issue oneoutcast

WELCOMEto the first issue of outcast magazine - birminghams only magazine that focuses on the urban lifestyle that goes on

around us, and combining quirky illustrations with hard hitting

design and photography. we will be looking at urban life in birmingham, from street art and up coming artists to urban

street style.

+ if you are an artist that works on the streets, for example if you are an illustrator - please feel free to contribute to any

upcoming issues

- daisy neal.

OUTCAST

EDITORS+ GRAPHIC DESIGNER

& ART DIRECTOR

DAISY NEAL

+ ILLUSTRATORS

THEO ELLIS KRISTY REDMOND

+ PHOTOGRAPHER

KEZIA FENTON

1CONTENTS

+ STREET ART

+ ART / CRIME? is art really a crime? or is it just another form of modern art? + STREET ART + PUBLIC OPINIONWHAT DO YOU THINK? + STREET ART + GHOST AN INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF BIRMINGHAM’S MOST INTERESTING STREET ARTISTS + MARKER ART + STREET ART

+ LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL birmingham’s ‘underground’ art scene + STREET ART + STREET STYLEBIRMINGHAM’S MOST STYLISH PEOPLE

OUTCAST MAGAZINE//ISSUE ONE

Society is actually starting to be really biased when it comes to graffiti or street art - some people think society has actually developed a much more positive reaction towards any sort of art that appears on the street; this has come from artists such as Banksy putting his controversial, hard hitting murals up all over cities in the UK, which gave it a much more accepted image. He even manages to get art exhibitions showcasing his street art - but even though attitudes are changing, in some peoples eyes it’s still an act of vandalism and is constantly under threat of being removed.

From a creative point of view, I think some graffiti is actually art because it’s a visual form of expression. Although, graffiti in my opinion has to have a meaning to it, pointless things like writing “Steph sucks… (you get the jist of it)” onto alley ways then that’s not art it’s mindless, petty writing. Things like vinyl stickers from illustrators, or bright murals in dingy areas in cities (a lot like Birmingham!) they actually art forms of art because they’re visual forms of expression. Although some people, including myself are supportive of graffiti, some aren’t. It’s almost still a burden and ruins cities in some peoples eyes, people are viewing it as if all graffiti is under the stereotypical view of it - like being linked with gang culture, or it’s just young people being anti social.

But is all street art really a crime? Okay, some angsty, rebellious teenagers are actually giving it a bad name, by going around destroying peoples property by spray painting something idiotic like “skidz 2k12” onto someone’s wall in their front garden - that’s completely understandable as it’s defacing someone’s property and looks fucking ridiculous.

Not all street art actually relates back to the stereotypical view on graffiti, some of it is a much more visual way to communicate problems that are happening around us. An example of a current street artist that features politics and current affairs in their work is Paul Insect. He uses his street art to communicate the problems that the UK has within the various, possibly corrupt government that we have had over the years; well known images of past prime ministers have featured in some of them illustrated as clowns. This is a way of actually getting younger people influenced to “rebel against the rules in society” and use street art to reflect upon any problems they have.

Tagging that has no purpose or is promoting gang culture, is easy to see why it’s seen as a crime; but if it has an actual purpose or if it’s actually there to inform people, and to enjoy the it shouldn’t be removed or destroyed because it is actually art. Upcoming talented artists really depend upon as much coverage as their work as possible, so using the streets as an output for their work really helps them to get noticed - if it’s being removed for ‘vandalism’ then it’s almost destroying their potential career.

Graffiti has gotten a bad name over the years I suppose, because it has actually been made into something a lot more negative than it really is. I mean, graffiti has been done way before any of our generation and it’s still getting negative responses. It’s 2012, I think we should be a lot less critical of the actual art that appears around the streets, and stop removing it (unless it’s along the likes of “skidz 2k12”. Remove that because it’s embarrassing to look at when compared to Paul Insect or Banksy’s actual art.)

art/crimeis street art really

‘art’ or is it an act of vandalism?

words and photographs by daisy neal

OUTCAST

MAGAZI

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ISSU

E ONE

PUBLIC OPINION

What do you associate with ‘Street Art’? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Graffiti because it’s mainly what gives that urban vibe. But what really do people think of Graffiti? After going into the heart of Birmingham, a fast paced mixed cultured city, you will see that Graffiti has become a huge part of street culture. Some people who are currently living in Birmingham gave their view on the Graffiti within the city. Some had lived in Birmingham all their life, while others were scattered around the UK or from other countries.

