__Volume 1 Then/Now April 2013_
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 editor: mimic
art direction: mimic members: deft, seek
solace, DJ Optimistic publishing: Stray Collective info: mimic00@gmail.com
www.straycollective.co.uk printed by: Newspaper Club
ŠStrayCollective 2013 - all rights reserved. a free nonproďŹ t publication. no part of this publication may be used for commercial purposes. all content owned by Stray Collective. logos used to help support their cause.
support good people
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 1 | A collection of things
hese days I commute from the sunny (but cold) south coast to the big smoke, about 2 hours each way door to door, give or take, it’s not so bad, like anything you get used to it. Being dyslexic, a bit of a tech freak (in my younger days) and lazy, reading was never something I’ve ever really enjoyed. I bought magazines for easy reading bits and bobs, a bit of image sourcing, and occasionally scan read the old newspapers but that’s about as far as it went. Early this year I went on a excursion, it wasn’t a spiritual trip, I didn’t go to find myself, but I did go to prove something to myself but that’s a different story for a different page. Before I left my dad gave me a ‘Lee Child’ book and told me that he didn’t care if I threw it away, but it was just a good idea to take it. I begrudgingly took it. Other than my skateboard it was the largest thing I packed. I wasn’t impressed but I love my dad and didn’t want to ignore his advice. So at first this bulky paperback just sat in my bag, looking tacky and annoying, there was no love there. Then one day when I needed to make a note, the only thing near by and paper in substance, good old Lee, so it begun, it finally had a purpose. I wrote a note, and then I started to carry it about and scribble things down on blank spots. A few epic days in, I had the joy of an 18 hour shitty night bus to Goa. Darren my travel companion, and brother from another mother, slept alas us Melli don’t sleep to well, so I read. It took a while but very slowly I started getting further into the story. Jack Reacher, a lone wolf, a hobo, a man of honour, a man who knows right and wrong but does what he has to, to get things
done, your standard male hero, as the back blurb says: Women want him, men want to be him, yup, it didn’t take long but I want to be him, sort of... After god knows how many hours of reading I was flying, fully engrossed, loving it, eagerly turning the pages, scared I’d run out, but desperate to turn that page, I mean I was hooked. The more I travelled the further in I got, I didn’t mind the god awful Indian public transport, it just gave me a reason to get back to Jack. Anyway I digress, point is I got into reading. But this rant isn’t about reading its about books, proper physical, paper, ink, shit covers, great covers, £1 bargains in charity shops, good old books. So my commute in, my 1ish hour overground train journey, I’m sitting in the back carriage (helps at the other end) with all the suits, obviously I’m no suit, so already they judge me (I would anyway) then slowly everybody settles in, laptops, kindles, iPads, other non descript pads, phones, blackberries, any and every digital screen you can think off comes out, and people set into reading or watching whatever it is they’re into. Fair enough I guess. As I look around the carriage, I occasionally catch the eye of another old schooler, nod approval, sneer and tut (internally) at the others, then just as quick, its head back down, it’s reading time. Don’t get me wrong, tech is amazing, I wrote this on my phone after all, but paper is paper. I love the touch, smell, print, the multi purpose, the adventure. I love books. My favourite of all epic books, the £1 charity shop find. Shike, Time of the dragons. I was about to fly to Spain for a nice little surf trip, and the day prior to leaving I thought, better take a book. So off to the charity shop I go. I bought this for two reasons, first it was for one of the Queen’s
pounds, and secondly because it had a red foiled dragon printed on the cover, I’m a sucker for foiling and dragons. I was so obsessed with this I couldn’t put it down.
I’m sure I missed a lot of the Spanish coast line for this book, but it was so worth it. If you like samurai’s and ‘true’ love, then this is the book, it’s the shizzle.
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Dum spiro spero, “While I breathe, I hope” family moto.
Its amazing what they don’t tell you at Uni. So back in the early nineties, (stupid term, I prefer the two thousands, anyway) I was a fresh faced graduate, after leaving Southampton institute, with a 2:1 in graphic design, I headed to the big smoke, the city of designer dreams, well in the UK anyway. I figured I’d start to work for some cool, trendy magazine, after all I was always a bit trendy, and had just coasted through uni, what could go wrong I thought??
