Fix and Ride

photos by: stratos fil

Get your Geek on.

An interview with Ali Fraser and Nick Church. The absolute crew that brings the most quality house tunes around Oxford. Get your Geek on and lets go party..

Get your Geek on from AlexanderBakayannis on Vimeo.

..to listen mixtapes and productions of Get your Geek on click here as follows.
 Get your Geek on
 Ali Fraser 
 Casino Times

A Different Kind of Mafia

It was on day during spring of 2006 when Matt Feany and Harrison Nealy were sitting in a cafe in Denver called Paris on the Platte. Acting fast and without anyone noticing, one of them took a small object out of his pocket and placed it on a surface across their table. That was the birth of the Magnet Mafia. Since then the duo has been working on anything from water meters to newspaper stands, ignoring not only the surfaces composed of non-magnetic aluminum and plastic but also any object that may be metal but too obvious and boring to be worth the effort. To this day the Mafia has become somewhat of a household name in Denver's art scene, and their network of artists has been growing, since magnets have proved more than an ideal medium for them to blend their love for graffiti and any kind of street art with their support for the arts community. Although magnets compared to graffiti pose less of a threat of vandalism charges to the artist simply because they can be removed easily, Matt and Harrison have gone through quite a rough time trying to go through with their plans especially when it comes to putting magnets on hard to reach spots. Although they don't see themselves as rebels, they remain sceptical about whether the city they live will ever consider street art as real art and according to Harrison as far as concepts or ideas for things out in the street they havent barely even started. Their latest and most geographically ambitious project is a magnet exchange with artists in Austria, which came into life after a small art collective traveled to Vienna to hang magnets painted by Denver locals all over the city, a campaign which even made it to the newspapers about the "Bilder-Anschläge der Magnet-Mafia," which translates roughly to "a Magnet Mafia art attack." The magnets the Austrians created were displayed on March 1 2008 at Matter Studio in Denver, before Matt and Harrison continuing their magnet swaps with artists in North Carolina, New York and London

I Have Pop

Now this is a concept that Dutch graffiti artist JUSE came up with about 8 years ago in order to create a different perspective on particular elements of pop culture through a series of street art projects. These projects where not making a direct statement so it was more or less up to the observer to decide what the meaning of each one was, and what kind of message their creator wanted to get across. The first project came to life in 2004 when JUSE created 10 pairs of Nike Dunk sneakers made out of concrete, and placed them in front of some of the most well known stores in Europe and North America that carried street oriented apparel such as both the UNDFTD stores in California, Solebox in Berlin and Richard Kidd in Vancouver, without them actually knowing. Some of the people there were puzzled, and even took the pair inside the shop to put it on display. The news of the mysterious sneakers that showed up out of nowhere quickly spread and a year later the secret was revealed. Other I Have Pop releases include Streetwise, which was exhibited in 2006 at Nike Town in London, as well as Think Outside the Box where sneakers were actually created from the material of the boxes in which they were packaged in

Tuna of the Day!

Bright field, black & white.

Photo by Alexander Bakayannis

Johnny Cupcakes store in London!

Johnny Cupcakes Grand Opening from AlexanderBakayannis on Vimeo.

The Invader

For those of you who are oldschool enough and you are aware of the impact ATARI had not only on video games but on other cultures as well, then im sure ure going to dig this one. Invader is the name behind the pixelated alien that appears in mosaic tiles in walls all over the world from New York and London to Paris and Tokyo. Invader himself got involved in many different projects before coming up with the ATARI character, but as time went by it was more than obvious that this was his biggest hit as it seemed to fit in all different urban environments. The reason Invader chose that specific image was because he was attracted to the appeal of the early forms of videogames and how that technology no matter how basic it was, had the power to push conceptual boundaries. The choice of working with tiles, instead of spray cans or paint brushes which can be quite temporary, was what made Invader's work time resistant and offered longevity which other art forms struggle to achieve. Nevertheless even himself has admitted that he doesnt expect his work to hang in there forever. Moving beyond mosaics Invader even used pieces from the Rubik's cube for his pixelated works believing that it was some kind of a logical evolution for what he did since he could work in a three dimensional space that way, creating 3D sculptures from Rubik's pieces. That specific concept was brought to life at a gallery show at Newcastle's Baltic Mill where Invader created a giant stained-glass window of the ATARI character which is constantly re-invented. Invader also sells DIY projects of his own as art editions for fans in order for them to collect and put on in their homes and has even created trainers with the space invaders logo imprinted on each sole.