The question asked was “What is your view on graffiti in the Birmingham area?”. This way people were able to express their opinion without any restrictions.

Nelan Kelly, a local young student studying law and crime - “It really does depend. If there is swear words then it’s bad. It needs to be an appropriate image for me to like it. There shouldn’t be any extreme exposure otherwise it will just put off old people! I suppose it’s ok to graffiti in subways, but it’s criminal to do it on random buildings. That artist Banksy is quite good though, I really like his style.”.

Jordan Crawford, a commuting student studying Media - “If you see a big penis drawn onto something, then that’s just wrong. Graffiti to me is art with meaning and to piss authority by being crude! It should have a right to be publicised! If Churches can express with a cross, then so should Graffiti. Rock’n’Roll is a freedom of expression that makes a statement. So should Graffiti...”.

PUBLIC OPINIONNicolas Aderson, a catering manager for Perry Barr University -”Do you mean those murals on the walls? Well, it has to be in the right place and look good for one start. All that tagging rubbish is just bad graffiti. It depends where it is, because if it was on new buildings or houses that’s just crime. It’s ok in subways, but it all creeps you out. It’s brilliant for commission work and things like that”.

I finally asked a group of 4 local students all studying law. However, each view started to create a debate. Eza Gajraj says first: “I really appreciate art. But nobody seems to appreciate it in old places anymore. It has to be in the right allocated place, so everybody can see. I find it’s pure art if it’s similar to Banksy; his work is mostly freestyle and has meaning behind it. One thing I can’t stand though is a bad throw up.”. Stuart Postin responded with “No, no it’s bad! It’s genuinely a crime! It ruins the whole bloody place! I don’t like it at all.”. Ashley Davies debated: “There is a time and a place. It shouldn’t be random! Graffiti is not good, especially tagging gangs and all that shit. It’s a crime, and you see them doing it on the piss.”. Eza Gajraj immediately replied: “Ok fair enough, but it’s a form of art! Its not always rubbish and some of it is really good! I agree that it shouldn’t be random but you can express yourself that way.” And finally Nick Chauhan says: “I don’t care.”.

Views can change depending on your own qualities and backgrounds. Graffiti is still argued as a crime, yet many people are becoming the graffiti artists and creating a bigger picture for others to see. Whether you enjoy or despise the style, it will always be somewhere you least expect. What you see as graffiti may be seen differently to another person. Just remember to get permission if you decide to graffiti, and enjoy it!

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OUTCAST MAGAZINE//ISSUE ONE

Q. How did you get to your current way of drawing, and was there any artists that influenced your style? Well, it’s a mixture of old school, like the original Micky and Disney characters, and those type of old cartoons. And then it’s a mixture of loads of different artists styles all put together. Mr Gauky, Phil Blake are just some. Then I just kind of adapted, or changed, or altered to the way I like. And a lot of local artists have just inspired me. Like taking little bits and aspects of there work that I like, then just again manipulating and altering to my liking. So yeah, it’s just kind of come from there. Q. Where do you get your inspiration form when creating a piece, like do you just get it from looking around, or do you have to be in a set mind-set to create an idea? If something catches my eye, like if you see a funny piece of work or something makes you laugh, or it could even be serious. As long as it’s something visually pleasing to me, then yeah, that kind of inspires me. Usually a lot of it is everyday stuff in general, anything you walk past can be inspirational. You have just got to open your eyes, and just see what’s out there.Q. So when you go to schools and communal places, does that stuff help your inspiration? Yeah! Especially with the younger generation, because their minds and imagination are like so incredible. They just come up with ideas that I couldn’t even try to think of. So I can then look at their drawings and work and think “that’s a wicked idea“, and then adapt it into my own style. There was this one time where someone drew this massive old school boom box, but then put like facial features and everything like that. Then I came back and with a design inspired but that, it didn’t work out as well, as I thought it would, but that’s the sought of thing where you take people’s ideas and make them your own. Overall though I think every artist does it. There’s an artist that I know and work with, and he uses the stars and the constellations to help inspire is work, as well as a lot of symmetry to create these massive patterns.