S
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o the plan, to get any job, as long as it was in the back of creative review then it must be a good starting point. So 6 months in, I was a creative artworker at the Rocket Group, redrawing, resizing, and generally artworking stuff for any type of promotional marketing you can think of, from business cards to mugs. It was varied, and it definitely taught me a whole bunch of skills I still use today, but it did drop me into the ‘artworker’ role, not the ‘designer’ role. My next move was a bit premature, purely down to inexperience, not knowing, and not researching. I thought I knew, I thought I was indestructible, I wasn’t. I left Rocket with dreams of freelance, dreams of designing for the music industry. I had done my fair share of flyers, club posters, and even a few cd artworks. One had had some shelf space at HMV, Oxford street, at that point I really thought I was on my way. At the time I didn’t have any real studio experience and I didn’t bond with any of the multiple recruiters I interviewed with, I presume because to them I just wasn’t marketable. Anyway as with all things business they promised me riches and gave me nothing, over time I lost interest and stopped trying. I did random bits and bobs to keep me afloat,
crappy corporate websites for clients I can’t even remember, large format banners that hang from lampposts, all sorts of stuff. This lasted about a year, then desperation kicked in and I did what I think any inexperienced designer would do, I took the first thing that came along, inhouse designer for Apple Corp. No, no, not the computer giant, but the Beatles old record label, Apple. ‘Cool’ I hear you say, and cool I thought, record label, excellent, back on track, but again no. When I say inhouse designer, I mean mac monkey. So the mistake here, was getting to the point of desperation or more accurately giving in way to soon, because I didn’t really find out enough about the job, or the current market, or worse still look for what I actually wanted, but then I didn’t know what I really wanted, just something ‘better’. Apple Corp. was wicked in the fact that Paul, my boss, was one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life, and I was way too skilled for the role, so I had ample time to do my own side projects, and could have nice long lunches, but creatively speaking I was bored, so so bored. After a year and a day I left, again taking the first thing on offer, but at least this time it was in the good old, much glorified ‘advertising’ industry, alas I was still stuck in the creative artworker
role, but the theory this time was, start at the bottom and work your way up, plus by now I was pretty damn good at artworking. So ‘more creative’, this was an experience, and not necessarily a good one, again another job I know little about, and the first
brief, or to brainstorm, let alone concept, or design, you just get to artwork. When I say artwork, I mean pure and simply artwork, From my experience, most jobs I’ve gone for have asked for a ‘creative artwork’ and I’m promised opportunities to design but this is far, far from accurate, well from my
When you’re a student, eager, optimistic, excited, you go in one Monday, bright eyed, ready, you get given a brief, your mind goes crazy... time I really realised how the adverting industry actually worked. When you’re a student, eager, optimistic, excited, you go in one Monday, bright eyed, ready, you get given a brief, your mind goes crazy, ideas popping out everywhere, dying to get home and start coming up with the best idea known to man. So off you go, first up, brainstorming, then conceptualising, eventually you get to art directing, which flows into designing, and then finally artworking, and producing. After all this the presentation, or exhibition. You are the whole process, from beginning to end, concept to completion, it can be tough but so so satisfying and educational. However from my experience when you work in a studio, as a artworker, you don’t get the
experience anyway. I’m pretty sure 90plus% of artworkers wanted to be designers, but took that first artwork job, and the rest is history. I can’t complain too much, for me at least, I have learnt what I can, and left. I won’t settle, not yet, and in every role I learnt new skills and these skills had done me proud. I didn’t realise how much I had learnt but every new role I take I surprise myself, at the speed, accuracy, and understanding I have. The ability to jump straight in and know what I’m doing, to take the files, or assets, that are available and make it work, without pissing about, get there, get it done.
Another year on and I was on the move, with my new found indesign guru status, and desire to develop as a designer I found Weapon7. This is where the fun started. So three great things about Weapon: 1st. Mr Ian Patrick, my boss, a good man, nice, approachable, enthusiastic, and talented to say the least. 2nd. Weapon7 was tiny when I started, they hadn’t split the creative process, it was similar to the uni dream. I was involved in conceptalising, design, artwork and production. 3rd. I was employed as a print specialist, and I really love print.
Pervious page Spreads from Land Rover One Life, UK edition
I was with Weapon7 when it was small and was winning new business, and I was lucky to play a key part in this. My first brief, The Sailor Jerry Pitch. On my very first day I got to help concept and art direct on the project. I got to design, artwork, and developed, well sort of, I worked alongside the guru developer, Chris Bell, as we built and engineered the UK site. We developed a new navigation system which at the time was pretty radical, but now is fairly common. We then organised a Sailor Jerry /Last FM/Big Chill Festival hook up. For this we organised an online campaign through Last FM for free Big Chill Tickets, chucked an advert in the Big Issue, and helped dress their tent at the festival. For my part in the project I was given a free ‘access all area pass’ to the festival, and yes it was a lot of fun.