Tuna of the Day!

Rippin' dollars..

Tragic irony between the piece of art and the name of the street where it's placed(union street). I've been seeing this wall the last 3 years but never had the chance to capture this incredible painting.

That's what's written on both sides of the character.
"Before the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught... will we realise that we cannot eat money?"


Shoubie!

More Than Just Cupcakes

Now that he has finally taken his craft overseas I thought of grabbing the opportunity to talk about a guy who started from scratch with pretty much nothing but his ideas and turned out to be voted America's Number 1 Young Enterpreneuer of 2008. This guy is no other than Johny Cupcakes, a marketing phenomenon in the United States who is the exact opposite of your corporate 9 to 5 kind of guy. The most remarkable part of his story is the fact that he got to the point where he is today with minimal education, since he ended up being a college dropout, and even less money to beging with. The whole Johny Cupcakes concept came out of nowhere in 2000 when while working at a silk screening shop, Johny decided to put a nickname he was given to work on a shirt. That specific tshirt proved to be quite a hit since in no time not only his fellow employees but also clients of the shop started asking for one for themselves. That was it. From that moment on the hype just kept growing and growing and Johny started coming up with new designs and doodles that would sell like hot (cup)cakes. At the time he was lucky enough to have customers in touring bands so his logo would pop up in photo shoots and music videos all across the world bringing even more attention to it. He started going around shops spending quite some time in order to find potential carriers and every time he got payed he would just re-invest the money he earned in order to make his products even better. In 2004he attended his first trade show in Las Vegas which was very succesful since Johny scored some deals with shops in Europe and Japan, and one year later the first Johny Cupcakes store opened in his hometown of Hull Massachusetts. But that was nothing compared to the frenzy that took place when the next Johny Cupcakes store opened in 2006 at one of Boston's most expensive streets, 279 Newbury, a street hosting stores for brands like Marc Jacobs, Nike Town, Burberry, Urban Outfitters and many more among others, having 600 people waiting in line for the grand opening. Same deal in LA which was up next for a retail opening at 279 Melrose Avenue close to the Kid Robot and A Bathing Ape stores. The best part about it is that Johny never paid money for advertising and relied solely on word of mouth which has been one of his main advantage since day one. Before receiving Business Week's award he had already given lectures to all kinds of places from universities to high schools, and also non-academic seminars all over the world, focusing on how to start a business from scratch without having startup capital or any other resources stressing the importance of the internet and effective use of retail space as well as the importance of art, graphic design and creative packaging. In three days from now London will be the first city in Europe to host a Johny Cupcakes stores. If you ask me, it was about time

The Armory Week

The Armory Show is America's leading fine art fair devoted to the most important art of the 20th and 21st centuries. The show aims to provide a global perspective of the art world to present the best new art by living artists. It kicked off eleven years ago and today it has become somewhat of an international institution. Every March numerous parties of different art fields from artists and critics to galleries and collectors from all over the world, set out for New York city to participate in the event. The show, which runs during the first week of March, has featured art pieces by over 2,000 living artists from 160 of the world’s leading galleries and nonprofit organizations including a number of well known street artists such as Ryan McGiness, Jose Parla and KAWS. The exhibition also hosts a "modern" section which is dedicated to international dealers specializing in historically significant Modern and contemporary art. The Armory Show, The International Fair of New Art, was started by four New York art dealers as The Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair in 1994and takes its name from the rich history of the 1913 Armory Show, which introduced European Modernism to America. In July 2007 it became part of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. During this year's show the Armory Show took the opportunity to launch its first ever series of public programming in celebration of the City’s artistic communities in a different neighborhood each night. Events include art tours, performances, artist discussions and parties

Red and White.

Johnny Cupcakes store in London!

Whitey, white!

Tuna of the Day!