Then his style just adapted into what it is, and it’s just nuts!Q. So then with your characters do you base them and their personality on people that you know? Yeah definitely. People I know, people in sport, anything really. Anyone that spots my eye, that makes that person stand out and be different. I did a set a characters, about two three years ago, and basically it was the American concept of high school. So I did like a Jock, I did a Geek, I did the Prep Girl, and the Goth and stuff like that. So that’s what you do, you take a personality, style or culture, and just turn it into a character. For getting a personality though, it’s all about getting the finer details. For example, I’ve got this old school vintage Londoner, who’s got tattoos down his arm, slick back hair, and wears a little cravat. And just by having that cravat and the tattoos asks the questions about where he from is or what’s his lifestyle like? So just by putting things that that in gives the character personality. Q. How do you then come up with a concept for a piece then?Usually I just kind of freestyle. If I have like an idea of a person, or something, I guess I just do it from a judge of character. So I can just look at someone and just tell what sort of stuff they’re in to, just by seeing what they wear, how they stand or sit, how they have their hair, without ever speaking to them. I then take those aspects and exaggerate them, like go completely over the top with them, which makes the character more unique. So it’s just that concept of over exaggerating. Q. Are there any pieces that you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of and why?I’ve got a lot of work that I’m proud of. I wouldn’t say it was a piece of work though, more

like a project. I think when I did the community service (well when I say community service I wasn’t in prison or anything like that haha). It was a youth centre in Harlly, I think that was really rewarding, because it was these kids that was brought up in these really rough backgrounds and stuff like that. I think it was just really nice to go there, and do stuff with them, and just like getting to know them and understating what they have been going through. So yeah, that’s one of the ones that stand out for me anyway. Like for me I wouldn’t say it was a piece of work that stood out for me, it’s more like thing that I have done, instead of things that I have. Also another thing was I had this t-shirt come out, and it was a batch of 15, and they sold within 12 hours. My manager, who was the owner of the company that sold the t-shirts, phoned me up and said “Mate all your T’s are gone”, and it just shocked me. So I was quite happy about that too.Q. So with that in mind, is there anything that you don’t like that you’ve produced?My first t-shirt design. It was just shit I didn’t like that. My Secret Walls design I did for the England Vs Brazil. That was horrendous. I wish I never did what I did. Nothing more hahaQ. How did you get involved in Secret Walls? I actually entered a competition. I’ve been following Secret Wall since I was like 10, following artists like Monorex. Pretty much followed it since it started, so like from 1997 (Gosh makes me feel old haha.) So yeah I’ve been watching, learning about different artists, especially around here, around Birmingham. And then I was just looking on the internet, I was actually on Facebook, and I just noticed they had a competition going on, so I entered it. Loan behold they got back to me, and I was like “WHAT?” I didn’t expect to get in sort of thing. All it was basically to send some of my art work to show them, and they just got back to me saying “Yes, you’re in” Then about 3 weeks after me doing my first battle they

contacted me asking if I would like to represent England against Brazil at the Hackney wick festival in London, which is this massive urban street festival, which was pretty awesome.Q. So with Secret Walls, how did you find your first event? How was you feeling at the time as well ?When I first got there, and I got there a day before, and there was an exhibition that we all did, which was for like giving out business cards and just generally meeting everyone, just getting to know each other. But the day after, when we started the competition, I wasn’t nervous to start with, but when I started to walk up the stairs to the board, which was on this like tall stage where you could see like everything in the warehouse,. So I got to the top and I was like “SHIT!“ There was like 200 people sat in front just staring, and I thought “this is serious” Like I didn’t expect it to be this big. When I first started, I necked a bottle of beer to calm the nerves, but when you first start your hands are just shaking. But then like as soon as you get into that zone everything just goes blank, like its just you and your drawing. You just forget about everything else. But its one of the most nerve wracking things ever. Q. What’s the most memorable battle you have ever done then?Glasgow. Just because it was a rare, weird night. One of the craziest nights I’ve ever had. I got into Glasgow and walked to my hotel - the hotel was incredible, and in the hotel I met 2 other artists that I’ve never met before in my life, so I had to like make new friends. Then we went to bar where the battle was happening. We got there and spoke to the bouncer saying we’re the Secret Walls artists, so they took us up to our own like VIP room that had everything. Then we had the battle which was just crazy. People just getting pissed and cheering the us, people asking for photos, I even signed someone’s belly. And I got to meet some big graffiti artists, like Conzo was there, so I got to chat and know him. It was just mad, like I was