Opposite Spreads from Suzuki Splash Brochure Spreads from Volvo Brochure
At the time Weapon7’s main client was Mercedes-Benz, for them I would work on three or four dm’s a week as well as brochures, emails, online, and social media. Weapon was great, and I loved it, but sadly after a few years the agency turned more and more digital, and even though I could work in digital, the endless mpu’s, leaderboards, and emails took its toll, so after 3 happy years, and 1 not so happy year, I was out, and back in the freelance market.
Above Sailor Jerry Tent, Big Chill Festival 2009
After a while freelancing at random different central London studios, working for Tesco, Suskzi, Playstation, to name a few, I met with art director superstar Mr Dan Delaney, to start a beautiful One Life relationship. I was back in print, I was doing what I had originally set out to do, I was a designer, a print designer, a publishing designer, and I loved it. So that brings me to where I am today, recently finished my lovely permanent relationship with Redwood, working on Land Rover One Life, a multi, multi award winning publication. In fact it is the largest award winning magazine in its class, that’s some cool shit Oh, and I worked on Volvo too.
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 7 | A collection of things
In summary then, after years of exploration into the real world, earning money, going to work, having only 20ish days of holiday a year, [this was a massive shock, the idea of being able to count how many day off you are allowed in a year], I adapted to this massive change in lifestyle, this full self sufficiency, staying on top of bills, no longer getting any parental bail outs, and now, years on, I pay my rent, bills, I have sky, a car, and a cat, I mean if that ain’t adulthood, what is??
For more information, or any inquires contact Rob at mimic00@gmail.com
In order: unfinished zine collection of doodles, shoes, and things. Breakin Bread 10 Years still rockin. DragZine an introduction zine to For the Love book. Next page: For the Love
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 11 | A collection of things
Everybody likes a zine. I’ve made a few zine’s and this I guess is another of sorts. However I hear it doesn’t count if its not distributed, so in theory I haven’t produced that many. I’ve created them all on computer, no photocopies, pritt stick, or scissor involved. Of coursed I’ve spent hours in photoshop & indesign, taking photos, doodling, and font searching instead. But each to there own.
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 13 | A collection of things
A little [uninteresting] story about dyslexia. Back in the Uni days, I discovered officially that I was dyslexic. I was informed that if you were diagnosed as dyslexic then you could get free stuff, and as I knew I couldn’t read or write very well, I figured I was in with a chance. I also failed my English GCSE, and was put in the special class at primary school, so felt this was a good indicator. A few weeks later I had to go and get my results. So there I sit, patiently waiting to hear the good news, oddly enough the good news I was waiting to hear was that I was indeed dyslexic, I wanted free stuff, and I really wasn’t fussed if I couldn’t spell. Anyway back to sitting patiently, picture a dentist waiting room just without any magazines, typical green panel carpet floor, shitty seats, bright lights, bored looking lady behind a desk, not that interesting really. So eventually a stereotypical English primary school teacher type lady walked in, called my name and off I went, it felt like going to the principal’s office, except I had volunteered for it. So I’m sitting in yet another class room type room, listening to the lady give me a detail breakdown of my results, pretending to be interested, when really in my head all I can think is get to the end, what do I get. I did pick up on two major points however, first and you need to remember I was 21 years old at the time, I remember being told that I had the reading age of a 17 year old. Not too bad I thought, only four years behind, not too bad for someone who doesn’t remember the last time he read a book. Second, and this was a bit of a slap in the face, I’m told I have the spelling age of a 7 year old, hum I thought, oh hum didly hum, there are 8 year old’s smarter than me, hum again, but then being the optimist I was back then I relaxed and thought, well thank fuck for spell check. Dyslexia has a massively complex definition, but essentially, it means your reading ability does not match your I.Q and education standards. Your ability to deal with orthographic elements of language is impaired, so things such as phonetics are difficult to process. English has a particularly elaborate orthography making it especially difficult for dyslexics.
Digital Junkie. Rest
After a standard 8 hour day at the office; I’d say 40% research & development, 25% actual work 20% looking busy, 15% small talk & tea, I took my 10 mile ride way out east to see the lovely lady in my life. Once there, in the warmth, with a cup of tea in hand, and munching on a stick of kit kat, I bring out the phone, and then comes the laptop, ‘only got a couple things to do’ I say, knowing full well I was up for spending a good while online, doing, generally nothing. Then it hits me, and annoys me, I am a digital junkie. I bitch and moan about it, but I love it, no I hate it, I don’t know. It’s scary to think that in the very near future, if you don’t have a phone, or a pad, or a digital do-da then you won’t be able to open your front door, cook your dinner, or speak to your family. It’s invading but becoming fully essential, all that amazing sci-fi shit, robots taking over the world, skynet, its not that far off, but I reckon, and I hope, it will be the cats who claim world domination, but sadly probably not...
