travel, cooking, crime, romance, thrillers, classics. It’s therefore uplifting to come across something that intrinsically says, ‘fuck all that nonsense’.

So have some Street Knowledge.

Irvine Welsh

The images, sounds and flavours of the street have always been paramount to me. Ever since the age of eleven when I left the safety of a laid-back hippy-bippy Rudolf Steiner school and signed on at the local comp, I’ve been down with all things street.