just on a different planet.Q. Was there anyone who you had to battle that you didn’t want to, or even really wanted to battle?Conzo. He was like my biggest honour to come against, because I knew his work is like everywhere, like everybody knows him and the added bonus was I beat him as well, which is always good. It was close though, I beat him 2-1, so it was really close. Another one was having the chance to work with Mr K and Mr Gauky was incredible. Also working with another artist called Woman158 was amazing. Just some of these are like top in my books.Q. What are your views on tagging? Bullshit. I don’t like it at all. I mean like when I see a tag, I see a tag as your signature, so if you go round just putting your signature around town, what’s the point? You’ve got nothing to put it against, like there’s no artwork there. A brick wall is not your artwork, so don’t sign it. I just find with tagging its people that just won’t to get their name out there. But like little names and scribbles people put I just don’t accept that at all. Q. What are your views with stickers then?I love stickers. The thing with stickers you can take your time with it. Just spend time designing them, then just a case of printing it out and sticking it on a wall. And the majority of them look nice, like really nice in some cases. But then when you get a group of them together, I think it looks even better. For sticker art these days its more where you can put it. A lot of people are risking it putting their stickers in hard to reach places, or places where you wouldn’t find one. An example is, I know one lad who’s got one in Tesco’s on the back of a till.Q. Right, last question, Is there anything you would say to people that are trying to get into the scene that want to get noticed? Network. Networking is really important. Just find loads of artists

and get in contact with them, Facebook is really good for that now. The more people you know, the higher the chance is someone is going to say “I like your work. Any chance of you doing this for me?” So it’s just getting to know a lot of people. Like for me, I’ve been a part of a load of collaborations just through adding and talking to people on Facebook, just constantly networking.

Ryan Stephenson (Illustration/Design/Murals)Ghost_illustrations@mail.comghost-illustrations.squarespace.com

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With the remainder of what used to be 174 miles of canal left, Birmingham’s booming industry has a lot to thank James Brindley for. Supervising the building of the first canal in 1768, Brindley ensured the new canals were connected to the rest of the countries, bringing imported and exported goods through the West Midlands. Birmingham would hardly be the thriving city that it is today without the aid of constant trade traveling through the once depleted region.

With the trade in Britain growing and waterways being the most efficient mode of transporting goods, the culture in the area started growing. People from all over the world started travelling to and staying in the ever developing city, bringing with them a vast range of skills and cultural changes. Quickly, it was apparent that Birmingham was turning into a cosmopolitan place, embracing people’s fashion and mixing others style with their own. Examples of this can be seen all over the city in many forms. Just by going back to the roots of Birmingham and taking a walk through the canals, one could come across numerous art forms such as stickers, murals or even just small witty doodles discreetly hidden amongst the industrial jungle. These artists will most likely venture all over Birmingham and other cities leaving their mark wherever they think appropriate (or inappropriate in some cases).

The derelict, overgrown parts of Birmingham around the canals and less manic parts of Birmingham make the perfect setting for a lot of artists work, the contrast of the artistic style and the rural forgotten pathways help to bring life to vibrant colour that has been put into street art. Many of the original buildings along the canals which are full of character are still standing, many of which have been completely enveloped in huge designs and murals. The placement of this abstract art form allows people to be able to stop and explore rather than take a glance whilst being swallowed up in a crowd.

OUTCAST MAGAZINE//ISSUE ONE

London, Manchester and Liverpool have been noted for their unique, outlandish styles, but Birmingham has always seemed to be missed off the list.So some of the outcast magazine team went out on a mission to find some of the most unique and interesting styles out in the city to try and change that opinion!

street/style