Cr os
SOCIAL MEDIA RETAIL THEORPY TEA & CAKE TIME
s-o ve r
t. o f ne
ay eb
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Gm
ail
r Twitte
Thing is I really do think its amazing what we can do, and how things are developing, and I don’t even mind it becoming an integral part of my day, but it can’t be essential, I still want to be able to live without it, I don’t want anti-tech holidays, that’s shit, I want us, the developed human race to get a handle on it, and remember, without batteries or electricity we are fucked.
Cro ss
in
gg
-ov er
Vic e
Blo
WORKING
M
Anyway I figured I’d track my online presence, an online map of me. I did something similar for this once, at my old work, but this one will be way better.
ee g tin
rk al wo in Or ig
Back &
forth/a
mend s
s
A Standard 8 hour Working Day.
ACTUAL WORK PERSONAL WORK LOOKING BUSY
My internet thread.
RETAIL DISTRICT
Step 1: google my name, thankfully no hits, not on the first page anyhow.
£
Step 2: google my alias, mimic00 and the world opens up. Sadly its easy to find out my real name from this, but then why would you bother unless you actually needed to find me, so for now I’m not too worried...
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 15 | A collection of things
GOOGLEVILLE
EAST SIDE SOCIAL
MIMIC00 SEEK
WORK DISTRICT
DEFT
SOL ACE
EAST SIDE CREATIVE
SLS AMG BLACK Mercedes-Benz
DEFENDER Land Rover
XC90 Volvo
SWIFT SPORT Suzuki
BRABUS CAB. smart
Not by any deliberate plan, but over the past five years I have now worked on five different automotive brands. From hi-end manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover, who have recently changed their proposition from ‘adventure’ to ‘prestige’, to the more affordable and fun brands like Smart and Suzuki. I have worked on both content and advertising, working on full integrated campaigns which include; outdoor, press, direct mail, mircosites (including mobile), emails, home page take-overs and banners (static and rich media), on campaigns such as; Escape the map, SLS AMG launch, smart BRABUS tailor-made, and smart ‘its your city’. Along with numerous other random bits and bobs for all my automotive clients. I am lucky to specialise in automotive as I have always loved cars. I got my first car at 18, a MkIII Astra club 1.3l, followed by a Mini Cooper replica 1l, then my first car that could accelerate uphill, my Peugeot. 205 GTI 1.6, this didn’t last long so I bought my Mums MkIII Fiesta 1.1lx off her, this was a legend of a car but sadly after four years I part exchanged her for a C2 GT which I wrote off a few years later on New Years Eve That wasn’t a great year. Every cloud has a silver lining, and my silver lining is my pride
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 17 | A collection of things
and joy, the love of my automotive life, my 1988 MkII Ford Fiesta XR2 1.6, 96bhp, Xena.
XENA
FIESTA MKII XR2 23JUNE1988 | 8955DAYS | JOINED STRAY 30MAY2011
80M/PWK
MOT 18MAY2012 FAIL Reasons for refusal of a test certificate 001 Offside Rear fog lamp not working [1.3.2b] 002 Registration plate lamp not working [1.1.C.1d] 003 Nearside front (top mount inner wing under bonnet and inner MOT wheel arch) Suspension component mounting prescribed area is 30MAY2012 excessively corroded [2.4.A.3] PASS 004 Offside front (floor / chassis rail) Suspension component Advisory Items mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded [2.4.A.3] 001 Front brake disc worn, pitted 005 Offside rear (lower sill and rear of inner wheel arch) of sorted, but not seriously weakened Suspension component mounting prescribed area is [3.5.1i] renewed excessively corroded [2.4.A.3] 002 Nearside rear shock absorber has 006 Nearside rear (lower sill and rear of inner wheel arch) a slightly reduced damping effect [2.7.5] Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded [2.4.A.3} 003 Offside rear shock absorber has a slightly reduced damping effect [2.7.5] 007 Nearside front (floor / chassis rail) Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded [2.4.A.3} 004 n/s/f and o/s/f floors holed & corroded but not within 30 cm of any persribed area. Advisory Items 010 Front (NS + OS) Tie bar/rod has slight play in a pin/bush [2.4.G.2] 011 Rear (NS + OS) Brake hose slightly deteriorated [3.6.B.4d] 012 Sill covers fitted at time of test not allowing full inspection 013 Underbody detirated due to corrosion
all work carried out by St Margarets Motors Ltd, Rottingdean.
WORK DONE 22JAN2013 Details of Work Carried Out To; Removing cylinder head, sending to engineers for specialist crack testing. Welding and planing. Refitting using all new bolts, gaskets, seals etc. Renewing engine oil and oil fliter. Renewing anti freeze Dismantling engine front end supplying & fitting new CAMSHAFT BELT kit. Reassembling retiming & retuning Supplying & fitting new water pump Dismanting as necessary and supplying and fitting exchange alternator assembly
Also to; To; Carrying out major service as required and all necessary checks & adjustments. To; Remove carburettor and strip down and clean. Reassembling, Returning, Testing
Dismantling as necessary and supplying & fitting new gearbox & engine mountings as necessary Reassembling, Supplying & fitting 4 new radial tyres, valves & balance. To: Checking, adjusting and restting front wheel alignment. Dismantling as necessary and supplying and fitting new crankshaft pulley oil seal. Reasembling, Testing
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 19 | A collection of things
ENGINE Type: CVH Capacity: 1596cc Bore/stroke: 79.96 mm x 79.52 mm Compression ratio: 9.5:1 Max power: 96 bhp @ 6000 rpm Max torque: 98 Ibf.ft @ 4000 rpm Cylinders: four, in-line Cylinder head: alloy Block: cast iron Installation: front-mounted, transverse Valve gear: two valves per cylinder, single overhead camshaft driven by external toothed belt, rockers, hydraulic lifters Induction: single Weber twin-choke downdraught carburettor Ignition: Ford contactless electronic ignition TRANSMISSION Type: front-wheel drive Gearbox: BC five-speed manual, 190 mm single plate clutch Internal ratios: 1st, 3.15:1; 2nd, 1.91:1; 3rd, 1.27:1; 4th, 0.95:1; 5th, 0.76:1; reverse, 3.61:1 Final drive: 3.58:1 SUSPENSION Front: MacPherson struts, coil springs, transverse lower arms, tie-rods Rear: five-link beam axle, trailing links, Panhard rod, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar, coil springs STEERING Type: unassisted rack-and-pinion Lock-to-lock: 3.0 turns BRAKES System: vacuum servo-assisted dual-circuit hydraulic Front: ventilated 240 mm discs Rear: 178 mm drums
WHEELS & TYRES Wheels: 6Jx13 in steel, optional cast alloys Tyres: 185/60 HR13 BODY Type: standard pressed-steel monocoque three-door Fiesta MkII hatchback shell
CHOICE/FATE - SOLACE
Stray Magazine Vol. 1 2013 | 23 | A collection of things
WHEN YOU FINALLY GET AN INTERVIEW, ITS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE TO SAY YOU SPEND YOUR FREE TIME SNOWBOARDING, BUT IF YOU MENTION YOU SKATEBOARD, ALL OF A SUDDEN YOUR INTERVIEWER TURNS INTO A DISAPPOINTED SCHOOL TEACHER.”
Adios for now.
Last words? Just watch this space, hopefully in time stray collective will become something to watch out for. Luck, faith, and family, you can’t get through life without it.
Stray was picked by me and Deft, but this was way harder to pick. We wanted something we both liked, with good letters, meaning, and was non-offensive. We aren’t the type of people who go out and vandalise people’s stuff, we don’t have territory battles, we paint for fun, and practise, we aren’t from gang culture, and we don’t try to be. We both have cats, and are sadly obsessed by them I constantly send deft stupid cat pic’s and vid’s I find online, and we both feel/felt a bit outcast from normal society. Someone in infamy said this or something similar which I think is pretty true, ‘all writers are insecure, that’s why they become writers...’ we put on a front but have all sorts of crazy internal battles, so we figured we were like stray cats, roaming the streets seeking out what we need to survive. So we went with stay, and collective because in time I want to welcome any stray artist to the crew. Safety in numbers, and if you can’t help your own, who can you help.
As I got better and my style developed, and more importantly when I wanted to separate myself from the crap graff I’d done while I was learning, I changed my tag. Picking another tag, that was tough. This time I wanted a range of letters, and I needed a different meaning, so on went the thinking cap, and xxxxx was born.
Why stray, and why mimic? It’s hard to pick out names, especially for a crew, or collective. Mimic was easy enough, I know some people pick tags for the letter they use, I know that often the number means nothing, its just nice shapes, but for me the words have meaning. I got into graff and design because I saw graff and visual shit all around me and I loved it. I wanted to do it, I wanted to copy it, and so I did, except, I couldn’t copy it. I wanted to use my letters, and even when I tried to copy it, it came out completely different, so basically I attempted to mimic it, and so I became mimic. Now in hind sight I should have chosen something different. I mean two m’s, and two i’s, not cool, but once I’d started with mimic I wasn’t prepared to change it, so it stuck.
Family? Deft is my sister, best friend, and motivation She’s pretty cool, I wouldn’t be where I am, or do what I do without her.
Its different for each of us, for example Deft and I, we have very different reason for doing what we do, but then that’s family for you.
Some privacy issues, is that why you have an alias? For me it was the anonymity of it all, I wanted to go out and practise painting, letter forms, go out and cause carnage, but for nobody to know it was me. I literally dreamt of the day someone I knew walked past my piece and said, ‘yo check that out, its dope’ and I would stand there thinking, yup its one of mine. Its not happened, but I have had people who know who I am saying, I saw that piece in Hackney, its your best so far, which is as close as ill get, but I’m happy with that, for now anyway.
So what is Stray Collective? Its basically an idea at the moment, its a general name that covers anything that I and my little crew want to do, be it graff, art, fashion, mess, anything... I’m not too sure, but figured in this day and age you need an online presence, and I’m generally a bit private, so don’t want to be throwing my name and face about all over the net. You never know what will happen to it.
mimic 00
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Closing thoughts?? Not really, I guess just keep an eye open for Stray Collective, and if you see something you like, buy it! But don’t take the piss on the price!! haha
In a early zine you created, your introduction said ‘I have a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. This makes normal things very difficult. This is what I do when I’m better than usual’. Care to explain this a bit more? Its a hard one to really explain, partly as the doctors are constantly changing their minds about what I actually have. With mental health it’s such a difficult thing to understand, that its generally not understood. Sadly it is something I live with everyday, and as it’s not visible people forget, or don’t understand that actually simple things aren’t simple. The strange thing about it is there are times when having no legs seems like a better disability. First you can prove it, people just have to look at you, and second, you know what’s wrong with you, you have no legs. For me I have anxieties, fears, random panic attacks, chronic migraines, repetitive strain injuries, but I look normal [well ish anyway]. The problem with that is that I can act normal for a while but its like every part of me mentally and physically is on full alert, and the longer I am like this the worse the aftermath. If I know I have to go see a doctor, or I need to talk to a stranger about something, then I get tense and scared in the build up, if I overcome that and actually do the task at hand, unlike mimic, who gets a sense of satisfaction, I get a come down of sorts, where my body collapse and then I get ill or have a week [or more] long migraine. So this makes it hard to do things. Which obviously makes it hard to promote myself, do exhibitions, talk to people, network, all the things that are so important in the modern art world. The Internet has its advantages but an unknown name is a unknown name. I don’t know if that really answers your question, but like I said it’s hard to explain.
You and your brother went to Southampton Institute? Yea he followed me down, sadly it was round the time that my mental health had really started to deteriorated so we had some moments where we didn’t get on to well, I went one way and him the other, but luckily we got through it, and we closer than ever these days.
deft
How would you describe your work? I’m from a fine art background, and grew up doing all the things a hopeful artist does, I drew constantly, and as I went through school I did my art GCSE, A-Level, and BA(HONS) fine art at Southampton Institute. I was always attracted to graffiti, when I was younger I would take the train to London to buy some weird German graff magazine. So this obviously had an effect on my work. Now I use a variety of techniques, from etching, screen printing, block printing, illustration, painting, and of course computer aided, in a strange graffiti landscape fusion, I don’t know how to describe it, fine art with a graffiti twist. Pretty abstract, but I like it, and everything is a one off.
What Stray Collective is to you? Well it came from us wanting to get better at painting, to work on one piece together, neither wanted to do each other’s names really so we decided we would be a crew. Of course both of us being a little scared of people meant it was just us, but stray was born. mimic and I have a strange working relationship. He can do things I can’t and vice versa, so hopefully stray collective will use the positive skills we have and work better than either of us by ourselves. We just want to succeed at doing what we love.
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deft
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Tranquillity Base. Inspired by Tranquillity Base, the name given by American astronaut Neil Armstrong to the landing site on the moon where the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle made the ďŹ rst ever moon landing. Catherine Mellis (aka Deft) is part of Cambridge Open Studio, taking place at St Barnabas Press over four weekends in July. (6/7th, 13/14th, 20/21st & 27/28th).
Deft has been creating works of art her entire life. Her love of graffiti and abstract art has had a huge influence on her work. By sketching, etching, printing and painting she can create impressively intricate designs, which she sees as a graffiti landscape fusion. As an artist she takes influence from everything around her. At the moment she is particularly interested in aspects of outer space. In the possibilities of alternative realities, coexisting with our own space on earth and how both exist at the same time almost unbeknown to each other only unified in our minds. She loves ambiguous shapes and hints of language and traces of the human touch which can be seen in wildstyle graffiti. Stylistically she is drawn to the orient, and aspects of traditional Japanese woodblock prints. With her studio space at St. Barnabas Press, Cambridge, she can continue to pursue her love of print making as the studio considers itself the best equipped print making studio in East Anglia.
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More at StrayCollective.co.uk
Max Pain pm
Deft suffers from chronic migraines, by keeping a record of their frequency, and pain level, we hope to be able to better treat them.
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This graphic is a visual representation of four months worth of pain charts. Two readings a day from 0 [no pain] to 10 [debilitating pain]
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Please support:
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LIQUITEX ACRYLIC WHITE/MAGENTA
MONTANA GOLD AQUA/LIGHT GREY
MONTANA BLACK BLACK/PINK
SHARPIE MARKER BLACK
MAGENTA LACES SEEK LACE TAG
LIQUITEX ACRYLIC WHITE/MAGENTA
Being the oh so fashionable East Londoner that I am, it’s no surprise that I too ride a fixie. This is one of many issues I have with East London. The trends. I started skating in the early 80’s, it wasn’t fashionable back then, it was antisocial. I started painting before the words ‘street’ and ‘art’ were put together, and I started riding fixed, before the fixie boom. When I was a little, I lived in Scotland, a nice residential area where my folks didn’t need to keep an eye on me the whole time. I would spend hours a day riding up and down the street on my Raleigh Burner, pulling skids, and popping wheelies. So twenty odd years later, I’m still riding BMX. Over the years I rode ramp, street and dirt, but now I was just a commuter. After a while of Holloway road twice a day, I decided to step up and bought a budget mountain bike from a random guy’s garage in West London. A week in I realised gears were pointless, so I stripped off the de-railers, cables, and anything else that I wouldn’t use. Surprisingly it did pretty well like this, but eventually the bodge modification back fired, the chain tore the cassette apart, and bent the crank disc. I tried to fix it but with no joy, so I got on gumtree and bought a cheap single speed. It was pretty basic, but I had some spare bars, peddles and things to modify it slightly. Over a short period of time I had replaced almost everything. Some for the look, some because the budget bits just kept breaking, and a wheel because some evil bastard stole my front wheel. It got to the point, where I was riding into work every day and the only people faster than me in my daily red light dash, were the bike messengers. I had no idea what the deal was with this ‘fixed’ thing, but I was intrigued, I had to know, I needed to go faster, and I liked the whole no break thing, danger equals adrenaline. I did the basic online research and some hard core ebaying and bought a new wheel with a flip flop hub and sprocket, all under £100, so I was happy. I went for my first ever fixed ride. Not realising I needed a lock ring, or that the pedals don’t stop moving, which in turn meant it wasn’t a successful first ride. I went home, figure some more stuff out, fixed my fixie and then the fixie rider in me was born. I had no money and no idea, I was impulse buying cheap off ebay and making it work. I had stripped and rebuilt every part of it, I would rebuild my bottom bracket and headset weekly in winter, just to keep it going. Bike are basic, its the beauty of them, they are so simple, especially fixed gear. If you ride brakeless, you could strip off the breaks, meaning no cables to rattle against the frame, no leavers, or blocks. I didn’t want anything I didn’t need on her, simple, quite, no rattles, stealthy.
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From now on, I was hooked, so when it was stolen, I could only do one thing and rebuild. By now I knew a lot more about bikes. I knew that I could get an off the shelve bike with a pretty good frame for
under £200, all I’d have to do is replace the other parts. So I did. I was now the master of the skid stop, so this bike was designed to be really slick, magenta frame and forks, black wheels, crank, bars, no cables. Sexy. Within a year this bike also went AWOL. So the insurance kicked in and I went out a bought another off the shelve bike but I had changed my vision and I wanted to get back to my BMX routes. I wanted the perfect halve and halve. So I started finding budget BMX parts and mashing them onto my new frame. I had a good relationship with this bike, and kept her a few years, but as usual I was constantly repairing it, and replacing parts. It was a hassle but I was still gutted when someone stole this bike. So my current ride, same story as the last few, cheap but workable, budget but brilliant. I’m currently rocking; Create: frame and forks, Gusset: 3 piece cranks, Aero Warrior rim, Velocity Patterned Deep-V rim, both with unbranded hubs, ebay riser bars, Haro BMX stem, BLB foot straps, some other washers, nuts, bolts, bits and bobs.
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Back in the day, I had to do a layout project on a topic of my choice, after recently discovering ‘Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall’ by Banksy I decided this was my topic. The more I worked on this project the more I got attracted to graffiti. Like many inspiring artist I couldn’t draw, I had never sprayed, and I didn’t really know anything about what I was doing, so my first thought, I need a name. So I went through many names, I think I finally stuck on remould, but that name didn’t last long. I went to work on making a couple stencils, one saying remould, and one, a skateboarder. I went most nights, over the course of a few months and painted. I learnt a lot about stencilling, the sort of detail you can get, the sort of card to use, how to transport a stencil covered in paint, basically all the stuff a newbie stenciller needs to find out. So years went by and I fell into and out of painting, I changed my name many a time, eventually settling on solitude. I was going through a dark phase of my life, had become very reclusive, and lonely. I found over these dark days, that I did find solace in graffiti, I loved to sit at home, watch hours of crap tv, sketch, doodle, copy, and learn. I had a wall in my bedsit that I covered in paper, which I would doodle and paint on, many a night getting high off the paint fumes. Just me and my cat, chilling. Graffiti gave me a creative outlet that I could do on my own. Not only could do it on my own, but it added to the adventure, the overall experience of being a writer.
I was living in London, and a local at the Dragon Bar, this is where my love of graffiti really boomed. I studied the walls, and windows and they gave me inspiration, they made me want to prove myself. I came up with a throw up sorta design, bought some Montana and crept out on many a evening to try and find some very hidden but accessible walls, I figured this was the only way to practice, after doing a few of these I got bored of doing the same thing, I tried different fills and surrounds, but I have to admit, they were terrible. I used to go round the day after and inspect my ‘work’, I always felt pretty bad, I wanted to go white them out, its so annoying seeing something terrible still up weeks later, all the good stuff always gets gone over so quickly. But then that’s the spots you pick, good spot are generally in hi-risk areas, and hi-risk means fast moves. I tried creating a character but he had to be stencilled. I liked stencils but never had the patience to cut a large one, and in general the ones I always made were A3 max, and that’s never big enough for street work, plus I got to admit I always felt it was a little like cheating. If you wanted to be a proper writer then you’ve got to go out take the risk, climb, explore and paint freehand, those were just the rules, and the attraction. So freehand, and actual skill was needed... This is also where the street art/graffiti dived kicks in. I am not and never will be a street artist. Its more about the getting up. Then there’s the legal/illegal battle, graffiti is taking the risk, street art is taking your time. Depending who you talk too these rules are blurred, but that’s how I see it. Anyway I kept painting on and off, but I didn’t like my style, my letters were too basic and clumsy,and its only recently, coming up to 10 years later, when I have finally started looking at my work and liking it. When not doing walls, I’ve tried making zines, printing cloths, paste ups, and stickers. Once I had achieved a certain amount of confidence in my work I shortened my name, solitude was too long and my mood had improved over the years. It was a rebirth and a new writer was hitting the streets.
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Its funny the obstacles you go through to practice this passion. I have climbed fences, jumped walls, cycled miles in the early hours of the morning, all sorts of crap, I love it! I was cycling home the other day with 18 litres of white paint attached to my back, it was heavy and uncomfortable but it was essential. It made me think how many people do this just to throw it all away, it’s a love, that’s for sure...
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Early January 2012 I decided I needed to be able to look back on my thirties and be proud of my achievements. I had to take some risks and create some opportunities. So I went to India.
WRAP UP WARM, HEAD INTO TOWN, PASS THE OFF-LICENCE AND GRAB A COUPLE BEERS, HIT THE MULTI-STORY. MANIE PADS, SLAPPY CURBS, LIT AND DRY, THE PERFECT PLACE FOR
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A SATURDAY NIGHT SKATE.
DJ OPTIMISTIC IS INFLUENCED AND INSPIRED BY A RANGE OF STYLES, INCLUDING JAZZ, FUNK, PUNK, REGGAE AND ROCK ‘N ROLL, HE PREFERS A NO BORDERS APPROACH TO THE EXPERIENCE OF MUSIC.
AT 18 HE SOLD A DRUM KIT TO PURCHASE HIS FIRST SET OF TURNTABLES. FROM THERE THE RECORD DIGGING AND EXPLORATIONS OF MUSIC PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE HAS NEVER STOPPED.
“PASSIONATE MUSIC WITH INTEGRITY CAN BE FOUND IN ALL TIMES, CULTURES AND PLACES.” HONORARY MEMBER OF STRAY COLLECTIVE
THE GINGER NINJA